10 Oldest Buildings In The World And Their Locations

10 OLDEST BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD AND THEIR LOCATIONS
10 Oldest Buildings In The World And Their Locations…
From the beginning of time till date, one major need of man has been that of shelter. To satisfy this need, man has used several materials available at his disposal yo fulfill this need from building thatch houses to building tree houses, to finding shelter in caves through carving rocks, and engineering block and mortar to build houses. These days man has perfected the art of building shelter for himself in various ways as we now have various forms of houses including glass houses raised very high to the sky inform of skyscrappers.

To appreciate this advancement in the art of creating shelter for ourselves as man, its important we look back to the past and visit some structures raised in the past by men of the old ages to provide shelter for various purposes by highlighting some structures from the past ages that are still in existence. In this articles, we will be highlighting 10 of the oldest building from past civilisations that are still in existence as monumental structures, in no particular order. They are as follows:

10 ) SECHIN BAJO

This structure dates back as early as 3500 – 1300 BCE. It is one of the oldest archeological ruins known to man and its located in the Valley of the Sechin River, Peru . It was discovered by a German and Peruvian archeological team headed by Peter Fuchs. Archeological findings reports that it was abandoned by its original inhabitants as far back as 1000 BCE and was used as a graveyard up until the 15th century CE. Discoveries from the site reveals that its original inhabitants engaged in pottery, did farming for survival, and used wall carving to preserve their culture and record their history.

9 ) PENTRE IFAN

This structure dates back as early as 3500 BC. It is located in the community and Parish of Nevern, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is a collection of 7 large stones, 4 suspending 1 of them, while the other 2 stand by them. It was discovered by archeologist William Francis Grimes and his team of archeologist in an escavation carried out around the year 1936 – 37 and 1958 – 59. Since its discovery, archeologists have tried to uncover what the stones were used for but had not been able come up with nothing other than they were used as burial sites by the ancient civilization that built them. This structure is under the protection of the Welsh government as a national monument.

10 Oldest Buildings In The World And Their Locations…

8 ) LISTOGHIL

This structure dates back as early as 3550 BCE. It is located in county Sligo, Ireland. Listoghil is a prehistoric tomb believed to have been a burial site on which the original inhabitants bury their loved ones and carryout other activities. This monument was discovered by Swedish archeologist Goran Burenhult in an escavation carried out in the 1990s. It has been restored as a tourist attraction site by the Irish government under the Office of Public Works.

7 ) WEST KENNET LONG BARROW

This historical structure dates back as early as 3650 BCE. It is located in Wiltshire England, and measures 100 metres in length and 20 metres in width. A lot of archeologists have worked on this monument because of its uniqueness, amongst whom are Joshua Pollard and Andrew Reynolds. Archeological reports states that the monuments’ original inhabitants built it shortly after agriculture was introduced to Britian from continental Europe, and used it as a mini community where they existed as families, rare animals, practiced farming, and bury their loved ones and dead animals. This monument exist today as a tourist attraction center under the guardianship of English Heritage, as part of the Stonehenge Avebury and Associated Sites, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site open for all year round visitation without charges.

6 ) GGANTIJA

This historical monument dates back as early as 3600 – 2500 BC. This age makes it the second oldest existing manmade religious structure after Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey that dates back as 9000 BCE. It is a megalithic temple complex located on the Mediterranean island of Gozo, Malta. Residents and travellers who visited Malta in the late 18th Century discovered the temple before archeological escavations were carried out as sponsored by the Maltese government to discover more from the temple and its original users in 1827, and later from 1933 – 1959.
Archeological reports states that the temple was used for worship of a god of fertility that once lived among the original inhabitants as a giantess with a man she fell in love with and married. The reports also say It was during her time of living with the original inhabitants that she built the temple. The temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 and it has since been renovated as a tourist attraction center.

