25 Most Incredible Archaeological Finds

When you think about it, archaeology is about taking what's old and making it new again. Archaeologists take things that were left behind hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years ago and present them to us as new pieces of information. We begin in Western Turkey, where archaeologists in the city of İzmit confirmed in May 2022 the discovery of a sarcophagus with a fascinating inscription. The text etched into the surface of the sarcophagus identifies it as the casket of a protector of the divine flank. This was one of the highest officer ranks in the ancient Roman Imperial Guard and makes this just the eighth sarcophagi of someone of such rank ever to be found. It's also the first ever to be found in Turkey and the only one still in possession of grave goods and the bones of its occupant. The sarcophagus was found during an archaeological survey carried out before the construction of a new building for a local water and sewage administration. The same excavation has already turned up 51 Roman burials inside a necropolis, although none quite so grand as this one. The full inscription reads, To the spirits of the dead, I, Canpo, protector of the divine flank, restore my monument. I originated from Deyşeh Minor and lived 50 years. Nobody else is permitted to be deposed here except my son Severus or my wife. It looks like Canpo partially got his wish, as nobody else was buried near him at all. Sticking with the slightly grim tone of human burials, here's another discovery that was made partially by accident in May 2022. Utility works in the Italian capital city of Rome had the unintended effect of revealing the presence of a 2nd-century marble funerary altar. It's a beautiful piece of marble, but reading the inscription reveals that it's dedicated to a girl who passed away at the age of just 13. The discovery happened while construction workers performed upgrades on a water network on Via Liugitozzi. The altar has evaded detection for all these years because it was more than six feet below the level of the modern road. It's made of white marble and features bas-reliefs of songbirds and fruit baskets. Both the birds and fruit are known to have symbolized abundance according to Greco-Roman tradition. The inscription that accompanies the images is brief, but reads Valeria P.F. Laeta Vixit Annis VIII M.7. Translated, it says that Valeria Laeta lived for 13 years and 7 months. The meaning of the P in P.F. is unknown, but the F is likely to have meant filia, or daughter. We'll never know how Valeria died, but her body doesn't appear to be next to the altar. Discoveries made by construction workers are rapidly becoming a theme in this video because this one makes it 3 out of 3. The Instituto Nacional de Antropología has recently been modernizing an electrical substation in Mexico City, Mexico. During the course of their work, they've accidentally come across an ancient Aztec house. The professional archaeologists who were summoned to the scene in May 2022 say that it's an agricultural dwelling, dating to the late post-classic period, giving it a probable age of a little over 500 years. The location of the dwelling is likely to be significant as it's on the border between which places it within the Moyotian subdivision of the great Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The property was identified as an agricultural dwelling because of the presence of whorls, sensors, and spinning tools beneath the adobe floors of the old home. But archaeologists also found the remains of infants inside funerary vessels. The upper walls of the property are made of stones joined with mud and contained evidence of saddlery, suggesting that the lower floor may have been left as it was found, but the upper floor was reused during the colonial settlement of the 16th century. Recently, the waters of Lake Michigan in the United States of America have been unusually clear. That's down to a combination of ice melt, beach erosion, variable water levels, and winds. Thanks to the clarity of the water, it's suddenly become possible to peer into the lake and see the many shipwrecks that lay at its bottom. There are dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of wrecks in the lake, many of which will never be identified. However, some of them are easier to spot than others. One of them is the James McBride, which went down in 1857. Another is the Rising Sun, which sank in 1917. The latter ship was owned by a religious cult called the House of David, all of whom were aboard when the ship crashed and sank in a sudden snowstorm. It's said that the unpredictable weather in the area makes Lake Michigan one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world, but that doesn't put off the thousands of people who sail on it every year. The shipwrecks are considered public property, and as such, they are not supposed to be disturbed. But they attract divers during warm weather, and the rules don't appear to be applied. We've already seen the sarcophagus of a protector of the divine flank in Turkey. Now let's look at the final resting place of the Keeper of Royal Secrets in Egypt. This magnificent tomb was discovered in the Saqqara Necropolis in May 2022. The tomb is that of a man named Meczeci, who served as a royal clerk to the pharaoh Ussur-Kare between 2333 and 2331 BCE. The pharaoh must have thought a lot of his clerk, else he wouldn't have afforded him such a lavish burial. Inscriptions within