Prehistoric Cart Rut Networks of the Maltese Archipelago: A Rigorous Multivariate Lévy/Power-Law Analysis with Paleogeographic, Environmental, and Ritual Variables

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Main Author: Edgar, Marquez Escalante
Format: Recurso digital
Language:English
Published: Zenodo 2026
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author Edgar, Marquez Escalante
author_facet Edgar, Marquez Escalante
contents <p>We present a multivariate Lévy/power-law analysis of the prehistoric cart rut network of Malta, Gozo,<br>and Comino, based on 124 georeferenced sites with real coordinates extracted from Trinkler's<br>systematic field inventory (malta-cartruts.ch, 2022). Six environmental and archaeological control<br>variables are incorporated: (1) terrain type and slope gradient; (2) distance to sea and coastal<br>exposure; (3) proximity to megalithic temples and hypogea; (4) proximity to ritual cave sites; (5)<br>estimated Holocene forest cover at ~8,000 BP (Bonanomi et al. 2019); and (6) paleo-sea-level status<br>at −22 m (~8,500 BP), the period of maximum inter-island connectivity. Three network<br>configurations are tested: (A) Malta only (n = 102), (B) Malta+Gozo as modern separate islands (n =<br>124), and (C) the unified Early Holocene island (n = 127, including three reconstructed<br>paleogeographic nodes on the now-submerged Sikka l-Bajda platform). All three network<br>configurations strongly reject the Gaussian null model (KS test p < 10⁻¹⁰⁰), confirming Lévy-stable<br>heavy-tailed topology</p>
format Recurso digital
id zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_19183985
institution Zenodo
language eng
publishDate 2026
publisher Zenodo
record_format zenodo
spellingShingle Prehistoric Cart Rut Networks of the Maltese Archipelago: A Rigorous Multivariate Lévy/Power-Law Analysis with Paleogeographic, Environmental, and Ritual Variables
Edgar, Marquez Escalante
Malta cart ruts
network topology
Gozo
paleogeography
megalithic temples
prehistoric transport
<p>We present a multivariate Lévy/power-law analysis of the prehistoric cart rut network of Malta, Gozo,<br>and Comino, based on 124 georeferenced sites with real coordinates extracted from Trinkler's<br>systematic field inventory (malta-cartruts.ch, 2022). Six environmental and archaeological control<br>variables are incorporated: (1) terrain type and slope gradient; (2) distance to sea and coastal<br>exposure; (3) proximity to megalithic temples and hypogea; (4) proximity to ritual cave sites; (5)<br>estimated Holocene forest cover at ~8,000 BP (Bonanomi et al. 2019); and (6) paleo-sea-level status<br>at −22 m (~8,500 BP), the period of maximum inter-island connectivity. Three network<br>configurations are tested: (A) Malta only (n = 102), (B) Malta+Gozo as modern separate islands (n =<br>124), and (C) the unified Early Holocene island (n = 127, including three reconstructed<br>paleogeographic nodes on the now-submerged Sikka l-Bajda platform). All three network<br>configurations strongly reject the Gaussian null model (KS test p < 10⁻¹⁰⁰), confirming Lévy-stable<br>heavy-tailed topology</p>
title Prehistoric Cart Rut Networks of the Maltese Archipelago: A Rigorous Multivariate Lévy/Power-Law Analysis with Paleogeographic, Environmental, and Ritual Variables
topic Malta cart ruts
network topology
Gozo
paleogeography
megalithic temples
prehistoric transport
url https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19183985