15 Most Incredible Recent Archaeological Discoveries

it's hard to say what we find more exciting when it comes to making discoveries the future or the past we have a pretty detailed understanding of the great civilizations of ancient times but there's still so much more to find out fortunately for us archaeologists are still uncovering amazing artifacts all the time like the 15 astonishing discoveries that feature in today's video it's been generally accepted for some time now that human life began in Africa but that theory may be about to change archaeologists working in Germany have made a discovery so incredible that they waited a full year to tell people just so they could make sure that they had their facts straight it's a set of teeth and they're over 9 million years old that predates the earliest known evidence of hominin life in africa by 4 million years the teeth were discovered in what used to be the basin of the River Rhine near mines and belong to the Australopithecus afarensis species who are considered to be some of humanity's earliest ancestors they're the oldest ape teeth ever found and might force scientists to rewrite what they thought they knew about human history in modern times it's quite common to be proud of our cars we have them washed valeted and maintained and we use them as status symbols that's nothing new though the people of ancient times were actually as proud of their luxury chariots archaeologists working with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently dug up a 2,500 year old chariot which proves that point perfectly the gilded vehicle dates back to the time of the Eastern Joo dynasty and was found in the high-bay province of North China it's about four feet long and four point six feet wide which would have been considered large at the time and suggests the owner enjoyed an elevated social status it's also covered in accessories and decorations including gold foil badges which have retained their shine even after all these years underground as the chariot is still in relatively good condition now hoped it can be completely restored nowadays whales and dolphins are distinct and separate creatures but that hasn't always been the case millions of years ago they shared a common ancestor in the cetacean family of aquatic mammals and a new fossil discovery in Peru has shed further light on what that ancestor looked like the ancient whale has been named Perrigo Cetus Pacifica's and had an advantage that it's contemporary descendants lack it could walk on the land using four legs the enormous creature measured up to 13 feet long and would have split its time between the land and the sea some features of the tail bones suggest it may even have shared genealogy with otters and beavers so it's possible that all four animal groups may have been related to this 42 million year old way on putting buildings inside other buildings was a calling card of the ancient Egyptians who liked nothing better than creating temples and tombs with hidden layers and intricately complex designs we are even finding new features inside temples we've known about for years such as the temple of ramses ii in Abydos archaeologist Zama is Condor and his team have just unearthed an entire palace within the walls of the old temple one which had gone completely unnoticed in the 160 years since the temple itself was first discovered the palace was hiding behind a concealed stone walkway in the southwest corner of the temple and contains art and sculptures created in the great Pharaoh's honor the walls are constructed of thick limestone with maps of the stars on the walls and ceilings attention will now turn to other temples which we thought we were familiar with to see if they too are keeping entire palaces hidden at least the Egyptian archaeologists knew what they were dealing with when they saw the palace a Swiss team working close to the Jura mountains are still trying to get to the bottom of where their most recent major discovery came from it's a human hand rendered in bronze and it's over 3,000 years old but the design and construction is inconsistent with anything else we've seen from this period of history the hand comes with a gold foil bracelet and was found with a matching bronze dagger it's too heavy to have been used as a prosthetic so it may have had a ceremonial purpose the owner must have been very rich very important or even both but we have no idea who it belonged to or why it was created there's plenty of political debate in the modern age about the pros and cons of living in a multicultural society but those who say it's a new phenomenon are wrong it's been going on for at least five centuries and that's been proven by the discovery of an ancient workshop in what used to be Volga Bulgaria in Russia the workshop was active during the 13th and 14th centuries and was used by Russian artisans to process amber but the design of the pieces found here indicate many different ethnicities and faiths once lived side by side in the area beads and pendants account for the majority of the surviving pieces of art but the tools that were used to make them have also survived their long wait for discovery it's still common for people to be buried with some of their favorite items when they pass away but we wonder what the ancient Chinese thought a recently deceased person was going to do with 20 eggs the eggs were found inside a clay jar as archaeologists excavated a 2,500 year old tomb in Xiang Jing in March of 2019 the person laid to rest here must have been an accomplished cook as they were also buried with plates and other cooking and dining utensils sadly it's impossible to say what kind of creature the eggs came from the contents have rotted over time with only the calcified shells remaining a coating of mud around the jar ensured they were sufficiently insulated to survive the passage of time the tomb containing the discovery contains 38 chambers over six layers suggesting that an entire ancient Chinese clan are buried here it sometimes feels like the ancient Egyptians arranged their monuments to help future generations understand them why else would they leave engraved writing and illustrations everywhere even a location as humble as an amethyst mine a place where slaves and common people were sent to work contains written history and one such discovery is currently puzzling researchers Wadi el hoody has been explored many times in the past but is so full of inscriptions and drawings that much of what's there has been missed by previous expeditions the location would have been remote at the time it was active with not even a well to supply water any closer than two miles away the name of Pontius Pilate is carved into the wall as well as many references to soldiers watching the workers as they toiled away most puzzling of all is a stone tablet which is 3,400 years old and makes reference to you sir sat at a noted Viceroy of Koosh it's newer than any other carving or stone in the old mine by 500 years suggesting someone must have deliberately traveled 19 miles into the desert to place it at the mine long after the mine was abandoned who