Most Incredible Archaeological Discoveries Made in June

Hi, it's Katrina. June just delivered some of the most insane archaeological breakthroughs of the year. In Spain, a solar project accidentally unearthed a sprawling copper age fortress older than the pyramids. Inside, scientists stumbled upon a Roman soldier laid to rest in a tomb built three millennia before he was even born. Then in Paris, researchers have found a time capsule under Notre Dame. Here are nine of the most incredible discoveries from the month On top of a hill in southwestern Spain, an archaeological dig revealed a missing fortress from the end of the Neolithic era, its ruins hidden for 5,000 years. The discovery came as a huge shock because it was made during the preliminary work for the construction of a solar power plant. No one had anticipated digging up a prehistoric fortress that was built in 3000 BC during the copper age. This structure was erected right around the time that copper started to be replaced with bronze. It dates to more than 500 years before the pyramids were built in Egypt. What's so remarkable about the fortress is that it boasts more sophisticated construction techniques than other similar forts found in the region. The outer walls form what is known as a nonagon, a polygon with nine sides. Such a complex wall shape goes to show that whoever built this thing had an exceptional understanding of mathematics. It's something you wouldn't necessarily expect from people living in prehistory. But the real shock didn't come from the fortress's lost building techniques. The shock came from underneath the stones. The archaeological team uncovered a human burial on site. The burial doesn't make any sense though. This person was buried at the fortress 2,500 years after it was built and abandoned. The grave dates to roughly 218 BC, to the early days of the Roman Republic. The place had already been a deserted ruin for more than 2,000 years when this person was laid to rest in the fort. Why was he buried here? And who the heck was he? Scientists are trying to answer those exact questions through their investigation. So far, they've figured out that this skeleton belongs to a man, someone who was between 25 and 35 years old at their time of death. This man of mystery was buried with a Roman military dagger at his side. These were called and were standard issue for the legions occupying Spain 2,200 years ago. These small clues offer a lot of potential answers for who this person was and how he ended up buried in an abandoned fortress. He may have been a deserter, a soldier who ditched his legion and was killed for it. Or maybe he was sick and his legion happened to be passing by the fortress at his time of dying. Perhaps it seemed like a quiet place to put the soldier to rest. To be honest, there are more questions than answers. If he was a deserter, it's doubtful they would have buried him with his military dagger. They probably would have buried him upside down with his face in the dirt as an eternal punishment for his desertion. Desertion was one of the worst crimes you could commit as a Roman soldier. The word decimate comes from the Latin word decimare, which means to destroy a tenth. Whenever there was a large desertion in a legion, or if a unit mutinied, decimation would be dished out as a punishment. Soldiers were divided into groups of 10 and forced to draw lots. The loser of the draw was then bludgeoned to death by the other nine soldiers. This removed one tenth of the entire unit, hence the term decimation. It was a brutal enough punishment to keep most Roman soldiers from deserting, which means desertion probably wasn't what brought this soldier to the fortress. The truth is that the ancient structure likely served as a convenient shelter for Roman troops moving through the region. This soldier, for whatever reason, died. And since the fort was a safe stopping spot, they buried him under its stones. The Romans probably didn't even know who built the fortress or where it came from. It must have been just as mystical and mysterious to them as it is to us now. New ruins found in Mexico. In Mexico, archaeologists uncovered ancient ruins that have never been seen before. The ruins have proven to be so important that Mexico's president, Claudia Scheinbaum, discussed the discovery during her morning press conference. She said the government is going to allocate resources for the investigation and to restore the site to its original glory. So what is so important about an archaeological site that the president is diverting funds to archaeologists? Usually governments are taking funds away from scientists. The part of the site that hasn't been seen anywhere else is a circular stone platform. Most of the site is your standard ruined city from about 1500 years ago, but the stone platform in center is completely unique to this site. Nobody has ever seen anything else like it in Mexico. And that's only the tip of the archaeological iceberg. The site also includes a monolith depicting a very curious figure with intense Mayan features. Could this figure be a deity, a local ruler, or a mythical hero? Lino