Deep Time — Structures of Human Antiquity
Walk backwards from today through 49 structures of human antiquity — Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, the Egyptian pyramids, Pumapunku — on the conventional archaeological timeline or on a contested Younger Dryas chronology.
This timeline is interactive and needs JavaScript. The full text of all 53 structures is below.
Sacsayhuamán 1425 CE – 1536 CE
Sacsayhuamán's timeline spans from pre-Inca roots (c. 900-1200 AD) by the Killke culture, to monumental Inca construction (mid-15th to early 16th century) under Pachacútec and successors, serving as a fortress, religious site, and imperial symbol, followed by Spanish conquest use (1530s) and colonial repurposing, solidifying its status as an enduring marvel of Andean engineering, with its history rooted in powerful Inca imperial expansion.
Alternate claim: The claim separates the megalithic polygonal base from the smaller Inca masonry above it, treating the lower courses as inherited. Spanish eyewitnesses recorded the Inca building it, which is a hard fact to work around. Claimed by Alternative-history authors; the Inca attribution is documented by Spanish chroniclers.. Mainstream position: Inca construction, mid-15th to early 16th century CE.
Yangshan Quarry 1405 CE
The Yongle Emperor ordered them cut to form a monumental stele honoring his father, the Hongwu Emperor, at the nearby Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. The three pieces—the base, body, and crown—would have formed a monument about 73 meters (240 ft) tall and weighed more than 31,000 tons. The largest piece alone is estimated at roughly 16,250 tons.
Alternate claim: Theorists speculate that the sheer size of the Yangshan stones—the largest weighing an estimated 16,250 metric tons—means they could not have been carved with Ming Dynasty technology. These theories attempt to push the age of the quarry back by over 10,000 years, attributing the work to a lost, technologically advanced pre-diluvian civilization that was wiped out by the cataclysmic events of the Younger Dryas.
Moai 1200 CE – 1600 CE
Moai (Easter Island statues) were carved by the Rapa Nui people primarily between 1200/1250 CE and 1600/1650 CE, representing ancestors, with complexity increasing over time, and were erected on stone platforms (ahu) before a period of toppling and societal changes around the late 17th century, with most statues lying down by the 1860s.
Nan Madol 1180 CE
Nan Madol is an archaeological site adjacent to the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei, now part of the Madolenihmw district of Pohnpei state in the Federated States of Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. Nan Madol was the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about 1628. The city, constructed in a lagoon, consists of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals. The site core with its stone walls encloses an area approximately 1.5 by 0.5 kilometres and it contains 92 artificial islets - stone and coral fill platforms - bordered by tidal canals.
Angkor Wat 1150 CE
Angkor Wat (Khmer: "City/Capital of Temples") is a Hindu-Buddhist complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring 162.6 hectares within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed in 1150 CE as a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Vishnu. It was later gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the century. Hailed as the largest religious structure in the world, it is one of the best examples of Khmer architecture and a symbol of Cambodia, depicted as a part of the Cambodian national flag.
Rock-Hewn Churches (Lalibela) 1100 CE
The eleven Rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela are monolithic churches located in the western Ethiopian Highlands near the town of Lalibela, named after the late-12th and early-13th century King Gebre Meskel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty, who commissioned the massive building project of 11 rock-hewn churches to recreate the holy city of Jerusalem in his own kingdom. The site remains in use by the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church to this day, and it remains an important place of pilgrimage for Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers. It took 24 years to build all the 11 rock hewn churches.
Borobudur 778 CE
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, near the town of Muntilan, northwest of the city of Yogyakarta, in Central Java, Indonesia.
Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) 756 CE
The Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) at Ellora, India, is a colossal, monolithic Hindu temple carved downwards from a single rock, representing Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva, and is considered the pinnacle of Indian rock-cut architecture, featuring elaborate sculptures, a Nandi mandapa, and intricate details showcasing the skill of Rashtrakuta-era artisans, originally painted white to mimic the Himalayan peak.
Gwalior Fort 700 CE – 1400 CE
The Fort of Gwalior or Gwalior Fort is a 6th-century hill fort in Gwalior, India. The fort dates back to the 5th century, perhaps earlier. Ancient Sanskrit inscriptions record the name of the hill as "Gopagiri".
Chichen Itza 600 CE – 1200 CE
Chichén Itzá was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The archeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Mexico.
