REVIEW OF LITERATURE The discovery and use of asphaltic materials no doubt goes back to primitive era. According to legend asphalt was used as a coating for the reed basket in which the infant King Sargon of Sumar was cast adrift on the floodwaters of the Euphrates River. This legendary tale corresponds closely to the Biblical story of Moses. Many recordings of asphalt and its various uses appear in the ancient languages of Sumerian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and others. Asphalt was used in these early times primarily as a cement for keeping various objects in place. One of the earliest recorded uses of asphalt in pavements was by the Babylonian King Nabopolassar about 600 B. C. The use of asphalt since these times has been as a cement in building, as a medicine, a weapon of war, a pre servative and for other purposes. The Inca Indians of Peru paved some of their highways with a bituminous macadam, but