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As long as I have been alive, the The Mesopotamian Civilization has been considered the oldest civilization. I'm curious what is the criteria to be considered a civilization? Is it really the oldest, or is something that archeologists do not wish to update their books after spending a lifetime devoted to this teaching. The Mesopotamian civilization dated back to 6500 BC, but the Jiahu in China dated back to 7000 BC. Gobekli Tepe, in Turkey, was a temple was built along a grand geometric plan in 9000 BC. I'm curious to hear an opinion from any archeology\ anthropology experts here.

Scientists have uncovered evidence for a large-scale, prehistoric migration into Britain that may be linked to the spread of Celtic languages. The mass-movement of people originated in continental Europe and occurred between 1,400 BC and 870 BC. The discovery helps to explain the genetic make-up of many present-day people in Britain. Around half the ancestry of later populations in England and Wales comes from these migrants. ...When the newcomers arrived, the existing British population traced most of its ancestry to people who arrived at the end of the Neolithic, around the time Stonehenge was being built. They were part of...

The winter solstice sunrise will stream live this year from inside the passage tomb of Newgrange. The winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon marking the shortest day and the longest night of the year, occurring on December 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere. At sunrise on the shortest day of the year, for 17 minutes, direct sunlight can enter the Newgrange monument to illuminate the chamber of the Stone Age tomb through a small opening above its entrance known as the ‘roof box’. With the chamber currently closed to the public in light of Covid-19, the event can be...

...a series of deep pits were discovered near the world heritage site of Stonehenge last year... Now scientific tests have proved that those gaping pits, each aligned to form a circle spanning 1.2 miles (2km) in diameter, were definitely human-made, dug into the sacred landscape almost 4,500 years ago. The structure appears to have been a boundary guiding people to a sacred area, because Durrington Walls, one of Britain’s largest henge monuments, is located precisely at its centre. The site is 1.9 miles north-east of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, near Amesbury in Wiltshire... While part of the circle has not...

Seahenge saga comes full circle 23 August 2007 The story of Seahenge has turned full circle, as the ancient timbers are returned to Norfolk. But as experts prepare them to go on display at King's Lynn Museum, CHRIS BISHOP finds an enigma that remains unsolved. Nearly 10 years after its controversial excavation, the mystery remains. While the upturned oak tree and its ring of timbers have taught us a few things we didn't know about our ancestors, we still don't know why they built it. Late in 1998, a long-forgotten landscape began re-emerging from beneath the sands of Holme Beach,...

Bisexual Viking Linked to Seahenge By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery NewsStatue Of Odin Aug. 27, 2004 — An ancient wooden carving of the bisexual Viking god Odin suggests the prehistoric timber circle monument Seahenge and another, even older, structure might have included totem pole-like carvings, according to archaeologists who have excavated the over 4,000-year-old British wood monuments. Because Odin was a mythological figure in prehistoric religion, the possible link between the carving and the monuments could mean that the mysterious circles held religious, funerary, or magical significance for the late Neolithic people who constructed them on Holme beach in Norfolk, England....

Druids despair as Seahenge set for dry berth November 19 2001 at 04:16PM London - A Bronze Age timber circle dug up on a beach two years ago should not be returned to its original site, where it would be vulnerable to the forces of the North Sea, English Heritage said on Monday. The 4 000-year-old structure, which became known as Seahenge, was found off the coast of Norfolk, north-east England, and removed despite prolonged protests by locals and Druid groups, who said the circle was a religious monument. English Heritage, the preservation group that oversaw and financed the ...

Set in a remote, windswept salt marsh next to the sea, 54 wooden posts 10ft high stood lashed into a circle, so tightly bound together it was almost impossible to see through the cracks. At the circle's centre was an upturned tree, its roots reaching toward the heavens like branches... Now the mysterious structure, known as Seahenge, will go on display for the first time as part of the British Museum's blockbuster exhibition, The World of Stonehenge, which opens in February. Like the mythical lost city of Atlantis, Seahenge lay silently waiting to be discovered for thousands of years... Imagine...

Rising as high as 20 feet, ancient stone monoliths in southern Ethiopia are 1,000 years older than scientists previously thought, according to a new study in the Journal of African Archaeology. A Washington State University research team used advanced radiocarbon dating to determine the often phallic-shaped monoliths, or stelae, at the Sakaro Sodo archeological site in Ethiopia’s Gedeo zone were likely created sometime during the first century A.D. The only other attempt to determine the age of the more than 10,000 stele monoliths located at various sites in the Gedeo zone was conducted by French scientists in the 1990s. It...

[A]rchaeologists have found a total of some 900 rock carvings, or "petroglyphs," at Al Jassasiya. They are mostly enigmatic cup marks arranged in various patterns, including rows and rosettes, but also eye-catching representations of sailing ships, usually seen from above but also depicted in linear profile, among other symbols and signs. Of all the documented single figures and compositions, more than a third consist of cup marks in various configurations, shapes and sizes. The most prominent pattern involves two parallel rows of seven holes, leading some to believe that these were used to play mancala, a board game popular in...

