10: Cave Beer Which came first, beer or
bread?? Archaeologists with Stanford University are flipping everything we know about beer on
its head. A research team led by Professor Li Liu has found evidence of the earliest beer brewers
ever. If you've ever wondered which came first, beer or bread, we may finally have found out.
The discovery comes from a cave in Israel, where the team discovered beer brewing innovations that
actually predate cultivated cereal. This might not sound like a big deal, but it absolutely is.
Beer predates cereal in the Near East by several thousand years.
Beer may have also been one of the main motivating factors for making cereals later on.
Let's look at the beer masters themselves. Evidence shows that the Natufian people,
hunter-gatherers who lived in the eastern Mediterranean thousands of years ago, 13,000
years ago to be exact, were making homemade beer in the Raqefet Cave. The researchers found stone
mortars and residue from alcohol. They hadn't even been looking for alcohol when they analyzed the
mortars, but found it anyway. Li Liu says this is the oldest record of humans making alcohol
ever. They likely produced it in the cave for ritual feasts while venerating their dead.
This is in stark contrast to previous assumptions that beer was a result of agricultural surplus.
In other words, beer came around at the same time agriculture was invented. In reality, people
living in caves in Israel figured out how to brew it themselves before they even knew how to plant
a crop. But this beer wasn't what we drink today. It was brewed by turning starch from barley into
malt, then mashing the dried malt and leaving it to ferment. Would you try this ancient concoction?
Let me know in the comments below!! 9: Tunnels Under Stonehenge
Stonehenge may be one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world,
but there is an even bigger Neolithic site hidden underneath it! This newly found site is a vast
expanse of pits and potential underground tunnels. At least 20 pits were found only
two miles (3.2 km) from Stonehenge, with each of them about 16 feet deep. They form a half circle
with a diameter roughly one mile (1.6 km) wide. It looks like a giant crescent moon. Yet nobody is
really sure what these giant pits were used for. They partially encircle a different Neolithic site
called the Durrington Walls, almost like an eye with walls in its center. In fact, this entire
area is scarred with ancient monuments, random pits, and old structures of both stone and wood.
Some even believe all these ritualistic centers were connected via a secret underground system
of tunnels. There were almost definitely roads or avenues leading from one place to another,
potentially linking settlements to what the locals thought were great places of power.
But archaeologists are still working to create a clear picture of what the area looked like
over 5000 years ago. These new holes are so mysterious because they seem to predate the
other major monuments and are so far nothing except empty pits in the ground. Could they
have once been part of a mysterious underground complex? There is a reason humans have been drawn
to Stonehenge practically since the dawn of time, and we are still learning why that is.
8: The Importance of Jade Gold may be the most precious metal on the planet
today, but not so long ago it wasn't as highly valued or considered the standard of wealth.
In the world of the Maya, gold wasn't nearly as valuable as a semiprecious stone known as jade.
Jade is a green stone produced primarily in Guatemala and Myanmar in Asia. Jade is
highly valued and coveted in China today, but in ancient times it seems like everyone revered jade!
When the Maya ruled Mexico, Belize, and huge parts of Guatemala, they loved the stone. They
used jade to carve into ornamental stones, to make figurines, to decorate their weapons and jewelry,
and even as inlays for their teeth. But why jade was so important to the
Maya has been a bit of a mystery. We know that it had spiritual and religious significance.
Some experts say it was the green color of jade that made the Maya associate it with both water
and vegetation, the two most important things in their civilization. They also associated jade with
life and death. When a person died, their families would purchase beads of jade to put inside their
mouths. Maya royalty would have huge slabs of jade put in their mouths on their deathbed,
used for absorbing their spirit. In the end, all we really know is
that jade was hugely important to these people up until they vanished around the year 800. The
Maya fascination with jade makes it one of the most mysterious minerals from the ancient world.
