Skara Brae: Older than Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids

Skara Brae is near the Bay of Skaill, Orkney, Scotland.

In 1850, a storm blew away a sand dune on a windswept bluff in the North Atlantic and revealed an intact Neolithic village, where farmers and cattle herders once lived.

The village of Skara-Brae is 5,000 years old (3200 BCE) – centuries older than the Pyramids of Egypt.

The ten houses grouped together were inhabited, approximately, between 3100 and 2500 BC. C.

Some of the earliest known and well-preserved furniture in Europe comes from the Neolithic village at Skara Brae

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

Stone beds, chairs and dressers that were used by the prehistoric fishermen, hunters and farmers, can be found here.

Hearths in the homes show us that the houses were warmed by fire. The houses also had a stone slab door which could be locked “by a bar made of bone that slid in bar-holes cut in the stone door jambs.” (Professor V. Gordon Childe, 1927)

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

The people who lived at Skara Brae made tools, jewellry, gaming dice, grooved ware (a unique type of pottery), and other ornaments from bone, stones, and precious rocks.

There existed a basic sewer system, with "toilets" and drains in each house, with water to flush waste into a drain and out into the ocean.

Carved stone balls (petrospheres) found at Skara Brae on Orkney, date from 2900 - 2600 BCE.

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

The chairs at Skara Brae are among the earliest known, with chairs from the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt dating to 3100 BC.

The Skara Brae site includes Maeshowe, the Standing Stones of Stenness and other nearby sites. 

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

The nearby Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic stone circle that dates back to the same period as Skara Brae, Orkney

The nearby Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic stone circle that dates back to the same period as Skara Brae, Orkney

More Information

Skara Brae: Uncovering the Secrets of Scotland's Ancient History

Getting to Skara Brae 

Orkneyology

The Earliest Horse Chariots

Horses began appearing in cave art around 30,000 BCE.

However, the earliest evidence for spoked wheel chariots comes from the Sintashta-Petrovka culture of the Eurasian steppe (Russia) c. 2100 BCE.

The Sintashta culture is thought to represent an eastward migration of peoples from the Corded Ware culture.

The remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, has been partially destroyed, with thirty-one of the approximately fifty or sixty houses in the settlement, remaining.

With rectangular houses arranged in a circle 140 m in diameter and surrounded by a timber-reinforced earthen wall with gate towers, the settlement shows evidence of copper and bronze metallurgy taking place in the houses excavated at Sintashta.

In Southern Urals, in Russia, the Bronze Age city of Arkaim, a settlement of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

The Sintashita culture also had communal sewage/drainage systems, and distinctive weapons.

Five cemeteries found associated with the site, have various chariot burials, with the remains of horses interred with the chariots in graves. 

These are the oldest known chariots in the world.

Recreated chariot from the Museum of Archaeological Wonders

Of the sixteen chariot burials recovered so far, two have been dated to around 2000 BC.

Horses were domesticated by 3000 BCE. However, dogs were domesticated 15,000 years ago.

The remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

Timeline of the Chariot

Arkaim: 2050 BC
Minoan Crete: 2000 BC
Ancient Egypt: 1600 BC

Viking Treasure Found in a Field Near Harrogate

A father and son, David and Andrew Whelan were metal detecting in a field near Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK, in 2007. when David found a "ball covered with mud".

Called the "Harrogate Hoard", this archaeological find is of global significance, and the largest Viking treasure discovered in Britain since 1840.

Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum, examined the artifacts. The hoard consists of 617 silver coins and 65 other items, including ornaments, ingots and precious metal.

Interestingly, reports indicate that the coins bear Islamic, Christian, and pre-Christian Norse pagan symbols: "some of the coins mixed Christian and pagan imagery, shedding light on the beliefs of newly-Christianized Vikings".

The hoard includes objects from diverse locations, including Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan, North Africa, Afghanistan, Russia, Ireland, Scandinavia, and continental Europe, "illustrating the breadth of the Vikings' travels and trade connections".

The gilt silver vessel, in which many small objects were placed, was made around today's France or western Germany, about the middle of the ninth century, probably for use in church services.

