25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds

If all archaeological finds were equal, archaeology would be a very boring field of science to be involved in. Fortunately, they're not. Archaeologists live and work for the days, they make amazing discoveries. We look forward to them too, because they allow us to make fantastic videos full of amazing finds. Just like this one. The first time you look at the Kanishka casket, you might find yourself thinking it's a crown. It's not though. It's a reliquary. One that's said to have contained three bone fragments from the Buddha. Whether it did or it didn't is something science will never be able to prove. The fragments have long since been removed and are now in Burma, where it's forbidden to carry out tests on them. The Kanishka casket itself is a stunning artifact made from gilded copper during the year 127. That was the first year of the reign of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka, after whom it's named. At some point long after that, it ended up in a deposit chamber beneath the Kanishka Stupa, where it was found by archaeologists in 1908. Upon the casket lid is a depiction of Buddha on a lotus petal, receiving worship and tribute from Indra and Brahma. While the bone fragments it once contained are now in Burma, the casket itself is on permanent display in the Peshawar Museum in Pakistan. Generations of moviegoers would agree that popcorn is one of the finest food inventions of all time. But just who came up with the idea of popcorn and when did it happen? Well, based on a study from 2012, it seems it may have been the ancient inhabitants of Peru. That's where the oldest corn cobs ever found in South America have been discovered. They're 6,700 years old, a little over 2,000 years older than any previous corn cob discovery. At the time these ancient Peruvians were enjoying corn cobs, they were yet to invent ceramics. They literally wouldn't have had a bowl to put their corn in. Corn cob discoveries, along with the husks, tassels, and stalks of corn, were found at both the Huaca Prieta Mound and at the Paredones Mound on the north coast of the country. There's some evidence that corn was even being ground for flour back then, although it wasn't yet a staple part of the average Peruvian diet. It's thought that the first people in the world to domesticate corn were probably the Mexicans of around 9,000 years ago. But the Peruvians refined the process. Almost all of us have heard the story of the Trojan horse, the giant wooden horse that was wheeled into Troy in ancient times and was full of enemy soldiers who climbed out of the horse and burned Troy to the ground. Troy really did burn to the ground about 3,180 years ago. But the part of the story that involves the horse has always been thought to be nothing but a myth. Perhaps there's more to it, though. In November 2014, Turkish archaeologists shocked the world by claiming to have found pieces of the Trojan horse. They were excavating the former site of Troy on the hills of Hisarlik when they located fragments from a large wooden structure. They found planks made of fur and support beams more than 50 feet long, all of which appeared to have been assembled in an unusual form. Fur planks were commonly used in seafaring ships at the time, but this discovery took place within the walls of Troy. Whatever this wooden structure was, it was on dry land. Carbon dating tests show that the wood is around 3,200 years old, the right age to have been used in the construction of the horse. There's not enough evidence here to conclusively prove the existence of the horse, but it's a fascinating prospect. We know that the Vikings honored their glorious dead with ship burials, but very few people ever qualified for that honor. A ship burial was a big deal for the Vikings, and finding evidence of them is a big deal for archaeologists. Here's one that was found in Jellestad, southeast Norway, in January 2021. It was invisible to the naked eye, but a team from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo found it with ground-penetrating radar. Excavating the ship will be a slow process and might take the rest of 2021 to complete. In some ways, it's surprising the ship wasn't found earlier than this. It's part of Jellhaugen Mound, a well-known Iron Age funerary mound with a history that dates back to the 6th century. During the Viking era, it was expanded considerably, with the addition of monumental buildings and ceremonial halls. This particular ship burial seems to date to the 8th century and is one of the largest ever found, with a length of 60 feet and a width of 15. That suggests it's the last resting place of somebody very important, perhaps even a Viking leader. You'd like to think that every inch of every significant castle in the world has been pored over at length by archaeologists before now, but castles can be large places and sometimes things get missed. In August 2020, a fascinating new discovery was made in the ruins of Cesis Castle Latvia. The castle already has a long and interesting history, having been founded by the knights-glaive-bearers of the Livonian Order during the early 13th century. In August 2020, archaeologists inspected a spiral staircase that had been inaccessible for centuries due to blockages and damage. When they did, they found a 16th-century inscription on the walls. The markings are akin to ancient graffiti, featuring the initials WKVA and a housemark. Housemarks are what town dwellers of low prestige used in lieu of a coat of arms, so whoever made the markings can't have been among