The variety of archaeological finds and discoveries never ceases to amaze both the researchers themselves and people who are far from scientific research. Sometimes they are so fantastic that they become the subject of many years of disputes among pundits from all over the world.
Swiss watch in an ancient tomb
In 2008, when a documentary film about the opening of an ancient tomb belonging to the Ming Dynasty was filmed in the Chinese province of Guangxi, unusual finds were discovered. However, the most amazing of them turned out to be… Swiss watches! The amazement of journalists and the archaeologists themselves knew no bounds. According to Jian Yan, a former curator of the local museum who also participated in the excavation, after removing the soil from the surface of the coffin, a small piece of rock bounced off. He fell to the floor, making a distinctive metallic sound as he did so.
When the item was picked up, it was found to be a ring. After carefully cleaning it from the ground, it turned out that it has a miniature dial. On the inside of the ring there was an engraved inscription Swiss, i.e. "Switzerland". And as you know, the Chinese Ming dynasty ruled the country until 1644years, so it was simply impossible to create such a small mechanism in those days, and Switzerland as such did not yet exist. But local experts assured everyone present that this tomb had never been opened in the last almost 400 years.
Crystal Skull
Sometimes archaeologists discover unusual finds even in the most impenetrable jungle. An example of this is a certain artifact discovered in Belize in 1927. It is a human skull skillfully crafted from the purest rock crystal, made in full size and weighing about 5 kg. The Indians living in the surrounding villages immediately learned about this find. They turned out to be descendants of the same Mayan tribe. The Indians said that, according to ancient legend, this is one of the thirteen crystal skulls in existence. If you find and collect them in one place, you can comprehend all the secrets of the universe.
The crystal skull has been carefully examined in the laboratory. As a result, scientists concluded that the artifact was made using an unknown technology that does not fit into any of the laws of physics or chemistry. In other words, this item is impossible to create even with the most modern high-tech equipment, not to mention the ancient Mayans.
Paw of a prehistoric bird
Perhaps the most unusual finds are the remains of creatures that once lived on Earth, the appearance of which would greatly frighten modern people. In 1986, a scientific expedition examined the systemcaves located in Mount Owen (New Zealand). Unexpectedly, one of the researchers stumbled upon a rather large and well-preserved part of the paw with huge claws. It seemed that its owner had recently died.
Slightly later, scientists determined that the remains belong to the prehistoric bird moa. She was truly huge and could not fly. It is believed to have died out between 1300 and 1450 CE. e. The reason for her disappearance may be Maori hunters who lived on this island at the end of the 14th century.
Ashkilon Mass Infant Burial
Perhaps the most terrible and unusual finds of archeology are associated with mass graves of babies. In 1988, regular excavations were carried out on the territory of the ancient city of Ashkelon (Israel), located on the Mediterranean coast. In one of the ancient sewers under the Roman baths, a large number of small bones were found, which at first were mistaken for chicken bones.
Later it turned out that the archaeologist Ross Voss made a terrible discovery. It turned out that all these bones belonged to more than a hundred babies. This burial still remains the largest children's cemetery in the history of archaeological excavations.
Forensic anthropologist Patricia Smith examined the remains of the babies, after which she stated that she did not find any signs of illness, much less any diseases. Using special forensic techniques, she determined that the children who died were no more than a week old.
However, ifturn to history, in the days of the Roman Empire, the murder of newborns was not considered a crime. This ritual was a kind of birth control. It is possible that the burial place served as a kind of institution where unnecessary babies were disposed of. According to the laws of that time, a child who was not recognized by the father was allowed to be killed, but only on the condition that the baby was not yet two years old. The most striking example of this is the legend of Romulus and Rem, the founders of the Eternal City. These newborn sons of Mars (the god of war), left by people in the forest to die, were fed and raised by a she-wolf.
Grave of Headless Vikings
In the summer of 2010, a mass grave of warriors was found in Dorset, Britain. The workers who were engaged in laying the railway, found unusual finds in the ground - piles of human skeletons without heads. Soon, skulls were also found, stacked a little further away. At first, archaeologists thought that the surviving inhabitants of the village, which was subjected to a brutal Viking raid, thus decided to take revenge on the offenders. But the more they analyzed this situation, the more doubts their version caused.
The fact is that the decapitation itself was carried out too carefully and clearly, so a hypothesis arose that it was either some kind of ritual murder, or a public execution. But no matter what happens, one thing is clear: the manners of the 8th-9th centuries were extremely cruel, and the Anglo-Saxons often had to suffer from the piratical raids of the Scandinavians.
