Season Team

• 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.