During the Roman Empire Era, the city  enjoyed a network of paved roads, often with basalt that covered an efficient sewer system dug into the rock beneath (figs. 1-4).

Fig. 1 - Tharros: two main roads can clearly be seen that lead from the centre to the top of Su Muru Mannu (right), and the division into quarters by the major urban roads (from Google Earth)

Fig. 2 - The roads that divide the central quarter of Tharros (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

Fig. 3 - Main N-S road; the trace of the Roman sewer in the centre, currently covered in wood for safety reasons (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

Fig. 4 - Main W-E road (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

The basalt slab paving of the roads is extremely accurate, and seems to have been carried out all at the same time, as a general refurbishment of the urban centre, repairing and improving the already existing roads. We cannot be sure when this took place, but the comparison with Nora, where a similar work has been found and dated, brings us to believe that this work was also carried out in Tharros between the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.

Fig. 5 - Road paving (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)

The main roads of Tharros, which were three-five metres wide, divide the city into large quarters, while the division into smaller blocks is due to small, narrow roads called ambitus that are no more than one metre wide (fig. 6).

These small alleys also have sewers when on the hill slope, which drained into the sewers on the main roads, that then took the waste water out to sea.

Fig. 6 - A narrow ambitus that outlines the blocks of houses (photo by Unicity S.p.A.)