From skulls made out of crystal to screaming death whistles, here are 10 of the strangest
artifacts ever!!
10.
Ubaid Lizardmen
For people who love conspiracy theories, it’s a common belief that the world was shaped
by ancient aliens.
Or for people who watch Ancient Aliens on the History Channel which is all kinds of
confusing for people who don’t know much about history!!
Stories exist of lizards who secretly control our society and if the Ubaid Lizardmen are
anything to go by, maybe they have a point!
They were discovered in 1919 at an archaeological mound known as Al Ubaid in the historic region
of Mesopotamia, Iraq.
The Ubaidians can be traced back to between 4000 and 5500 BC and predate existing ideas
of civilization.
They built villages and towns and were mostly farmers.
It seems like they also had a thing for lizards!!
Discovered at the archaeological site, were a series of figurines depicting lizard-like
humans in a variety of poses.
The figures were both male and female.
Not only were they wearing human armour, but were also doing things like breastfeeding
babies.
Normal for human mother’s but a little disconcerting when a lizard does it!!
Some think this is evidence of unearthly creatures who came from the skies to teach humans modern
technology.
Others connect the finding to ancient representations of snakes and say that this is something similar.
The truth is in the eye of the beholder but one thing’s for sure, those figurines are
weird, wild stuff!
And without more context, the story remains a mystery.
9.
Giant Balls of Costa Rica
The United Fruit Company is mainly associated with fruit of course.
And exploitation, but that’s for another video.
In the 1930’s they made a major archaeological discovery while going about their business
in Costa Rica.
They stumbled across some stone spheres thought to be hand-crafted by ancient civilizations…
the giant balls of Costa Rica!
Made from something called granodiorite, which is very tough stuff… they range in size
and weight.
They can be a few centimetres long or up to 2m (over 6 feet) in diameter.
There are over 300 of them in certain areas of the country and they can weigh up to 16
tons.
So you wouldn’t want one rolling over your foot!
As for what they represent, the jury’s still out.
It’s believed they were made by the descendants of natives who were in Costa Rica in the 1500s,
around the time of the Spanish Conquest.
The balls have even been connected to Atlantis.
However, some people believe they were formed naturally like spheres in Bowling Ball Beach,
California and that maybe ancient civilizations used them for religious purposes.
The sad thing is that over the years, the spheres have been removed from their original
locations to be used for things like display pieces and of course lawn ornaments because
people are like that!
So it is hard to trace where these stone spheres originated and/or why they were made.
8.
The Genetic Disc
This stone disc illustrates the development of a human fetus.
There’s just one problem… it’s over 6000 years old and in theory no-one was supposed
to know what the inside of a uterus looked like back then!
This prehistoric oddity is called the Genetic Disc and was found in Colombia.
It’s 27 cm (nearly 1 foot long) in diameter and weighs 2 kg.
It was thought to come from the city of Sutatausa though others claim it originated from under
the ground in a 200 km-long network running from the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca to the
jungles beyond.
Either way the people who made it are still a mystery to history and were very advanced
for the time.
The disc is made of lydite stone which has an unusual composition.
Lydite or touchstone is hard like granite but composed of layers which crack easily
if you try and cut into it.
That’s what makes the markings on the disc so strange.
It’s presumed it was created by a technique unknown to today’s technology.
The disc is the original circle of life and they even identified the purpose of sperm
thousands of years before its official definition!
Who these people were, and what technology and abilities they had has been lost.
And now for the scariest artifact ever, but first if you are new here welcome, and be
sure to subscribe before you leave!!
7.
Aztec Death Whistle
These artifacts were found in an Aztec temple dedicated to the wind god.
At first, the clay, skull shaped items were thought to be little ornaments but many years
later, archaeologists figured out that not only did they look creepy, but they sounded
creepy too!!!
They were also found in the hands of a sacrificed male skeleton so that might give you a hint
of what they were for…
You’re not supposed to like the sound of the Aztec Death Whistle.