Meenakshi Temple 600 CE – 1100 CE
The temple complex is spread over 5.7 hectares (14 acres). It consists of monuments inside several concentric enclosures (prakara), each layer fortified with high masonry walls. The outer walls have four large gopurams (ornamental gateways), one on each cardinal direction, and 10 smaller gopurams. The tallest is the southern tower, which was built in the 16th century CE and rises to 170 ft (52 m). The shrines of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar, the prominent and largest of the shrines in the temple, is located in the courtyard of the innermost prakara.
Pumapunku 536 CE – 1000 CE
Pumapunku or Puma Punku (Aymara and Quechua 'Gate of the Puma') is a 6th-century T-shaped and strategically aligned man-made terraced platform mound with a sunken court and monumental structure on top, near Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia. It is part of the Pumapunku complex, at the Tiwanaku Site, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Bolivia that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Alternate claim: Posnansky dated the site by the obliquity of the ecliptic implied by its alignments, arriving at 15,000 BCE — a difference of some fifteen thousand years from the radiocarbon record. The machine-flat andesite faces and repeated modular blocks are what keep the argument alive. Claimed by Arthur Posnansky, 'Tiahuanacu: The Cradle of American Man' (1945). Mainstream position: c. 536–600 CE, secured by radiocarbon dates from the mound fill.
Stone spheres of Costa Rica 300 CE – 1550 CE
The stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over 300 petrospheres in Costa Rica, on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are also known as bolas de piedra (lit. 'stone balls'). The spheres are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquís culture, and they are sometimes referred to as the Diquís spheres. They are the best-known stone sculptures of the Isthmo-Colombian area.
Tiwanaku 200 CE – 1100 CE
The Tiwanaku civilization flourished around Lake Titicaca from roughly 200 to 1100 CE, evolving from a regional settlement into a powerful empire peaking between 600-800 CE with monumental architecture like the Semi-subterranean Court, before declining around 1000-1100 CE, likely due to climate change, leaving a legacy that influenced later Andean cultures like the Incas.
Alternate claim: Same archaeoastronomical dating as Pumapunku, applied to the wider complex. Claimed by Arthur Posnansky (1945). Mainstream position: c. 200–1100 CE.
Teotihuacán 150 CE – 650 CE
Teotihuacán was a massive ancient city in central Mexico that flourished from about 150-650 AD, known for its large pyramids like the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon, and its influence as a major cultural, religious, and economic center in Mesoamerica. The city's exact population at its peak is debated but estimated to have been between 125,000 and 200,000 people, and its complex society was multiethnic. The city's collapse occurred between the 7th and 8th centuries, and evidence suggests it may have been due to an internal rebellion and the systematic burning of its major structures around 550 CE, rather than solely an external invasion.
Gunung Padang 45 BCE – 22 BCE
Gunung Padang is a megalithic site in West Java, Indonesia, built from thousands of volcanic stone columns arranged across five terraces. While the visible structures are generally thought to be a few thousand years old, controversial research suggests that buried layers beneath the site could represent artificial construction dating back 9,000 to more than 20,000 years. These claims have been widely disputed, including a study proposing an age of up to 27,000 years that was later retracted. The site's unusual construction and disputed age have made it one of the world's most controversial archaeological sites.
Alternate claim: Some researchers propose that Gunung Padang is not simply a natural hill topped with megaliths, but a massive artificial pyramid built in multiple stages. The deepest layers have been claimed to date between 9,000 and 27,000 years ago, suggesting construction by an unknown advanced Ice Age civilization. Critics argue these buried layers are natural volcanic formations and that the radiocarbon dates do not demonstrate human construction.
Mount Nemrut 69 BCE – 34 BCE
Mount Nemrut or Nemrud is a 2,134-metre-high (7,001 ft) mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BC. It is one of the highest peaks in the east of the Taurus Mountains.
Longyou Caves 200 BCE
The Longyou Caves, also called the Xiaonanhai Stone Chambers, are a group of 24 artificial sandstone caverns located at Fenghuang Hill, near the village of Shiyan Beicun on the Qu River in Longyou County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. It is unknown when the caves were created; they are mentioned in a 17th century poem by the Yu Xun, and clay from pots dated to between 206 BC and 23 AD were found in silt within the caves.
Alternate claim: Twenty-four hand-cut sandstone chambers, uniformly chiselled, appearing in no historical record of a region with meticulous records. The honest position is that nobody knows when they were made. Claimed by Undetermined — no construction date has ever been established.. Mainstream position: Unknown. Pottery in the silt dates to 206 BCE–23 CE, which dates the silt, not the excavation.
