12 Most Incredible Recent Archaeological Finds

if you're a subscriber to our channel you already know that we love to tell about the latest and greatest archaeological discoveries if you're not a subscriber to our channel make today the day you join us there are always exciting new discoveries from all over the world to tell you about and we're always as excited to tell you about them as archaeologists are to find them let's jump right into it we used to think that the deliberate creation of works of art was an exclusively human pursuit but it's becoming increasingly apparent that this isn't the case in june 2021 archaeologists discovered an engraved deer phalanx inside a cave in germany's hearts mountains rather than being engraved by humans though archaeologists believe that the art was created by neanderthals this suggests or perhaps even confirms that our neanderthal cousins were capable of conceptual imagination we've long since accepted that neanderthals could make tools from wood and bone but now we must also accept that they also made symbolic objects evidence suggests that this artifact was carefully disarticulated from a species of giant deer before being scraped clean of tissue boiled and then carved with inverted chevron shapes the meaning of the symbols will never be known but if neanderthals could carve symbols it's possible that they could also communicate with symbols this is yet more evidence that we've severely underestimated their capabilities from an evolutionary point of view the mayans were a mighty ancient civilization in south america but there's much about their history that we don't know what little we do know mostly comes from the records of their spanish conquerors so their history prior to the arrival of europeans is cloaked in mystery that makes it hard for us to understand this cache of green stones which was found by kazuo ayama in siebel guatemala in early 2021 historians refer to these objects as celts and believe they were used in mass public ceremonies the find is especially significant because the cache is believed to have been buried 3 000 years ago a time in mayan history we know virtually nothing about 72 polished green stones were discovered in total making this the largest discovery of its kind in the former mayan lowlands mayans appear to have been especially fond of green stones above all other types of precious stones which has led historians to believe that the color had some kind of spiritual significance to them the fact that the cache was buried in a cross formation with the points aligned perfectly to the north south east and west is yet another riddle that we're yet to solve the vikings are one of the great seafaring civilizations of human history traveling far and wide and creating settlements wherever they went they even made it as far as the americas it's no great surprise to hear that the remains of several viking settlements have been found in the british isles but archaeologists think there might have been something special about this one in the shetland islands of scotland it was discovered in may 2021 and is of such size that experts think it may have been the viking equivalent of a capital city viking artifacts have been found in this area as long ago as 1990 but it's now thought that all the artifacts found since then might be connected to this set of five circular structures close to the town of scalloway the viking age remains of 26 people have also been found at the site along with painted pebbles and an ancient comb within the five circles are the remains of a large structure that might have been a viking drinking hall that's enough evidence for some archaeologists to conclude that this is grail voygand a major viking settlement that's known to have existed on the shetland islands in the past but for which no location has been proposed until now in july 2021 archaeologists went looking for the remains of the royal palace of otto the great in saxony germany they haven't yet found the palace but they have discovered a 1 000 year old church surrounded by ancient burials historical records suggest that both a palace and a church were built close to hepta in saxony for otto who was a roman emperor and so if this is his church his palace must be nearby the church is cross-shaped around 100 feet long and divided into three aisles it stood for 600 years before it was destroyed during the reformation movement in the 16th century aside from the remains of the structure archaeologists at the site have also found a beautiful bronze crucifix decorated with enamel that was probably made in france during the 13th century they've even found a large piece of the old church bell although otto the great personally ordered the church to be built historical records suggest that he only ever visited it once upon the day of his inauguration in the year 968 he kept numerous palaces throughout his empire so perhaps saxony wasn't his favorite place to spend time the brits of the 19th century were a superstitious bunch they believed in witchcraft and evil spirits and they did some pretty weird things to protect themselves from any such demonic presence that might enter their homes in june 2021 this disturbing artifact was found in oswestry shropshire it's a so-called witch bottle and contains human hair a human tooth and human urine inside an otherwise beautiful victorian glass apothecary vessel this example of a witch bottle is only around 120 years old but they were everyday items inside british homes as long ago as the 16th century the hair teeth and urine usually came from the homeowner who would have believed that leaving permanent traces of themselves within the property would prevent evil spirits from entering the home while they were out creepily a severed doll's head was found next to the witch bottle it's thought that the two finds aren't connected but they're terrifying objects to find side by side metal detectorist chris langston who came across the artifact in woodland was sufficiently spooked by his fine to put it straight back where he found it the gap between making an archaeological discovery and fully excavating and understanding it can sometimes be very long here's an excellent example of that from jerusalem the first signs of this enormous public building were discovered close to the western wall in the 19th century but the excavation project wasn't completed until 2021 looking at the size of the building perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the work took so long this is the ancient equivalent of a vast town hall and would have hosted government meetings and public functions a little over 2 thousand years ago local archaeologists say that this is one of the most magnificent and important second temple period buildings ever found in the city as magnificent as it was it probably didn't stay open for very long historians think that it was partially destroyed along with the rest of the second temple by the romans in the year 70 after which it was abandoned fortunately the romans didn't do a thorough job of destroying it