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What is it about old things that attract Americans? I'm talking about very old buildings, castles, statues etc.? Maybe it's the fact that this country is relatively new and we really don't have anything that compares to Italy or Greece in ancient structures, just to mention a couple of places. It blows the mind when you think of a country like Egypt that has had civilization for approximately 6,000 years and here we are about 250 years old. We are a mere flyspeck on the window of time. Even Europe is ancient compared to us. Of course if you count some of the indian structures in this country, the very earliest ones go back to about the time of Christ. What I think is very interesting is the rate of discovery of ancient places. It seems that every month something new is being found.

In Egypt archeologists have found mummies. What is so unusual about this, they find mummies all the time? Well these are the oldest, being over 5,600 years old. This period is the least know in Egyptian history, it is known as the pre dynastic era. This is why the scientists are so excited. Egypt was just becoming a nation when these people were buried. The area the bodies were found in was know as Hierakonpolis. It is believed one of the bodies may belong to a king who ruled the city in approximately 3,600 BC. Today the area is known as Kom El-Ahmar. Not only bodies were found but also artifacts. There was a cow's head made of flint, daggers and a figure of an Ibex. Pieces of, what is believed to be, the first Egyptian life sized statue were also found. A burnt ostrich eggshell was found and it is felt that this has something to do with rebirth.

I guess this has to come under the heading 'you think your so advanced?'. An ancient shoe has been found that is over 2,000 years old. It was preserved in mud and somehow got into a hollow tree. It is believed that it is the oldest shoe ever found in the United Kingdom. What is so incredible about the shoe is that it looks like a modern shoe. It has stitch holes and even holes for shoe laces and is made of leather. Remember we are talking about the time of Christ here. Apparently there had been a quarry in the area and also a Bronze Age iron smelting facility. It closed down and archeologists feel that maybe the shoe was left there on purpose for some symbolic reason or just lost in the mud.

Guess what country has the most ancient sites? Did you guess Italy, or even Greece? If you did you would be wrong. Turkey has over 40,000 ancient sites. If this isn't the most then it has to be pretty near it. There is so much to see there that you would need a lifetime to truly explore everything.

In the city of Fuxin, in China, an ancient fortress was discovered. The fortress dates back to the Tang Dynasty. The fortress is over 1,500 years old and it is believed that it served to garrison troops. Ancient records show that over 30,000 troops were stationed there. To hold this many troops the fortress must have been huge in its hay day.

Persepolis was much larger than Acropolis in Greece but the fame of the Acropolis is much more wide spread. Persepolis was a great ancient city in Persia, which is present day Iran. But way is it so comparatively unknown by the west? This is a hard question to answer, but in all honesty, how many ancient cities do we know of in the middle east outside of Babylon, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Jericho? The answer might lay in the fact that the Persians who ruled North Africa, Asia and the Middle East only ruled this vast empire for a little over 200 years.

As I said, it seems that Americans love old things because they don't have any in their country. I have been to Europe several times and nothing fascinates me more than old castles. I actually found one in Scotland that I could rummage through and climb around on while being the only one there. The name of the castle was Crookston Castle. It was a small castle in comparison to others, but fun never the less. Many of these castles were built on hill tops and seem very high when you get to the top. If you would like to view photos I took of Crookston Castle CLICK HERE.