Interesting! We recently visited Parque Arqueológico Nacional de Tierradentro[1] in southern Colombia. The Hypogea remind me very much of the ones in Malta you shared. There, IIRC, they were saying they were 3,000 years old, but now online I'm seeing 600-900AD, so I'm unsure of the age, but it's neat to see a similar independently developed solution to a problem.
It's a lot easier and less labor-intensive to dig a dwelling or expand a cave that will keep you warm in winter and cool in summer than a to build an above-ground house that will. Rodents which would invade below-ground food stores weren't as widely spread in ancient times either.
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/VAWR7KPNk-UDKw