Home to one of the world’s most famous civilizations, Egypt is a country filled to the brim with historical significance. However, when people explore ancient Egyptian history, they usually stop at the pyramids. But other remnants of the culture have survived, giving us new insight into how the ancient Egyptians lived.

10 Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple

We’ve already discussed Hatshepsut, one of the more interesting characters in Egyptian history. She’s the Egyptian queen who promoted herself to pharaoh because Thutmose III, her stepson and heir to the throne, was too young to assume the role. She also left behind a legacy—her mortuary temple.

Located at Deir el-Bahri, the temple is called “Djeser-djeseru,” which means “the holy of holies.” It stands proud to this day, but given the disagreements with Hatshepsut’s method of appointing a new pharaoh, both Thutmose III and Akhenaten went through the temple after her death and made some adjustments to the scenery.

On the first level was a beautiful garden filled with plants from Punt, although the garden is gone now. Behind it was a series of reliefs and monuments, most of which were destroyed by Thutmose III and Akhenaten after Hatshepsut’s death. While none of the surviving monuments depict Hatshepsut, one of them clearly shows Thutmose III dancing before the god Min.

The second level contains the birth colonnade and the Punt colonnade, the ancient Egyptian versions of a Facebook wall. The birth colonnade depicted Hatshepsut’s divine birth, which involved Amun-Ra using his breath to impregnate Queen Ahmose, Hatshepsut’s mother. The Punt colonnade featured Hatshepsut’s voyage to Punt and her return with boats filled with exotic woods, makeup, and animals.

Unfortunately, Thutmose III damaged the depictions of Hatshepsut. For his part, Akhenaten defaced the depictions of Amun-Ra because Akhenaten wanted to popularize the Aten, the god of the Sun disk, instead.

With four chapels, Senenmut’s tomb, and the sanctuary of Amun-Ra still standing, Hatshepsut’s temple offers insight into the ancient Egyptians’ way of life and their politics.

9 The Tuna El-Gebel Catacombs

The ancient Egyptian city of Hermopolis Magna was the capital of the Hare province. Known as the “City of the Eight,” the people there worshiped Thoth, the god of learning. Although the city is interesting in its own right, a fascinating discovery was made nearby.

On the west bank of Tunah al-Jabal near Hermopolis Magna, a university expedition in the 1930s unearthed a vast necropolis dedicated to Thoth. Called “Tuna el-Gebel,” this necropolis may extend all the way to Hermopolis Magna. Regardless, archaeologists have already uncovered 3 kilometers (2 mi) of this impressive site.

As expected, dead bodies lie within the catacombs, which allowed relatives and friends to visit their deceased loved ones without being affected by the weather. The tomb of Petosiris, one of the high priests of Thoth, is also contained within the necropolis. Perhaps more surprising is the large number of animals buried there.

The ancient Egyptians often dedicated animals to their favorite gods, and Thoth certainly had an entire bestiary by the time the Egyptians were done. Explorers discovered thousands of mummified animals, including baboons, ibis and ibis eggs, cats, larks, kestrels, and even pigs.

Every animal within the necropolis was deemed sacred. However, the baboons and ibis were especially exalted, given that Thoth was usually depicted with the head of an ibis and baboons were Thoth’s trusted followers that assisted scribes with their work.

8 The Colossi Of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon are two giant statues that the locals refer to as “el-Colossat” or “es-Salamat.” Both depicting Amenhotep III, they were built to guard his mortuary temple behind them. While the colossi are still standing, the mortuary temple has vanished due to erosion caused by floods and the theft of stones by subsequent rulers.

Both statues have tiny representations of Amenhotep III’s wife and mother carved into the base as well as two Nile gods winding papyrus around the hieroglyph for “unite.” The statues are called the Colossi of Memnon because early Greek visitors believed the statues depicted the god Memnon, son of the goddess Eos.

