From shackled skulls to books that are literally
wrapped in human skin, there have been things found by archaeologists that will chill you
to the bone! Here are 12 of the most terrifying archaeological
discoveries ever. 12. Headless Gladiators
Let's start off with a combat one. In York, England, a large set of skeletal
remains were found buried. This isn't too bad on their own, however,
when the remains were fully uncovered, they found that every single person that was buried
there was missing their head. What's more, they were buried with their heads
alongside them, which made it even more odd, and scary. After some research and study, scientists
dated the bodies back to around the second and fourth centuries, A.D. which lead to speculation
that these might have been gladiators. This theory was supported when when the bones
of the victims were shown to have clear battle wounds. Other people believe that they could have
been soldiers, but it's impossible to tell either way. No matter what they did for a living, this
raises a very disturbing question. Regardless of whether they were soldiers or
gladiators, why were they decapitated then buried with their heads? It's clear that they weren't thrown in, the
heads I mean, they were placed in specific spots from body to body. Which says that they were buried there with
care and detail, but to what end? The archaeologists are just as confused as
we are. 11. Screaming Mummies
Sticking with the past in a big way, let's talk about mummies. They're a well-documented part of archaeology,
and some of the biggest discoveries in history have been finding mummies and their crypts
and tombs and discovering who they were and what they did. The process to examine these former rulers,
like Tutankhamun is extensive, as doing it the wrong way will cause the body to disintegrate...The
mummy's, not the archaeologist although there are some curses around that they should watch
out for! However, a trend was discovered back in 1886
in regards to improper mummification that surely scared the crap out of the archaeologist
at the time. For he discovered...a screaming mummy. Of course it wasn’t alive and screaming,
but rather, the pose and posture of the mummy made it look like it was screaming. Can you imagine brushing the dirt off of its
face and its mouth close up while it’s frozen in a scream? This naturally lead to much speculation as
to how this mummy ended up this way! Was he buried alive? In pain? Well, apparently, it's all about following
procedure. When we die, our body gets rigid, the process
called Rigor Mortis. However, after a while our body relaxes, and
allows itself to rest. This is no different with mummies, and because
of that, if the jaw isn't fastened shut, (which is a practice in proper mummification), it
will go slack, and fall open. And without skin or muscles to give context,
it looks like a screaming mummy. Despite being explained by science, it would
still be creepy as heck if you turned around and saw one staring at you!! And now for number 10, but first if you are
a returning subscriber, welcome back!!! Glad to see you again!! Can any of you identify this noise?? Put your guess in the comments below! The answer is coming up!!! 10. Shackled Corpses
History is written by the victors, and because of that, the "dirty little secrets" of societies
and their rulers have to be dug up and found. One such secret of the ancient Greeks was
found in 2016 in Athens. They were trying to dig up ground to make
some new buildings. Nothing wrong with that, right? Well, as they were doing so, they found an
ancient Necropolis, or a massive cemetery. This always happens in Athens and in Rome
so for them, it’s not really that big of a deal. A lot of them are just frustrated because
of all the delays! The archaeologists were called in and they
started exploring. Eventually, someone stumbled onto a hidden
part of the Necropolis, a room that held over 80 skeletons in it that were long-dead, and
each one of them was shackled. In fact, some of the corpses were shackled
twice. Adding to the intrigue was that scientists
determined that these people, whoever they were, were very young when they were bound
and killed. How did they die? That's unclear, but there is historical text
that says this could have been a band of rebels trying to overthrow the leadership of Athens,
but again, it's been so long it's very hard to say for sure. However, there's a lot of mysteries to go
along with this. Why were they shackled AFTER their death? Why were they put in this hidden room? These questions will likely never be answered. 9. Pit Of Death
Speaking of unanswered questions, this pit raises plenty more of them. In France, another construction project led
to the discovery of something heinous and foul. A literal pit that was over six feet deep
and five feet wide. But it’s not called the pit of death for
nothing. Inside the pit were numerous bodies. As sad as it sounds, it gets worse. There were bodies of all kinds of people:
men, women, children, infants all within the pit. Add to that, some of the bones didn't have
a proper host, suggesting there were even more within it. Still not enough? Some of the bodies were amputated, or dismembered. The really sad thing though, aside from the
mass death, was that these bodies had been in the ground for over 5300 years, and only
got discovered in 2012. That's a long time to be stuck in a pit like
that. If the last few entries have proven anything,
it's that history isn't always pretty. It can be downright gruesome. 8. Vampire Burials
Fear is a powerful thing. It can lead people to do things they would
never do of their own rational mind. And it can cause them to fear things that
are truly irrational. The fear of vampires were a real thing for
a long time in the ancient world, and the thought that the dead could rise again and
come for blood made many take "precautions" in order to protect themselves. The Polish for example decided to take their
precautions to rather unsettling levels. If a person died, and people thought they
would come back as a vampire, they would be buried with the proper "precautions" to ensure
they couldn't rise again, or cause trouble if they did. For example, some people were buried with
