Anthropology

What is peculiar is that the Upano people went to great lengths to make the roads straight, says Rostain. In places they dug down 5 metres rather than follow contours, for instance. So the roads probably had symbolic significance, as there was no practical reason to make them straight, he says.

Or, what they moved along those roads was hard to turn or go up and down. Hitch me up to a log or other building materials or a load of harvest and I guarantee I'd rather pull straight, flat and level than around curves or over hills and through valleys.