{"id":57534,"date":"2023-01-24T08:34:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T08:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/?p=57534"},"modified":"2023-04-05T08:22:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:22:17","slug":"archive-7256","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/archive-7256\/","title":{"rendered":"Archive 7256 *"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is the text only of a chapter \u00a0“THE WAGON RUTS (Cart-Ruts)” in the book ” The Stone Age Temples of Malta – and its Antediluvian Culture ” by Joseph S. Ellul.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Fig. 1<\/strong>\u00a0These sketches show in detail how the specific patterns of the cart ruts came about.<\/p>\n

In addition to their constructions, the Pre-Diluvian people left a network of “wagon tracks” in the rock surface of\u00a0Malta<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0A possible proof of the fact that these people no longer roamed about randomly, but already had a planned traffic.\u00a0The rock tracks are designed in such a way that carts could drive over them.<\/p>\n

Sir Temi commented on the tracks: ”\u00a0The only reasonable explanation is that the tracks were not made by but for the chariots. The engineers of the time did not build their roads like the much later Romans, by building embankment-like road surfaces out of loose material , but they made grooves that follow more the principle of modern trams.<\/em>\u00a0”<\/p>\n

Many people think that the cart tracks are from the time of the Roman Empire.\u00a0Sir Temi commented, ”\u00a0In many cases the tracks run at right angles to the tombs or wells, but never through or over the grounds, which does not show that they may not be of Roman times, but that they are in antiquity have fallen into oblivion<\/em>\u00a0“.<\/p>\n

Complementing this are the examples of the tracks at Ghar Hassan, which border Hal Far and run out into the reef.\u00a0They are now on the airport grounds.\u00a0The historian Bradley also mentions such cart ruts on the islet of Filfla, and this is confirmed by many fishermen.\u00a0Many such tracks exist near Hagar Qim, one of them also runs towards Hagar Qim.\u00a0Other traces can still be found today on the Ras il-Pellegrin plateau, in the southwest cliffs of Gnejna Bay.\u00a0They lead to the cliffs, which drop about 30 m perpendicularly to the sea.\u00a0Why would the Romans build roads to such unusual places?<\/p>\n

Fig. 2<\/strong>\u00a0As early as the 1930s, JS Ellul and his father discovered many well-preserved cart ruts on Malta.<\/p>\n

Like Miss Celia Topp, many believe that such tracks do not lead to and around all temples, but unfortunately the land around the temples is mostly used for agriculture and is therefore covered with a thin layer of earth.\u00a0So far no one has looked for clues underground there.\u00a0All known cart ruts are carved into the surface rocks, but they are so worn that they can no longer be used for study.<\/p>\n

In the 1930’s my father and I cleaned two pairs of tracks that he had discovered so that we could show them to tourists\u00a0(Fig. 2<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Fig. 3)<\/strong>\u00a0.\u00a0One of those pairs can be found in a field about 270 m east of Hagar Qim, running west to north.\u00a0Another pair, which forms an intersection with two others, lies on a disused road to Hagar Qim.\u00a0Although my father uncovered them, they are now filled with dirt again.\u00a0My father discovered the cart ruts under a field he managed.\u00a0The tracks were filled with dirt and perfectly intact, so I could study them well.<\/p>\n

The way in which the tracks were probably made corresponds to the system of separating the stone blocks for the temple construction of Hagar Qim, ergo both the temples and the tracks are from the same period.\u00a0As for the characteristics of the tracks, it must be said that they do not always have a uniform depth, which they would have to do if they were caused by wagon wheels.\u00a0However, the tracks go through small bumps and hills and it happens that they are very deeply indented in the hillside, next to it in order to stay level, but are almost not sunk into the ground\u00a0(Fig. 1)<\/strong>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Fig. 3<\/strong>\u00a0Many small holes that were hewn into the rock with pickaxes probably meant that the draft animals got more ‘grip’ and didn’t slip so easily.<\/p>\n

So the wagon tracks were not made by wagons but for wagons.\u00a0As long as the tracks run along straight stretches, they are very narrow, but when they come to a bend, they become very wide to prevent wheel jamming.\u00a0Another option than using wheeled transport does not exist in connection with the tracks.<\/p>\n

