Soap is older than the Egyptian pyramids.

2800 BC · 2670 BC · apart: 130 years

Soap-like mixtures of fat and alkali were made in Babylonia around 2800 BC, while the first pyramid, Djoser’s, went up around 2670 BC.

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The event

• Step Pyramid of Djoserc. 2670 BC · Saqqara. The architect Imhotep built a six-stepped pyramid at Saqqara for Pharaoh Djoser. It is the earliest monumental building made entirely of cut stone and the prototype for all later Egyptian pyramids.

27th century BC

More amazing facts

• 3000 BC · 1915 Stonehenge was once sold at auction, for £6,600.
• 3000 BC Stonehenge's bluestones were hauled from Wales, 240 km away — and may even be recycled.
• 3000 BC · 2560 BC Stonehenge is older than the Great Pyramid.
• 2700 BC · 1937 Merit-Ptah, 'the first woman doctor in history', most likely never existed.
• 2670 BC The first dentist known by name served the king who built the first pyramid.
• 2670 BC · 1250 BC Ancient Egypt had its own Egyptologist.

All amazing facts (1058) →