11,300-Year-Old MEGASTRUCTURE: WF16 & The Birth of Civilisation

Just when I thought I had presented all of the most incredible Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites of Western Asia, I stumble across another hidden gem, a 12,000-year-old site that was only discovered in 1996, and it’s amazing architecture is worthy to be mentioned alongside the likes of Gobekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe and Jericho.
The site is truly ancient, it’s Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, and is known as WF16, which actually stands for Wadi Faynan 16 - an extraordinary site in the Southern Levant, in Southern Jordan, the most southerly early Neolithic settlement I’ve covered on the Ancient Architects channel and it’s one you’ll want to remember.
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A was a true transition phase in the human story, between the Epi-Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B farmers, a time when the worldview for many was changing, and you could argue that this time marked the true birth of civilisation.
Until the discovery of WF16, the PPNA sites of the Southern Levant were far less spectacular than those we find in the north. There was no southern equivalent to Gobekli Tepe or Mureybet, with most settlements appearing more like small hamlets or camps, as opposed to major population centres.
When WF16 was first discovered, it was thought to be just a seasonal camp, but with more excavation, that opinion would soon change. This was a large settlement with so many amazing archaeological finds, more than 30 structures and one special purpose megastructure, which makes this site so unique in the Southern Levant.
Watch this video to learn more about WF16, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and the birth of civilisation.
All images are taken from the below sources for educational purposes only. Please subscribe to Ancient Architects, Like the video and please leave a comment below. Thank you.
Sources:
faynanheritage....
www.researchga...
centaur.readin...
#ancientarchitects #WF16 #archaeology

[@AncientArchitects]

Hi everyone. The original upload of this had a subtle royalty-free backing track. 2 years later, it’s no longer royalty-free 😩 So I’ve uploaded again with no background music. NEW 20 minute video on Sacsayhuaman will be ready in a day or 2!

[@stig]

a ten second hissing sound caused my video to get a copyright claim on a recent video. The song it was matched to was completely different everything. If you delete it , any strike stays so you have to appeal You must always appeal or bend over and squeal

[@yellads]

So farming and animal husbandry did not cause sedentism?

[@stig]

@@yellads no, the modern day industrialized complex did. Don't blame farming. Blame big farming.

[@yellads]

@@stig Agreed, but I mean what caused hunter gatherers to stop being nomads?

[@El-Comment-8-or]

@@yelladsthey were slaughtered by the agriculturalists who had greater numbers. Not necessarily because agriculture was more successful… It was more that hunter gathers chose to follow the local warlord, or flee into the wilderness. Where as farmers followed the warlord or they lost their land and all they owned.

[@boydlewis8747]

we learn more with each video you put out, YES!

[@AncientArchitects]

Thank you!

[@joconnor57]

Great presentation, thank you! Keep these stories coming!

[@salty82ndveteran]

I absolutely love this channel. I'm an archaeologist who specializes in pre-civil war military archeology and I like to dabble in fringe archaeology!!! When I was 13 years old I found two coconuts, one had been encased in sandstone in the middle of Oklahoma and it peaked my interest!!! The second one I found a year later coming out if a disturbed hill of dirt behind my house. I believe, due to turbation, the artifact was moved from its original context when my dad move the dirt in order to build our house.

[@howaboutataste]

swallows migrate, you know

[@flipflopski2951]

Concretions aren't coconuts.

[@Mancozeb100]

Sorry old chap … but your interest was piqued … unless you already had a lot of interest … and it did actually… peak ! Sorreee - feeling pedantic today !

[@mabonbran8913]

Sorry, but your "speciality" is the 4.5 billion years before the American civil war, which, archaeologically was like LAST WEEK?!

[@GriffonSpade]

​@@flipflopski2951Maybe some colloquialism?

[@scottzema3103]

BTW a wonderful and informative presentation.

[@marcimarcimarci5101]

fantastic vid. Thank you for all you do!

[@stig]

This is incredible!

[@ArmyJay]

Wow i was blown away when i saw the picture of the large building with some archeologists standing inside, i hadn’t thought it would be that big. I reckon these special purpose buildings had multiple uses. Those people wasted nothing and that includes spaces and buildings, so i’d think they wouldn’t leave it empty and unused but different tasks were being performed in them as and when they needed to be. Great work, cheers.

[@JMM33RanMA]

How amazing our ancient ancestors were. Thanks for another detailed and fact-filled video about them!

[@simontemplar404]

Interesting presentation thanks, looking forward to part two.

[@AncientArchitects]

Thanks for watching

[@leeButtrill]

Another great one. Thank you!

[@xlr8tedzoom]

The birth place of civilization until the next spectacular find. You covered it well. Thanks for the upload!

