A harmless family day out “fossil hunting” has had unintended consequences for environment shadow minister Marthese Portelli, who is now being ‘investigated’ by the Superindendant of Cultural Heritage.
Ms Portelli, the Opposition’s lead spokeswoman on the environment, uploaded photos on Facebook of a day spent “excavating” fossils in Baħrija.
But this is prohibited by the Cultural Heritage Act.
The photos depict her son happily chiselling away at the soft limestone landscape along the Baħrija coastline and were uploaded on her personal Facebook page with the caption “snapshots from yesterday – at Baħrija fossil excavation. Breathtaking landscape”.
Superintendant of Cultural Heritage Anthony Pace was asked about the matter by this newspaper after a reader flagged up the pictures and questioned whether the activity was legal. “Fossils are items of geological importance and fall within the meaning of ‘cultural heritage’ as defined in the Cultural Heritage Act. The excavation and recovery of such items are regulated by the law,” said Mr Pace, adding he would be working with other authorities to look into the matter.
We weren’t doing any actual excavation
The Cultural Heritage Act says that any person who wilfully, or through negligence or non-observance of the regulations, causes damage to or destroys any cultural heritage – fossils included – will be liable to a fine of between €1,000 and €100,000. Serious offenders could even end up in prison.
Insisting the day was merely a bit of fun with her son, Ms Portelli said no actual excavation was carried out. Her son had chosen to call the activity fossil hunting and had even picked the photos himself.
“Really what we did was just go out for a walk, and you know how it is with children, they see the limestone and think it’s the place where the dinosaurs are. We didn’t even have the tools for excavation,” she said.
When pointed out that the photos included a hammer and chisel, Ms Portelli laughed off the incident: “We weren’t doing any actual excavation. I was in flip flops.”