12 Most Amazing Archaeological Finds

not every archaeological find is interesting but when they are they're fantastic they provoke a sense of wonder and they can reveal new information about what life was like on this planet long before the modern age in this video we're going to look at some remarkable archaeological finds and a few surprising discoveries from the world of paleontology too [Music] four years ago a mammoth skull was found in california usa and it's still puzzling historians and paleontologists to this day the skull was discovered on an island close to the coast of ventura county and exhibits characteristics never before seen in the mammoth species the question scientists are now trying to answer is whether the long dead mammoth had a deformity or whether this is the skull of a transitional species that's never been identified before the thirteen thousand year old skull is too small to be a colombian mammoth a species that's known to have existed in this part of north america but it's also too large to belong to a pygmy mammoth the concept of insular dwarfism might provide an answer to the conundrum history and evolution tell us that when animals become isolated on small land areas with limited access to food or other resources they begin to shrink over a period of several thousand years we're not saying that's definitely what's happening in this instance but it might be an easier answer for scientists to swallow than the prospect of an unknown mammoth species in 2003 british archaeologists opened up a burial chamber in the town of south and on sea and found a tomb so significant that it's been described as the british answer to the tomb of tutankhamun in egypt experts spent 14 years carefully exploring and excavating the tomb before reporting their findings to the public for the first time in 2019 they believe that it belongs to a wealthy anglo-saxon man possibly a local leader who was laid to rest toward the end of the 6th century inside the tomb the research team discovered crosses made from gold foil indicating that the occupant was a christian that would make him one of the country's earliest adopters of the religion because christianity didn't become popular in england until augustine's missionary work many years later the chamber was made from the wood of 13 different oak trees and would have taken a team of around 30 men a full week to build the presence of a wooden liar in the grave implies that the occupant might have been a musician sadly we'll probably never know his identity [Music] metalwork appears to have been a specialty in the polish village of poniati during the 11th 12th and 13th centuries more than 200 metal artifacts have been discovered in the region by archaeologists ranging from religious sculptures to spurs and pieces of jewelry of that whole collection though it's the two metal faces that provoke the most interest one of them made of lead shows a smiling human face with its eyes closed perhaps sleeping peacefully it was most likely a seal of some kind the other face with its shocked expression that's been compared to the famous poster from the movie home alone is made from copper alloy it's believed that this might have been a belt buckle because of the mounting holes in the face's ears nothing similar to this has ever been found in poland before or since although they bear some similarity to other ornamental metal faces found on the borderlands of eurasia the artifacts were found in 2019 during the construction of new gas reservoirs which has revealed the presence of a settlement that dates back to the middle ages further archaeological work is now scheduled so perhaps more faces will be found evolution isn't a straight line it's more a process of trial and error these days nature has firmly decided that the best place for legs to go is under the torso 520 million years ago it seems that the best placement for legs was still up for debate here we see a fossil of a fusion huid from south china with its legs very clearly positioned right underneath its mouth despite this less than ideal arrangement of this creature was hugely influential from an evolutionary point of view it's a common ancestor to a wide range of different modern day creatures including tiny insects and spiders and even sea creatures like lobsters the unusually positioned legs aren't the only strange thing about the fusion weed it also has a spine that protrudes above and beyond its brain while its legs weren't used for walking because that would have been impossible in the fusion weeds seafloor environment it's likely that it used them to shove food into its mouth as it passed over the top of it that would make it the first ever creature in known history to use limbs for eating [Music] feathers might not sound like a good material to make a shield from but we wouldn't mind betting that the mocha people of ancient peru still managed to look fierce with their feather shields 1300 years ago very little is known about this mysterious civilization other than the fact that they were accomplished builders and engineers they made pyramids out of mud bricks and their jewelry tells us they were skilled at soldering and gilding that suggests that they would have been perfectly capable of making metal shields so we have no answers as to why they didn't the curious shield is made of woven basketry decorated with brown and red textiles with feathers sewn onto the base material few of the feathers have survived the passage of time but it's thought that there would once have been over a hundred of them arranged in a circular pattern there's no sign of any battle damage to the artifact which might suggest that its purpose was ceremonial rather than gladiatorial alternatively maybe the person who owned it was very good at making sure they never got hit [Music] the giving of eggs as gifts at easter is a tradition that's thought to go back at least 700 years although back then the eggs weren't made of chocolate and you probably wouldn't want to eat them you certainly wouldn't want to eat the 500 year old easter egg that was discovered in ukraine in 2017. the tiny egg has somehow survived the past five centuries trapped in a drainage system in the city of levive not far from the country's border with poland decorating easter eggs is an important christian tradition in poland where most of the population belongs to the ukrainian orthodox church once they're finished the decorated eggs are known as pisanka this particular pisanka is a goose egg and is the oldest ever found in the region there's more to decorating an egg like this than pretty patterns the color of the egg is important with darker colors given to older members of the community and the symbolism of what's drawn on them matters too a deer for example represents wealth so if you gifted someone an egg with a deer on it you'd be wishing for wealth to come their way we wonder what this one meant to the person who received it modern medical science is