From the labyrinth of the Colosseum to ancient treasures found in a shipwreck here are 10
of some of the most mysterious archaeological sites.
10: Caves of Bhaja In India, there is an expressway that connects
the cities of Pune and Mumbai.
It's traveled by hundreds of people every day as it has been for 2000 years.
This modern expressway began as an ancient road beaten into the dirt.
Nearby is a group of 22 caves carved out of the rock dating back to the 2nd century BC.
These temples inside caves are now what remains of an ancient Buddist society.
One of the most iconic pieces of his old trade road is the Bhor Ghat, a passage carved through
the mountain that allowed swift travel to the Konkan coast for merchants and caravans.
The caves carved throughout the mountain pass were made by those travelers and merchants
carrying goods to coastal ports.
At first everyone thought these caves were built by monks who wanted to isolate themselves
from the outside world.
But a historian realized these cave complexes were always along trade routes, so it made
more sense for the merchants to pay for the caves for the monks and then they would always
have a protected place to stay.
The monks had a large prayer hall with 27 pillars with wooden beams on the ceiling they
put up over 2000 years ago that's still there today!
It was a pretty dangerous journey for merchants to take, always in danger of being attacked
by wild animals or bands of thieves.
By paying for the construction and upkeep of dozens of cave monasteries, the merchants
believed they would be granted safe passage.
Later on a fort was built above the monastery caves to protect the monks and the strategic
pass.
9: Mesa Verde & the Cliff People Mesa Verde is arguably the most mysterious
archaeological location anywhere above the Mexican border.
But this isn't just one site.
The Mesa Verde National Park boasts over 4700 archaeological sites, including upwards of
600 ancient cliff dwellings that were constructed by the Ancestral Puebloans between 550 AD
and 1300 AD.
They lived in the cliffs and canyons of the Four Corners region of the U.S. for 700 years,
flourishing as an advanced culture unparalleled anywhere in the area.
But the reason the people of Mesa Verde are such a mystery is that one day, for seemingly
no reason, they picked up and left.
In the 1200s, over the course of a single generation, every last person living in the
expansive cliff dwellings left their ancestral home behind and fled.
To this day, historians and archaeologists have no idea where they went or why they abandoned
their homes.
Their best guess is that the people began migrating into New Mexico and Arizona, and
possibly even deeper into Mexico because of severe drought.
But why they would abandon such an impressive kingdom is unknown.
Their cliff dwellings were truly great feats of engineering.
Some of them had up to 150 rooms and space for farming, carved beneath the overhanging
cliffs.
Even today their ruins are still amazing and visited every year!
Have you ever been here?
Let me know in the comments below!!
8: Mycenaean Palace of Kydonia Ancient Kydonia, on the island of Crete, was
the seat of power for the Minoan civilization, which of course prospered even before the
Greeks came along.
It is an archaeological site of great significance and confusion.
The confusion comes because of a child’s skeleton that was discovered with evidence
of knife wounds, suggesting the child had been cannibalized.
However, recent interpretations have revealed something so shocking that the events could
probably be turned into a dramatic series.
The ancient Minoans practiced sacrifice.
It didn't happen often, but it was something they would do when their civilization came
under hard times.
In general, they would sacrifice a young virgin to appease whichever gods they were worshipping
at the time.
The bones of the young girl found at the palace in Kydonia are proof of this type of barbaric
behavior.
After significant research, dating the bones, and interpreting what had happened back in
the 13th century BC, archaeologists were able to figure out why the child had been sacrificed.
First there was a great disaster, an earthquake that probably had a magnitude of between 6.5
and 7.5.
It destroyed much of the Minoan’s capital on the island of Crete.
Of course they assumed the earthquake was the result of an angry god.
So, they removed parts of the palace floor, sacrificed a virgin, 43 sheep, 4 pigs, and
an ox to appease whatever deity was angry with them.
Thousands of years later, archaeologists found all these bones hidden underneath the ruins
of the palace.
7: Lost imperial home Near the small city of Nara in Japan, the
impossibly massive ruins of an old imperial house have recently been uncovered.
