Question on my mind 1

Question on my mind.


After our class today I had not chosen a topic that seemed interesting to me. As I was driving up the winding road to my apartment, I looked at all of the towering apartment buildings lining the road and suddenly thought of a question. What human civilization was the first to actually construct a structure and what purpose did it specifically serve? I narrowed this question to exclude humans who just utilized hollow caves created by nature. I figured this was a good place to start my research and see where it takes me. So when I got home I performed a quick google search of "oldest man-made structure". Discovery News was one of the first articles so i figured i could start their. According to Rossella Lorenzi, "the oldest structure, aging 23,000 years, was a stone wall covering 2/3 of a cave entrance. It is believed to have been a barrier from cold winds entering the cave" (Rossella Lorenzi). This seemed to answer my question exactly, and since it was from the Discovery Network, I believed it was reliable information. I decided to go back to google however, and see what other links had for me to look into. After this, their was a slew of articles posted that all dealt with the same issue, so I naturally wanted to check them out. The issue was a controversy over multiple stones found in South Africa, which supposedly date back to being the oldest man made structures in history. "75,000 years ago early humans built a stone calendar that predates all other man-made structures found to date. This ‘African Stonehenge’ has for the first time created a link to the countless other stone ruins in southern Africa and suggests that these ruins are much older than we thought" (thecrit.com). However, other websites have statements like, "These guys are talking nonsense. We are doing extensive research in Mpumalanga and these sites are fairly well known. While we don't dispute that structures like this are man-made, there is no way it is 75 000 years old. The type of science they use to date these sites is highly questionable" (Amanda Esterhuysen). Amanda Esterhuysen is a Wits University academic from the geography, archaeology and environmental sciences department, and says her entire department disagrees with the claim. After examining many different websites with views from scholars, archaeologists, and environmental scientists, I believe I understand the debate. While the discovery is interesting, and the area it was found was the same area some of the first human signs of life were found, I believe that since too many respected scholars disagree over the age, it cannot be officially recognized as the oldest man made structure. After this search, I have more questions than answers, like how did individuals live 23,000 years ago, and what will future structures/buildings look like?


Citation's in order of appearance:
  

Lorenzi, Rossella. "Oldest Man-Made Structure Found in Greek Cave." Discovery News. Discovery Network, 05 Apr. 2010. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://news.discovery.com/history/oldest-man-made-structure-found-in-greek-cave.html

Heine, Johan, and Michael Tellinger. "Discovering the Oldest Man-made Structures on Earth." Thecrit.com. 22 Jan. 2009. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://thecrit.com/2009/01/22/discovering-the-oldest-man-made-structures-on-earth/>.

Serrao, Angelique. "Discovering The Oldest Manmade Structures on Earth." Discovering the Oldest... Wendag Website, 14 July 2008. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sumer_anunnaki/esp_sumer_annunaki34.htm>.