08:18 Sep 28, 2009 

I don't disagree with you or your answer, but the term attuale, here, I believe, means the road currently in use. I know of some dirt roads currently in use that were originally engineered and built hundreds of years ago, (ex. some sections of the Vecchia Bolognese), while others were that were built by my father in law, some fifty years ago. Both may be considered "attuale strade", I would say, as they are currently in use for motorized vehicles.

08:05 Sep 28, 2009 

Cedric, the text is clearly referring to a modern road: "...l'attuale strada... che attraversa l'area". So we can't entirely rule out compacted cement. However, one word provides a clue which makes "dirt road" much more likely: "terra". If this road were made of cement, I don't think the problem for excavators would be soil.

07:56 Sep 28, 2009 

Here it is discussing the pavement of ancient roadways, where "carrabile" refers to vehicle traffic as opposed to foot or mule traffic. desertfox's answer covers the idea of a compacted dirt road, I'm fairly certain from my experience here in Italy that it is not referring to compacted cement as those roads do not need resurfacing and are not considered old roadways "Stratigrafie antiche".