7: Gateway to Pan Researchers with the
Zinman Institute of Archaeology discovered one of the most mysterious artifacts ever,
a bronze mask that represents Pan, the god of the shepherds. It was discovered at the old
Roman city of Hippos, located today in northern Israel. The god Pan was half man and half goat,
the master of music, merriment, and sometimes mischief. Researchers were unable to figure
out if the bronze mask was used artistically as some kind of decoration or if it was used in an
unknown ceremony. They thought that by excavating the large building in which it was discovered,
they would get more information on the mask. At first, researchers thought the building was
part of a city fortification. But over about a year of excavating, they discovered that the
building was actually part of a larger complex with a huge gateway out front.
It dates back at least to the reign of Emperor Hadrian, from 117 to 138 AD.
We’re now pretty sure that the mask was fixed to a wall over an altar inside a compound connected
to the gateway. But now researchers are trying to figure out what the gateway was used for.
The monumental gate structure leads into something that may have been a sanctuary in honor of Pan.
Perhaps in honor of Pan and other rustic gods that we don't even remember today.
2000 years ago, worshipping Pan almost always involved drinking to excess, performing some
kind of sacrifice, and participating in some very adult rituals that usually meant everyone
needed to be naked. But because even 2000 years ago this kind of behavior was frowned upon,
the worship needed to take place outside the main city in a cave or a natural setting.
Based on the mask and the huge gateway, it's safe to say archaeologists accidentally found
Pan’s sanctuary, where some of the naughtiest ancient rituals in Rome were likely performed.
6: Mystery of the Varna Gold The Varna gold is one of the
most mysterious caches of treasure ever discovered. It was found in prehistoric
graves in Bulgaria and is direct evidence of the first social hierarchy known to humankind.
The problem is that nobody seems to know what caused this great civilization to suddenly vanish.
The gold was found in the Varna Necropolis and is in fact the oldest gold treasure in the world.
It dates back to roughly 4600 BC, with the necropolis itself being discovered by
accident in 1972 by an excavator. In fact, this place is only about 30% excavated even today.
And already, 294 graves have been found, with most of them containing examples of highly
advanced metallurgy. Mostly, gold and copper pottery, along with flint and obsidian tools.
Whoever these people were, scientists refer to them now as the Chalcolithic Varna Culture.
Let me try to convey just how much gold was found here. Many of the graves were empty
of human remains but piled to the brim with artifacts. One grave in particular, Grave 43,
contained more gold than has been found throughout the rest of the world for that time period.
Another mystery is trying to figure out where these people even obtained all of the gold.
They must have had trade relations with distant lands, but we don't yet know which ones. We also
don't know where these people went, as all archaeological evidence of them vanished in
4200 BC, or over 6000 years ago. 5: Mysterious Burial Artifacts
In December of 2014, archaeologists discovered a pit in Karnak, Egypt. After spending about
a month excavating it, they pulled out 38 mysterious objects. Most of them were ancient
statues. They included at least 14 figurines of Osiris, 3 statues of baboons meant to represent
the god Thoth, two statues of the goddess Mut, and a massive statue of the god Ptah.
There were also some other statues and figurines found, including a small collection of sphinxes.
The mystery quickly became this: why were so many statues buried in a giant pit?
The ancient Egyptians buried the statues of their gods over 2000 years ago as if they were
burying actual people. The biggest and most impressive is definitely the statue of Ptah,
the god of craftsmen and sculptors. And seeing as the pit was found next to the temple
of Ptah at Karnak, this isn't a huge surprise. But here's the thing. Each artifact was buried
in a very specific order. Then at the end, the massive statue of Ptah was brought in and put over
the smaller artifacts. A wooden effigy was placed beside it, some smaller artifacts were distributed
around that, and everything was filled in with dirt. On the top of the dirt pile was placed
a massive limestone sphinx. We know how this happened, researchers just can't figure out why.
4: Ancient Cannabis Traces of extremely potent marijuana were
identified in wooden artifacts buried alongside people who lived on the great Silk Road 2500 years
ago. This discovery marks the earliest evidence of humans consuming cannabis as a recreational drug.