the senior residents of the castle. The text beneath the housemark translates as, If God is with us, nobody can stand against us. Historians think it's likely that the inscription was made during the siege of the castle by Ivan the Terrible in 1577. If that's the case, God wasn't with whoever made this inscription. Nobody in the castle survived the siege. If you'd been a friend of the great author William Shakespeare during his lifetime and paid him a visit at home for a meal, this is where it would have been made. You'll have to use your imagination a little, but these images show us the ruins of Shakespeare's kitchen in his former home in Stratford-upon-Avon. The kitchen was found in 2015, along with his hearth and his cold storage pit. As you'd expect, it seems Shakespeare's house had all the domestic luxuries that would have been available when he bought the property in 1597. The house is called New Place and would have been the largest home in the town at the time. Aside from a sizeable kitchen, Shakespeare's pad was kitted out with an art gallery, a large chamber for entertaining guests, 20 smaller rooms, and 10 fireplaces. There's even a small brew house so the playwright could make his own beer. Shakespeare remained here for the final 19 years of his life. Conditions inside New House would have been very comfortable, so it's no surprise that he never moved again. Tel Dor was once an important port on the south coast of Haifa, Israel. It's an important archaeological site for that reason, but not every discovery that's made there is made by a professional archaeologist. In April 2016, this incredible ancient Egyptian scarab seal was found by a birdwatcher who happened to be in the area. Fortunately, there were archaeologists working nearby at the time, and the birdwatcher handed his discovery in immediately. The professional spent some time checking it over and eventually identified it as a 3,700-year-old relic of Egypt's 13th pharaonic dynasty. It's an exceptionally high-value artifact and could only have belonged to someone of immense importance. That's backed up by the inscription on the piece. While the name of the artifact's owner is illegible, the subsequent inscription identifies them as being over the treasury. That probably indicates that it belonged to the viceroy in charge of the royal treasury, one of the most senior non-royal positions in Egypt. The viceroy could have accidentally left the seal behind on a visit to Teldor, or it may have found its way there through trade when Egyptian antiques became valuable during the later Roman period. Here's another find that happened by accident. In June 2016, hikers traveling across the Caribbean island of Montserrat stumbled across some ancient stone carvings that have been missed by everyone who'd gone before. Amazingly, these carvings and inscriptions are the only known petroglyphs on the entire island. Archaeologists think they're around 1,300 years old. Their presence on the island was considered such a shock that archaeologists spent six whole months verifying their authenticity because they suspected the hikers might have created them as a hoax. The marks are similar to those found in the past on the nearby island of Saint Kitts, suggesting an ancient cultural link between the islands. It might even be possible that the glyphs contain a message of some kind, but if that's the case, we're not yet capable of deciphering it. The ancient history of Montserrat is shrouded in mystery. Evidence suggests that it was first inhabited around 4,000 years ago, but the original occupants were driven away by Awarok-speaking people, who were in turn driven off by the Caribs in the 15th century. Each time a culture was driven away, much of their history was lost forever. What does the world's oldest dictionary look like? We're glad you asked. It looks exactly like this cuneiform tablet, which was discovered in Elba, Syria, during the 1970s. It's a product of the Akkadian Empire, and it's roughly 4,500 years old. Although the tablet was discovered almost 50 years ago, it took a long time to identify it as a dictionary because of the language it's written in, which is the oldest Semitic language ever found. That meant archaeologists had to find an ancient bilingual dictionary in order to translate it. In this case, one that was written in Sumerian. It's now held in the ancient Elba Archive, which contains hundreds of clay tablets that were found at around the same time as this dictionary. Curiously, one of the tablets tells the tale of a great flood that destroyed Sumer in ancient times. The wording used and the description of the event is almost identical to the take of Noah and his Ark in the Old Testament. Archaeologists have located 15,000 tablets thus far, with more found every year. Archaeology helps us to shed light on some of humanity's greatest historical achievements, but also some of its great travesties. Here's a find from the latter category. In September 2020, a team of marine archaeologists in Mexico found the wrecked remains of a paddle-wheel steamboat and had nasty suspicions about its origins. They think that this is the ship once known as La Union, a notorious slave-trading steamer of the 19th century. Testimony from the time says that Mayan slaves were forcibly transported to Mexico had officially outlawed slavery by the time of the transportation, but slave owners circumvented the law by forcing slaves to sign away their rights and pretend to be regular workers. Based on the condition of the wreck, it appeared that a boiler exploded aboard the ship and condemned it