10: Mysterious Egyptian Necropolis In September of 2018, over 800 tombs were
discovered at a relatively unknown archaeological site in Egypt.
This ancient necropolis has stood here for 4000 years in the small village of Lisht,
located in the Sahara Desert.
Archaeologists couldn't believe their luck when they uncovered approximately 802 tombs
sandwiched between two pyramids.
Since the discovery was made in the Saqqara region, the whole site is now known simply
as Saqqara.
It proved to be the biggest find in Egypt in decades.
The necropolis can be divided into two parts.
The first consists of a patio leading into a corridor with a large, vaulted ceiling covered
in hieroglyphics.
This part ends in a hallway with a small room decorated with mysterious inscriptions.
This was probably some kind of ancient temple.
The second part is where the burials were found.
It's a huge courtyard housing a funeral chamber, a small room with an unknown function, and
the hundreds of tombs.
As you can imagine, excavating over 800 tombs has been quite a chore for Egyptologists.
But they've been finding some very interesting artifacts.
In one of the latest excavations, in which experts dug through 22 burial shafts, they
found a lost book of the dead.
The book wasn't used to summon evil spirits or contact the devil, but rather to help guide
souls separated from their bodies through the underworld.
The book was written on ancient papyrus, so it’s really more of a scroll.
It's 13 feet (3.96 m) in length and was probably used by Egyptian priests.
It was like a guidebook for them to help usher the dead safely to their ultimate destination
in the afterlife.
For the ancient Egyptians, death was just a temporary interruption and once you died
you would continue on living in the afterlife.
Traveling through the underworld was a difficult journey, and your spirit would have to face
the gods along with frightening creatures and gatekeepers to reach Osiris and the Hall
of Final Judgment.
Here you would face 42 divine judges, and the Book of the Dead would help you with the
correct words to use for each one, helping you to pass on even if you weren’t such
a good person during your lifetime!
9: Secret Underground City Noushabad is a secret subterranean city built
beneath a small town in Iran.
The earliest parts of the underground city were constructed between 224 and 651 AD, during
the Sassanid period.
This was before the Islamic era, though evidence suggests people lived here all the way until
the Qajar dynasty which ended in 1925!
Archaeologists investigating the mysterious underground structure have found all kinds
of secrets.
They discovered human remains, instruments carved of stone, and artifacts from several
different periods in history.
They also identified three primary levels, with the city reaching a maximum depth of
around 50 feet (15.2 m).
In total, the city is 3.7 acres (1.49 hectares), all connected by tunnels and chambers.
There was a ventilation system, allowing air to flow freely through the structure.
It could also be accessed through wells hidden in people’s houses.
In fact, Noushabad was so well hidden that it was only rediscovered recently.
A resident of the town above found an access tunnel while digging a sewage ditch.
Archaeologists are now trying to figure out what the place was actually used for.
Why build a city beneath a perfectly good city on the surface?
They think it might have been to protect townsfolk in the event of an invasion.
When an enemy force would descend upon the town, people could sneak through the wells
into the subterranean city and live there for as long as they needed.
8: The Etruscan Pyramid We all know about the pyramids in Egypt and
South America, but did you know there's also a mysterious pyramid in Italy?
It's called the Etruscan Pyramid of Bomarzo, located in Soriano nel Cimino.
It's hidden in the thick Italian forest, hiding the secrets of the ancient Etruscans and their
sacrificial rituals.
It's hard to believe that such a megalithic structure could go missing in the 20th century,
and yet it did.
The pyramid was hidden under vegetation at the bottom of a deep canyon until the 1990s
when it was found by a pair of archaeologists.
But after they checked the structure out, they left and it was lost yet again until
2008.
That was when a local resident rediscovered the monument in Italy’s Park of Monsters.
It was still at the bottom of the canyon, still hidden in vegetation.
The locals had just simply forgotten it was there.
The pyramid is still such an obscure archaeological site that the only way to reach it is by bushwhacking
through unmarked trails.
From what little research has been done on it, archaeologists say it dates back to the
7th century BC.
It was used by the Etruscans, possibly for divination.
The pyramid was really an altar, and the way it worked is quite disgusting.
A soothsayer would butcher an animal on the altar, then inspect its entrails as a way
of looking into the future.
This was around 3000 years ago, before the Roman Empire.
But there are secrets still waiting to be uncovered here.
The entire area around the pyramid was likely a major site for the Etruscans.
There are mysterious ruins, a tower crumbling to pieces, undiscovered tombs, and some even
say treasure.
7: The Last Witch’s Grave Archaeologists believe they have discovered
the very last known grave of a witch.
The discovery comes from Scotland, with researchers uncovering the burial of Lillias Adie.
She was accused of being a witch and was killed in prison, then buried deep in the mud and
sealed underground with a massive, flat stone.
It was all part of a tradition meant to keep powerful witches from rising from their graves.
Ancient Scots believed the only way to keep a witch dead was to pin her down with a heavy
stone so that she couldn't reanimate herself.
The burial isn't as old as you might hope.
Lillias Adie was accused of being a witch in the year 1704.
One of her neighbors, a man named Jean Nelson, accused her of bringing him ill health.
She was summoned before the local ministers and elders, who coaxed her into confessing
that she was practicing witchcraft.
She admitted to meeting the devil in a cornfield and taking him as a lover.
She probably thought that by confessing, they'd let her go.
But instead, they locked her up in prison and killed her.
In the 19th century, her grave was robbed.
Locals knew where she was buried and robbed the grave to make some money.
They sent her bones into the black antiques market, and her skeleton has never been put
back together.
Her skull was at one point sold to St. Andrews University Museum – but it went missing
and has never been found.
6: The Giants’ Graves The Giants’ Graves is the name of a collection
of massive tombs scattered throughout Sardinia, built by the Nuragic civilization of the Bronze
Age around 1800 BC.
Up until the first millennium BC, Sardinia was inhabited by just one cultural group of
Nuragic.
But by the time the Romans came along, they had split into many different tribes and were
fighting for land.
Little is known about them today, except that they were likely a theocracy.
Their entire system of government was probably controlled by priests instead of kings.
These priests were dedicated to two main deities, the Mother Goddess and the God-Father.
From between 1800 and 1150 BC, the Nuragic constructed over 800 Giants’ Graves – but
archaeologists don't know why.
They were burials, made from massive blocks to resemble the head of a bull.
But throughout all modern excavations, the experts haven't found any evidence of settlements
with the graves.
Nobody knows why they made their tombs so far in the middle of nowhere, but suggest
they may have been used for religious pilgrimages.
They may have also been built as territorial boundaries.
Nobody knows for certain.
Whatever secrets the Nuragic had, died with them 2000 years ago.
5: Range Creek Ranch Waldo Wilcox had a large chunk of land over
4200 acres (1699 hectares) in size in a remote Utah valley.
His entire ranch went on for 12 miles (19.31 km) along Range Creek, and included rocky
cliffs over 10,000 feet (3048 m) tall.
3 generations of Wilcox had farmed the land, always ignoring the strange Indian ruins all
across their property.
Throughout his life as a rancher, Waldo discovered the remains of an ancient civilization.
But he cared more about his cows than about archaeology.
Arrowheads, ceramic shards, stone tools, and even human bones littered his ranchlands.
There were even pithouses dug hundreds of years ago with their roofs caved in.
He and his family kept silent about the stuff they found, and even did their best to remove
some of it.
In 2001, Waldo sold his property for $2.5 million.
It was then transferred to the State of Utah, and archaeologists were called in to investigate.
They found an unbelievable trove of treasure.
It turned out to be one of the best-preserved sites in the US since nobody had been able
to pick it over for the past hundred years.
They even discovered granaries filled with corn cobs over 1000 years old.
In total, archaeologists have found 300 sites related to the Fremont people.
According to the Smithsonian, the Fremont lived in Utah from the year 200 to the year
1300.
Just like their neighbors the Anasazi, they vanished 700 years ago and nobody knows where
they went.
If you found something cool on your property would you share or keep it a secret?
Let me know in the comments below!
And be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already because we have lots more videos about
amazing discoveries coming up!
4: The Crypt of the Grail An amateur archaeologist in England believes
the Holy Grail is located in a secret underground lair.
He says there is an actual grail crypt hidden beneath a river in Hounslow, London.
If true, this would be a remarkable discovery.
The first mention of the Holy Grail came in the 12th century, described by a French writer
named Dan Brownesque.
Ever since, the mythology around the grail has become a thing of its own.
People now believe the Holy Grail was the very cup that Jesus Christ drank from during
the Last Supper, and that Joseph of Arimathea used to collect his blood when he was crucified.
