In 870AD the Byzantine city of Melita (covering a good part of modern Mdina and Rabat) had just surrendered to the besieging Arabs. After a two-year siege its fortifications were largely intact as the Arabs had bid their time and let the people starve into surrender.
This was the third army that had besieged it; two entire armies had been wiped out by the tenacious defenders. This army was to meet a similar fate. It was wiped out by Greek troops hidden within the town.
A new army besieged and completely destroyed the city of Melita. The area was largely uninhabited for at least 180 years. The massive derelict towers, possibly as much as 20 to 30 metres high, watched over a devastated landscape.
A good part of what remains of that city is today buried under two to three metres of “Tell” material. An archaeological paradise that speaks to us from the past, telling us unrecounted stories of a history, we know so little about.
The Roman ditch, some 30 metres wide, and circa 10 metres in depth, is the major surviving feature of this city.
Today it is covered up by a major road (Santa Rita). Surviving fields and buildings around are supposedly “buffer zones” protected for their archaeological content. Running at a depth of 12 metres within these buffer zones there is a Roman aqueduct system (spieri) with rectangular wells (putei).
Closer to the surface, at a depth of 1.8 metres, there is a collection of massive rock-hewn cisterns (10m x 8mx 3m). Medieval documents speak of 21 such cisterns and other “caves”, turned into chapels.
Up to date, after prolonged personal studies and exploration, only eight of these have been identified. Preserved within private cellars, underground shops and restaurant sites, running along the whole of the former Roman ditch from ta’ Casha Chapel up to ta’ Saura Street, these elements remain largely unrecorded.
Because of their size each “cistern” runs simultaneously underneath numerous properties. Most property owners are unaware of their existence, and the hazards they present.
Unfortunately, the all important “buffer zone” is under threat because of inconsiderate developments.
In 2011, a large tract of land, close to Ta’ Casha Chapel, was given the green light for development. The destruction of archaeological material was shocking. Rock cutting was allowed on site, destroying the water system and other archaeological traces. At present only a small area of the ditch, running from just behind the parish church to Ta’ Saura Street, remains.
It is necessary to go one step back and reflect on what we are losing in this ‘development’ process
Even this oasis is presently under threat, as are the lives of local residents on St Francis Lane and Guzmana Navarra Street and lanes. The recent discovery of yet another “cave/chapel system”, measuring 16 x 5 metres, within a private residence, makes it all the more urgent that development in the area should be curtailed, and that proper studies be conducted.
Another serious issue relates to the geology of the Rabat plateau: Rabat and Mdina are built upon a massive clay layer. A layer of limestone (some five to 10 metres thick) sits on top of it.
This geological combination is the reason why the region was inhabited through the ages; a water abundant region. The limestone layer is mostly dug into bycisterns and water systems that make the area similar to Swiss cheese. On top of this, in places, there is a three to five-metre layer of loose soil and debris (“Tell”). These were created by the destruction of the Phoenician town, the Roman-Byzantine city, and the Knights’ 17th century landscaping.
Some limestone areas are composed of good solid rock, but at other points the geology is fissured and of a very weak combination. The area around St Francis lane and Guzmana Navarra Street are made up of this soluble, fractured material, with “caves” and World War II shelters hewn through it.
Apart from my personal research and on-site observations, no serious, hands-on, geological survey has been conducted, only a partial, admittedly “desktop” statement, has been produced. This is a very serious lacuna.
Construction stability issues have plagued the Rabat-Mdina “Tell” through the ages, the oldest proof coming from Notary Caxaro’s 15th century poem. It relates to the ruinous collapse of his newly built property within Mdina.
It is necessary to go one step back and reflect on what we are losing in this “development” process!
Is it not the right time to have these last vestiges of a long lost culture/civilisation saved through the intervention of the State?
Should not the remaining Roman ditch and “buffer zones” be bought out by Heritage Malta?
I am convinced that it is practically the only solution remaining.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece