There are many interesting events in history that are hard to believe right away. But not all of
them are hoaxes, no matter how unusual they are. However, thanks to archaeologists and the work
of scientists, the public eventually believed in them. In this video you will see the secrets of
the ancient world that archaeologists were able to prove. Hi, friend. You are on the KirTop channel.
Egyptian mummy got a name
A high-profile event took place within the walls of Stanford University (USA). They
uncovered the secret of an ancient mummy. The exhibit was kept in the museum of the
educational institution for more than 100 years. Initially, it was part of the private collection
of the founder of the university. But during the earthquake in 1906, the sarcophagus was severely
damaged and was no longer exhibited to the general public. The scientists didn't care either.
The discovery happened by accident. This spring, a student of the museum culture course,
Ariel Algaze, was examining the tomb and suddenly noticed an inscription.
Since nothing was mentioned about this text in any documents, the girl decided to do it herself.
It turned out that the woman's name, Senchalantos, was written on the sarcophagus, as well as an
epitaph: "Let this name remain for centuries." Scientists who took up the study of this artifact
managed to establish that the woman died around 30 BC. It is noteworthy that the
inscriptions of that era, which are so well preserved, are almost never found.
Beer flood in London
Many are sure that the event of 1814 is a legend. But no. On October 17,
1814, at the then largest brewery Horse Shoe, one of the wooden vats for storing beer exploded,
the height of which was approximately 10 meters. But that was only the beginning... A powerful jet
of liquid simply demolished the valve of another similar capacity, and then the domino mode
turned on. Almost 2 million liters of beer poured into the streets of London. The force of this
drunken tsunami was so powerful that eight people died. But in fact, there were more victims - a
huge number of people immediately rushed to drink free beer and got alcohol poisoning.
What is known about Egyptian animals Quite often, during excavations,
scientists had to deal with images of animals. This is especially true of excavations that are
being conducted in Egypt. But, despite the fact that the data is quite old,
scientists managed to unravel the mystery of the state of ecology more than 6,000 years
ago. The images that were encountered are animals, they were carved on stone, wood,
on ceremonial accessories. And it turns out that according to the frescoes found on the territory
of Egypt, at that time there were about 37 species of large mammals, but now there are only 8 of them
left. More animals died during droughts. These are varieties of lions, zebras and even wild dogs.
The mystery of the origin of the "Black Death"
The year 1347 marks the outbreak of one of the worst epidemics in European history.
Hundreds of years later, scientists have finally managed to unravel the
mystery of the origin of the Black Death. The bacterium Yersinia pestis was carried
by fleas and lice. It spread rapidly and in subsequent years destroyed up to 60 percent of
the population of Western Eurasia. And even after that, the pathogen repeatedly
caused local outbreaks over several centuries. Scientists have long argued about the origin
of the disease. "Hypotheses based on historical records and genetic data considered a range of
possible places of origin, from Western Eurasia to East Asia." Some scholars are looking for the
roots of the Black Death in the Karakorum region of South Asia. Others consider the Mongol Empire
a possible source of the plague. They suspect that even Genghis Khan could have died from the plague.
However, Maria Spirou and her colleagues took a different path. Archaeologists
discovered graves near Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan a century and a half ago.
Some tombstones point to a previously unknown epidemic that occurred in 1338
and 1339. That is, almost ten years before the arrival of the Black Death in Europe.
Since then, there have been rumors that those who died in the cemeteries of Kara-Zhigach and Burana
could have died from the plague. To clarify this issue, the research team took samples
from seven medieval plague victims. The tissues of the deceased contained Yersinia pestis DNA.
Scientists compared the DNA sequences of the plague genomes from Kyrgyzstan with 203 modern
and 47 historical representatives. Using this data, they recreated the genealogical tree of
the plague and tried to classify the pathogen from Kyrgyzstan in terms of evolution. Result:
The plague DNA from Kyrgyzstan is more original and older than any other Yersinia pestis gene
sequence known to date since the 14th century. DNA samples from Kyrgyzstan
now show that the ancestor of all four plague lines came from the area around Lake Issyk-Kul.
