the.com/bitumen
Tar's respectable cousin: the black glue holding civilization to the ground.
means A thick, sticky, near-solid form of petroleum used to bind asphalt roads and waterproof things.
from From Latin bitumen, meaning mineral pitch — the Romans already knew this gunk and named it before anyone paved a highway.
Ancient mortarBabylonians glued bricks with it millennia ago.
Mummy ingredientEgyptians used it in embalming preparations.
Pitch LakeTrinidad holds a natural bitumen lake, perpetually refilling.
Road empireMost paved roads are bitumen-bound aggregate, not concrete.