Read also THE PROBLEMATIC EDGES OF THE CART RUTS

I will skip any preamble, referring to to what has already been written regarding the presence of cart ruts in south-eastern Sicily.
To proceed with this comparison I have chosen a probable capital and the corner of a recess present in a block of the northern walls of Eloro that would seem to resemble a pinax, that is, a niche that would have housed a fresco of the heroa, but which a more careful observation refers to a system functional to the grip of the block through a pincer winch. Both elements, like the curt ruts, have remained at the mercy of the elements for millennia, and are therefore subject to comparable wear and tear due to the passage of time. The finishing of the capital should be of a high standard, since it is an architectural element that also has an aesthetic function. The recess, on the other hand, should have required only a functional finishing, that is, sufficient for its construction purpose.
I discarded the extraction templates present in the latomie near the cart ruts, as they were too rough to be taken into consideration as elements of comparison.

As the anomalous edges observable in many cart ruts would seem to suggest, the possibility that these were a collateral effect of the passage of vehicles could now be considered remote. Instead, considering the probability of a specific construction, the roads certainly should not have required significant aesthetic care, but a construction quality more similar to that required by the hollow of the block.

The use of the chisel is evident on the capital, the lines have irregularities due precisely to the craftsmanship of the work. This physiological imperfection is also evident in the more decorative elements, emerging in particular in the relative imprecision of the parallel elements and in the deformity of the corners. The smoothing is approximate.
The same impressions are obtained from the observation of the corner of the recess, in which the smoothing, among other things, would seem almost completely absent (as one would normally expect from such an element, having an essentially technical function), allowing the porosity of the sandstone to emerge.

The level of smoothing of the grooves of the cart ruts taken into consideration (Targia and Granatari Vecchi districts) is extremely greater than that of the capital itself, certainly compatible with the continuous passage of iron wheels, however absolutely anomalous in the details that would not have been affected by the flow of vehicles. The roughness found in both Siceliot elements taken into consideration is absent. The corners in the cart ruts are so soft that they exclude the use of chisel and mallet alone.
There are two hypotheses: either this level of smoothing was produced simply with the passage of time or it was believed that this should be greater than for an architectural element, also with aesthetic value, such as a capital.
Considering the first hypothesis, why are the capital and the recess of the block not equally smoothed if they are contemporary with the cart ruts? Considering the second hypothesis, why was a smoothing carried out on some roads far superior to that considered sufficient for a capital?

Read also CART RUTS AND A FEW TOO MANY PROJECTIONS