The treasure was probably buried after 927, the year that the Anglo-Saxon, King Athelstan of Wessex, defeated the Vikings, conquered York, and received the homage of rulers from Scotland and Wales.

The Harrogate Hoard in the York Museum, UK

The Harrogate Hoard in the York Museum, UK

York Museum, UK

5,000 Year-Old Baby Bottles

About 7,000 years ago, ceramic baby bottles were used to feed babies milk derived from animals.

Archeologists have found these particular clay vessels during excavations of European villages, some of which are decorated with geometric or animal shapes.

Cups found in the Bavarian region of Germany, dating from 1200 B.C.E. and 450 B.C.E, have residues of milk fatty acids.

Milk from cows or goats would only have been available to humans with animal domestication and the move from hunting and gathering to settled societies.

The improved nutrition also led to the increase in human populations and the development of towns and cities. Farming allowed the production of surplus food which could be stored.

Hunting and gathering generally requires access to large areas of land.

The invention of agriculture facilitated a fivefold increase in population. (2.)

Data collected on 17 different hunter-gatherer societies, including Paleolithic and modern-day hunter-gatherers, shows that the mortality rate was high in all of them, with an average 49% of all children dying. (1.)

Prehistoric baby bottles shows infants were fed cow’s milk 5,000 years ago

2,000-Year-Old Roman Shoe Found in a Well

A 2000-year-old Roman shoe was found in a well at The Saalburg park in Germany.

On the ridge of the Taunus, Germany, the Saalburg Roman fort was built by Romans (circa 90 AD) when they came north into the German provinces.

This fort protected the boundary between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribal territories. At its peak, 2,000 people lived in the fort and village. It remained active until around 260 AD.

The sophisticated design of the shoe indicates that the owner must have been a wealthy woman of high status.

2,000-Year-Old Roman Shoe Found in a Well

Hellenistic Bronze Statue Of a Boy Riding a Horse

Dated to around 150–140 BC, the Jockey of Artemision is a large Hellenistic bronze statue of a young boy riding a horse.

This statue was lost in an ancient shipwreck and was discovered in 1926. This may have saved the statue from being melted down and destroyed for its raw material.

This bronze statue was retrieved in pieces from the shipwreck off Cape Artemision in Euboea.

The image of the goddess Nike is engraved on the horse's right thigh, holding a wreath in raised hands -- a brand for racehorses in Ancient Greece.

The statue is displayed at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens from, 1972.

Dated to around 150–140 BC, the Jockey of Artemision is a large Hellenistic bronze statue of a young boy riding a horse

The Ancient Egyptians Used Makeup and Perfume

The Ancient Egyptians used makeup and perfume not only to look and feel good, but for spiritual and ritual reasons, as well.

Many women and men wore eyeshadow, eyeliner, blusher and lipstick. 

Eyeliner was made by crushing kohl or charcoal, eyeshadow from crushed stones like malachite and lipstick from crushed carmine beetles. These were ground on cosmetic palettes.

Cosmetic Box from the tomb of Sennedjem - PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Public Domain Image (Sennedjem was an ancient Egyptian official active in the early Nineteenth Dynasty-period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC)

Ancient Egyptian cosmetic set from c. 1550–1458 BC, featuring, from left to right, a kohl tube, a razor, a pair of tweezers, a whetstone, and a mirror, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egyptians also often wore perfume cones on the head. These were made by mixing oils, resins and fat and containing myrrh (perfume from tree resin).

These cones, when placed on the head, would melt from the body heat and release perfume.

The first known depiction of the perfume cones dates from the reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1507–1458 BC), who was was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She reigned in her own right circa 1473–58 BCE.

Painting of Lady Tjepu, 1390–1353 BC

Wealthy people of both sexes wore wigs made from human hair and date palm fibre.

Merit's wig from the tomb of Kha and Merit, 14th century BCE, https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/S_8499

Henna, was believed to drive away evil spirits. Nails and hands were painted with henna, and henna hair dye, originated in ancient Egypt.

The Dwarf Elephant of Cyprus

During the Late Pleistocene, c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, an extinct species of dwarf elephant inhabited the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.

Named Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, these dwarf elephants are believed to descend from Palaeoloxodon xylophagou, which was about 3.5 times larger than P. cypriotes.

