"Japanese archaeologists have uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the world's oldest artificial structure, on a hillside at Chichibu, north of Tokyo. The shelter would have been built by an ancient ancestor of humans, Homo erectus, who is known to have used stone tools. The site has been dated to half a million years ago, according to a report in New Scientist. It consists of what appear to be 10 post holes, forming two irregular pentagons which may be the remains of two huts. Thirty stone tools were also found scattered around the site. Important discovery "It does sound important," says Chris Stringer, head of the human origins group at London's Natural History Museum. "If this is correctly dated and correctly interpreted, it is the first good evidence from 500,000 years ago of a hut structure made by these people." Before the discovery, the oldest remains of a structure were those at Terra Amata in France, from around 200,000 to 400,000 years ago." Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/662794.stm

The oldest extant structure - as oppossed to partial - is, I believe, Newgrange in Ireland, which dates to c.5,000BC.

The Klinger building next to Tesco in Sidcup (UK) but only because some muppet stuck it on the listed building list and now we're stuck with it forever.

This one has to be close:

The Iron Pillar of Delhi in India. The Russians have taken scrapings of the pillar and confirmed that it is made of "wootz" steel. The Rg Veda, which is now accepted to be 8000 years old, describes "wootz" steel. In addition to the pillar in Delhi which is known to most of the tourists, there are many more like it spread through many Indian villages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz The Arabians used to make a lot of money by selling Indian steel ingots to Europe. In 1746, the queen of Britain had sent a scientist named Benjamin Hauntsman to India to obtain the secret of making steel. Hauntsman stayed in India for some years, went back to Britain and submitted a report to the queen. Some historic records say that he did not write the main secret and he started his foundry in his native town. During one winter night, an iron founder by the name of Walker, pretending to be a starving beggar with no place to sleep, asked if he could sleep by Huntsman's fire. Huntsman agreed and when Walker was supposed to be sleeping, he observed the cast-steel-making process. After this event, cast-steel production began to spring up all over Sheffield. The Royal Society wanted to enrol Huntsman as a member in recognition of the merit of his invention of the crucible steel process. How the secret reached Henry Bessemer is unnecessary because his process was essentially the Indian crucible method of making steel. Another Indian contribution to industries in Europe was the process of casting. The frames of machine tools of that time were made of wood. Good mechanical devices like clocks did exist in Britain as early as 1300s. They were works of skilled crafts persons and were not products of precision machine tools. It was not until the structures of the machine tools were cast using Indian casting method and their other components were made of hard metals using Indian steel making method, the high precision machine tools could be made. The so called Industrial Revolution of Europe in the 1800s heavily depended on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_ancient_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimana http://doctorprasad.blog.com/

The oldest structure in the world, that predates the pyramids of Egypt and the Stonehenge is the Maltese Temples, the Ä gantija of the Island of Gozo. Theese temples have been dated to 3600 BC. Yonaguni underwater strucutres are not man made at all, but are naturally formed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%A0gantija http://www.gozo.gov.mt/pages.aspx?page=15

They still don't know how old the Sphinx is.

A structure has been recently discovered under the sea off the coast of Japan,it has been identified that it is of an ancient city or at the very least a number of closely related sites,which spread out over an area of at least 311 miles. I have seen images of this and in my opinion the definitions of this structure are so precise and the lines so straight it is unlikely these could have been formed naturally,definately man-made. However it has been estimated that this structure is twice the age of the Great Pyramids and has been dated to at LEAST 8000BC.This means that it was built 5000 years earlier than Eygpts oldest pyramid,the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.

The oldest ones I know of are the burial mounds of Newgrange in Ireland. Somewhere around 3500 BC.

I think those stone heads on Easter Island.

they are the maltese temples http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/46814/the_maltese_temples_the_worlds_oldest.html http://www.fiscal-wise.com.my/

I think its the tomb at Newgrange, Ireland. It's definiteyl not the Pyramids - though a case could be made that they are the oldes UNSUPPORTED structure(s) in the world....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/662794.stm

Quite possibly my oven.

Here's something cool I found about a pyramid found in the ocean near Japan. They estimate it dates back to 8000 BC! http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/phikent/japan/japan2.html But most of the sources I find mention the maltese temples as the oldest man-made structure in the world. http://www.sanandrea.edu.mt/Senior/CyberFair/temples/ImnajdraTemple.html

This article claims that the Maltese temples are: www.customer-world.eu This also claims the same: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2007/09/the-oldest-free-standing-structures-in-the-world.html This site refutes the claim that an Egyptian steppe pyramid is: Oldest stone structure in the world? 5,000-year-old Egyptian stone structure hailed as oldest in the world... (even though it isn't) Previously, the Djoser step-pyramid complex of 2668-2649BC was cited as the oldest stone structure in the world. Now that will have be revised, as this newly discovered Saqqara structure, with massive walls and unknown function, has been dated to the 2nd Dynasty around 2,00BC. What about the megalithic Mnajdra temple in Malta, which has been dated to 3,700BC? And what about the massive stone tower and walls at Jericho, which go back more than 10,000 years? http://www.grahamhancock.com/news/index.php?node=130 Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world,dating back to 9000 BCE. Horyu-ji Temple is known as the oldest wooden structure in the world built 607 AD, though I would classify it as the oldest REMAINING wooden structure. Woodhenge in England, whose postholes remain, dates from 2300 BC.

Japanese archaeologists have uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the world's oldest artificial structure, on a hillside at Chichibu, north of Tokyo. The shelter would have been built by an ancient ancestor of humans, Homo erectus, who is known to have used stone tools. The site has been dated to half a million years ago, according to a report in New Scientist. It consists of what appear to be 10 post holes, forming two irregular pentagons which may be the remains of two huts. Thirty stone tools were also found scattered around the site