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4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 21 OCTOBER 2026 NEWS The activities proposed to be carried out are the following: 1) Recruitment Consultancy Services 2) Interviewing, selection and placement of candidates in employment 3) Outsourcing services (contracting and sub-contracting) 4) Temporary work services 5) Recruitment of persons from abroad for employment in Malta 6) Recruitment of persons in Malta for employment in Malta 7) Advertising of the filling of vacancies 8) Keeping a register of applicants for employment. Company Registration Number: C79183 Letter of Intention The Managing Director of TCB Services Ltd., Ms. Claire Borg Johnson declares her intention for the company to register for the renewal process of the Employment Agency Licence in accordance with DIER regulations. The Officially Registered Address, and the Office address of the premises at which the employment agency and/or business is to be carried out is 135/137 Lorenzo Gafa' street Mosta MST 4127 Current valid licence has been issued under the Emplyment and Industrial Services Act (Cap.452) on the 25th October 2024. Licence number (00342-2024) Malta's cart ruts formed part of Roman- era transport network, study finds A study by archaeologist Joel Grima, documenting 2,628 cart tracks across Malta and Gozo, challenges theories of their prehistoric origins and presents evidence linking them to a transport network dating to the Phoenician, Punic, Roman and Byzantine periods FROM claims that Malta's cart ruts date back to the prehistoric era to outlandish claims that they were linked to extra-terrestrials or the lost city of Atlantis, the paral- lel grooves etched into the islands' limestone have attracted theories ranging from the scholarly to the fanciful. Now, new research by Joel Grima of the University of Malta's De- partment of Classics and Archae- ology, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, an international peer-reviewed journal, challenges the prehistoric dating of the tracks. The paper, titled the chronology of the Maltese cart ruts: a critical evaluation of the available dating evidence, was published online in October 2026. Grima had previ- ously presented these findings in a lecture organised by the Archae- ological Society of Malta in 2025. The study draws on the larg- est systematic survey of the fea- tures across the Maltese islands, documenting 2,628 cart tracks at 228 different sites using drone photography, three-dimensional modelling and geographical infor- mation systems. Grima concludes that the availa- ble archaeological evidence points overwhelmingly to a Classical-pe- riod origin, encompassing the Phoenician, Punic, Roman and Byzantine eras between around 750BC and AD870. Several im- portant sites provide direct evi- dence linking the tracks to Roman era infrastructure. The findings challenge long-standing theories that the grooves were created in prehistoric times, although the study does not establish a precise date for every individual track. Connecting farms, quarries and ports Rather than deliberately exca- vated channels, the cart ruts are interpreted primarily as grooves worn into the limestone by re- peated passage of wheeled vehi- cles over extended periods. Their alignment and depth sug- gest that they formed part of a practical transport system used to move goods and people across the islands. Carts with iron-tyred wheels, drawn by livestock, could gradually wear grooves into Mal- ta's relatively soft limestone. One important function was transporting stone from quarries to construction sites, settlements and harbours. In several locations, tracks run into or out of classi- cal-period quarries, while the study documents 112 instances in which quarries either cut across earlier tracks or incorporated ex- isting grooves into their floors. The routes also connected ag- ricultural estates with process- ing centres and markets. Cart tracks converge around Roman villa complexes such as tal-Qares and Ta' Kaċċatura, linking rural production areas with the wider transport network. At il-Qortin in Marsa, grooves were recorded on the threshold slabs of a Roman warehouse, or horreum, close to a harbour quay. The evidence illustrates how in- land transport routes could con- nect directly with facilities used for storing and moving goods by sea. The tracks also served urban centres. Around ancient Melite, where Mdina and Rabat were lat- er built, some cart ruts even align with city gates and street layouts. At the Domus Romana site in Mdina, grooves cut into the bed- rock follow urban street align- ments beneath successive Roman road surfaces. Excavations at Nigret and Ta' Qali have also revealed tracks run- ning beneath, or cut into, Roman cobbled roads, indicating that es- tablished routes were incorporat- ed into later road infrastructure. Debunking prehistoric origins Grima argues that no pair of Maltese cart ruts has been secure- ly demonstrated to date to prehis- toric times. Submerged cart ruts, such as those at il-Bajja ta' San Ġorġ extending 30 cm underwa- ter, were previously cited to prove prehistoric origins. However, local sea levels rose 1.3 meters over the last two millennia. This means these tracks were completely on dry land during Roman times, disproving a necessary prehis- toric date. The research does not rely on radiocarbon dating, which cannot directly establish the age of grooves worn into bedrock. In- stead, it examines archaeological relationships between the tracks, roads, quarries and other features to establish their relative chronol- ogy. Past environmental studies ar- gued that cart ruts must be pre- historic because they formed during a period of heightened soil erosion. Grima points out that soil erosion triggered by human activ- ity did not end in prehistory and continued extensively throughout the Classical period and beyond. Tombs clustered along ancient routes The study also examines why Punic and Roman rock-cut tombs are frequently found alongside cart ruts or cut into the same stretches of limestone. Grima analysed the spatial re- lationship between 1,690 ancient burials and the cart tracks, using Monte Carlo simulations to test whether the distribution was ran- dom or not. The analysis found that 34% of the tombs were located within 50 metres of a cart track. This pat- tern is consistent with the classi- cal custom of placing cemeteries along major roads, where they were accessible to travellers and visible to passing traffic. The study also suggests that the changing use of the tracks may have influenced where tombs were carved. As established ruts deepened and traffic shifted to parallel routes, exposed stretch- es of limestone beside the active tracks could have provided suita- ble locations for rock-cut burials. The study also documents a dis- tinct category of modern-era cart ruts dating from the arrival of the Knights Hospitaller in 1530 up through the early 20th century. Out of the 2,628 total tracks cat- alogued across Malta and Gozo, the survey classified 48 tracks as modern. JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt The findings challenge long-standing theories that the grooves were created in prehistoric times, although the study does not establish a precise date for every individual track