After an earthquake in 27 BC, the northern statue suffered some structural damage that caused it to “sing” around dawn. Puzzled, the ancient Greek visitors believed that it might be Memnon, who had died at the hands of Achilles but had returned as a statue. According to their theory, Memnon cried out in anguish each morning when he saw his mother, Eos, rising in the sky at dawn.

Although we can’t reproduce this phenomenon in modern times, it’s possible that the singing was caused by dew trapped in the porous rock that evaporated from the heat of the morning Sun. The singing stopped in AD 199 after the statue was repaired.

7 Malkata Palace

When Amenhotep III ruled Egypt, he built a palace that was the ancient Egyptian version of a California mansion. He was only 12 when he inherited the throne from his father, Thutmose IV, along with one of the largest, wealthiest empires in the world. Rather than wage war, Amenhotep III was a man of diplomacy and peace, which left him the time and money to build Malkata Palace.

The site for Malkata Palace spanned about 800,000 square meters (9 million ft²). The luxurious structure contained a library, kitchens, administrative office, audience chambers, halls for festivities, and more, all of which were decorated lavishly with paint.

Its size wasn’t just for grandeur, however. Malkata Palace housed Amenhotep III’s family, servants, guests, and a large harem of princesses, all of whom had their own retinue of servants. One foreign princess visited with 300 servants of her own. Malkata Palace also housed all the visitors for the Heb Sed festivals—the jubilees of Amenhotep III’s coronation— which probably explains why he called this vast complex the “House of Joy.”

The most curious of all the discoveries made at Malkata Palace was its artificial lake. With a T-shaped area of about 3.5 square kilometers (1.5 mi²), the lake allowed Amenhotep III and his family to sail around without interruption.

6 Tanis

With its discovery rivaling that of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, the “lost city” of Tanis missed its moment of fame when current events overshadowed ancient ones. Tanis was called “Djanet” by the ancient Egyptians and “Zoan” in the Old Testament. During the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, Tanis was the capital of Egypt. But political troubles shifted the importance and influence of the city elsewhere.

In its prime, however, Tanis was a wealthy city, largely because it was one of the closest ports to the Asiatic seaboard. A large temple dedicated to the god Amun was built there. The city’s brief moment in the spotlight also meant that some of the royal tombs were quite extravagant.

In 1939, archaeologist Pierre Montet brought several years of excavations at Tanis to a satisfying end when he discovered a royal tomb complex. It had three burial chambers that were undisturbed by vandalism or theft, making this an incredibly valuable find that also included burial treasures like golden masks, silver coffins, and royal jewelry. Nobody had visited Tanis since the city was abandoned, so the tombs and other archaeological treasures were in the same state as during ancient Egyptian times.

But just as Montet announced his fantastic find, World War II erupted, shifting people’s attention away from Egyptian discoveries to current international turmoil. Although the discovery faded into history, it doesn’t change the fact that Tanis held some of the greatest archaeological finds since Tutankhamun.

5 The Temple Of Seti I

The Temple of Seti I is located in Abydos, one of ancient Egypt’s holiest sites. A burial site since the predynastic era, Abydos was originally dedicated to the god Wepwawet, who opened the way for the dead to enter the afterlife. Gradually, the worship of Osiris grew within Abydos until the entire area became dedicated to him. Abydos features the early tombs of the necropolis Umm el Qa’ab, which were thought to be the beginning of burial practices that eventually led to the building of the pyramids.

One of the remaining temples within Abydos is the Temple of Seti I, which has a strange, L-shaped layout but is like most Egyptian temples otherwise. Some of the temple’s surviving wonders include two hypostyle halls, large rooms where the builders supported the roof by placing many columns throughout the structure.

The outer hypostyle hall was finished by Ramses II after Seti I’s death. Even though the temple was supposed to be about Seti I, the pictures within the outer hypostyle hall frequently depict Ramses II. At the entrance, Ramses II is shown measuring the temple with the goddess Selket before presenting it to the god Horus. Elsewhere, Ramses II is depicted offering a box of papyrus to the deities Horus, Isis, and Osiris before being led to the temple to be blessed with holy water. However, these sunk reliefs aren’t crafted well, suggesting that Ramses II sent all of Seti I’s best workers to complete his own temple, the Ramesseum.

