On the 27th November, 1951, at a little distance outside the ditch which marks the walls of the Roman town of Melita (now Rabat-Mdina), in an area covered with Roman tombs, a huge stone was found measuring 60 in. in length, 27½ in. in height and 19½ in. in breadth (152·4 cm. } 73·6 cm. } 53·3 cm.). It is a funerary altar with a simply decorated mensa and sides. The back has no decoration and its surface is rough. When excavated the altar was found in a place where the rock was cut to allow of its being placed against it and between it and the wall of rock there was an empty space of a little depth, clearly indicating that the space must have been filled by some architectural structure of a nature slight enough to be completely destroyed at a later date.