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think it probable that the rounded chambers served not only as a catacomb, but also as a site where priests and priestesses performed sacred rites and rituals. The dark interior, when lit, displays many symbols including the highly symbolic red-ocher painted spirals. Evidence also indicates that a megalithic temple once stood above the Hypogeum.
The two rock-cut temples of Ggantija on the island of Gozo also feature rounded chambers that display painted red symbols. An interesting note regarding this sacred Neolithic site is that an 18th century antiquarian claimed he had discovered a labyrinth of tombs beneath the temple. Although his claim of subterranean chambers has not been substantiated, scholars have not ruled out their existence. Perhaps the temple serves, like the one that previously existed above the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, as "the entrance to a still bigger shrine beneath" (Streep, 90).
Labyrinthine spirals are evident at numerous other Neolithic burial sites. Single and double spiral designs have been discovered in every cemetery of early Cycladic cultures. In addition to the Cycladic cultures, pottery displaying incised spirals has been found buried with the dead of the Stentinello and Conca d’Oro cultures of Sicily and the Vinca culture of the Balkans. In addition to the curbstone at New Grange, spiral designs appear on the rock entrances to tombs of the Sicilian Stentinello culture and of the Sardinian Hypogea.
In fact, perhaps the oldest representation of a true labyrinth is found in the form of a petroglyph in a Neolithic subterranean grave in Sardinia known as the Tomba del Labirinto. Dating to the third millenium BCE, its placement and form connect it to the cult of the dead, and it represents "the route followed by the dead and at the same time the hope of rebirth, returning out of the womb of Mother Earth" (Jaskolski, 8).
Meanders and labyrinths were sometimes incised on ancient Egyptian seals and plaques. One steatite plaque, dating to approximately 3000 BCE, bears an elaborate labyrinth pattern with a linear representation of two seated figures facing each other.
As previously stated, labyrinths have been interpreted as being symbolic of death and maps of the underworld, possibly explaining why the early tombs of the ancient Egyptians suggest an elementary labyrinth in their construction. In fact, the labyrinth may be related to the ancient Egyptian "Amenti, the sinuous path taken by the dead on their journey from death to resurrection" (Cirlot, 94). Of particular interest is the c. 1400 BCE image on papyrus that depicts what has been described as the "seven doors of the Egyptian underworld, itself seen as a maze" (Jung, 171).
The design of the tomb of King Perabsen of the Second Dynasty, dating to c. 3400 BCE, resembles an elementary labyrinth. Surrounded by a passageway, the tomb was located in the central chamber. The design of this tomb is described as having "marked the beginning of a new style in tomb construction, apparently with concealment or exclusion as the aim. Later mortuary temples were built outside the tombs, and the labyrinth form was transferred from tomb to temple, where the funerary rites of the dead king-god were performed" (Bord, 33).
The temple of Amenemhat (or Amenemhe) III of the 12th Dynasty was referred to as the "Egyptian