to its fate just off the coast of Cecil. All of this is consistent with survivor testimonies and eyewitness accounts of La Union sinking. The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History has verified the discovery, so although some historians of the past have claimed La Union never existed, it seems the survivors were telling the truth this whole time. Stone isn't the first material that comes to mind when you're thinking about making armor. It's resilient and will certainly protect you from an attack with a blade, but it's surely too heavy to serve any practical purpose. China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang might disagree with that assessment though. In 2013, stone armor was found in his enormous mausoleum in Xi'an. Considering the age of the piece, some 2,200 years, its design is quite ingenious. Over 600 small pieces of stone are joined together by bronze wires, making the armor flexible and keeping it relatively lightweight. Even so, its purpose may have been ceremonial. If it had been worn on a battlefield, we'd expect to see signs of damage, and there are none. It might even have been made specifically to be placed inside the mausoleum. After finding the first piece of stone armor, archaeologists found another 87 in short order. Some of the experts speculate that there might be thousands waiting to be found. This is another reminder of the sheer size of Qin Shi Huang's tomb, which also includes the famous terracotta warriors. We tend to think of fast food as a modern convenience, but it isn't. Humans have loved convenient hot snacks for at least 2,000 years. Street vendors used to make a fortune from selling them in Pompeii before Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. And we know that because the lava flow surrounded and preserved some old fast food stalls. This is a thermopolium, one of 80 found so far at the world-famous archaeological site. The name thermopolium is a big clue as to its purpose. It translates as a place that sells hot goods. Vendors would cook basic meals in batches at home and then bring them to their thermopolium, where they'd reheat the food to order for customers. Basically, they sold microwave meals without the microwave. Baked cheese seems to have been a popular choice among customers, with spiced wine being the beverage that most often accompanied it. One of the thermopoliums has even been restored and reopened for tourists, who can order ancient Roman snacks as they made their way around the parts of the city that are open to visitors. A remarkable discovery was made at The Star, a pub in Houghton, Hertfordshire, England, during the restoration of the building in 2021. The inn was once owned by Elizabeth I's confidant William Cecil, also known as Lord Burley, and Cecil himself is believed to be depicted on the five wall panels depicting figures from the Elizabethan era uncovered during the restoration. Experts believe that one of the figures in the painting might be the queen, although this can't be definitively stated. The panels, which show figures dressed in their finest clothing, were most likely commissioned by William Cecil shortly after he purchased the inn in 1580. Experts have described the find as incredibly rare and stated that they have local and national significance. Despite being over 500 years old, the paintings have survived many alterations over the centuries and were preserved as part of the pub. The building, which is Grade II listed, boasts architectural features dating back to the mid-1400s, including roof beams that suggest the building might once have been a medieval open hall. Who's to say that Queen Elizabeth herself never enjoyed a drink here? Here's another 2021 discovery which was made at the National Library in Prague's Clementinum and has the potential to reshape our understanding of 13th and 14th century music in Bohemia. A document was uncovered, containing fragments of six two-voice musical compositions believed to have been composed by the Notre-Dame School in Paris. The manuscript was discovered bound into a book from the 1430s, which is a copy of an earlier work on agronomic systems by Petrus de Crescentis. It is thought to have been written on parchment, which was then bound into a 15th century manuscript. The discovery was made by Dominique Gatte, a researcher from Strasbourg in France, who systematically follows all newly digitalized medieval manuscripts and their musical parts. The manuscript's significance lies in its unique content and its relationship to Bohemian musical history. It is one of only four fragments of the Notre-Dame School that has been conserved in Europe, and researchers hope to use it to redefine the history of medieval-era music in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The compositions themselves are already known, but the discovery will provide further insights into the practices of music production and the ways in which melody was altered in different manuscripts. Medieval English royalty enjoyed exotic delicacies, including whale meat, as a symbol of power and status. This is evident from the discovery of a rare medieval whale bone that has gone on display at Launceston Castle in Cornwall. The bone, measuring more than a foot across, was one of around 20 broken vertebra, rib sections, and small pieces of bone discovered during excavations at the castle in 2022. Concentrated near the kitchen area, the bones reveal the unusual diet of the castle's medieval inhabitants. According to English Heritage, medieval whalers were unlikely to have caught a whale of this size, suggesting