Many believe that humanity is suffering from a strange species amnesia. We have certain facts about our past, confirming how long our species existed, when we got out of the caves, found speech, created the first tools and when the species with which we shared this planet became extinct. And we accept these facts as an immutable truth, despite the fact that some of them began as tales, which were later confirmed.
However, to this day, various indigenous tribes have beliefs that run counter to official science. And although scientists claim that these legends are only works of art by folk craftsmen, every day we see how various myths are embodied in reality. For example, what do you say about the stories about "big polar bear"living in the highlands of China?"Fiction"- said people, until a French missionary brought his skin. Bam! - the mystical animal has become a familiar giant panda. Then scientists say that they have records that say with absolute certainty which species are extinct, and - bam! - in 1938, coelacanth is caught in the ocean, which, according to their assurances, disappeared from the face of the Earth as much as 66 million years ago.
New discoveries force historians to make edits to textbooks, and scientists - to build new theories of the development of life on the planet. And even now, researchers are discovering many strange artifacts and buildings of unknown purpose that threaten to destroy the usual perception of history. In general, official science is skeptical about discoveries and extremely cautious with revolutionary statements. But here in front of you 15 historical curiosities that science cannot explain... What do you say about them? Also pay attention to the article TOP-10 historical mysteries.
15. Indian civilization
At first, the existence of an unknown ancient civilization on the territory of modern Pakistan was taken lightly - rumors and rumors. And then in 1842 some archaeologist reported that he had found some ruins. This discovery was not paid attention to until 1856, when, during the construction of the railway, the remains of a hitherto unseen civilization were unearthed. Now, after numerous archaeological expeditions, we have learned quite a lot about the Indian civilization. The artifacts found indicate a high level of development of those who lived here in 3300 BC. society.
The main difficulty faced by scientists is the impossibility of decoding their language. Although the Harrap writings are incomplete, researchers unanimously believe that the Harrap people had a language, and, judging by the available evidence, it was written. However, this is a controversial point, because it would mean that the Indians mastered writing before anyone else who lived in this area. Also, some artifacts hint at the possible use of typography, and if this is confirmed, then the Indian civilization will outstrip the Chinese in terms of development by 1500 years.
And it will be just unimaginable. Unfortunately, most artifacts rarely contain more than five unique symbols, which is why some researchers believe that this is not natural language. And although most experts disagree with this, not knowing what is written there, nothing can be said for sure. You might be interested in the article 10 Mayan Mysteries Solved.
14. History of the Olmecs
The mysterious people of the Olmecs, according to legend, lived somewhere in present-day Mexico in 1100 BC, which makes them the oldest Central American civilization. Until the early 1990s, little was known about them, until a group of local residents from the city of Veracruz unearthed a well-preserved stone slab, speckled with ancient writings - far more ancient than anything found before. She became the greatest archaeological find. Scientists have studied the inscriptions on the stone and made some amazing discoveries. First, the artifact belonged to the mysterious Olmec civilization. Further, the experts concluded that the text was so well structured that it contains all the signs of meaningful sentences, error corrections, and even verse lines. Moreover, the nature of the markings suggests that this tile is private. "copy"of the specified text. If this is true, then there must still be different"documentation", records, trade routes or even ancient literature awaiting Columbus!
The only drawback is the inability to decipher the Olmec language. It is unlike any previously discovered American writing system. Without a document, like the Rosetta stone from Egypt, it is almost impossible to understand this ancient people. For researchers, this task is similar to the study of the Indian civilization, only worse. And although the tablet found is still the first and only document on the North American continent, experts are sure that the Olmecs could write complex stories, detailed reports and even a religious calendar with a detailed description of traditions. We have yet to find out what happened to this civilization after 300 BC, and it will possibly be one of the greatest historical discoveries of the near future. It is worth noting that the Olmecs are included in the rating of 10 mystically disappeared civilizations.
13. The sword in the stone
Probably, almost everyone has heard the legend about King Arthur - a knight who pulled out a sword from a stone that no one else could lift. Some desperate romantics believe that Arthur is a real person, and based on our knowledge, we cannot completely deny this. It is known for certain that in life there really is a sword in stone - maybe it became the source of inspiration for the legend?