The more impressive sights are found in the inner hypostyle hall, which was largely completed before Seti I’s death. One relief shows Osiris and Horus pouring holy water over Seti I. Other reliefs depict Seti I being crowned by the gods and Seti I kneeling before Osiris and Horus. On the side walls, projecting piers show Seti I wearing a crown representing the combination of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Behind these halls are seven sanctuaries, each dedicated to a favorite god. There’s also the Sanctuary of Seti I, which depicts him uniting Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as inner sanctuaries of Osiris, several chapels, and a gallery of kings listing all of Seti I’s predecessors.

4 Babylon Fortress

The Babylon Fortress in Cairo (aka the “Castle of Babylon” or the “Castle of Egypt”) wasn’t built by the Egyptians. Instead, it was built by the command of two Roman emperors. The first one was Trajan, who opened a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile and refurbished an old Persian fortress in the southern part of town. The second was Arcadius, who improved upon the existing fortress. Given both of their efforts, Babylon Fortress became a port and a supply line to Alexandria.

The Babylon Fortress was a refuge for the Coptic Christians, especially after they began to suffer persecution from the Western Christians. There are several churches built into the fortress itself, including the Hanging Church, one of the most famous Coptic churches in Egypt.

The Hanging Church is built over the entrance to a passage in the fortress. Visitors enter through a decorated gate on Shar’a Mari Girgis Street and then climb 29 steps to the church (hence its nickname, the ‘”Staircase Church”). The church has an 11th-century pulpit with 13 pillars, representing Jesus and his 12 disciples. The oldest icon in the church dates to the eighth century. A lintel depicting Christ entering Jerusalem may date as far back as the fifth century.

3 Deir El-Medina

A village near the Valley of the Kings, Deir el-Medina housed all the workers who helped build and decorate the tombs for the pharaohs. According to village records, the people living in Deir el-Medina actively desired to build tombs that would one day serve their king. Many of these records also discuss personal matters, which gives us a look into the day-to-day life of Egyptian workers.

The tomb workers went on one of the first recorded strikes due to an unfair work environment. Ramses III had a huge construction program at Thebes, which heavily drained the grain supply used to pay the workers at the necropolis. The workers waited six months for payment. Then, faced with starvation, they marched on several temples and staged sit-ins until something was done.

According to the records of the strike found at Deir el-Medina: “They sat down at the rear of the temple of Baenre-meryamun. They shouted at the mayor of Thebes as he was passing by, and he sent to them the gardener Meniufer of the chief overseer of cattle to say to them: ‘See, I’ll give these 50 sacks of emmer for provisions until Pharaoh gives you (a) ration.’ ”

For researchers, interesting records from this ancient Egyptian village are available online at the Deir el-Medina database.

2 The Statue Of Meritamun

Unlike the other towns on this list, Akhmim is still active today, but it stands over the ancient Egyptian town of Ipu. When excavating the site, archaeologists discovered fragments of a statue of Ramses II and a relatively intact, 11-meter-high (36 ft) statue of Meritamun, Ramses II’s daughter.

Given that the female statue was lying prone, the workers righted it first. After that, it was decided that the statue should be left in the open, still situated several meters below ground level.

A story on looklex.com described it this way: “Akhmim is among the weirdest sites from Ancient Egypt. You drive along crowded and dusty roads in the large town of Akhmim, then suddenly, in a large hole in the ground, you see the head of a grand female statue.”

1 Aswan Granite Quarry

The Egyptians loved their granite. The pyramids were made of it. The temples used it. It was a prime building material that stood the test of time. Much of the granite used in these structures came from the Aswan granite quarry, which even supplied stone for the lintels above the king’s chamber. The Aswan quarry area spanned about 150 square kilometers (60 mi²) and included the famous granite quarries as well as lesser-known sandstone, grinding stone, and building stone quarries.

