15 Oldest Buildings in the World

hey everyone you know there are some buildings and structures around the world some of which are still relatively intact that are as old as time itself so join me for today's video we're going to count down the top 15 oldest buildings in the world number 15 Gobekli Tepe while there may be some gaps in the timeline of humanity we pretty much know for sure our overall trajectory or do we even now and then something shows up that tests the authenticity of everything we've ever known and forces us to go back to the drawing board it's been agreed on that early humans first settled into their permanent towns built farms and then temples all in that order at about 8000 BCE but a 1994 Discovery kind of blew that theory wide open archaeologists in rural turkey stumbled upon a fantastic finding and Gobekli Tepe it included rings of enormous Stone pillars all of which had scenes of animals carved right into them after some serious carbon dating they found that Gobekli Tepe dates back to the 10th millennium BC e making it the oldest place of worship in the world more at least until something even older decides to unearth itself Gobekli Tepe raises some great questions mainly who were these people and who or what were they worshiping how did they worship part of the beauty is we'll never really know but it's these types of questions that can keep Scholars and academics up at night and to make matters even more bizarre evidence would suggest that the people there were semi-nomadic Hunters who didn't quite understand the concept of Agriculture especially because the cultivation of the Earth at that level wouldn't appear for another 500 years so now we have a classic chicken or the egg scenario here which came first architectural projects and then permanent settlements or was it the other way around the only people who can know for sure were the ones who were there and who knows perhaps the people who dig up our cities millions of years from now could be asking the same questions about us number 14 Masada if there's one thing that every great civilization had it was a strong Fortress the ancient Fortress of Masada is without a doubt one of the most impressive ruins you'll ever come across for starters Masada sits at the top of a cliff overlooking the Judean desert and the Dead Sea it's beautiful at any time of the day but if you can get back there for the sunrise you'll be in for a truly spectacular sight the history of Masada goes back thousands of years built as the Palace of King Herod who ruled from 37 BCE to 4 BCE this Fortress was carved right into the mountain itself but it was still able to house some Creature Comforts of the old days like swimming pools and bath houses in fact masada's irrigation system can still be seen in the scenery below it's pretty amazing how something like this can withstand the test of time and erosion and hike up the ancient site is well worth the track but perhaps its biggest claim to fame is that Masada saw the Last Stand of the Jewish Revolt while Under Siege by the Romans the ancient Jewish people chose death by their own hands rather than a life of slavery under Roman rule when the Romans would eventually make it through the Fortress walls number 13. Karnak all right you can have a list of old buildings without talking about Egypt the country has all sorts of ruins and is even home to one of the seven ancient wonders of the world but for now we're talking about the Karnak Temple complex and looks are Egypt the first thing you'll notice about Karnak is the sheer size of the site it's absolutely huge and with so many massive sculptures carved right into the wall like the Avenue of the sphinxes one can only wonder what it was like to walk that stretch in ancient times Karnak is one of the largest cities on Earth and it's here you'll find plenty of temples sanctuaries obelisks and shrines devoted to the gods of old but what's pretty crazy is that Karnak took a full 2000 years to build making it another classic example of a project that most of the people who worked on it could never see the finished product and all the Pharaohs who ruled during that construction left their own personal architectural mark on the sprawling City with sites like the great hypo style Hall and the Towering pylons and solid Sandstone columns Karnak is easily one of the most photographed places in Egypt and make sure you visit the stone Scarab because if you walk around the statue seven times it's said to bring you good luck in your love life number 12. the Coliseum easily one of the most iconic ruins anywhere the Coliseum is a landmark of ancient Roman history culture and of course architecture and is one of the Seven Wonders of the World the Romans were obviously doing something right and moloka gave us many of the modern luxuries we take for granted today like roads sanitation aqueducts and even ancient Postal Services they also love sanctioned public violence and while some may scoff at the idea of gladiator mounts and animal fights in the Coliseum it's all too similar to events like MMA or pro wrestling that we enjoy today the Coliseum though was officially unveiled to the Roman populace in the year ad and could seat 50 000 people and even by today's standards it's an impressive piece of architecture with the outer walls made of three levels of archways with ionic dork and Corinthian columns which were all decorated with marble statues back in the day and the top level even supported a massive awning that sheltered Spectators from the elements so you had a good seat even if you were in the nosebleeds number 11 Tower of Jericho the Tower of Jericho is easily one of the most popular ancient sites amongst historians both professional and amateur alike thanks to the story of the walls of Jericho battle but this ancient structure is