Highlight - 6

“Shaman’s Cache Schematic Figure”
Globigerina Limestone. H. 17.2, W. 5.1, D. 1.9 cm
Xagħra Circle (Gozo), Temple Period, 3600–2500 bce
Heritage Malta–Gozo Museum of Archaeology: 32193
Courtesy of Heritage Malta, photography © Daniel Cilia

The angled shape of this plank-like figure—with broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips—suggests that it was meant to represent a male. A total of nine figures were found deposited so closely together that it is believed they once had been stored as a group in a single container, perhaps a leather or cloth bag. Six of the figures resemble the this one, with a human head set on a schematic body that lacks limbs but does show the indication of a waist. Some of the figures wear skirts, like those worn by the “The Xagħra Twin Seated Figure” from the same site. The stone and the style of the heads and skirts indicate local production, but nothing comparable to these figures has been found elsewhere in the Maltese islands.