Small houses, megalithic temples, ancient bqurial mounds, prehistoric pyramids, and feats of Aboriginal engineering are among the oldest buildings. Here, we have provided a list that is in no sense exhaustive: a list of activities of great significance scattered across all continents that impart valuable knowledge concerning the long and inventive history of World Oldest Man-made Structures.
Read Also: What Ancient Marvels Can Be Found In Modern Cities?
8 Oldest Man-Made Structures You Can Visit Today
Europe: Dolmen of Menga, Spain:
Europe largest megalithic structure, Menga is an archaeological site in Andalucía. Dating to the onset of the Copper Age, circa 2500 BC, the ancient tomb has been termed as constituting some of the finest engineering of the Neolithic era, being made from gigantic stone blocks forming funerary chambers within an earthen mound. The scholars believe that the transportation of stones uphill without damaging them was done by prehistoric humans using strong grass ropes, specialized knots, and wooden scaffolds along with the understanding of laws of gravity and brute strength of a cohort of World Oldest Man-made Structures.
Europe: Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, UK:
Between the years 3000 to 1520 BC, this ancient monument, most photographed in England, was gradually constructed in six phases over the chalky plains of Salisbury. Though there is no conclusive evidence to determine the stone circle's exact role, it is generally accepted to be a place for religious and ceremonial gatherings that were deliberately aligned with the sun at solstices. Stonehenge is a site that constituted the Great Sarsen Stone Circle and its associated sites of Avebury, together inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage property. The building technique involved an elaborate architectural arrangement of properly masoned upright sheets of sarsen stone and smaller bluestones, which were awe-inspiringly carted all the way from So Wales for a distance of about 100 miles/161km.
Europe: Newgrange, Ireland:
Every morning around the winter solstice, sunlight beams into the interiors of this ancient burial mound. Newgrange is a Neolithic passage tomb and temple complex located about an hour to the north-northeast of Dublin, essentially a testimony to the skill of the Neolithic farmers who built it around 3200 BC, using water-rolled stones from the River Boyne. More than an acre in size, the structure is embellished with shell-97 keystones around its perimeter, several of which carry elaborate decorative processes. Inside lie ocular chambers in a cruciform orientation with a corbelled roof that remain watertight after 5,000 years.
Long Barrow, Wiltshire:
One of the most important accessible Neolithic burial sites in Britain, West Kennet Long Barrow is dated to about 3650 BC and used for at least 1,000 years. Human remains and grave goods retrieved from the site range from between 3000 and 2600 BC; evidence of the cemetery's closure points to 2000 BC – its passages and forecourt sealed off with dirt, rubble, and boulders. When first built the barrow would have had chalk sides bare but today it is covered with turf.
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Howar, Orkney, Scotland:
The Knap of Howar was built around 3700 BC on Papa Westray-isle remote, weather-beaten shores The oldest standing stone buildings in northwest Europe lie here preserved. Similar to those found at Skara Brae – the so-called ‘Scottish Pompeii’, also in the Orkney region – the two interconnecting, hardy structures that make up the Knap of Howar house stone benches, built-in cupboards, hearths and pits within their low, rounded walls, demonstrating the ingenuity and lifestyles of the prehistoric people that designed them.
Europe: Monte d'Accoddi, Sardinia, Italy:
The complex at Monte d'Accoddi is a ziggurat – a pyramidal, stepped temple pioneered by the Babylonians in the 5th millennium BC. But since Sardinia was never part of Mesopotamia, archaeologists have long been perplexed over the origin of the building. Surrounded by menhirs and other examples of megalithic architecture, the original truncated pyramid dated around 6,000 years old, or (4000-3500 BC). Contrary to similar ancient ziggurats of mud bricks, Monte d'Accoddi was erected of stone with meticulous laying foundation. Based on different discoveries researchers suggest that it served for a lot of ritual activities involving sacrifice and immolation, possibly World Oldest Man-made Structures.
Europe: La Hougue Bie, Jersey, Channel Islands:
La Hougue Bie, built from 4000 to 3500 BC, is a Neolithic burial passage grave and chamber in an earth mound on the island of Jersey. Located in the eastern part of the island, the site was built for burial and ceremony purposes and aligned intentionally with the equinoxes. It was built of locally sourced stones, which were carried into place using ramps, wooden rollers, and manpower. From Jersey's 12th-century pagan-to-Christian conversion, La Hougue Bie has been surmounted by a deconsecrated chapel.
Europe: Listoghil, Ireland:
Located in county Sligo, Listoghil is the largest built structure in the Carro more complex, a megalithic cemetery in County Sligo. By the 1990s excavation of the cairn, archaeologists had exposed a platform that was decorated with charcoal, which has been radiocarbon dated to 4100 BC, thus giving an estimate for the beginning of the construction of Listoghil. This building is unique in that it is the only limestone-roofed building at Carrowmore and the only one that is decorated with megalithic art; additionally, it is surrounded by other tombs, suggesting that it was the focal point of the cemetery. It is also the only chamber that contains both interments and cremations.
