10.
The Mysterious Stepwell Chand Baori is an incredibly fascinating stairwell
located in Rajasthan, India.
This is no ordinary stairwell, it’s more like a stair temple!
It’s also technically called a stepwell.
Images of the place are so captivating, it’s almost unreal.
It’s been used in Bollywood films and has even had Hollywood film sets modeled after
it.
But just what in the world is a stepwell and what was this one meant for?
It was built as an underground well to hold water for those living nearby.
The stairs were so that locals could climb down to wherever the top of the water was.
It’s one of the largest stepwells in the entire world!
And also one of the most beautiful.
The structure has a precise geometrical pattern and the steps form a magical-looking maze.
The consequent play of the light and shadows give it a really unique look.
It’s one of the few classical stepwells surviving in India today, with its oldest
parts going all the way back to the 8th century.
Chand Baori has a total of 3,500 narrow steps arranged in perfect symmetry, descending 65
feet (20m), over 13 stories, to the bottom of the well.
Oh and it’s rumored that it was built in one night!
But that is just a rumor of course.
It would take some kind of superhuman to do a feat like that!
The bottom of the well has air over 10 degrees cooler than the temperature at the surface.
The community would gather down at the bottom of the stepwell in the hottest months to stay
cool and refreshed.
A palace was added at the very top of the stairs, built by the original Chauhan rulers.
You’re not actually allowed to visit this area of Chand Baori today though – not as
a tourist anyway, because it’s sealed off to visitors.
The final parts of the stepwell were built fairly recently in the 18th century while
the Mughals still ruled India.
These magical places have been around for a very long time!
9.
Babylon’s Tower of Babel Many believe that the tower of Babel is nothing
more than a Biblical metaphor, while others believe the tower was once a very real structure.
The Bible says that the tower was built in the land of Shinar, which is old Babylonia.
It was allegedly constructed after the Great Flood, commissioned by King Nebuchadnezzar
II.
In 586 BC, trying to conquer the world as he knew it, King Nebuchadnezzar II stormed
Jerusalem, a city 500 miles to the west, capturing its most highly-skilled and highly-educated
citizens and bringing them back with him to build the tower.
While it's true that the actual tower itself hasn't been discovered, archaeologists recently
found some evidence that could be linked to this mysterious ancient structure.
Specifically, they have found bricks from Babylonia stamped with the seal of King Nebuchadnezzar
II himself!
Whatever these bricks were used for, the legendary king was the one who commissioned them.
The structure they belonged to has long since been picked apart and thrown away, but it
could have been the real Tower of Babel, located in what is today Iraq, about 60 miles (96.5
km) from Baghdad.
8.
Mysterious Graves Archaeologists in France have come across
a very mysterious graveyard from 1400 years ago.
The site has brought to light a bizarre habit of people living in Europe during the Middle
Ages.
They had a tendency to reopen graves, take certain things out of them, and then rebury
the person!
The tradition of digging up graves periodically has been documented from Transylvania to England.
But this wasn't traditional grave-robbing.
Between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, people opened graves and took out objects that weren't
worth anything, meaning it probably wasn't grave robbery, so much as an odd kind of tradition.
At this particular graveyard in France, archaeologists are still trying to figure out why the graves
were pillaged for seemingly worthless items and then sealed back up.
The ‘robbers’ took brooches and swords, yet left behind precious jewelry of gold and
silver.
Alison Klevnas, a researcher with Stockholm University says the people only removed things
that were of no practical use or monetary value, which means it was probably sentimental.
So far, researchers say stealing things from freshly dug graves probably had some kind
of symbolic motivation.
It could be that relatives were taking back heirlooms and then handing them down to their
young relatives.
But the truth is that nobody knows.
7.
Birka Birka is an ancient town built by the Vikings
about 12 miles (19 km) away from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
It's on a small island called Bjorko, inside Malaren Lake.
The Viking Age brought a lot of innovations and key events to Europe, greatly shaping
the future of what was to come.
The Vikings being all about raiding and pillaging as they sailed to the West and East is a popular
misconception.
While they did travel all over and bring kingdoms to their knees, they were also advanced in
many other ways.