Espinosa Garcia, from Mexico's National Institute for Archaeology and History, was one of the coordinators of the excavation, which took place near the town of Coatepec. Based on everything they've found so far, the ruins appear to date to between 200 and 600 AD, placing them in the early classic period of Mayan civilization. The monolith with the figure on it is a little over six feet high and four feet wide. There are actually two figures. The one with Mayan features is holding a bowl with another figure who appears to be pouring something into the bowl. Archaeologists think the substance being poured is a divine liquid. The monolith could be showing a shaman or a priest, somebody important, pouring a ritual drink into someone's bowl who is about to partake in a very trippy ceremony. However, no one knows, and archaeologists love to have competing theories. One theory is that the image shows evidence of an ancient ritual, which could explain the weird stone altar in the center of the site. Another theory is that the image relates to drought. The bowl might be empty as a symbol of drought. The person holding it may have been a local ruler, presenting the bowl to a god in hopes of receiving water. This could have been a metaphor for the Mayans' desperate need of water during a time of major drought and hardship when starvation and famine threatened the land. Either way, it's a weird discovery that the Mexican government is surprisingly interested in. The findings were just published yesterday, not even 24 hours before I started filming this. It'll probably be a bit before there is more information to share. The wooden Stonehenge prototype. Scientists have found evidence that before Stonehenge was built, Neolithic people constructed a temporary prototype. 500 years before the stone circle we all know and love was standing on its own legs, someone did a practice round. We can't call them the builders of Stonehenge, though, because they were five centuries too early. But surely they were related to the builders of Stonehenge, right? Whoever built the prototype must have been the grandfather's grandfathers of the builders of Stonehenge. These people even aligned their early prototype with the proving that Neolithic people in Britain had unprecedented knowledge of the cosmos. This amazing revelation comes from the discovery of a wooden monument in southern England, barely three miles away from Stonehenge. Researchers with the organization Wessex Archaeology found a small horde of artifacts at the site, confirming its construction to about 2950 BC. Scientists used to call that the late Neolithic period, but now they prefer the term New Stone Age. The discovery was made ahead of a new housing development. During the exploration of the 30-acre plot set aside for the development, archaeologists were gobsmacked to discover 48 pits. Inside each pit were shattered pieces of pottery, animal bones, tools, and charcoal. When scientists began dating the material, they found that it had been deposited over a fairly short span of time, likely within 10 years. This is remarkable because it shows that people came here, spent a decade building a gigantic wooden monument, and then left. But why? What was the monument for? Why was it abandoned? Was it truly the precursor to Stonehenge? How did these New Stone Age humans know how to properly align the structure to welcome the light of the solstice? All valid questions and all without answers. They didn't just align their structure, they aligned it to within one degree of accuracy, at a time before wheels or glass had even been invented. Those 48 pits I mentioned were likely post holes, used to hold huge wooden columns estimated at 14 feet tall. This was a giant wooden model of the future Stonehenge. From Stone Age to World War II in the Netherlands In the Netherlands, archaeologists have made one of the largest discoveries of artifacts ever, spanning the bulk of human history. They found 3,000 treasures from the Stone Age all the way up to World War II. These discoveries were made in the Stream Valley. In a lot of countries, archaeological discoveries are made during the initial excavations of a new building project. But in the Netherlands, workers were in the middle of redeveloping the area to make more space for nature. What a twist! As part of the redevelopment program, archaeologists were called in to carefully study the top layer of the soil. Authorities wanted to ensure there were no historically important artifacts before the work went on as planned. Turns out, there was a wealth of artifacts from across major historical periods. Scientists found tools from the Stone Age and Bronze Age, as well as jewelry from the Roman era all the way to the Middle Ages. They found objects from the Dutch Revolt of 1568 to 1648, and they even found objects from World War II. Most of what was discovered is still in remarkable condition. It's probably because nobody has disturbed the soil much in thousands of years. People have passed by and they've lost objects, and those objects have gotten swallowed by the earth. For more than 5,000 years, human artifacts just sort of collected here, like nature's own lost and found box. It is a new announcement, so scientists are still sorting through the evidence. 