6 The Ngwenya Mine on the northwestern border of Swaziland is considered the world’s oldest mine. The place’s iron ore deposits have one of the oldest geological formations in the world. Archaeologists have dated these iron ore mines to at least 43,000 years ago.

“Ngwenya” translates to “crocodile” in the Swazi language. Such a name is given considering the shape of the mountains containing the mine. The mountain is also the second-highest in the country. However, mining activities after the 1960s disturbed the crocodile shape.

The Lion Cavern at the landmarks stands distinct from the rest of the place. It is a modest hole that remained from mineral mining at the place. The mineral that was mined in the Ngwenya Mine was specularite. It was used traditionally by the chiefs as body paint for ceremonial occasions.

A visitor center was initiated in 2005 to display some fascinating exhibits. The exhibition included various mineral deposits, archive photographs of early phases of the mine, a life-size diorama of a working Iron Age smelter, and a steam engine built by the British which was shipped to the country in 1913. The exhibition building burned down in 2018 and was not re-built after that. (Source)

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7 The world’s oldest spiritual site of Gobekli Tepe is in Turkey. The place is 12,000 years old, and after the excavation of 1994, the place has been responsible for revolutionizing the way archaeologists think about Stone Age man.

The spiritual site in Turkey is of great historical significance. The hallmark of its use in studying the Stone Age was after 1994 when German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt along with his team unearthed some findings.

At the site, there are large T-shaped pillars with animal carvings, stone rings, and several rectangular rooms.

It is believed that the place is the oldest religious complex known to man and therefore holds great religious importance. The theory goes that the complex was not used for domestic purposes but for rituals and sacrifices.

The Gobekli Tepe is also perhaps the oldest known architecture. This is concluded based on the fact that before its discovery, we found no evidence for hunter-gatherers ever constructing large monuments and buildings. And the complex surely dates back to the time when hunter-gatherers dominated the Earth.

It is speculated that the site extends some 22 additional acres. (Source)

8 The 25-million-year-old Lake Baikal is the oldest and the deepest lake in the world with 1,170 meters of depth. It is situated in southeast Siberia and contains almost 20% of the world’s total unfrozen freshwater reserve. The lake is also known as the “Galapagos of Russia,” since it constitutes the world’s richest and most unusual freshwater fauna.

Besides being the oldest and deepest, Lake Baikal is also the world’s largest freshwater lake in the world by volume.

The lake’s old age and isolation have resulted in unique flora and fauna that are of huge importance to evolutionary science. It is home to almost 1,800 endemic plants and animal species.

The water body is so vast that it contains 27 mostly uninhabited islands with the largest one being 72 kilometers long. This island is named Olkhon where around 1,500 people live.

Another feature that distinguishes Lake Baikal from others is that its earth under the water is heated by unknown causes. Additionally, it is the only deep lake to have oxygenated water at its lowest point.

The prehistoric lake is recognized as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1996. (1, 2)

9 The Fritchley Tunnel at Fritchley, Derbyshire, England is the oldest surviving railway tunnel in the world. It was built in 1793, altered in the 1840s, and was in use until the railway closed in 1933. However, it is still a scheduled monument.

The tunnel was built as a part of the Butterley Gangroad railway line built by Benjamin Outram. It was used by horse-drawn wagons that carried limestone. They carried the mineral from quarries near Crich Village all the way to the Cromford Canal via the dark Fritchley Tunnel.

The structure is built of sandstone blocks designed in vertical sides and a round-arched rooftop that measures 22.58 and 3.05 meters in height.

The railway was closed down in 1933, and in 1989, both sides of the tunnel were buried. The tunnel remained abandoned until 2013 when archaeologists revisited it.

The Gangroad railway line, on which the tunnel lies, is also the oldest on which steam transport successfully operated. The line went through a lot of changes. It first relied on the gravitational pull or on horses. Then came the Scottish engineer William Brunton who experimented with a walking steam locomotive. (Source)

10 The oldest still-operating bookstore in the world is known as Livraria Bertrand. It was started in 1732, making it more than 285 years old. The place is a hub for all the bibliophiles across the country. They gather and hold long intellectual and cultural conversations. It was renamed 11 times before it was known by its current name.

Peter Faure opened the oldest book store in the world as a small shop in central Rua Direito do Loreto. Great thinkers, historians, novelists, and like-minded people of Portugal like Alexandre Herculano, Oliveira Martins, Aquilino Ribeiro, etc., really sought out the place.

The bookstore became a part of the Porto Editora group with its branches all over the country in 2010.

There is a total of 52 other stores in the book chain throughout the country. Nonetheless, the Livraria Bertrand stands as the original landmark.

It was declared the oldest operating bookstore in the world by the Guinness World Records in 2011. (1, 2)