It’s thought to have been used for warfare and while making sacrifices so when the whistle
blew, it was never a comforting sound.
The whistle has nothing to do with music and is pretty terrifying.
Just imagine, about to go to war with the aztecs when you hear thousands of people screaming
like this:
Tribes would use this whistle as psychological warfare to frighten their enemies.
If you blow several at the same time, they would be pretty effective.
Also the frequency of the whistle has a strange effect on your brain due to the vibrations
and it is believed that this can alter people’s state of consciousness and is supposed to
put people in a trance.
The Aztecs and other pre-columbian civilizations had many noise making devices.
Some were destructive, and others were used for healing ceremonies.
Several archaeologists have been focusing on the music and the instruments they made
to help bring these civilizations back to life.
After all, ancient cultures were not deaf and mute!!
6.
Baghdad Battery
These days you can just go to a store and buy a pack of tiny batteries, even though
everyone complains they get more and more expensive every year.
You’d have trouble doing that with these guys!
The Baghdad Batteries are a true mystery from ancient times and suggest that civilizations
back then came up with many things, thousands of years before we thought it was invented.
German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig found these so-called batteries in 1938 just before World
War II broke out.
They were 13 cm (5 inches) long and from the outside look like a clay jar.
Inside the jar is an iron rod and around that a copper cylinder.
The stopper was made from asphalt and traces of acidic corrosion, which led Konig to think
these were items of ancient electrical equipment!
The exact nature of the “batteries” isn’t clear.
In fact some argue about whether they’re batteries at all.
They appear to date from 200 BC which is the Parthian era but the design suggests the later
Sasanian era.
Explanations vary from a way to electroplate stuff like jewellery to an electrified statue.
There’s a theory that a load of the batteries were placed inside a religious statue so when
people touched it they got a mild shock and would be fearful of the statue’s power.
That’s a way to gain respect!
If it’s true, whoever made it was pretty clever and sneaky.
But if it wasn’t used for the statue, then what did they need electricity for in 200
BC anyway??
5.
Ancient Model Aircraft
Ancient relics from past civilizations often show things like flying carpets or winged
chariots.
So it makes sense some people think there were real flying machines whizzing about the
sky thousands of years ago.
Apparently these artifacts are real evidence of this.
They’re called the Saqqara Bird and the Tolima or Quimbaya artifacts respectively.
The Saqqara Bird was excavated in Egypt in 1898.
It’s made of sycamore and has a wingspan of 180mm (7 ins).
The Bird is thought to have been crafted in approx.
200 BCE and used as the masthead on a ship, though there are those who think it was better
suited to the air than for the sea.
In fact they believe it’s a miniature replica of a glider used in ancient times!
This idea is widely disputed because in all honesty if you built that thing full size
it would look crazy and wouldn’t be able to fly.
People have tried!
Which brings us to the Tolima or Quimbaya artifacts.
They’re small, golden charm-like objects which were found in Colombia.
They’re from around 1000 CE and many similar objects can be seen in the Gold Museum in
Bogota.
Like the Saqqara Bird they’re also believed to be mini airplanes.
Archaeologist believe they are early representations of animals and not supposed to be interpreted
as aircraft.
4.
Crystal Skulls
Indiana Jones made crystal skulls famous.
But like the Arc of the Covenant or the Holy Grail there’s a real legend behind these
fascinating artifacts!
Question is, are they genuine pieces from ancient history or just a nice little ornament
for your mantelpiece?
A lot of them are produced even today but there’s a particular interest in a group
of around a dozen skulls that aren’t like the others.
They can be normal human size or smaller and are either transparent crystal or cloudy quartz.
Some experts think they come from ancient Mesoamerica though of course, you guessed
it, others believe they’re from an alien civilization!
One theory goes that the skulls are ancient computers that can record the lives of people
who go near them.
