3 December 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

USF team discovers 2,000-year-old Roman house during excavation in Malta

A team of researchers and students unearthed a 2,000-year-old Roman house in Malta, complete with a waste disposal system and pottery remains. At its prime, the house was at the center of the ancient city of Melite.

The discovery offers a captivating glimpse into the past, shedding light on life when Romans ruled Malta, and the island served as a hub for military endeavors and maritime trade.

Found not far from Heritage Malta’s Domus Romana, the house, whose walls stretched three-metre-high appears to have been owned by an affluent individual during Roman rule.

The house and the Domus Romana would have been in the center of the ancient city of Melite – modern-day Rabat and Mdina.

The excavations at the Domus Romana are being carried out thanks to the collaboration between Heritage Malta, the University of South Florida, and the group called Intercontinental Archeologists, consisting of two Australians and one Briton, who also conducted a lot of work in Pompei, Italy.

The ongoing Domus Romana project has been named Melite Civitas Romana. Led by Davide Tanasi, professor and director of USF’s Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx), USF students collaborated with a team of scientists from around the world on the Melite Civitas Romana Project, uncovering what life was like 2,000 years ago when Romans ruled Malta and the island was used for military staging and maritime trade. 

The Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Malta, Angela Cervetti, visited the archaeological excavation site to meet USF students and USF IDEx staff members to learn more about the dig and their role in the international research project. | Photo by: Davide Tanasi
The Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Malta, Angela Cervetti, visited the archaeological excavation site to meet USF students and USF IDEx staff members to learn more about the dig and their role in the international research project. | Photo by: Davide Tanasi

Nestled in the heart of the ancient city of Melite, the once lavishly decorated mansion, traditionally known as Roman Domus, had been covered by centuries of soil. “In use between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE, the Domus was elegantly decorated with mosaic floors, wall frescoes and marble decorations,” Tanasi said. “During the Roman Empire, it was certainly used as a residence by a representative of the emperor or some very wealthy individual very close to the imperial court.”

The discovery helps provide a better understanding of the urban fabric of ancient Melite and the area’s spatial configuration, USF said in a statement.

David Cardona, a Heritage Malta official, explained that these excavations have now entered their second year. The excavations’ main aim is to uncover once again the trenches which had been uncovered by Sir Temi Zammit 100 years ago, and better understand the structures which had been unearthed at the time.

David Cardona explained that the project is going a step further, and is also carrying out excavations in areas which have never been excavated in order to obtain new information, not only on the Roman villa and the houses surrounding it, but also on the Roman city Melite, which we know little about, and how these houses operated in this particular area of the city.

The institute said it will continue exploring the newly discovered house next summer to learn more about the identity of its owner.

University of South Florida

Related Articles

200,000-year-old hand axe discovered in the northern part of Saudi Arabia

5 November 2023

5 November 2023

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) of Saudi Arabia has announced that archeological excavation teams at the Qurh site in...

Evidence of Necromancy during Roman era in the Te’omim Cave, Jerusalem Hills: Oil Lamps, Spearheads, and Skulls

14 July 2023

14 July 2023

Te’omim Cave in the Jerusalem Hills may once have served as a local oracle where people communed with the dead...

Archaeologists may have Found a Viking Age Marketplace in Norway

21 February 2024

21 February 2024

Archaeologists from the University of Stavanger have identified the possible remains of a marketplace from the Viking Age on a...

3,000-Year-Old Lost Anatolian language ‘Kalašma’ deciphered

5 July 2024

5 July 2024

In 2023 excavation site at the foot of Ambarlikaya in Boğazköy-Hattusha in Turkey, a cuneiform tablet with a previously unknown...

Ancient Jordanian town referred to as Heshbon in the Old Testament provides insight into regional agricultural history

20 January 2022

20 January 2022

The American archaeologist stated that Tell Hisban, located on the Madaba plains of Jordan, represents the “granary of the empires”....

Rock tombs dating back 1,800 years have been discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Blaundus

1 October 2021

1 October 2021

In the ancient city of Blaundus, located in the Ulubey neighborhood of the western Anatolian city of Uşak, 400 rock-cut...

2,300-year-old Punic tomb complex found during works on car park for staff

26 October 2024

26 October 2024

A 2,300-year-old Punic tomb was discovered during work in a car park near Mater Dei Hospital in Msida, Malta. The...

Europe’s oldest grave of a newborn girl found in İtaly

15 December 2021

15 December 2021

An international team of researchers has found Europe’s oldest tomb of a newborn girl, dating back 10,000 years, in Liguria....

A 2700-year-old collection of more than 60 bronze and iron objects found in Bükk in northwestern Hungary

2 October 2024

2 October 2024

An excavation project led by a university team specializing in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Bükk in northwestern Hungary,...

Exploring the magnificent Ancient Rome in 3D

6 February 2022

6 February 2022

History in 3D‘s odyssey to create the most detailed and accurate virtual recreation of ancient Rome as it was in...

İnteresting Relief on the Roman Millstone

20 February 2021

20 February 2021

During the Cambridgeshire A14 road improvement work, workers found an interesting millstone. A large penis was engraved in the Roman-era...

Researcher found the head of the statue of Bacchus, inside a water channel near the ancient city of Cyrene in Libya

31 December 2023

31 December 2023

Libyan Archeology researcher, Issam Menfi found the head of the statue of Bacchus, which dates back to the Greek era,...

Carvings at Göbeklitepe could be World’s Oldest Calendar

6 August 2024

6 August 2024

Experts suggest that markings on a stone pillar at the 12,000-year-old Göbeklitepe archaeological site in Türkiye probably represent the oldest...

Horse cemetery in Westminster revealed as likely resting place for elite imported animals

25 March 2024

25 March 2024

Archaeological analysis of a medieval horse cemetery discovered in London nearly 30 years ago has revealed the international scale of...

Archaeologists Reconstruct the Face of a 7th-Century Anglo-Saxon Woman Buried with “Trumpington Cross”

21 June 2023

21 June 2023

In a remarkable archaeological discovery near Cambridge, England, the face of a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon woman buried with a rare gold...