8.
Backyard Crypt
In January 2018, a Palestinian man discovered in ancient cemetery in his garden that was
later revealed to be from Roman times.
North of the Gaza Strip, Abdel Karim’s house, located in an area that was ravaged by war
in 2014, noticed water flowing into a hole in his garden.
Examining more closely, Karim moved away a large stone and discovered steps that led
over 12 feet (4m) below-ground.
It was there that he discovered where the water was going - into a previously unknown
cemetery located directly under his vegetable garden.
As Karim examined the area further, he noticed a strong smell and inside, found 9 tombs,
a pile of bones, as well as ancient ceramics and a lantern.
Imagine that!
You’re living in a war zone, and suddenly you uncover ancient underground tombs right
below your backyard!
I’d be shocked, wouldn’t you?
An archaeologist who came to the site to study it estimated the find could be from Roman
times, dating to 2000 years ago.
After surveying the crypt, researchers found clues inside the grave, dating it to the beginning
of the Byzantine era, from the sixth and seventh centuries A.D., by noting the method of burial
and how the graves were dug.
Archaeologists describe these types of tombs as being relatively common around Jerusalem
between 300 and 580 D.
Tombs like this were often built for families, with larger ones divided between several families,
archaeologists said.
In order to determine the date of the cemetery in the garden, researchers would need to excavate
the site further to get a better look at the graves, believed to be about 2000 years old
when Gaza was a prosperous port.
With many ancient monuments lost, this surprising discovery in one man’s backyard is one that
offers a unique look into the ancient people.
7.
Animal Bone Bonanza
Tens of thousands of bones of animals and humans were found in northwestern Saudi Arabia
by archaeologists recently.
While exploring the lava tube known as Umm Jirsan, researchers found the remains of 40
different species including horses, camels, goats and gazelles as well as three human
cranial remains.
Known to be a hyena feasting ground for thousands of years, the spot in northwestern Saudi Arabia
was first discovered in 2007 after researchers heard growling from inside a cavern.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t enter a cave if I heard growling coming from
inside.
Would you be brave enough to do it?
They were, although these scientists must have had some protection with them!
After they entered the cavern, their bravery was rewarded when they found chambers filled
with the sea of bones.
One particular area inside the cave was nicknamed the Wolf Den, with a total of 1917 bones and
teeth collected from the tens of thousands of bones inside.
Using radiocarbon dating, researchers were able to pinpoint the time period, with some
of the bones as almost 7000 years old.
A whopping 42% of the bones had evidence of gnaw marks from animals.
The cave was formed within lava after a nearby volcano eruption thousands of years ago.
The three lava tube passages, which formed after flowing lava cooled and solidified,
are part of the largest surveyed cave system in Saudi Arabia as well as the longest lava
tube system in the Arabian Peninsula.
As archaeologists continue to search, it's not that far-fetched to believe they will
find more evidence of ancient remains, but whether they will be human or animal remains
to be seen.
Have you ever discovered human remains anywhere?
It would freak me out!
6.
Golf Course Shark
In 2012, golfers in Southern California had an excellent excuse for holding up progress
on the 12th hole when a leopard shark fell from the sky and landed on the course.
The director of operations at the golf club explained that a 2-pound (!kg) leopard shark
that had been plucked from the ocean by a bird was dropped on the course.
It wasn't uncovered until a course martial was surveying the course and saw something
moving on the tee, which he went to investigate.
There, he found a shark bleeding with puncture wounds, which authorities think may have been
from where the bird held the shark in its grasp.
After removing the shark with his golf cart, the club’s director drove it back to the
clubhouse where he and another employee put in a bucket of saltwater.
After nursing it back to health, they brought the shark back to the ocean as fast as possible.
At first, the shark didn't move but eventually, it sprung back to life and took off into the
ocean.
Although originally assuming a bird may have dropped the shark due to the wound on its
fin, the California Fish and Game Department believes it could have possibly actually been
dumped on the course after it grew too big for someone who illegally had the shark with
the intention of selling it on the black market.
Needless to say, the small leopard shark was a surprise to those of the golf club, but
luckily the animal was saved and brought back to the ocean where it belonged.
Do you think that shark is lucky, or unlucky?
Lucky because it was rescued by humans after being taken for prey by a bird, or unlucky
because it was captured by the bird in the first place and dropped on a golf course?
Tell me your opinion in the comments down below.
Then remember to subscribe to Talltanic if you haven’t already!
5.
Gravestone Beach
In 2012, a couple of beachgoers in California stumbled upon something they didn't expect.
Instead of an impressive seashell or lost piece of jewelry, they found a century-old
tombstone.
Located on Ocean Beach, the headstone belonged to a 20-year-old who died in 1876.
Interestingly, it wasn't the first gravestone to wash up on the beach.
A month earlier, the gravestone of a 26-year-old from 1890 was also found.
As researchers looked into the story of the headstones, they uncovered the fact that one
belonging to the 26-year-old Delia Oliver had ties to the city - her father had a short
stint at the San Francisco supervisor.
But how did these tombstones end up on Ocean Beach?
When San Francisco shut down cemeteries within the city limits in late 1800s and early 1900s,
they moved bodies and left behind their tombstones.
The practice wasn’t an uncommon one, but usually the headstones were crushed up before
being used for fill.
Many of the stones were later used as construction material including a makeshift seawall to
protect the beach from high winds and erosion.
Instead of constructing another seawall in the 1940s, city planners used tombstones from
the Laurel Hill Cemetery which researchers now believe is the reason why the gravestones
ended up on the beach.
