As the saying goes, Americans think 100 years is a long time, and Europeans think 100 miles/kilometers is a long way.

Never heard that before, but it rings true.

Our house (Americans) is from 1909 and we think its crazy how old it is.

Our friends from the Netherlands came to visit and informed us that the next day they would visit DC (2-3 hours drive) and then swing by the upper peninsula of Michigan the day after (20+ hours).

I first heard that in the 80s from SF writer James Hogan, who substituted "Brits" for "Europeans". I've been quoting it ever since.

My local cafe is older than that, I've never personally lived in a house older than about 200 years though.

A couple of weeks ago I had a pint at the Kirkstone Pass Inn [0] and was thinking about Triggers Broom [1]. The foundations of the core of that Inn date back to 1496, but clearly the carpets aren't that old.

At what stage does a building become new? Lincoln Cathedral was built in 1072, but rebuilt in 1185. The Man and Scythe (a pub) in Bolton was rebuilt as recently as 1636, but the front of the building is only 100 or so years old. The cellar probably predates the 1636 year, and there was a pub of that name in 1251. Exact details of when old buildings (which are still in use) are rebuilt are typically lost to history.

[0] http://www.kirkstonepassinn.com/about.htm [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Parts of my local are 600 years old, and there's a Roman road about 5 minutes walk away from my house. I'm always amazed when I look at an Ordnance Survey map and see the amount of tumulus (burial mound) and other ancient structures. We are surrounded by history but mostly unaware of it. I sometimes wonder about what's out there waiting to be discovered. Perhaps one day we'll have archaeological drones roaming around looking for undiscovered treasures.

You're living in the past. (-:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12326425

Quite a long way in the past.

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17496989

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44806069

* https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-4...

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17526492

That's not what I'm thinking of really - I should have been clearer - I was thinking more of something like the Mars Curiosity rover - autonomous drones, not necessarily aerial, probably solar powered, able to roam around on their own for months/years at a time looking for interesting stuff.

One thing that I love about Scotland is that there is so much ancient mysterious stuff about that rather little attention is paid to a lot of it e.g. Cademuir Hill near Peebles - impressive fortifications with stone cheval de frise and a name that apparently derived from the Gaelic for "the great fight". Who built the fortresses, who the "great fight" was between and when - nobody really cares that much. And that's in no way exceptional.

And then there are the forts where the walls were melted - by accident or on purpose - nobody is really sure:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrified_fort

> Who built the fortresses, who the "great fight" was between and when - nobody really cares that much.

“No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad, Why we fought or why we died. No, all that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important.”

— Conan the Barbarian (1982)

The village I grew up in has a cliff sided promontory called the "Green Castle" - turns out that 1000+ years ago it held a substantial Pictish fort. As a kid I've picked bits of charred wood out from where one of the sides where it is eroding away.

Was it burned down by enemies (a Viking siege?), by accident or on purpose. Nobody knows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Castle,_Portknockie

And there is also the (crazy) idea that I've had since I was a kid that the Tap o' Noth is Tolkien's Weathertop ;-)

An old jape, probably from the 1950s, heard from my father:

A tour guide somewhere in the US southwest stands in front of a building and says "This building is one of the oldest in the territory, a hundred and twenty years old. Think of that folks, a hundred and twenty years old."

A voice from the back of the crowd says, "I can't wait to get back to Damascus and tell them."

[edit: changed initial "And" to "An".]

Haha, my own house already 90 years old. I got married in my city's town hall which has been in active use since 1544. It's a different world from the US :)

The oldest building on the list actually dates to 1190.

about when my family's house was first document, and it's just an farm belonging to the church.

That's pretty cool. Hopefully it's gone thru some renovations over the years.

Nope, in Colorado there's a Pueblo building from the 12th century. It's there in the article

The oldest building in my city would be walls from somewhere around 0 BC. It was a rather important nexus for the Roman Army due to the geographic location. Though it's largely buried under more modern walls from around 13th century.

There is also social housing, build in the 16th century by one of the top 3 wealthiest people in modern history. Still in use today, about 1€ a year rent.

Nitpick I know, but there's no year 0 BC. Or 0 AD for that matter.

Well, it was more likely in the BC range, but yeah, would be year 0 instead.

Year 0 doesn't exist either. 1 BC is directly followed by 1 AD

Year 0 is obviously in the middle of the two.

Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero

Because zero wasn't invented until much later.

Hmm, I don't think so: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-origi...

Also, AD / BC wasn't devised until 525 AD, and zero was common at that point, so that can't be the reason: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini

EDIT: Apparently I'm wrong :)

Neither the concept nor a symbol for zero existed in the system of Roman numerals. The Babylonian system of the BC era had used the idea of "nothingness" without considering it a number, and the Romans enumerated in much the same way. Wherever a modern zero would have been used, Bede and Dionysius Exiguus did use Latin number words, or the word nulla (meaning "nothing") alongside Roman numerals.[1][3][4] Zero was invented in India in the sixth century, and was either transferred or reinvented by the Arabs by about the eighth century. The Arabic numeral for zero (0) did not enter Europe until the thirteenth century. Even then, it was known only to very few, and only entered widespread use in Europe by the seventeenth century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero

Forgot the sarcasm flag in that post..

The Taos Pueblos are 700-1000 years old and have been continuously occupied. It’s on the list.

Most European countries as they are now did not exist in 1637.

Well, Oxford University has been going for 922 years.

Some of the buildings have been updated a bit, however, at Oxford and plenty of other university/school towns in England there are buildings that are still used today for their original teaching purposes, having been built many centuries ago way before the Columbus story of 'discovery' was written.

So it's a competition where older is better? Even older than European buildings is the European attitude that leads them to add irrelevant comments proclaiming their superiority to every discussion on the internet.

I can promise you that's not an attitude limited to Europeans. A million irrelevant comments of "there are two kinds of countries, ones that put a man on the moon and ones that didn't" can stand in testament to that

I felt there was a comment like OPs before I opened the discussion. Only thing I'm left wondering is which country OP is from. Seems like a German thing to say.