Terracotta Army 210 BCE – 209 BCE
The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210-209 BCE with the purpose of protecting him in his afterlife.
Barabar Caves 322 BCE – 185 BCE
The Barabar Hill Caves are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, dating from the Maurya Empire (322-185 BCE), some with Ashokan inscriptions, located in the Makhdumpur region of Jehanabad district, Bihar, India, 24 km (15 mi) north of Gaya.
Nazca lines 500 BCE – 750 CE
The Nazca Lines timeline spans roughly from 500 BCE to 750 CE, primarily created by the Nazca (200 BCE-500 CE) and the preceding Paracas cultures (400-200 BCE), with the bulk of the geoglyphs dating from 200 BCE to 500 CE, featuring complex figures, straight lines, and geometric shapes made by removing surface pebbles to reveal lighter soil underneath, serving ritual purposes for a civilization that eventually declined due to climate events like El Niño.
Plain of Jars 500 BCE – 200 CE
The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau. The jars are arranged in clusters ranging in number from one to several hundred.
Great Wall of China 770 BCE – 1878 CE
The Great Wall of China timeline spans over 2,000 years, starting with separate defensive walls by states in the 7th Century BC, connected by Qin Shi Huang in the 3rd Century BC, extended by the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) for Silk Road protection, and rebuilt extensively with brick and stone by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), creating the iconic structure seen today, with final additions occurring even into the late Qing Dynasty (1878).
Baalbek Stones 1000 BCE – 1000 CE
The Trilithon (Greek: Trilithon), also called the Three Stones, is a group of three horizontally lying giant stones that form part of the podium of the Temple of Jupiter Baal at Baalbek. The location of the megalithic structures is atop a hill in the region known as Tel Baalbek. Each one of these stones is 19 metres (62 ft) long, 4.2 metres (14 ft) high, and 3.6 metres (12 ft) thick, and weighs around 750-800 tonnes. The supporting stone layer beneath features a number of stones which weigh an estimated 350 tonnes and are 11 metres (36 ft) wide.
Alternate claim: The claim is stratigraphic rather than dated: that the 800-tonne trilithon course belongs to a much older platform the Romans built on top of, because nothing in the Roman record explains moving stones that size. Excavation under the trilithon found Roman-period pottery, which weighs heavily against it. Claimed by Advanced by alternative researchers; the Roman superstructure is undisputed.. Mainstream position: The temple podium is Roman, 1st century BCE – 1st century CE.
Luxor Temple 1338 BCE
The Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian language it was known as ipet resyt, "the southern sanctuary". It was one of the two primary temples on the east bank, the other being Karnak. Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the pharaoh in death. Instead, Luxor temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned.
Derinkuyu 1500 BCE
Derinkuyu, also known as Elengubu, is an ancient multi-level underground city near the modern town of Derinkuyu in Nevşehir Province, Turkey, extending to a depth of approximately 85 metres (280 ft). It is large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is one of several underground complexes found throughout Cappadocia.
Alternate claim: Eighteen levels cut down 85 metres, with ventilation shafts and rolling stone doors sealable only from inside. The catastrophist reading takes it as shelter from something in the sky rather than from armies. Claimed by Read as a cataclysm refuge in the catastrophist literature.. Mainstream position: Phrygian, 8th–7th century BCE, greatly expanded in the Byzantine period.
Great Ziggurat of Ur 2040 BCE
The Ziggurat (or Great Ziggurat) of Ur, meaning "house whose foundation creates terror", is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The structure was built during the Early Bronze Age (21st century BC) by King Ur-Nammu of the Third Dynasty of Ur. It had crumbled to ruins by the 6th century BC of the Neo-Babylonian period, when it was restored by King Nabonidus.
Mohenjo-daro 2500 BCE – 1700 BCE
Mohenjo-daro (Sindhi: 'Mound of the Dead Men') is an archaeological site in Larkana District, Sindh, Pakistan. Built c. 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world's earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilisations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico.
Ring of Brodgar 2500 BCE
The Ring of Brodgar (or Brogar, or Ring o' Brodgar) is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
Sphinx 2600 BCE – 2500 BCE
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a massive limestone monument with the body of a lion and the head of a human, carved directly from the bedrock of the Giza Plateau in Egypt. Mainstream Egyptology generally dates its construction to around 2500 BCE during the reign of Pharaoh Khafre, although its exact purpose and original name remain uncertain. At roughly 73 meters (240 feet) long and 20 meters (66 feet) high, it is one of the largest and oldest monumental sculptures in the world. Its age has become controversial because some researchers argue that erosion around the Sphinx enclosure was caused by substantial rainfall, potentially suggesting a much earlier origin. Despite centuries of study, the Sphinx remains one of ancient Egypt's most recognizable and enigmatic monuments.
