From a dictator’s mansion to a neolithic temple complex, here are 9 strange archaeological
discoveries.
9.
Mysterious Kurgan
Archaeologists doing a routine search in Russia, before the construction of a gas line found
something amazing!!
They uncovered an entire chariot buried underground in Stavropol, Russia.
Dating back to the bronze age, the chariot is the first one found in one piece in the
entire country!!
It was actually part of an ancient burial mound known as a Kurgan.
These were a type of grave usually containing the remains of a wealthy or high-ranking person,
as well as grave goods, sacrificial offerings, and horses, with a hill built over it.
This one contained a skeleton buried deep underneath along with pieces of pottery, although
more things are being uncovered!
It seems to have been a very common type of burial with sites like these all over the
place.
Most of the graves like this uncovered so far contain the remains of warriors based
on the weaponry found along with them, but others are not so nice.
The bronze age was quite violent with warrior groups battling each other and collecting
heads from the enemy.
Many artifacts and remains from this time contain evidence of extreme violence such
as severed heads and severe battle injuries.
Kurgans found throughout eastern Europe date as far back as the third millennium B.C. brought
to the region from elsewhere by an elusive nomadic warrior tribe called Kurgans.
There is a theory that these people dominated Europe and South Asia between 3500 and 2500
BC.
Kurgan burial mounds were built by numerous different cultures, including the Scythians
and Saka, as well as other mysterious societies of Indo-European origin.
They left Kurgans all over the Eurasian steppe, some filled with beautiful and elaborate gold
objects.
Very little information is available regarding the Stavropol discoveries in 2016.
At press time, archaeologists announced their intentions to continue excavating the site
to learn more about it.
They still have no idea who this person may have been.
8.
SUTRO BATHS
Built in western San Francisco’s Outer Richmond District in 1896 the Sutro Baths were once
the world’s largest indoor swimming establishment!!
Built by Adolph Sutro, a wealthy entrepreneur and the city’s former mayor, the three-acre
(1.2 hectares) public bathhouse consisted of seven swimming pools that were kept at
different temperatures, and the facility boasted slides, trapezes, a diving board, and a high
dive.
Altogether, the pools held 1.7 million gallons of water, which came from the nearby Pacific
Ocean during high tide, taking just one hour to fill.
The facility had a 10,000-guest capacity and offered 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels
for rent.
Sutro died in 1898, just a few years after the Sutro Baths opened.
His family continued to manage the property, but the baths declined in popularity amid
the Great Depression, a lack of public transportation, and due to public health codes.
The National Park Service (NPS) now takes care of the site, which is now part of the
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The new owners converted the baths into a skating rink, but failed to revive the property,
so they sold it.
A fire in 1966 destroyed what was left of the baths and developers pulled the plug on
plans to build high-rise apartment buildings in their place.
The ruins of the Sutro Baths have been under national park management since 1973.
7.
Carnac Stones
In northwestern France near the south Brittany coast is a dense collection of megalithic
sites known as the Carnac stones.
Dating back to sometime between 4500 B.C. and 3300 B.C., during the Neolithic era, the
structures consist of stone alignments, or rows; stone tombs called dolmens; tumuli,
or burial mounds, and single standing stones, known as menhirs.
There were once over 3,000 menhirs in Brittany alone.
Made from locally sourced granite, they comprise the world’s largest standing stone collection.
Nobody knows for sure what the menhirs' purpose was.
Some believe that they are aligned astronomically, as a prehistoric calendar or observatory of
sorts, while others have suggested that they are ancient seismic instruments to detect
earthquakes.
Understanding what the menhirs and other stones were meant for is especially difficult because
less than 700 of them were still standing by the time excavations began during the 1860s.
Even worse, the sites have been neglected since then, and people have repurposed some
of the stones, using them as livestock shelters and ovens, while others have removed them
to use as building material or to make way for roads.
Researchers even disagree on who built the Carnac stones, so for now their purpose remains
a mystery.
6.
Dictator’s Mansion
Located in the village of Archangelos on the Greek island of Rhodes, a two-story stone
and wood home known as the Villa de Vecchi once served as Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s
vacation home, although he never actually spent his summers there.
The tyrannical leader’s advisor, Count Cesare de Vecchi, ended up living in the villa between
1936 and 1947 while governing the Dodecanese Islands, which Italy had seized from the Ottoman
Empire in 1912.
In 1947, the islands were ceded to Greece and Villa de Vecchi was abandoned.
Since then, it’s remained that way, falling further into decay over the years as vandals
broke in and covered the interior in graffiti.