However, the most interesting aspect of the Aswan granite quarry is what lies unfinished inside: the largest ancient obelisk known to man. Had it been lifted out of the quarry to stand upright, this obelisk would have weighed 1,200 tons and sported a jaw-dropping height of 42 meters (137 ft), at least one-third taller than any other ancient Egyptian obelisk. Archaeologists believe that female pharaoh Hatshepsut commissioned its construction.

The reason for abandoning the project isn’t known. But it could be that the stone had imperfections that the ancient Egyptians hadn’t noticed before construction. Another theory is that the process of quarrying the stone relieved some of the stress keeping the stone together, causing a crack to appear on the obelisk. The project’s failure, however, has been a success for archaeologists, who can look over the work in progress to learn how the ancient Egyptians crafted such gigantic monuments.

S.E. Batt is a freelance writer and author. He enjoys a good keyboard, cats, and tea, even though the three of them never blend well together. You can follow his antics over at @Simon_Batt, or his fiction website, www.sebatt.com.

We’ve all heard of the Pyramids of Giza—thousands of years old, and just about the most famous buildings of all time. But ancient Egypt doesn’t have a monopoly on pyramid construction; mankind ever since has been pretty keen on the idea, coming up with all kinds of different twists on the same general theme. Here are some of the greatest alternative pyramids we’ve managed over the years (including a few we didn’t quite pull off):

Famously, the Egyptian pyramids were built to host the body of the king. They became temples to the dead, and a new source of worship. That’s all very nice—but perhaps a little elitist. That was the thought of Thomas Willson in 1829, when he proposed a new solution to London’s ongoing problem with graveyard overpopulation: a pyramid mausoleum which could contain the corpses of five million people, and which, if completed, would have been ninety-four floors high (by comparison, the Chrysler Building has just seventy-seven floors). And it would have been located in the middle of London.

Willson thought the idea compact, hygienic, and ornamental, and he hoped that people would come from afar to have picnics and admire it. He also calculated that it would bring in a tidy profit of around ten million pounds. Not all envisaged the idea in the same way, however: one historian has described it as a “nightmarish combination of megalomaniacal Neo-Classicism and dehumanized Utilitarian efficiency”, which is an old-fashioned way of saying “this stinks.” In the end, public opinion turned against it—Londoners most likely deciding that they would rather picnic a park than beneath a colossal pyramid of death.

We associate the Romans with amphitheaters, temples, and statues—but one thing we don’t tend to think of is pyramids. Well, think again. Smack-bang in the middle of Rome is a two-thousand-year-old, 121-foot (37m)-high pyramid.

The Romans had only recently made Egypt a province, and were obviously impressed with their huge tombs to ancient kings. “I like the sound of that,” a Roman magistrate called Gaius Cestius probably said—and had one built for himself, Roman-style, upon his death. Alas, as with the Egyptian pyramids, advertising your tomb in such grand style isn’t always a good idea; both his body and the pyramid’s other contents were plundered in antiquity.

What do you do when you want to build a sixty-five-floor pyramid in the middle of crowded Mexico City? Why, you turn it upside-down and build it underground, of course. That’s the proposal of a Mexican architectural firm. They want to give the city’s main square a glass floor, and build a pyramid of offices, homes, and shops underneath it.

Mexico has a rich history of pyramid building from the Maya civilization, and according to one of the architects, the proposed pyramid would “dig down through the layers of cities to uncover our roots.” Because there’s nothing like building a vast, hi-tech underground shopping centre to discover your roots. At a projected $800 million, the city hasn’t yet expressed much enthusiasm for the idea.

What’s the biggest pyramid in the world? The Great Pyramid of Giza? No—there’s actually one that’s twice as big.

Though not as tall as the Great Pyramid of Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Cholula—which also has the less catchy name of Tlachihualtepetl—is much wider. It can be found in central-east Mexico, and was built over a period of a thousand years, from the third century B.C. to the ninth century A.D.  

