The Malta Archaeological Society has called on MEPA and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to take the necessary precautions to ensure that ancient rock-cut tombs recently discovered between Bulebel Industrial Estate and Tal-Barrani Road, were carefully excavated and studied.

The tombs were discovered during excavation works in preparation for the building of a private hospital. The presence of ancient tombs in the same area had already been recorded in the 1960s during previous construction activity in the area.

More recently, tombs were discovered some 100 metres away during the rebuilding of Tal-Barrani Road, Prof Anthony Bonanno, vice-president of the society, told timesofmalta.com.

He said that while the site still had to be studied in detail, the tombs could be from the Punic, Roman or early Christian period (500BC to 500 AD).

Normally, he said, such sites were declared as archaeologically sensitive. Such sites, he said, had to be properly monitored without undue pressure and if they merited preservation, they should be preserved.