thoughts and questions on the salt-pans in Malta.
you think of ancient monuments in Malta, or Gozzo, which directly invade the megalithic temples - and later perhaps the catacombs. And of course not the mysterious "Clapham Junction", also known missing as Misraћ Gћar il-Kbir Cart Ruts or not. The theories, hypotheses, conjectures and speculations, which have grown up around these buildings and archaeological monuments, such as proliferation, it can easily compete with the mental bruising around the pharaoh time cult buildings.
But if you stroll along the beach of St. Paul's Bay (San Pawl il-Bahar) in the northwest of the island of Malta with the districts Qawra, of Salina Bay and Buġibba "watchful eye" which is given a series of artificial stone troughs and basins stand out. In the usual tourist guides is usually that this is salt pans. And some even want to know dass sie bis auf die Römerzeit zurück reichen. Insbesondere in der Salina Bay, die von diesen Becken für die Salzgewinnung aus dem Meerwasser ihren Namen hat, soll man noch jeden Spätsommer die Salzernte miterleben können. Nun, ich war im Februar 2006 dort und wäre wegen der sintflutartigen Dauerregenfälle fast in meinem Zimmer ertrunken, kann das also nicht nachvollziehen.
Zweifellos erinnern einige dieser Anlagen an kleine Salzpfannen von rechteckiger oder quadratischer Form. Andere allerdings weichen davon völlig ab und schließlich finden sich mitten in diesen Anlagen oft metertiefe Becken, die kaum für eine Salzgewinnungsanlage nach dem Verdunstungsverfahren geeignet sind. Die rasche Erklärung: “Salzbecken, Salt pan, etc. proving "to be specious. And the dating? A decade ago a retired Maltese, who made the Wignacourt Tower kindly did the Baedeker, to report only that "they" (that he and his companions) than children bathed in this pool would have.
would now but me cares about, whether on this - completely different from the beach cliffs carved - Cymbals not yet know anyone closer. So in some copies to remarks follow:
The "first Typus ”: quadratische bzw. rechteckige flache Pfannen, die durch schmale Felsstege getrennt sind. In diesen Stegen verlaufen Nuten oder Kanäle, die mit den Becken kommunizieren. So stelle ich mir noch am ehesten Salzpfannen vor, in welchen das Meerwasser durch Wind und Sonne allmählich auskristallisiert. Überschüssiges Wasser kann teilweise durch die Kanäle abgeleitet werden.
Einige dieser Kanäle scheinen mir allerdings für das Niveau des Beckens zu hoch zu liegen, um mit dem Becken zu kommunizieren. Außerdem sind sie viel breiter und erinnern eher an Steinfalze in welche senkrechte Platten als Begrenzung eingesetzt werden können. So etwas findet man allenthalben bei Brunnenbecken, welche aus Steinplatten are formed.
The "second type ": Only a few meters from this rectangular basin begins a series of round and partially full circular depressions, which sometimes small" accompanied post-holes. " The pools are not like the large square in nearly a plane, but follow the more or less humped profile of the natural rock bottom. Whether originally all pools were closed circular and only by the action of the sea "eaten" or seaward were combined with each other, I can not . Say
What is remarkable, however: the lap pool at the edges are jagged, as if someone had herumgenagt with teeth here. (To see better on the larger images you receive by clicking the thumbnails). These "teeth marks" also run in a straight line between the basins, where the parent rock is blown up. It is, therefore, so-called wedge sockets (wedge bags, wedge boxes, etc.). These come from splitting wedges, that one worked out on the one hand, the circular basin by avulsion from the natural beach rock, on the other hand, tried one obvious places to divide the whole rock into blocks. (See more on this quarry equipment: Malta - quarry tools ). The top view of the wedge boxes (third image detail) the way shows typical traces of fire (red color). If the round pool that is also salt pans, or they served a different purpose? Such relatively small-scale circular depressions, one finds sometimes in the abandoned historic millstone quarries where the stone disks were also obtained by Abkeilen and pry from the soil. This breaks the stone around, the keys must be set very closely rifles. Otherwise break the stone along the natural stratification, so straight. The straight series of wedge pockets between the basins rather suggest a smooth removal of the quarry cliffs. If so, we would have to distinguish here two different things: salt pans and a (Mühl-?) Quarry.
On the way from Salina Bay to Wignacourt Tower begins a series of deep pools.
The "third Type ": Here are several meters deep in the rocks and into the sea driven rectangular basins that have a small entrance to the sea. Are you in part by relatively small channels connected, which locking devices or something similar. The basin is also accessible via a stone stairway hewn from the rock. At the basin margins are numerous round or rectangular "post holes, and part of the arc extending Steinfalze or shallow channels.
The channels are both herausgeschrämmt roughly, on the other hand, they act like smooth ground or worked deliberately and carefully. On closer inspection (preview click on photo) is a new machining technology: the edges (3rd thumbnail) adorn close positioning of the small circular depressions. This "näpfchenartigen" wells could come from a hand held drill. For a machine-drilling rig, as used in modern quarries for the separation of blocks, they are too irregular. Occasionally there are also the aforementioned circular pans of the type of second
The edges and corners of individual basins often look very washed out and eroded, which may be close but at an older age. The walls of the pool shown here are by the way geschrämmt. Note the location of the seaward approaches. You could in fact be below the waterline at high tide, which I have not checked, however. The offshore section of the pool wall is in most cases by the sea (or WW2?) Destroyed.
on the promontory at the Wignacourt Tower encounter a real lunar landscape of shallow circular basin, similar to the type 2
The "fourth type ": like the first type 2, on closer inspection, one recognizes, however, that in fact, not like the type of pans 2 and that most but rather to relatively coarse-chopped around wells. They are on completely different levels and often seem to overlap each other. Again, the idea that they are salt pans, do not fully understand.
The problem of the function of the quite different ground monuments and their dating would not be solved.
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