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Anathos117 t1_j7e2hgp wrote

Reply to comment by Sunnyjim333 in Lead Plates and Land Claims in North America and Europe: When did the practice begin of burying lead plates to establish ownership of land, and why did it die out, and was it ever used successfully in a court of law to establish ownership? by whyenn

> 160 years (In the USA that is a long time).

In some parts of it, maybe, but hardly all of it. There's a street in my town that's 400 years old.

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Sunnyjim333 t1_j7e2vtx wrote

Too cool, I like seeing Roman roads that are made better than our pothole riddled tracks we call roads.

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dryingsocks t1_j7eaxmm wrote

to be fair, the heaviest vehicle during roman times was a ox cart. with cars becoming heavier and heavier they put more wear on the street than romans ever could

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PhasmaFelis t1_j7ely23 wrote

Roman roads are interesting. Astonishing engineering, a really well-built stone road can last for millennia.

But you wouldn't want to drive on one. Stone pavers give a hell of a rough ride at any real speed, and stone is deadly slick when it's wet. For cars you really need something that's very smooth and slightly tacky, and unfortunately asphalt is the best we've come up with so far. I'll take dealing with potholes over a 30MPH top speed.

(And if we did drive on Roman roads, I don't think they'd last so long under regular 18-wheeler traffic.)

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Sunnyjim333 t1_j7gevlv wrote

Side note, Illinois was experimenting with a cork surface. We drove on some on Interstate 55, it was a smooth ride at the time. This was in 2017.

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Sunnyjim333 t1_j7e3l2f wrote

The USA is still a "young" country. We have a poor sense of time here. If a building is 50 years old it is ancient. Sadly we do not build to last. Many old beautiful buildings are torn down for parking lots, mass transit is abysmal. You have to have a car to do any traveling, walking is not possible, stores are too far apart.

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[deleted] t1_j7ebk8s wrote

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maaku7 t1_j7eu7py wrote

You can get up to about 250 years old on the west coast, e.g. the California missions. There is literally nothing older than that since AFAIK no indigenous buildings have survived that long.

At least not in California. I wonder if the PNW has some longhouses or something.

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YouTee t1_j7evtdc wrote

I think the cave dwellings in New Mexico are one of the oldest surviving human habitats in North America.

Maybe some of those mounds in... Kansas? Too

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maaku7 t1_j7ewbr6 wrote

New Mexico is not on the west coast ;)

But yeah those are good additions to the list. I've seen the Pueblo buildings and they're impressive.

Of course if you go further south, there are tons of stone buildings and pyramids in Mexico and Guatemala.

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