From Peru’s ancient citadels to France’s mysterious standing stones, there’s an abundance of prehistoric sites that pre-date 2500 BC, when Stonehenge’s legendary stones were put into place. They include megalithic monuments, hunter-gatherer villages and thriving port towns. We dig beneath the surface to reveal the sites around the world that are older than Stonehenge, from newest to oldest, including the recent 'Spanish Stonehenge' that has emerged from the Valdecañas Reservoir.
The Great Orme Copper Mines is located under a limestone headland in Llandudno, on the north coast of Wales. Dating back over 4,000 years, it’s one of the largest known prehistoric mines in the world and include five miles (8km) of tunnels and passageways – children are believed to have dug some of the smallest. The mines changed our understanding of the Bronze Age world as it was previously believed that the Romans brought metalworking to Britain. However, this site proves that Britons were already working with metal tools some 2,000 years earlier.
Caral-Supe was a sacred ancient city, located 125 miles (201km) north of Lima and 14 miles (23km) inland from the Pacific coast. The extensive complex spanned a whopping 1,500 acres and dates to the Caral-Supe civilisation, making it one of the oldest-known cities and civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. The monuments – which included ancient pyramids, sunken circular courts and giant staircases – were most likely built around 2600 BC. Some materials excavated from the site were carbon-dated to 2627 BC.
Egypt’s Meidum Pyramid was built between 2613 to 2589 BC, during the reign of King Sneferu, the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. There were so many construction issues that some rooms were only half-completed and wooden support beams were left in place – which can still be seen today – providing a rare glimpse into what pyramid-building looked like. Eventually, the entire site was abandoned. In one of the passageways, excavators discovered a beautiful fresco of six geese, highlighting the artistry skill of the time.
Pömmelte is a ring-shaped sanctuary in northeastern Germany, situated between Hanover and Leipzig. The ancient site dates back to roughly 2800 BC and, with its similar ground plan, is known as the ‘German Stonehenge’. It consists of seven concentric rings and had many astronomical connotations. Sacrificial pits were discovered in the circular ditch and ceramic vessels, stone axes and human skeletons (including children) were found there. In 2021, excavations revealed there was also a settlement, with numerous longhouses uncovered.
Set in Herefordshire, close to the Welsh border, lies Arthur’s Stone. This English Heritage site is a Neolithic burial chamber that dates back some 5000 years. It was part of a larger site but all that remains today are the large stones of the inner chamber, which would’ve once been covered by an earthen mound. Arthur’s Stone consists of nine upright stones and an enormous capstone that weighs around 25 tonnes. However, it didn’t solely operate as a tomb – it’s believed that Neolithic groups gathered there on a seasonal basis due to its proximity to summer pastures.
Located north of Al Ain, Hili Archaeological Park contains numerous ancient monuments, tombs and evidence of settlements from the Bronze Age (and the later Iron Age). Hili Site 8 dates back to 3000 BC and is the oldest of the structural remains at the park. The stand-out is the Grand Tomb, which spans 40 feet (12m) in diameter and is believed to have originally stood 13 feet (4m) tall. At Hili Site 1 there’s a mud-brick tower which would have included a well at its centre, while its other Bronze Age sites include a large round building surrounded by a moat.
Dholavira was an ancient city during the Harappan civilisation, occupied between 3000-1500 BC. Located on the small island of Khadir Bet – near the modern-day town of Bhuj – the city was split into two fortifications. One part of the complex included the walled city with its sophisticated drainage system, grid-like streets and castle with attached bailey and ceremonial ground, while the other contained a graveyard. This, along with its differing sizes of the houses and streets, demonstrated commendable ancient planning – as well as indicating that a social order was clearly in place.
The Stones of Stenness are four giant standing stones that measure 20 feet (6m) tall. Originally, there would have been 12 stones which formed an ancient ceremonial site with a large hearth at the centre. Radiocarbon analysis has dated these Scottish standing stones to around 3100-2900 BC, making it the earliest henge monument across the British Isles. The site, located on the Orkney archipelago, wasn’t a year-round destination, but there’s evidence that Neolithic visitors certainly cooked here, thanks to the remains of pottery and animal bones excavated.
Skara Brae is a Neolithic village site that was first occupied around 3180 BC and is the best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe. It consisted of circular dwellings that were connected by passageways, most of which are still visible today. Built of flat stone slabs, each house had one single room with items including fitted beds and dressers (both made of stone), as well as jewellery and gaming dice. It’s still unknown as to why life there seemingly ended around 2500 BC.
The passage tomb complex of Newgrange is located in the Boyne Valley of County Meath. It was built around 3200 BC and is roughly 262 feet (80m) in diameter. Around the base are 97 kerbstones, with a few (notably the entrance stone) featuring intricately carved details of faces and spiral designs. The inside is made up of central chambers where human remains and funerary offerings were found. The entrance’s opening is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice, allowing sunlight to flood the interior.