Napoleon's defeat in the battle with the rabbits
It was hardly possible to imagine that the famous Napoleon Bonaparte could suffer such a shameful
loss from a herd of rabbits. In 1807, in July, the commander decided to celebrate the signing
of the Treaty of Tilsit by hunting eared. Before the hunt, he decided to have dinner,
and at that time three thousand rabbits were sitting in cages, waiting for the start of the
hunt. And when it started and the animals were released into the field, they did not run away
in fear, but attacked the hunters, including Bonaparte. The rabbits clung to his clothes,
threw themselves at his feet, and the Corsican had to shamefully flee. And the reason was quite
simple: instead of wild rabbits for hunting, they found tame ones that were not afraid of people.
The fall of the largest city in North America In North America, there was the largest city
of Cahokia, which included more than 120 burial mounds. The city was located in the
floodplain of the Mississippi River, and about 20 thousand people lived in it. At the same time,
for comparison, this is much more than in modern European cities. But there is evidence
that sometimes the population of the city reached 40 thousand people. Oddly enough, but the ancient
settlement existed until the XIII century, and then fell into decay. There is no data on why
this happened, and many scientists believed that it was due to a natural disaster. But recently,
during research, it was revealed that the city was destroyed as a result of severe floods.
600 million gap in the fossil record A fossil smaller than a sesame seed has
revealed the unseen early history of animals on Earth. Previous phylogenetic studies modeling the
evolution of groups of related organisms suggested that the animals that gave rise to sea sponges,
sea anemones, worms, and crustaceans first appeared 600–700 million years ago. But until now,
scientists have not had undeniable fossil evidence for the existence of
any animals before 575 million years ago. A new fossil, apparently the ancestor of a
Precambrian sea sponge, has been discovered in 600-million-year-old rocks in China. Its
hundreds of thousands of microscopic cells are perfectly preserved in phosphate minerals.
The body consists of three vase-like openings, the walls of which are riddled with minute pores,
just like modern sponges, which pump water through the openings to filter out food.
Earlier, tiny fossils containing eight or 16 cells were found in the same rocks,
which were thought to be sponge embryos. The new fossil is more convincing because
it finally shows an adult animal. A rock layer in southern China
called the Doushantuo Formation is known for its microfossils.
Painting in a cave
Archaeological research is still ongoing in Turkey. According to them,
cave paintings were found near the city of Konya, which date back to the Neolithic era. Initially,
this was taken for an ancient map of the world, which depicted a community in Chatal,
which existed here about 9 thousand years ago. But after the fresco was examined, scientists came to
the conclusion that it depicts a volcanic eruption. And if you look geographically,
then this is also confirmed by the presence of two hills, which are located not far from this place.
A pumice stone was also found near this place, the age of which is about 8900 years.
The Roman senator was a horse The story is pretty well known. The horse
of the eccentric Caligula, named Incitat, was so adored by the owner that he had an ivory stall,
purple blankets, a marble stable and a necklace of precious stones. Caligula made his horse a
senator and planned to promote him to consul. Most likely it was not the madness of the ruler,
but his mockery of the then senators, they say, even a horse will cope with their tasks.
Skull with drilled base The Ottoman Empire throughout its existence
waged constant wars, capturing more and more new territories. So, in 1480, the Italian
city of Otranto was captured. The troops of the Ottoman Empire plundered the city, killed the
local population, while choosing mainly the adult male population. In total, no more than 800 people
were left alive in the city, who were offered to convert to Islam in exchange for freedom.
But the people refused, and they were executed. After 300 years, these residents were canonized
as saints and were considered the patrons of the city. But after, during the excavations,
scientists were attracted by one skull, in which about 16 holes were drilled.
Scientists have suggested that the holes were not the cause of death, but were drilled after the
person had already died in order to extract bone powder. And it was used as a medicine.
Toilet disaster in the Roman Empire
More than eight hundred years ago, when the Holy Roman Empire was not yet Germany, a story happened
there that would have been very comical if not for the dead people. In 1184, King Henry VI of Germany
was making a detour of the Erfurt region and decided to meet nobles from all over the Holy
Empire at the Petersberg citadel there. There were too many guests and on July 25, 1184, the second
floor of the building simply could not stand it and collapsed - the nobility fell through the
first floor into the basement, which was just a restroom. About 60 people drowned in faeces. King
Henry escaped by accident - he was not standing on a wooden floor, but in a niche with a stone floor.
