14 DAY TRIAL // A group of investigators from the UK, the US, Denmark and Jordan announces the discovery of some of the oldest architecture ever found, in the Jordanian desert. The hut-like buildings they uncovered are about 20,000 years old.
The findings are described in full in a paper published in the February 15 issue of the journal PLoS One. Researchers say that the investigation provides a new insight into how ancient humans lived. These structures were built only a few millennia after Homo sapiens outcompeted Neanderthals.
While digging at a site called Kharaneh IV, investigators found what they described as “an enormous concentration of people in one place.” During that time, when the last Ice Age was still occurring, the now-barren area was a paradise of sorts, where fertility abounded.
One of the most important things researchers – including a team from the University of Cambridge – found was that the people living at Kharaneh IV also buried their dead at this location. Such ceremonies were rather unusual for that time.