• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
• Publications close
• Other research products close
• MT close
• English close

The promontory of Ras il-Pellegrin, located in the northwestern part of Malta, is nowadays an isolated,yet archaeologically rich site. The few archaeological studies on this promontory and in the surrounding area indicate an interesting prehistoric use for two principal activities: procurement of chert from the exposed Middle Globigerina levels and bay access. Through the analysis of the lithic assemblage from the site, this study attempts to provide a glimpse on the movement of raw materials and the exploitation of the local chert through a site-landscape relation. N/A

This catalogue was compiled as part of the MaltaPot project at the University of Malta. This project aims to understand better the pottery manufactured in Neolithic Malta, mainly dating to the Għar Dalam, Skorba (Early Neolithic), and Zebbuġ (Late Neolithic) periods. This catalogue will be associated with a submitted paper reviewing the Pre-Temple Wares in Malta and will be released concomitantly to the paper if accepted. This document is a PDF; the data and photographs can be accessed by contacting the authors. This catalogue was compiled in 2023. Data collection was carried out between 2018-2020 and 2023. This catalogue was compiled in 2023. Data collection was carried out between 2018-2020 and 2023. 

For decades technology has strived to provide an alternative virtual representation of heritage, and in recent years technology has become so powerful and accessible that is has supported an increasing trend in the creation and consumption of virtual heritage. Google Arts and Culture has contributed to this digitisisation drive. The trend, though evident before the Covid-19 pandemic, registered an acceleration as heritage institutions could only provide online and virtual heritage experiences during the mandatory lockdowns. This paper presents the results of applied research on Google Arts and Culture Wonders of Malta and a cinematic VR production of a World War II air-raid shelter in Malta. Students at the Institute of Tourism Studies, Malta, participated and contributed to the analysis of the educational potential of this virtual heritage. Results show that the VR experience of Google Arts and Culture Wonders of Malta is rather limited in terms of presence and engagement, while the air-raid shelter cinematic VR successfully addressed some of these issues. However, the phygital experience, i.e. a visit to the physical site and the virtual reality experience of the same site, is the preferred combination for students. peer-reviewed

This catalogue was compiled as part of the MaltaPot project at the University of Malta. This project aims to understand better the nature of the materials used in Neolithic Malta, mainly dating to the Għar Dalam, Skorba (Early Neolithic), and Zebbuġ (Late Neolithic) phases. This catalogue presents sherds from the Għar Dalam and Skorba phases, photographs, microphotographs, and descriptions of sherds and their archaeological contexts. This catalogue was prepared thanks to the information from the National Museum of Archaeology (NMA), Malta, and the FRAGSUS project. The project used multiple techniques to characterise the pottery sherds, such as microscopy, polarised light microscope, X-Ray Fluorescence or X-Ray Diffraction. Although the results of these analyses await publication, this catalogue presents the sherds which were analysed using these destructive techniques to provide comparative material whilst safeguarding information about the characteristics of these sherds which have been partially destroyed. Data collection was carried out between 2018-2020 and 2023. This catalogue was compiled in 2023. This document is a PDF document; to access the original photographs and data, please email the authors. For more Għar Dalam phase photos see: https://zenodo.org/record/7941624#.ZGW8v3ZBw2w

This collection of photographs was compiled as part of the MaltaPot project at the University of Malta. This project aims to enhance the understanding of pottery technology and provenancein Neolithic Malta, mainly dating to the Għar Dalam, Skorba (Early Neolithic), and Zebbuġ (Late Neolithic) phases. This collection presents sherds from the Skorba phase, photographs, and microphotographs and lists their archaeological contexts and form. This collection was prepared thanks to the information from the National Museum of Archaeology (NMA), Malta, and the FRAGSUS project. The project used multiple techniques to characterise the pottery sherds, such as microscopy, polarised light microscope, X-Ray Fluorescence or X-Ray Diffraction. This collection presents the sherds not analysed using these destructive techniques, although they had a section ground flat for microphotography. Data collection was carried out between 2018-2020 by Dr Brogan. The document was compiled by 2023 Ms Richard-Trémeau. Photographs can be used if credited. This upload contains a PDF document and two zip files with the macroscopic photograph (Exterior surface) and the microphotographs. This upload complements the upload MaltaPot Għar Dalam photograph collection (MPotPhotosGD2023v1); 10.5281/zenodo.7941624

This collection of photographs was compiled as part of the MaltaPot project at the University of Malta. This project aims to enhance the understanding of pottery technology and provenancein Neolithic Malta, mainly dating to the Għar Dalam, Skorba (Early Neolithic), and Zebbuġ (Late Neolithic) phases. This collection presents sherds from the Għar Dalam phase, photographs, and microphotographs and lists their archaeological contexts and form. This collection was prepared thanks to the information from the National Museum of Archaeology (NMA), Malta, and the FRAGSUS project. The project used multiple techniques to characterise the pottery sherds, such as microscopy, polarised light microscope, X-Ray Fluorescence or X-Ray Diffraction. This collection presents the sherds which were not analysed using these destructive techniques, although they had a section ground flat for microphotography. Data collection was carried out between 2018-2020 by Dr Brogan. The document was compiled by 2023 Ms Richard-Trémeau. Photographs can be used if credited. This upload contains a PDF document and two zip files with the macroscopic photograph (Exterior surface) and the microphotographs. 

Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste is a priority waste stream due to the substantial amounts of such waste generated. There is a high potential for reuse and recycling of waste and byproducts. The Construction and Demolition Waste Strategy for Malta supports the transition towards a more circular economy and closes the loop of construction products life cycle. The quality of recycling and recovery of this waste stream needs to be improved, for market conditions to be developed to increase the demand for secondary raw materials. The paper reviews the strategic framework leading to the design, development and eventual implementation of National Standards for Excavation, Construction and Demolition Waste in Malta. The Standards presented, consist of two complimentary documents, developed to cover deconstruction, excavation and classification of waste and recycled aggregate. Standard SM810—Recycling-oriented Deconstruction, Controlled Excavation Works and Classification of Waste: Requirements for planning and execution, sets to prioritise the reduction of waste generation and highlights the importance of saving raw material resources. Standard SM820—Classification of Recycled Aggregate, sets out technical engineering attributes for the classification of waste aggregate, enabling its exploitation as a resource. A regulatory and legislative framework was developed for the implementation of the Standards. This important development sets the scene for the effective implementation of Circular Economy in the Construction Industry in the Maltese Islands. peer-reviewed

International audience; In 2019, thanks to a grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, the Centre Camille Jullian team has undertaken a project in order to complete the study and publish the iconic excavation of the Madrague de Giens wreck, almost fifty years after the first dives on the site. Indeed, if the first campaigns have been published in a monography in 1978, the data from the last five years of excavations remain either unpublished or scattered in various articles.The resumption of the study therefore corresponds to a collective will to publish an important and unseen part of the documentation while seeking to complete both the study of the cargo and the reconstruction of the ship. First of all, it was necessary to carry out a complete study of the small ceramic material, which had not been studied in depth previously, beginning with the crew belongings to end with the important quantity of tableware transported alongside the amphorae. In parallel to this ceramic study, it seemed necessary to precisely relocate all these discoveries on the wreck in order to perceive specific areas within the cargo, dedicated to certain amphorae or to other goods, as well to distinguish particular spaces on the ship such as the kitchen, characterised by the discovery of several fragments of a bread oven. In order to improve this recontextualization we have produced a GIS including all the elements of the cargo, which is based both on the documentation of the time, but also on a new 3D photogrammetry of the wreck calculated from the stereophotographic coverage done during the excavation. It is this same photogrammetry that should allow us, in the end, to complete the architectural study and to reintegrate the cargo into the final 3D reconstruction of the ship.

This paper identifies an early sixteenth-century Renaissance marble pedestal that was in a Maltese private collection which has since been donated to the church it was originally commissioned for. The pedestal portrays three scenes in relief relating to the iconography of St Mary Magdalene. Executed in Carrara marble, it is here being associated with a full-length Carrara marble sculpture portraying St Mary Magdalene in the Franciscan Minor’s church of Santa Maria di Gesù in Rabat, Malta. The sculpture has been linked with the oeuvre of followers of the Sicilian school of the Palermitan sculptor Antonello Gagini who was active in Messina for a decade between 1497 and 1507, but it has recently been identified as a work by the Carrarese sculptor who was active in Messina, Giovan Battista Mazzolo. This paper therefore discusses the sculpture and pedestal together as a whole work of art as well as the attribution to Mazzolo. peer-reviewed

Inspired by Les Halles Centrales, Paris, the 19th-century Valletta Market served as a blueprint for similar structures in Europe and elsewhere. This remnant of British Colonial architecture, located in the capital of mainland Malta, underwent a number of alterations from 1945 until the early 1980s. The first was a reduction in the length of the structure due to damage sustained in the Blitz of the Second World War, followed by a series of transformations of the internal layout in the 1980s, which impacted on the spirit and feel of the building. Extensive restoration of the building was undertaken over the years 2016-17 and the building was reopened as food court in the beginning of 2018, the year when Valletta was the European Capital for Culture. A critical assessment of the restoration works indicates that although new interventions did comply with the scientific rigour envisaged by contemporary conservation and practice, the cultural significance of this building was in some ways tampered with. peer-reviewed