RECENT Archaeological Weapon Discoveries!

from crystal blades to crossbows protecting tombs like Indiana Jones here are ten recent weapon discoveries from our long buried past number 10 the Greenglass spearhead students at the University of Western Australia got a powerful reminder of their country's history during a trip to rottenness Thailand offshore from Perth when they spotted a striking spearhead fashioned from green glass the strange thing about it is though green glass isn't local to Australia so how did it get there well the answer lies within the island's troubled history and it's not the most pretty story you see it's a beautiful tourist destination now but as recently as a hundred years ago it had a much more darker purpose the other name for the island was Waja MUP an Aboriginal word meaning place across the water where the spirits are it would be used as a prison for Aborigines between 1838 and 1931 and about 4,000 prisoners were kept there all male and mostly abandoned to their fate the emerald green glass spearhead is thought to be about a hundred years old and an exceptional example of the craft practiced by the detained Aborigines the glass most likely came from ships and was hidden by the prisoners to use as weapons or trade among themselves they were typically known to make spear heads out of glass in order to use them to hunt having discovered the spearhead the students observed native tradition and then buried it it gave them a fascinating if not tragic insight into the treatment of Aborigines by the Australian authorities and the discovery is once again been brought into the public eye number nine shark tooth weapons in 2012 experts received a surprise when researching the ecology of the Gilbert Islands they're located in the Central Pacific Ocean and the local crafts involved making weapons using shark teeth the Islanders would begin with a buttress made of wood which they would then attach to an ultra sharp tooth using cords made from coconut leaves the weapons which date back to over 100 years ago appear pretty intimidating by studying an extensive collection of artifacts found at the Field Museum of national history in Chicago conservation biologist Joshua drew realized that some of the teeth he was looking at belonged to sharks that were not found within the waters of the Gilbert Islands anymore in fact he identified three species that were used for weapons which included the big nose shark the dusky shark and the spot tail shark it's thought that humans blundering the sea is the reason that they died out from the area but now it's hoped that the data can be used for better environments for both man and shark number eight the Dirty Harry slingshot in 2017 experts began finding ancient Roman bullets at a field in burns work near Eden Burke the area would have witnessed the Roman army building Hadrian's Wall and pushing back the natives as they went this would naturally lead to some pretty nasty confrontations these were made even nastier by the use of a slingshot which pitched lead projectiles weighing about 50 grams at the enemy with devastating results it's claimed that a shot could strike a target at a range of 130 yards using metal detectors researchers uncovered over 400 of the bullets together with a pair of ballista balls sounds kind of weird but there was nothing weird about the impact they had on a poor native skull the balls are made from sandstone and if that doesn't sound fear inducing enough then holes were made in the bullets so that they'd make a crazy banshee noise while they were fired it's settled a lengthy dispute about whether the area was a battlefield or if the Romans used it for training grounds no matter what it was used for the slingshot was one heck of a weapon and now for number seven the obsidian on Easter Island but first be sure to subscribe to world 5 list before you leave because I have lots of awesome new videos coming up for you now up until a couple of years ago it was believed that the rock NUI people of Easter Island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean tied because of conflict they apparently used up all their resources and then turned on each other leading to their demise this would be based on what appeared to be weaponry that was made of obsidian or volcanic glass that was found across the length and breadth of the area but everything changed when the weapons in question were actually revealed to be something else experts at Binghamton University in New York made a close inspection of the weapons and realized that they were designed the same way as traditional weaponry and looked pretty vicious but it turned out that they were not very effective at causing wounds it's believed that the obsidian weaponry in question would work better as tools been things to cut and stabbed and about the Rapanui dying out in fact they were pretty successful as people one thing that did affect their numbers however was the arrival of Europeans in the early 1700s when imported disease and the slave trade proved to be the demise of the proud Easter Islanders number six the reign of Genghis Khan it's generally accepted that Genghis Khan the Mongol ruler was one guy that you didn't want to mess with we certainly wouldn't argue with him anyways the founder of the Mongol Empire was one of the most effective examples of a military might that the world had ever seen yet it would not have been possible without the right weather conditions that's right Genghis Khan had good fortune with a whole lot of rain that helped him to do his conquering but how well before his reign or perhaps that should be rain the 13th century Mongolia was extremely dry and suffering from drought then the heavens opened up and the extended spell of the wet stuff came down together with increased temperatures that led to a sudden spurt in grass without this significant development which hadn't happened for about a thousand years Genghis Khan would not have been able to inspire the Mongol tribes to join forces and take control