Some say that it was built by a giant called Xelhua, but archaeologists, predictably, disagree. They claim that the pyramid was constructed by a series of ancient Mexican civilizations, who added layer upon layer over the years. These days it’s quite overgrown, and doing its best impression of a hill—so much so that the Spanish built a church on it in the sixteenth century.

Everybody thinks of Egypt as the pyramid capital of the world, but there’s another country that has twice as many pyramids: Sudan. Located directly to the south of modern Egypt, they were mostly built around the third century B.C.—around eight hundred years after the last Egyptian pyramids were built.

There are more than two hundred and fifty of them, ranging from twenty feet (6m) to one hundred and twenty feet (36m) high. Many of these have only been discovered in the last few years, suggesting that either the Sudanese were fantastic at hiding their pyramids, or that archaeologists prefer more glamorous locations in which carry out their digging.

It may not be much to look at these days, but the mausoleum pyramid of the first Emperor of China is deadly. It was built from 246 B.C. to 208 B.C., supposedly by as many as 700,000 men—and it was filled with more traps than would fit into an Indiana Jones movie.

It was supposed to be a representation of the Emperor’s palace and universe, and in this vein he had all his childless concubines killed and buried with him. Lovely. Workers, too, were buried alive, in order to preserve the pyramid’s secrets, and trees and grass were planted to make it seem like a hill. The Chinese are yet to excavate, claiming that archaeology isn’t sophisticated enough to do the job properly. But it could well be that they’re simply scared of the traps; for instance, it’s known that the pyramid was filled with a moat of mercury. More than two millennia later, mercury readings from the site are still dangerously high.

Being an architect is tough work. You spend months getting your drawings and measurements perfect—only to have the builders read your plans the wrong way round. That looks like what happened in 1983, for the construction of the 262-foot (80m)-high Slovak Radio Building, in Bratislava, Slovakia. Inside is a concert hall—and it proudly boasts one of the largest organs in Slovakia. If you’re visiting in a group, make sure everyone is spread around evenly; it looks like it could topple at any moment.

Sure, it didn’t last long—but for a while, New York had its own pyramid. At the end of World War One, thousands of helmets from captured German soldiers were taken back to America, and in a somewhat macabre victory display, they were piled up into a pyramid at Grand Central Terminal.

Somehow, we don’t think this would be received very well today. Still, it’s a touch more civilized than the similar actions of fourteenth-century Central Asian emperor Tamerlane. During one siege, he built a pyramid of 90,000 human skulls in front of a besieged city to intimidate them. We imagine that it worked.

Pyramids of death don’t die that easily. In 2007, a group of German entrepreneurs unveiled their designs for a 1900-foot (580m)-tall pyramid to house the bodies of up to forty million dead people. It would also be multi-colored, as if to compensate for the fact that it would be filled with dead bodies. For around $1000, anybody could sign up to have their ashes encased in a block after they die—and the color would be of their choosing. At around ten times the size of the original Great Pyramid, it would have almost literally cast a shadow over the neighboring villages.

Remarkably, the group were given $115,000 of funding from the German government to pursue the idea; since then, however, the plan seems to have faded due to lack of interest and local objection to having a gigantic multi-colored pyramid full of dead people on their doorstep. But don’t worry: if you’re interested, you can still sign up here.

Why restrict pyramid building to our own planet? The Curiosity rover sent by NASA to examine Mars found something rather curious. This pyramid looks like it’s been copied from the ancient Egyptian ones—or perhaps it’s the other way round.

NASA scientists say that the pyramid is most likely the product of wind erosion; but in the minds of ancient aliens theorists, it’s “hard evidence” that our world today has been shaped by mystical space aliens from Mars. One thing is for sure, however: if the aliens who built this rock were the ones who visited Earth, they must have been pretty tiny. The Pyramid of Mars is about the same size as a football.

N. Christie is currently traveling the world to determine once and for all what the Seven Wonders of the World really are.

The Giza Pyramids were constructed about 4,500 years ago. As breathtaking as these monuments are, they are not the oldest. Other archaeological sites are far more ancient than the Giza complex. This list looks at the most intriguing candidates known for their uniqueness or historical importance, including the largest human-made landscape and how avocados led to the discovery of a massive, peculiar megalithic complex.

