This isn’t particularly new info, so I don’t understand the fuss. The romans often paved over existing roads. They’ve been uncovering the vestiges of the older wooden roads. Most of the towns the roman roads tied together through out Europe, already existed... and it would be ridiculous to think they didn’t have roads that led to and fro. In Germany they found the imprints of a pre roman wooden highway which was wider than anything the romans were building.
The Romans have the historical advantage... they built to last and kept meticulous records.
The celts built, what could best be called trails and in some cases improved trails, in today’s lingo.
The Romans built solid lasting road structures. Sometimes over those trail (roads) sometimes not.
Every culture and every period of mankind has created whatever “roads” the peeps felt needful or could afford. In most cases, though, the “roads” were not much more than trails cut through the foliage with dirt compacted by traffic.
The Romans built roads where they needed, and they are known to not follow existing routes most of the time — however, important, busy routes are bound to have been upgraded to the Roman roads, a number of which have been repaved in modern times. There’s one road they laid in Britain that runs straight to miss a pre-Roman oppida, makes a slight turn, and then straight from there to the destination.
From time to time (particularly in Britain) a stretch of forgotten Roman road is uncovered during some public project (pipe, road, visitor center) or when someone is excavating for a private home or other privately owned structure. A few years back one was found running into an apparent dead end at an inlet, apparently to a small Roman-era harbor. Haven’t found the topic, I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.
What the Romans didn’t do for us [sic]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2733107/posts
[snip] The unexpected result was a more than 80% chance that the last surface had been laid before the Roman invasion in AD43. Wood in the foundation was radiocarbon-dated to the second century BC, sealing the road’s pre-Roman origin. And Malim thinks a huge post that stood in 1500BC close to the crest of the hill was a trackway marker... Could Britain have been more “Roman” than was thought... Shropshire’s road, then, could be the start of a journey that changes the way we think about early Britain. [/snip]
(the RC age of the wood is merely the age it grew, not the date it was cut, and obviously trees of some age or other would have to be cut down to lay the road)
Experts uncover second Roman fort on city site
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2562970/posts
[snip] Now ditches on a different alignment to those of the first fort have been found, and Mr Gent told the Echo: “The new V-shaped ditch cuts through trenches that were dug to hold timbers for the first fort’s barrack blocks — these are long fairly narrow linear trenches. This shows that the army used the site again at a later date. “It looks as if we now have three military establishments in Exeter — the known fortress in town, our new fort at St Loye’s, and now this further new evidence”. [/snip]
[Dorset] Motorway maximus:
Unearthed, a stunning Roman super-highway built 1,900 years ago
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2670835/posts
Roman roads in Britain
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1247442/posts
Another problem with this thesis is, the bridges — after the Romans pulled out, most of the bridges vanished in Britain. The ones made of wood became unsafe and/or burned or fell down. The stone bridges were scavenged for construction, or to create a barrier for invaders of a local fief. A Briton I used to know a little was a self-taught master of locating buried ancient coins and whatnot using metal detectors; he said the post-Roman period saw the rise of the “birdfoot”. With no bridges, the old Roman roads were used right up to the top of the slopes down to the waterways, then new lanes (cobbles or worse) in a switchback pattern came into use to reach a nearby ford, ferry, or (rarely) a “Dark Ages” bridge.
Roman bridge put back together again
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1953273/posts
Thanks all!
Survey shows up Roman remains near Cockermouth and Papcastle
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2567019/posts
Roman villa found in Welsh ‘military zone’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2560148/posts
Ancient Roman Road Found In Netherlands
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1763472/posts
Long-distance oak supply in mid-2nd century AD... Roman harbour in the Netherlands
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3072404/posts
‘Dutch’ Batavians more Roman than thought
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2369786/posts
Keeping Up With The Empire (Romans In Netherlands)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1142095/posts
Ancient Roman road map unveiled
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1930916/posts
sidebars — wouldn’t this be cool?
Chariot Races Bring Ancient Roman City Back to Life
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1423228/posts
A Worldwide Push To Bring Back Chariot Racing
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1839101/posts
Ben Hur in Colchester? Race is on to save UK’s only Roman chariot racetrack
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2447124/posts
Here’s another example of “you didn’t build that”:
Romans May Have Learned From Chinese Great Wall: Archaeologists
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1544089/posts