What struck us while in Pompeii was these huge blocks of stone, put at some distance from one another on the street, joining two opposing pavements. We found out that they had been meant to prevent the Pompeii pedestrians from getting all soaked wet and dirty in what was flowing on the streets. The huge stones were thus a kind of a zebra crossing of our times. Zebra crossing in ancient Pompeii - cart tracks Notice long deep tracks in the street made by carts going by in ancient times.