Alternate claim: The Sphinx water-erosion hypothesis proposes roughly 10,000–5,000 BCE, versus the conventional ~2500 BCE date. Wikipedia explicitly describes that hypothesis as a fringe position with little support among Egyptologists.
Avebury 2850 BCE – 2200 BCE
Avebury, in Wiltshire, England, is a remarkable Neolithic henge monument featuring the world's largest stone circle, integrated with a village, encompassing massive earthworks (a bank and ditch) and hundreds of megaliths built around 2850-2200 BC, forming a significant prehistoric ceremonial site that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site with Stonehenge. Visitors can explore the giant stone circles, the Alexander Keiller Museum, and walk among other ancient features like Silbury Hill, experiencing a tangible connection to Britain's deep past.
Rujm el-Hiri 3000 BCE – 2700 BCE
Rujm el-Hiri or Gilgal Refaim is an ancient stone, or megalithic, structure consisting of concentric circles of stone with a tumulus, a mound of earth and stone, at center. It is located in the Golan Heights some 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) east of the coast of the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of a large plateau covered with hundreds of dolmens, single chamber tombs of stone.
Stonehenge 3000 BCE – 1500 BCE
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, consisting of a ring of standing stones built in several stages over approximately 1,500 years, from about 3000 BCE to 1500 BCE. It is famous for its large stone circle, including massive sarsen trilithons and smaller bluestones from Wales, and its alignment with the solstices. Once a burial ground and likely a center for ancestor worship, its exact purpose and the methods of its construction remain subjects of debate and research.
Alternate claim: Large pine posts were raised on this exact spot around 8000 BCE, thousands of years before the stones. Something marked this place immediately after the Younger Dryas, and the memory of it survived long enough to be built over. Claimed by Mesolithic post holes excavated beneath the old visitor car park. Mainstream position: The stone monument is c. 3000–1500 BCE.
Skara Brae 3180 BCE – 2500 BCE
Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill in the parish of Sandwick, on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. It consisted of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams that provided support for the walls; the houses included stone hearths, beds, and cupboards. A primitive sewer system, with "toilets" and drains in each house, included water used to flush waste into a drain and out to the ocean.
Ale's Stones 3500 BCE – 500 CE
Ale's Stones (Swedish: Ales stenar) is a megalithic monument in Scania in southern Sweden. It is a stone ship, oval in outline, with the stones at each end markedly larger than the rest. It is 67 m (220 ft) long formed by 59 large boulders, weighing up to 5 tonnes each.
Megalithic Temples of Malta 3600 BCE – 2500 BCE
The Megalithic Temples of Malta are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built during three distinct periods approximately between 3600 BC and 2500 BC on the island country of Malta. They had been claimed as the oldest free-standing structures on Earth until the discovery of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Archaeologists believe that these megalithic complexes are the result of local innovations in a process of cultural evolution. This led to the building of several temples of the Ġgantija phase (3600-3000 BC), culminating in the large Tarxien temple complex, which remained in use until 2500 BC. After this date, the temple-building culture disappeared.
Knap of Howar 3700 BCE
The Knap of Howar on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland, is a Neolithic farmstead which may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe. Radiocarbon dating shows that it was occupied from 3800 BC to 2800 BC, earlier than the similar houses in the settlement at Skara Brae on the Orkney Mainland.
Monte d'Accoddi 4000 BCE – 3650 BCE
The Prehistoric Altar of Monte d'Accoddi is a unique, massive stone ziggurat-like structure in Sardinia, Italy, dating back to around 4000-3650 BCE, predating Egyptian pyramids and showing strong parallels to Mesopotamian ziggurats, serving as a sacred site for religious rites, potentially animal sacrifices, and astronomical observation, with its earliest phases linked to the Ozieri culture, featuring ramps, a large platform, and complex astronomical alignments, making it a significant insight into prehistoric Mediterranean civilization.
