12 Inexplicable Discoveries You Won’t Believe Were Found on Earth
It’s always fascinating when things from the past are found on earth which can redefine all we know about history but what about finds that cannot be explained or understood? I’d argue, they’re all the more intriguing. Turns out, archeology involves a lot more than just digging up dinosaur bones, (I’ve watched too many episodes of Friends) here are the 12 most incredible things archaeologists have discovered.
1. The Mount Owen Moa
The upland Moa was a flightless bird that was thought to be extinct around 500 years ago so you can imagine the surprise when researchers discovered such a well preserved claw belonging to one of the caves in Mount Owen, New Zealand. The claw is thought to date back 3,000 years, blimey.
2. The Longyou Grottoes
Handmade caves found in China dating back to the Qin Dynasty (212 BCE) yet there are no records of them, despite involving almost a million cubic metres of stone. At present there is no explanation for their existence.
3. The Gate of the Sun
Similar to Stonehenge, The Gate of the Sun is a stone structure that remains a mystery to this day. At a height of 13,000 feet in Western Bolivia, legends claim it is the place of the first humans on earth. The engravings on the gate are said to hold an astrological and astronomical importance.
4. L’Anse aux Meadows
This 1,000 year old site in Newfoundland, Canada proves viking settlers made their way to North America long before Christopher Columbus thought about sailing to India.
5. Gobekli Tepe
The site, found atop a mountain ridge in Turkey furthered our understanding of ancient customs. The temple was built before the city around it, indicating just how important religion was to those who settled.
6. The Voynich manuscript
An illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system, the Voynich manuscript remains a mystery. In 2014, two people claimed to have solved the puzzle, the only problem being they both solved it totally differently. One claimed it was an extinct Mexican dialect, the other a coded Asian language.
7. Yonaguni monument
It’s still debated as to whether this underwater structure was man-made or naturally formed somehow. It sits off of the coast of Japan and contains both flat edges and 90 degree angles.
8. Stone Age tunnels
Completely man-made, these huge network of tunnels date back to the Stone Age. The question remains as to how they would have been able to build such an extensive system at that time.
9. Costa Rica’s stone spheres
There are hundreds of granodiorite spheres across Costa Rica that range from 3-4 centimetres to three metres. Their purpose or use is still a mystery.
10. An unfinished Obelisk
The obelisk was carved directly from bedrock but after cracks appeared in granite, the construction was abandoned. It offers unusual insights to ancient Egyptian stone-workign techniques.
11. Mohenjo-daro
The site in Pakistan is one of the earliest major urban settlements, with signs of both city planning social organisation and a draining system. It’s estimated 40,000 people lived in this area.
12. Saksaywaman
The stacked stones located outside of Peru fit together so well without mortar that it’s impossible to get anything between them.
Sometimes the history books just do not have it right and to me that makes the world all the more fascinating, the continuation of discovery. Scientists too, are discovering insanely unexpected things as we speak, like those that mapped 8,000 galaxies around us.