A Valletta museum unveils an ancient Phoenician sarcophagus

A Phoenician stone sarcophagus excavated last year at Għajn Klieb, on the outskirts of Rabat, is one of the major attractions at an exhibition which has just been inaugurated at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

The exhibition brings to light the results of months of painstaking studies by a multidisciplinary team researching the sarcophagus and two other tombs discovered in the area, as well as their contents.

The three tombs, although inherently different, shed light on the burial rituals of the earliest Phoenicians on the island, Heritage Malta said.

Sarcophagi are coffins made of stone or terracotta and are exceptionally rare finds in Maltese archaeology, so much so that the previous discovery happened some 300 years ago.

The exhibition will run until October 30. Photo: Heritage Malta

The sarcophagus featured in the exhibition was found by accident in a rock-cut tomb during road trenching works in 2001.

At the time, the decision was taken to preserve it by leaving it in its original findspot.

But in 2020, increased development pressures to improve infrastructural services in the area led to the decision to investigate the tomb.

A joint collaboration between...