However the presence of skulls in Aztec art as a symbol of regeneration leads people to
suspect it’s more to do with symbolism than supernatural powers.
When they were checked out under an electron microscope it seemed these skulls had been
carved using more recent techniques, dating from the 19th century.
Stranger still, they may have come from Germany, far from their American origins and might
actually be a hoax!
Because they’re so freaky looking it’s easy to assume there’s something odd about
them.
So far it has been hard to say.
3.
Voynich Manuscript
Perhaps no artifact is as strange as the Voynich Manuscript.
Found by a rare book dealer in 1912, after who it was named, it stunned experts at first
because it was full of strange images and descriptions that appeared to be deeply weird
and alien.
The text was unusual as if it were written in code, and it had many illustrations of
naked ladies and plant life that doesn’t exist.
Wild stuff right?
Could it have been a record of something extraterrestrial from way back in history?
Researchers nixed that theory by revealing it was actually a copy of an ancient text
that was produced in the Middle Ages.
The language in the book was made up of Latin abbreviations of medical words, relating to
women’s health.
There were also pictures of stuff like people holding magnets in the bath.
Might sound strange, but magnets were seen as a way to promote good health in the 15th
century.
Based on this, writer and researcher Nicholas Gibbs concluded the Voynich Manuscript was
a knock off of an old guide to medicine aimed at female patients.
But the results are inconclusive.
To learn more about mysterious books, be sure to check out my video on the Most Mysterious
Books in the World!!
2.
Shroud of Turin
One of the most famous artifacts in history is Shroud of Turin.
It’s believed to be the cloth Jesus Christ was wrapped in when he was brought down from
the cross.
This sheet of linen seems to show the impression of a man and many consider it proof of the
Son of God.
But is it really him, and is the cloth really that old?
This is a debate that’s been going on for centuries.
The cloth is 4.4m (14 ft) x 1.1m (4 ft) and shows a bearded man about 1.75m tall (5’7).
He’s got various wounds and the linen is stained red, presumably from blood.
The nature of the wounds look like crucifixion marks as seen on the wrists, his side, forehead,
torso and legs.
The Roman Catholic Church has watched over the Shroud since 1983.
Before that, it was the property of the royal House of Savoy who owned it for centuries.
It’s found in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Turin, Italy but
don’t expect to see it anytime soon.
It is only on display on special occasion and it looks like you’ll have to wait till
2025 for your next opportunity!
How the image was created is not known.
Some believe it’s like a photographic process because of the way the image appeared when
photographed in 1898.
To the photographer’s surprise when he looked at the negative the image seemed positive,
which was really strange and spooky.
What’s also strange is when it was carbon dated the Shroud was judged as only 728 years
old.
So who was this man and where did this cloth come from??
1.
Antikythera Mechanism
We know that when computers were first invented they were huge.
But somehow, the ancients were able to make a small computer thousands of years ago!!
Believed to come from Ancient Greece, it’s an early - very early! - example of an analog
computer like a slide rule and is made from bronze and wood.
It was discovered in 1900 inside a Roman shipwreck off the coast of the island of Kythera in
the Aegean Sea.
That’s where it got its name of ‘Antikythera’, meaning ‘opposite Kythera’.
30 bronze gears are contained in a wooden box and it took a long time for the find to
be recognized as significant.
Divers were more interested in all the Roman coins and clay pottery found in the shipwreck.
By the 1970s in-depth studies were taking place about what the Antikythera Mechanism
was.
Legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau recovered some of the missing pieces giving experts
even more insight into the device.
But what did it actually do?
The 3400 Greek characters inscribed on the Mechanism’s dials and rings show it’s
supposed to be an astronomical clock, enabling the user to calculate things like lunar cycles
and planetary movements.
Some believe you can also use it to predict the future.
Thanks for watching!What did you think was the strangest artifact??
Let us know in the comments!!
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Byeee!