The Żejtun Roman Villa: A Digital Presentation – Ruben Abela

THE ŻEJTUN ROMAN VILLA

A Digital Presentation

By Ruben Abela

The remains of the Żejtun Roman Villa lie on the highest point of a long, somewhat flat ridge that stretches for about one kilometre roughly in an east-west direction. This point is located close to the east end of the ridge. Beyond Triq Dun Lawrenz Degabriele that borders the Żejtun secondary school grounds on the east side, this ridge starts dipping rather rapidly towards Tas-Silġ and Delimara, along the road leading to those destinations. The ridge dips slightly less rapidly to the north, beyond Triq Luqa Briffa, and even less rapidly to the south, beyond the Żejtun bypass (Triq il-President Anton Buttigieg), while it maintains more or less the same altitude to the west up to Bir id-Deheb from where the ground starts rising again towards Gudja and the parish church of Ħal Għaxaq.

The ground level of the remains of the Villa lies approximately 60 m above sea level, a few metres higher than that of the old parish church of Santa Katerina (the present St Gregory’s church) and considerably higher than that of the present Żejtun parish church.

People who lived close by and were familiar with the area later occupied by the school all stated that no signs of the presence of ancient remains were apparent in these fields before 1961, when ‘traces of masonry and some pottery came to light’ during soil clearance works for the building of a new school for the village. The Museums Department was called in to investigate, but the remains were then deemed to be ‘slight’ and no further action was taken.

3D digital reconstruction of the Roman Villa in Żejtun

Wirt iż-Żejtun has created a website dedicated totally to the Żejtun Roman Villa. Its aim is to create awareness of and to share information about this important archaeological site located within the town of Żejtun in south-east Malta – the name which it got from the olive itself.

The main source of the information being shared on this platform is the publication The Żejtun Roman Villa: Research, Conservation, Management, published by Wirt iż-Żejtun following a symposium held in 2012. The publication includes twelve papers which were presented by researchers and academics.

A virtual reconstruction of the Żejtun Roman Villa is also presented on this platform. This virtual model, together with an animated video describing the olive-pressing process in Roman times, were produced by Wirt iż-Żejtun with the direct assistance and contribution of a number of academics from the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta and the senior curator of Punic, Roman and Early Medieval sites at Heritage Malta. These productions were co-financed by the European Union through the LEADER project managed by the Gal Xlokk Foundation.

The website reproduces extracts from the paper ‘The Żejtun Roman Villa: Past and present excavations of a multi-purpose site’ by Professor Anthony Bonanno and Professor Nicholas C. Vella from the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta. This paper was presented in the symposium referred to above and is the introductory paper to the publication The Żejtun Roman Villa: Research, Conservation, Management. It gives insight into the way that the site was discovered and the early excavation projects carried out on the site spanning between 1964 and 1977. It also gives a detail account of the excavations carried out by the Department of Classics and Archaeology between 2006 and 2018. The latter intended to assess and record the remains uncovered in 1964 and in the 1970s and other data arising from new excavations at the site. In addition, the fieldwork provided undergraduate students reading for a degree in Archaeology at the University of Malta with the practical skills related to excavation, including on-site recording. A series of preliminary observations are shared by Professor Bonanno, who also refers to important finds which were discovered at this site, while Professor Vella explains in detail the University of Malta excavation project, with particular reference to the excavations held between 2006 and 2012.

The main feature of this website is the 3D digital reconstruction of the Villa itself. The layout of the Villa was reconstructed from the ACAD drawing produced by Dario Nigro, and edited by Dr Maxine Anastasi in 2014 under the direction of Dr Ing. John C. Betts, head of the Department of Classics and Archaeology, Professor Anthony Bonanno, Professor Nicholas Vella and Dr Maxine Anastasi. This virtual reconstruction was possible through a continuous consultation process with Dr Maxine Anastasi and David Cardona, senior curator for Punic, Roman and Early Medieval Sites at Heritage Malta. The model depicts the villa as it presumably was in the third and fourth centuries AD. The reconstruction was mainly based on what was found through archaeological excavations, however some extrapolations and suppositions based on other archaeological sites from the same period, found in Malta and the Mediterranean region, were carried out in order to complete the model. A decision was taken to not include furniture within the Villa, since no tangible evidence of this was ever found. The digital model was produced by Martin Bonnici of Shadeena Entertainment, assisted by Perit Bernice Casha.

The website also features an animation of olive pressing, produced by Studio 7. Animations are liked not only by younger audiences, but are also interesting to adults. This animation takes the audience to Roman times and precisely to the Żejtun Roman Villa and its olive groves. It describes the whole process of olive oil production, as it is thought to have taken place during this period and also highlights the social hierarchy which existed. The process starts from the picking up of olives and ends with the transportation of its main product—pure olive oil. It places the Żejtun Roman Villa in what is believed to have been its geographical and topographical context in the Classical period. The animation is in Maltese with English subtitles.

A documentary about the Żejtun Roman Villa, produced in 2012 and which formed an integral part of an exhibition on the Żejtun Roman Villa, curated by Wirt iż-Żejtun,during the Żejt iż-Żejtun folklore festival held in September that year, is also hosted on this platform. The production gives an overview of the geographical, topographical and cultural setting of the Villa. The link between land and sea is an integral part of this setting. The video documents and describes a number of archaeological sites which have been discovered in south-east Malta, giving a historical context to the Żejtun Roman Villa. The documentary includes an interview with two key academics and archaeologists who studied this site, Professor Anthony Bonanno and Professor Nicholas Vella. n

THE URL OF THE WEBSITE IS: https://thezejtunromanvilla.com/

Studying the site

The main feature of this website is the 3D digital reconstruction of the Villa.

Perit Ruben Abela is a conservation architect. He has worked in the fields of planning, environment and heritage, and today is a manager at Heritage Malta where he is responsible for restoration and conservation projects. For the last thirty years, he has been involved in the voluntary sector and was founder of the non-governmental organisation Wirt iż-Żejtun.