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The Great Pyramid of Giza is not the largest prehistoric building project in the world, as it was built during Egypt’s historical era. The Indus Valley Civilization in present-day Pakistan and far western India built great cities, but did not construct monumental structures. Silbury Hill in England, dated to 2750 ±95 BC, is a massive man-made mound with an unknown purpose that took several thousand shift workers at least a couple of decades to build.
Some might assume that one of the largest prehistoric building projects in the world is the Great Pyramid of Giza. Standing 146m (481ft) tall, the Great Pyramid is truly massive, holding the title of tallest building in the world for over 3,800 years. However, the Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BC, at least 800 years into Egypt’s historical era, which began around 3200 BC By our standards, this is almost a prehistoric building project, but not quite. The historical era is defined as the one in which records were kept, and they were – we know the pyramid was built for Pharaoh Khufu and probably designed by his vizier Hemon.
Although Egypt’s historical era began around 3200 BC, many other areas of the world still lacked writing, relying on crude pictographs to convey concepts. For example, between 2600 and 1900 BC, in present-day Pakistan and far western India, an ancient civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization, was flourishing. This civilization built great cities for thousands, which included canals, temples, public baths, sewers, granaries, shipyards, and warehouses. Taken collectively, these prehistoric building projects were among the largest in the world up to that time. However, unlike many contemporary and later civilizations, the Indus Valley people did not build monumental structures such as temples or palaces. The largest uncovered structure is a public toilet.
Another very early structure, one of the prehistoric building projects, is Silbury Hill in England, dated to 2750 ±95 BC The massive man-made mound is 167 m (550 ft) in diameter and 40 m (131 ft) high ). Its purpose is unknown. Archaeologists said the hill took 18 million man hours, or 500 men who worked 15 years to build. More likely, its construction involved several thousand shift workers for at least a couple of decades. This type of social structure is not typically associated with Neolithic Britain, which is thought to have consisted mainly of fragmented tribes. Perhaps some elite group gained control over a large area and used its population to complete this amazing prehistoric building project.
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