[@AncientArchitects]

Thanks for watching

[@jdlaurie3393]

There probably was some equally impressive stuff going on in Asia at the same time.

[@baysideauto]

The more we find Matt the more interesting the story becomes. Thanks for your reporting it's always top notch.

[@eddieb82100]

Didn't know about this site. Thank you.

[@AncientArchitects]

Thanks for watching

[@eric1752]

Great find and video! Thank you.

[@cordellwynne]

Very informative coverage in a short format. I've really enjoyed this channel for the last couple of years. Thank you.

[@dougg1075]

When I look at that Gobekli Tepe t shirt , it makes me think of the artist that made that t pillar design, and how people all over the world would see and even wear his art. Wonder what he would think of that.

[@barrywalser2384]

This is the most detailed explanation I’ve seen on this site. Thanks Matt!

[@sitindogmas]

amazing to ponder what their culture was in everyday life, what they talked about, how and what they taught thier children, just everything, especially existing there over such a long period of time. ✌️💚

[@TheImmortalArt]

Cool. Inspiration for the future episode. (;

[@denisovan1955]

Thankyou for your great Channel! One remark: "birth of civilization" can not be a verified final statement. You May add "as far as we discovered until now"

[@AncientArchitects]

Yeah… true.

[@aidanmacdougall9250]

WTF16! 😊 I sympathize with their leaky roof, a friend of mine had interior gutters for his leaky roof too. Great video, always fascinating 👍

[@robertanthonynolan9697]

thank you

[@AncientArchitects]

Thanks for watching

[@robertanthonynolan9697]

alwats enjoy your content once again thank you@@AncientArchitects

[@puddintame7794]

The chart at 17:08 is awesome.

[@jimmywr32]

great video thank you

[@nvmcEZ]

So with this fascinating discovery you presented us, i could not help but notice some of the similarities to gobekli and karhan tee's designs seen present at wf16. The general layouts will likely all be similar but the main gathering area being decorated with a zigzag design (maybe water? Which could be significant for many reasons) have any T pillars been uncovered? Maybe that practice was seen as not viable for structures due to regional resources? Could this be direct dependents from the Turkish tepe sights? I have so many more questions now... great video! And I didn't know this was a re-upload so great job again lol

[@citguero1]

Great Presentation. It could also be a humongous Bakery, if they found some barley or wheat in those pits.

[@janerkenbrack3373]

Fascinating stuff. I have often wondered what ancient people did with their time (apart from grinding meal, and drying game). We have been making art for many millennia, but large scale decorative arts requires more free time than the isolated carving or cave painting. This is what happens when providing food becomes easier, such as harvesting crops. Long before cultivation started, grains were being eaten. This had to be less time consuming than nomadic travels to hunt and gather. It also leaves communal time, perhaps with entertainment. Perhaps those who were talented in pantomime or singing or playing instruments like flutes, would put on shows for the rest of the village. Did these pre-pottery neolithic settlements give us vaudeville?

[@smillstill]

Great presentation! Any idea how many people lived in these major villages of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A?

[@telebubba5527]

Interesting video. I thought I had seen it earlier, but it is nice to see it again. I agree on the notion that 'civilisation' began much earlier and that the word needs to be redefined to the periode that permanent settlement started and other traits started to get form which would ultimately lead to the larger cities. Rome wasn't built in one day, neither was civilisation and there needs to be more recognition for the periode before writing started and the first forms of written history.

[@jamescromer550]

The best thing about "Science" is that it consistently disproves itself. Science is the biggest Science-denier, lol. Of course, what we call "Science" is usually just the misunderstanding of facts and evidence by arrogant humans making vacuous proclamations. I love this channel, keep them coming, Matt!

[@timothymorrell4023]

I may have missed it, but which rooms (if any) were food storage places? thanks, awesome as usual!

[@DANKFPV]

8:06 the artistic object in the upper left is questionable lol

[@AncientArchitects]

😂

[@carl8703]

"for ritual purposes"

[@redjugsba]

Excellent video as always. Although, Coming from Sheffield, which has Cresswell Crags, Deepcar, Neolithic A Green rock art, burial mounds, Celestial aligned stone circles and hillforts, I have to take a bit of an issue with the "birth of civilisation".

[@Jon-BEDM]

To me, the most important activity in a shared communal space would be child care, using joint labor to look after different age groups, including infants. By combining labor, people could both look after young ones while continue important work in the settlement. It just seems silly to me to imagine a parent spending all day hauling around a child while they hunt, or being confined to their own space while they take care of an infant. I think, to understand our modern ways, 12,000 years to present is critical, technology has affected our lives in every way; but to understand the human, our emotions, our sympathetic nervous system responses, we need to keep in mind the hundreds of thousands of years of Hunter gatherer lifestyles. Those parental bonds would have been incredibly critical, along with a communal minded aspect to child care.