It's one of the largest ruins to be excavated in Japan in recent years.
It was found at the old site of the Heijo Kyo Palace, in what was once the old capital
of Japan.
Not everything has been excavated here just yet, but what archaeologists say is that what
they have found was probably the centerpiece of the residence where the rulers of Japan
lived during the 8th century.
One of the experts believes the building was probably the residence for Empress Koken,
who ruled from between 718 and 770.
She was at the forefront of what is known as the Nara Period, from 710 to 784.
So far, archaeologists have only managed to reveal a single building supported by pillars.
This was Empress Koken’s living space.
She was the 48th monarch of Japan, involved in an affair with a high priest named Dokyo.
Dokyo was appointed grand minister, and then later priestly emperor.
When Empress Koken died in 770, he tried to ascend the throne himself but that didn’t
go so well, and shortly after, Nara was abandoned as the capital.
What's really interesting is that Empress Koken wasn't even the first female ruler of
Japan.
She was the 6th, and this was back in the 700s, over 1300 years ago.
There were two more women who would become the empress before the men got together and
quashed female rulers once and for all in Japan.
6: The Labyrinth of the Colosseum The Colosseum in Rome is one of the most iconic
pieces of architecture anywhere on the planet.
But this ancient wonder is just as fascinating below as it is from the outside.
Beneath the floor of the Colosseum is a labyrinth, which was hidden beneath a wooden floor for
the 500 years that the arena was used in blood combat.
Starting in 80 AD, the labyrinth was used for all kinds of “behind the scenes” action.
But nobody knew what action this was until just recently when a German archaeologist
deciphered the intricacies of the labyrinth after studying it for 14 years.
The conclusion was that the labyrinth was used frequently for animals.
For example, workmen would raise cages with bears, lions, or even leopards from the labyrinth
up into the Colosseum, where gladiators and slaves would be forced to fight them for the
joy of the spectators.
But here's something you probably don't know.
After the glory of Rome came to an abrupt end, the meaning of the Colosseum was gradually
lost.
Throughout the following centuries, the labyrinth beneath the floor of the amphitheater was
used by vagrants.
The Colosseum itself became populated by blacksmiths and glue makers.
The residents of Rome began believing in local legends about what the Colosseum had once
been used for.
Nobody even knew it had been for gladiator battles.
They thought it was an old temple dedicated to the sun.
It even ended up being the preferred location for necromancers, who went to the Colosseum
at night to try and summon demons.
In the 16th century, the Pope even tried to turn the Colosseum into a wool factory.
And now for number 5, but first wanted to give a big shout out to Jana Highway and Rovo
B, thanks so much to both of you for watching and supporting this channel!!
If you are new here be sure to subscribe 5: Murayghat Dolmen Site
The site of Murayghat in Jordan is one of mystery and intrigue.
The site consists of over 100 stone monoliths spread throughout the countryside in the absolute
middle of nowhere.
Some call it the Jordanian Stonehenge.
It's a unique site for many reasons and scientists are still trying to figure out what it was
used for.
Here archaeologists have discovered ancient cultic buildings, stone megaliths called Dolmens
kind of like Stonehenge, and traces of ancient settlements.
This is a bit strange because in the ancient world, places of ritual importance were not
usually constructed near settlements at all.
Standing stones were more religious centers and you wouldn't really have dwellings nearby.
These were often places of great magic and rituals and were found far from civilization.
In this case, Susanne Kerner, the director of excavations for the site, says that the
rock structures may have been used as burial sites.
There are about 122 dolmens in the desert here, with some consisting of a small entrance,
a floor of stone, two walls of a stone, and a capstone for a ceiling.
Buried underneath the rock are undoubtedly the remains of the dead.
All the different features of the landscape here were created during the earliest part
of the Bronze Age, around 5000 years ago.
The structures, the stones, the dolmens and the entire site may have had something to
do with burials, perhaps even a cult of the dead.
4: Ancient Knife Colonial Mackinaw is one of the most interesting
archaeological sites in the United States.
Just recently, an excavation at this ancient Michigan fortress turned up a new piece of
treasure.
