Use of cart ruts

I have frequently been in Malta and from time to time I learn of some new theory regarding the cart ruts. Someone said they could have been runways for extraterrestrial objects. Another thought there could have been tent-like tarpaulins between the ruts so as to direct morning dew downwards on the fields. Now Mr Cauchi tells us they were some sort of glacis with grooves to roll stones down the slope.

Why not leave things as they were since time immemorial? The ruts were produced by wheels of carts which regularly transported any kinds of goods. In the case of the so-called "Clapham Junction", these were large heavy blocks of stone, such as we find underground in Mdina and elsewhere. All around the cart-ruts are numerous old quarries.

I quote from the diary written by a Swedish botanist who was in Malta in 1761 (translated into English): "Horse-drawn carriages are not expensive here on the island. A carriole, for instance, with enough space for two, is a common equipage and costs 1 Maltese ecu all day. A driver walks on foot beside it. The country roads are of pure rock. The ruts for the wheels are mostly deep, but at some spots filled in and even. One should drive right next to it."

From this one can imagine what Malta looked like - a network of cart ruts at that time criss-crossing all the island connecting towns and villages, north and south, east and west, and nobody thought it to be something special. Today we only find what is left and look at it questioning.