Ancient Greek Mechanics: Antiquecomputer
Often unusual archaeological finds at the bottom of the seas and oceans are so amazing that even scientists cannot explain their existence. In 1900, sponge fishermen, fishing in the sea off the coast of the island of Antikythera (Greece), discovered the wreckage of an ancient Roman merchant ship. Scientists have suggested that the sunken ship followed from Rhodes to Rome and went under water around the 1st century BC. e. It turned out that it lies at a depth of no more than 60 meters. From there, a large number of gold and silver jewelry, amphorae and ceramics, bronze and marble figurines, as well as many other antique items were raised to the surface. Among them were parts of some strange mechanism.
At first no one paid attention to them, until in 1902 the archaeologist Valerios Stais noticed that some of the bronze objects looked like clock gears. The scientist immediately suggested that they could be parts of some astronomical instrument, but his colleagues only laughed at him. They recalled that these unusual finds date back to the 1st century BC. e., while gears were not invented until 14 centuries later.
Stais's theory was forgotten, but in the late 50s it was remembered by the British historian D. D. de Solla Price, who carefully studied the ancient artifacts from Antikythera. He was able to prove that several bronze objects were once one mechanism, placed in a wooden box, which disintegrated over time. Soon he even drew up an approximate, and later a more detailed scheme of thisamazing car. In 1971, the British watchmaker D. Gleave assembled a working copy from it, which could simulate the movement of the Moon, the Sun, as well as other planets known at that time: Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Mars.
In 2005, using a special X-ray technique, artifact researchers were able to see the Greek characters on the gears. In addition, the missing parts of this mysterious mechanism have been recreated. It turned out that this device can perform operations such as division, addition and subtraction. Therefore, it is not surprising that such a truly unusual find was called an antique computer.
Mummy monk inside Buddha statue
It happens that the most unusual finds on the planet are literally right in front of our eyes. This happened with the 1000-year-old statue, put on public display in the museum of the province of Drenthe (China). The fact is that just a few years ago, Dutch scientists made another shocking discovery. Inside a Chinese Buddha statue, they found a human mummy. From this, scientists concluded that it was created not just as a sculpture, but as a sarcophagus. The ancient remains are believed to belong to Li Kwan, a Chinese meditation master.
Usually, such finds always cause not only surprise, but also a lot of questions. Some of the modern Buddhist practitioners believe that the monk could deliberately enter some stage of meditation known only to him, in which his body seemed to mythify itself.
Ancient City of Heraklion
Unusual finds at the bottom of the ocean are not uncommon for archaeologists. But the fact that an ancient city was discovered under the water column, which disappeared as a result of a powerful earthquake for more than 1200 years, surprised even scientists who were ready for anything. Its history is akin to the legendary Atlantis. Once Heraklion was located at the mouth of the Nile and, as it turned out, was a small prosperous town.
A strong earthquake occurred around the 1st century BC. e. It destroyed houses, sank a large number of ships, and also killed many people. Those who were lucky enough to survive fled, leaving all their possessions behind. Archaeologist Frank Godio, who discovered the ruins of the city, realized that this was ancient Heraklion when they found a black granite slab on which this name was carved.
Terracotta Army
In 1974, Chinese farmer Yan Ji Wang dug a well on his plot of land and at a depth of about 5 meters discovered an ancient statue of a warrior, made in full growth. When archaeologists continued excavations, it turned out that there was not one, but thousands of such figures. It turned out that these unusual finds have been located deep underground for more than two thousand years. It is believed that this clay "army" belonged to the legendary Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the unifier of Chinese lands.
Now a whole city has appeared on the site where excavations are still being carried out. Work has not stopped for several decades in a row,however, no one knows when they will end. Art historians have suggested that it took about 700 thousand craftsmen who worked for at least thirty years to create such a number of clay figures.
Roman dodecahedron
Sometimes you come across such unusual archaeological finds that it's hard to understand why these items were created in the first place. On the territory of Northern and Central Europe, whose lands were once considered the outskirts of the majestic Roman Empire, artifacts of an unusual type are often found.
These are the so-called Roman dodecahedrons - bronze products with 12 faces, each of which has a round hole, and 20 small “bumps” are located at the corners. All of them date back to the II-IV centuries AD. e. More than two dozen versions have been put forward by scientists regarding their scope, but none of them has been proven.
