A road in Egypt is recognised as the oldest in the world. The Lake Moeris Quarry Road, which dates back to around 2500-2100 BC, is located in the Faiyum District and a large part of its original pavement is still preserved.
The road spanned 7.5 miles between a quarry and the ancient Lake Moeris, which connected to the River Nile seasonally at the time. During the Old Kingdom period in Egypt, it was used to transport heavy blocks of volcanic basalt to build the mortuary and valley temples at Giza, just outside of Cairo.
The road was created with slabs of sandstone and limestone. It was around six and a half feet wide and even included some logs of wood which acted as a sled to transport basalt down to the lake.
The road was around 66ft above sea level at the time. As reported by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Egyptians were able to float the blocks down to Cairo when the River Nile flooded.
As well as being the oldest paved road in the world, it is also the only known road that was constructed by the Ancient Egyptians. The stones fit neatly in parts of the road while they were placed more arbitrarily in other sections.
According to the LA Times, geologist James Harrell of the University of Toledo said: “The road probably doesn’t rank with the pyramids as a construction feat, but it is a major engineering achievement. Not only is the road earlier than we thought possible, we didn’t even think they built roads.”
Although there are older roads in the world, such as the Ridgeway National Trail in the UK, none of these are paved roads. The 87-mile track starts in the World Heritage Site of Avebury in Wiltshire.
It was used by travellers, shepherds and warriors for thousands of years. The beautiful trail is now popular among runners, hikers and cyclists.
National Trails said: “For, at least 5,000 years and maybe many more, people, including drovers, traders and invaders, have walked or ridden The Ridgeway.
“As part of a prehistoric track, once stretching about 250 miles (400 Km) from the Dorset coast to the Wash on the Norfolk coast, it provided a route over the high ground for travellers which was less wooded and drier than routes through the springline villages below.”
