ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered Rome's version of the M8 - a cobbled road which has not been seen for hundreds of years.
A section of the highway, which was built around 2000 years ago and has been described as "the most important road in Scotland's history", was recently found under a car park in Stirling.
Amazingly, the cobblestones discovered at Beechwood Park still bear the tracks of Roman carts ferrying legions north to battle the natives.
The road, which follows a line from Doune in Stirlingshire to Falkirk then heads south to England, was later used by William Wallace and Bonnie Prince Charlie for military campaigns.
The road fell out of use in around 1770 and was later built over.
Archaeology Scotland now plans to uncover up to 200 metres of the road.
Archaeologist Murray Cook said the organisation also wants to make the road accessible to the public for the first time, allowing people to "connect with the past" by visiting the site and walking in the footsteps of some of Scotland's most famous historical figures.
He added: "This road is the most important road in Scotland's history because every major military campaign that moved north or south moved along this road."
Mr Cook said the road would also have been used by "William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and every other king and military leader to Bonnie Prince Charlie".
The discovery was part of a dig which began in the grounds of the former Central Scotland Police headquarters last September.
Mr Cook said excitement was high after the find.
"You can't quite fathom that you're looking at something everyone important in Scotland's history has walked on," he said.
The road would have taken Roman soldiers to the uncivilised fringes of the empire, he said. "It takes you to the frontier, you're coming from Falkirk, walking north towards Doune. South, it would have stretched to London."
Pupils from nearby Stirling High School will now be brought in to help uncover the rest of the road.
Mr Cook added: "It's all being done as part of Scottish Archaeology Month, which is funded by various educational charities."
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