The real sword was found in the Monte Ciepi chapel in the Abbey of San Galgaro, located in Tuscany, Italy. The story goes that Saint Galgano Guidotti began his life as an evil and cruel knight. In 1180 he was met by the Archangel Michael, who told Guidotti to give up his sinful life and follow the path of God. At first he refused, but then he drove through Monte Ciepi - then just a rocky hill. A voice from heaven called to him, which said that now is the time to change. The knight replied that it was like "cut a rock with a sword".
And to show the impracticability of the request, he drove his sword into the stone. And instead of breaking, the blade entered the cobblestone. Not believing what had happened, he fell to his knees and began to pray at this very stone like at the altar from now on. About a year later, Galgano died and was canonized in 1185 by Pope Lucius III. The church was erected around that same sword in stone. True, now it is covered with a durable plastic case, so that no one wants to become the king of England.
12. Sealand Skull
One of the most controversial artifacts is the Sealand Skull. It was found in 2007 in Elstücke, Denmark, during a pipe change. At first, no one paid much attention to it, but later, in 2010, it was examined at the Danish Veterinary College and ... Researchers could not establish whose it was, since it did not fit any species known to science. This skull raised many questions that scientists cannot answer, but some of them are trying to get complete information about the artifact. Paleontologists believe that this is the skull of some mammal, possibly a horse, however, a more detailed study showed that the owner of the skull does not fit the Linnaean taxonomy. A radiocarbon scan at Copenhagen's Niels Bohr University showed that an unknown specimen lived somewhere between 1200-1280 BC.
Further excavations at the site of the find, unfortunately, did not yield anything interesting. It's a pity, because the skull is quite interesting.: Compared to the human skull, it has many notable differences. For example, the eye sockets of the Sealand specimen are much larger, deeper and more rounded, and go more to the sides. In humans, the eyes are set in the center. His nostrils, like his chin, are narrow, but overall the skull is larger than the average human. The surface of the skull is smooth, which scientists see as an adaptation for survival in low temperatures. Based on the size of the eyeballs, scientists believe the Sealand specimen was nocturnal. But what is this creature? Alien? Or some previously unknown subspecies of people? It is to be hoped for the results of future research.
11.German submarine UB-85 was sunk by a sea monster
During the First World War, there was a story about a German submarine, which, according to legend, was attacked by a sea monster, because of which it could no longer go to depth. We are talking about the UB-85 submarine and its commander Gunther Kreche. In April 1918, a British patrol ship approached a submarine on the surface. The Germans surrendered immediately. The ship's captain, Gunther Krech, was interrogated and recounted this strange incident.
At night, the submarine surfaced to charge the batteries. And suddenly a strange creature attacked her, which, according to Krekh, had a small head and fangs glistening in the moonlight. A huge monster tried to bank the ship, but the team managed to scare it off with rifle and machine-gun fire and prevent more damage. Actually, that is why the Germans could not go to the depths and escape from the patrol ship. As a result, various reports stated that the submarine either sank or was destroyed by a British patrol.
The submarine and its history have become part of sea tales. It was believed that such a ship did not exist until in October this year a Scottish cable-laying operator found something similar to the legendary UB-85 in the North Sea while laying a power cable. Acoustics showed that the ship was not seriously damaged. It is planned to conduct further research and find out what happened to the submarine. Was she really attacked by a sea monster?
10. Manx Penny
Another controversial artifact is the Manx penny. This coin was found on August 18, 1957, in an archaeological quarry while exploring American Indian culture near Brooklyn, Maine. As many as 30,000 magnificent artifacts have been discovered, but one of them is especially notable among them, not belonging to the Indian culture - the Manx penny. Some researchers consider it a fake, others - proof that in pre-Columbian times, Europeans came to this continent.