While digging deep in an old cellar, archaeologists found a very old and very worn pocket knife
that, if you didn’t know any better, looks like a chicken nugget!
According to the curator of archaeology for Mackinac State Historic Parks, the exact age
of the knife is unknown but the clasp knife as it is known can hopefully be restored to
its former glory.
But the knife is only the most recent in a long string of interesting archaeological
discoveries at the colonial fort in Mackinaw City, an old settlement from the 18th century
that is slowly being reconstructed.
This was one of the first places in Michigan to be inhabited by settlers.
Back in the 18th century, it was more of a trading village for furs occupied by native
American tribes and later on the French.
The exact history of the site isn’t totally known, but archaeologists have been working
for over six decades to uncover its secrets.
So far, they've excavated about one million artifacts here.
Included among the finds are brass sleeve buttons from 1769, a lead seal from 1717,
and even a structural post from the original fort in 1715.
3: Ancient Ritual Site in Mexico A new ritual site has been uncovered in Mexico
that is 8000 years old.
Archaeologists were shocked to discover this bizarre archaeological wonder in the state
of Nuevo Leon.
It had probably been built by the first people to settle Mexico and to interact with Ice
Age animals that were going extinct even as the settlers first started building their
own villages.
Here's what was found at the site: teeth, bones, skulls, and other scraps of animals
such as mammoths, llamas, giant bison, and much more.
Experts are saying the animals were probably used in unknown rituals by the first community
in Mexico.
Almost nothing remained of whatever structure had been built here, though there was obvious
evidence that some rectangular stone pieces had been erected as part of a rocky shelter.
This is the reason the site was named La Boveda by archaeologists, or “The Vault.”
Unfortunately, the archaeological site is so old that other than bones and a few pieces
of stone, nothing else has been found.
Archaeologists can't even guess at what kind of rituals were conducted by these ancient
people or what gods they may have worshipped.
2: Sunken Shipwreck A new archaeological site has been located
in a rather unusual place.
At the bottom of the sea, off the coast of Greece, underwater archaeologists found an
ancient shipwreck with a hoard of treasures.
The ship crashed near the Greek island of Kasos sometime in the 3rd century AD.
It's not clear how the vessel ended up sinking.
There were actually four of them found very close together, suggesting it was a treacherous
area for seafarers back during that time.
However, the other ships were dated back over millennia, between the 5th century BC and
modern times so the area has pretty much always been dangerous.
There were all kinds of treasures found in the shipwrecks, scattered across the sea floor.
It was mostly Roman pottery, a type of container called amphorae.
These things were used to hold precious olive . Archaeologists discovered amphorae filled
with oil that had been produced in several different places, including both Spain and
Africa.
It was probably being transported back to Greece or as far as Asia when disaster struck.
1: New Theory of the Nazca Lines The Nazca Lines in Peru are nothing short
of fascinating.
These huge geoglyphs were etched into the desert ground thousands of years ago, and
ever since their discovery in modern times, they have been the source of great mystery.
New information and studies are being released all the time.
Some claim the lines were part of an ancient labyrinth, some say they were designed to
mimic the constellations, and some others even say the lines traced the route of a subterranean
water system.
According to new research, scientists say the Nazca Lines may have been used like a
map to direct ancient people to temple sites across the area.
The first lines were probably used to mark the route which pilgrims would take to reach
the temples where they worshipped their old gods.
However, researchers also say that the purpose of the lines may have changed as generations
went by, and that they were probably used by several different groups of people for
different things.
There are a lot more geoglyphs here than people realize.
Between the Andes Mountains and the coast, spread across the desert, there are at least
one thousand geoglyphs, created between the years 200 BC and 600 AD.
As well as straight lines in the dirt, there are also weird creatures and normal animals
like dogs and monkeys.
Some of the supernatural beings are so odd that scientists haven't even been able to
identify them.
What's really strange is that if the lines really do lead to ancient temple sites, they
haven't actually been discovered.
It's possible the temples could have been destroyed or simply deteriorated as time went
by.
Right now, scientists are still trying to make the theory work.
Which of these incredible sites would you love to visit?
Let me know in the comments and thanks for watching.
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