Protecting the most significant archaeological features of the Maltese islands (70)

The cart-ruts at Dwejra are located on the cliff which separates the inland sea from the open sea.

They consist of a single pair running for an approximate length of 350 metres, forking out into two separate pairs at mid point, only to converge again into a single pair.

The cart-ruts are in a varying state of preservation, highly distinguishable in certain areas while hardly discernable in other areas, the combined result of weathering and differences in the rock morphology, which is markedly softer in some areas. Surface quarrying can be noted in the surrounding areas, and the link between the two is not excluded in that cart-ruts are generally associated with quarrying activity.

Alongside the cart-ruts one notes a number of parallel rock-cut grooves generally thought to have been cut so as to provide a better grip for beasts of burden laden with heavy cartloads making their way across difficult terrain.

Mepa scheduled the cart-ruts as a Class B national monument as per Government notice 37 dated January 18.