Scientists argue about the origin of this coin. It was definitely not made by American Indians, and some even believed that it was brought from England in the 12th century. Later studies claim that the artifact is of Scandinavian origin and was made in the 11th century. The University of Oslo confirmed that such coins were in circulation in Norway in 1060-1080 BC. Now the Manx penny is a donkey at the Maine National Museum, the authorities of which are silent and can not officially confirm either the origin or even the authenticity of the artifact. This unusual find will torture the minds of scientists for a long time - how many are there and how did they get here?
9. Göbekli Tepe
Historians claim that the first human civilizations began to build villages, engage in agriculture and erect temples only in 8000 BC, but is this really so? This amazing discovery challenges conventional wisdom about anthropogenesis. The discovery took place in 1994 in the countryside of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. At the top of the mountain range, there are more than 200 large stone pillars up to 18 meters high and weighing about 20 tons each. They are arranged in a series of twelve rings depicting various animals. The find is dated 12000 BC. Yes, this Turkish altar is thousands of years older than Stonehenge! It may even be the oldest place of worship in the world.
Various evidence indicates that the site was built by ancient nomadic hunter-gatherers who had not yet mastered agriculture. Modern science believes that at this level of development, people still did not know anything about the complex symbolic systems, social hierarchy and the division of labor - the prerequisites for the construction of this gigantic temple with an area of 89,000 m2. In theory, religion should arise after people move from hunting and gathering to agriculture and livestock farming, but this finding may argue otherwise.
Thus, the question arises - maybe the need for construction was the reason why people settled, began to build communities and began to look for a constant source of food, which invented agriculture? If so, how did the ancient nomads do it? How did they manage to do this thousands of years before anyone else? And finally, who are these people and where did they go? Archaeologists cannot answer yet.
8. Did humans live side by side with dinosaurs?
Dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago, millions of years before humans first appeared. And in this case, it is very strange that scientists find artifacts with amazingly accurate images of dinosaurs, as if written from nature. Example? The 12th century Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia. A detailed image of a stegosaurus is engraved on one of the walls, despite the fact that the first recorded find of fossil remains of these reptiles was found only at the beginning of the 19th century. And how did the artists of antiquity manage to portray extinct lizards so reliably?
Another example that baffles archaeologists is the stones from the city of Ica. According to the documents, they were found in Peru, in a cave near the aforementioned town. These mysterious artifacts were received by the Peruvian archaeologist Professor Javier Cabrera in 1961 as a gift. After examining the stone more closely, he discovered an image of an ancient fish that became extinct millions of years ago, according to official sources. The find amazed the professor so much that he decided to find out more about it. The drawing was done on a piece of andesite, a dark gray / black volcanic rock that is very hard and difficult to work with, especially with primitive tools of antiquity.
Fossils found in the same area confirm that the recovered artifacts are millions of years old. Professor Karbera collected several hundred stones from the caves in Ica and found on some of them images of living brachiosaurs, tyrannosaurs and triceratops, and on another - a predatory dinosaur devouring an ancient aborigine. Radiocarbon scanning is not the most accurate method, because sometimes dinosaur fossils are too old to extract any information from them ... So maybe people really caught ancient dinosaurs, as these artifacts say?
7. Crimean pyramids
Many different publications rang about the Crimean pyramids found in 1999 by Vitaly Gokh, who resigned from the Soviet Army thirty years ago. After retiring to the reserve, he began research activities, which led him to the Crimean peninsula, where an amazing find took place. Goh suggested that if there are flooded villages in the Black Sea, then there must be other ancient buildings. But the region is just a storehouse of archaeological values of various cultures - ancient Greek, Roman, Ottoman and others.
As an engineer by profession, he knew how to use instruments operating on the principle of magnetic resonance, and decided to test his hypothesis. And she was confirmed. Goh found an area of seven limestone pyramids along the southern coast of the peninsula. The largest of them is 45 meters high with a base length of 72 meters and had a truncated top, like the Mayan pyramids.And all seven buildings make up a straight line running from northwest to southeast. Goh claims that there may be as many as 39 pyramids under water.
In his opinion, these are the most ancient structures on Earth, built in the era of the dinosaurs. However, before rewriting history, many more excavations and studies of various documents will have to be done - most scientists believe that Goch's hypothesis has nothing to do with reality, and his find may be much younger. Fortunately, the Russian researcher is already seeking funding to further develop the found pyramids.
