Archaeologists are amazing people. They are ready for months to leave for the godforsaken corners of our planet to dig deep into the earth, gazing intently at any rusty nuts and fragments of bottles, which, in their opinion, even remotely resemble artifacts of ancient eras. I must say that among the rubbish of our time, scientists sometimes find really interesting objects, but more often such finds give rise to more questions than answers …
To understand the ineradicable passion of archaeologists for the never-ending race for the past of mankind, you need to go to the excavations yourself and work for long hours with a shovel in the hope of making an archaeological sensation … Or read this selection - in it you will find ten secrets of modern archeology that are still waiting for their Schliemann and Champollions.
Terteria artifacts
Three stone tablets found in the vicinity of the Romanian village of Terteria contain symbols that are currently the oldest written speech on the planet.
Scientists initially hypothesized that the Terteria tablets date back to the third millennium BC, but closer radiocarbon analysis revealed that the artifacts are much older.
Now most archaeologists agree that the tablets were created about 7.5 thousand years ago, long before the Sumerian writing, which was previously considered the oldest in the world.
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Most likely, the finds of Romanian archaeologists belong to the pre-Indo-European Vinca culture, which was widespread on the territory of modern Southeast Europe in the Neolithic era, since the symbols on the tablets are very similar to the pictograms depicted on the remains of the ancient found in 1875 near the Serbian city of Vinca. ceramics.
Uffington White Horse
Stonehenge is not the only archaeological landmark of good old England, although when it comes to the antiquities of Foggy Albion, it is always remembered first of all.
Above a giant stylized figure of a horse located near the town of Uffington, in the territory of modern Oxfordshire, the ancient sculptors had to work hard - the lines of the drawing are deep trenches filled with crushed chalk, while the length of the image reaches 115 m.
Imagine what efforts the creators of "The Horse" had to do to decorate the hill with such an installation, because they did not have excavators, bulldozers and other technical devices that modern builders can boast of.
The drawing is similar to the images of horses found on the coins of the Bronze Age; next to it archaeologists have discovered burials that supposedly appeared in the Neolithic era.
Scientists cannot yet come to a consensus about the time of the creation of the "White Horse" - many of them argue that the geoglyph is too well preserved for the object of the Bronze Age, but others indicate that the locals have been carefully monitoring the state of the "Horse" for a long time and every few years the drawing is “updated” - this explains its almost original appearance.
Salzburg parallelepiped
In 1885, one of the employees of a foundry in Austria discovered the mysterious "Salzburg Parallelepiped". He split a piece of coal and found a very strange artifact in it. On its surface there were many depressions and cracks, its color was unusual, and there was a deep recess in the middle.
The worker had never seen anything like it, and after the find was shown to the boss, it was decided to transfer it to the museum. The following year, a professor named Adolf Gurlt examined the parallelepiped and found that it was part of a meteorite.
But further research of the artifact in the Museum of Natural History showed that it was not actually a meteorite, but was created artificially, and by no one knows who. It is believed that the piece of coal in which the parallelepiped was found is at least 60 million years old.
Rock of the White Shaman
Archaeologists and historians have been studying the artifacts of the peoples of North and South America for many decades, but the culture of the pre-Columbian period of American history still remains a mystery to specialists.
"Rock of the White Shaman", located near the Pecos River in the territory of modern Texas, is ranked among the most famous and at the same time - the most mysterious monuments of that era.
According to scientists, a huge (about 7 m long) drawing appeared more than 4 thousand years ago and belongs to an ancient culture, about which practically nothing is known now.
Some archaeologists are sure that the art object depicts a scene of a battle or some kind of combat ritual; there is also an opinion that the artist showed the moment of communication of the ancients with spirits through mescaline, a psychotropic substance contained in the peyote cactus.
Candelabrum of Paracas
Many of you have probably heard about the Nazca geoglyphs - huge rock paintings located in the southern part of Peru, but few people know that in the same Nazca desert, about 200 km from the geoglyphs, there is another mysterious object, over whose purpose they have been broken for many years heads of archaeologists.
The "Paracas candelabrum" (or "Andean candelabrum") is enormous: 128 m long and 74 m wide, and the thickness of the lines reaches 4 m.
Despite the fact that it is located near the Nazca lines, experts are convinced that the creators of the geoglyphs have nothing to do with it. The artifacts found during excavations in the "Candelabra" area suggest that the image was created around 200 BC, according to some sources, the Nazca geoglyphs appeared 600-800 years later.
The similarity of the depiction technique hints that the Nazca culture is the successor to the Paracas culture, to which the "Candelabrum" belongs.
Scientists more or less understand when the "Andean candelabrum" appeared and who created it, but the goals of the ancient artists are still unclear.