10 Oldest Buildings In The World And Their Locations…

5 ) KNAP OF HOWAR

This monumental structure dates back as early as 3700 BC to 2800 BC. It is located on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland. Its date considerably makes it the oldest building in Northern Europe. The building comprise of a house where the original inhabitants live as families a storage center where they keep things they use for their daily activities, and a workroom where they make house wares and other items they need for their daily living.
Archeological escavation was first carried out on the site in 1929 CE when its new owner one William Traill found the stone wall almost covered by earth and uncovered it with the help of his friend one William Kirkness. They uncovered the building and discovered some artefacts with which they date the building to the Iron Age . Later archeologist Anna Ritchie carried out escavation on the land in the 1970’s and revealed the real age of the building from her findings, dating it to the Neolitic age. Archeological reports reveal that the original inhabitants engaged in farming, raring of animals, fishing, and pottery.

4 ) MONTE D’ACCODDI

This structure dates back as early as 4000 – 3650 BC. It is located in the territory of Sassari, Northern Sardinia, Italy. Monte d’accoddi was discovered in 1954. Archeological reports has it that its original inhabitants were people of the Ozieri Culture of Italy, and they built it for religious purpose as various stone altars were found in the site and remains of various animals as well that are believed to have been sacrificed to a diety by the original inhabitants.
The site was partially reconstructed in the 1980’s and has since been open to the public as a tourist attraction centre.

3 ) TUMULUS SAINT-MICHEL

This prehistoric mound dates back as early as 5000 – 4500 BCE. It is located in Carnac on the Gulf of Morbihan, France. Tumulus Saint-Michel consist of a mound of earth and stones 125 meters long, 50 meters wide and 10 meters high. This size makes it the largest grave mound in continental Europe. It was first explored in 1862. The explorers discovered a central vault containing fairly prestigious funerary furniture, axes, pearls, flint tools and sillimanite.
Around 1900, another archeologist Zacharie Le Rouzic reexplored the mound and discovered a second dolmen and additional 15 small stone chests.
Tumulus Saint-Michel was renovated in 2014 and its open to the public as a tourist attraction centre.

10 Oldest Buildings In The World And Their Locations…

2 ) TUMULUS OF BOUGON

This structure dates back as early as 4700 BC. It is located in Bougon near La-Mothe-Saint-Héray, between Exoudon and Pamproux in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. This structure comprise of 5
Neolithic barrows apart from each other that has been labelled A – F since its discovery in 1840. It is under the protection of the department of Deux-Sèvres, France, that aquired it in 1873. The structure was escavated in the late 1960s and a lot of artefacts were found that are now on display at the Bougon Mesuem opened in 1993, dedicated to show case artefacts escavated from the structure. Archeological discoveries states that the structure may have been used as a source of shelter as well as a burial site as evidence of everyday activities such as flat-bottomed and round-bottomed pottery, beads, pierced teeth, chains of seashells and stone tools, including a diorite mace were discovered on the site. Several graves were found during escavation activities as well.

1 ) BARNENEZ

This structure is also known as Tumulus Barnenez or Cairn de Barnebez. It dates back as early as 4800 BC and rates as one of the oldest and most remarkable man-made structures in the world for the presence of megalithic art in its vicinity. Tumulus Barnenez is 72 metres long, about 25 metres wide, and 8 metres high, comprising of 13000 to 14000 tons of stones, with 11 chambers known as dolmen. It is located near Plouezoc’h, on the Kernéléhen peninsula in northern Finistère, Brittany, France. Archeological findings states that the structure was built in 2 phases. The first phase was erected between 4850 and 4250 BC, while the second phase was erected between 4450 and 4000 BC.
The structure was first discovered and mapped in 1807. Its first scientific recognition took place in 1850 in the context of an academic congress in Morliax, Brittany, France. Archeological artefacts discovered on the structure include engraved symbols of axes, snakes, bows, and a repeated U shape design on the stone walls, pottery from which it was deducted that the site was reused in in the bronze ages, polished stone axes of dolerite, flint blades, and arrow heads. The structure was controlled by residents of the community where it is located until 1954 when restoration and renovation occured on the site that lasted until 1968. It has since become a tourist attraction centre.

10 Oldest Buildings In The World And Their Locations…
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