Out in California they believe in recycling old material, for sure, but I don’t know
how I feel about using gravestones!
It seems like a recipe for haunting the sea walls that are supposed to protect people!
4.
The Charlotte Whale
In 1849, a railroad started construction in Charlotte, Vermont.
But as the ground was being excavated, the remains of a beluga whale dating to around
12,500 years ago was uncovered.
Located over 150 miles (250km) from the nearest ocean, naturalists were understandably confused
as to why the whale was found there.
But one only needs to look at the history of the area to know how it got there.
At that time, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Champlain Sea covered parts of
Vermont and New York.
Glaciers retreated at the end of the Ice Age leaving the area below sea level flooded for
approximately 2500 years, which would've given the beluga the perfect place to swim.
Astonishingly, that is not the only stunning discovery made in the area.
In 1848, two tusks, several bones and a fossil molar of a mammoth were also found during
construction of another railroad.
About the same size of the modern African elephant, the mammoth once stood 11 feet (3.5m)
tall and weighed up to six tons.
While excavating, the railroad construction men found a huge tooth at the bottom of the
bed they'd been digging some 11 feet (3.5m) deep.
What makes these discoveries so unique is the location so far from any nearest ocean.
But when one looks at the history of the world and how it changed as glaciers retreated and
melted, it makes the discovery of these ancient animals a remarkable feat.
3.
Desert Ship Graveyard
In the middle of the deserts of Pakistan, an eerie ship graveyard filled with haunting
shipwrecks was discovered.
Known as the Moynaq Ship Graveyard, the area was once a busy Soviet fishing port on the
Aral Sea.
Found in one of the four largest lakes in the world, the Aral Sea dried up when the
rivers that fed into it were diverted for irrigation.
Once home to 1100 islands, it’s now barren as dozens of ships sit disintegrating in the
scorching desert.
Today the nearest shore is almost 100 miles (160km) away, making the skeleton-like ships
look that much more haunting.
As the Aral Sea began to steadily shrink in the 1960s, to less than 10% of its original
size, it became one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters of all time.
Many of the fishermen followed the shrinking shores but as the lake disappeared salinity
levels rose which killed all the fish.
For those towns who heavily relied on the fishing industry, they too died along with
their dwindling fish supplies.
Now known as the Aralkum desert, the eastern basin of the Aral Sea saw its downfall when
the rivers were diverted to irrigate cotton fields, which Pakistan relies on.
Now a ghost town, various abandoned signs dotting the stark landscape are evidence that
at one time, the fishing industry was booming along the coast of this former body of water.
2.
French Meteorites
In 1864, a blazing ball of burning light fell into southern France.
Known as the Orgueil Meteorite, the fragment has geochemical compositions similar to the
sun, meaning it was created around the birth of the solar system.
With over 20 fragments recovered, analysis showed that the meteorites had hydrogen, carbon
and oxygen as well as coal.
One of the specimens was examined by a French scientist who said that he found the existence
of "organized substances and celestial bodies".
Does that mean he found a granite material in the rock?
Or does that mean that there was life on other planets?
A century later, chemists announced they also found hydrocarbons in the meteorite that were
similar to the ones that occur in animal products like butter.
Believing that this meant that there were living forms existing in the universe beyond
earth, a controversy erupted over the statements.
Microbiologists also said they found structures that resemble fossilized algae in the meteorite,
which caused a lot of controversy between scientists who are sceptical of the find.
In 2001, a new study was done on the meteorite by a group in California, the Netherlands
and NASA who used sophisticated techniques to trace elements in the meteorite.
Comparing the results with other meteorites they had, they found that the pieces of the
asteroid had amino acids that helped generate life on earth.
Debunking the original belief that there were extraterrestrial fossils aboard the meteorites,
scientists ruled it out saying that they determined it may have been contaminated after it fell
to earth.
Comparing their findings with three other meteorites, they were found to be part of
a larger asteroid, most likely a comet.
Further study proved they were the product of a reaction that took place in the nucleus
of a comet, making them the first meteorites identified as coming from a cometary nucleus,
a remarkable find in the fields of France.
Strange Egyptian Cache
As archaeologists continue to search the wilds of Egypt for ancient finds, they often unearth
items they can’t explain.
When researchers were working in the city of Aten at one of the largest dwellings ever
located, they ended up finding things both priceless and bizarre.
Nicknamed the “lost golden city” by famed Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass in 2020, the
city, which dates back to the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep III, is so large, expectations are
that it would take months to unearth all its secrets.
Among the ruins of mud brick walls and rooms filled with tools needed in daily life, archaeologists
also unearthed a strange skeleton.
Found laying with its arms outstretched, the skeleton also had a rope tied around its knees.
The discovery puzzled researchers, but it wasn’t the only bizarre find.
A large wall constructed in a zigzag shape was another unusual discovery.
With only one entryway, the wall was obviously used to control entry and exit to the site
it secured.
But what was it protecting?
Among the seven different neighborhoods located in impressive states of preservation, a 3500-year-old
vessel filled with boiled or dried meat was also uncovered.
If the thought of ancient meat turns your stomach, a bakery, with ovens, storage pottery
and tools for spinning and weaving were also found intact.
From the practical to the bizarre, archaeologists certainly stumbled upon an unexpected treasure
trove that shows the benign and macabre lives of the ancient Egyptians.
Thanks for watching!
What did you think of this look at some strange discoveries made in unexpected places?
Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
Subscribe if you liked this video, and I’ll see you next time right here on Talltanic!