One of the world's oldest towers is 10,000 years old. The 8.5-metre stone tower of Jericho was built around 8000 BC, some 5,400 years before the Great Pyramid.

8000 BC · 2560 BC · apart: 5440 years

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The event

• Great Pyramid of Gizac. 2560 BC · Giza. The Great Pyramid, built for Pharaoh Khufu at Giza, rose about 146 metres high. It remained the tallest human-made structure for nearly four millennia and is the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World.

Prehistory · 26th century BC

More amazing facts

• 8000 BC The oldest known boat is about 10,000 years old. The three-metre Pesse canoe from the Netherlands was hollowed out of a single pine trunk with stone or antler tools between 8040 and 7510 BC.
• 8000 BC · 3000 BC In the middle of the Sahara, rock paintings show people swimming.
• 7500 BC · 1600 BC A cat was buried beside a human on Cyprus 9,500 years ago, nearly 6,000 years before the famous cats of Egyptian paintings.
• 7400 BC · 6200 BC Britain became an island after Çatalhöyük was built.
• 7000 BC Some flutes about 9,000 years old can still be played.
• 7000 BC One of the world's oldest known alcoholic drinks was a cocktail of rice, honey and hawthorn.

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