there's enough of the building left to preserve it and it'll soon be open to tourists and locals as a museum [Music] in july 2021 a prized relic finally came home to the city of coventry in england this is the medieval coventry sword a 500 year old weapon with a strange history when it was brand new in the 1400s it was carried through the city by the mayor during official processions including visits by king henry vi and queen margaret of anjou coventry was the fourth biggest city in england back then and even became the temporary royal capital during the wars of the roses in 1471 king edward iv decided to punish coventry after the city refused him entry before the battle of barnett knowing that the sword was symbolically important to the city and its people he confiscated it no one knows what he did with it after that but it eventually turned up in a rubbish heap in white chapel london in 1897. by then little more than the hilt remained coventry city authorities asked for it to be returned home but instead it was sent to a museum in glasgow scotland to be put on display it took another 125 years for coventry to get its wish but it's back home at long last this next collection of artifacts made history in two different ways when it was discovered in augsburg bavaria germany in may 2021 it's a treasure trove of more than 800 objects including coins jewelry and tools from the ancient roman era making this the largest roman discovery in germany for more than a century on top of that it's also the oldest roman discovery in bavarian history archaeologists say that the sheer volume of objects proves that there was an ancient roman camp here and that tests carried out on some of the wooden artifacts date them to between eight and five years bce the discovery took place on the grounds of a former industrial building that's recently been demolished to make way for new apartment buildings among the artifacts are hair pins closed clasps tiny bells and coins depicting the face of roman emperor octavian augustus augsburg is one of germany's oldest cities with a history that goes back more than two thousand years this discovery proves that the romans must have been among the city's first occupants our next discovery is both old and new at the same time history remembers leonardo da vinci is one of the most accomplished men who ever lived a phenomenal artist sculptor and scientist he was the very definition of a polymath as it happens he also had an enormous family one that still exists today new research into da vinci's family tree has uncovered a history that spans 21 generations over 690 years and leads to 14 living male descendants of the renaissance master the enormous research project was carried out by agni sabato and alessandro vasozi who spent over a decade researching the italian's dna focusing on the continuous male line of da vinci's family they traced his line back to the birth of michelle davinci in 1331 reaching leonardo's birth as a sixth generation grandson in 1452 and then continuing through five family branches to reach the modern day relatives prior to their work it was thought that only two descendants of da vinci still existed in the world today leonardo himself had no children but had 22 half-brothers thanks to the extraordinary efforts of his father piero the discovery of living relatives could now help to verify the authenticity of materials and works thought to have been handled by da vinci but for which no provenance currently exists is this the mother of all neolithic era discoveries figuratively speaking yes it is this statuette is an exceptionally rare example of a uniquely neolithic kind of figurine known as an earth mother it was found on the banks of the river psalm in france in december 2020 according to archaeologists and scientists it's roughly 6 000 years old figurines like this with tiny cone-shaped heads and under-sized arms but enormous hips and buttocks have been found in the past at neolithic sites all over europe what makes this one so special is that it's exceptionally well preserved and it's further north than any other discoveries of its kind archaeologists have nicknamed the figure the lady of valaire carbonell and believes she's connected to a cult that worshipped a fertility goddess in ancient europe despite her excellent state of preservation she was probably abandoned as a botched job as soon as she was created the figurine was discovered in six pieces still inside the ruins of the neolithic kiln that she was fired in all those years ago two thousand five hundred years ago a huge textiles factory was burned to the ground in spain in 2019 it was finally rediscovered and the archaeologists responsible for the discovery think that the act of burning the factory down might have been ritualistic the site of the factory is within an already historic area called cassis de terenoelo in the southwest of the country based on the evidence contained within the ruins archaeologists believed that the building hosted an enormous banquet that involved the slaughter of over 50 horses pigs and cows it seems nothing was spared from the flames 36 loom weights have been identified at the site along with 24 spindle whirls these artifacts predate any textiles that have ever been unearthed elsewhere in spain quite why the land's ancient occupants would want to deliberately burn down such a facility is unknown the textiles that were produced here would have been made with very fine threads and so would have been considered extremely high quality at the time it must have been an enormous sartorial loss to the area [Music] coin discoveries are such a common occurrence for archaeologists that most of them aren't worth reporting on but there are exceptions to that rule here's one of the most fantastic exceptions we've seen in recent times it's a huge hoard of over six thousand medieval coins that were found in a polish cornfield in january twenty twenty one and they came with a gold ring for good measure the ring wasn't the only valuable artifact that came with the silver coins there were also a few solid silver ingots archaeologists believe that the treasures which were found in the village of slusko are around 900 years old and might even have a royal connection there's an inscription etched into the ring which reads lord may you help your servant maria this could be a reference to dabra niega maria daughter of vladimir the great and wife of polish prince casimir the restorer the artifacts come from the right era for the connection to exist but sadly it can't be proven whoever the original owner of the treasure collection might be it's one of the most significant medieval finds in polish history 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 in the next video

Channel: Inforado

Views: 58,786

Keywords: 12 Most Incredible Recent Archaeological Finds, archaeological finds, ancient finds, ancient artifacts, archaeological artifacts, ancient, artifacts, 12 most, top 12, most amazing

Id: VCB1sCnGaWE

Length: 15min 59sec (959 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021