Both of these species, are believed to descend from the large Palaeoloxodon antiquus (straight-tusked elephant) of mainland Europe and Western Asia, which probably swam to the island long ago from mainland Europe.

The most recent remains of P. cypriotes, date to around 12,000 years ago.

Palaeoloxodon cypriotes was around 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall and is an example of insular dwarfism, where due to the ecological conditions on islands, such as limited food sources over generations, animals develop a reduced body size.

The P. cypriotes probably weighed about 200 kilograms, a weight reduction of 98% from its ancestors, which weighed about 10 tonnes.

The island of Cyprus also has the remains of a dwarf hippopotamus, which lived there from the Pleistocene until the early Holocene (about 10,000 years ago).

Tusk of a young P. cypriotes, Catlemur

Mitochondrial DNA (maternal line) points to its closest living relative, being the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius).

At Aetokremmos (which translates to "Cliff of the Eagles") near present day Limassol, excavations have un-earthed bones and artifacts dating 13,000 years back. This makes it the oldest known organised settlement in Cyprus.

Evidence of the diets of the inhabitants are pygmy hippos, dwarf elephants, fish, bustards, fallow deer and pig.

Dwarf elephants inhabited many Mediterranean islands during the Pleistocene.

Pygmy hippos were also found in other Mediterranean areas, such as Crete, Malta and Sicily.

Paleoloxodon cypriotes was comparable in size to Palaeoloxodon falconeri from Sicily (depicted) SlvrHwk

The Possible Inventor of Underpants

English philosopher Jeremy Bentham has been dead since 1832, but he resides on the ground floor of University College London's Student Centre in a glass case,

When he died n 1832, Bentham left instructions for his body to be dissected and permanently preserved as an "auto-icon" (or self-image). 

Motivated by rationality and his battle against superstition, Bentham was inspired by the need for bodies for medical education and research.

Before 1832, the Murder Act 1752 stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection.

The Anatomy Act of 1832, allowed the legal procurement of corpses of bodies that remained unclaimed 48 hours after death.

Almost no-one donated their body to science, so Jeremy Bentham donated his own.

Bentham's skeleton is still dressed in his own clothes, but has a wax head. The original mummified head was damaged, and fears that it would frighten people saw it replaced with one of wax.

The philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), "auto-icon" 

Head of the philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

As a social reformer and radical, Bentham is also famous for the prison Panopticon, which allowed the observation of many prisoners by a single security guard. 

About animals, Bentham said:  "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?". An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789.

He was  also ahead of his time by wearing underpants and there are claims that Bentham actually invented underpants (1.)

However, when Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's (1341 BC – c. 1323 BCE) tomb in 1922, among the treasures were also 145 loincloths. Do they count as underpants?

Oldest Civilisations. What is a Civilisation?

The word civilisation comes from the Latin word civis, meaning citizen, and civitas, meaning city.

A civilisation pertains to organised social and political structure, while culture focuses on shared beliefs, values, and customs.

The oldest civilisations are Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, and Ancient China.

A civilisation is a complex human society that has certain features. These are: Living in settled organised groups like towns, not in small tribes or isolated family groups, division of labor, some form of keeping records, social stratification, a written script, central government providing infrastructure and administration, division of labour, with people working on specialised tasks, agriculture, monuments like Egyptian Pyramids.

Civilization first appeared in Mesopotamia and Egypt by c. 3000 BCE, India by c. 2800 BCE, China by about c. 1500 BCE.

The Fertile Crescent (circa 7500 BCE), often called the “cradle of civilization”, which stretches from parts of modern Palestine and Israel through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq to the Zagros Mountains in Iran, are the oldest areas in the world where agriculture was practiced and probably the first where the first sedentary farming villages existed.

Mesopotamia, centered between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (present-day Iraq), developed one of the first written scripts around 3000 BCE, using wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets. Excavations have revealed human settlements dating to 10,000 BCE in Mesopotamia.

Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)

Ancient Egyptian civilisation in northeastern Africa dates from the 4th millennium BCE. This civilisation lasted for almost 30 centuries. Hieroglyphics, the writing system invented in Egypt, emerged around 5000 years ago. 

