10: Noah’s Ark According to the information
in ancient religious texts like the Bible and the Torah, a man named Noah was charged with building
a giant wooden ark to save the world’s animal’s from the great flood. Religious manuscripts would
have us believe that the legendary ark landed on Mount Ararat, a sleeping volcano near the
eastern border of Turkey. New 3D scans of this exact area have revealed what could be the lost
ark. Scientists have uncovered a boat-like structure beneath the ground that matches
almost the exact dimensions of Noah’s ark the way it's described in the book of Genesis.
Andrew Jones was the lead scientist on this project, as well as Dr. Fethi Ahmet Yuksel
from Istanbul University. They believe the results of their scans show irrefutable proof
that a giant boat is buried underneath the mountain. Even though it's impossible to say
for sure whether this really is Noah’s ark from the Bible, there is definitely – according to
the experts, an underground boat. They say the right angles identified in the scans are not
something seen in nature or in any geological formation. Whatever’s underneath the mountain
certainly appears to be man-made. But of course, the scientific community
remains skeptical. And because of this, gathering the needed funds and getting the grants and
permissions to excavate at the site has so far proven impossible. We’ll never know for sure if
this really is Noah's ark until Mount Ararat is excavated, and without additional evidence this
remains unlikely. Until then, it will continue to be a mystery as to whether there truly was a boat
large enough to contain two of every animal in the world’s population of species.
What do you think? Could this be Noah's Ark?? Let me know in the comments below!
9: Roman Chariot Burial In Croatia, archeologists have unearthed the
incredible remains of a Roman chariot buried along with two horses. Both the horses and the chariot
were fossilized by the time archeologists dug them up. They say the elaborate burial was probably
part of a ritual performed by an extremely wealthy family. This family was so rich that when
one of their own died, they were able to kill two perfectly good horses and dispose of an extremely
valuable chariot, just for the sake of sending the deceased off to the afterlife with some treasures.
It was experts with the Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb who made the discovery near the small
village of Stari Jankovci. They have so far been able to date the remains of the horses and the
chariot to between 1700 and 1800 years ago. That means they were buried around the 3rd century AD,
at a time when the Roman Empire controlled the region. In fact, the Roman Empire had been in
control of what is today Croatia ever since 168 BC when they conquered the last Illyrian king,
Genthius. By the 3rd century, Rome was in control of all of Croatia. They had built
roads to link the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and both seas to the Danube River.
And while you might think the chariot is the most interesting part of the burial, archeologists are
actually more intrigued by the horses. They're hoping to discover where the horses were bred.
If they can figure out where in the empire the horses came from, they can get more information
about the wealthy family that owned them. 8: Iron Age Weapons Hoard
An amazing hoard of Iron Age weapons was recently found in Germany.
Archeologists made the remarkable discovery with help from the small town of Schmallenberg,
high up on the Wilzenberg mountain. The excavations were ongoing for three years,
with experts slowly but surely pulling one weapon at a time out of the dirt. It's become
the largest weapon hoard in the region and shows the complex processes of Iron Age steelworkers.
The weapons have also helped to reveal more information on the ritual activities of
warriors thousands of years ago, specifically after they had already won a great battle.
The Wilzenberg mountain was visited by people around the year 300 BC for special occasions.
On the very top of the mountain, archeologists found the remains of
a fortification made of nothing but wood and rock and dirt. Then between 2018 and 2020,
historians with metal detectors combed the sides of the mountain and plucked at least
100 weapons out of the ground, all of them belonging to the ancient Celts. The evidence seems
to suggest that there was a great battle that took place in the area surrounding the mountain. Then
to celebrate the victory, the warriors brought all the weapons they captured from their dead enemies,
as well as other things like belts and horse harnesses. They then mangled the weapons as best
they could, bending swords, breaking harnesses, and putting them up on display on the mountain.
Researchers say this was a pretty common ritual during the Iron Age.
Warriors, instead of taking the weapons of their dead enemies and using them for something useful,
destroyed them in a violent display of power. 7: Yorkshire Abbey Bowling Alley
During the medieval period, Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire was a hub of industrial activity.
