Vehicles and purposes

Abstract

In the preceding chapter it has been argued that the cart-ruts provided a communication network for the transport of one or several commodities along short and long distances. It has also been claimed that individual pairs of cart-ruts date from the Bronze Age to the Roman Period and later. Tracks usually form through trampling by human, beast, or vehicle, or by deliberate clearance of the terrain or construction of a road surface. The paths along which tracks are formed are usually of two types: along the line of least resistance, such as following contours or describing transition curves to negotiate steep gradients; or along straight lines between two points irrespective of any obstacles, thus reducing the distance to the least possible, often cutting through hills and forests, and bridging valleys. Roman road engineering is typical of the latter. However, archaeological information on this aspect of Maltese archaeology is very poor so that its discussion would be based on speculation and less on tangible data. However, the cart-ruts in Malta present a type of feature that has led most to suggest that such a feature may have been used in transport activity.