We all know that history is not the left’s favorite subject. Many times, it’s just too inconvenient for their political narratives. Often, history has to be erased or submerged in order to achieve the “greater good” of creating a just and moral society. In truth, it’s not much better on the right, although generally, the conservative take on American history is more nuanced. Christopher Columbus was an ass — a greedy, cruel, ambitious man who didn’t let anyone stand in his way to achieving riches and power, especially native people. But he was courageous enough to cross an unknown ocean...

Four Neolithic “chalk plaques” were discovered near Stonehenge between 1968–2017. A new study has shown that the ancient illustrations on the Stonehenge plaques are much more than just abstract patterns. The Stonehenge plaques were buried in a pit about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from England’s most famous ancient monument. English Heritage scientists have dated the plaques to between 2900 BC and 2580 BC. The new study has called these four ancient art works “some of the most spectacular chalk designs ever discovered in Britain.” According to an article on Silent Earth , the plaque pit in which the artworks were...

He had been sent to the auction by his wife, so legend has it, to buy a set of dining chairs. Instead, barrister Cecil Chubb’s eye was caught by lot No 15: a few acres of Wiltshire downland – plus one ancient, crumbling, mysterious monument. Exactly 100 years ago, Stonehenge was sold to Chubb for £6,600. Three years later he gave the magnificent stones to the nation and since then it has become one of the most beloved and most visited historical sites in the world.

A team of historians and archaeologists from the Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam (KTCB) discovered two menhirs, ancient standing stones, dating back to some 4,000 years in Yadadri-Bhongir district.These menhirs, according to archaeologist and KTCB convenor Sreeramoju Haragopal, seemed to be the kind that were installed at burial sites of some significance...Of the two menhirs found, one stood erect and intact while the other one, partially broken, was found in a field near Venkatapuram village, Turkapalli mandal. The intact menhir stands 15 feet high and four feet wide. “It is broad in the bottom and tapers towards the top,” said Haragopal....

Landscape architect Sarah Ewbank believes Stonehenge once had thatched roof Sarah believes iconic Salisbury monument was an all-purpose Neolithic temple After making models, the architect believes it had a large oval hall overlooked by galleries in which the crowds might have gathered to hear the speakers below She points out that the total diameter — some 30 metres — is almost exactly the same as Shakespeare’s Globe, a similarly thatched building in which, several millennia later, the human voice could carry to every audience member. ‘It is unquestionably the right size for an enclosed public venue,’ she says, speculating that...

Come along with an international team of researchers as they unlock an ancient paradox in the desert oasis of Alula.Follow their journey – from legendary heritage sites such as Alula Old Town to mysterious mustatils – in the Discovery Channel Documentary Architects of Ancient Arabia.

A New Jersey man has been indicted on felony charges following his arrest last month in connection with the 2019 vandalism at the America’s Stonehenge site in Salem. Mark L. Russo, 51, of 1108 Kings Highway in Swedesboro, N.J., faces two counts of burglary and one count of criminal mischief for his alleged role in the carving damage that led to a 15-month investigation involving social media sleuthing to find him. The indictments allege that Russo entered a secured section of the archaeological site on Sept. 28, 2019, with the intention of committing criminal mischief and criminal threatening by “carving...

An ancient tomb, described by archaeologists as "untouched" and "highly unusual" has been discovered on the Dingle Peninsula in Co Kerry...The tomb was uncovered by a digger during land reclamation work when a large stone slab was upturned, revealing a slab-lined chamber beneath.On closer inspection an adjoining sub-chamber was found at what appears to be the front of the tomb.The tomb contained an unusual smooth oval-shaped stone and what is believed to be human bone.It is believed the tomb may date to the Bronze Age (2000BC-500BC), but it could be even earlier as it displays a number of highly unusual...

According to their analysis – using a technique called Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to date the ancient stone – the jars were positioned potentially as early as the late second millennium BCE.Evidence discovered of varied mortuary practices at some of the sites – including primary burial of human skeletons, and also bundled or jarred collections of bones – was also dated by radiocarbon dating, suggesting activity between 9-13th century CE.On the face of the most recent evidence, this means the Plain of Jars pre-dates the most recent and confirmed discoveries of mortuary practices, by potentially thousands of years. As for...

The discovery of a dismantled stone circle—close to Stonehenge's bluestone quarries in west Wales—raises the possibility that a 900-year-old legend about Stonehenge being built from an earlier stone circle contains a grain of truth. Radiocarbon and OSL dating of Waun Mawn indicate construction c. 3000 BC, shortly before the initial construction of Stonehenge. The identical diameters of Waun Mawn and the enclosing ditch of Stonehenge, and their orientations on the midsummer solstice sunrise, suggest that at least part of the Waun Mawn circle was brought from west Wales to Salisbury Plain. This interpretation complements recent isotope work that supports a...