From the world’s oldest dress, to a priceless statue found in a sewer, here are 10 amazing
recent discoveries!
10.
Bruniquel Cave Chambe Inside of the Bruniquel Cave, in the south-west
of France, scientists have discovered a chamber with ring-shaped structures made of stalagmites,
both broken and whole.
A sort of a small-scale Stonehenge, but with stalagmites instead of big rocks.
At first, they carbon-dated the area to around 47,000 years ago, but they recently used a
different kind of method.
With uranium-thorium dating (sounds awesome, btw!), they managed to date the area to 176,000
years ago – three and a half times the original dating!
Now, the only humans who lived there in those days were the Neanderthals, and scientists
concluded that Neanderthals must have been the ones to make the stalagmite structures
in the cave.
This is a very important discovery, because it helped scientists realize that Neanderthals
were going deep down into the caves, as opposed to earlier findings.
The chamber inside Bruniquel Cave gives us the opportunity to learn more about the lives
of first humans, and broaden our view on our Neanderthal ancestors.
9.
Noah’s Ark Mosaic During excavations undertaken in an ancient
synagogue in Israel Lower Galilee, scientists discovered a well-preserved mosaic depicting
scenes from the Old Testament.
Although the title, Noah’s Ark Mosaic, makes it sound like it comes straight from the Ark
itself, it actually depicts the scenes connected to Noah’s journey and the Ark, hence – Noah’s
Ark mosaic.
This mosaic contains depictions of pairs of animals, including donkeys, bears and lions,
and it was found in the ancient Jewish village of Huqoq.
This mosaic was found in the form of two panels, with one panel depicting a scene from Moses’
parting of the Red Sea, with soldiers who are being swallowed by gigantic fish.
What’s really fascinating about this archeological discovery is that it’s pretty rare in its
category.
Experts in the field agree that there aren’t many mosaics dating from that period (5th
century AD) which depict these kinds of scenes.
In fact, there are only two known synagogues which contain such mosaics – one is present-day
Syria (which depicts a different scene) and the other in Israel (which is pretty fragmented
and not very well preserved).
All of this makes the newly found mosaic a one-of-a-kind discovery!
Who knows, maybe there will be more of them to come.
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8.
A “Russian doll” Pyramid Russia and the pyramids?
How does this make any sense?
Well, it will soon!
The Kukulkan pyramid, located in the state of Yucatan, in present-day Mexico, offers
much more than the eye can tell.
It is not only one pyramid, but – wait for it – three pyramids!
One inside of another, inside of another, inside of another!
This is why many refer to it as the “Russian doll” among fellow pyramids, as it resembles
the one-inside-of-another concept of the famous Matryoshka dolls.
While researching, scientists used a very useful method called electrical resistivity,
during which they passed electrical waves through the pyramidal structure and measures
the degree of resistivity.
The results were nothing short of amazing – it turned out that the Kukulkan pyramid
(also known as El Castillo – the Castle) had two more pyramids inside of it!
The scientists found out that the two smaller pyramids were built much earlier, which means
that the whole three-level structure wasn’t built at the same time, but over a course
of several centuries.
The smallest was built around 550AD, the middle one three centuries later, and the outermost
one somewhere in the 12th or 13th century.
It seems that the Maya people can still pull a surprise on us.
Kudos!
7.
Antikythera Man One of the largest sea wrecks of the ancient
world is probably the Antikythera shipwreck, which happened around 65BC.
It was discovered in 1900, off the coast of the island of the same name.
The find was truly a wonderful one, as there were many different items from the ancient
times, including bronze statues, a lot of treasure, and probably the most important
item of all – the Antikythera Mechanism, widely considered as the world’s first computer!
But recently, a big international team comprised of many scientists discovered something new
in the Antikythera Wreck –a skeleton of a man!
There have been other human remains located in the area of the wreck, but this is the
first find in almost half a century, and it’s the first one in the age of DNA analysis,
which is in itself amazing.
Findings of this kind happen very rarely, and scientists are dead excited (get the pun?)
to have the opportunity to examine the genetics of ancient people.
The Antikythera Man will give scientists the opportunity to go deeper into the lives of
ancient population, and possibly – discover something even more fascinating!
6.
Akkadian City in Iraq In present-day Iraq, a large group of international
archeologists found the remains of a big city that most probably belonged to the Akkadian
Empire, which is one of the civilizations that flourished in the region of Ancient Mesopotamia.
This ancient city was founded more than 4,500 years ago, and it lasted for over one millennium.
On the site, scientists also discovered tablets with the cuneiform scripture, which is one
of the first known writing systems in the ancient world.
This means that the newly found Akkadian city was also a major cultural center.
The site of the find is in the Kurdish region i.e. the Kurdish Iraq, near the village of
Bassetki.
Scientists agree that this region holds a lot of archeological locations that are still
waiting to be excavated.
