Season Team

• AIAC_2288 - Xemxija tomb - 2001
  In 2001, a team led by Dr Nicholas Vella from the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta, excavated a rock-cut chamber tomb on the Bajda Ridge, Xemxija (Malta). The tomb was being studied as part of a survey project involving undergraduate students from the University. Permission to excavate the tomb was granted by the Museum Department. The rock-cut tomb consisted of a rectangular shaft, measuring 2.25 by 1.5 m and just over 2 m deep, leading down to the entrance of a single rock-cut chamber. The chamber is roughly square in plan (c. 2 m by 2 m) and 1 m high. Just beyond the entrance, a rectangular trench cuts the chamber floor into two areas. A series of shallow deposits filled the rectangular trench. These consisted of ceramic remains, dating to the 4th century BC. Together with the pottery, the fragmentary remains of human and animal bones were also found. The human bones belonged to at least four individuals but no articulated remains were recorded. Some of the pottery remains were recovered almost whole, and included one Punic type amphora found broken but resting vertically on the bottom of the trench upon a stone packing, and a complete jug and urn, all dating to the 4th century BC. Earlier dated fragments of pottery were also found. Fragments of a metal earring and a worked bone piece were also found. The tomb itself belongs to a local type which has been dated to the 6th century BC. It could very well be that the pottery recovered marks a secondary use of the tomb during the 4th century BC.
• AIAC_684 - Zejtun Villa - 2006
  The Roman villa lies within the grounds of the Carlo Diacono state secondary school for girls in Żejtun. Traces of ancient masonry were discovered in 1960 when land was being cleared for the construction of a new village school. Archaeological excavations were taken up in 1964 when a large cistern with water channels leading to it was uncovered, together with a stone paved area. The cistern, whose roof was supported on three arches, contained an accumulation of debris. In 1972 excavations were resumed, _revealing_ various parts of the stone apparatus used in Roman times for the production of olive oil. These include a large stone block used as counterweight for the pressing wooden beam, a section of the press bed, and a stone vat. A second cistern was discovered, as well as two rock-cut “silo-pits” containing Bronze Age pottery. Short excavation campaigns were conducted up to 1976 showing that the remains belong to a typical Roman rustic villa containing a residential area with an area for pressing olive oil. A detailed report of the excavations was never published.