Today, it's one of the most tranquil places in all of England.
But geophysical surveys and the use of ground-penetrating radar have revealed
the buried remnants of structures and buildings from centuries past. The radar scans revealed
what archeologists called an underground bowling alley. But in fact, it’s just a medieval tannery.
It looks a bit like a bowling alley because of how it turned out in the scans.
In reality, this is a place where monks would have processed animal hides, turning normal hides into
leather. This would have been a huge industry that made plenty of profit, meaning hundreds
of people would have been employed here before the area was nothing but a grassy green field.
To understand why this is so interesting, you really have to look at Fountains Abbey today.
Nothing remains except the peaceful remnants of the abbey. Nobody would expect that at the
time the abbey was functional, the entire valley was part of an industrial tannery. Researchers
with the University of Bradford identified at least two substantial stone buildings, one of
them likely several stories tall and over 100 feet (30.4 m) long. Picture a medieval factory,
only this one filled with monks working over raw animal hide to produce leather.
6: World’s Oldest Jewelry Archeologists excavating the Bizmoune Cave
in the southwest of Morocco came across something truly exceptional and one of a kind. They
found the oldest jewelry in the world, a shell necklace that dates back roughly 150,000 years.
The necklace was once composed of approximately 33 shell beads, worked from being normal shells
into cute baubles befitting a necklace. This is without a doubt the very oldest singular piece of
jewelry ever worn by a human being. At least, the oldest that scientists have been able to find yet.
But just who were these people making shell necklaces while Homo sapiens were still living
in caves? This was 140,000 years before the first city on Earth began to even take shape. From what
the researchers with the National Institute of Archeological Sciences and Heritage say,
the shells and the style of the beads resemble the Aterian culture from North Africa. These people
thrived in the middle Stone Age. Steven L. Kuhn from the University of Arizona says the necklace
was probably not only for embellishment, but a way for a person to express their identity and
maybe even their personality through clothing. What this means is that the shell necklace was
one of the very first ways of showing off who someone was as a person for the world to see.
Isn’t it incredible that humans and their near relatives were adorning themselves even 140,000
years before they lived in cities? I guess those 90s puka shell necklaces were following
an ancient trend! 5: Theatre Toilets
An archeological dig in Turkey has discovered a theater commode in the old city of Smyrna.
This ancient city can be found within the modern borders of Izmir, with the theater being over
2000 years old. It dates to the 2nd century BC but was used up until the 5th century AD.
That's about 700 years, or about seven times longer than humans have been going to the cinema.
Now let me explain why discovering this ancient commode is so shocking. There are plenty of old
theaters spread across Turkey, Greece, and Rome. But this is one of the first times
that scientists actually found the remains of a private bathroom complex inside a theater.
The commode is shaped like a U and could have accommodated about 13 people at a time.
Beside it was discovered a trough that probably would have contained clean water.
Scientists are now saying that the toilet, because it was discovered backstage and not
where the public spectators would have been, was used by actors.
This may just be the very first example of actors having their own private facilities.
2000 years before any of our modern celebrities, theater performers in the Roman Empire were
already getting special treatment. They had their own toilets and their very own clean water.
4: The Illicit Lives of Convicts A stash of coins was recently discovered at
Port Arthur in Tasmania, giving us a glimpse into the illicit lives of convicts over a century ago.
The reason the coins are so interesting is that prisoners at Port Arthur working
in the penal colony were not allowed to carry money. And yet this pile of silver shillings,
which was worth about a week's salary for one of the overseers of the penal colony,
was found buried underneath a workshop. Archeologists were immediately fascinated by this
mystery and wanted to get to the bottom of it. According to the conservation project officer,
Sylvana Szydzik, the discovery was immediately seen as out of place.
Convicts did sometimes have coins, but this amount of money was just too substantial.
The coins were underneath the clay floor of a workshop where the prisoners would have been
forced to do copper casting. Historians at the site believe whichever convict buried these coins
in the clay floor managed to steal them from an officer and then hide them away for later use.
