Whereas his studies on the conservation of ancient wooden structures won him international acclaim, his decades-long research on the Prehistoric Megalithic Temples of the Maltese Islands is possibly less well known. Gennaro Tampone passed away in February 2018, after a lifetime dedicated to studies on historic structures, their technology and their conservation. All this information will be integrated with the results of in situ analyses to identify the causes of material deterioration and possibly mitigate against them. The final goal is to find confident correlations between CFD, and representative areas selected within the Temples showing particular deterioration patterns. Mesoscale modelling represents the Temple structures in a more detailed way. The macroscale model represents the regional environment, including the all-terrain features around the Temples. For the CFD, macro and meso scale approaches will be used. The aim of using CFD on the Temples is to provide detailed information on how different environmental conditions can affect the sites. To understand how the shelters are affecting these structures, a research programme has started aimed at analysing, through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the environmental data collected over a period of more than ten years. Environmental monitoring, condition assessments and biological surveys of the three sites took place before and after sheltering and are still in progress. direct rainfall, surface weathering, thermal stress).
Therefore, three of these sites, the Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien Temples, were protected by open-sided shelters, to address some of the principal causes of deterioration (e.g. Since their excavation, a number of the sites listed as part of "The Megalithic Temples of Malta" inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list have been afflicted by material and structural problems, including collapses. This paper should help define the parameters for such a decision to take place. The decision whether a shelter is desirable, and what its performance requirements should be, may only be taken in the context of such a strategy. The foremost consideration is that every site requires a site-specific strategy tailored to its needs. These projects is then used to inform a checklist of key considerations for anyone considering whether to shelter an archaeological site. As more experience and data are accumulated from different sheltering projects, it will become more feasible to establish performance indicators in advance of a sheltering intervention, on the basis of which to evaluate its performance. However well-designed, needs to be open to re-evaluation and revision where needed. The choice and number of environmental parameters to be monitored need to be informed by a careful consideration of their sustainability, both in terms of equipment and human resources. One key lesson is that the microenvironment in a newly-sheltered site is at a transitional stage that does not necessarily reflect longer-term trends, which therefore require long-term monitoring to be understood. A number of lessons learnt through this process are then identified. An evidence-based summary of the beneficial effects of the shelters is provided, and the possibility of any harmful effects discussed. The performance of the shelters is then examined, through a critical review of unpublished reports and published studies.
The process through which the design requirements for the shelters were defined is reviewed. A key component of this strategy was the installation of protective shelters over three of the main megalithic sites. These structures, and the strategy that was developed in response, are outlined. The recognition during the late twentieth century of these issues as key factors in the deterioration of Causes identified specifically included fluctuating environmental conditions: wetting and drying cycles and thermal fluctuations, combined with the salt-laden Mediterranean island environment. The conservation threats to the Megalithic Temples of Malta are introduced and defined-these range from material issues (loss of surface) to structural issues (cracking and dislodgement of stones leading to structural instability and collapses).
The purpose of this paper is to review the performance of the protective shelters installed over three archaeological sites in Malta over the past decade, and to draw some key lessons learnt that may be useful to others when considering whether to adopt a similar solution.
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