also one of the oldest buildings in the world dating back to pre-pottery Neolithic period in about 8000 BCE not only is this structure as old as time but it's also said to be the world's first stone building and quite possibly the world's first work of monumental architecture standing at just 28 feet tall this ancient stone tower wasn't discovered until the 1930s by John garstang during an excavation to this day many people are still asking just what the Tower of Jericho symbolizes or why it was built at first there were theories that it was once a tomb but that was all thrown out the window when no bodies or other signs of burial were found then there are those who believe that the Tower of Jericho serves a more astronomical purpose it's possible that ancient astronomers could have used the tower to study the summer solstice the longest day of the year but more modern studies have theorized that the Tower of Jericho was built not only as a marker or time keeping device but also as a stone guardian against the dangers present in the Darkness cast by a dying Sun's last rays of light a reconstruction revealed that as the summer solstice Sunset the shadow of a hill to the West fell exactly on the Jericho Tower before covering the village suggesting the monument in the start of longer nights were linked but one thing's for sure the only people who knew the tower's true purpose are the people who built it nearly 10 000 years ago first uncovered in 1958 the archaeological site Chateau hoyok has since been revealed to be a massive City complex that likely housed around 10 000 citizens in its interconnected system of primitive homes most of which seems to be conspicuously free of debris so unlike many modern day cities these people of old actually cleaned up after themselves this densely populated proto-city was quite simple constructed mostly of simple mud brick rooms that look as though they've been added onto again and again as the community grew over the next few centuries it's believed that chateur huyuk reached its height around 7000 BCE oddly enough though the ancient structures seemed to be domestic and purpose with a noticeable lack of commercial or craft-centered spaces so if you needed groceries then you need to go to the next neighborhood but this most likely attributes the once sprawling City's lack of trash and debris because if the structures of Chateau huyuk were strictly domestic then they were most likely kept cleaner than they might have been in a more Cosmopolitan version of civil realization with more public spaces so if archaeologists didn't find historic trash then what did they uncover well figurines of animals and goddesses were discovered along with cave paintings and other forms of art adorning the halls and plenty of human remains too which looked like they were buried underneath the floors today portions of the site have been turned into living exhibits with recreated replicas of what the rooms may have looked like in 7000 BC excavation continues at the site to this day discovering both how our ancient ancestors lived and how clean they seem to have been number nine gnosis who doesn't love reading myths about snake-haired women massive tentacles sea beasts and Eagles large enough to swoop up an elephant in their claws and while these may be some Fantastic Beasts the setting for so many of these Tales are very real and one of these places is called gnosis in Northern Crete near the modern city of heraklion are the ruins of gnosis a city dating back to 7000 BCE gnosis was once a home to a number of famous Greek myths including those of King Minos and is now incredibly popular with tourists as the Greek myth goes King Minos built his palace here and Daedalus a Craftsman and inventor built the Labyrinth to house a Minotaur by order of the king yes this is allegedly the site of where Theseus killed the Minotaur but in 1450 BCE the Palace of gnosis was destroyed and the surrounding Town deserted and remained lost under the sands of time for thousands of years this place would only exist in myth that is until 1900. an Englishman bought several acres of land near Crete hoping to find evidence of the historical reign of Minos he began to dig and a full 25 years later he began to find layers of the ruins of a palace from there it became his mission to restore it and he clearly succeeded because over one million people a year come to see the once mythological gnosis number eight mohenyodaro what was the world's first true civilization where was it who lived there while we may never know the absolute first there are some top contenders akin to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia the Indus Valley Civilization was centered around the Indus River Basin in Asia however little was known about this particular ancient culture until about the 1920s when long-buried cities were first excavated by archaeologists of the time with one of these rediscovered sites being mohenyodaro moynodaro translates to mound of the dead men and spreads across 750 acres of land and said that this old Mount was once home to 40 000 people built around 2500 BCE mohenyodara was one of the first Advanced and largest cities of the ancient world the buildings were laid out in a rectangular grid and built out of baked bricks and the city had a complex water management system complete with sophisticated drainage and covered sewer systems and baths nearly every house for something so old and so rudimentary it's pretty spectacular archaeologists noticed a uniform size for the bricks meaning they were manufactured and found standardized weights and measures used to facilitate trade suggesting a highly organized civilization with bureaucratic coordination of things like construction and commerce but this notion is also pretty puzzling because mohenyodaro lacks any palaces temples