The Age of Concrete

Al-Khazneh, aka. The Treasury Monument in Petra

Proven to last thousands of years, concrete is currently one of the most popular building materials. While it’s been well studied with the Ancient Romans, they were not the first to use concrete. The Romans (~300 BC) may have used concrete in larger amounts and more regularly, but were certainly not the first.

Archaeological evidence of concrete use dates back to 5600 BC in Europe, 3000 BC in China and 2500 BC in Egypt. The oldest structures Archaeologists have found were built by the Nabataea traders using a type of concrete material to develop a small empire in the regions of southern Syria and northern Jordan around 6500 BC. They created concrete floors, fire pits, housing structures, and underground cisterns.