According to some, the government deliberately allowed the villa to fall into disrepair as
a reminder of the Count’s cruel ways and the local people’s refusal to become “Italianized.”
Villa de Vecchi was listed on the real estate market in 2014 and remains for sale to this
day.
It’s one of many properties that Greece is selling in an effort to repay loans it
received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Many people argue that the government’s willingness to part with certain landmarks
and structures equates to selling the Greek heritage.
On the other hand, as Hellenic Republic Assets Development Fund (HRADF) executive director
Andreas Tarpantzis pointed out in a Bloomberg interview, Villa de Vecchi and other properties
have long been “hidden, buried.”
He sees their sale as an opportunity to showcase forgotten historical and cultural sites to
both Greeks and tourists.
Maybe Tarpantzis has a valid point, but given the amount of time Villa de Vecchi has remained
vacant, it appears as though nobody has been seriously interested in it for quite some
time, leaving it still standing empty and decrepit, serving as an eerie reminder of
a dark period of the region’s history.
5.
Miami Circle
The Miami Circle, which goes by several names, including the Miami River Circle and Brickell
Point, is an archaeological formation consisting of 600 postmolds arranged in a perfect circle
measuring 38 feet (11.5 meters).
Located in modern-day Downtown Miami, it’s the only known evidence in the Eastern U.S.
of a prehistoric monument cut into bedrock.
It’s situated in an area that is believed to have served as the capital of the Tequesta
Native Americans sometime between 2,000 and 1,700 years ago.
The site became a National Historic Landmark in 2009, but some experts question its true
age and authenticity.
A property developer named Michal Baumann purchased the site and commissioned an archaeological
survey as required by law before proceeding with plans to build a luxury condominium in
its place.
He thought nothing of it, until the stones showed up.
In addition to the stone structure, archaeologists unearthed numerous artifacts, including shell
tools, stone ax-heads, human teeth, a sea turtle carapace, a shark and dolphin skeleton,
and charcoal from fires.
The surprising thing is that the stone axe-heads were sourced from at least 600 miles (970
km) north in Georgia.
Wanting to press forward with his building plans, Baumann offered to pay to relocate
the circle elsewhere for preservation.
But widespread public opposition grew, and these plans were put to a stop when the Dade
Heritage Trust sued to keep the circle in place by seeking an injunction against Baumann.
A back-and-forth court battle ensued, and Baumann ultimately agreed to sell the property
to the State of Florida Preservation land acquisition program for a hefty price tag
of $26.7 million.
Private donations and public funds financed the transaction.
The nomadic Tequesta tribe lived throughout southeastern Florida, putting up a hard fight
against outsiders until the diseases brought over by European explorers wiped them out,
like so many other Native American tribes throughout the U.S.
But researchers cannot say for certain who built the Miami Circle or what they used it
for.
The prevailing theory is that it was a ceremonial structure of some sort, and numerous Tequesta
artifacts were found there, but archaeologists also unearthed items that didn’t seem to
belong, namely the basalt axe heads.
The mystery of the Miami Circle continues!
And now for number 4, but first wanted to give a big shout out to Eddie Chavez and Thi
Hi Pyae for supporting this channel!!
Thanks for hanging out with us today and be sure to subscribe if you are new here for
more videos like these!!
4.
Hagar Qim
Located on the island of Malta, Hagar Qim is a megalithic temple complex dating back
to sometime between 3600 and 3200 B.C., during the Neolithic era.
Only its highest stones were visible prior to excavations, which began in 1839.
Unlike other Neolithic sites in Malta and on the neighboring island of Gozo, Hagar Qim
only consists of one temple, rather than two or three, which was more common.
Its design is similar, however, with the complex being made up of several C-shaped rooms called
apses surrounding a central paved area.
The apses were screened off by walls and slabs with portholes cut through them like windows
-- an unusual practice compared to the area’s other Neolithic structures.
An elliptical hole cut in one of the apses is aligned with the Summer Solstice, causing
sunlight to shine through and illuminate a slab in the room on that day.
This led researchers to believe that Hagar Qim may have been used for fertility rituals
-- a theory supported by the discovery of voluptuous female statuettes at the site.
The builders used locally sourced materials, including hard and soft limestone.
Although the complex has remained in arguably good condition over the millennia, the elements
are eroding it.
A protective roof was installed over the site several years ago, and while it deducts from
the aesthetic quality of the buildings, it’s helping to keep them intact.
It appears as though Hagar Qim was abandoned when the Stone Age abruptly ended around 2500
B.C.
