Hey fellow travelers! Today's adventure takes us once again to the Mediterranean country of Malta, where various sites across the islands display an odd tangle of ancient grooves in the rock, thought to have been created by carts or sledges.
The exact nature of these cart ruts remains a mystery, especially since some of them lead directly into the sea--perhaps hailing back to a time when sea levels were lower? Or perhaps because whatever was being transported by cart or sledge was later loaded onto sea-going vessels?
Who knows?
Most historians agree the cart ruts originated around 2000 BC, at the beginning of Malta's Bronze Age.
These photos are from a couple of trips I took with a friend to visit the cart ruts in two locations. Enjoy!
San Ġwann
The San Ġwann cart ruts are situated right in the middle of a residential area, as you can see.
Saxifrage is my flower that splits the rocks. ~William Carlos Williams
Clapham Junction
Near the west coast, a large area covered with cart ruts is known as Clapham Junction, named by an Englishman after the busy London railway station.
There's also an ancient stone quarry nearby--perhaps a clue as to what was being transported?
What do you think was going on in ancient Malta to create these cart ruts?
Those are very cool pictures!
Some look like erosion, but then you see the ones that are the same width apart from beginig to end. That’s crazy.
I would think if the carts where heavy enough to make ruts they must have had something heavy. Like in the last photo, it looks like blocks where cut out. Maybe they moved the blocks on the carts, that would explain the deep ruts.
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Yeah, that does seem like a viable explanation. :) It would be interesting to know if stone samples from this area showed up anywhere else in the world, hinting at exportation...
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