Ahh - as our civilization keeps digging, deep down within the bowels of the Earth, mashed
up upon layers and layers of dirt and stone, modern humanity have long been finding weird,
unexplainable instances of human calamity seemingly frozen in time.
Well, if you’ve already managed to see our first part of this archaeological series - you’ll
know that there are some terrifying mysteries hidden within the crust of our Planet - but
thankfully for us, there’s much more waiting down there.
Hello horror fans - what’s going on, and once again welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube - Top 5 Scary Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host, as today, we curiously take a look at the
Top 5 Scariest Archaeological Discoveries - Part 2.
Roll the clip.
Sorry about that guys - should’ve given you a headphones warning - but you know, we’ve
gotta set the scene, this is a horror channel after all.
For the curious amongst you, that was from the 2014 found footage film - As Above, So
Below - because you know, this is a list about archaeological discoveries - and if we had
horror film footage from ancient history - we’d all be a very lucky bunch, wouldn’t we?
Kicking off at Number 5 - The Pit Of Arms
Which is a pretty intriguing title, isn’t it?
If not, probably the best opening track to a death metal album - but as it turns out,
this particular Pit of Arms is much more terrifying than the likes of Cradle of Filth or Job for
a Cowboy - because it’s exactly what it says on the tin.
Or the pit - to be specific.
Throughout the archaeological digs of Europe, researchers have found numerous circular pits
constructed in the same fashion - dotted across the continent, that all seem to date back
to around, roughly speaking, 4000 BC.
Most of them have left researchers pretty perplexed - but this one in particular, a
pit found in Bergheim, France - that was filled to the brim with six adult arms, one child's
arm - and random scattered hand bones.
Also, the team of researchers on this mystery obviously had a sense of humour - as they
named their paper, A Farewell to Arms.
So what were they doing there?
Well, strangely enough - above the layer of arms and hand bones, were the skeletons of
the limbless victims - which seems to suggest that these Neolithic victims were tortured
and dismembered before they were later buried on top.
It’s left researchers pretty perplexed, to say the least - but it seems to indicate
evidence of organised warfare in the Neolithic period of Ancient Europe - although no other
evidence of conflict has been found to support this theory.
And people have been digging in Europe, for a long, long time.
They could have been captured enemy warriors, or they could have been innocent victims of
a massacre - the only thing we can know for certain is their arms were thrown in a pit,
and they shortly followed.
Grim.
Coming in at Number 4 - Hearts of Lead
And yeah - pretty death metal too, right?
I could release an album at this rate.
In actual fact though, this entry on our list is possibly the most modern that we’ve ever
covered - and yet it still dates back to over four-hundred years ago.
Now - have you ever loved someone so much, that you’d want to be buried with their
heart?
In a lead urn?
For four hundred years?
And also, I’m quite concerned as to whether these hearts were given posthumously.
I really hope they were.
Well as it seems, archaeologists from France's National Institute were extensively excavating
graves for years at an ancient cemetery in Northwestern France - at the Convent of the
Jacobins in Rennes, in one of the oldest preserved cemeteries in Europe.
There, underneath the basement of the Convent - they unearthed hundreds of burials, some
of which dated back to the late 16th century - and five of which, strangely enough - were
buried with the same familiar set of artifacts.
A heart shaped urn made of led.
Aw, cute, right?
Well, after taking a closer look at these warm, fuzzy relics - it was discovered that
they each had a human heart sealed within them.
After more digging, it became apparent that it was all the rage for wealthy, upper-class
families to be buried with the LITERAL hearts of their spouses and loved ones - and they
were also so well preserved that scientists could scan the organs through MRI imaging
to figure out what they died from.
Nothing says I love you like here’s my heart in an urn, right?
Coming in next at Number 3 - The Altamura Man
Now, dying alone is a terrifying enough notion - but how about dying alone, at the bottom
of a 26-foot deep well, in the far recesses of a further 200-foot long tunnel system,
only to be encrusted into a wall of pure limestone for over 150 thousand years?
Well, whilst you’d be perfectly preserved and your skeleton frozen in time for modern
scientists to find you - that’s also exactly what happened to one of our unfortunate Neanderthal
ancestors - the Altamura Man.
And his skeleton was so well preserved, that researchers could even recreate perfectly
how he would have looked way back when - and he looked like this.
