Ta' Kaċċatura

Ta' Kaccatura is an archaeological complex on the outskirts of Birzebbuga, southern Malta, featuring a rustic Roman villa and underground cisterns. The villa, built around a peristyle courtyard with twelve Coralline Limestone columns, confirms a thriving olive oil industry during the Punic and Roman periods. Some structures use opus africanum technique linked to Phoenician and Punic building traditions from Carthage. A major rock-cut cistern preserves the only surviving Roman concrete roof on the island, with visible reed impressions from its construction. The site was cleared by Thomas Ashby in 1915, who published findings in the Journal of Roman Studies.