A sketch book by Filippo Vassallo

Figure 1: Filippo Vassallo (on right with top hat) at Ħaġar Qim c. 1895 (National Museum of Archaeology, Heritage Malta).

By: Anton Bugeja

A sketch book by Filippo Vassallo is a primary source for late nineteenth-century documentation of archaeological sites in the Maltese Islands. Other than revealing the documentation process behind the first plan of St Paul’s Catacombs (Malta), the extensive use of surveying and the attention for detail make the sketch book an important witness to the evolving contemporary Maltese recording of archaeological finds. It also throws light on how A. A. Caruana’s 1898 book on Maltese ancient burial sites was put together.

Malta Archaeological Review 2022, issue 13, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2023.1
Received: 8 November 2022 | Accepted: 1 June 2023 | Published online: 10 October 2023