Sometimes events combine to send a message. Over the past fortnight, three events in the cultural heritage field have occurred that offer cause for hope and concern. Together, they bring home to all that, lying in the ground that we walk on and in the seas that surround us, is a trove of archaeological treasures going back hundreds and, sometimes, thousands of years.

Malta’s proximity to the major civilisations of the central Mediterranean, its involvement in the great conflicts of the region have given us a depth of history and cultural heritage disproportionate to our size. Due to our extraordinary 7,000-year history, we have, after Rome, the largest number of monuments and historic sites worthy of saving per square kilometre. Many of these even enjoy world heritage status.

The future guardianship of these sites rests with all of us. But the administrative guardian and regulator of cultural heritage sites is the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage. In one of the cases which has just arisen, the Superintendent has drawn attention to the need for a proper archaeological evaluation before a planning permit can be given for the building of a petrol station in Magħtab “in an archaeologically sensitive” area that is “surrounded by known ancient tombs, catacombs, cart ruts and other landscape features”.

Coupled with the statement in the environmental impact report that the petrol station was not in line with the planning authority’s own draft policy, it is hoped that the Superintendent will not have to exercise the powers vested in him to stop this project on cultural heritage grounds.

A more encouraging cultural heritage event was the saving of a World War II defence post by heritage NGO Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, which persuaded the authorities to allow them to move the post, keeping it intact, away from the planned route of the new coast road.

Although the defence post is only about 75 years old, it is still a valuable part of Malta’s history and built heritage. It is to FWA’s great credit that they have put resources and much hard voluntary effort into restoring forts and defence structures erected during the British period – a vitally important and interesting period in Malta’s built heritage and recent history.

Last, perhaps the most exciting of recent heritage discoveries, was the 2,700 year-old Phoenician shipwreck found a mile off Gozo in waters 120 metres deep. The Phoenicians, who came originally from the Levant, the area around modern Lebanon, had a great tradition as sailors and traders and, over a 600-year period between 800BC and 218BC, when Malta was under Phoenician dominance, probably came here for trade and farming purposes.

The shipwreck is a most important find which could shed light on shipbuilding 700 years before the birth of Christ. A technical team made up of the Malta University, the Centre de la Recherche Scientifique in France and the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage is developing underwater photogrammetry to recreate a detailed, high resolution three-dimensional model of the site.

Although the case of the heritage threat to the site at Magħtab, the saving of the World War II defence post on the coast road and the 2,700 year-old Phoenician shipwreck are separated in time and historical importance by centuries, together they underline the crucial need to safeguard the rich cultural objects on land and in our waters for world posterity.

It is incumbent on all of us to protect what our ancestors left behind on this historic island, whether they are 100 or 3,000 years old.

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