Agricultural activity on Mount Sciberras

I refer to the item Mount Sciberras Was Arable Land (January 4). Readers may be interested to learn that well before the archaeological investigations at St George's Square started, historians have been well aware that the site of Mount Sciberras contained a number of cultivated fields which were mentioned by both John Attard Montalto in his book The Nobles of Malta (Malta, 1979) and by Roger de Giorgio in his book A City by an Order.

According to these authors, the names of some of these fields were given in the will of a certain Franquino Xiberras which was registered in the acts of notary Cumbo in 1502 when they were bequeathed to third parties.

The intensity of the agricultural activity associated with these fields is not documented but it is, in my opinion, speculative and sensational to state that the Mount Sciberras was the site of "intense, ancient and mediaeval agricultural activity", given its exposure to prevailing winds and to corsair attack at a time when Malta was described as "rock in the middle of the sea, far away from help and comfort".

The decision of the Order of St John to transform Mount Sciberras into a city-fortess was primarily a military decision based on geographical/strategic considerations and cannon range calculations - with St George's Square constituting its main piazza d'armi, as was recommended in contemporary books on military theory and practice.