Misrah Ghar il-Kbir

The Clapham Junction (Maltese: il - Misraћ Gћar Kbir ), also known as the Cart Ruts is an accumulation of prehistoric grinding marks in the south of the island of Malta. Its origins and significance of the traces are controversial.

It is generally assumed today that they originated at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, ie during the Bronze Age, whose beginning coincides in Malta with a recolonization of the 500 years before deserted islands.

Since some grinding marks are interrupted by Phoenician grave shafts, their formation is unlikely after the beginning of the Phoenician settlement around 800 BC. Together with the megalithic temples on the archipelago they belong to the still incomplete researched archaeological archaeological monuments from the early history of Malta.

Your name owe the equipment the fact that an Englishman, who reported on it, felt reminded at the sight of the arrangement of the tracks in the same station in London.

The grooves

The parallel grooves are found on Malta and Gozo; However, the investment of Clapham Junction, which is located at the Dingli Cliffs in the south of Malta, is the most impressive.

The always in pairs incorporated in the limestone traces are as deep as 50 cm and a distance of 110 to 140 cm. Reminiscent of track grooves intersect at times, some branch or form "soft ", which reinforces the impression of train tracks.

Interpretation

Since it's at a nearby explanation of the purpose of the " tracks " is missing, a number of theories have emerged. The most commonly mentioned are the following:

• Here goods were transported on sledges, which caused the grinding marks in the stone
• Is eingarbeitete underground tracks for carts in which goods were transported
• Is an irrigation system.

Sled or cart tracks

Against the theory of grinding marks generated by sled is argued as follows:

To create the deep grinding marks, you have the sled must loaded with heavy goods. To move such carriage would have been according to expend a lot of energy. The low population density of Malta at the time, and thus the lack of workers speak against this. A cart on the other hand would have had to have wheels diameter of at least about 1.4 m (regardless of what you conveyed to him) and would therefore can not follow the curve radius of the deep grooves.

A variant of this theory assumes that the means of transport served to bring large limestone blocks to building sites of the megalithic temples. However, this theory has flaws:

The grinding marks are indeed to be found on countless sites around the island, just not near temples. In this context, the possibility was discussed, the blocks were promoted in the grooves on large carved stone balls; the calculations showed, however, that the balls never could bear such a burden.

Irrigation system

Another explanation points to the fact that the floor of Malta is relatively barren and then, as now there is a shortage of water. With a growing population, it could be become increasingly difficult to feed the people. Therefore, extensive irrigation systems could have been built for the fields. That conclusion is contrary to that a much larger population no water supply needed during the Temple period ( in this form ).

Other attempts to explain

There are other explanations, for which there is each weighty counter-arguments. The Maltese archaeologist Anthony Bonann dates the formation of the grooves to the 7th century BC According to him, it was at the drag marks to devices of the Phoenicians. The amount of the tracks, however, is inconsistent with the relatively low level of Phoenician construction activity in Malta in line.

Another explanation relates to the observation that the traces in most cases run towards the sea. Some sources even claim that the traces were to pursue to a depth of 70 m below sea level. However, the limestone, which is located below sea level, strongly attacked by the waves, which complicates any proof. Should the tracks actually to be far below the present sea surface track, this would mean that the traces are much older, as the sea level has risen only since about 5000 BC to the present level. Therefore, this hypothesis of Erich von Däniken was arrested, who believes to recognize the tracks start and landing sites of alien beings. Similarly, speculative assertions are, in Malta it were the remains of the legendary Atlantis.