Their major ports and settlements around Scandinavia were some of the busiest trade hubs, full
of wealth - and Birka was one of these settlements.
The lake is dotted with multiple islands, Adelsö a neighboring island, was also a key
Viking trade center.
Adelsö was supposedly the royal residence, from where the kings and chieftains ruled
over the lands.
Historical evidence tells us that Birka was founded roughly around 750 AD, growing slowly
from a small settlement into a larger town.
It's also one of the earliest urban settlements in this area of Scandinavia.
But for some bizarre reason that no one really knows, the town vanished basically overnight,
completely abandoned.
Archaeological evidence shows that Birka, within the span of just a few years, went
from the biggest trading hub in the region, connecting the Vikings to civilizations farther
away such as the Slavs, the Byzantine Empire, and even traders from the Orient, to nothing.
By the 900s, there was nobody living here.
It could have been that they saw too much competition from other traders moving into
the area.
It also could have been because the water levels of the lake receded, making it difficult
for trade ships to even reach the ports of the city.
What’s left of these well developed trading networks gives an important glimpse into the
past of the Viking age in Sweden.
6.
The Tomb of Genghis Khan One of the most interesting and mysterious
archaeological locations in the world has still never been discovered.
I'm talking about the tomb of Genghis Khan, conqueror of the world and original ruler
of the great Mongol hordes.
He's been dead for 800 years and no one knows where he was buried.
Ever since he was laid to rest in the mysterious location, the nomadic Darkhad warriors have
been protecting it.
It's said that when the great Khan died, his funeral procession murdered everyone who witnessed
where they were going.
After the slaves finished burying the great ruler, the soldiers murdered them.
And when the soldiers returned from their great journey, they too were massacred!
In the end, there was no one left who knew where Genghis Khan was buried.
Not even the Darkhad.
They were simply given orders to protect a large area where his tomb could be located,
37 generations before today.
They were tasked with slaughtering anyone who went into the area and all these years
later, they are still there protecting the secret of the tomb.
Of course, they no longer kill people who travel into the region.
That being said, there are 16,000 guards in the area doing all they can to stop archaeologists
from coming in.
They want to keep the tomb a secret, and so far they’ve done an awesome job.
Where do you think the tomb of Genghis Khan is?
Let me know in the comments below!
And I wanted to give a big shout out to JUPITER and
Erik P Thanks so much for watching and supporting
origins explained!
If you are new here welcome!!
ANd be sure to subscribe before you go!!
5.
The Wreck of the Santa Maria Barry Clifford, an underwater investigator
in the United States believes that he has uncovered the final resting place of the Santa
Maria.
The submerged archaeological site supposedly holds the flagship of Christopher Columbus’s
famous expedition to the New World.
Yeah, THAT Santa Maria!
Clifford says there is strong evidence suggesting Santa Maria is hiding beneath the waves, just
off the northern coast of Haiti.
Clifford has even managed to take photographs of the wreckage and is currently working with
the government of Haiti to protect the site.
He’s still figuring out how to properly conduct a detailed investigation, but he’s
almost 100 % certain the ship is there waiting for him.
The Santa Maria sailed along with the La Nina and La Pinta to explore the islands around
the Caribbean in 1492, believing they would find a passage to Asia.
They never expected to discover North America instead!
Columbus lost the Santa Maria shortly before he returned to Spain, and people have been
looking for it ever since.
Clifford along with the government of Haiti and the History Channel will be documenting
his journey to find it for sure!
4.
El Dorado Archaeologists near Bogotá in Colombia have
discovered nearly a dozen strange ceramic jars at a temple that they believe could be
connected to the mythical city of gold.
Many know this city as El Dorado.
The place is said to be so full of riches that anyone who finds it will be rich beyond
their wildest dreams.
People have searched for the lost city of El Dorado for centuries, but most historians
agree that it may not even exist.
The ceramic jars found by the archaeologists contained metallic figures and carved emeralds.
The jars were crafted as offerings about 600 years ago by the ancient Muisca people, also
sometimes called the Chibcha.
Researchers say it could have been the Muisca and their phenomenal skills at crafting metal
that inspired the original legend of the city of gold.
This legend goes back to 1537, when the Spanish moved in and conquered the region.