incredible it's now so advanced that it can confirm the cause of death of an infant who passed away 6 500 years ago finally solving the riddle of the detmold child the mummified remains of the child who passed away in ancient peru look so unusual that some conspiracy theorists have suggested that it might be an alien but that isn't the case a high-resolution ct scan has confirmed that the mummy is that of a human somewhere between 8 and 10 months old and detected the presence of a disorder known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome it's a congenital condition that prevents the left side of the heart from growing or developing properly even today the condition's survival rate is only 70 percent so back then this unfortunate infant would have had no chance as for the detmold child's unusual skull that's down to a condition called terocephaly a vitamin d deficiency that causes the skull to grow in a conical shape that should put the conspiracy theories to bed but we have a feeling that it won't there are several significant ancient stepwells in india but until 2014 it was thought that all of the major ones had been found the discovery of this colossal 5 000 year old stepwell in dolovira shattered that illusion it's three times larger than the famous great bath of mohenjo-daro making it the largest step well in the whole country and raising the question of how it managed to go undetected for all this time it's 30 feet deep 100 feet wide and 70 feet long archaeological evidence found close to the stepwell including precious stones and beads implies that the giant reservoir might also have been a gathering point for the people who lived close to it that would be consistent with evidence found at the site of other stepwells aside from conserving water and providing easy access to it step wells were used for religious rituals and ceremonies thus explaining the elaborate carvings that often decorate them given the size of this one it must have been especially significant to the indus valley civilization that designed and built it with construction skills like this it's no wonder they were such a dominant and influential force in the old world inside the crypt of otranto cathedral in italy there's a gruesome sight to behold there you'll find the remains of over 800 people sealed into glass cases they're the martyrs of otronto and they were executed in 1480 when ottoman turks invaded their homeland all of them were beheaded but one of the skulls of the beheaded men is not like the others 16 round holes were drilled into the top prompting historians to wonder how and why in 2015 a new study came up with an answer the holes weren't part of the man's punishment instead they were examples of trepening the unfortunate man's skull was drilled into posthumously to extract ground up powder to use as medicine the bone powder was believed to be a powerful treatment for almost any illness in the 15th century with the powder of skulls preferred to powder from any other bones as this man was believed to be a martyr his bones would have been imagined to be especially potent as a cure we now know there's no truth to these strange beliefs but at least the mystery of the holes is solved we know that viruses are a touchy subject at the moment so we apologize for bringing them up but this discovery is worth knowing about in january 2020 scientists detected the presence of 28 long dormant viruses in a glacier in the northwestern tibetan plateau the viruses have been frozen in the ice for more than fifteen thousand years but they're still technically viable and they could still be a threat prior to their detection none of the viruses were known to modern medicine in order to avoid contamination with modern bacteria scientists extracted two ice core samples under controlled conditions they then shaved off the outer sections washed the cores with ethanol and then washed them again with sterile water before studying what laid within the frozen blocks they're now trying to study the viruses and the potential threat they pose so we can guard against the risk of the pathogens escaping into the environment if the ice continues to melt presuming no immediate threats are found they'll then perform studies to determine how different viruses are able to thrive in challenging climates and environments for thousands of years [Music] before mount vesuvius erupted in the year 79 and ruined everything pompeii was a thriving roman city full of all the latest cultural innovations and facilities if you'd been there you might have been surprised how many seemingly modern things it had to offer you it even had fast food snack bars known as thermopolia over 80 thermapolia have been found so far at the archaeological site of pompeii which is still being excavated to this day even though it was discovered in 1748 the name thermopolium translates into english as place that sells hot items while the menu would have varied from one place to another meals would usually be made by the vendor at home and then brought to the thermopolium to be heated up and then sold to customers usually at low prices in many ways it was the ancient ancestor of the microwave meal spiced wine is known to have been a fixture at the majority of these fast food venues as was baked cheese it was the perfect place to stop for a drink with friends in the evening or to grab a quick meal on the way to an important meeting elsewhere in the city at the risk of asking a controversial question how long do you think that human beings have been getting high it certainly didn't start with the hippies of the 1960s you probably knew that already but you probably don't know how far back in history the habit goes in october 2018 archaeologists conducted a study of a bronze age vase discovered in cyprus and they discovered that it contains traces of opiates now they know that the shape of the unusual vessel makes a lot more sense it looks a lot like the seed of an opium poppy that means that the chief purpose of this base ring juglet was to facilitate opium use 3350 years ago when it was made aside from opium the vessel contains alkaloids and degraded plant oil experts from the british museum are now trying to work out whether the plant oil was part of an opium based mixture or whether the vessel might have been repurposed to store plant oil after it was no longer being used by whoever had the opium habit they're keen to point out that all the similar looking juglets were used for the same purpose subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications and you will be the first to know when a new video comes out thank you for watching and see you soon

Channel: Amazing Stock

Views: 41,458

Keywords: 12 Most Amazing Archaeological Finds, mysterious finds, ancient artifacts, ancient finds, archaeological finds, ancient mystery, mystery, 12 most, top 12, most amazing

Id: hmTlCRF16ag

Length: 15min 30sec (930 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 20 2022