Ancient Roads

The Khmer Empire, a major chunk of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam between the 9th and 13th centuries AD, established a 1000-kilometer long set of roads connecting its great capital city Angkor with the pieces of its far-flung empire. Among the many materials moved along the road were metals such as iron, tin, copper and zinc and the terrifically useful salt.

The Chaco Road System, built by the Anestral Puebloan (Anasazi) of the American Southwest between 1000 and 1125 AD, are a set of roads radiating out from Chaco Canyon and connecting the great houses within the canyon to those scattered outside.

The Inca civilization road system, built during the 15th century AD, were quite comparable to the Romans; arguably better at it, because the 40,000 kilometer long transportation network connecting Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Ecuador crossed all kinds of environments, from mountains, where they built long switchbacks, staircases and tunnels, to marshes and wetlands, where they build causeways and bridges, to deserts, where they marked the paths with cairns.

Every decent road system needs places for the traveler to rest her weary head. Archaeologists have discovered the archaeological ruins of ancient motels dating to at least 2,500 years ago. Rest houses and way stations out been identified on all the great road systems of the world, including the Achaemenid Royal Road, the Roman Road, the Inca Trail, and the Silk Road. Here's a brief survey of some of the ancient roadside inns identified by archaeologists so far.