19 Insanely Advanced Ancient Things You Couldn't Build Today

We like to walk around, wagging our big technological wieners over the hallowed grounds of our ancestors and their puny, non-industrious, metaphorical phalluses.

Except maybe those genitals aren't so pu- OK, we'll drop the analogy all ready. Point being, our ancestors achieved some pretty crazy shit for living in an age without electronic toothbrushes.

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Entry by John E.

Part of the Karnak Temple The Great Hypostyle Hall is the largest room of any religious building in the world. Built by Pharaoh Seti I and completed b

18
Entry by Hestutomo

WARREN FIELD IN SCOTLAND IS A REMNANT OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST CALENDAR. lor O N 16 KOretres O 10 Approximately 10,000 years old, it's made up of 12 pits

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Entry by Maclise

For comparison, it's believed that the Great The York Minster Pyramid of Giza took years to build. Work 20 Cathedral took started on York Minster in 1

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Entry by djHanDon

SIX CENTURIES AGO, THE INCAS WERE CROSSING LONGER AND DEEPER GAPS wiTH THEIR ROPE BRIDGES THAN ANY OTHER MADE OF STONE BY EUropean ENGINEERS AT THE TI

15
Entry by Sagar Parikh

Gilding was used to cover decorative objects with gold and other precious metals, as far back as 2300 BCE in Egypt. It is superior to modern day elect

14
Entry by Hestutomo

Measuring 409 feet across and 137 feet high, Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Built in the 9th century, it contains more than 2

13
Entry by Sagar Parikh

Neanderthals used birch pitch to attach stone spearheads to sticks. An oxygen free environment and sustained temperatures of over 650 degrees F are re

12
Entry by Hestutomo

In 27 BC the Romans built the Temple of Jupiter in Heliopolis, present-day Baalbek, Lebanon. Faced with erosion problems, the construction of the temp

11
Entry by djHanDon

Jo build the pyeramids the Egyptians: of 2500 BC had to transport incredibly heav stone blocks and the desert wooden sleds. statues across using This

10
Entry by anirudhanaik

The Kailasa Temple at ELlora was created in the 8th century. Thrree renches were dug in the parent rook formation: isolating an enormous monolith whic

9
Entry by stahn_lee

The BANAUE RICE TERRACES located in the Ifugao mountain province in the Philippines are painstakingly hand-carved terraced fields cimbing thousands of

8
Entry by Hestutomo

Chand Baori is a 1200 year old 100 feet deep step- well built as a solution to water scarcity in Northern India. The step-well is made up of 3500 beau

7
Entry by PookieJones

PETROVARADIN FORTRESS (Serbia) dates back to the 1600s. It has underground galleries that took 88 years to build. Thousands of prisoners died excavati

6

Located in Luoyang City, China, The Longmen Grottoes contain the biggest collection of ancient Buddhist cave art in the world, with more than 97.000 s

5
Entry by Jordan Rudow

Ancient natives of the Nasca region in Peru built a series of puquios, dozens of spiraling holes that med a massive hydraulic system designed to ext

4
Entry by Hestutomo

THE 2,000 YEAR OLD TOMB OF EMPEROR QIN SHI HUANG IS THE LARGEST BURIAL COMPLEX IN THE WORLD. r Ln T It houses 8000 terra cotta soldiers, each with the

3
Entry by Hestutomo

The Pont du Gard is part of a 31 mile long Roman- built aqueduct in southern France. Built in the first century AD mostly without mortar, the Pont was

2
Entry by CZM

When the Great Wall of China was first built 200 years ago, it spanned a distance longer than LA to NYC. This insane testament to good neighbors requi

1
Entry by Sagar Parikh

In northeast India, the Khasi tribes have been growing bridges for a very long time. Using hollowed-ou trunks of the betel tree as a guide, the upperm