The Majorville Cairn and Medicine Wheel – otherwise known as Iniskim Umaapi – is the oldest of its kind across the Northern Plains. This hilltop site is understood to have been built by Indigenous peoples around 3200 BC and is still in use today as a place of ritual activity. Dubbed as 'Canada’s Stonehenge', its complex design consists of a central cairn surrounded by 28 stone lines which are encircled by another large ring of stones. There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the site but analysis of the stones’ positions suggests it marked the changing of the seasons.
Shahr-e Sukhteh, or ‘Burnt City’, was founded around 3200 BC and is associated with the Jiroft culture. This mudbrick city contained graveyards, manufacturing sites and houses with a maze-like sequence of rooms, all of which remained intact thanks to the layers of ash, dust and the desert climate that protected it for thousands of years. One of Shahr-e Sukhteh’s most astonishing finds was an artificial eye – the earliest known in the world – in a female skeleton, who has been dated back to 2900 or 2800 BC and had a taller height than average at the time of roughly 5ft 12in (1.82m).
Mohenjo-daro was a huge city that had been built of unbaked brick. It lies on the riverbank of the Indus River, in Pakistan’s Sindh Province and represents the work of the Indus Civilisation, who thrived between 3300 BC-1300 BC. Its highest point is a circular acropolis which is surrounded by ramparts and, further down, a maze-like lower town. The complexity of the town planning secured Mohenjo-daro UNESCO World Heritage Site status, with the likes of a granary, elaborate draining system and public baths indicating the social, economic and cultural systems at play at the time.
The passage tomb of Hulbjerg was built by the Funnelbeaker culture around 3300–3200 BC on the Danish island of Langeland. Its hilltop location consisted of a round stone barrow and a large central chamber, with well-tiled stone walls and passageways. Clay, flint, bone and amber objects were excavated in the inner parts of the chamber, including arrowheads, jewellery beads and small daggers. The remains of 36 adults and 17 children were discovered inside the tomb, with traces of the world’s earliest dentistry work detected.
This cluster of ancient dolmens was first built around 3500 BC, although archaeologists are still unsure which culture it belongs to. In their thousands, the dolmens have access portals that are either semi-circular, square or oval in shape. There are petroglyphs on some of the stone slabs, including zig-zags, triangles, concentric circles and pairs of breasts. They are otherwise known as ispun which means ‘house of dwarves’ in local language and appear to have been used for human burial, as well as potentially a site of tribal worship.
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The Creggandevesky court tomb was a common type of Neolithic structure in Northern Ireland. Situated in County Tyrone, the megalithic monument is believed to have been constructed around 3500 BC, roughly a thousand years before the Stonehenge stones were lifted into place. The court tomb consisted of three chambers that were accessed from a court that was surrounded by stones with two narrower chambers towards the back. The cremated bones of some 21 people were discovered inside the chambers, along with grave goods including a beaded necklace.
This extensive mound complex in northern Louisiana was a seasonal site for fisher-hunter-gatherers, but it wasn’t a year-round destination. Located in a floodplain in Ouachita Parish, Watson Brake was constructed between 3500 and 2800 BC. It consisted of 11 earthen mounds that were roughly split in two and were connected by a series of ridges. Some of the mounds were built over several stages, while others were completed in one single episode. Relics discovered at Watson Brake include jewellery and fishing and hunting tools, along with dietary evidence of shellfish, small mammals and wild plant foods.
Steeped in Celtic mythological legend, Queen Maeve’s Cairn in County Sligo is supposedly the resting place of the warrior queen of Connaught. Built between 3500 BC and 3200 BC, the cairn is part of the Irish passage-grave culture which first came to Ireland around 4150 BC. Sitting (almost) at the top of Knocknarea mountain, it’s the largest Neolithic monument in western Ireland and is believed to have used around 36,000 tonnes of stone in its construction, which would have been quarried nearby.
Dating back to 3600 BC, Sechin Bajo is one of the oldest known buildings in the Americas – if not the oldest. This former settlement spans some 91 acres and included a ceremonial centre, sunken circular plazas and tall, clay friezes. One of the friezes depicted a man holding two objects, possibly a knife and a human head, and is believed to be the oldest example of monumental architecture in the Americas. Located 230 miles (370km) north of Lima, there’s growing evidence that Sechin Bajo was rebuilt every hundred to 300 years.
The Tarxien Temples in Malta were discovered by local farmers in 1913. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the earliest megalithic structures were built between 3600 and 3200 BC and were positioned at the eastern end of the site, although the remains only stand at ground level today. Excavation of the south temple included highly decorated relief sculptures and part of a colossal statue of a skirted figure. The east temple, meanwhile, was built between 3150 and 2500 BC and featured two ‘oracle holes’, while the central temple included an arched roof.