[@flipflopski2951]

In Chatlhoyuk I believe the children were free run of the whole town and stayed wherever they wanted.

[@redalert2834]

Imagine my disappointment to find that they haven't found a gigantic new pyramid or impossibly heavy megalith in Wakefield post code WF16.

[@BurtonShotton]

I honestly believe that the only reason that these sites are acknowledged is that there is just too much irrefutable evidence to hand-wave away as "anomalies". I can remember when the entire scholarly community would have considered the idea of megalithic construction from 12,000+ years ago as being absurd and impossible.

[@Akimos]

Just add some beer and music and you'll have a party.

[@adfunkedesign]

I would like to pose the tunnel trench was for shaman performance like a classic magic trick. Or also escape tunnel.

[@escandolosoamargo]

7:08 Wild plants were being "cultivated"?

[@jaredsanford]

"You could argue this time marks the birth of civilization"-Those monuments, preceding this era, demonstrate complex societal organization. Since culture is defined by material evidence, Göbekli Tepe's existence demands we acknowledge civilization existed long before the Younger Dryas.

[@GriffonSpade]

Civilization is defined by largescale societies, so while this sort of settlement is a precursor, it's not quite civilization itself, either. But other places could have been building much larger settlements at the same time!

[@Chris-kn4vf]

Hadn’t watched this last time around. I’m very curious about the rationale as to why so much effort would have been used to make these sites for seasonal use? What’s the reasoning behind this?

[@flipflopski2951]

Who said they were seasonal?..

[@mindsight9732]

arcgeologists soon after teoe sites were 'discovered' i mean publically announced a few years ago.

[@marywright4934]

I firmly believe that you will find that there was an age at least one where their technology rivaled ours but in different ways. When you find it I'll be here watching

[@MorbinNecrim86]

Looks like an enclosed vege garden I've built in minecraft

[@AncientArchitects]

Ha. I love Minecraft

[@MorbinNecrim86]

@AncientArchitects still love Minecraft, and I also love learning about all this awesome history

[@jesperandersson889]

Ice Age man revealed - wow

[@gucci_pilot]

❤❤❤❤

[@j.k24]

Everything ia buried, we need ground pen radars activly

[@AncientArchitects]

Global scan from a satellite would be wonderful

[@nobody687]

Perhaps civilization started in several places, one being the Sahara. As it was green before the younger dryus . Perhaps that civilization was forced to leave by the change in the climate that turned it into a desert. And what we see with these settlements is how they spread from the Sahara into the fertile cresent. As it appears, this place was designed. And became smaller, rather than growing .

[@TheAdeybob]

A veritable castle

[@gaga5347]

I Hate for people to pre-date things beyond Bible💯🙏

[@flipflopski2951]

The bible dates things beyond the bible. If you ever read it you would know that.

[@gaga5347]

@ the land, the bugs, The animals not the people.

[@mabonbran8913]

It must be so sad to be so ignorant of the concept of truth...

[@gaga5347]

@ elaborate

[@flipflopski2951]

@ Never heard the Adam & Eve fairytale?..

[@albertmiller3082]

Interesting stuff. That said, 12,000 years is hardly the beginning of anything except this one societal cycle. Humans have been here a quarter million years. Nothing in the last 15,000 years is the first time around. Earlier stuff awaits discovery. Nature always erases human traces.

[@dragonfox2.058]

❤💜❤

[@spacewater7]

Look to the neighborhood of the Ganges and you'll find even more ancient civilizations. It was from that area that Noah and his family came, before settling in modern Turkey after the tsunami and flood waters receded. From them was introduced civilization which originated around the Ganges in modern India.

[@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391]

I wonder if it was used as a seat of power, Noble families gathered to hear cases of law, businesses, trade, taxes, decision of labour etc.

[@BenSHammonds]

was there any genetic testing on the human remains, would be interested to know the results

[@whatthefunction9140]

I often wounder if I would survive back than. Would I be happy.

[@amytayloramytaylor]

I’d say yes you would survive because your ancestors survived then or you would not be here now. 😊 Happy? Maybe happy… or maybe mad and motivated to build that shelter and catch that food.

[@patricktilton5377]

It was the Hyborian Age, baby! The lands wherein Conan the Cimmerian barbarian trod with his sandaled feet . . .

[@KenrithBrawn]

Can't really state this is the start of civilization. It just means discovered to date.

[@AncientArchitects]

I should add a disclaimer

[@flipflopski2951]

What is civilization?.. Was Homo Erectus Civilized?.. American Indians?..

[@KenrithBrawn]

@@AncientArchitects Nah. Just the usual comment ocd point lol

[@philbarker7477]

Looking at your post Ice Age temp map over time - well it goes put present day - ‘global warming’ somewhat into perspective….

