The Żejtun Villa and its ancient landscape - three new archaeological discoveries

Abstract

In recent years, surveillance policies and fieldwork by the former Museums Department and now by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, have provided significant new insights on the landscape archaeology of the Żejtun villa and its broader environs. The landscape around what are now the modern towns and villages of Żejtun, Marsaskala, Marsaxlokk, Birżebbuġa, Ħal Għaxaq, Gudja and Tarxien, has evolved over a number of millennia into its present configuration. In ancient times, this complex landscape was an agro-industrial setting of road networks, extensive agricultural terraces, burial grounds, prominent buildings and settlements, as well as sea ports. Valleys, hills, harbours and other land formations contributed to the use of large tracts of land to support the small communities that inhabited the area during antiquity. Boundaries, if these existed at the time, were different from our modern municipal jurisdictions, as defined by the 1993 Local Council legislation. These ancient boundaries – political, economic and social in dimension – were physical and social, both dimensions now difficult to establish with absolute certainty, though perhaps easier to understand in general terms with the help of specific types of monuments and land formations. Here, we provide a brief overview of a series of archaeological discoveries which throw new light on the ancient landscape of the Żejtun area. These discoveries were made in recent decades. They include: the Late Roman and Byzantine Catacomb at Tal-Barrani, the Roman tomb cluster and field systems at Tal-Ħotba and the Roman tomb-cluster and quarries at Bulebel. The significance of each site will be briefly described, together with the current state of study, as well as an outline of the measures that have been taken for their physical conservation.