Monte d’Accoddi is an unique, unusual sight in Sardinia. This Neolithic temple could have been a step pyramid or ziggurat (stepped tower) where animal sacrifices took place, as the remains of sheep, pig and cattle were excavated. The first stage of the temple is believed to have been built around 4000 BC by the Ozieri culture. It was destroyed in 3000 BC and the second stage was then built around 2800 BC by the Abealzu-Filigosa culture. The second stage of construction gave it the shape of a step pyramid that’s seen today, standing at 32 feet (10m) tall.
The stilt-village of Hemudu is located in modern-day Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. The Hemudu Culture existed between 5000 BC and 3300 BC and, while the village was built in layers over time, the excavated fourth layer dates back some 6,000 years. Its relics are some of the earliest examples of China’s Neolithic Age, which included pottery with animal and plant patterns. House foundations, a sacrificial site and a drainage system span some of the 15,444-square-mile (40,000sq km) site and its stilt-like structure is different from the half-crypt houses in northern China from the same period.
Dating back to 4500 BC, Akrotiri was a Minoan fishing and farming village, its advantageous position near mainland Greece and Egypt making it a thriving port town. This Bronze Age site is located on the Greek island of Santorini and had connections with Crete, home to the legendary Minoan palace of Knossos. When a huge volcano erupted around 1700 BC, it buried Akrotiri in volcanic ash. In doing so, it preserved the buildings, frescoes and relics of a sophisticated Minoan community leading some to believe that this could be part of the famed lost island of Atlantis…
The largest megalithic site in the world, the standing stones of Carnac, in modern-day Brittany, are made up of some 3,000 stones aligned in three main groups (Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan). While it was constructed around 4500-4000 BC, it’s still contested as to which people constructed the site: Mesolithic hunters or Neolithic farmers. This well-preserved site spans 2.5 miles (4km), dwarfing the size of Stonehenge. Another mystery is how the stones were lifted into place, as well as their purpose – research suggests they had a religious or cultural function.
Carved into the rocks in the eastern range of the Rhodope Mountains, Perperikon is a hilltop site with evidence of human civilisation spanning as far back as 5000 BC. Its sheltered position suited the first humans who settled here, who took advantage of its fertile surroundings. Perperikon is the largest megalithic archaeological site in the Balkans and lies around 9 miles (15km) north of the modern-day town of Kardzhali, some 1,377 feet (420m) above sea level. Today, there’s a sanctuary at the impressive location, but the area today is better associated with its ancient Greek myth and legend.
First discovered in 1924, the Dolmen of Guadalperal – a prehistoric circle consisting of 150 granite stones – sat just below the surface of the Valdecañas Reservoir in central Spain. Said to have been constructed in 5000 BC, the stones, dubbed the Spanish Stonehenge after their similarity to the famous British site created some 2,000 years later, have dramatically reappeared following Spain's worst drought in 60 years. The intense heat that smothered the country in August 2022 has drained the reservoir to just 28% capacity, revealing the stones for just the fifth time since their creation.
These 95 rounded stones stand in a forest clearing in Évora on the Iberian Peninsula. The standing stones were mostly made up of cromlechs and menhir stones (large standing stones) and were arranged into two rings. The eastern circular ring was constructed around 6000 BC, while the larger western ring was built around 5000 BC. In 3000 BC, it’s believed the stones were repositioned to align with the moon, sun and stars, which is supported by some of the stones featuring carved images of deities, solar discs and sunrays.
Choirokoitia is a pre-pottery Neolithic age site in the District of Larnaca. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was occupied between 7000 BC and 3000 BC and, although only partly excavated, is incredibly well-preserved. The site included mud-brick and stone circular houses with flat roofs, a central courtyard and a surrounding thick stone wall, while the dead were buried in pits beneath the earthen floors of the houses.
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Göbekli Tepe was built around 11,000 years ago – some 6,000 years before Stonehenge – and is located on a hilltop in Urfa, southeastern Turkey. Over 20 circular stone rings, made from natural limestone found nearby, included intricate carvings of humans and animals. Pretty astounding, when you consider hunter-gatherers hadn’t invented metal tools yet. Researchers are still trying to understand exactly why this pre-Neolithic site was built in the first place, but it’s understood that there was a permanent settlement here with houses and grinding tools excavated.
The fish traps at Brewarrina are believed to be one of the oldest man-made structures in the world. It’s uncertain just how old they are, but locals claim it’s somewhere between 38,000-40,000 BC. Situated in the Barwon River near the Aboriginal town of Brewarrina in New South Wales, you can still see these unique rocks when the water levels are low. This was where the Indigenous Ngemba people trapped freshwater fish in a series of uniquely-shaped pools. The traps were called Ngunnhu and they used rocks to pen the fish in.