3,000 objects are being examined, cleaned up, and then put into a catalog. Scientists are deciding whether they will put the artifacts in a physical exhibition or make the collection available online so that you can peruse it digitally. What do you think about the shift toward exploring museums online or in virtual reality? Does doing it through a screen cheapen the whole experience, or is it a great way for people to see the world's greatest treasures without paying for an expensive flight? I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments. And then we're heading to Notre Dame in Paris. Strange findings under Notre Dame. If you've ever visited Paris, you've probably stood in a very long line of tourists waiting to climb the stairs of Notre Dame Cathedral and take pictures of its gargoyles. If you visited Paris this summer, you would have been in line 13 feet above a team of archaeologists digging their way to China. I mean, not actually to China, but archaeologists are digging straight beneath Notre Dame and back through time, to Paris 2,000 years ago under the dominion of Rome. French media are calling it the dig of the century, saying what's going on underneath the cathedral is a modern day Da Vinci code. It all began in 2019 when Notre Dame caught on fire and its glorious spire came crashing down. It was devastating to France and especially the city of Paris. But not to worry, the cathedral was rebuilt and opened triumphantly in 2024. Now Paris wants to make it a little more comfortable for the tourists who travel across the world to see the cathedral. It's typically hot stone, no shade and pretty sweaty to wait outside in the summer. The city wants to add trees and shade. In order to add the trees and the shade, Paris needs to excavate underneath the soil first. They need to see what's down there before they can start digging it up. So that's what's happening right now. So far, scientists have already found hundreds of objects beneath the cathedral. They've unearthed a coin with the face of Emperor Constantine on it from the 4th century AD. Constantine is considered the guy who brought Christianity to Europe. They also discovered plenty of shards of painted medieval pottery. But the experts haven't deciphered all of it yet. Emily Carter, who was waiting in line to see the cathedral, said knowing the excavations are ongoing makes Notre Dame feel alive again. She said she went to see the cathedral and found out there is practically an entire city under her feet. And she's not the only tourist who's impressed. On some days, the excavators fill up 15 crates full of debris, artifacts, and random objects from underneath the cathedral. The thing about Paris is that it is really old. Layers of history lie beneath Notre Dame, a veritable museum buried in dirt and sewage. With each new age that comes, cities are built atop the rubble of the cities of the previous age. As that happens, the ground rises. To give you an example of this, let's look at Rome. The city of Rome has risen 30 feet since the 5th century AD. That means the current city is sitting on top of 30 feet of buried history. In 2004, when Athens started building its metro for the Olympics, it turned out to be one of the largest excavations in Greek history. Archaeologists found tens of thousands of artifacts from Athens' history buried deep below the city. The current work happening in Notre Dame is no different. When the Parisian cathedral was built in 1163, the square it currently stands in was packed with medieval houses. Envision crummy timber structures, thatched roofs, maybe some bricks, and a lot of dirt. The houses lined either side of a single street, with the cathedral rising above it all. Digging below the cathedral now, archaeologists have reached into the cellars of those abandoned and forgotten hovels. The objects they are bringing up are coming from people's basements who lived centuries ago. The best discoveries have come from the deepest pits beneath the medieval houses. Archaeologists are finding hidden treasures in old latrines, which doubled in the middle ages as garbage dumps. A lot of that trash landed on soft material, preserving it in excellent condition. Archaeologists have found jugs, cups, and all kinds of everyday items that were trash to the medieval people, but treasure to us. Then, the team began finding those broken pottery pieces with the strange paint on them I mentioned before. It's quite the mystery, because the writing was painted on the insides of the pottery. Someone painted words inside jars and cups, but what do those words say? Right now, nobody knows. That's why scientists are comparing the excavations to the Da Vinci Code. Whatever was painted on these pieces of pottery could offer incredible insight into the lives of the people who lived here, scientists just need to decipher it. Which is easier said than done. New Discovery Challenges The Viking Stereotype A new discovery in Denmark is completely changing how people view the