Some archaeologists are convinced that the object is a shrine to the creator god Viracocha, who was worshiped by the local tribes, others believe that the image served as a reference point for ancient sailors - a huge "candelabrum" is carved into the hillside, making it perfectly visible from distances of about 20 km.
Lady of the Crenellated Throne
“Lady of the Crenellated Throne” is the most appropriate name for this mysterious and unique artifact, which dates back to 2700 BC. e. The artifact remains one of the strangest ancient objects ever found by man.
Convinced that this was not a fake, Italian archaeologist Massimo Vidale and his team recorded the unique appearance of the artifact for posterity. This object has the shape of a chariot or boat, on the prow of which is a figurine of a bull's head.
There are 15 human figures on the “boat”, which form something that can be described by the word “procession”. These figures have traces of black, red and yellow paint. Some figurines in the "procession" have the same ornaments on their heads and they wear tapered "robes" that are not seen on other similar figurines. You can also see a female figure sitting on a "jagged throne", hence the name of the artifact.
The researchers concluded that the "lady" was created by the ancient Indian civilization, but they were unable to figure out the meaning and purpose of creating this artifact.
There is no evidence that four-wheeled vehicles were used during the Indian civilization, and it is unclear if this artifact was created for ritual use, or for something else, more practical and rational.
Dadong Solyan Caves
It is known that people lived in the caves of Pasian Dadong 300,000 years ago. It is also known that large animals lived near these caves.
However, scientists were extremely surprised when they found evidence in prehistoric sediments that massive Stegodons and Rinoceros also lived, or at least died in these caves. Scientists found this very strange, given the fact that the caves are located at an altitude of 1600 meters above sea level.
Paleontologist Lynn Sheparts says it's very rare to find animals in caves that don't usually live in them. She believes that Rhinoceros and Stegodons are unlikely to accidentally wander into these caves. Rinoceros, in particular, were solitary animals that grazed on their own. And yet, their remains lie in the caves.
One theory suggests that carnivores killed these mammals and then dragged them into caves. But the most likely answer is human intervention.
Examination of the bones showed that they had been on fire. And then they were beaten with an instrument that, presumably, could have been made of stone. The last expedition to the caves was in 1998, and to date, scientists have not come close to figuring out how exactly these large animals ended up in the caves.
Ancient structure in the Sea of Galilee
In 2003, scientists accidentally discovered a conical structure in the Sea of Galilee. Ten years later, geophysicist Shmuel Marco told CNN that they were very surprised when they saw what looked like a bronze statue on the ocean floor.
The structure is a cone-shaped basalt block. The "bottom" of the structure is 70 m in diameter, and its height is 10 m. The weight of the structure, according to scientists, reaches 60,000 tons. That is, it weighs about two Stonehenge.
Estimated to be 2,000 to 12,000 years old, this range was determined based on the amount of sand accumulated on the base of the structure and then comparing the structure with similar structures.
Marco suggested that the ancient structure may have been a marine fish nursery. However, most archaeologists believe that the structure was originally located on the surface of the earth, and was submerged in the water gradually, over time.
Archaeologist Dani Nadel noted that the structure resembles ancient burials found in different parts of the world in shape. Calling it a truly unusual find, Nadel suggested that the structure was probably used for some kind of ritual purposes. Since there are no exact analogies, one can only guess about the dating and the purpose of creation.
He also noted that this structure was built of large stones, each of which weighs about 100 kg, and this is really impressive.
Trail to Antelope Springs
In June 1968, fossil hunter William Meister Sr. took his family on a trip to Antelope Springs. During this trip, Meister caught sight of a fossil that looked like a footprint from a shoe, with the heel pressed in deeper than the rest of the foot. And under this print, he found two fossilized trilobites.
When he found them, he immediately thought that the man in the shoes had somehow stepped on the fossils. After conducting an examination, Meister and his colleagues found out that the age of the find is almost 600 million years.
The mystery is that although the shoe print clearly indicates that someone has stepped on the trilobites, there is no sign of pressure on the trilobites themselves. In addition, the trilobites were sea creatures, which means that the one who left the "imprint" entered the sea. Why is unknown.
Blythe figures
This archaeological site, located in southern California in the Colorado Desert, near the city of Blythe, features giant geometric shapes, as well as images of animals and people.
The length of the largest drawing is about 50 m, while, until 1932, experts had no idea about the size of the "installation", its size was determined only with the help of aerial photography.
Archaeologists cannot agree on the age of the geoglyphs - numbers from 450 to 2 thousand years are named, it is also unclear what exactly is depicted in the figures.
According to one of the most common versions, the huge figures were created by the ancestors of the Mojave and Kvechan Indian tribes, currently living in the lower reaches of the Colorado River.