the bones came from a beached whale. As such, this would have been a delicacy that was born from convenience rather than by design. The discovery is significant in shedding light on the luxurious past of castle life, which was often marked by extravagant feasts attended by high-ranking officials. This particular bone dates to the 13th century, during which time the castle was owned by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and brother to King Henry III. During his lifetime, he was one of the richest men in Europe. In a startling discovery made in 2019, the remains of a 16th-century cargo vessel were found beneath a popular park in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden. The probable remnants of the Samson, a ship commissioned by Charles IX of Sweden, were uncovered by marine archaeologists in Kungsträdgården Park, which now serves as a bustling hub of the city with no substantial bodies of water. However, in the mid-18th century, the area was underwater, providing a route for ships to dock on Stockholm's coast. The discovery of the shipwreck could help shed light on the mystery surrounding the Samson's disappearance in 1607, a few years after its construction, if it is indeed the correct ship. The vessel's unique construction, a hybrid of both transport and warship design with a small cavalry of naval guns, makes both likely to be the Samson, but also an exciting find for marine archaeologists, even if it isn't. The ship's remains were buried under more than two centuries of trash and debris before being unearthed during construction on a nearby building. Marine archaeologists from the Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums led the excavation and revealed the significant find to the public. Archaeologists have uncovered a so-called vampire burial in a 5th-century Italian cemetery in Lugnano, where the remains of a 10-year-old child infected with malaria were found with a stone shoved in its mouth. The practice is believed to have been carried out to prevent the child from returning from the dead and spreading the disease. David Sorin, an archaeologist from the University of Arizona, said the discovery was, "...extremely eerie and weird," and suggested the vampire of Lugnano was buried to prevent the spread of the disease, which devastated the region during the 5th century. The child's remains were among those of dozens of infants, toddlers, and unborn fetuses that were found in the Cemetery of Children, alongside evidence of witchcraft, including raven talons, toad bones, and bronze cauldrons. The remains of the 10-year-old were discovered on its side and were initially thought to be those of an infant. The unique burial has highlighted the significance of the Lugnano Cemetery, according to excavation director David Pickle. It also highlights the measures that the terrified people of the era went to in an effort to prevent the spread of the illness through any means necessary. Speaking of weird burials, archaeologists working at an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Cambridgeshire, England, made an incredibly unique and bizarre discovery in 2012. The remains of a woman were found buried alongside those of a cow, which is a highly unusual animal to be included in a grave of this type. The discovery was made by students from Manchester Metropolitan University during the excavation of the Oakington site. According to Dr. Duncan Sayre, co-director of the excavation, this is the first time an animal has been found buried with a woman from this period. Moreover, a cow is an unusual animal to be buried with someone. Dr. Sayre noted that animal burials are already extremely rare, with only 31 horse burials in Britain, and they were all with men. This woman, who lived in the late 5th century, was clearly a matriarchal figure, buried with grave goods indicating her high status, such as brooches, hundreds of amber and decorated glass beads, and even a complete Chatelaine set. Giving up a cow would have been a big decision as it was a valuable source of food, so it was likely intended as a gesture of enormous respect. Pontefract Castle, a ruin in Wakefield, England, is steeped in over 500 years of English royal history. Once a Norman structure, the castle played a crucial role in some of the country's most bitter conflicts. King Edward I himself described it as the key to the north. The castle has had plenty of moments of infamy, including the imprisonment and assassination of Richard II in 1399, during Henry IV's reign, and being surrendered to the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels. It was also a location of the liaisons between Henry's fifth queen and Thomas Culpepper. During the English Civil War, Pontefract Castle was the last royalist fortress to surrender, but was ordered to be demolished by Oliver Cromwell following Charles I's execution. Notably, many famous prisoners were kept at the castle, including Richard II, James I of Scotland, and Charles the Duke of Orleans. The castle now holds but a shadow of its former glory, with only remnants of the original walls, chapel, and Great Hall. However, visitors can explore the underground dungeons and cellars, and view the writing and names scratched onto the walls by prisoners. Excavations have also unearthed many English Civil War items that are housed at the Pontefract Museum. The Catacomb of Priscilla, located in Rome, Italy, is an ancient burial site that was originally a quarry in Roman times. It became a Christian burial site in the late 2nd century and was used until the 4th century. According to