the tomb indicate that Meczeci also served as a clerk to King Tedi, Ussur-Kare's father. If that's the case, the secrets that he kept might have been very big ones. Modern-day historians believe that Ussur-Kare assassinated his father in order to claim the throne. Power was often won through deceit and violence in the Egypt of the time. And so it's a wonder that a man who kept secrets lived long enough to justify a grand tomb like this one. It even has a dry moat around it as a symbolic boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead. We're going to stay in Egypt for a moment longer, because May 2022 also saw archaeologists confirm the discovery of no fewer than 85 tombs in Sohag. The impressive collection of tombs spans an era of more than 2,500 years. To the delight of the archaeologists responsible for the discovery, the tombs appear to be undisturbed. Grave goods are still present inside them, as are the remains of the deceased. The oldest of the burials are those of people who lived during the days of Egypt's Old Kingdom, some 4,500 years ago. Those older burials are almost bare, but the most recent examples include burial permits bearing the name, age, occupation, and parents' names of each person buried. Most of the burials were found concealed on the side of a mountain, and some of the more elaborate ones were connected to other burials via secret corridors. As well as the tombs, the archaeologists found the remains of what was once a sturdy mud brick tower, which was built during the reign of King Ptolemy III about 2,300 years ago as a surveillance post. All in all, this is one of the most remarkable Egyptian discoveries to happen outside Saqqara in quite some time. The progress we're making with technology means it's increasingly possible for archaeologists to detect traces of our ancestors that can no longer be seen with the naked eye. As an example, 3D photogrammetry has recently revealed a collection of 1,000-year-old etchings on the walls of a cave in northern Alabama, USA. The etchings, most of which depict human-like figures but one of which depicts a mysterious serpent, were created by Native Americans. Experts say that the drawings are the largest pieces of cave art ever to be found in North America. Native American petroglyphs aren't exactly rare, but most of them are carved into cliff bases or canyons. It's far rarer to find them inside caves, and up until around 40 years ago, it was thought that there was little to no ancient cave art in the southeast of the country at all. The ceiling of this particular cave is only two feet high, so archaeologists had to lay on their backs in cramped conditions to examine the artwork. There's no reason to believe that the caves were any bigger 1,000 years ago, so the act of creating art in this unlikely, claustrophobic space must have been a deliberate choice. We're back to tombs again now. In May 2022, the South China Morning Post reported that archaeologists in the northwest of the country had discovered a 3,000-year-old body missing a foot inside a tomb. The study of the remains revealed that the foot had been amputated, but experts don't think this was a case of medical aid. Instead, they think it's the earliest known example of a practice called Yue, the amputation of limbs as a punishment. The victim of the punishment was female and lived for at least five years after enduring the amputation. Yue is one of the legendary five punishments of ancient China and was carried out for well over 1,000 years before its use came to an end roughly 2,200 years ago. The punishments were brought in by the Yellow Emperor around 3,700 years ago for unknown reasons. Later punishments included the cutting off of the nose, ears, and genitals, so perhaps on balance this woman got off lightly. The punishments were once thought to be legends, but a spate of discoveries in recent years has proven that they were very real. Why would the ancient Maya build a city in the middle of a volcano? We have no idea, but we know that they did. The proof was found in April 2022 when archaeologists found the collapsed city inside a volcano crater in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Experts at the scene have dated the discovery to the Mayan Late Preclassic period, making it something like 2,000 years old. Evidence suggests that the city was abandoned in a hurry, shortly after which it collapsed from its bottom. On the balance of probability, the disaster was likely caused by volcanic activity. The collapse continued until the city sank into the depths of Atitlan, where it now lays almost 70 feet below the surface. Thus far, marine archaeologists have been able to identify grand columns, ceremonial stones, and the remains of buildings, although all are obviously very badly damaged from both the city's collapse and the 20 centuries they've spent underwater. The city does not yet have a name, but it's not the only Mayan city within Lake Atitlan. Tutinamit and Samabaj are here too. Nobody knows what happened to the Maya, but perhaps their disappearance had something to do with their habit of building cities in disaster areas. We imagine that almost everybody with an interest in archaeology has heard of Angkor in Cambodia. It's the site of Angkor Archaeological Park, which, in turn, is home to Angkor Wat, which is believed by many to be the largest religious monument in the world. Such is the international fame of the site that it would be tempting to believe that everything to be discovered