Vetri di età bizantina dal Santuario di Tas-Silġ a Malta

The sanctuary of Tas-Silġ represents a unique case in the Mediterranean: frequented for almost 4.000 years without interruption from the Late Neolithic, it was transformed by the Phoenicians into a sanctuary of Astarte and remained so until the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 1st century BC, when the deity venerated was identified with Hera - Juno. In the Byzantine era, a three-nave church with a baptismal font was built in front of the temple. The sanctuary has been investigated by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Malta since 1963. Excavations in this context have yielded glass fragments attributable to beakers, goblets, and hanging lamps. The study is part of the research conducted by the Mission (currently directed by G. Recchia, Sapienza University of Rome) within the PRIN 2022 project “URCHIN - Unravelling changes in island connectivity through integrated studies: the longterm perspective from Malta and the Tas-Silġ sanctuary”.