While roaming Malta, you might get the sense that you’re surrounded by history, and you’d be right – it’s even underground! Did you know that around 50 years ago, a Roman structure was discovered right behind what is now St. Thomas More, Carlo Diacono Middle & Secondary School in Zejtun?

It all started when the school was being built, in the 1960s, that the area was discovered. In the early 1970s, a full-scale excavation began, offering new insights into Malta’s past. Photos from that time show researchers using traditional surveying equipment – while today, we use digital tools, the fundamental methods remain the same!

After a few years, however, the site was abandoned until 2006, when a team from the University of Malta’s Department of Classics and Archaeology was invited to re-examine it. Since then, annual four-week excavation campaigns have taken place, giving archaeology students the opportunity to work alongside professionals to piece together the site’s history.

Artefacts like pottery, shells, bones, worked stone fragments, and coins all help to paint a clearer picture of what life was like at the villa. Students are trained to dig systematically, carefully document their discoveries, and contribute to the ongoing research.

One of the most exciting finds at the Zejtun Roman Villa is evidence of olive pressing equipment, suggesting that the villa played a key role in agricultural production. Researchers also discovered that the villa complex was built over an abandoned vineyard sometime after the first century BC. Long, rock-cut trenches where vines were once planted reveal that the vineyard may have been used even before the Roman occupation of Malta. The site was certainly active during Punic times, as archaeologists also uncovered a large cistern designed to store rainwater.

This remarkable site is a fascinating reminder that we’re constantly surrounded by remnants left by our ancestors, some still waiting to be discovered!

Have you ever seen this archaeological site?