Roman Malta has been the subject of numerous historical and archaeological studies since the seventeenth century. However, the lack of documented excavations and the restricted number of sites – particularly those within the boundaries of the two main Roman towns – meant that numerous grey areas persist in our understanding of the islands under Roman rule, regardless of how many studies have been done so far. This article attempts to provide an overview of past works, studies and a discussion of the known consensus on knowledge of sites, populations and economies. This in an attempt to provide a clear picture of what we know (and what we do not) about Roman Malta. Finally, I will comment on current and new research and projects which are being carried out by various local entities and foreign institutions to enhance our knowledge of this very important historic era for the Maltese islands. This culminates into a proposal for the use of a predictive model that may help us identify new sites and, consequently, provide new data on this phase.

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Multidisciplinary remote sensing surveying techniques were employed at the site of Abbatija tad-Dejr Catacombs in Rabat (Malta) as part of a collaborative research project of University of South Florida's Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx) and Heritage Malta aimed to map the complex for interpretation and conservation purposes and to assess the eventual presence of further hypogea in the areas surrounding the site. In this study, terrestrial laser scanning and hand-held digital photogrammetry were employed to map the entire complex in 3D and digitize specific architectural and artistic features found in the Catacomb I, in particular. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) were used to verify the presence of hypogeal structures and tombs and the preliminary results have showed how the prospection has identified anomalies of possible relevant archaeological interest.

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This study presents the results of a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) investigation combined with a photogrammetric survey of a small archaeological site in Rabat, Malta. The investigation was conducted in preparation for small but challenging road infrastructure works in view of the surrounding archaeologically rich landscape. This area is characterized by a significant concentration of Punico-Roman tombs and more extensive hypogea datable to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. GPR survey shows anomalies in the form of elongated patterns, some of which aligned to a number of blocked entrances discovered during an archaeological investigation of the site carried out prior to the GPR survey. These anomalies are being interpreted as underground passages, known as ambulacra, of a previously undocumented Late Roman hypogeum. The newly discovered underground passages were mapped out in the obtained 3D photogrammetric model and orthophoto. Both results were plotted and analyzed together in 2D and 3D environments.