did that and why back in the days when kings and queen of England had absolute power they used to issue royal charters to declare new acts of law or proclamations one such Charter has been hiding away in the records of Durham residential research library miss filed for over eight hundred years the document was signed by King John the monarch most closely associated with signing the Magna Carta on March 26th in the year 1200 towards the beginning of his reign and grants land and buildings in County Durham to the Lord of Warkworth and the sheriff of Norfolk less than 12 royal charters from John's entire reign were previously thought to have survived to the present day making this an exciting discovery the identities of the witnesses to the Charter provide historians with a valuable insight into who was within the Kings trusted circle at the time including the Archbishop of York a mysterious man named German estai s'en the Lord of Kendal and several more the most commonly known trade route of ancient times was Central Asia's famous Silk Road but the discovery of the great ice road has proven that humans were conducting trade over huge distances at least four times as many years ago was that in fact the great ice road is twice as old as the pyramids of Egypt with evidence proving that it was in use at least 8,000 years ago the route ran from choucas Lake krosno to Jo Cove Island in the frozen Arctic and covers over 1,200 miles it's believed that traders made the long and perilous journey using dogs and sleds carrying obsidian to be sold to builders in show qov to be used as tools the finding of 79 obsidian tools and sled remnants in shukoff proves the materials were brought here and great ice road is the only way they could have come the Mesolithic people were clearly more advanced than we've previously given them credit for TV shows like storage wars and cash in the Attic should have taught us all to have a close look in our sheds attics basements and outhouses to see if we have long-forgotten valuables in there but if you haven't got around to taking a look yourself yet perhaps this will convince you some golden artifacts belonging to legendary Indian freedom fighter Tipu Sultan have been discovered in an attic in Berkshire England where they've been hidden under blankets for over two centuries the couple who owned the property wish to remain anonymous but one of them is related to British soldier major Thomas Hart who brought the items back after a military victory over the Indian warrior in 1799 the items including a golden sword and a flintlock gun have stayed in the family ever since with nobody realizing their value until now a symbol on one of the swords bears the haider symbol identifying it as the property of Tipu Sultan's father meaning it would have had special significance for Sultan himself auction houses have found the Hall difficult to value because of its unique nature but believed it to be worth millions of dollars as a collection Joni Mitchell once sang that they paved paradise and put up a parking lot and it appears that builders in Jerusalem City of David once literally did exactly that an excavation project taking place below an old car park has turned up treasures from thousands of years ago and can be connected directly to names from the Bible the car park was built on the site of what was once an administrative building which had been destroyed by the Babylonians during the 6th century in among the pottery and other relics were a tiny clay seal and a two thousand six hundred year old stamp made of stone used for signing official documents the stamp which is less than 0.3 inches long contains the words property of Nathan melech servant of the king Nathan melech is specifically named in the Bible in Kings 2311 as a court official under King Josiah the equally small blue stone stamp found with the seal reads property of icar son of Martin Yahoo although there is no AI car named in the Bible ma yah whose name also appears we now have solid evidence of an advanced court and legal system in Israel during the first temple period excavating a sewer can't be a fun job but it sometimes brings rewards as workers Janek Vestergaard and Henning Noir recently discovered while digging out one of the oldest streets in albergue Denmark a huge sword over three feet long was perfectly preserved below the surface waiting for them to pull it out from the stone as if it were Excalibur the excited pair took it to the northern Jutland Historical Museum who confirmed that it dates back to at least the 1300s the find is unusual because a warrior sword was usually buried with its owner in the denmark of the time so this one may have been lost in battle judging by the marks on its blade it clearly saw some action conflict raged in the area throughout the 14th century and seems the most likely explanation for this long-lost swords strange location it's now headed for a display at a local museum the legend of King Arthur with his Knights of Camelot and his friend Merlin the magician is one of the most fanciful tales of ancient England historians can't even agree on whether the King really existed let alone the more outlandish aspects of his story which comes complete with sorcerers and magic swords now fragments of a badly damaged 700 year old manuscript may be about to fill in some of the historical blanks the seven pages of text belonged to a collection of French literature known as the volga cycle and have previously been buried deep inside the archives at bristol central library tests and translations of the texts are still ongoing but the projects leader dr. Leah tether says the version of the story recorded here differs significantly from the more common modern versions the most exciting aspect of the manuscripts translated so far is that the name of Merlin appears suggesting that such a person existed even if he wasn't a real wizard archaeologists will sometimes invite schoolchildren out into digs and excavations in the hope that they'll pick up enthusiasm for the process they don't really expect the children to find something the experts have missed but 14-year old mark McGettigan from Glasgow Scotland has done exactly that he's unearthed three new Govan stones adding to the collection which comes from the 10th and 11th centuries the stones date from a time before the existence of Scotland as a nation during which the British Isles were divided up between rival warlords and constantly under siege from Viking invaders the Govan stones are a testament to this time believed to be carved by Viking settlers sometimes it takes a boy to do a man's work well done mark [Music] 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: 932,370

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Keywords: Most incredible Archaeological Discoveries, archeological discoveries, accidental Finds, Discoveries That Changed The World, recent discoveries, most incredible accidental, amazing discoveries, Most incredible finds in the world, most amazing, top 15, 15 most, historical discoveries

Id: 02wLqc2sV9M

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Fri May 10 2019