there has already been discovered, but that isn't the case. In early May 2022, archaeologists found a previously undiscovered 12th-century carving. The discovery was made close to the causeway of the Angkor Thom temple's Takav Gate. It depicts an aspara, which, according to the beliefs of these ancient people, was either a dancing fairy or a spirit of the waters and clouds. The carving is remarkably well-preserved, but appears to be incomplete. Archaeologists aren't sure whether the stone has been moved or whether there was once another stone beneath it bearing the rest of the carving. Perhaps they should have another look around the site. It seems that all of the archaeologists who've visited the site in the past have somehow managed to miss a few things. For more than 25 years, a volunteer group of amateur archaeologists in Poulton-le-Field, England has been on the lookout for a long-lost Cistercian abbey they believe once existed in their area. They haven't found it yet, but they've instead just found what's been described as a time capsule of Iron Age artifacts. Their work has uncovered no fewer than 10 Iron Age roundhouses and 5,000 artifacts, evidencing the existence of a large settlement in the vicinity of Poulton-le-Field during the Iron Age. Most British historians believe that northwest England was barely populated during the Iron Age, but these finds might force them to reconsider that opinion. There's even some evidence that the occupants of the Iron Age town traded with other communities up and down the nearby River Weir, so this wasn't an isolated group. The group might finally have an explanation for why the 900 skeletons they recently found at the site of a medieval chapel seemed to predate the existence of the chapel by such a large amount of time. Taken together, this is the most complete record of Iron Age life ever to be collected in the lowlands of northwest England. Almost every prehistoric culture and civilization in the world created cave paintings, cliff paintings, and other forms of rock art, but it's rare to see any prehistoric artwork quite as intricate and detailed as that which was discovered in Columbia in November 2020. The drawings run on for almost eight miles, which makes it incredible that nobody has ever noticed these 12,500-year-old Iron Age works of art before. It's thought to be so significant that some historians are referring to it as the Sistine Chapel of the The fact that the art has never been seen before and remains so well-preserved is down to its location and climate. It's in a jungle-covered, hard-to-reach part of Columbia's Amazon region. It's likely that it was created by some of the very first humans to reach this part of the world. They left their handprints on the rocks, but they also created surprisingly detailed drawings of horses, mastodons, sloths, and a few creatures that are difficult to identify and might be mythical. There are even a few images that appear to depict human beings bungee jumping from wooden towers, but that's probably down to us misinterpreting them with our modern eyes. The Mikhalkovsky Treasure should, by rights, belong to Ukraine. Once upon a time, they did, but they don't anymore. The treasure collection, discovered by Nastya and Ekaterina Danilchuk on the banks of the Niklava River in 1878, is one of the richest golden treasures ever found in Europe. The best-known and most valuable items within the treasure collection include the Crown of Darius, tiny golden figurines of wolves, and a set of Hallstatt jewelry. All of the artifacts date back to Scythian times. After it was collected and logged, the whole hoard was taken to Lviv and became part of Count Vladimir Dedushetkiy's collection. That's where they stayed until 1936, when the Lviv Museum of National History fell on hard times and effectively pawned the artifacts to the Lviv Mortgage Bank. In a shocking act of irresponsibility, the bank chose to sell the artifacts to private collectors one at a time. Art critic Mikhail Rostostev took a few, but you'll find other pieces in museums in Berlin, Budapest, and Vienna. Some of the items cannot be accounted for. This treasure collection still exists, but sadly, it's doubtful it will ever be displayed altogether again. Within the Met Museum collection in New York City, USA, you'll find a highly controversial artifact known as the Reliquary of Mary Magdalene. While the truth of what it contains may never be known, the beauty of its container is obvious to everybody who sees it. This priceless artifact was made somewhere between the 14th and 15th centuries in Tuscany, Italy. The framework of the elaborate container is made from copper and gilded silver, but also contains rock crystal and a striking example of veriglumice glass painting. For those of a religious persuasion, though, the most valuable part of this artifact is the item encased in the rock crystal at its center. To true believers, it's the tooth of Mary Magdalene, who the Bible records as being a follower of Christ and also an eyewitness to his crucifixion. Could a human tooth have survived 2,000 years? Well, that's certainly possible, but we have no direct evidence that the tooth inside this reliquary is really her tooth. There would be no way of proving such a thing either. Whether or not you believe in the artifact's veracity is a question of faith, but we can appreciate it as a beautiful work of art regardless. Speaking out of turn or bringing shame upon yourself or your family still isn't