From the shape of the tracks it can be concluded that the associated wheels must have been biconvex and had an axle hole in the middle.\u00a0The axes were probably made of hard wood lubricated with the fat of the animals hunted.\u00a0I suspected that if the wheels were found, they would surely be mistaken for millstones.\u00a0So in the 1950s I asked the British Museum in London and the Museo Nazionale della Scienza in Milan if they knew anything about those stones, but no one could tell me anything about the stones, let alone show me one.\u00a0The difference between a millstone and a stone wheel lies in the nature of the axle hole.\u00a0If it is a wheel, it must be a perfectly machined cylindrical opening.<\/p>\n

The tracks are a very interesting type of groove, not worn in all places over the years.\u00a0The base of such a groove is about 6 cm wide, sometimes a little wider.\u00a0At bends where the grooves are a bit wide, there is still only a 12 cm wide, slightly deeper track (see also\u00a0Fig. 1<\/strong>\u00a0).\u00a0From the whole it can be concluded that the traces come from about 5 cm wide stone wheels.\u00a0Had the wheels been wooden, they could not have deepened the grooves any further.<\/p>\n

Fig. 4<\/strong>\u00a0This wagon wheel made of lava rock, which JS Ellul found next to the Tarxien Temple, is an inconspicuous yet sensational find.<\/p>\n

Sleds with curves, such as those used by Eskimos or the gliding aids of the North American Indians, would get stuck in the grooves.\u00a0After not getting a positive response from London and Milan, I wrote about the tracks in a newspaper article: ”\u00a0It doesn’t look like there are any other similar bikes anywhere in the world<\/em>\u00a0“.\u00a0I was wrong, because near the Tarxien temples I found just such a wheel, made of lava rock, albeit very worn\u00a0(Fig. 4)<\/strong>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

The wheel, which is very badly worn, is 15 cm thick and slightly oval in shape, measuring 40 \u00d7 33 cm, with a central cylindrical hole about 9 cm wide.\u00a0The guides explain to the tourists that it is a millstone.\u00a0But we now know from what and for what purpose this stone was made.\u00a0Further investigation showed that when the “groove builders” encountered an area that was not made of solid rock, they filled it with rubble, which was usually not as strong as the rest of the rock.\u00a0However, the filling material gave way after a while and so the groove was worn even deeper in the filled areas.<\/p>\n

Fig. 5<\/strong>\u00a0Cart ruts at Dingli (Malta).\u00a0The strong weathering testifies to the old age of this prehistoric ‘tram’.<\/p>\n

There are those who claim that there could not have been draft animals pulling the wagons through the gullies.\u00a0They think that today’s carriages would also leave their mark on the paved floors.\u00a0But they didn’t notice that the […] draft animals with their shod hooves left no traces on the solid stone floor.\u00a0The only traces that can be found\u00a0(Fig. 3)<\/strong>\u00a0are pickaxes used to make small scratches in the ground to prevent the animals from slipping when pulling the wagons over the rocks.<\/p>\n

So if today’s shod horses don’t leave marks with their hooves, how could the unshod animals of prehistory have left marks on hard rock, especially if they don’t naturally mark?\u00a0And if prehistoric people kept animals for food and sacrifice, why not keep them for work animals as well?<\/p>\n

As already mentioned, the Cart-Ruts are as old as the Neolithic temples and thus also witnesses to the downfall that was caused by the opening of the Gibraltar breach.\u00a0This opening was in turn caused by the formation of a large fissure or fissure that stretches from Gibraltar to the south coast of Malta.\u00a0These events are witnessed by the steep end of the cliffs, which plunge more than 30 m down.\u00a0The cart-ruts of Ras il-Pellegrin, which lead directly onto the cliff and end abruptly there, clearly show that they were built BEFORE the present-day shape of the cliff was formed there.<\/p>\n

Therefore I would like to summarize again my conclusions from the observations of the perfectly preserved Cart-Ruts before Hagar Qim:<\/p>\n