Malta's cart ruts have varied dates; many are Roman-era, not 6,000 years old

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Key facts

• Malta’s cart ruts do not have a single accepted date. A recent study counted 2,628 separate tracks and places many in the Classical/Roman period, roughly 750 BCE–870 CE; proposed dates for others range from Neolithic to medieval and later.
• The submerged ruts at Misraħ Għar il-Kbir reach roughly 150 feet below present sea level, but that measurement does not date them. It only shows that the section was above sea level when it was cut.
• A date around 9000 BC is a hypothesis, not a finding. Malta’s lower prehistoric sea levels do not establish when these particular grooves were made.
• Prehistoric Maltese pottery bearing paired-line motifs resembling cart ruts does not establish the age of the carved bedrock tracks.
• Some ruts crisscross, turn, overlap or bear cross-cuts sometimes attributed to later quarrying, but many are interpreted as organized ancient transport routes rather than uniformly chaotic grooves.
• The video’s 6,000-year Neolithic dating and proposed 9000 BC origin are arguments, not established dates.

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