Most of the indigenous Muisca were either killed by the Spanish during fighting or they
died after becoming infected with diseases brought over by the Spanish.
They were almost wiped out completely, but a handful survived and there are still a few
thousand of these natives living today.
When the Spanish beat the locals down and started looking through the amazing treasures,
they were blown away by the impressive goldwork of the Muisca.
The Spaniards took the story of the city of gold in the jungle back home with them.
This very well could have sparked the legend of El Dorado, which still lives on to this
very day.
3.
Saudi Arabia’s Forgotten Kingdoms There are several forgotten kingdoms in Saudi
Arabia, and many lost archaeological sites that have only recently come back to us through
extensive study.
For example, Al Ula only opened to tourists in 2019, and this place is enormous!
It was built over 2000 years ago by the Nabateans, the people that came before the Egyptians.
Two more forgotten kingdoms are the Dadanite and the Lihyanite, two civilizations that
flourished 2000 years ago and were even mentioned in the Old Testament.
Both of these kingdoms controlled the trade routes through the region of Arabia for about
900 years, until 100 AD when the Romans showed up and conquered the area.
As a result, there's almost nothing left of the amazing cities that they built, with the
exception of Al Ula. Al Ula covers an area of about 11,000 square
miles (28489.8 square km).
It was built by the Lihyanites with high stone walls to keep out invaders, along with hundreds
of mud houses occupied by the desert dwellers.
After the Romans came and destroyed most of the Nabateans, they did away with Al Ula,
leaving it to fall to dust.
2.
The Chichen Itza Ossuary The Chichen Itza Ossuary in Mexico, on the
Yucatan peninsula, is one of the most mysterious archaeological sites left behind by the Maya.
It looks like an oddly shaped pyramid with steps cascading down from the top.
Originally, it was part of a monumental complex that researchers believe helped the ancient
people communicate with the gods of the underworld.
The structure measures about 30 feet (9.4m) high and is composed of 9 staggered bodies.
The pyramid still has its original decoration, including all kinds of mythological snakes,
birds, gods and scary looking masks.
But the creepiest part of the ossuary is an entrance at its top, leading to a deep staircase
and a tunnel that goes underground for nearly 10 miles (16 km).
During the time the Maya still lived here, this was likely a secret passage that led
from the bottom of the ossuary to a different Maya city, likely Yaxuna.
The Maya didn't actually dig the tunnel, it was already there.
They built the ossuary at the entrance to a natural underground cavern.
And while we don't know for sure, this underground landscape may have also been viewed as the
underworld to the Maya.
According to legends, these tunnels or caverns represent the gate between the world of the
dead and paradise.
1.
Underwater Mystery Ruins There is a mysterious underwater archaeological
site off the coast of British Columbia in Canada.
Located in the Comox Estuary, over 150,000 wooden stakes spread across the intertidal
zone like wooden arms reaching out of the water.
They can only really be seen at low tide, looking like the remnants of some kind of
huge settlement once built on the floor of what is now ocean.
But the truth is that these are actually ancient fish traps!
The small wooden stakes sticking out from the water represent at least 300 traps for
fish.
Some were erected as recently as 100 years ago, but others go back 1300 years.
Together, the fish traps create one of the very first commercial fisheries ever built
in Canada.
At its peak, this place provided food for up to 12,000 indigenous K’omoks.
If you’re curious as to how 300 fish traps all work at the same time, let’s go over
it.
They work based on a knowledge of fish behavior and tidal range.
Each trap had a removable wooden panel that would let water through, but not fish.
When the tide rose, fish would follow the center of the trap since it mimicked the shoreline
and seemed completely natural to them.
But then as the tide receded, the fish got stuck with nowhere to go and were stranded
in shallow pools of water.
The natives would then gather all the fish up and take them back to be prepared for eating.
But the craziest thing about the site is that no one even knew what it was until 2002.
The natives in the area had known about the stakes for decades, but it wasn't until anthropologist
Nancy Greene took an interest and began to actually research them that anything was made
public knowledge.
When she studied them and took in account the oral history, the results were astounding.
The stakes actually formed a constellation outlining one of the most sophisticated and
extensive Indigenous fishing operations ever discovered.
Thanks for watching!