This region was a cross-over area of many cultures in the ancient times, and many cultural
traditions of the time overlapped here; thus, this city is probably just a tip of the iceberg
when it comes to archeological finds.
There will most likely be a lot more of them in the years to come.
5.
Burial Boat in Abydos Burial boats were a normal custom in Ancient
Egypt, as many pharaohs were buried this way.
The whole idea behind a burial boat is to have a resting place for the pharaoh before
reaching the “undying lands” (to borrow a LOTR reference).
On the desert site of Abydos, archaeologists found the location of a burial boat belonging
to the pharaoh Senwosret III.
If you don’t know who that is don’t worry.
Here is what remains of a statue of his face.
Fun fact: According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the face of Senwosret III is one of
the most individual and recognizable in all of Egyptian art.
Back to the boat: Not much remained of the original boat, only some planks; however,
what is almost intact is a big burial chamber (21m long, 4m wide), with more than 120 drawings
of boats.
And this is just the beginning, as scientists hope to find even more drawings similar to
these.
It’s pretty amazing that these drawings were even discovered in a well-preserved state,
considering that the actual tomb dates back to 1850BC.
If we add to this the fact that, according to scientific estimates, there were also boat
drawings on the ceiling of the tomb, it’s clear that this is one of the most important
findings of its kind.
4.
Stilt Houses of East Anglia Britain is often overlooked when discussing
archeological findings, but the region is fascinatingly rich in all kinds of ancient
locations and archeological sites.
One of those is a recently discovered dwelling dating back to the Bronze Age.
What’s even more amazing is that this is the most-well preserved find of its kind!
In Eastern England, in the area known as the Fens or the Fenlands, archeologists found
a well-preserved dwelling from 3000 years ago (around the end of the Bronze Age).
The settlement was built of houses on stilts, and they probably got destroyed by fire, collapsing
into the river.
This actually preserved the whole dwelling, because it was plunged into the river and
thus kept virtually intact.
The whole site is located two meters below the ground, and it’s a real time capsule:
there are a lot of every-day items, such as jars and bowls, that give scientists a great
deal of information of how it was like back in the day.
The area is so well-preserved that there are even footprints found of the people who inhabited
the place – a truly wonderful find!
3.
Tarkhan Dress It’s pretty rare to find a well-preserved
piece of clothing from ancient times.
The main reason for this is that cloth usually wears out quite quickly, as it succumbs to
atmospheric changes faster than wood or rock.
However, the so-called “Tarkhan Dress”, named after the Egyptian town where it was
discovered back in 1923, is one of those rare artifacts.
Although it was originally discovered in 1913, scientists couldn’t really date it with
accuracy.
It was obvious that the dress was from Ancient Egypt (duh!), but it was unclear when exactly
it was worn.
However, more recently, by using a special carbon-dating technique, scientists have managed
to find out the exact time this piece of cloth was used – and it dates between 3482 and
3103 BC.
This means that the Tarkhan dress is the oldest piece of clothing found ever!!
It’s really fascinating that we have the opportunity to see what people wore in those
days and, judging by the look of this dress – it would probably be all the rage today!
2.
London Roman Tablets Back to Britain.
During excavations for a building site, archeologists discovered wooden tablets from the Roman era,
all of which contain amazing information about every-day life in ancient Londinium (yup,
that’s the real Roman name of the place).
From these writings, we can now learn more about all kinds of transactions, events that
took place – including the names of people who participated in the events during these
times!
The tablets are a fascinating find, not only because of the information they hold, but
also because of the way they’re constructed.
They are a great example of a once popular writing technique in the Roman times: etching
letters onto a waxed plank, using a pointed stylus.
These kinds of wooden tablets rarely “survive” to the modern times, but just like the stilt
houses in East Anglia – a river got in the way and saved them.
Another amazing fact is that, in most cases, the writings on the wax don’t survive – but
sometimes a scribe presses down too hard, leaving marks on the wood beneath the wax.
Because of this, we can now learn more about what it was like to live in Roman London.
1.
Statue of Pharaoh Ramses II In the groundwater of a Cairo slum, archeologists
have found a 26ft statue of what is most likely Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt around
3,000 years ago.
According to most archeologists, this statue is probably one of the most important findings
ever.
The mere size of it sends shivers down one’s spine; it’s colossal in every sense of the
word.
The statue was discovered near the ruins of a temple dedicated to Ramses II, in the eastern
part of Cairo – the area which was once the ancient city of Heliopolis.
What’s even more fascinating is that this isn’t just any old pharaoh; Ramses II was
one of the most powerful rulers ancient Egypt ever had, and he was also widely celebrated.
He expanded the empire and reigned more than 60 years!
When it comes to pharaohs, it doesn’t get much better than this!
Who knows what other wonders lay hidden beneath Egypt’s surface; so far, the statue of Ramses
II is definitely high on the list of the most amazing!
Which one of these discoveries surprised you the most!
Let us know in the comments below!!
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