Have you ever seen the oldest thing, of any generic description, in the world?
I was recalling today that I saw a game at Labatt’s Field, in London, Ontario, which is reputed to the oldest continuously-used baseball field in the world. I tried to think if I had seen anything else that was the oldest in the world, and had a hard time coming up with anything else.
I have seen the Barberton Greenstone Belt, on the South Africa-Swaziland border, it is said to be the oldest mountain range in the world, although there are older landforms.
The oldest tree in the world is said to be in Inyo County, California, but I haven’t seen it.
Oldest tree is the bristlecone pine. We drove all the way up some nice twisty mountain roads to where you can see some. Windy as heck if I recall. Explains their shape.
And, yup, other than, say, the Yellowstone Supervolcano, I got nothing.
I’ve seen the Pyramids at Giza, which are the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
I’ve seen a number of the world’s oldest temples, including the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni, the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor, and Stonehenge. There are two more in Malta I’d like to visit, and the Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, which may be the oldest extant temple.
I’ve seen tons mosques, churches, castles, things in museums, and other random touristy stuff all around the world. I have to assume that some percentage of any of it was the “oldest” of its type, but I’ll admit that none of them stick in my mind. For example, I’ve seen the Pyramids at Giza, but I couldn’t have told you whether they were the oldest of anything.
But even though I now know that the Pyramids at Giza are the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, I happen to know that they’re not the oldest pyramids. In Egypt, that we know of, that would be the Pyramid of Djoser. Outside of Egypt, either of Monte d’Accoddi or Tepe Sialk may have been pyramidal, in which case they would win, and most likely there were lots of pyramidal structures besides those which simply didn’t last to modern day.
While I can’t remember any specific oldests that I’ve seen, I do have a feeling like for the majority of them, I couldn’t help but feel like the declaration was a bit arbitrary. “This is the oldest church step built out of turquoise stone.” “This is the oldest pot with a hinged lid.” Technically, I could say that my iPhone is the oldest Apple product with a phone number of XXX-XXX-XXXX and it would be true.
For some oldests/firsts, it’s a genuine achievement. Adding a hinge to your pot lid was a good, practical advance that an astonishingly large number of people probably didn’t come up with over the course of thousands of years. Then one day, some guy went, “Wait a second, this is stupid. Let’s add a hinge.” But for a church to use a turquoise stone probably just either signifies that they happened to be near a turquoise quarry, or the Bishop really liked green. It’s not really impressive.
To some extent, the most amazing thing is that there are probably more notable oldests in the last 100 years than in all history before that.
It dates from between 1290 and 1320, and only looks like a violin because the Tudors ripped off its original sound board and replaced it with the then-new fangled fiddle. (The Tudors were nearly as bad as the Victorians when it came to ruining antiquities).
The webpage for Fuller Field (1878) acknowledges that:
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London, Ontario’s Labatt Park claims to be the oldest park in continuous use, starting play in 1877, but home plate was moved.*
There is always a definition problem with “oldest things”, recalling Abe Lincoln’s hundred yer old axe, although the handle has been replaced four times and the head twice.
I held a big chunk of the earth’s mantle in my geology class, that had to be pretty old. Although I’m sure my professor explained how it was obtained, I can’t remember.
It has to be relative rare since it comes from so far down, I think there are a few mountain belts that contain chunks of it here and there.
Anyone who has been to the Air and Space Museum in DC has seen the original Wright Brothers’ Flyer. People are often amazed at how good a shape it’s in – and most of the parts are original.
Also in DC, I saw the Waldseemuller Map, the first map to mention “America,” on temporary display at the Library of Congress.
I’m starting a slippery slope here, though…for this thread, better to stick to fundamental things like “oldest rock” or “oldest city,” both of which have been mentioned by others.
Got it. I just thought that, the further we stray from fundamental categories (man-made or not), the more this could include just about anything. Like, the “oldest” lesbian Elvis impersonator with a lisp! (That was an old Bloom County caption, poking fun at the “first this” and “first that” to ride the Space Shuttle – I think the cartoon ran after the first US woman shuttle pilot, but before the first teacher’s brief flight.)
I’ve seen the stromatolites at Cervantes and Hamelin Pool in Western Australia.
I’ve hiked “ancient” forests of bristlecone pines, sequoias and redwoods…some have signs stating how old various specimens are, but which one is really the oldest?
I saw Mike Sandlock play a game for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1953, he is now the oldest living ex-major league baseball player. He was a catcher, went 0-for-3 in a game at Milwaukee. He’ll be 99 in October.