legend, the catacomb is named after the wife of Consul Manius Assilius Glabrio, who converted to Christianity and was killed on the orders of Domitian. The Catacomb of Priscilla is divided into three areas, an arenarium, a cryptoporticus from a large Roman villa, and the underground burial area of the Assilius Glabrio family. The catacomb is adorned with beautiful wall paintings, including images of saints and early Christian symbols. Notable among them is the Greek Chapel, a square chamber with an arch that contains 3rd century frescoes depicting Old and New Testament scenes. The catacomb also contains what may be the oldest known Marian paintings, including an image of Mary with Jesus on her lap, dating back to the early 3rd century. Several early popes and many martyrs were buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla, gaining it the nickname Queen of the Catacombs in antiquity. Specifically, the catacomb contains the tombs of two popes, Pope Marcellinus and Pope Marcellus I, although the alleged relics of many other popes have also been found here. Back to England again, where Canterbury Cathedral's tiny yet precious sundial was discovered during an excavation in the Great Cloister back in 1938. Measuring just a little over 2 inches, the sundial is made of silver with a gold cap, chain, and separate pin. The intricately designed cap is decorated with interlacing and has a beast's head on the end. Similarly, the chain and pin have beast's heads, two of which still have gems for eyes. The sundial is adorned with abbreviated Latin month names inscribed in pairs in three lines on both sides of the tablet. There are also inscriptions on the sides that read, Health to the Maker, Peace to the Owner. Crafted in the 10th century, this sundial is an exquisite piece of art. By using the sun's altitude, the sundial could estimate three different times of day, which were likely used to indicate prayer times as part of the divine office. This rare relic from the Anglo-Saxon era has an unknown maker and original owner, although it is often associated with Saint Dunstan, an archbishop of Canterbury and patron saint of goldsmiths and silversmiths, who was also known to be a skilled musician, scribe, and metalworker. The hardest thing to comprehend when you're looking at images of Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, China, is that every single one of the tiny black holes on the side of the cliff is a cave, and each of those caves is a tiny independent Buddhist temple. If it wasn't for the enormous Buddha sculpture that sits at the heart of the grottoes, you could be forgiven for thinking that the entire site was created by human-sized termites. The work of carving out the grottoes happened over the course of several hundred years, but most historians agree that the bulk of it was carried out between the 6th and 7th centuries, starting during the time of China's Tang dynasty. Owning a small temple in the site of the rock became something of a status symbol, and so wealthy nobles and high-ranking military officers spent their money commissioning their own little niche in the limestone, and then furnishing it with statues. It's thought that more than 100,000 religious carvings existed at the site if you added all the contents of all the caves together. Many were stolen and looted in the years since their construction, but these days the grottoes are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so no further lootings are likely. There are times when an archaeological artifact may turn out to be considerably more valuable than it was thought to be when it was discovered after a thorough examination. That was the case with the Eskrik Ring, which was discovered in 2009 by an amateur metal detectorist in York, England, but was re-evaluated as a discovery in 2013 after further research. The golden sapphire ring has always had intrinsic worth due to the materials it was made of, but a new analysis has found that it goes back to the 5th century rather than the 11th century as was previously assumed, and that it may have even belonged to a European king. When the Yorkshire Museum originally examined it shortly after its discovery, they determined that it belonged to a bishop, but it's now thought that the jewelry's heavily French-influenced design makes it more likely that it belonged to a royal hand. There's still more work to be done before the original owner of the ring can be determined, but if the theory is verified, the piece's worth will likely skyrocket far beyond the $50,000 paid by the museum. Diamond miners draining a salt lake in the Namibian desert accidentally solved a 500-year-old mystery when they found the wreck of the legendary Portuguese trading vessel Bom Jesus. The ship was well buried beneath the sand, sitting on a site where a human-made lagoon once existed. The Bom Jesus was a well-known trading ship during its time and was making its way from its home port in Lisbon to India when it disappeared in 1533. Now we know where it spent the next five centuries, with all of its treasures still on board. Old and precious gold and silver coins have been found inside the ship's treasure chest, mostly well-preserved by the salt and the sand. West African ivory and German weaponry were also still within the hold. Experts believe that it sank because it was simply carrying too heavy a cargo. It's believed that the total cash value of the treasure find is more than $13 million, which is good news for Namibia. The Portuguese have waived their claim on the vessel, allowing the country to do as it pleases with it.