Uruk 4000 BCE – 3100 BCE
Uruk was one of the world's first cities, a major Sumerian metropolis in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that gave its name to the pivotal Uruk Period (c. 4000-3100 BCE), marking the dawn of urban life, state formation, and writing, famously associated with the legendary King Gilgamesh. This "first city" saw monumental architecture, complex administration, advanced art, and innovations like cylinder seals, laying foundations for civilization with its large population and organized society.
Sumerian civilization 4100 BCE – 1940 BCE
The Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia flourished from roughly 4100 BCE to 1940 BCE, marked by distinct periods like the Uruk (4100-2900 BCE) (writing, cities), Early Dynastic (2900-2334 BCE) (city-states), Akkadian Empire (2334-2218 BCE), Gutian Period (2218-2047 BCE), and the Ur III (Neo-Sumerian) Renaissance (2047-1940 BCE), before its final decline with the fall of Ur to Elamites and Amorite takeover, ushering in new Mesopotamian powers.
Carnac stones 4500 BCE – 3300 BCE
The Carnac stones are the world's largest collection of megalithic standing stones, over 3,000 prehistoric granite pillars arranged in alignments (rows), dolmens (tombs), and menhirs (single stones) in Brittany, France, erected by pre-Celtic people around 4500-3300 BCE, whose exact purpose remains a mystery, though theories suggest religious, astronomical, or burial significance.
Dolmen of Guadalperal 5000 BCE
The Dolmen of Guadalperal, also known as the Treasure of Guadalperal and as the Spanish Stonehenge for its resemblance to the English Stonehenge, is a megalithic monument dating from around 5000 BC and is thus 2,000 years older than the earliest phases of Stonehenge. It is located in Peraleda de la Mata, a town in the region of Campo Arañuelo in eastern Extremadura, Spain. The monument is within the Valdecañas reservoir in the Tagus River and is only visible when the water level allows it.
Girsu 5000 BCE – 1750 BCE
Girsu (modern Tello, Iraq) was a major Sumerian city-state, the religious and administrative capital of Lagash, famed as the sanctuary of the god Ningirsu (god of thunder, agriculture) in ancient Mesopotamia, crucial for understanding early civilization, with key discoveries like the Stele of the Vultures and Gudea statues, now undergoing conservation through the British Museum's Girsu Project, revealing early writing, architecture (like the world's oldest bridge), and daily life.
Mehrgarh 5200 BCE – 2600 BCE
Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site situated on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan in Pakistan. It is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River and between the modern-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in 1974 by the French Archaeological Mission in the Indus Basin led by the French archaeologists Jean-François Jarrige and Catherine Jarrige. Mehrgarh was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from 1997 to 2000. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected from the site. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh, located in the northeast corner of the 495-acre site, was a small farming village dated from 7000 BCE or 5250 BCE.
Egyptian pyramids 5500 BCE – 3100 BCE
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt. Most were built as tombs for the pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. At least 138 identified pyramids have been discovered in Egypt. Approximately 80 pyramids were built within the Kingdom of Kush, now located in the modern country of Sudan.
Alternate claim: The argument is precessional: the Giza layout is said to match Orion's belt as it stood in 10,500 BCE, not as it stood when the pyramids were built. Egyptologists reject the correlation; the quarry marks, workers' villages and tomb sequence all point to the Fourth Dynasty. Claimed by Robert Bauval & Graham Hancock — Orion Correlation Theory (1994). Mainstream position: Old and Middle Kingdom, c. 2670–1650 BCE. Note this sheet's own 5500 BCE start is already earlier than the academic consensus.
Petra 7000 BCE
Petra is an ancient city carved into the sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan by the Nabataeans, who established it as their capital around the 4th century BCE. Its enormous temples, tombs, and elaborate façades—including the famous Treasury—were carved directly from solid rock. Despite its desert location, Petra supported a large population through an advanced system of dams, channels, cisterns, and reservoirs that captured and controlled scarce rainfall. Its position along major trade routes helped make it one of the wealthiest and most important cities of the ancient world. Petra remains remarkable for the scale of its rock-cut architecture and the engineering required to sustain a thriving city in such an unforgiving landscape.
Çatalhöyük 7100 BCE
Çatalhöyük is a tell (a mounded accretion resulting from long-term human settlement) of a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5600 BC and flourished around 7000 BC. In July 2012, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Çatalhöyük overlooks the Konya Plain, southeast of the present-day city of Konya (ancient Iconium) in Turkey, approximately 140 km (87 mi) from the twin-coned volcano of Mount Hasan.
Tower of Jericho 8000 BCE
The Tower of Jericho is an 8.5-metre-tall (28 ft) stone structure built in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period around 8000 BC. It is part of Tell es-Sultan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine, in the city of Jericho, consisting of the remains of the oldest fortified city in the world. The Tower of Jericho has been described as one of the world's oldest towers, one of the world's oldest stone buildings, and one of the oldest works of monumental architecture.
Alternate claim: A stone tower with an internal staircase, raised by a community with no pottery and no metal, four centuries after the Younger Dryas lifted. Claimed by Kathleen Kenyon. Mainstream position: c. 8000 BCE. Not disputed.
Göbekli Tepe 9500 BCE – 8000 BCE
Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological site from the New Stone Age, in the Turkish part of Upper Mesopotamia. The settlement was inhabited from around 9500 BCE to at least 8000 BCE, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. It is known for its circular structures that contain large stone pillars - among the world's oldest known megaliths. Many of these pillars are decorated with anthropomorphic details, clothing, and sculptural reliefs of wild animals, providing archaeologists insights into prehistoric religion and the iconography of the period. The 15 m (50 ft) high, 8 ha (20-acre) tell is covered with ancient domestic structures and other small buildings, quarries, and stone-cut cisterns from the Neolithic, as well as some traces of activity from later periods.
Alternate claim: The keystone. Monumental carved megaliths raised by supposed hunter-gatherers within a few centuries of the Younger Dryas ending — then deliberately buried. No date change is needed here; this site is accepted, and it is the strongest single datum the whole cataclysm argument rests on. Claimed by Klaus Schmidt / DAI excavations. Mainstream position: c. 9500–8000 BCE. Not disputed.
Karahan Tepe 9750 BCE
Karahan Tepe is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic archaeological site in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. The site is in the same geographical region as Göbekli Tepe and archaeologists have also uncovered T-shaped stelae there and believe that the sites are related. Additionally, the site may be the earliest known human village, predating the construction of Göbekli Tepe by several centuries, dating to between 10,000 and 9500 BCE.
Alternate claim: Older than Göbekli Tepe and in the same hills. The dispersal reading says these are not a beginning but a continuation — the first thing survivors rebuilt. Claimed by Şanlıurfa excavations (Necmi Karul). Mainstream position: c. 10,000–9500 BCE. Not disputed.
Mureybet 10,200 BCE – 8000 BCE
Mureybet is a tell, or ancient settlement mound, located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. The site was excavated between 1964 and 1974 and has since disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad. Mureybet was occupied between 10,200 and 8000 BC and is the eponymous type site for the Mureybetian culture, a subdivision of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). In its early stages, Mureybet was a small village occupied by hunter-gatherers. Hunting was important and crops were first gathered and later cultivated, but they remained wild. During its final stages, domesticated animals were also present at the site.
Alternate claim: Occupied straight through the cataclysm window. Cauvin argued a 'revolution of symbols' preceded agriculture here — belief first, farming after. Claimed by Jacques Cauvin. Mainstream position: c. 10,200–8000 BCE. Not disputed.
Tell Qaramel 10,650 BCE
Tell Qaramel is a tell, or archaeological mound, located in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, 25 km north of Aleppo in the Queiq river basin. The settlement has several circular stone towers dating back to the period between 10,650-9,650 BCE, making them the oldest such structures in the world.
Alternate claim: Its round stone towers straddle the Younger Dryas itself: begun before the cold snap, still standing after it. Claimed by Ryszard Mazurowski, Polish expedition. Mainstream position: c. 10,650–9650 BCE. Not disputed.
Theopetra Cave 127,974 BCE – 4000 BCE
Humans inhabited Theopetra Cave as far back as 130,000 years ago and various ancient peoples called the cave home during different eras. Due to so much human activity in the cave, Theopetra is a treasure trove of ancient artifacts and provides insight into the lives of early humans. One of Theopetra Cave's most notable features is a 23,000 year old stone wall - it is the oldest wall in the world. Archaeologists believe that the wall was built as a barrier against cold winds as its construction dates back to the last glacial age. The wall is widely cited as the oldest existing man-made structure in the world.
Alternate claim: The only structure in this set that unambiguously predates the cataclysm. A built stone wall at the height of the last glacial maximum — proof that people were constructing, not merely sheltering, deep in the Ice Age. Claimed by Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika, Greek Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology. Mainstream position: Wall dated c. 21,000 BCE; occupation from c. 130,000 BCE.