[@juanlopez-lp4lp]

endogamia . si los grupos de personas son pequeños necesitan tener contacto con otros para evitar la endogamia . una reunionb anual en la capital de la comarca es una solucion a este problema .

[@flipflopski2951]

Interesting theory but all the grain processing evidence leads me to believe they were grain processing and storage areas. Ritual was not something that was separate from daily life so every single thing was part of a ritual.

[@juanlopez-lp4lp]

​@@flipflopski2951 densidad de poblacion . no es viable depender de recursos vegetales que no puedas vigilar . esto limita la superficie sobre la que se tiene dominio . son mas eficientes ocupando el territorio , 5 grupos de 40 personas que 1 grupo de 200 . ese asentamiento se hizo notable por ser una capital . y se hizo grande por el fenomeno de 'capitalidad' . centro comercial , cultural y social . eso permite cambiar cuentas de collar por alimentos y esta en el germen de la especializacion laboral .

[@flipflopski2951]

@ My idea is it was a defensive way to store grain safely... The biggest human motivation is fear.

[@sitindogmas]

mabey it was the beginning of the rebirth of civilization. i hate to put the "mabey" in there, but i got to lol

[@johnmudd6453]

11,300 years old that is precise dating

[@GonzaloCalvoPerez]

The main building was certainly an assembly room, as there is no evidence of hierarchy and these societies must have been anarchies.

[@sacha11666]

... 😁 Yep, again. Like I keep saying, America and the North Atlantic was "punished bad" by the Nature. So every survivors migred wesward to the east of the Mediteranean, migh have happen over two centuries [ a few generation of major knowledge shared during the gatherings].... And then ALL THE LITTLE PEICE OF KNOWLEDGE WAS SHARED. ⚜️

[@MONG...]

Rebirth of civilization maybe.

[@BrianSmith-gp9xr]

See . All the walls were covered with mud. They always show the structures in picture form with rocks exposed. It would be covered with mud/clay . Where is the clay area they used.? it would be important to them .

[@prinzeugen666]

Hello everybody

[@AtlasRathbane4346]

Another 12000 year old structure HMMMMMMmmmmm................

[@Mr72Dolphins]

"The bible came from Araba". By Kamal Salibi

[@zahadou]

sorry to sound stupid - all the pre-pottery thing as if it's a mark or marque of being civilised using fire grilled clay - weren't most European people from the Dark Ages or Medieval using wooden spoons and bowls - fine China is easily broken

[@TerribleShmeltingAccident]

tannery...

[@christianlingurar7085]

i don't believe it. a proto-"greek" symposion amphitheatre. the place where - more or less ;-> - organised culture is born... one thing btw: imho THAT is "paradise": the rising temperatures after the yd. for hundreds of years yield and hunt got better and better and people became more and more. until they hit the limit because climate was settled. and they needed to start organising... meaning... power politics...

[@merlinwizard1000]

35th, 7 February 2025

[@TopazBadger6550]

Matt, excellent vid. Your work is great. BUT, here's the rub: Civilizations existed many 10,000s of years ago. Stop ignoring the overwhelming evidence.

[@sikandarhameed7872]

Word is Civilization, not Civilisation.

[@brandonhall4547]

You knew what he said. Stop policing his accent that’s pretty rude. I hear him saying it correctly with a z. Maybe it’s your hearing and not his pronunciation.

[@sikandarhameed7872]

@@brandonhall4547 Okay, Bro

[@boydlewis8747]

he's a Brit, what do you not understand? they just pronounce differently from us Americans, k?

[@Synclexia]

It's spelled "civilisation" in British English.

[@johnmudd6453]

The original English

[@MingusDew_Bebop]

It doesn't count as civilization until it has Flint's blessing.

[@kenbo-2179]

Could you do me just a tiny little favor? Could you just read this sentence out loud on your next video? "W, W, W, dot." 😉

[@spacewater7]

Look to the neighborhood of the Ganges and you'll find even more ancient civilizations. It was from that area that Noah and his family came, before settling in modern Turkey after the tsunami and flood waters receded. From them was introduced civilization which originated around the Ganges in modern India.

[@spacewater7]

Look to the neighborhood of the Ganges and you'll find even more ancient civilizations. It was from that area that Noah and his family came, before settling in modern Turkey after the tsunami and flood waters receded. From them was introduced civilization which originated around the Ganges in modern India.

[@spacewater7]

Look to the neighborhood of the Ganges and you'll find even more ancient civilizations. It was from that area that Noah and his family came, before settling in modern Turkey after the tsunami and flood waters receded. From them was introduced civilization which originated around the Ganges in modern India.