CROSS SECTION SHOWS INCREDIBLE HISTORY OF A 4000-YEAR-OLD ENGLISH HIGHWAY

An interesting history of the United Kingdom can be learned from an arranged cross-section of a highway. From a Bronze Age trackway to contemporary asphalt, the photograph, which has been making the rounds on the internet for a few years, depicts millennia of material. The fact that the road depicted is the A303, which passes past the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, makes it much more intriguing.

The cross-section gradually accumulates from a chalk basis to produce a graphic depiction of England's past. The Romans, who ruled over all of England after the Bronze Age, are symbolised by a distinctive stone-paved road. As we move from the medieval age to the present, we come across a number of additional strata of rocky materials.

From an engineering standpoint, a study of these materials is also intriguing. The roadways that carried people and commodities changed along with transportation and technology. The cross-section also serves as a reminder that history is not completely forgotten but rather frequently hidden, and that we are walking on a palimpsest that is just waiting to be unearthed.