Shedding light on 1980s’ archaeological discovery

Roman remains hidden under a car park in Rabat

In the 1980s, excavation works were carried out in an area known as Museum Esplanade in Rabat by a group of archaeologists from the University of California in Los Angeles and the Grupp Arkeoloġiku Malti. These excavations revealed some very interesting data but this was never properly studied and published. Three decades later, the field notes and pottery from these excavations have been studied, offering a fresh look at the archaeology of the ancient Roman’s capital. Amongst the Roman-period archaeological structures, a wealth of important finds and pottery artefacts were recovered, offering clues about our Roman ancestors’ daily lives.

On Friday, 6th March, at 6.30pm, Heritage Malta is inviting the public to attend to a lecture by Dr Maxine Anastasi who will be presenting the initial findings of this small archaeological excavation, by combining a reading of the sequence of the archaeological remains identified, and the study of the pottery that was retrieved. The lecture will be held at St Paul’s Catacombs audio visual hall. Admission is free of charge.

Dr Maxine Anastasi is a Lecturer in Roman Archaeology at the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta. She has participated in a number of the University of Malta's past excavation projects, including those at Tas-Silġ and Għar ix-Xiħ. Presently, she is supervising the University's current training excavations at the Żejtun Roman villa and Tas-Silġ.

For further information, visit www.heritagemalta.org