6. Salzburg cube
Well ... Strictly speaking, the Salzburg cube is not a cube at all, which is why it is sometimes called the Wolfsegg iron nugget. This interesting artifact was found in 1885 near Wolfsegg am Hausruck in Austria. They say that this interesting egg-shaped object was found by a miner while extracting coal for a steel workshop. The find was covered with potholes and a deep groove encircling it, had sharp edges and weighed about 800 grams with dimensions of 6.6 x 6.6 x 4.7 cm. Chemical analysis showed that "egg"consists of alloy steel with the addition of nickel and carbon, and the absence of sulfur showed that it was not pyrite. By all indications, it was a man-made product, carved from a single piece of iron. And all would be fine, but the artifact was found in coal deposits 20 -60 million years That's a problem!
And how could such an intricately decorated piece of iron have appeared millions of years before the official appearance of humans? Scientists have been struggling with this mystery for over a hundred years. Some scientists believe that the artifact is a fake, others that it is a gift from guests from outer space, and still others claim that it is a meteorite. For many years, the Salzburg Cube passed from one research center to another, but now this mysterious object is located in Austria, in the Regional Museum of Vöcklabruck.
5. Who is this "terrible Bigfoot"?
"Terrible Bigfoot"or Yeti, Bigfoot's cooler brother. He's the most insoluble cryptozoological mystery. Lots of witnesses, footprints and blurry videos made people think that something is happening in the Himalayas. And it seems that one of the British geneticists even knows The researcher's name is Dr. Brian Sykes, and he is a professor of genetics at the University of Oxford. In 2013, he completed the deciphering of DNA samples believed to belong to the Yeti. In particular, one of the hairs was found in the western Himalayan region called Ladakh, and the other - from the state of Bhutan, which is about 860 km from there.
A sample from Ladakh was taken from the mummified remains of an unknown creature killed forty years ago by a local hunter. The second hair is the only hair found 10 years ago in a Bhutanese bamboo forest while filming a documentary. Professor Sykes compared DNA samples to those stored in the worldwide repository of genetic samples of various creatures - including extinct ones - GenBank... The researcher thought that here he could find similar samples. And the result amazed him and greatly puzzled him.
The scans showed that both samples completely match the DNA of an ancient polar bear, whose jawbone was found in Norway. The age of the bone is approximately 40-120 thousand years. Sykes says that this is exactly the period when polar and brown bears became two different species. Perhaps the Yeti is a subspecies of brown bears that lead life from a polar ancestor! Really "terrible bigfoot“finally identified?” Dr. Sykes is confident that both hair samples from different ends of the Himalayas belong to the same animal. Additional research and expeditions will be needed to confirm that it is the source of the legends about the Bigfoot.
4. Where did the Egyptians get cocaine from?
When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, he found many animals and plants unseen in Europe. He learned about tobacco and tried a strange drug made from coca leaves, and hastened to share his discoveries with his compatriots. At least that's what they say. But if so, how did the Egyptologists find traces of cocaine in the mummies? In 1992, German scientists examined ancient Egyptian mummies and found traces of tobacco, cocaine and hashish in their hair, bones and skin. And if hashish is an Asian drug, and was quite accessible to the Egyptians, then tobacco and coca at that time were grown exclusively in America.
Not wanting to risk their reputation for "discoveries of cocaine", the scientists commissioned an independent laboratory to carry out the same tests on several mummies. The results were confirmed: the mummies were just stuffed with cocaine and tobacco. And German scientists began to study more and more mummies, and found traces of tobacco in almost a third of them, and inside the mummy of Ramses II (the same one known from the biblical story "Exodus", about Moses and the Ten Commandments) there were tobacco leaves and a petrified tobacco beetle! And this is not a joke. It seems that Ramses II was an avid smoker. But where did the ancient Egyptians get such substances? After all, there are no records of the Egyptians' travel to unknown distances, and indeed so does the evidence of the drugs mentioned, and it seems that scientists will not be able to solve this puzzle anytime soon.
