The Maltese Islands are home to some of the world’s oldest prehistoric temples. Unfortunately, continuous exposure to the elements causes these Temples to suffer from ongoing stone degradation. The MEGALITH project builds on recent efforts to understand, and hopefully help mitigate, these environmental impacts by generating simulations that allow the team to combine meteorological effects and resulting stone degradation on these sites. Mnajdra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was chosen as a case study for this project.

The project received funding in November 2023, building on conservation-focused studies that have been conducted over many years by the same group, and others, in collaboration with Heritage Malta and Italian colleagues. ‘Currently, the Temples are covered with a shelter that protects from rain, provides shading, and reduces temperature fluctuations between day and night. However, the researchers understand that the sites are also exposed to other environmental elements, particularly wind, which can cause erosion and instigate salt damage,’ explains Prof. Ing. Daniel Micallef from the Department of Environmental Design.

While we are usually able to forecast large-scale weather conditions from weather stations, the goal of this research is to simulate what occurs inside the Temples under different wind conditions. This is particularly valuable as the proximity of Mnajdra to the cliff means that the wind generally carries sea salt from the sea, triggering and exacerbating existing problems. ‘We are going to feed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model with simulation and climatic data from satellite and ground data to observe local conditions around and inside the Temples,’ elaborates Micallef.

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The MEGALITH Project is funded by MCST’s Fusion R&I Research Excellence Programme (REP-2023-031).

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