there are many mysteries in life like
which came first the chicken or the egg
or are we human or are we dancer
we may never know but some mysteries are
just
begging to be solved all we need are a
few more sleuths on the case
put on your investigation pants it's the
greatest unsolved mysteries of ancient
history
part marshland part urban city thonus
heraklion
acted as ancient egypt's port city to
the mediterranean
sometime before 800 ce the city
disappeared
and thonas heraklion became lost to time
some believed it may have never even
truly existed
those who thought the city may have been
a myth were proven wrong when it floated
back onto the map in the early 2000s
when its ruins were discovered under the
sea
off the coast of egypt the entire city
was buried underwater
and divers uncovered bridges 16-foot
statues
animal sarcophagi ruins of temples
shards of pottery
coins jewelry oil lamps and more
archaeologists believe that the once
bustling city ended up beneath the
mediterranean sea as a result of the
slow caving in of the soil
possibly triggered by an earthquake or
rising sea levels
anything is possible but our money is on
soil liquefication
aka quicksand
immense stone jars dating back to the
iron age
litter the plains of a remote
mountainous area of laos and no one
knows why they're there
these aren't just ordinary little cookie
jars the largest ones range in size up
to 10 feet tall
weighing around 32 tons they are
separated into 90 different
seemingly random groups ranging in
number from 1 to more than 400 jars
bones and other human remains surround
the area of the jars leading some
researchers to believe it had been a
burial site for an ancient civilization
that would first
leave corpses to partially decompose in
the jars
then bury their bones in the ground
however
locals have their own theories some
believe that the jars were used to brew
rice wine to be drunk by giants when
celebrating victories against their
enemies
archaeological research in the area has
been difficult to maintain over the
years due to the use of cluster bombs by
the us military during the vietnam war
which destroyed some jars and left
behind undetonated bombs
making the area extremely dangerous
today
researchers and tourists are only able
to visit a small number of sections of
the plane deemed safe
[Music]
something is hiding in the waters off
rio de janeiro
at the bottom of guanabara bay lies
hundreds of barnacle-covered amphoras
ancient jars commonly carried by roman
ships in the 2nd century bce
and discovered by robert marks in 1982
so what are a bunch of ancient roman
jars doing in brazil
when the first known europeans to make
their way there didn't show up until the
late 1500s
this is a good question that brazil
doesn't seem eager to answer
the brazilian navy closed the bay to
underwater explorers
charged marks with contraband of the
objects he discovered and issued a
government order to prohibit him from
entering the country again
although brazil claims this was meant to
deter looters
some think that they didn't want roman
error artifacts to be found
as it would mean that the portuguese
weren't the first europeans to reach
brazil
some researchers suspect there could be
an entire roman vessel shipwrecked in
the depths of the bay
but we don't think we'll be seeing that
anytime soon
move over crop circles it's the nazca
lines
this collection of geoglyphs is located
on the peruvian coastal plain
the designs etched into the ground
spanned more than 185 thousand acres
they are made up of over a thousand
geometric designs and straight lines
some stretching over 12 miles long about
70 shapes of flora and fauna that
measure up to 1200 feet
and even a humanoid figure nicknamed the
astronaut
the lines are believed to have been
created by the ancient nazca culture in
south america
starting around 500 bce though
researchers don't know exactly why they
created them
in 2018 archaeologists began using
drones to survey the site from above
in hopes they can learn more
everyone knows where cleopatra was
between 69 to 30 bce
but does anyone know where she is now
the location of cleopatra's tomb remains
a mystery to this day
some believe she was buried in
alexandria where she was born and ruled
but the city was nearly leveled by a
tsunami in 365
ce so it's tough to say for certain
she's still there
others believe she was buried on the
nile delta in the temple of tapos cyrus
magna
where two mummies covered in the gold
leaf of high status individuals from
cleopatra's time were uncovered
though researchers can't tell for
certain who exactly the mummies were
these findings point to a big old maybe
researchers are only certain of one
thing they can't definitively say
it's the tomb of cleopatra
in cusco peru lies a structure so large
and architecturally advanced
it's a mystery as to how the incas were
able to build it way back in 1438
the sakse-huaman citadel was a fortified
hilltop complex created by stacking
stones that fit
so perfectly together they didn't even
need to use mortar
the blocks were finally cut into
polyhedrons using nothing more than
bronze tools and harder stones
then the stones many weighing over a
hundred tons
were moved into place through the manual
labor of as many as 20
000 builders even more impressively the
incas made sure that the blocks
interlocked and the terraced walls
surrounding the main plaza were sloped
to ensure the structure would be
resistant to earthquakes
to replicate this construction today the
technique would still be
immensely difficult even with modern
technology
so the mystery remains how the heck were
they able to do that
in 1912 rare books dealer wilfried
voynich
purchased a mysterious manuscript
written in indecipherable code
the voynich manuscript is believed to
have been written at the end of the 15th
century in an unknown language and
features elaborate drawings of plants
and constellations not known to exist
believed to be a magical or scientific
text the manuscript is split into six
sections based on the content of its
drawings of botanicals
astrological and astronomical biological
cosmological
pharmaceutical images and many
continuous pages of text
to this day the language author meaning
and purpose of the book remain unknown
underwater stonehenge rock formation
atlantis
just a naturally occurring pile of plain
old rocks
no one can decide just what or why
the yonaguni monument is the yonaguni
monument
is an underwater rock formation that was
discovered in the 1980s near yonuguni
island off the coast of japan
it is 165 feet long and 65
feet wide with some reports of carvings
and nearby formations that suggest it
may have been part of a now submerged
ancient city
some experts believe it is the remnants
of a city sunk in an earthquake two
thousand years ago
others say it's common geology for
sandstones particularly ones found in
areas with lots of tectonic activity
and others believe it could be the
remnants of mew a fabled
lost pacific continent details of the
rock formation have convinced
some researchers of human involvement in
the creation of the yonuguni monument
however scientists can't point to a
single explanation that they agree on
a massive geoglyph shaped like a
candelabra is carved
two feet deep into the side of a hill on
the paracas peninsula in peru
the geoglyph stretches 600 feet in
length and can be seen from the air
and from sea the candelabra is made in
the same style as peru's famous nazca
lines
ancient pottery found near the geoglyph
dates the area back to 200 bc
indicating the era that the paracas
culture populated the area
however it is unknown if that time frame
also corresponds to the creation of the
candelabra
researchers are unsure of the original
purpose of the geoglyph
some believe it was used for
navigational purposes others hold
theories that it was built by pirates
or the 19th century peruvian hero jose
desai martin
wow lots to unpack here whole lot of
unknowns
did we leave off something that no one
knows the answer to let us know what you
know
in the comments that's enough sleuthing
for now
go ahead and loosen the top button on
your investigation pants
maybe slip on something more comfortable
like detective sweats
we'll see you next time you sleuth you
you