or monuments to deities or governing Powers aside from their sewer system the largest structures are the old bath houses assembly halls and Marketplace but like the rest of the Indus Valley civilizations mohenyodaro fell into decline her on 1900 BCE before eventually becoming abandoned no one knows for sure what happened but it's very possible that as the major Saraswati River began to dry up people started to move elsewhere number seven nap of horror it may not be too much to look at now but Scotland's nap of Howard is one of the oldest and best preserved Neolithic complexes in the world residing in the orkneys the building has been able to withstand the area's notoriously harsh climates with most of the stone partitions benches and doorways still intact instead of being home to Old myths or ancient peoples the nap of power is a simple Farmhouse containing two stone-built houses placed side by side and linked by A Passage through the joint walls these old houses in the orkneys were accompanied by Neolithic farmers who lived from between 3 700 BCE to 2800 BCE Which is far earlier than the similar houses in the settlement at Sakura Bray on the orkney mainland like so many others on this list these stone structures were discovered accidentally in the 1930s when sea erosion revealed vast deposits of mid material along with the well-built stone walls archaeologists went to work and excavated the ancient site buried under nearly seven feet of sand and not only did they find as Farmhouse but they also Unearthed some artifacts that date back to the Iron Age this place is most likely served multiple purposes but the ancient wall standages five feet tall so the ancient dwellers there were quite sure compared to us modern day Folk number six dolavira want to see the world's oldest billboard then head over to India and make for the 5 000 year old Port City of dolavira on an island in the Salt Flats of the great Ron of kuch on India's Western Edge dubbed one of the best preserved Urban settlements from the period in Southeast Asia by UNESCO researchers and archaeologists have uncovered step Wells and reservoirs that formed a sophisticated water management system the remains of ancient streets and boulevards lined by houses of varying sizes the ruins of a jewelry workshop and one of the most remarkable discoveries in Indian archeology what's believed to be the world's oldest billboard typically referred to as the dolavira signboard the ancient advert was discovered when a team from the archaeological Survey of India began Excavating the southern center of the Indus Valley Civilization in the 1990s at dolavira's Northern gate they came across two Chambers flanking the gate on either side which looked like they could be storage spaces and with like so many of today's storage rooms they were an absolute mess while gently clearing Fallen debris and stones that hadn't been touched for thousands of years they found something glinting beneath the dust what they found were 10 large symbols each about 15 inches tall and made out of multiple pieces of white gypsum a material that's still used in drywall today archaeologists also found evidence of decomposed Woods surrounding the symbols so it's more than safe to say that this was some sort of sign understood by the locals but why a billboard well the white gypsum allows for the symbols to be visible even at night and a Torchlight reflected off the mineral would have let it shine all the brighter and plus the sign was on the largest entrance to Dola Vera one question remains though what does it say number five the Pyramid of joser the pyramids of Egypt are some of the most spectacular structures in the world and it's hard to Fathom that humans so long ago were able to pull off these Feats our Collective Minds today tend to go straight for the Great Pyramids of Giza but there are some other pyramids worth our time built as a tomb for the Pharaoh that Jose pyramid was constructed between 2630 BCE and 2611 BCE in Sakura Egypt and is one of the oldest intact large-scale Stone monuments in the world it stands 197 feet high and was built using 11 million cubic feet of the simplest ingredients Stone and clay and who was the architect well none other than Rick O'Connell's Nemesis Imhotep it's said that imhotep's original design was much smaller and more traditional with a flat roof but the Pharaoh joser wanted something large enough to hold his ego this Pharaoh's Reign lasted for 19 years by the time he died and was ready for burial his pyramid was the largest building in the world but more important than its superlative title his pyramid was a big step step forward in terms of architectural advancement and it laid the groundwork for the Pyramids of Giza without the Pyramid of Jose the first great wonder of the ancient world to be built wouldn't even exist Jose's ancient stone and Clay tomb was part of a larger 40-acre complex complete with a courtyard temples and chapels all enclosed within a 30-foot wall the entrance to the complex as well as the 13 fake doors is built right into the wall the complex also includes a number of building facades all of which served ritual purposes this place is absolutely awesome hands down the Pharaoh was buried here along with his 11 daughters but finding them is anything that easy the good architect Imhotep designed a series of winding maze-like tunnels that would have you thinking King minos's Minotaur was hiding in there but in truth it's likely that the maze was created to keep looters guessing until they finally gave up but the three and a half mile long Labyrinthian structure came at Great cost because the deteriorating walls will eventually collapse taking most of the pyramid with it number 4. Saro sechin no one really knows who built sarocechen we don't know how they built or why they built it either