Having been intrigued by the recent subject of cart ruts and the claim by a Russian Professor that they may be 12-14 million years old, I dug around a little and came up with a conclusion which is a 180 degree turnaround from my initial thoughts.
The impetus for my interest in these mysterious grooves was the image below of parallel tracks in a lava field on an island in the Azores.
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I wondered how and why an animal could and would pull a cart over such undulating and possibly still hot terrain.
But no hoofprints. Maybe the tracks were modern and it was a type of dune buggy. But there are no tread patterns.
The Azores are a remote group of islands and whoever made these tracks couldn't have arrived by land travel, so the suspects were narrowed down considerably. Some claim that the Azores sit upon the remnants of an ancient destroyed civilization. Maybe it was Atlanteans.
The earliest firsthand info that I could get was from the journal of Charles Darwin who visited the Azores before returning to England. He disembarked from the Beagle on 23 September 1836 onto the island of Terceira and wrote the following:
Not being an expert in ancient wheelmaking techniques, I eventually stumbled upon the following image which confirmed what Darwin had seen - a wagonwheel with metal knobs, possibly iron - the creation of a master wheelwright.
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OK. So the Azoreans were seen by Darwin using the tracks and it was looking like they were the culprits. But were they only using ancient Atlantean tracks or were they in the process of gouging out new ones with their iron-knobbed cartwheels?
The tracks in the black lava didn't look to have been made with iron-knobbed cartwheels, nor did they look to be the result of the repeated use of wheels. When would these tracks have been made?
Further digging revealed that in 1718 the volcano on the island of Pico erupted with the flow near the village of Arcos which separated Sao Roque from Madalena. These villagers were forced to travel by sea for two years until the lava cooled sufficiently to allow land travel.
My guess is that these tracks were made then and probably by iron-rimmed wheels rather than iron-knobbed ones. I was also able to dig up photos of both ends of the tracks.
Having climbed the odd volcano I know how an apparently hard surface is quite thin and that it cracks underfoot, usually resulting in me sinking into black sand. This lava upon photo enlargement is aerated and the air bubbles would allow for compression by a heavy load. Probably volcanic tuff.
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Although my Russian is a little rusty, the video by the Russian researcher which I posted on the other thread mentions volcanic tuff being layered over the terrain being filmed. Also, on the sides of the road in Cappadocia you can plainly see white sand which is the result of erosion from the sandstone of this region. Both of these soft substances would allow for compression by heavy laden carts.
I can only assume that the single tracks are the result of foot and animal traffic in single file and that the reason for multiple tracks is the ability of wheels to negotiate bends only up to a certain depth, hence the requirement for another pathway.
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The earlier thread featured the tracks on Malta of which some went off cliffs and others into the sea.
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The bedrock here consists of limestone which is relatively soft and porous and which would compress under load. The reason for the disappearance of the tracks could possibly be due to seismic activity resulting in fractures and reverse uplifts of the terrain similar to that which occurred in Alexandria Bay in Egypt.
Although a number of anomalies exist, my contention is that these tracks were the result of human activity since the advent of the Iron Age are are no older than 3500 years.
PWH
The impetus for my interest in these mysterious grooves was the image below of parallel tracks in a lava field on an island in the Azores.
I wondered how and why an animal could and would pull a cart over such undulating and possibly still hot terrain.
But no hoofprints. Maybe the tracks were modern and it was a type of dune buggy. But there are no tread patterns.
The Azores are a remote group of islands and whoever made these tracks couldn't have arrived by land travel, so the suspects were narrowed down considerably. Some claim that the Azores sit upon the remnants of an ancient destroyed civilization. Maybe it was Atlanteans.
The earliest firsthand info that I could get was from the journal of Charles Darwin who visited the Azores before returning to England. He disembarked from the Beagle on 23 September 1836 onto the island of Terceira and wrote the following:
Quote
Another day I set out early in the morning to visit the town of Praya seated on the NE and of the island.
The distance is about fifteen miles; the road ran the great part of the way not far from the coast. The country is all cultivated & scattered with houses & small villages.
I noticed in several places, from the long traffic of the bullock waggons, that the solid lava, which formed in parts the road, was worn into ruts of the depth of twelve inches.
This circumstance has been noticed with surprise, in the ancient pavement of Pompeii, as not occurring in any of the present towns of Italy.
At this place the wheels have a tire surmounted by singularly large iron knobs, perhaps the old Roman wheels were thus furnished.
Not being an expert in ancient wheelmaking techniques, I eventually stumbled upon the following image which confirmed what Darwin had seen - a wagonwheel with metal knobs, possibly iron - the creation of a master wheelwright.
OK. So the Azoreans were seen by Darwin using the tracks and it was looking like they were the culprits. But were they only using ancient Atlantean tracks or were they in the process of gouging out new ones with their iron-knobbed cartwheels?
The tracks in the black lava didn't look to have been made with iron-knobbed cartwheels, nor did they look to be the result of the repeated use of wheels. When would these tracks have been made?
Further digging revealed that in 1718 the volcano on the island of Pico erupted with the flow near the village of Arcos which separated Sao Roque from Madalena. These villagers were forced to travel by sea for two years until the lava cooled sufficiently to allow land travel.
My guess is that these tracks were made then and probably by iron-rimmed wheels rather than iron-knobbed ones. I was also able to dig up photos of both ends of the tracks.
Having climbed the odd volcano I know how an apparently hard surface is quite thin and that it cracks underfoot, usually resulting in me sinking into black sand. This lava upon photo enlargement is aerated and the air bubbles would allow for compression by a heavy load. Probably volcanic tuff.
Although my Russian is a little rusty, the video by the Russian researcher which I posted on the other thread mentions volcanic tuff being layered over the terrain being filmed. Also, on the sides of the road in Cappadocia you can plainly see white sand which is the result of erosion from the sandstone of this region. Both of these soft substances would allow for compression by heavy laden carts.
I can only assume that the single tracks are the result of foot and animal traffic in single file and that the reason for multiple tracks is the ability of wheels to negotiate bends only up to a certain depth, hence the requirement for another pathway.
The earlier thread featured the tracks on Malta of which some went off cliffs and others into the sea.
The bedrock here consists of limestone which is relatively soft and porous and which would compress under load. The reason for the disappearance of the tracks could possibly be due to seismic activity resulting in fractures and reverse uplifts of the terrain similar to that which occurred in Alexandria Bay in Egypt.
Although a number of anomalies exist, my contention is that these tracks were the result of human activity since the advent of the Iron Age are are no older than 3500 years.
PWH