When the Phoenicians arrived to the area in 700 B.C., they found this and other Neolithic
sites deserted, with the civilizations who occupied them having left no traces behind
of what caused them to flee.
3.
The First Written Story
Tens of thousands of years ago, people living on what is now the Indonesian island of Sulawesi
began telling stories by painting images on cave walls.
The oldest among them dates back nearly 44,000 years, making it the oldest known story ever
recorded and, quite possibly, the oldest record of a spiritual belief.
The image depicts a group of small human-like hunters facing off with wild pigs and a type
of dwarf buffalo called anoa.
It was found scrawled across a 14.8-foot-long (4.5 meters) wall in a difficult-to-reach
cave chamber.
The team that made the discovery believes that the picture shows a “game drive,”
during which wild animals were corralled or driven toward a group of waiting hunters.
On the left side of the mural is the dark red tracing of a human hand, which perhaps
served as the artist’s “signature” in the absence of a written language.
Upon closer examination, the researchers realized that the hunters in the scene only look partially
human, with some bearing animal-like snouts, as well as one hunter with a beak and another
with a tail.
They may have been wearing masks, or they may be human-animal hybrids, which commonly
appear in ancient rock art throughout the world.
Additionally, the animals in the image are depicted as being much larger than they are
in real life compared to humans, making the scene seem more mythical in nature, rather
than a retelling of a real-life experience.
Archaeologists still aren’t sure what the picture means, but they agree on one thing:
it tells a story, perhaps a fictional one.
They determined the mural’s age by measuring the age of the mineral deposits that they
found covering it.
The oldest layer of deposits dates back 43,900 years, indicating that the painting was created
sometime before then.
2.
Extinct Hominid Burial Site
The early human fossil record has many gaps in it, leaving modern experts with more questions
than answers about our family tree!
In late 2013, archaeologists discovered 1,400 bones and 140 teeth belonging to at least
15 hominid skeletons deep in a South African cave.
They identified the remains as belonging to a previously unknown extinct early human species
called Homo naledi.
The bones bore a unique combination of traits, including some that resembled the ape-like
Australopithecus that emerged around four million years ago and others that look more
closely like human features, despite our species having appeared just 200,000 years ago.
Based on its skull size, Homo naledi’s brain was less than half the size of ours, more
closely resembling Homo species that date back roughly two million years, New Scientist
reported.
It’s believed that Homo naledi existed sometime between 335,000 and 226,000 years ago.
These early humans stood at just four feet, nine inches (143.6 cm) tall on average and
weighed about 88 pounds (39.7 kg).
Experts believe that the skeletons found in the cave were deliberately laid to rest.
If this is the case, that makes Homo naledi extremely unique.
Did they bury them with some sort of ceremony?
Did they believe in something?
Did they have gods or spirits, or perhaps think of an afterlife?
So many questions to ask!
Their relationship to other Homo species remains unclear, presenting scientists with yet another
challenge in untangling the complicated web of human history.
1.
HOLMUL CARVINGS
Archaeologists working in Guatemala's Peten region were lucky when, in 2013, they beat
looters to the Holmul archaeological site, where they encountered 1,400-year-old stucco
carvings of previously unknown Maya gods.
The criminals had previously robbed graves at the site, leaving behind an open tunnel.
While filling the tunnel in, workers discovered the 26-foot-long (8 meters), six-and-a-half-foot
high (2 meters) stucco relief.
The archaeology team had previously partially excavated the site, finding a Maya building
filled with artifacts including one human burial, 28 ceramic vessels, and a funerary
mask.
It’s far from the largest Maya structure ever found, but bears a unique and vast array
of inscriptions and artwork not seen at other sites.
More specifically, the frieze bears images of human figures clad in jade jewelry and
extravagant headdresses, including at least five previously unknown rulers and two previously
unknown gods.
Researchers determined that the ruler of the powerful Naranjo kingdom, located to the south
of Holmul, commissioned the work sometime during the 590s.
An inscription below the relief identifies a great king named Ajwosaj Chan K’inich,
crediting the leader with restoring the local ruling line and patron deities.
Holmul was established as early as 800 B.C. and was abandoned around 900 A.D. amid the
Classic Maya Collapse, making it one of the longest occupied Mayan cities and one of the
last Mayan cities to be deserted.
It peaked sometime between 750 and 900, during which time walls were built around the settlement,
causing archaeologists to speculate that Holmul’s inhabitants made a last-ditch effort to protect
their city from the final siege that caused everyone to flee.