According to the legends of the indigenous inhabitants of this region, in the form of human figures, artists depicted various hypostases of the god Mastambo, the Creator of All That Is, and the animals they painted are nothing more than the beast-man Hatakul, who was directly involved in the creation of the world.
The Book of the Zagreb Mummy
The Zagreb Linen Book is known as the longest text in the Etruscan language from the written monuments of this great culture that have survived to our time.
The Etruscan dialect had a noticeable influence on the formation of Latin, but unfortunately, languages related to the Etruscan do not currently exist, in addition, so few documents of that era have come down to us that it is not possible to completely decipher the text of the "Book" - scientists were able to translate only some its fragments.
From the currently known content of the "Book of the Zagreb Mummy" (another name for the artifact), we can conclude that the document is a ritual calendar describing the intricacies of the Etruscan religious traditions.
The book is dated to the 3rd century BC, so the very fact of its existence is unique - manuscripts made of cloth are usually destroyed by the merciless Time much earlier.
One of the reasons why the monument of Etruscan culture is now available for study is that the material from the book was used to wrap one of the Egyptian mummies.
The "Zagreb Linen Book" was discovered on a mummy in a tomb near Alexandria in the middle of the 19th century, but scholars did not pay attention to it for a long time, believing that the mysterious writing on the fabric was made by the hand of an Egyptian.
Shoes hidden in a jug
During an expedition to Egypt in 2004, archaeologists discovered an unusual "treasure": in a jug that was in two other jugs, there were seven pairs of shoes. Two pairs were for children, and the rest of the shoes belonged to an adult who was supposedly limping.
Archaeologist Angelo Sesana stated that the jug was deliberately hidden in the brickwork, more than 2,000 years ago.
André Veldmeyer, a connoisseur of ancient shoes, called the discovery "extraordinary" due to the fact that the found shoes were in excellent condition. He analyzed it and suggested that the shoe was quite expensive, and should have emphasized the status of the owner.
According to him, the main secret is why the jug of shoes was hidden in the wall, and why its owners never removed it.
"Screaming" mummy
Discovered in 1886, the mummy with a painful expression on its face has long been the object of all kinds of speculation. All internal organs of this mummy are intact, which is absolutely not typical for the embalming procedure. Many interesting theories have arisen on this basis, but none of them has been recognized as correct.
Bob Brier, an archaeologist at Long Island University, has suggested that at least two people are behind the mummy's anguished expression. One person was the killer, and the second ensured the complete safety of the body (possibly due to a personal relationship with the victim). Other researchers have put forward a host of their own theories, from cold-blooded poisoning to burial alive.
In 2008, in a documentary released by National Geographic, researchers suggested that the mummy could be Prince Pentaur, the son of Pharaoh Ramses III, who was suspected of intending to kill his father.
Ancient documents from the 12th century claimed that one of the Pharaoh's wives was convicted of conspiracy to assassinate Ramses. It is believed that she sought to help Pentaur ascend the throne, and when the conspiracy was uncovered, she poisoned Pentaura, and after mummification wrapped his body in sheepskin.
If everything was exactly like that, then the "cry" of the mummy is possibly associated with the poison in the body. Less sensational theories suggest that the lower jaw of the mummy is open because the head most likely threw back a lot after death.
Eternally burning lamps
Lamps that continued to burn without fuel were discovered throughout the world in the Middle Ages. These lamps were sealed in tombs, ostensibly so that the deceased had light to help him find his way to the afterlife. Some of these tombs were recently discovered, and the lamps were still burning.
Superstitious people were terrified of this phenomenon, and sought to destroy any unquenchable lamp that they came across. Others accused the pagan priests of deception. Still others simply refused to believe that the lamp could burn for an indefinite period of time. And the overwhelming majority argued that all this was the machinations of the devil.
It was also hypothesized that what we now call electricity was discovered and preserved in Jewish communities. According to legend, a French rabbi named Geshile had a lamp that could ignite by itself, without a wick or fuel.
But even with electricity, which is commonplace these days, everyone who has ever tried to recreate everlasting lamps has failed. Therefore, the question remains the same: how did these lamps burn for hundreds of years without fuel?
Bayi Tunnels
More than 2,000 years ago, the Temple of Baia in Rome was a very popular site, known for its supposedly immortal minerals, and for possibly being the entrance to Hades. Now only mysterious ruins remain of it.
In the 60s, Robert Paget and Keith Jones decided to explore these ruins. With difficulty squeezing through a narrow opening, they found themselves in a narrow tunnel that smelled of volcanic gas. Page found that the beginning of the tunnel complex indicated sunrise, and that the tunnels themselves run mostly east-west. This suggested that rituals were an important factor in the construction of the tunnels.
