Borġ in-Nadur

Borġ in-Nadur is an archaeological site on open fields above St George’s Bay, near Birżebbuġa in Malta’s southern region. The remains sit on a low hill that overlooks the bay and the surrounding countryside. A Tarxien-phase megalithic temple from the Late Neolithic period forms the core of the site. Nearby lie the ruins of a Bronze Age village and the earliest known fortification in Malta. The area also contains Bronze Age cart ruts, silos and the remains of a Roman villa at Ta’ Kaċċatura. A later redoubt built in 1715–1716 overlooks the site from a short distance away. The site is worth visiting for its layers of Maltese history. The temple shows the four-apse plan typical of Tarxien-phase structures, though its walls are low and lack the carvings found at other temples. The Bronze Age village grew around the abandoned temple, and its inhabitants built a D-shaped bastion 4.5 m high to defend against inland attacks. Excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries uncovered Mycenaean pottery, linking Malta to Aegean trade networks. The bastion still stands and is the best-preserved fortified settlement from Bronze Age Malta. The site was first noticed in the 16th century and has been studied by scholars such as John Quintin, Annetto Caruana and Margaret Murray. Visitors find a large, quiet field where low stone outlines mark the temple’s apses and entrance. The two upright megaliths at the entrance and the broken capstone of a niche remain visible. A short walk away, the exposed bastion rises above the ground, its restored sections showing the original construction. Scattered stones and slight earthworks hint at the Bronze Age huts once scattered across the fields. The hilltop also holds a modern cross marking the place where local visions were reported, though the church later dismissed them. The site appears as a low, grassy mound, its ancient structures only faintly visible on the surface.