the American National Academy of Sciences worked this out by going to the famous con guy mountains and studying the rings inside the trees number five Tomb triggers the resting place of Qin Shihuang China's first emperor as he was better known captured the imaginations of both archaeologists and everyone when his mausoleum would be discovered in the 1970s that distinctive image of 8,000 terra cotta warriors was truly a sight to behold the first emperor rolled over China from 246 BC and of course wanted his tomb to be the biggest and the best a reported 700,000 people worked on the project in strict social context where collective responsibility was key while the Warriors remained standing crucial pieces of the Qin Dynasty had disintegrated over time pieces like weaponry held by the statues and all that was left out of crossbows were bronze triggers which shows just how much time and effort went into making them this attention to detail is impressive with each trigger comprised of five parts the only mystery here is how they were created in the first place in 2014 a team had a proper look at the triggers and established that they were produced in a kind of assembly line process we may think of assembly lines as being fairly modern inventions but the Chinese were doing it thousands of years ago number four Viking knockoff swords old Viking swords can be found in various museums and collections around the world and certainly look the part but about a decade ago people began noticing something strange on some of the blades it turns out that a lot of them were counterfeit but you want to know a really strange thing there's still original Viking swords and if you're confused at this point you probably should be just like today knockoff swords were produced to plug gaps in the market this would be due to an 11th century trade war where Russia closed off access to the Viking source of high-quality steel but the difference between the real thing and the counterfeits was significant though you likely wouldn't notice until you actually went into combat a process called quenching would be used in the production to compensate for the lack of carbon in the replacement steel you've probably seen quenching before when super hot metal is placed in liquid to cool it but unfortunately with the knock-offs it made them brittle and liable to break under duress so if you were a Viking you really had to watch what you were picking up from the sword shop on your way into battle number three megalithic crystal weaponry when exploring tombs from the megalithic era in Spain archaeologists unearthed a truly astonishing discovery five thousand-year-old weapons that were fashioned from rock crystal these were hidden inside chambers made of slate slabs giving them clues about the elite society found entombed at the site now the beautiful looking deadly items which included arrowheads and daggers were located alongside the remains of people who had apparently committed suicide as part of a ritual one particularly intriguing find would be connected to the dagger 13 millimeters thick and 59 millimeters wide with an eye-watering 214 millimeters long the thinking here is that Crystal weapons were the preserve of the rich and powerful taking much effort and precious resources to make so if you weren't wealthy enough to afford them then you had the dubious honor of being that guy who hung around everyone else who did number two the pop Ola dumb discovery there's a long history across the globe of archaeological finds interfering with building and construction projects and uncovering an ancient skull or rusty sword when you're trying to bring a multi-million dollar building in on time isn't the most convenient thing but it can shine a light on history and is worth stopping the work for in 2017 the village of papal a dung in India were playing host of work crews laying some road while setting foundations the crew stumbled upon a stash of ancient weapons that were thought to date back to Gorka war of the early 1800s over 80 items including javelins daggers and swords would be discovered and the war is also connected to the Anglo Napoli's war that was between 1814 and 1816 and number one a mountain sword climate change is generally a bad thing for the planet and those of you who actually believe in it but it does have unexpected side effects in terms of archaeology the melting snow and ice can reveal stuff from thousands of years ago that people had never thought possible just such a thing would be found last year in a mountain in Norway an eleven hundred year old Viking sword which doesn't sound wonderful on its own but up to that point a blade hadn't been spotted at that altitude before we're talking 1640 meters or over 5,000 feet above sea level the other thing that grabbed experts attention was the condition of the sword being pretty well preserved bearing in mind that it had been left out like that for so long the prevailing theory is that a Viking lost his bearings and perished while his sword lived on remind you wouldn't they have like found a helmet with horns or something I'm not an archaeologist but you know I'm just saying thanks for watching which archaeological discovery was your favorite and what archeological discoveries have you made let me know in the comments below be sure you're subscribed and I'll see you next time on world 5

Channel: World List

Views: 1,951,022

Rating: 4.2846198 out of 5

Keywords: world 5 list, weapon discoveries, archaeological discoveries, recent discoveries, recent archaeological discoveries, archaeological weapon discoveries, recent archaeological weapon discoveries, amazing discoveries, mysterious discoveries, mysterious archaeological discoveries, unexplained discoveries, mysterious findings, rare discoveries, ancient weapon discoveries, ancient weapons, ancient archaeological discoveries, top, top 10, top ten, top most, list, facts, world5list

Id: JSA9vn0L7c0

Length: 12min 42sec (762 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 23 2018