Gozo’s rich early history makes for some fascinating archeaological tourism. First settled around 5500BC, by 3600BC Gozo’s people had began to build and carve in stone. They created temples, statues and subterranean burial complexes similar to those on the main island of Malta but otherwise unique in the world.
Chief amongst the archeaological sites is the Ġgantija Temple complex. The two temples here are amongst the oldest free-standing stone buildings in the world and have UNESCO World Heritage status.
Many much smaller sites, sometimes hard to identify without the help of an expert, provide evidence for a sophisticated society surrounding the temples and objects from the various sites can be seen in the Gozo Archaeological Museum in the Citadel, r-Rabat (Victoria).
There are later archaeological sites too, of course, including form the Bronze Age, as well as the mysterious cart ruts. These are pairs of tracks cut into the surface of the rock. The two gulleys are more or less the same distance apart in almost all the pairs and they look just as if a cart wheel running constantly over the same route has worn the rock away. Exactly how they came into being, and when, remains a matter of great debate, but they may well be exactly what they seem and at least some of them probably date to the Bronze Age.