Inlägg
av mal » 24 mars 2013, 17:13
Aricle (Aug 12, 2012): Portuguese American journal.
Cart-ruts on the Azores:
The presence of cart-ruts on the Azores is one of the most unexpected facts to present itself in the search for the first settlers on the Azores. These enigmatic features are found in large numbers around the Mediterranean basin, in Italy, Portugal, France, and most famously on Malta. The Portuguese cart-ruts are pre-Christian, as are those on Malta. As we have no record of their being made since the 'official' discovery of the Azores, we must assume that these were made by a people prior to the Portuguese.
There are three physical explanations for the existence of cart-ruts. They are:
1). They were carved into the rock to facilitate the passing of some form of vehicles.
2). They were worn naturally by the passing of numerous vehicles over a long period of time.
3). They were made by the passing of a single vehicle over a soft substrate which has since solidified.
All of these possibilities pose problems in the case of the Azores: The first alternative requires a large supply of manpower, lots of time and a considerable motivation. The second requires considerably more time and an immense amount of traffic (in order to carve such deep tracks into rock). The third option is entirely refuted by geologists. As we have no record of such practices by the Carthaginians or Greeks, we probably need to look elsewhere to find the origin of these most peculiar geological features. The Maltese cart-ruts have now shown to have an association with the temple building period c. 3,000 BC. Not only are the stones used to build the temples the same dimensions as the 'gauge' of the tracks, but they are found close to the temples themselves. Again, none of these facts appear to be relevant on the Azores so for now, at least, the very existence of what is essentially a 'prehistoric' feature is one of the islands most fascinating mysteries.
Cart-ruts on Terceira, Azores.
(Photo Credits: Antonieta Costa, Antonio Araújo)