a smart idea today, but it was an even worse idea during medieval times in Europe. Should you be adjudged to be guilty of such a crime, you could expect to be forced to wear one of these hideous masks of shame. The material they were made from was cold, harsh, and uncomfortable to wear, and the expressions carved into them were gruesome. Historical evidence suggests that they remained in use until the 18th century. The masks were designed to humiliate the wearer, with different masks for different shameful offenses. A gossip, for example, might be forced to wear a mask with a long tongue. If someone deemed you to be shamefully dirty, you might be forced to wear a mask of a pig. The masks were briefly used during the early days of colonial America after being brought from Europe by the Puritans, but fortunately the practice was quickly abandoned. Today, they are nothing more than amusing curiosities in museums, but there would be nothing funny about having to wear one for days on end. Basket weaving is an ancient skill and a hobby that's still practiced by millions of people all over the world today. Most of the people who weave baskets probably don't know how ancient the tradition is, but we do. After the discovery of this basket inside Merobot Cave in Israel in early 2021, we can now say with certainty that humans have been weaving baskets for at least 10,500 years. This is the oldest basket ever found anywhere in the world, and the conditions inside the cave have preserved it perfectly. It was closed and still had its lid attached when it was found, but it turned out to be empty when archaeologists opened it and took a peek inside. Scientists are unable to say who made the basket, but it was manufactured at around the time that Jericho, believed to be the world's first town, was founded in Levant. It's extremely fortunate that the basket was ever found at all, because the cave had been looted in the distant past. Presumably, the robbers left this basket behind because they thought it had no value. Archaeologists disagree. We're heading back to New York City again now to take another look at the Met Museum's collection. This time, the focus of our attention is this stunning arm reliquary. It's in such condition that you could easily believe that it was made within the last century, but it's actually a product of the 13th century, albeit with one or two 15th-century additions. The reliquary is made of silver and accessorized with rock crystal and glass gems. The hand at the top of the arm is making the gesture of a religious blessing, which offers a small clue about the owner of the arm that it's said to contain. According to the engraving on the cuff of the wrist, the human arm inside the reliquary belongs to Saint Fiach. Three different Irish saints have been given this name, but this particular Saint Fiach was a Catholic priest and hermit of the 7th century. Aside from being respected for his sanctity, legend has it that he also had the God-given power to cure any illness. Could he really do that? Is his arm really inside this container? Once again, that's a question of faith. During the 1970s, a baboon's fibula was discovered in the border cave of the Lebombo Mountains close to the border of Eswatini and South Africa. An old animal bone wouldn't usually be thought of as significant, but this one is special. Now known as the Lebombo bone, it's thought to be the world's oldest mathematical artifact. 29 notches were deliberately carved into this bone by human hands approximately 44,000 years ago. The precise meaning of the 29 notches is unknown, but some archaeologists believe they were made by a woman keeping track of her menstrual cycle. Others prefer to believe that it's a lunar calendar of some kind. We might not have enough information to verify either of those ideas, though. There's some evidence that the bone is broken at one end, so there might once have been more notches in the as-yet-undiscovered other pieces of bone. The San clans of Namibia still make tally marks like these on bones today. While older notched bones have been found elsewhere in the world, the botches on those older bones aren't as precise or organized. This artifact was marked carefully and deliberately, but we may never really know why. When is a ring not a ring? When it's an astronomical sphere! This beautiful 400-year-old ring is one of a handful of examples of ancient pieces of jewelry that could allow you to wear the entire universe on your finger. They're known as armillary spheres and appear to have been invented simultaneously, but independently, in Greece and China. The tiny artifacts are made of a series of spherical rings with a representation of either the sun or the earth at their center. The complexity of the rings is almost invisible when they're closed, but the bands can be fanned out to become something else entirely. The most basic of the rings have two moving bands, but more ornate examples might have as many as eight. The majority of them feature either inscriptions or depictions of the signs of the zodiac marked on them in enamel. They were worn as a statement of intelligence and wisdom, and were at the peak of their popularity during the 18th century. Most of them are purely decorative, but the best examples also include lines of celestial latitude and longitude that can be used to make astronomical observations. Galileo Galilei will forever be best known as the man who determined that the Earth was not the center of the universe, but