Information on first stages of road formation between villages and towns

From Encyclopedia on Society and Culture in the Ancient World vol.3 (New York: Facts on File, 2008), pp. 882-893:

Roads and Bridges: Introduction

The earliest roads in the ancient world consisted of tracks made by game animals and migrating herds. Ancient hunter- gatherers followed these tracks in pursuit of game and used them to travel from one place to another. In time, however, more sophisticated roadways were built, and the extent and quality of some of these roads might come as a surprise to modern people accustomed to traveling at high speeds on interstate highways. The first paved streets were built probably in about 4000 b.c.e. in the Indus Valley of India. The first engineered road was built in England in about 3800 b.c.e., primarily to span marshland. In about 3000 b.c.e. the ancient Egyptians constructed a road paved with stones to aid in the construction of the Great Pyramid. Between about 1100 and 20 b.c.e. the Chinese constructed a road network of some 25,000 miles, and the Silk Road from China through central Asia to the Mediterranean Seas became a major trade route. Couriers through the Andes Mountains in South America relied on roads for travel, and Darius the Great’s Royal Road in Persia, built around 500 b.c.e., was of such high quality that postal couriers could travel almost 250 miles per day on it. The Greeks and Mesoamericans also built extensive road systems, along with bridges to span rivers and marshes.

The most sophisticated ancient road system, however, was built by the ancient Romans, attested to in part by the word pavement, from the Latin word pavimentum, referring to the layer of concrete at the base of Roman roads. Many Roman roads were so well constructed that they survive in modern times to be seen by tourists in France (Gaul), Italy, England, and other parts of the old Roman Empire. Roman road building began in about the sixth through the fourth centuries b.c.e., but it was not until the Roman Republic, from the fourth through the first centuries b.c.e., that major engineered roads were constructed. In time, these roads would link every part of the Roman Empire. A person could travel from the far reaches of the empire to the center of ancient Rome, the Forum, using constructed roads nearly the entire way. Perhaps the most famous of these roads is the Via Appia, or Appian Way, which extended over 300 miles. Some of the earlier roads followed the natural contours of the land, but later roads represented massive excavation projects, because the builders modified those contours. To match the sophistication of their roads, the Romans also built bridges, some of which extended for hundreds of yards.

Ancient roads and bridges were often constructed primarily for the purpose of military conquest and the movement of troops and provisions. Later, they facilitated the administration of an empire, as officials, inspectors, couriers, tax collectors, and the like could travel relatively rapidly and safely. In time, roads and bridges also came to facilitate trade and commerce. While boats and ships were used extensively in the movement of goods, many communities were inaccessible by water, so roads had to be constructed to enable goods to be transported. Some of these roads were even named for their trade purposes. Perhaps the best example is the Via Salaria, a Roman road built primarily for the transportation of salt.

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Subsequent paragraphs are focused on the evolution of roads and pathway in each region, such as Africa, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc.

FURTHER READING (from book)

• Jean-Pierre Adam, Roman Building: Materials and Techniques (London: Batsford, 1994).
• Lionel Casson, Travel in the Ancient World (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994).
• Raymond Chevallier, Roman Roads (Berkeley: California University Press, 1976). Tim Cornell and John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World (New York: Facts On File, 1982).
• Sir Gavin de Beer, Hannibal’s March (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1967).
• Ivana Della Portella, The Appian Way: From Its Foundation to the Middle Ages (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004).
• David A. Dorsey, Th e Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991).
• James J. Hester, Philip M. Hobler, and James Russell, “New Evidence of Early Roads in Nubia,” American Journal of Archaeology 74, no. 4 (1970): 385–389.
• Romolo Augusto Staccioli, The Roads of the Romans (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004).
• Charles D. Trombold, ed., Ancient Road Networks and Settlement
  Hierarchies in the New World (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
• Steve Vinson, “Transportation.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, vol. 3, ed. Donald Redford (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2001).

For an interesting recent book on pathways/roads of Celts, see Graham Robb, 'The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe' (Picador, 2013). Reviewed by The Guardian and NYT.