These basalt stones, while only visible in section, appear - based on their position, size, orientation, and slope - to be an earlier (Republican?) paved road surface of the main trunk road/Via Gabina, predating the (Imperial?) basalt road that has been exposed across the Area Urbana (SU 7019). Here at the intersection, this trunk road would have been in phase with the basalt-paved side street descending from the north (SU 6039) and the basalt-paved corridor (Room 2, SU 7044) leading into the piazza to the south, which are both at a lower level than the exposed Via Gabina. At least in this part visible in section, the thick pavers appear to sit directly on top of regularized bedrock. Given that excavation of the channel in Area J revealed no evidence of an earlier basalt pavement, these stones are potentially a very significant trace of the long history of the street grid.