this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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Is roadkill - animals killed accidentally by vehicles accidentally running them over - a modern thing, or did it used to happen in the pre-modern era? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 weeks ago by gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/askhistorians@lemmy.world
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My assumption is that it's probably been a thing since roads, so possibly since at the least Ancient China, but I don't know, so I was curious if any experts know.

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[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Not roadkill per se, but most ancient societies had laws governing accidents caused by draft animals and carts. But I’d imagine they mostly took place in crowded urban streets, not rural roads with wild animals.