his skills weren't limited to astronomy. Like Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo was also a polymath and an inventor. In 1597, he invented the geometric and military compass. This specific example we see here was made in 1606. Not to be confused with a standard drawing compass, this sophisticated device is a precise instrument of measurement and calculation. With this device and a little applied knowledge, it was possible to calculate the proportionality between the sides of triangles and also make a much wider variety of calculations, both arithmetical and geometrical in nature. The sheer number of different scales etched into the two legs of the instrument gives you an idea of just how many different calculations Galileo used it for. He was decades ahead of his time in terms of scientific observations, and didn't always win friends among his contemporaries because of his tendency to destroy their beliefs. But this old compass is a testimony to his undisputed genius. Among the many things that might be given to a newly appointed bishop is a crozier, a kind of staff that's used as a symbol of their religious authority. These days, they're usually made of wood. But that hasn't always been the case. If you were an especially important or self-important bishop in the 14th century, you might have had something that looked more like the Wingfield Digby Crozier instead. This unique artifact is made of walrus ivory and appears to have been either repaired or further decorated at a later date with other pieces of bone. The object was found in Norway and is covered in tiny details that can only be seen on close inspection. Among them is a depiction of Saint Olaf and another saintly figure, perhaps Saint Augustine, entwined among some foliage. The whole crozier has a foliage theme, which is a deliberate echo of the Rod of Aaron as described in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Rod of Aaron could cause plants to bloom on contact. And while this crozier might not have the same supernatural powers, it's still a fine example of both Scandinavian ivory carving and 14th-century Gothic art in general. We've seen a few religiously significant artifacts during this video, so let's throw another one into the mix. This controversial limestone block is known as the Pilate Stone. It was discovered in Israel at the well-known Caesarea Maritima archaeological site in 1961 and was immediately thought to be significant because of the inscription on the badly damaged block. That inscription, written in Latin, bears the name of Pontius Pilate, the man who the Bible says sentenced Jesus Christ to death. Although his name is famous, there was no direct archaeological evidence of his existence until this stone was discovered. Prior to that, he existed only within the pages of the Bible. While he's also spoken of in the ancient writings of Josephus and Philo, those pages were written long after the crucifixion is said to have taken place. Even now, 60 years later, this is the only physical evidence of Pilate's life that's ever been found. Aside from confirming his name, the inscription also records his status as the It's highly likely that it was once the dedication stone of a temple, but was later removed and deliberately damaged for unknown reasons. What would an ancient South American shaman keep inside his sacred bag? Thanks to this next discovery, we can answer that question for you. The bag, which is around 1,000 years old, was found in a rock shelter in Bolivia in 2019, high up in the Andes. Within the leather bag, archaeologists found the raw ingredients of ayahuasca. Through mixing these ingredients together, a shaman could make a drink with hallucinogenic qualities and thus experience visions that they would interpret and then use to predict the future. It's likely that a shaman would want to experience their visions in peace, so this remote part of the Andes would be a good place to do it. So long as you don't wander off and fall from a great height while experiencing the hallucinations. Aside from the ingredients, the bag also contained a small pouch made of fox snouts, llama bone spatulas, and wooden tablets for snuffing. These ingredients would have been hard to source and considered sacred by their owner, so it's odd they were left unattended like this. Maybe this shaman really did take a great fall in the middle of a vision. There are two names given in these ancient Mexican artifacts, Cochinami Flying Shields or Cachin Flying Shields. Whichever name you use, it doesn't get you any closer to understanding their true nature. The artifacts, made by unknown hands, depict lizard-like creatures standing on objects that have been identified as Patuvota. Ancient Mexican legends say that these shield-shaped platforms were capable of flight, and the lizard creatures on them were intermediaries who ferried messages between humankind and the gods. Only birds were capable of flight at the time these ornate sculptures were made, but something must have inspired ancient craftspeople to create them. What might that have been? To alien conspiracy theorists, they're evidence of contact between humans and extraterrestrials during ancient times, but it's far more likely that we're misinterpreting them because of a lack of knowledge. Will we ever find that knowledge? Who knows? But the thrill of the hunt is what makes archaeology so exciting. Until we know any better, we can enjoy them as fine examples of imaginative ancient human art.