What’s up at the Domvs Romana? – An update of the 2025 MCRP excavation season

This event is being presented in collaboration with Heritage Malta.

Lecture by Dr David Cardona
Presenting on behalf of collaborators: Prof. Davide Tanasi, Dr Benedict Lowe, Andrew Wilkinson, Robert Brown.

The 2025 season of the Melite Civitas Romana Project, though limited in duration, yielded discoveries that challenge established narratives and open new avenues for research. This lecture will synthesize the season’s most significant findings across all excavation zones, with particular attention to contexts that produced exceptional material evidence. These results not only refine our understanding of Melite’s urban fabric during the Roman period but also illuminate its diachronic transformations. Crucially, we will interrogate whether current work represents a mere re-examination of earlier excavations or whether it signals a paradigm shift—one that leverages overlooked datasets and emerging methodologies to reconstruct a more nuanced picture of Roman and post-Roman Malta. By situating these findings within broader debates on urbanism and cultural continuity, this presentation aims to demonstrate the project’s potential to redefine regional archaeological frameworks.