Mystery of ancient burials in Great Britain
In medieval Europe, rich and noble people were sometimes buried as if they had just fallen
asleep, that is, not in coffins or sarcophaguses, but in beds. At the same time, scientists have
long puzzled over how and why the tradition of “bed” burial spread from Eastern Europe to
Britain. A recent study provides answers to these and other questions. It showed that burial in
beds in England began in the seventh century AD, and this rite was considered exclusively female.
That is, men were buried in ordinary coffins. The tradition arose with the arrival of Christianity
in this territory. Over time, it became a common ritual throughout Europe. But how
is burial on a bed related to Christianity in general, and why did women spread this rite?
In a recent study published in Medieval Archeology,
scientists analyzed 72 "bed" burials in different European countries, from Slovakia to England. At
the same time, they immediately noticed that in England only women were buried in beds.
This prompted them to conclude that bed burial practice began to spread in Europe at a time
when women were actively moving around Europe. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD,
Christianity fell out of favor. England at that time generally became almost completely pagan.
The situation changed in the seventh century, when the church actively began the conversion
of non-Christian regions to Christianity. To this end, Pope Gregory I took various measures,
in particular, he encouraged marriages between Christian women and non-Christian men. Moreover,
Christian women tried to marry men who had a high status in society. They eventually
converted their husbands to Christianity, and thus promoted their religion in society.
In search of husbands from among the elite, they went to different countries of Europe,
including England. At the same time, women also brought funeral rites. Therefore,
such burials eventually became associated in England with femininity and Christianity.
So why did Christians between the 5th and 7th centuries bury people in beds rather than
coffins? It should be understood that in those days not everyone had wooden beds.
This furniture was a luxury and spoke of the status of a person. Many people slept simply on
straw mattresses. Christian women tried to look for wealthy husbands from the elite of society.
In addition, death itself in the Christian religion is not considered the final end
for a person. Therefore, Christians equated it with eternal sleep. That is,
people thus emphasized their attitude to death. However, the tradition of burying people in bed
did not last long. Subsequently, coffins began to be used for this.
I will note that this is far from the most unusual rite. For example,
in China it was customary to bury his servants and warriors alive along with the royal person.
Microscopy reveals ancient secrets
By tiny details, scientists recreate the life of long-disappeared states. Photomicrographs
of archaeological artifacts showcase their hidden beauty and reveal ancient secrets of
how they were created and used in ancient times. Findings of ancient mummies, long-vanished cities,
ancient tools, jewelry and other objects help archaeologists piece together the past of mankind,
while imaging technologies allow research that does not damage fragile materials.
With the help of microscopy, X-rays, magnetic radiometry, infrared and ultraviolet light,
scientists can access hidden evidence about the life of ancient people.
For example, 17th-century Persian textiles contain fibers of silk thread that were
individually wrapped in thin strips of metal. In another striking image on a ceramic tile
from Gordion, dating from the first half of the 6th century BC. basalt inclusions are
visible. According to Marie-Claude Boileau, director of the exhibition, these inclusions
could tell archaeologists whether the shingles were made locally or brought from other areas.
Based on this information, it is possible to draw up historical trade routes.
An analysis of the light spots on the gold bead of Ur's Queen Puabi's cloak
is expected to allow researchers to trace the geological origin of the gold.
Molasses flood in Boston And on January 15, 1919, in the American
town of Boston (Massachusetts), molasses (a sweet, viscous substance made from sugar cane or sugar
beet) spilled over the city. It happened on the premises of the Purity Distilling Company, at its
molasses processing plant. A huge reservoir, 15 meters high and 27 meters in diameter,
exploded and 10 million liters of molasses poured into the city. The substance flooded neighboring
streets, killed 21 people and several horses, and another 150 were injured to varying degrees.
There is evidence that the sweet wave was almost 8 meters high and spilled at a speed of 56 km / h.
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