These artifacts are wooden bowls, excavated from graves at the Jirzankal Cemetery.
Inside the bowls, archaeologists found small stones that had at one point been
exposed to high heat. They were likely used as braziers for burning incense and plant matter.
And by plant matter, I’m referring to cannabis. Exactly 9 out of 10 braziers showed trace cannabis
residue. The big difference between the residue found here and cannabis residue
found in other parts of the ancient world is THC. There have been plenty of cannabis discoveries
that date back further than 2500 years, but these almost always involved using cannabis for clothing
or rope. The cannabis at the Jirzankal Cemetery was found to contain extremely high levels of THC,
the actual compound that causes the mind-altering effects of weed. According to National Geographic,
this suggests the people living in this part of Central Asia were cultivating specific strains
of cannabis just for getting high. In other words, these people were a bunch of ancient “herbalists”
of a sort, maybe even the first in the world. 3: Roman Sarcophagus in England
An extremely rare sarcophagus from the days of Roman occupation has been unearthed in London.
The stone sarcophagus is one of only three that has ever been found in the English capital.
It's to be put on display at the Museum in London, along with the remains of a woman from 1600 years
ago who was found buried inside.What makes the discovery of the sarcophagus and the mummy
even more mysterious, is that she was found with the bones of a baby, a chunk of gold,
and a gemstone. The gemstone was carved with an image of a satyr, a type of human/goat
hybrid that was popular in Greek mythology. Researchers believe the woman was in her
30s when she died. She was buried sometime between 86 and 328 AD. At this point, you're
probably wondering where a Roman sarcophagus could possibly be found in modern London.
It was discovered at a new building site in July of 2017, in part of what was once a Roman burial
ground. It was a few feet underground with its lid already pried partly open.
Unfortunately, no other sarcophagi have been found just yet and nobody knows who
this woman was in life. Judging by her impressive collection of jewelry, she was probably of some
significance in Roman London. 2: Stonehenge Dog Tooth
A tooth was discovered near Stonehenge. The tooth doesn't actually have much to do with the monument
itself, seeing as it belonged to a dog. Experts are saying the tooth is direct evidence of the
earliest journey taken by people and their canine friends into England. It also suggests that people
were visiting the very place where Stonehenge stands now 2000 years before the monument was ever
built. The shape and size of the tooth suggests that it came from a domestic dog. Archaeologist
David Jacques says the pup travelled at least 250 miles from York with its owner just to reach
Wiltshire, where Stonehenge is. But again, this has nothing to do with the henge itself and rather
with the area. David says the fact that a group of people traveling with pet dogs came so far just to
reach this specific place shows how important it was. But still, nobody can figure out why.
The discovery also shows a lot about ancient dogs and their relationship with humans.
A collection of bones found near the dog tooth suggests it ate a pretty good diet of salmon,
wild pig, and red deer. This means it must have been eating whatever it's humans were eating.
Even 7000 years before today, people didn’t get far without taking their dogs with them.
1: Neanderthal Cave Structures
A collection of mysterious structures has been found deep inside of a French cave.
Archaeologists believe they could be some of the earliest human building projects ever, from
175,000 years ago. However, the mystery here is that nobody is quite sure what their purpose was.
Neanderthals were living in this French cave over 100,000 years before modern humans ever
set foot in Europe. These cave-dwelling hominids constructed something from over 400 stalagmites.
They pulled them from the ceiling of the cave and then stacked them on top of one another to
create a basic set of walls on the floor. Some of these walls were built four layers deep, some were
propped up with stalagmites wedged vertically, and the biggest wall was about 21 feet across.
Marie Soressi from Leiden University says this is completely unique in comparison to anything
we've ever discovered about our Neanderthal ancestors before. She also went on to say that
she finds the constructs extremely mysterious. One of the walls shows signs of fire damage,
suggesting the Neanderthals may have been trying to build fireplaces
inside the walls. Whatever in the world they were trying to do, this is now the
best evidence of the first construction project ever undertaken by human hands.
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