Vikings. For years, since the term Viking showed up, people have talked about the ancient Norsemen as if they were uncivilized barbarians. They were bloodthirsty warriors who didn't farm, make anything, or do much else besides kill and pillage. That is a stereotype, one that's been pushed by Hollywood, books, the gaming industry, you name it. But now, after the discovery of a massive settlement in Denmark, the stereotype of the Vikings as brute villains has been smashed. This settlement dates to the late Iron Age, between 600 and 950 AD. That means it also dates to the height of the Viking Age, which lasted from about 800 to 1050 AD. This newly discovered settlement proves that the Vikings were not just fearsome raiders eager to destroy, they were also sophisticated craftsmen with a flair for style. Archaeologists found a textile production site near Arhos on the Jutland Peninsula. The textile facility was huge. This place was so big that archaeologists believe the residents of the area worked here to possibly mass-produce textiles. If true, it confirms the Vikings were not just thieves and murderers, they could create their own products as well. Why this proves the Vikings weren't barbarians is more complex than you might think. A barbaric horde of killers could never organize a production line like this. Expert Casper Anderson from the Moesgaard Museum said that to have a textile factory like this, you need a very well-organized society. Not only that, but you also need an established market to sell the textiles. This means the Vikings were part of a huge trading network. They were able to organize mass production of a product and they understood the economy. Those are three things barbarian hordes know nothing about. Sure, they had seafaring raiders who pillaged distant shores, but at home, the Vikings were just as sophisticated as any other culture crawling its way out of the Dark Ages. The scale of the operation here is staggering. The production site spanned over 1 million square feet. It had a dedicated area for processing flax, the natural plant fiber used to make linen. Archaeologists also identified 82 semi-buried huts where the workers lived. Although I've got to say, if they were living in holes in the ground, their living conditions were not great. These were dirty, shallow dens where even animals probably wouldn't want to live. I can't help but wonder if these so-called civilized Vikings were the ones working at the production facility or if the workers were slaves. A lot of people don't realize that the Vikings were big on slavery. They called their slaves thralls and they were typically brought back to Denmark following successful raids. However, anyone could end up as a thrall. Even a freeborn Viking citizen could be sentenced to slavery as punishment for a crime. Some freeborn Vikings chose to become thralls simply as a way to get out of poverty or to repay a tremendous debt. Voluntarily becoming a slave was such a commonplace process that they had a name for it, flatforing. It's very possible that the people who worked here were not getting paid and may not have even been Vikings. Only a single residential house was discovered on the site, which was probably the manager or the supervisor. Meanwhile, everyone else was in holes in the ground. During the excavation, archaeologists found spindle whorls that were used to spin raw fibers into thread. They unearthed loom weights and random artifacts like pearls, silver coins, a pair of scissors, and somebody's key. Even back then, people were still losing their keys. Remember the Alamo cannonball? At the site of the infamous Battle of the Alamo from 1836, experts have found an iron cannonball. They believe that ball played a role in the infamous battle. And it's a big deal, because so far, over the last almost 200 years, only one other intact cannonball has ever been found from this moment in American history. The Alamo is the quintessential American archaeological site. The battle was a pivotal moment in the Texas Revolution. It was the finale of Texas separating itself from Mexico and becoming a republic. You might not know this, but Texas was its very own republic for almost 10 years before becoming a U.S. state. For 13 long days, the American colonists who settled in Texas, along with the Mexican-Americans known as Tejanos, defended the Alamo against the Mexican army. They were ultimately defeated, but their defiant stand helped delay General Santa Anna. The sacrifice of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and many others gave General Sam Houston valuable time to mobilize the main Texian forces. The sacrifice also ended up being a rallying cry for the soldiers of Texas. Remember the Alamo was on everyone's tongue. When Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21st, 1836, it was thanks to the events of the Alamo. Now, in 2026, an artifact from that battle has been found, and everyone is very excited. Immediately after the battle, the Mexican army ransacked the Alamo and took everything of use. They pillaged the leftover artillery and poached every piece of weaponry from the battlefield. You can't really blame them for taking what was useful. This was the 1830s, and it wasn't like they could just stop off at the army navy store for some extra bullets. Because of the Mexican army's meticulous pillaging, practically nothing has been found at the site over the last 190 years, until 2026. There was one cannonball discovered this past March, and now a second one in June. Nothing for 190 years, and then two cannonballs within four months. Archaeologists were digging underneath soil layers near the Alamo church in San Antonio when they found the most recent cannonball. They think it was probably fired from a six-pound cannon. The same team also found the March cannonball. The difference is that one from March is bronze, and the newer one is iron, which means one was fired from a Texian cannon and the other from a Mexican one. Do you know which was which? It's likely that the bronze cannonball belonged to the Mexican army, while the iron one belonged to the Texians. And if you're wondering why I keep saying Texians instead of Texans, it's because that's what the Anglo-American settlers called themselves in the 1830s. You'll probably be able to see both of these incredible relics in 2028 when the new museum and visitor center are expected to open. Until then, don't forget to remember the Alamo! The Face in the Lake At the bottom of a Polish lake, divers discovered an ancient face. It is haunting beyond belief, its mouth closed in an eerie expression that nobody has seen in 1,000 years. The artifact is a carved wooden face that has survived against all odds. Wood typically does not survive more than a few decades, rarely a few centuries, and almost never a whole millennium. Yet because this object was underwater, in the perfect conditions, it never rotted. The face recovered from Lake Lednica is a survivor from the year 967. I can tell you this because experts analyzed the wood to determine that the tree was cut down in that year. Someone carved the face into an oak structural beam, which came from the wall of an ancient stronghold that collapsed into the lake. The preserved chunk of timber is a little more than four feet long, with the carving itself showing eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and what appears to be a very bearded chin. Nobody is entirely sure who the face represents. Given that it was carved into the defensive rampart of the settlement, it may have been associated with a god of war. Then again, the face could portray a Slavic hero, or maybe no one at all. Perhaps the face was a way for people to mediate between their own world and that of the spirits. Maybe it was just a simple decoration. For now, the face's identity is going to have to remain a mystery. The object was carved around the time that the Polish state was founded by Duke Mieszko I, who was baptized and helped transform Poland into a Christian nation. Other carved faces like this one have been found in Slavic cities from Wolin to Sarajevo. Archaeologists think it points to a style, or perhaps a meaning, that was widespread in Slavic society a thousand years ago. But of course, the symbolism has been lost now. There are clues that could help researchers piece together the mystery. Archaeologists also found horse jaws and bones around the collapsed ramparts. These may have come from protective sacrifices aimed at safeguarding the structure. Ancient Slavs may have offered animals to their gods in hopes of gaining their protection. When archaeologists looked under the ruined houses near the stronghold, they found similar bones buried under the floors. This may have been a common practice across much of Europe, burying animal bones as part of a ritual to protect your home and your family. While the discovery was made in 2025, it only started appearing in publications now with the full details of the excavation. So, better late than never. Why were all these ancient humans women? Something very unusual has been discovered in a South African cave. A team of archaeologists used the latest in cutting-edge technology to analyze teeth from Homo naledi skeletons uncovered in a cave system. Imagine their surprise when they didn't find a single male in the group. Every single tooth they found came from a female. Something incredibly strange and a little scary was going on here 300,000 years ago. Homo naledi is one of our more recent ancestors. A more primitive relative of ours who lived an estimated 335,000 to 236,000 years ago. The unique human ancestor was first discovered in 2013 in this very cave system. They were similar to us but with smaller brains. Scientists have been assuming over the last 10 years that they found examples of men and women in the rising star cave system. The cave is littered with skeletons, so it would make sense that there were some from both genders. But this latest discovery has shown there were only women. Which means every single Homo naledi skeleton known to science belongs to a woman. Where the heck are all the men? Some scientists think they may have accidentally stumbled upon an all-female burial site. An ancient cave cemetery reserved strictly for women. