Debdieba

Malta International Airport Runway 23, the runway that the site was buried under.

Debdieba (Maltese: Id-Debdieba) is a megalithic temple in Luqa, Malta dating to around 3000–2500 BC. They were first excavated by Sir Themi Zammit in 1914. Although most of the remains were destroyed, the excavation found several fragments of pottery. The majority of the site was buried in the 1960s due to the construction of an extension to the runway of Luqa airport.[1] Concerns whether the site was destroyed were raised in 2007 by Lufthansa Technik while they were building a new hangar.[2] The place was also known as "the place of the echo" by Maltese natives as shouting near the site would produce an echo. This is most probably due to the two hills surrounding the site.[3][4]

  1. ^ "Destroyed Temples; Debdieba". web.infinito.it. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  2. ^ "MaltaToday". archive.maltatoday.com.mt. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  3. ^ Ashby, Thomas; Zammit, Temi; Despott, Giuseppe (1916). "Excavations in Malta in 1914". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Sagona, Claudia (2015), "Malta Radiocarbon Dates", The Archaeology of Malta, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 301–306, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139030465.011, ISBN 9781139030465, retrieved 2021-10-20