15 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A protected Punic-Roman tower “Tal-Wilġa” has been turned into a building site

The Tal-Wilga tower, one of Malta’s Punic-Roman heritage sites, is in danger from construction work near it.

The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage in Mqabba is looking into building activity that is taking place quite near to a protected Punic-Roman tower that dates back hundreds of years.

Cultural Heritage Inspector Kurt Farrugia told the Times Of Malta that investigations are ongoing and that they are looking into the permits issued for the works to be carried out.

The president of the Archaeological Society of Malta, Patricia Camilleri, called the activity “disgraceful”. “Tal-Wilġa is a very significant Roman site and well deserves its Grade A scheduling. The situation should be rectified swiftly, before the tower and its historical context are further obliterated,” she said.

She stated that the tower has had a 100-meter buffer zone since it was protected in 1994. This helped to preserve the tower’s historical setting while also creating a protected environment for the structure, which might easily be destroyed by vibrations.

Photograph shows field adjacent to Tal-Wilġa ancient building levelled; it is used for storage, park heavy machinery and to deposit rubbish (Tal-Wilġa ancient building marked with an arrow).
Photograph shows field adjacent to Tal-Wilġa ancient building levelled; it is used for storage, park heavy machinery and to deposit rubbish (Tal-Wilġa ancient building marked with an arrow).

Patricia Camilleri, “These towers are fragile. The adjacent field has been leveled and heavy machinery has been passing alongside the tower. This could damage the tower unless it’s already been damaged,” she added.

Six sites, all on the main island of Malta,  have been identified as the remnants of Punic or Roman towers. These are the Gajn Klieb Tower, the Tal-Baqqari Tower (also spelled tal-Bakkari), the Ta’ieda Tower, the Ta’ awhar Tower, the Tas-Santi Tower, and the Ta’ Wila Tower.  The towers were most likely erected during the Punic period and then enhanced by the Romans.

According to some academics, they were erected to defend a hamlet or town and may have been part of the island’s defenses during the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC). Others speculate that they served as lookout stations to defend the surrounding fertile area.

A Maltese independent Green politician, Arnold Cassola, also expressed his reaction to the issue on Facebook. Cassola’s post received many likes in a short time.

Thomas Ashby excavated the building at Tal-Wilġa in 1910 and determined that the earliest activity at the site was Punic. Tal-Wilġa was included in the protection of the Antiquities Regulations in 1932. (Antiquities List)

Related Articles

Thetford Hoard: Evidence of Continued Paganism in East Anglia Until the 5th Century

25 April 2025

25 April 2025

Recent discoveries from a treasure hoard unearthed in Thetford Forest, East Anglia, reveal compelling evidence that the region remained pagan...

A unique discovery in the ancient city of Aphrodisias, the city famous for its sculptors in the Roman World, “As if he were a breathing God”

30 July 2024

30 July 2024

A marble ‘Zeus head’ was found in the ancient city of Aphrodisias, located within the borders of the Geyre neighborhood...

New Discoveries Made in World’s Oldest Ancient Shipyard

11 June 2024

11 June 2024

Associate Professor Hakan Öniz, who discovered the world’s largest and oldest shipyard dating back to the Bronze Age in 2015...

Hannibal’s Italian Ally: 170 Meters of Fortifications and 450 Roman Lead Projectiles Discovered

20 June 2025

20 June 2025

Archaeologists in Ugento, a city in southern Italy that once sided with Hannibal during the Second Punic War, have uncovered...

Britain’s oldest decoratively piece of carved wood discovered in a layer of peat

8 June 2023

8 June 2023

A heavily notched oak timber found in a peat layer during construction work turned out to be the oldest piece...

AI Uncovers Lost Babylonian Hymn After 3,000 Years — A Glorious Ode to the Ancient City

3 July 2025

3 July 2025

Archaeologists and AI experts uncover a 3,000-year-old hymn praising Babylon‘s grandeur, revealing rare insights into ancient urban society, education, and...

Papal bull discovered in a former cemetery dated to the 14th century

10 May 2023

10 May 2023

A medieval bull found in 2021 in Budzistów village (Kołobrzeg district), Poland has been restored and placed on display in...

Ruins of the 700-year-old wharf, possibly used by royalty, found in Oslo

6 March 2023

6 March 2023

An excavation by NIKU archaeologists in Oslo’s seaside neighborhood of Bjørvika has uncovered the remains of a long section of...

Rare Roman Cavalry Swords Lead to Major Archaeological Discovery of Iron Age to Roman Settlement in Gloucestershire

4 July 2025

4 July 2025

A remarkable archaeological excavation in Gloucestershire has unveiled a vast settlement site dating back over 2,000 years, bridging the Iron...

30 Graves Found in the Basilica-Planned Ancient City

4 April 2021

4 April 2021

Kibyra ancient city is situated south of Turkey, located in the town Gölhisar in the southwestern part of Burdur Province,...

Archaeologists uncover 4,000-year-old earliest large-scale Archaic fish-trapping facility recorded in ancient Mesoamerica

28 November 2024

28 November 2024

Archaeologists, using drones and Google Earth imagery, have discovered a 4,000-year-old network of earthen canals in what is now Belize...

When the waters receded, the mounds of Pulur Sakyol and Yeniköy, bearing the traces of Kura-Aras Culture, came to light

8 December 2021

8 December 2021

The important cultural areas of Pulur Sakyol and Yeniköy mounds, which bear the traces of Kura-Aras Culture, represented by kurgans...

Archaeologists discover secondary gate of old Bazira city in Pakistan

26 March 2022

26 March 2022

Archaeologists claimed to have discovered the secondary gate of the city of Bazira during new excavations at Barikot in Pakistan’s...

Marble inlay floors found in a Sunken Roman villa in Baia, the Las Vegas of the ancient world

9 April 2023

9 April 2023

Expansion of research activities in the Terme del Lacus area in the sunken Baia park, known as the ‘Las Vegas’...

The Latest Surprises Revealed by Investigations Inside the Tomb of Cerberus in Giugliano

24 July 2024

24 July 2024

The latest surprise revealed by investigations at the Tomb of Cerberus in Giugliano: The remains of a corpse covered with...