3. "Giant Codex"
Codex gigas, which is translated from Latin as "Giant book"- no more, - the largest ancient manuscript in the world. According to historians, the book was written in the 13th century in a Benedictine monastery in the Czech city of Podlažice, then during the Thirty Years War in 1648 it was captured by the Swedish army and is now in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm This tome was made from over 160 animal skins and can be lifted by two people.
The book contains the full text of the Vulgate - the generally accepted Latin translation of the Bible by the blessed Jerome of Stridon - as well as many other works in Latin, including "Jewish antiquities"Josephus Flavius, collection of works of Hippocrates on medicine,"Czech chronicle"Kozma Prazhsky,"Beginnings"Isidore of Seville. In addition, there were texts for the rites of exorcism, magic formulas and descriptions of the Kingdom of the Lord. And of course, a full-size image of Satan, because of which the book was named"Devilish Bible".
Legend has it that the monk who wrote this book made a deal with the Devil after he was sentenced to be buried alive in a wall. Thanks to Satan, who left his portrait on the pages of the Bible, the monk was able to finish the book in one night. Researchers reviewing the book concluded that the writing in the book is fairly uniform and clear, as if the book had actually been written in a very short time. However, this is impossible, because you would have to write continuously for five years in a row. Scientists generally believe that this code required over thirty years of work on it. However, it must be remembered that some monks could receive punishment in the form of copying sacred texts. The skill and perseverance with which this work was done, now you will not meet ... Or maybe there really is an evil spirit involved?
2. Bosnian pyramid of the Sun
Finding the pyramids in Bosnia could be the greatest archaeological discovery in Europe. According to the statements of Dr. Semir Osmanagich, head. Department of Anthropology of the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the found pyramid may be the oldest man-made object on Earth (however, this title may also go to the Crimean pyramids). Dr. Osmanagich discovered her back in 2005, when he was passing through the city of Visoko. The mysterious hill stood out strongly from the surrounding landscape, which attracted the attention of the anthropologist.
The structure is called the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon and its height is 220 meters, which is much higher than the Pyramid of Cheops in Giza.And the most amazing thing about the Bosnian pyramid is that it points north with an error of only 12 arc seconds. Too accurate to be a coincidence, as the Great Pyramid of Giza has exactly the same positioning accuracy. The Pyramid of Cheops is located at the intersection of the longest parallel and the longest meridian, that is, exactly above the center of mass of the Earth. Moreover, the edges of its base are located exactly on the cardinal points. The location is too precise to be unnoticed. And then suddenly there is a similar pyramid. How did it happen? Was there really a connection between two ancient civilizations? It will take years to answer a question that may change mainstream science forever.
1. "Big bowl"
Fuente Magna is a large stone vessel that looks like a tub or bowl, was found in 1958 by an unknown farmer near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. Subsequently, the artifact was sent to the La Paz Museum of Precious Metals, where it lay for almost forty years until two researchers tried to study it. The vessel has beautiful engravings with animals and inscriptions in Sumerian cuneiform. And this raised a lot of questions. How could an artifact with Sumerian cuneiform end up in the Andes, because there are thousands of kilometers between them? Archaeologists are trying to decipher ancient scripts, but they have no idea what kind of cuneiform was used.
Ancient cuneiform specialist, Dr. Clyde Winters, claims that the bowl is possibly of ancient Sumerian origin and is similar to the artifacts found in Mesopotamia. He also notes that a similar cuneiform script was used 5,000 years ago by the ancient peoples of the Sahara: the Dravids, Elamites, and even the early Sumerians. All these civilizations were formed in Central Africa before the beginning of its desertification in 3500 BC. Dr. Winters translated some of the letters, and their significance surprised many.
The bowl was a ritual libation vessel in the name of Ni-Ash, the Sumerian goddess of fertility. Nia is a Sumerian transcription of the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith, who was worshiped by many peoples that formed in Libya and parts of Central Africa. The found vessel allows us to build new hypotheses about the previously not discussed connection between the Sumerians and Bolivians.
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Mysterious finds of archaeologists, which possibly testify to the life of extinct highly developed civilizations. The level of technology available to them is simply amazing.