Karl Jablonski
Small houses, megalithic temples, ancient bqurial mounds, prehistoric pyramids, and feats of Aboriginal engineering are among the oldest buildings. Here, we have provided a list that is in no sense exhaustive: a list of activities of great significance scattered across all continents that impart valuable knowledge concerning the long and inventive history of World Oldest Man-made Structures.
Read Also: What Ancient Marvels Can Be Found In Modern Cities?
8 Oldest Man-Made Structures You Can Visit Today
Europe: Dolmen of Menga, Spain:
Europe largest megalithic structure, Menga is an archaeological site in Andalucía. Dating to the onset of the Copper Age, circa 2500 BC, the ancient tomb has been termed as constituting some of the finest engineering of the Neolithic era, being made from gigantic stone blocks forming funerary chambers within an earthen mound. The scholars believe that the transportation of stones uphill without damaging them was done by prehistoric humans using strong grass ropes, specialized knots, and wooden scaffolds along with the understanding of laws of gravity and brute strength of a cohort of World Oldest Man-made Structures.
Europe: Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, UK:
Between the years 3000 to 1520 BC, this ancient monument, most photographed in England, was gradually constructed in six phases over the chalky plains of Salisbury. Though there is no conclusive evidence to determine the stone circle's exact role, it is generally accepted to be a place for religious and ceremonial gatherings that were deliberately aligned with the sun at solstices. Stonehenge is a site that constituted the Great Sarsen Stone Circle and its associated sites of Avebury, together inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage property. The building technique involved an elaborate architectural arrangement of properly masoned upright sheets of sarsen stone and smaller bluestones, which were awe-inspiringly carted all the way from So Wales for a distance of about 100 miles/161km.
Europe: Newgrange, Ireland:
Every morning around the winter solstice, sunlight beams into the interiors of this ancient burial mound. Newgrange is a Neolithic passage tomb and temple complex located about an hour to the north-northeast of Dublin, essentially a testimony to the skill of the Neolithic farmers who built it around 3200 BC, using water-rolled stones from the River Boyne. More than an acre in size, the structure is embellished with shell-97 keystones around its perimeter, several of which carry elaborate decorative processes. Inside lie ocular chambers in a cruciform orientation with a corbelled roof that remain watertight after 5,000 years.
Long Barrow, Wiltshire:
One of the most important accessible Neolithic burial sites in Britain, West Kennet Long Barrow is dated to about 3650 BC and used for at least 1,000 years. Human remains and grave goods retrieved from the site range from between 3000 and 2600 BC; evidence of the cemetery's closure points to 2000 BC – its passages and forecourt sealed off with dirt, rubble, and boulders. When first built the barrow would have had chalk sides bare but today it is covered with turf.
Must Read: What regions or cities are most affected by Macy's store closures?
Howar, Orkney, Scotland:
The Knap of Howar was built around 3700 BC on Papa Westray-isle remote, weather-beaten shores The oldest standing stone buildings in northwest Europe lie here preserved. Similar to those found at Skara Brae – the so-called ‘Scottish Pompeii’, also in the Orkney region – the two interconnecting, hardy structures that make up the Knap of Howar house stone benches, built-in cupboards, hearths and pits within their low, rounded walls, demonstrating the ingenuity and lifestyles of the prehistoric people that designed them.
Europe: Monte d'Accoddi, Sardinia, Italy:
The complex at Monte d'Accoddi is a ziggurat – a pyramidal, stepped temple pioneered by the Babylonians in the 5th millennium BC. But since Sardinia was never part of Mesopotamia, archaeologists have long been perplexed over the origin of the building. Surrounded by menhirs and other examples of megalithic architecture, the original truncated pyramid dated around 6,000 years old, or (4000-3500 BC). Contrary to similar ancient ziggurats of mud bricks, Monte d'Accoddi was erected of stone with meticulous laying foundation. Based on different discoveries researchers suggest that it served for a lot of ritual activities involving sacrifice and immolation, possibly World Oldest Man-made Structures.
Europe: La Hougue Bie, Jersey, Channel Islands:
La Hougue Bie, built from 4000 to 3500 BC, is a Neolithic burial passage grave and chamber in an earth mound on the island of Jersey. Located in the eastern part of the island, the site was built for burial and ceremony purposes and aligned intentionally with the equinoxes. It was built of locally sourced stones, which were carried into place using ramps, wooden rollers, and manpower. From Jersey's 12th-century pagan-to-Christian conversion, La Hougue Bie has been surmounted by a deconsecrated chapel.
Europe: Listoghil, Ireland:
Located in county Sligo, Listoghil is the largest built structure in the Carro more complex, a megalithic cemetery in County Sligo. By the 1990s excavation of the cairn, archaeologists had exposed a platform that was decorated with charcoal, which has been radiocarbon dated to 4100 BC, thus giving an estimate for the beginning of the construction of Listoghil. This building is unique in that it is the only limestone-roofed building at Carrowmore and the only one that is decorated with megalithic art; additionally, it is surrounded by other tombs, suggesting that it was the focal point of the cemetery. It is also the only chamber that contains both interments and cremations.