And yet nobody knows if the artifact is real, or where it may be hiding.
But there are plenty of theories.
Barrie-Jon Bower says a secret chamber beneath the river is holding the grail.
He’s been trying to convince the City of London to drain the river and allow him to
poke around on its bottom for the secret entrance.
He believes not only the Holy Grail is hidden here, but other treasures brought back from
The Crusades hundreds of years ago.
He doesn't have much proof of this, other than that he feels the riverbed is hollow.
It could prove to be a massive discovery if he actually gets the city to let him look.
Or it could be absolutely nothing.
What do you think?
I’d love to hear your theories in the comments!
3: The Capital of the Mongol Empire In the year 1220, Genghis Khan founded the
great city of Karakorum.
It acted as the capital of the Mongol Empire throughout the 13th century and is still standing
today.
It can be found in central Mongolia, a place where archaeologists don't spend much time.
Because of this, the city still holds many secrets and mysteries.
It all started when Genghis Khan established a large camp here.
He was the commander of all the nomadic tribes in Mongolia, and recognized his camp as a
great strategic location.
But after his death seven years later, his son Ogodei took over and really stepped things
up.
He commissioned a palace, invited traders from China and the Middle East, and helped
to create a more prosperous Silk Road.
The khans that followed kept the tradition, building the city until it took up 1149 acres
(465 hectares).
But the Mongolians never were very good at staying still.
They relied on captives from other civilizations to make their city work.
And yet 40% of the land inside was empty because the Mongolians were always out traveling.
By the 15th century, they had gotten fed up with city life and went back to being nomads.
The ruins remained undiscovered until 1889.
But only recently have archaeologists been able to put together the bigger picture, seeing
the rise and fall of the greatest Mongol city in clear detail.
2: Glamis Castle Glamis Castle is one of the most haunted places
in Great Britain, and an archaeological site with some spooky secrets.
In the 19th century, locals believe the castle was filled with secret passages, prisoners
were brought inside and never released, and that there were mysterious initiation rites
happening behind closed doors.
They also reported seeing shadowy figures on the ramparts late at night that they took
for spirits.
Whatever was happening inside Glamis Castle, it really was a secret.
Only three people were allowed inside at a time.
This was the Earl, the Earl’s heir, and the manager of the estate.
Everyone knew the Earl was hiding something, they just didn't know what that something
was.
Secrets are just a part of this castle’s history.
Ghosts have allegedly been haunting it since 1376.
In 1537 Lady Janet allegedly poisoned her husband and was convicted of witchcraft.
She was burned at the stake and her spirit is said to still haunt the castle's clock
tower.
Long before that, King Malcolm II was murdered inside the castle in 1034.
But let's go back to the 19th century.
There were rumors about a monster that looked like a hairy human toad being held in the
basement.
Some historians believe it was the Earl’s son who suffered from some kind of deformity
and prevented them from hosting any guests.
Those who got too close to the castle saw the deformed child skulking along its battlements.
But the truth is that we don't know what happened at the castle.
It's abandoned today, its secrets forever dead with the 11th Earl Thomas Bowes-Lyon.
1: Overthrowing the King At an 18th century tavern in North Carolina,
a rare jewel has been discovered.
Archaeologists say the jewel, which is over 300 years old, was involved in an attempt
to overthrow the British king.
The jewel itself is the size of a pea.
It was discovered by researchers with East Carolina University at the same time they
uncovered the remains of the tavern using radar scanning systems.
It had been burned down in the 18th century, along with the rest of the colonial town.
The town was called Brunswick, destroyed by British troops in 1776.
This was when there were just 13 colonies in North America, occupied by mostly British
rebels trying to free themselves of the monarchy across the water.
The jewel is believed to have fallen from someone’s cufflinks.
What's really amazing is that it had a secret message written on it.
The glass was etched with the phrase, “Wilkes and Liberty 45.”
It was a secret message that the rebels used in the 1760s to show they were in opposition
to the king of Britain.
It was a rallying cry for the colonists who wanted to get rid of King George III.
But this was a turbulent time in America.
It was before the American War of Independence officially started, and people had to be careful
about what they said about the English king.
By having this secret jewel on their cufflinks, it was like a subtle identifier of which side
of the conflict your loyalties were on.
Which of these mysterious ancient places intrigued you the most?
Let me know in the comments and thanks a lot for watching.
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