From cryptic books to the world’s true lizard overlords we look at 8 Ancient Artifacts That
No One Can Explain.
8.
The London Hammer • Sometimes it pays to take home random
rocks you find just because they are shaped a little weird or have wood sticking out of
them.
• That’s what a couple in London did…the London in Texas not the tea drinking one…anyway
they found a rock and took it home to sit on a shelf until their son decided to smash
it open.
Inside was an intact 19th century style hammer head, the wood being part of the handle.
• Taking the find to be tested, scientists found the outer limestone rock to be anywhere
around 500 million years old.
On top of that parts of the wood have started to turn to coal which takes millions of years
on its own.
Skeptics however believe that hammer is just an old abandoned hammer that allowed soluble
minerals to form around it, causing the oddity. 7.
The Voynich Manuscript • Not all artifacts have to be ancient to
be puzzling, take for example the Voyinch Manuscript which is only from the Middle Ages.
• This incredibly cryptic piece was discovered by an antique bookdealer in 1912 and has been
a mystery since.
Written in code and containing intricate illustrations on a range of topics, no one has yet to be
able to work just what the hell it’s all about.
• Not even top cryptographers in WW2 could crack the damn thing, leading to it becoming
one of the greatest mysteries of the field.
Carbon dating has placed the manuscript as originating from the 15th century, most probably
in Italy.
Heh, would be pretty funny if this just turned out to be some renaissance Italian guy’s
bad fan-fiction.
6.
China Pipes • It’s always a little creepy when scientists
find human like structures in places where humans have never been known to live.
• The Baigong Pipes, found in remote Mount Baigong are one such creepy head scratcher.
Two long pipes stretching from a large cave in the mountain were found along with many
more upright pipes stretching towards the sky.
• The pipes have been a mystery mainly because they were dated at being 150,000 years old,
while the earliest record of people living anywhere near there is 30,000 years ago.
Also 8% of the material from the pipes is unidentifiable and they are also highly radioactive.
Eh it’s probably just some ancient alien plumbing system, “Hey guys we found E.T’s
crapper!”
5.
Ubaid Lizardmen • Want concrete evidence that ancient Earth
was actually ruled by lizardmen and that just maybe…it still is?
• Well this isn’t it but it’s pretty damn interesting and unexplained.
These 7000 year old, pre-Sumerian artifacts are known as the Ubaid Lizardmen.
Found inside ancient excavated towns, these figures depict lizard liked humanoids in various
states.
• Many of them show a female breast feeding a little lizard baby which is kinda cute and
disturbing.
Archeologists found that the little statues weren’t for rituals or worship, making them
a little difficult to understand.
Were they just the ancient equivalent of living dead dolls or are they something more sinister…probably
the first one.
4.
Piri Reis Map • Generally old maps aren’t interesting
to anyone but those who like to see just how wrong we had the shape of countries in the
past, but this one has that and more.
• This military map from the Ottoman Empire, circa 1513 shows with pretty okay accuracy
the coast of west Africa and the east coast of Brazil.
So what’s unexplained about it?
Well this little part down the bottom that looks like the coast of Antarctica.
• In 1513 people weren’t 100% sure Australia existed let alone the South Pole continent,
so it’s quite the mystery as to what exactly is being shown on the map.
This has made it the focus of numerous alternate history theories.
Though skeptics feel its just an erroneous map that bares no serious consideration, you
decide!
3.
The Antikythera • So it turns out the ancient Greeks not
only invented democracy and weird student teacher relationships, they also invented
computers.
• Well not computers like you’d think.
Found in an ancient shipwreck, this mechanical computer was used to calculate astronomical
positions.
The device has the same level sophistication as 18th century devices, in fact Europeans
didn’t have anything like it until somewhere in the 14th century.
• So the mystery is how did the ancient Greeks have such a technologically advanced
device and why have we found only one?
Essentially this like opening up a time capsule from the 30s and finding an iPhone inside.
2.
Bolshoi Zayatsky Labyrinths • Despite their well know status, labyrinths
are actually a pretty rare thing to find…so when 13 pop up on one island it turns a few
heads.
• The Bolshoi Zayatsky islands in northern Russia have been the home of perhaps the most
mysterious labyrinths ever discovered.
The islands were home to prehistoric people who built many different structures, mainly
ones for worship.
• However nothing is known about the people who built them, meaning that all we have is
a few stones on the ground to try and work out what exactly these were for.
But hey we can’t rule out that they were maybe just a culture that freakin loved hedge
mazes. 1.
Baghdad Battery • Much like the others on this list, this
prolific find has been the subject of debate for quite a while now and it’s no surprise
really.
• The Baghdad Battery has two explanations over its existence, it’s the plausibility
of both that leave it as unexplainable.
Originally it was believed to be a battery used for electroplating gold on to objects.
This was thought because all it needed was an acidic or alkaline substance poured into
and then presto, a small amount of electricity.
• But how would people 2000 years ago know anything about electricity?
Well modern archeologists believe that they just couldn’t have and that this thing is
clearly just a storage pot that was misinterpreted originally.
Even though no one has been able to prove the original hypothesis wrong beyond saying
“well they didn’t know about electricity then so it can be that”.
So ancient electricity or weird storage pot, the Baghdad Battery could be both.