but sometimes that's kind of part of the fun the walls here are all adorned with some pretty odd carvings which depict everything from Ax wielding Warriors to body parts to mutilated and decapitated bodies while these Stone carvings are no Mona Lisa they're still not for the faint of heart seeing as how so many of them also depict disemboweled humans cerosechen sits in modern day Peru and it's part of the larger sechin archaeological complex which was the capital of an ancient culture dating back to around 1500 BCE but it's this wall that gets all of the attention what's so startling about the entire scene is that the displays are all anatomically correct so despite being such an old civilization these ancient peruvians knew exactly what they were doing when it came to exploring the Interiors of the human body there have been a number of interpretations of the walls with some saying their grisly battle scenes and another saying sarasuchen was the site of anatomical studies while a third Camp believes the walls depict a bloody Rebellion against the ruling class it could be hard work depicting demigods and myths who knows whatever was going on here it all came to a halt because by 800 BCE this place was a ghost town and they buried and forgotten until 1937 by Peruvian archaeologists number three the Great Pyramid of Giza see picture of the Pyramids of Giza is one thing but when you see them up close and personal it really puts things into perspective and whether you think they were built by slaves or aliens you just can't deny How Majestic the site in ancient Cairo Egypt is the Pyramids of Giza were built roughly around 2 550 BCE during the fourth Dynasty as permanent resting places for the Pharaohs but everyone wants to know how they were built they're crafted with such Immaculate and precise detail that it still boggles the mind to think that they were built 4 000 years ago but as we've seen already even ancient humans and civilizations are capable of amazing feats of engineering so the mystery of the pyramids probably has a more simple explanation than most would think these days anyone can pay the pyramids a visit and even step inside to see all the ancient Pharaoh's Treasures which were buried along with their owners so they could enjoy them in the afterlife a fact which also attracted plenty of grave robbers make sure to visit the Sphinx too and see if you can save yourself by answering its riddle what goes on four feet in the morning two feet at noon and three feet in the evening if you know the answer then write it in the comment section below bonus points if you know who first answered it number two the Temple of garnai it's no secret that the Romans followed a religion much different from what we see around the world today the culture held an entire Pantheon of gods all dedicated to different aspects of Nature and everyday life and was simply making sense of the world as they knew it across many cultures across both time and the globe worship of the sun comes up a lot the sun is well it's pretty hard to miss and gives life just about everything so it's not a shocker that the Romans built the temple of garnai to worship Helios the Roman god of the sun built by The Armenian King tradates in the First Century A.D the construction of the garlite temple was funded with money by King turdates and was given for his military support against the invading parthian Empire war is bad at any point in history but I'm sure that in this case Helios was understanding but part of what makes the Temple of garlic so special is that it was made of Basalt which wasn't common for most Greco-Roman temples of the time the ancient building though was totally destroyed in 1679 by an earthquake Scandal but forgotten the old Basalt structure lay in ruins for the next 300 years until it was reconstructed in the 1970s and while it may not serve as a place of worship any longer it's certainly an amazing reminder of the engineering prowess of the ancient Romans they were pretty cool number one gigantic temples did ancient humans ever coexist with a race of giants maybe with the Nephilim of the Old Testament or are the gods and goddesses of Roman and Greek pantheons more fact Than Fiction well if they were then then they lived here at the gigantia temples Legend has it that a race of giants inhabited land in the middle of the Mediterranean using huge boulders to construct their homes that reached into the sky eventually these Giants died off and their homes fell apart left abandoned and forgotten in time it's a very fun Legend surrounding the second oldest structure on Earth just behind Gobekli Tepe and present-day turkey the temples of the Giants are 5500 years old built during the Neolithic period on Gozo Island in Malta many scholars believe that the temple was originally the site of rituals involving animals and may have been utilized in fertility rights they found that numerous figurines and statues Left Behind are associated with local folklore according to local Legends a giantess who ate nothing but bread and beans and honey bore a child with a man amongst the commoners she built these temples as a place of worship today these temples are considered a UNESCO world heritage site and the truth of these temples died along with the Giants who prayed to even larger deities but the gigantia temples are now open to all all it takes is a short ferry ride to get there and a modest entry fee to stand on the shoulders of giants I'll see you next time watch our binge watching playlist if you'd like to watch all of our most popular top 15 videos grab a drink grab a snack and get ready to binge

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 1,123,538

Keywords: Oldest Buildings, Buildings

Id: 1O5FHwvO3io

Length: 21min 52sec (1312 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2023