10 The Tel Tsaf Charcoal—7,000 Years Old

The remains of a prehistoric village still exist in Israel. Located in the Jordan Valley, something sets it apart from other settlements of the same age. That something was charcoal. Sure, it sounds boring, but when archaeologists tested the scorched stuff, they discovered that the wood was 7,000 years old. But there was more.

The wood belonged to olive and fig trees. This was rather surprising. The specimens were the result of fruit tree cultivation, proving that olive and fig horticulture flourished long before the pyramids.

The find provided the earliest example of this type of farming but also showed that the trees didn’t just provide food and firewood for the villagers. It made them rich. Most of the homes had silos that could store massive amounts of crops, more than each family could ever need for their own personal use. This strongly suggested that the village did long-distance trading with dried figs and olive oil.^[1]

9 The Janera Complex—7,000 Years Old

In 2022, developers wanted to plant avocado trees. They had their eye on a patch of land in Huelva, Spain. Before they could plant anything, however, a permit was required, which called for a land survey. As the surveyors discovered one stone after the other, it became clear that they were walking through a massive megalithic complex.

The La Torre-La Janera site, aged at roughly 7,000 years, contained over 500 standing stones, although many are still believed to be buried. The sheer number guaranteed its place among the biggest complexes in Europe, but one feature set Janera apart. It held the most diverse collection of different megalithic structures found anywhere in the Iberian Peninsula.

Most other sites consist only of dolmens or stone circles. But this complex contained a striking collection of dolmens, circles, mounds, enclosures, the said 500-plus standing stones, and cists (casket-like stone boxes).^[2]

8 The Vinor Roundel—7,000 Years Old

The oldest evidence of architecture in Europe is a mysterious group of earthworks called roundels. Hundreds dot the landscape across Central Europe, and as their name suggests, they are round structures. In the Czech Republic, the Vinor Roundel was discovered by construction diggers in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2022 that the ruins were fully excavated.

The structure is enigmatic, but researchers believe it might’ve been the handiwork of a Stone Age community that used the roundel as a meeting place 7,000 years ago. This particular building measured 180 feet (55 meters) in diameter and had three entrances. The people probably belonged to the Stroked Pottery culture. They were farmers and accomplished longhouse builders who flourished in the area between 4900 BC and 4400 BC.^[3]

7 The Arma Veirana Grave—10,000 Years Old

In 2017, researchers made a sad discovery. While digging in Italy’s Arma Veirana cave, they uncovered the grave of a baby girl. Despite the tragic circumstances, it piqued their interest. In Europe, such ancient infant graves are extremely rare. The baby, whom they affectionately called “Neve,” stood out for another reason. Her grave was 10,000 years old, making her the oldest female child discovered in Europe.

But Neve had one more surprise for the researchers. Her burial provided an answer to a simple but hexing question, “How did people carry their infants back then?” A fair guess was that people used animal skins or degradable fabrics to make baby slings, which could explain why none have survived to modern times. Neve was the first proof of this.

In 2022, a new study examined the shells surrounding her remains. Their position and her body posture strongly suggested that she’d been buried in a shell-decorated baby sling, probably the same one used by Neve’s parents to carry her around during her short life.^[4]

6 The Wurdi Youang Stones—11,000 Years Old

The Wurdi Youang stone arrangement is located west of Melbourne, Australia. This ancient place consists of 90 carefully arranged blocks of basalt, a feature that gives the site a distinct Stonehenge-like flavor. However, the Wurdi Youang stones are much smaller. The tallest ones are no higher than a person’s waist.

Although the true purpose of the arrangement remains unknown, researchers are confident that Aboriginal astronomers used the stones to track the movement of the sun and mark the solstices.

