Excavating Abroad in Malta
A Journey of Curiosity
By Garrett Keenum
On June 11, 2022, I flew across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time to do something I had only ever dreamed of: excavate Roman ruins. Growing up, my favorite movie was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so naturally I expected my archaeological adventure to be full of crumbling catacombs and secret tombs. To my thirteen-year-old self’s horror, and my current relief, I encountered none of those things. Instead, I found something much more exciting- pottery!
When my plane arrived in Malta, Dr. Ben Lowe picked me up and took me to the Hotel Santana in St. Paul’s Bay where the excavation team would be staying. We had a brief intake meeting where the team consisting of volunteers from the United States, the U.K., Australia, Italy, and Malta, had the opportunity to meet each other. After that we were allowed to explore the area until dinner at the hotel. My luggage was delayed in transit, so I took the opportunity to attempt to replace some of my clothes. After my solo adventure, we made our way to the hotel’s restaurant where we would have breakfast and dinner for the duration of the project. After dinner, we had the opportunity for some team-building exercises that helped the participants form more cohesive working relationships.
The next morning, we loaded our charter bus and made our way to the dig site- the Domus Romana- or Roman House. We were given a tour of the already excavated ruins and then shown where each team would be breaking new(ish) ground. The project was to follow up on the research of Sir Temi Zammit, who had excavated the site a century before but left very little documentation. I was assigned to Trench 4C with Krissy, Bonnie, Siobhan, KerriAnn, Carol, and Dr. Lowe. Our trench was located at the base of a Roman wall where Zammit dumped the dirt that he removed. Given that techniques have improved in the last century, we were to comb through this dirt to see if there was anything he missed. After the tour of the site, we were given a tour of Mdina: The Silent City. The hill on which Mdina sits has been continuously inhabited by people since the Bronze Age. In this time, Phoenician, Roman, Arabic, Spanish, French, and English, and finally, Maltese flags have all flown over the Mdina. The fortifications of the city still bear evidence of these occupations, with each modifying and performing restorative work. In 1566, the capital was moved from Mdina to the newly completed city of Valetta, giving Mdina its new nickname.
The next day we began to excavate at 7:00 am. The first step of the process was more or less landscaping. Area 4, where our trench was located, was an overgrown lot, just outside the city walls. We spent the better part of day two pulling weeds and trimming palm trees in order to establish a clear base from which to dig. While we were in the ground-clearing phase, we kept an eye out for any pottery or artifacts that may have been partially visible. This was my favorite part. One of the first things I found was a piece of 13th-century painted pottery. It was incredible to stand there holding a piece of pottery that may not have been handled for 800 years. We worked at the trench site every day until 11:50 am, at which point we would begin to bag and label every artifact we found for transport. This was made humorously complicated by the fact we were in the middle of the religious feast season and fireworks were launched every day at noon. Watching someone get startled while focusing on packaging delicate material was always a welcome sight. At 12:30 pm, we broke for lunch. On the first day, I had one of the best pizzas I have ever had in my life, however on the remaining workdays, our lunchtime was shorter, so I lived almost entirely on strawberry gelato.
After lunch, we would walk to St. Paul’s Catacombs in Rabat. This is where we would clean and measure all of the artifacts (mostly pottery) that we found. During this process, we discovered that our trench had uncovered a piece of Bronze Age pottery (2000 B.C. – 700 B.C.), which was an incredible feeling. We would continue this work until about 3:30 when we would load back onto the buses and return to St. Paul’s Bay. When we returned, our time was our own. During the downtime, I enjoyed spending time at our hotel’s rooftop pool, going to Bugibba Bay to swim in the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea with the rest of the team members, and receiving an intensive on animal safety from my Australian counterparts. At the beginning of the week, I was a nervous wreck. I knew I was going to have a good time, but I fully expected not to talk to anyone. At the end of the week, I felt like I had been there for a month and like I had known my new friends for my entire life. It is incredible what a once-in-a-lifetime experience like that will do for you. I highly encourage anyone to take an opportunity like this if it ever comes along.
Cleaning pottery, Ground clearing at Trench 4B and 4C, Sketching the site, and Sifting material: Courtesy of Intercontinental Archaeology
All other photos: Courtesy of Garrett Keenum