Researchers have found many niches designed to install lights along the walls of the tunnels. They also discovered what appeared to be a ventilation system for the tunnels. And when they reached the end of one of the tunnels, a real mystery was born.
A stream of boiling water ran just beyond the sharp bend. The stones that scientists threw into this water seemed to simply disappear into the darkness. The men decided that if the mythical entrance to Hades actually existed, then they probably had just found it.
In 1965, scientists, with the help of Colonel David Lewis, determined that the boiling water came from underground volcanic caverns that arose from hot springs. However, even with this new knowledge, it was completely incomprehensible who exactly built the Bayi tunnels, and for what purpose it was done.
Jam minaret
The Jama minaret, located in the northwestern part of Afghanistan, was erected at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, but its perfect construction, stunning decor and the skill of medieval Afghan builders are still amazed by everyone who has seen this architectural masterpiece made of baked bricks. …
The height of the minaret is about 60 m, according to one of the inscriptions on its walls, the building was built in 1194, in honor of the victory of Sultan Giyaz-ad-Din over the army of the ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty, but many experts question this information.
According to one version, the minaret is all that remains of the city of Firuzkuh (which means "Turquoise Mountain"), which at the time of the heyday of the Gurdy dynasty was the capital of the empire that covered the territories of modern Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the armed forces of the Mongol Empire under the command of the notorious Genghis Khan razed the city to the ground, but they somehow overlooked the tall minaret.
Thanks to this inattention of the Mongols, as well as the fact that after the invasion of Genghis Khan, no one remembered the construction for almost 700 years, the architectural monument has been perfectly preserved, but at present it is not possible to carry out comprehensive studies of the building due to the unstable socio-political situation in Afghanistan.
Death of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great is one of the most famous historical characters. Thousands of scientific and fiction books, hundreds of films are devoted to the life of the great commander, but at present practically nothing is known about the reasons for his death.
Most historians agree with the point of view accepted in orthodox scientific circles about the time and place of Alexander's death - June 10, 323 BC, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon, but what killed the most ambitious conqueror in history is a convincing answer to this question still no.
For a long time it was believed that Alexander was poisoned, and almost all members of his entourage visited the suspects - from military leaders to the beloved of an outstanding historical figure. The version of poisoning is based on the testimonies of contemporaries who claim that the invincible Alexander was suddenly struck by an unknown ailment, he spent about two weeks suffering from severe abdominal pain, and then died suddenly.
This information cannot be considered conclusive evidence of the commander's poisoning, since such symptoms may indicate pancreatitis, viral hepatitis, endocarditis, or some infectious disease, such as typhoid fever or malaria. At the then level of development of medicine, any of the listed diseases could become fatal for Alexander.
Surprisingly, the death of Alexander was predicted by the Chaldeans who lived in Babylon - they warned the commander that he would die soon after he entered Babylon, in addition, Kalanus, one of the scientists who accompanied the army of the conqueror, dying, told Alexander that when he the army will capture Babylon, they will meet again. So don't trust the predictors after that.
Emerald Tablet
Unlike other archaeological phenomena, the "Emerald Tablet" has not survived to our time, so scientists do not know who the original author of this document was, what it was intended for and what fate befell the monument of medieval oriental art.
The only thing that is known for certain about the Emerald Tablet is that it was first mentioned in an Arabic book dated to the 6th or 8th century AD.
In some early copies of the "Tablet" made by Arabic translators, there is information that the original was written in the ancient Syrian language, but experts have no evidence of this yet.
The earliest of the Latin translations of the tablet dates back to the 12th century, later several more versions of the text were created, one of which was authored by the famous scientist, Sir Isaac Newton.
According to some scholars, the "Emerald Tablet" describes the technology of converting various metals into gold using a mythical substance known as the Philosopher's Stone, but so far no one has been able to conduct this alchemical experiment - probably the Latin and Arabic translations of the original "instructions" are not too accurate.
Elliniko pyramid
It seems strange to think that there are pyramids in Europe too. But they really are there, and there are quite a few of them. In Greece alone, there are 16 of them, and the most famous of them is the pyramid of Elliniko in Argos.
The first mention of this pyramid is found in the works of the ancient Greek geographer Pausanias. In his Description of Greece, he describes this structure as "a building very similar to a pyramid, with forged shields of the Argos shape." Then he mentions the battle that took place at the pyramid and the reconciliation that happened later. All those who fell in that battle were placed in a "common crypt".
In general, almost nothing was known about the pyramid, except for the estimated date of its construction: 2720 BC. e. If this date is correct, the Elliniko pyramid may be older than the oldest pyramid in Egypt.
But the greatest secret of the Elliniko pyramid is not at all its age, but the fact that no one still knows who built it and what it was used for.