Middle East dating back to 4000 BC. Corduroy roads (log roads) are found dating to 4000 BC in Glastonbury, England. The Sweet Track, a timber track causeway in England, is one of the oldest engineered roads discovered and the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe. Built in winter 3807 BC or spring 3806 BC, (tree-ring dating – dendrochronology – enabled very precise dating). It was claimed to be the oldest road in the world until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Plumstead, London. Brick-paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC. 1995 BC: an early subdividing of roadways evidenced with sidewalks built in Anatolia. In 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for the Achaemenid Empire (Persia), including the Royal Road, which was one of the finest highways of its time, connecting Sardis (the westernmost major city of the empire) to Susa. The road remained in use after Roman times. These road systems reached as far east as Bactria and India. In ancient times, transport by river was far easier and faster than transport by road, especially considering the cost of road construction and the difference in carrying capacity between carts and river barges. A hybrid of road transport and ship transport beginning in about 1740 is the horse-drawn boat in which the horse follows a cleared path along the river bank. From about 312 BC, the Roman Empire built straight strong stone Roman roads throughout Europe and North Africa, in support of its military campaigns. At its peak the Roman Empire was connected by 29 major roads moving out from Rome and covering 78,000 kilometers or 52,964 Roman miles of paved roads. In the 8th century AD, many roads were built throughout the Arab Empire. The most sophisticated roads were those in Baghdad, which were paved with tar. Tar was derived from petroleum, accessed from oil fields in the region, through the chemical process of destructive distillation. The Highways Act 1555 in Britain transferred responsibility for maintaining roads from government to local parishes. This resulted in a poor and variable state of roads. To remedy this, the first of the turnpike trusts was established around 1706, to build good roads and collect tolls from passing vehicles. Eventually there were approximately 1,100 trusts in Britain and some of engineered roads. The Rebecca Riots in Carmarthenshire and Rhayader from 1839 to 1844