Ancient Mysteries
Monuments older than recorded history.
Some ancient sites still refuse to be explained. This guide to the world's greatest ancient mysteries covers megalithic temples, prehistoric stone circles, giant desert geoglyphs and passage tombs older than the pyramids — Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, Newgrange, the Nazca Lines and more. Each ancient mystery is rated for how unresolved it really is, mapped, and written up with the current archaeology alongside the questions nobody has answered. Includes visiting information: ticket booking, solstice access, best season and nearby sites worth adding to the trip.
3 destinations
Ancient Mysteries destinations
Şanlıurfa, Turkey
Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey is a set of stone circles built around 9500 BC. That makes it thousands of years older than Stonehenge or the pyramids, and older than farming, pottery or writing in this region. Hunter gatherers carved and raised T shaped pillars up to 5.5 metres tall.
Donore, Ireland
Newgrange
Newgrange in Ireland's Boyne Valley is a huge stone and earth mound built around 3200 BC. That is older than the pyramids at Giza. For a few days around the winter solstice, the rising sun shines through a small opening and lights the passage inside.
Amesbury, United Kingdom
Stonehenge
Stonehenge stands on Salisbury Plain in southern England. Building started around 3000 BC and the big stone circle went up a few hundred years later. Some of the stones were dragged here from Wales, roughly 250 km away. Nobody knows exactly why.