Stonehenge might be taller, but it’s not the oldest. In 2016, geologists and other experts studied the site and concluded that it could be as old as 11,000 years. If true, that will make Wurdi Youang the world’s first observatory.^[5]

5 The LSU Mounds—11,000 Years Old

If you blink, your brain might dismiss the LSU mounds as landscaping features. Especially because the pair can be found on the Louisiana State University campus—not where one would expect to find the earliest human-made structures in the Americas. But sure enough, these grassy, well-manicured peaks go back 11,000 years.

Well, at least one of them does. When researchers recently clambered up the 20-foot (6-meter) slopes, they extracted cores filled with ancient clay, ash, plants, and animal bones. These bits dated the so-called Mound B as the record breaker. Mound A was 7,500 years old.

The builders didn’t scrape the heaps together in one day. Research shows that indigenous people spent thousands of years building them up, constantly adding layers of clay and burning organic material on the mounds. Interestingly, about 6,000 years ago, when both mounds were completed, they also lined up with a bright star called Arcturus.^[6]

4 The Kimberley Gwion Gallery—12,000 Years Old

In Western Australia, there is a collection of rock art unique to the Kimberley region. Done in the Gwion style, the Aboriginal art shows human figures adorned with anklets, bracelets, and headdresses. When it was first discovered, the work was clearly ancient, but putting a date on the gallery wasn’t easy. For a while, experts tentatively tagged it at 17,000 years old.

In 2020, scientists noticed wasp nests in the area. They were old, but any art behind them was bound to be older. On the other hand, any art on top of the muddy constructions would be younger than the nests.

This time bracket gave researchers a way to box in the real date. They tested over 100 nests, and the results put the gallery at 12,000 years. While it’s younger than initially thought, the artwork remains about seven millennia older than the Giza pyramids.^[7]

3 The Powars II Quarry—13,000 Years Old

Located in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, the Powars II quarry isn’t a new discovery. Archaeologists briefly documented the site in the 1980s but failed to recognize its importance. But in recent years, another team returned and realized that Powars II was 13,000 years old. This made it the oldest red ochre quarry in the Americas.

The excavation uncovered mining tools, bones, weapons, and beads. This cache contained thousands of items that also flagged Powars II as one of the densest Paleoindian records in existence.

Interestingly, the quarry wasn’t a locals-only enterprise. Some of the artifacts also showed that people traveled from great distances away to pull the precious red pigment from the mountain. Experts believe that ochre found at other archaeological sites across the American mid-continent probably came from this quarry.^[8]

2 The East Kalimantan Grave—31,000 Years Old

In 2020, archaeologists found a skeleton in a Borneo limestone cave. The left foot was missing. Normally, an incomplete skeleton is enough to ruin a researcher’s day since critical information can be lost. However, in this case, the team was delighted.

Around 31,000 years ago, the person had their foot skillfully amputated, and they lived for almost a decade afterward. This was bizarre. The surgeons lived before the advent of agriculture and permanent settlements, two factors hailed by historians as the catalyst for complex medical advancements.

It’s already amazing that the skeleton could be the world’s oldest case of medical amputation. But how did these hunter-gatherers have the knowledge to recognize when to remove a limb for health reasons and the skill to provide pain relief during and after major surgery, avoid the veins and nerves, stem major bleeding, and prevent post-operative infection?^[9]

1 Messak Settafet—Prehistory

In 2011, researchers visited the Sahara desert to have another look at the Messak Settafet escarpment. Measuring 217 miles (350 kilometers) long and running, on average, 37 miles (60 kilometers) wide, the sandstone outcrop is not entirely natural.

The site contains ancient stone artifacts, but that’s not the surprising bit. The quality of the rock would’ve been a magnet for prehistoric toolmakers. What’s noteworthy, however, is the number of abandoned tools at Messak Settafet. The 2011 team discovered an average of 75 million artifacts per 0.38 square mile (1 square kilometer).

This carpet of tools is the result of hundreds of thousands of years of humans and earlier hominids carving pieces from the escarpment for weapons and tools, abandoning some along the way, and also making Messak Settafet the oldest human-made landscape on Earth.^[10]