These mysterious finds of archaeologists, many of which were discovered long ago, still amaze those who see and read about them. Some of them are interesting and attractive, others are really terrible. However, all of them attract the attention of not only scientists, but also ordinary inhabitants, excite the imagination and serve as the subject of fierce debate in the scientific community.
Discovery of the Century: Rosetta Stone and its Decryption
Many of the most incredible finds of archaeologists were made quite by accident, as, for example, this happened with the Rosetta stone, found in 1799 near Rosetta (Egypt). On this granodiorior slab the same text was carved in three languages. This find of the archaeologist, the photo of which can be seen below, gave a clue to the solution of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. They were read due to the fact that the ancient Greek language at that time was already well studied, and the ancient Egyptian demotic writing was in the process of learning and decoding.
Pierre-Francois Bouchard, captain of the French troops, who discovered the Rosetta stone, went down in history forever.
Qumran manuscripts
The most significant finds of archaeologists include the Dead Sea Scrolls, also called Qumran manuscripts, which were sequentially found, starting in 1947, in the ancient Israeli fortress Masada and caves of the Judean desert. These ancient documents, including biblical books and apocrypha, are written on parchment. They were collected, translated from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek and subsequently published in French and English with a preface, translation and transcription, notes, photographs and comments. The publication has 40 volumes.
The value of this find by archaeological scientists is that thanks to it, the existing historical knowledge was significantly expanded and supplemented. This, in turn, helped to better understand some of the details of Old Testament books.
Secret Archaeological Findings: Antikythera Mechanism
It is believed that some of the archaeological discoveries have been classified for a long time. But this is not so. They just did not attach much importance. This happened, for example, with one strange find by archaeologists, later called the Antikythera mechanism.
Discovered on board an ancient ship in 1900 and raised to the surface in 1901, it has been studied sporadically for many years. The start of this research of a mysterious subject was given only in 1951. A description of its mechanism was published in 1959 by Derek John de Soll Price, a British historian. A detailed diagram was presented in 1971.
The purpose of the mysterious device
Using a gear system and several dials, the user of the Antikythera mechanism could simulate the movement of the Moon and the Sun relative to fixed stars, display the change of days and zodiac signs. It was also possible to calculate the difference in the positions of the moon and the sun, corresponding to the lunar phases, the cycle of solar and lunar eclipses. Thus, the device turned out to be much more complex than the astrolabe, for which it was initially taken.
It was previously believed that the differential transmission, which was the basis of the device, was invented no earlier than the 16th century, but it was present in the description of J. Price. This is another reason why so much attention was riveted on this for the time being inexplicable find of archaeologists, although later the scientist’s assumption was refuted.
Geoglyphs in the Nazca desert
Another find of archaeologists, which was first discovered in 1939 ... from an airplane! Otherwise, probably, these mysterious signs would be very difficult to find. It was the development of aviation that made this ancient, primitive find possible in the 20th century. The archaeologist who discovered it was the American Paul Kosok. Since 1941, the study of mysterious drawings by Maria Reiche, a doctor of archeology from Germany, began.
The symbolic drawings on the Nazca Plateau are distinguished by their enormous size, schematic, and perfectly even lines. They were applied to the surface using deep furrows - trenches 35-40 centimeters deep. How their creators (presumably representatives of the Nazca civilization) did this remains a mystery.
Since most of the so-called geoglyphs, giant images, are indistinguishable from the earth, scientists logically assumed that they were created for those who could see them from the sky - deities or, possibly, pilots of alien ships. Many people believe that this is direct evidence of a visit to the Earth in ancient times by alien civilizations - therefore, as if this find of archaeologists is classified, and mere mortals will never know the details.
There was also an assumption about the astronomical significance of the drawings, among which there are many geometric figures - spirals, trapezoids, triangles. So, Dr. F. Pitlugi from the Chicago planetarium, after analyzing them, suggested that one of the geoglyphs - the image of a spider - correlates with the constellation Orion. Maria Reiche also believed that the purpose of these lines is rather astronomical (astrological). At the same time, other scientists who compared petroglyphs with a picture of the starry sky found very few matches. However, it must be borne in mind that the map of the starry sky over several millennia could significantly change.
In addition, even today there is no complete image map. Only the most famous of them are analyzed - a spider, a flower, a monkey, a humanoid figure, a bird, etc. So, perhaps, new discoveries await scientists.
The most terrible finds of archaeologists. Traces of ritual sacrifices
Archaeological finds that terrify and disgust any normal person are usually associated with human sacrifices. In ancient times, as you know, this practice was familiar. Among the most terrible are the ruins of Simao in China, the moon temple of the Moche civilization in Peru, and, of course, the Egyptian pyramids, which buried not only the pharaohs and their families, but also their many servants, and even animals.
The ruins of the ancient Chinese city of Simao, where 80 female skulls were found, were discovered in 1976. This is the largest Neolithic settlement in China. According to archaeologists, this find is more than 4000 years old. Presumably young women and girls are ritually murdered and sacrificed in honor of the founding of the city. Three centuries after its founding, the city was abandoned. At this time, the Xia Dynasty ruled in China . It is noteworthy that archaeologists did not find any torso, or limbs, or other bones - only the skulls of the victims.