But of course, this prisoner never was able to make it back and reclaim what he had stolen.
The silver shillings came from between 1814 and 1844, so they were probably stolen
sometime in the 1850s. The prison workshop was operational from between 1830 until about 1877,
back when Tasmania was a full blown penal colony. People were shipped from
all over the world to do their time making shoes, working iron, and forming copper.
3: Roman Kitchenware An exclusive kitchenware set in
the villa of a Roman officer in the legionary camp Novae in Bulgaria has been discovered
by Polish archeologists(pap.pl)- link missing In Bulgaria, archeologists have been excavating
a Roman legionary camp from over 2000 years ago. What's really interesting isn't the camp itself
but the discovery of Roman kitchenware, including pots and lids, bowls, drinking vessels,
and ordinary cups. All the kitchenware was found inside the officers’ quarters,
all of it made from such good quality clay that the bowls could still be used today.
The officers’ quarters is known to the archeologists as “House of Centurion.” It’s
an absolutely huge building, looking more like a luxurious villa than the house for a military
commander. The complex had a courtyard, a pool, various buildings, and a massive dining room.
Judging by the sizes of the dishes, food was only prepared for the centurion and his deputies or a
small group of guests. Archeologists were also able to look at nearby animal bones to determine
that the food eaten by the centurion was much better than what his legionnaires ate. Basically,
if you were a Roman commander, you lived a life of absolute luxury.
But honestly, who's surprised? 2: Lost Statues
Archeologists in Turkey have discovered lost statues of Aphrodite and Dionysus.
These amazing sculptures were uncovered in what was once the Greek city of Aizanoi.
It was occupied as early as the Bronze Age. The city was a major source of political and
economic influence in the Hellenistic period of Greece. But then in 133 BC,
the city was given to Rome and it became part of the Roman province of Phrygia Pacatiana.
One of the most impressive structures still preserved in the city is the old Temple of Zeus.
The archeologists didn’t uncover whole statues, just the heads of the gods.
Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty, while Dionysus was the god of wine,
feasting, and ritual madness. They were pivotal figures in Greek religion and myth. The reason
it's so interesting that the statues were found here is that it shows how the Romans continued to
worship Greek gods, even if they did change their names, long after they took over their cities.
Considering the incredible parallels between Greek and Roman mythologies, this makes perfect sense.
1: The Falkland Islands Wolf Archeologists working in the Falkland Islands have
discovered evidence that humans made their way to this remote archipelago about 1070 years ago.
Even more interesting, evidence shows that these visitors may have brought fox-like creatures with
them, known as warrah. These creatures are what we know of today as the extinct Falkland Islands
wolves. For a long time, scientists have been debating how the only land mammal here made it
across the ocean. The two theories have been that the wolves either reached the Falkland Islands by
a land bridge or were brought over by people. But until recently, almost no evidence has
been discovered of a human presence on the island prior to Europeans arriving in 1690.
Now, archeologists have found traces of ancient fires and the remains of animals that had been
hunted over 1000 years ago. From what they can tell, the Falkland Islands were inhabited by the
Yaghan people, ancient seafarers. This evidence comes in the form of charcoal levels in sediment,
showing that humans were building fires from between 1070 and 620 years ago.
That's much earlier than the traces of European fires found from roughly 250 years ago.
Plus, archeologists found huge piles of the remains of sea lions and penguins.
These animals were killed before Europeans hunted them to extinction in 1875.
But the real mystery is that researchers have identified teeth from the Falkland Islands wolf
that date back 3860 years. That leaves a 2000-year gap between the wolves and humans. It's impossible
to say now whether humans visited earlier and brought these wolves with them, or if the wolves
had somehow made their way to the extremely remote archipelago by themselves, perhaps by a thin strip
of land that’s now buried under the ocean. Which of these incredible archeological
discoveries did you find most fascinating? Coin stashes? Ancient toilets? Mysterious wolves?
Let me know in the comments and thanks a lot for watching the video! Remember
to hit subscribe if you haven’t already. Come back soon for more great stuff and see you then!