32 Ancient Cities That Are Older Than the Pyramids

32. Lepenski Vir, Serbia: Mesolithic River Settlement

Located on the Danube River, Lepenski Vir (flourishing 9500-6000 BCE) provides a fascinating look at life before widespread farming. This Mesolithic settlement had unique trapezoidal houses arranged in a planned layout and yielded remarkable sandstone sculptures mixing human and fish features – Europe's earliest monumental art. It demonstrates that complex social structures, planned settlements, and sophisticated artistic/religious expression could arise among hunter-fisher-gatherer groups, long before the agricultural revolution fully took hold and millennia before Egypt's pyramids.