The Indus River Valley Civilization (Harappan Civilization), 3300-1300 BCE, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan. This civilisation is noted for its urban panning with baked brick houses, complex drainage systems and water supply systems.

Excavated ruins of Mohenjo-daro, Sindh province, Pakistan, showing the Great Bath in the foreground. Mohenjo-daro, on the right bank of the Indus River, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first site in South Asia to be so declared. Saqib Qayyum

Ancient China had various distinct civilisations and ethnic groups, including the Yellow River civilization, the Yangtze civilization, and Liao civilization. Millet agriculture in China dates to around 7000 BCE.

These Chinese civilisations had craftsmen and administrators, and the earliest form of proto-writing in China were the Jiahu symbols (6600 BCE).

1258 BCE: The World's First Peace Treaty

The Treaty of Kadesh of 1258 BCE, between Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and king of the Hittite empire Ḫattušili III, is considered the first-ever formal peace treaty between two nations.

The treaty was signed, ending a two centuries long war between the Hittite Empire and the Egyptians, over control the eastern Mediterranean.

After the attempted Egyptian invasion in 1274 BCE, repelled by the Hittites in the city of Kadesh, now Syria, the Egyptians and Hittites had heavy casualties, but neither triumphed. The conflict then continued for another 15 years. 

Finally, with Egypt threatened by the “Sea Peoples” and the Hittites alarmed by Assyria to the east, both wanted to end the conflict.

So, intermediaries met and negotiated without the two monarchs ever meeting, with the treaty ratified in 1258 BCE.

Eight years after the treaty was signed, the Hittite Empire collapsed.

 

The Egyptian version of the peace treaty was engraved in hieroglyphics on the walls of two temples belonging to Pharaoh Ramesses II in Thebes.

The Hittite clay tablet versions were found in the Hittite capital of Hattusa in present-day Turkey.

Two of the Hittite tablets are displayed at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, part of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. While the third is displayed in the Berlin State Museums in Germany. 

The Egyptian version of the peace treaty was engraved in hieroglyphics on the walls of two temples belonging to Pharaoh Ramesses II in Thebes, at the Temple of Karnak. The Hittite version was found in the Hittite capital of Hattusa, in today Turkey (Boğazköy) and is preserved on baked clay tablets uncovered among the Hittite royal palace's sizable archives.

Egyptian-Hethite peace treaty on the western outer wall of the Cachette farm in the temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt.

The Oldest Trousers Found

Two pairs of trousers discovered in a cemetery in western China when Radiocarbon dated, were revealed to be made between the thirteenth and tenth centuries B.C., making them the oldest known surviving pants by almost 1,000 years.

Mayke Wagner, from the German Archaeological Institute, said the dates amazed the study team. He said, “In most places on Earth, 3,000-year-old garments are destroyed by microorganisms and chemicals in the soil”. 

It is believed that the people buried wearing the pants were probably prestigious warriors who functioned like police officers, wearing trousers while riding on horseback. 

“The trousers were part of their uniform, and the fact that they were made between 100 and 200 years apart means it was a standard, traditional design,” says Wagner, whose team worked with a fashion designer to re-create the garments. “They are surprisingly good-looking, but they are not particularly comfortable for walking.” 

Read more: Archaeological Institute of America

The Oldest Trousers Found. Two pairs of trousers discovered in a cemetery in western China, made between the thirteenth and tenth centuries B.C. 

The Lebombo bone: The Oldest Known Mathematical Tool

The Lebombo bone, the oldest known mathematical tool, has 29 distinct notches that were deliberately cut.

The bone tool, made from a baboon fibula, was discovered in the Lebombo Mountains, located between South Africa and Eswatini. 

The bone is between 44,200 and 43,000 years old, according to 24 radiocarbon datings.

Many Archaeologists believe that the Lebombo bone is a tally stick, a device used to record and document numbers, quantities and messages.

 Another view is that it may have been used as a lunar phase counter for menstrual cycles (The Universal Book of Mathematics, 2004).

However, the Lebombo bone is likely the first mathematical object in the world.

The Ishango bone is on permanent exhibition at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences