Japan's Jōmon period lasted some 14,000 years.

14,000 BC · 2560 BC · 300 BC · apart: 13,700 years

The gap between the earliest Jōmon pottery and the Middle Jōmon is about twice as long as the time from the Great Pyramid to today.

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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 · 3rd century BC

More amazing facts

• 17,000 BC · 1940 Lascaux was found thanks to a dog. In 1940, 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat noticed his dog poking into a hole left by an uprooted tree; inside were paintings 17,000 to 22,000 years old.
• 16,000 BC · 1879 Altamira's paintings were found thanks to an eight-year-old girl — and her father was accused of forgery.
• 16,000 BC A puppy 18,000 years old turned up in the Yakutian permafrost with its fur and whiskers.
• 13,000 BC · 1965 Houses built of mammoth bones were found by a farmer enlarging his cellar.
• 12,500 BC · 9000 BC Bread was being baked thousands of years before farming began.
• 12,000 BC Some 14,000 years ago, people were already nursing sick dogs.

All amazing facts (1058) →