You may not be aware of it but a part of the highways and parking lots that you drive your car into may have been around for millions of years! Those roadways and pavements considerable history can be attributed to one if its key component: asphalt. Yes, the asphalt that is used to pave the roads that you drive through has indeed been around since the prehistoric times to merit a discussion.

Asphalt has been dated back as early as the prehistoric period. Evidence of this claim can be attributed prehistoric animal preserves found by archaeologists at La Brea Tar Pit, Los Angeles California that have been observed to have asphalt deposits.

There should be no surprise to it already because by definition, asphalt is a black, viscous, cement-like bitumen (an organic byproduct of organic matter) that occurs naturally in crude petroleum. Since fossil deposits produce petroleum, it is natural to find asphalt that can date back to millions of years ago.

Even if it is a byproduct, technology has found different ways and means to utilize asphalt. However, industries at present do not use natural deposits of asphalts found directly from its source. The asphalt that is used these days has to be separated and isolated from crude oil such as naphtha, gasoline and diesel.

It was in the ancient times when natural asphalt was used extensively by civilizations.
Ancient Babylonians used natural asphalt as a building material. It can even be noted in the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus. If you browse through these books of the Bible, you can read that asphalt has been referred to several times as a