Seven Wonders

World Wonders are impressive feats of construction and engineering that our ancestors built, and we are still in amazement today on how they were built.

The oldest and the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the Great Pyramid of Giza. A pyramid in southern Egypt was uncovered by archaeologist and uncovering of this ancient monument started back in 2010. The archaeologist found an old step pyramid that was built before the Great Pyramid of Giza, being older than the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and was built around 4600 years ago.

The archaeologist do not now what the purpose of the pyramid was and believe it is part of seven other pyramids found in the area that might have just served as monuments. The step pyramid is not in all of its glory now. When it was built it was around 43 feet tall or 13 meters, but now the pyramid only stands about
14.33 feet tall or 4.33 meters tall. It is amazing to find these monuments that are older than the Great Pyramid, even though a dwarf when compared to it, it still is an impressive feat.

Even more impressive is the fact the Great Pyramid is the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the only one still standing. The other six have been lost, destroyed or demolished. It is depressing to think that us today can only visit one of the wonders. for some you can see the foundations of them like the Temple of Artemis. But for one it is not known is the wonder ever existed. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are only recorded by ancient Greek writers and there are no records from ancient Babylon describing the gardens.

 On July 7th, 2007, a poll was released asking people what should be the new Seven Wonders of the World. The results were released. The new seven wonders became Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil, The Great Wall of China, The Colosseum of Rome, The Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichén Itza in Mexico, and the Taj Mahal in India. These monuments like the Ancient Seven wonders bring the feelings of wonderment and awe when visited or even pictured.

But having only seven is a very arbitrary number. I understand why seven is chosen. Seven is traditionally a lucky number. There are many other wonders around the world that bring the same feelings of wonderment as did the new and old seven do. These wonders are not things that people come get together to decide it worthy of the title of wonder. It is all in what someone like me or you visiting these monuments and if they inspire us or make us wonder how is it that this was built or how people like us could accomplish this, then that is enough to give it the title of Wonder. The step pyramid found recently may not be tall as its cousin, but it still is impressive that thousands of years ago humans had the ability to construct that monument.

Sources
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/4600-year-old-step-pyramid-uncovered-in-egypt/
http://rt.com/news/ancient-step-pyramid-egypt-617/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/photogalleries/seven-wonders/