Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) strongly condemns the destruction of prehistoric remains at the Sta Verna Temple area in Xaghra, which was scheduled in 1932.

In a statement on Tuesday, the NGO said that residents and FAA have been making reports about the bones being unearthed in the excavation works to build houses on the site, “however in spite of clear photographic evidence, these reports were ignored and topsoil continued to be removed and dumped.”

According to FAA, “the official archaeologists entrusted with monitoring the building site did not report the prehistoric remains, and as a result, findings were bulldozed without a trace, and the works caused the collapse of the roof of one of the caves.”

However, FAA said that journalist Victor P Borg has now revealed a full report by one of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) archaeologists, Bernardette Mercieca-Spiteri, re investigations on the development area carried out in May and June 2023 -which describes a “burial pit” dating to the “temple period” where seven skulls were found laid out in a row: “Some of the skulls were positioned inside other broken skulls”. “This has been interpreted as an intentional and careful arrangement of human remains carried out in prehistoric times” indicating ritual use of the site, she said.

FAA asserted that “this report indicating the presence of the remains was not transmitted to the Planning Authority or the general public and the SCH made no mention of the existence of prehistoric caves and pits touching the present building site,” which were “found to be full of soil containing different human bones, animal bones and pottery shards.”

FAA added that this also confirms the findings of Professor Caroline Malone who led the FRAGSUS archaeological studies re the caves in the area: “These became an underground collective tomb, the excavated parts of which yielded the remains of hundreds of individuals, … accompanied by a wealth of artefacts, including sculptures, figurines, pendants and beads, some objects being made of exotic stone, as well as large quantities of pottery.”

Even more significantly: “work on two temple sites, Skorba and Santa Verna, which overlie an earlier Neolithic settlement, has revealed levels relating to the much earlier pre-temple cultural phases, which will provide firmer evidence for the earliest history of human occupation on the islands”

FAA said that in 2013 a PC (PC040/2013) application for re-zoning of the area in preparation for this large building project was approved, “also based on erroneous reporting that the area was not archaeologically rich.”

The latest application in the area is for a row of 11 residences built over four floors by developer Thomas Grech, a manager of PRA Construction Ltd, a company owned by Joseph Portelli and two of his Gozitan partners, FAA said.

The NGO noted that Thomas Grech had also been the applicant for a block of 54 flats at Ta Zejta being developed by Joseph Portelli and his partners.

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar insisted that it is “essential to suspend all works until professional archaeological excavations are carried out and that a thorough inquiry should be carried out to investigate this cover-up.”

It is outrageous that “evidence for the earliest history of human occupation on the islands” should be “destroyed in order to build yet more apartment blocks to enrich developers and ruin Gozo,” stated FAA.

Photos FAA: Heavy machinery collapsed cave roof; collapsed cave; and bones on site

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