What a great looking fella.
Hasn’t he got the kindest eyes you’ve ever seen?
Well unfortunately, way back in 1993, when he was discovered by spelunkers in a karstic
cave near the Italian town of Altamura - he was a little bit less kindly looking, and
instead resembled something straight out of a nightmare, petrified by stalagmites and
sunken into the cave wall itself through thousands upon thousands of years of limestone droplets.
I’m not sure what’s more terrifying - the ultimate fate of the Altamura Man - or the
fact that he was discovered when he was, lost to the mysteries of the Earth for over 150
thousand years.
Next up at Number 2 - Capacocha
Very little is known about the ancient ritualistic practice of Capacocha - and the earliest known
written accounts were from the Spanish conquistadors in their observations of ancient Inca practices
- documenting numerous accounts of child sacrifices, where children would be lead to caves, high
up in the mountainous peaks of the Andes region - to give their lives and be reborn as gods
and goddesses in their culture.
It sounds like incredibly heavy stuff - and it is - but the practice of Capacocha was
incredibly important to the Inca Civilization - and it was considered to be the highest
honor for members of their society.
And although that’s terrifying enough in itself, the method in which they were sacrificed
is even more terrifying.
Essentially, they were paraded around the kingdom - with huge feasts held in their honour
- where the procession, led by the Emperor - would make its way toward the frozen peaks
of the mountain over month long ritualistic celebrations.
There the sacrifice was taken to a tomb and offered up to the gods - where the tomb was
sealed over days with mounds and mounds of dirt.
So then, when a group of archaeologists were surveying the region in 1999, at a site found
near a Volcano in Argentina - they unwittingly unearthed one of these tombs of legend - only
to find a scene literally frozen in time.
Three Ancient Inca children perfectly preserved in ceremonious fashion, down to the ice-cold
climate of the region.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Ancient history guys.
And finally - coming in at our Number 1 spot - Sacred Ridge
Now, if you know anything about Sacred Ridge, an ancient site in Durango, Colorado - you’ll
know that it’s synonymous with one of the most grizzly and violent atrocities in ancient
American History.
What was once thought to be evidence of a peaceful habitat of the early Pueblo culture,
after closer excavation - it was revealed that Sacred Ridge played witness to a bloody
and brutal massacre, given the fact that two of the excavated pit houses contained nearly
15 thousand human body fragments - belonging to around 35 seperate people - thought to
be about half of the villages population.
After analysis of the bone fragments, evidence of extreme torture and mutilation became apparent
- and it is thought that the massacre was part of a wider uprising in the Ridges Basin
area, sometime around the year 810.
Now, the reason for this massacre will never be truly known - but the grizzly reality of
this discovery can only lead historians to study the archaeological evidence - which
all point towards methods of extreme torture.
After studying the bone fragments of the 33 victims feet, researchers concluded that these
methods of torture all bore the hallmarks of hobbling.
Yes, hobbling - as in the excruciating action carried out by Annie Wilkes in Stephen King’s
Misery.
It was thought that hobbling was used as a violent warning sign to other victims - but
the fact that pretty much all of the bone fragments contain the same trauma marks, only
leads to more questions.
Now, there are a multitude of theories surrounding the fate of the victims of Sacred Ridge - but
it seems that the answer, whatever it may be - will be forever lost to the mysteries
of time.
Well - there we have it horror fans - our list for the Top 5 Scariest Archaeological
Discoveries - Part 2.
What did you guys think?
Got any other horrifying or intriguing entries of your own?
Let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below.
Before we depart from today’s video though - let’s take a quick look at some of your
more creative comments from over the past few days.
Vatroslav Morbidovic says --
This channel is suppose to be scary, but I don’t feel it.
I mean, music does not fit and host is too cheerful.
Try improving on that atmosfere.
-- What about this.
-- I’m just kidding, but like, horror and humour is my shtick.
After all, you gotta take the rough with the smooth.
Maybe one day I’ll do a video in greyscale.
That’d be pretty spooky, right?
Well, on that note horror fans - that’s all we’ve got time for in today’s video
- cheers for sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, make sure to hit that thumbs up button - as well as
that subscribe bell, and I’ll be seeing you in the next one.
As per usual, I’ve been your horror host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Top 5
Scary Videos - and until next time, you take it easy.