sickles around their necks, likely to chop off the head should they try to get up. Others had massive stones wedged between their
jaws so that if they rose they couldn’t suck out people's blood. People do strange things when they fear what
goes bump in the night. 7. The Moa Under The Mountain
Exploration is key in finding archaeological artifacts, but sometimes even the most hardened
of archaeologists can't predict everything they would find. And this particular one is one for the history
books. New Zealand, 1986, a group went to Mount Owen
to examine and observe the underground complex of tunnels that lied beneath the mountain. As they were exploring though, they found
a large pile of bones. Nothing out of the ordinary in context, but,
they found something very fresh next to it. A massive claw that didn't look like anything
living today. Turns out, the freshly decayed claw belonged
to an ancient bird call the Upland Moa. This bird was flightless, but given the size
of its claw, was clearly a threat to many. The questions remain though, how did this
claw get under the mountain? Why was it so perfectly preserved despite
other bones not getting the same treatment? And can you imagine if they had found a fully
alive Moa in that mountain? Pretty exciting stuff!! 6. Altamura Man
While certain finds can be scary, they can also be fascinating in the historical sense,
and one such grand case is the Altamura Man. A cave scientist (yeah, that's a thing, I
looked it up) was in Altamura, Italy doing some work, and while examining a particular
structure, he turned to find a skeleton looking at him through the rock. A very human-looking skeleton in fact, and
it's literally fused into the rock around it. This is the Altamura Man, but he's not exactly
human, he's a Neanderthal, and in fact, he's the oldest Neanderthal ever found!! Now, if you're waiting for the feeling of
terror to come back, here it is. The "rock" he was in...wasn't always a rock. It was actually once a sinkhole, one that
Mr. Neanderthal fell into when he was having a bad day, and he was never able to get out. Because of that, he was literally consumed
by it, to the extent that he because fused with the calcium deposits within the sinkhole,
thus creating the sight that scientists found tens of thousands of years later. What a way to go, am I right? 5. Tortured Skulls
No, that’s right, "Not tortured souls", "tortured skulls". In Sweden, in 2009, some archaeologists were
excavating a dried up lake bed. Near the bottom of the lake they found a sealed
structure, that's already pretty terrifying, but trust me, it gets worse. Within that stone structure were a set of
11 skulls. No, that's not the scary part just yet. What's odd is what happened to these skulls. Many of them were impaled, some of them were
burnt to a crisp, and one of them was literally shoved inside another skull. Yeah, say what now? And it should be noted that these skulls were
all by themselves, no bodies attached to them. So, how and why did the people who killed
these people do this to their skulls? No one really knows, but it's definitely creepy
to think about. 4. The Sewer Of Babies
The ancient world did a lot of great and wondrous things. But, it also did a lot of terrible things,
including facilitating the death of many young babies. Yet, one of the most disturbing finds ever
might just be a sewer full of their corpses. In Ashkelon, Israel, a group of archaeologists
were examining a bathhouse that was built by the Romans. Eventually, they made their way to the sewers
underneath it. If you think sewers are a weird place to look
for artifacts, you'd be surprised by how many incredible things are found down there!! Anyway, they started to notice as they explored
that there were bones in it. But they were tiny. Upon finding tiny human skulls to go with
them they realized, they were in a literal baby sewer. It's not known why the babies were thrown
into this particular sewer, or why there were over 100 of them put into it. But it's safe to say that whoever did it did
not do this by accident, and that's what makes it so terrifying. 3. Family Betrayal
Sometimes the truly terrifying things we find aren't the remains of people, but the stories
they leave behind. Yan Shiwei was a prominent member of Chinese
society during his time and he loyally served the first female Emperor in Chinese history. As a military man he fought by her side through
high times and rebellions, even breaking his own arm so that he couldn't rebel against
his ruler. But then, his brother betrayed the family
and the Emperor. As a punishment, the entire family was branded
as "traitors" and killed. This story was revealed in a text found in
the tomb of Yan Shiwei 1300 years later. Emperor Wu Zetian helped unify China but was
only in power for 15 years. Mass executions were the norm and she got
rid of supporters and her own family members if she had to. 2. Neanderthal Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of a humanoid eating another humanoid. It was once widely felt to be a tribal act,
rooted in specific groups of people. Yet, Archaeology has taught us differently. This act goes all the way back to the Neanderthals. In fact, one find depicted a rather large
family being eaten by another Neanderthal family. Caves in Goyet Belgium reveal human bones
of adults and children showing signs of cuttin and fracturing to extract the marrow. This is kind of new information that Neanderthals
ate each other, and it is not the first case of this happening. It could have been just for food or it could
have had symbolic meaning but it’s hard to piece it together. 1. Death Whistles
If you recognized this sound earlier, then you know it comes from an Aztec Death Whistle!! This was discovered when digging up an Aztec
grave, where the deceased sacrificed man, was holding onto the Death Whistle! Now, if you're wondering what it sounds like,
it's blood curdling, and it took years for any of the scientists to even know what it
was, let alone blow on it. Speculation is that this whistle was used
during human sacrifices to the gods. Or to terrify their enemies since it sounded
like hundreds of people screaming their heads off. Thanks for watching!
