DID I ALREADY TELL YOU THIS?...

Our trip to Venice overshadowed our excursion to a Roman Bath excavation site here in Malta the first weekend in June.  Here we are going into the last week and a half of the month.

Mike and I arranged for a driver to pick us up at 06:45 and drive us to the far side of the Island to an archaeological site to participate in  the work there.   I planned our lunch for the day of cold leftover 'baked macaroni' from the previous nights dinner, a very typical Maltese item for a picnic or workman's lunch.   We had packed the lunch and lots of water of course, sunscreen, hats, but we are novices remember,  and the archaeologist did give us an odd look, then  suggested we try to find a spot to hang our bag high off the ground.  (o.k., where?) We tried to hook it on the fence, but when I retrieved our water bottle I just set it down on the top of the limestone wall.  Can you say dum,dum? 

We had a wonderful tour of the whole site and learned quite a bit about the Roman ritual of bathing, slaves and all.  The beauty and craftsmanship of the  lozenges of marble making up the walkways was still very evident.  It is now covered to protect it from the elements.  They knew how to waterproof the baths made of the limestone here in Malta with mortar which is still intact on many sections of the pool walls.  We walked the same paths and stood on stone thresholds used  by the Romans in 60-70 AD.  The site was discovered in the early 1940's before the wars when the British were wanting to provide water to the British barracks and knew of the well on this property. They didn't know what was on the site until they started excavating.  Thankfully, the work stopped, but with the wars and lack of funding to continue the archaeological work which was started then left areas exposed to the elements and of course further deterioration.  Now, work has begun again. 

So enter the Pooles, along with 6 other like minded individuals.  We were taught how to scrape away the dirt and to hand anything we found that looked a bit unusual to our supervising archaeologist.  Mike found a bit of clay pottery, that was very exciting, some other substance that was thought to be mortar.  Every stone he found he was handing over, in hopes it was more mortar or pottery shard!  It became quite a joke.  Another participant, an Italian gal, found blue and white china bits and also a few of the lozenges used on the walkway.  I found a piece of cinder but had handled it with my hands turning it over and around to see if it was something other than a stone. We will never know if it was from a Roman fire to heat the bath water or some ash that was thrown on the ground from a British bonfire or a farmers brush fire on this site, as handling it contaminates it for Carbon testing.  (we were never told).  So sorry :((. 



could it be?

Lets take a closer look (Mike right background)

One young gal, Lucy from the U.K.  now  living in Malta found  a coin and we were so excited for her. Was it? Could it be?  We were all hopeful.  It looked really old, a bit smaller than current currency and there was definitely a head struck on the coin.  A Roman emperor perhaps? OOO, she and the archaeologist went away for a closer look, yes, it was a head, yes it was royal, the royal Elizabeth!  Oh well, we got a bit of a rush if only for a moment.  She was able to keep the coin I believe. 

Our time quickly came to a close and our driver was back, said our goodbyes and started off.  Well, we noticed that there were tiny ants on the floor.  Why were there ants in the van, never saw them before (we use this mini bus to get to church each week) On second look, they were all over our bag, hundreds, millions and millions. Inside! Look inside! Yes, look at them all.  Mike and I had a bit of a chuckle in the back of the van and tried to be discreet in stomping as many of them as we could before the whole van was infested.  We kept the rest contained in the bag until we reached my cousins home and emptied the bag and all it's contents outside before entering the flat.  So much for my well planned lunch!  It was a wonderful day all 'round...and I'd love to do it again.