The Temple of the Moon, or the Moon Pyramid, located on the territory of modern Peru, along with the Temple of the Sun, belonged to the now extinct culture of Moche (100-800 AD). These are the two highest structures erected in South America by ancient civilizations. It had richly decorated walls (5 colors - black, blue, brown, white, red) and consisted of five temples built on top of each other. The courtyard, according to scientists, was intended to prepare sacrifices. However, only a select few, priests and senior officials, could observe them. During excavations, more than 70 human remains were found.
Swamp mummies
Good material for archaeological research is the so-called bog people. These archaeological finds to an unusual eye can seem rather scary and unpleasant. However, for archaeologists this is a real treasure. Due to natural mummification, human remains found in the quagmire of peat bogs in Europe are often well preserved and have intact skin and internal organs. These people lived 2500-8000 years ago. At the disposal of scientists were clothes and preserved hair, so that the appearance of the ancient Europeans could be recreated with sufficient reliability. They were usually called by the locality where they were found.
Of these finds, the most famous is the woman from Kölbjerg - the oldest mummy, which is 8000 years old, a woman from Elling with a well-preserved complex hairdo, a man from Tollund, whose facial features are perfectly preserved, a man from Groboll and others. In total, scientists found about a thousand swamp mummies, more or less well preserved. Some of them people, including those listed above, did not die by their own death. So, a trace of a leather cord found nearby was found on the neck of a woman from Elling. The man from Tollund was also strangled by a leather loop, and the throat of a man from Groboll was cut literally from ear to ear. It was impossible to determine whether these people, like many others, were sacrificed, executed, or victims of crime. A woman from Kölbjerg was supposedly drowned in a swamp because no traces of violent death were found on her body.
This, of course, is one of the most terrible archaeological finds, but their value is undeniable. In the stomachs of many of them even food debris was preserved, which provided interesting material for research. So, a man from Tollund shortly before his death ate cooked seeds and cereals, in total more than 40 species. Among them are barley, flax seeds, etc.
Fakes or genuine artifacts? "Discovery" from the category of curiosities
The so-called Akambaro figurines, supposedly representing unique artifacts, were found and collected by Waldemar Yulsrud for a long time, starting in 1945. He was not a scientist, but was engaged in archeology at an amateur level. The collection included more than 30 thousand figures made of baked clay and stone. According to the stories of Yulsrud himself, he discovered some of the figures himself, others - traded among the peasants of villages located near Akambaro in Mexico. They portrayed people of different races, and ... dinosaurs! The find was supposedly several thousand years old. This fact attracted great attention to her and led some to assume that certain pages of history would be rewritten again. Unfortunately, it turned out that this incredible find of an amateur archaeologist is nothing more than a fake. This was confirmed by an analysis of the figures by archaeologist Charles Di Peso. According to him, they were made by local peasants for the purpose of earning - for sale to tourists. However, many, including Yulsrud himself, remained unconvinced, appealing to the inaccuracy of analytical methods.
After the death of the owner of the collection in 1964, many of the figures were stolen, the rest were first transferred to the Akambaro City Hall for storage, and after that a whole museum bearing the name of Yulsrud was opened for them. So the fate of this supposedly ancient find of archaeologists.
Crystal skulls
Among the fakes, deliberately pretending to be the oldest archaeological finds, many scientists include crystal skulls. Currently, there are thirteen of them, and nine of them are in private collections.
According to one version, the English archaeologist and traveler F. Albert Mitchell-Hedges in 1927 took with him on an expedition to Yucatan a seventeen-year-old daughter, who, under the fragments of the ancient Mayan altar, a perfectly preserved artifact made of quartz - a full-size transparent, perfectly smooth crystal skull. As it turned out, this is not the first find of this kind, but all the others were much ruder. However, from the point of view of the Hewlett-Packard engineer L. Barre, one of the experts who carefully examined the skull, ancient technology did not allow the Indians to create such a perfect object. It inevitably had to split even at the time of processing the material. Psychics, who studied crystal skulls, speak of sounds and luminosity emanating from archaeological finds, and the possibility of contact with extraterrestrial civilization.
At the same time, modern research conducted by scientists from the United Kingdom and the United States made it possible to detect traces of processing materials invented in the 19th and 20th centuries on skulls, which gave reason to talk about fakes. In addition, the quartz from which they are made is of European, not American, origin. Nevertheless, crystal skulls continue to excite people's imagination. As you know, this item was beaten in the film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" by Spielberg. By the way, it was the tireless Mitchell-Hedges who served as the prototype of the main character of the picture.
In addition to the films, crystal skulls appear in some computer games (Nancy Drew, Corsairs, etc.).
Instead of a conclusion
The article, of course, does not provide a complete list of the most outstanding finds of archaeologists. And can any of them be considered less important and significant for history than others? All of them, except for fakes that can lead science on the wrong track, supplemented the existing historical and scientific picture of the world ... One thing is certain: the history of terrestrial civilization is bottomless, and over the next years, decades, centuries, scientists will find new amazing discoveries and archaeological finds.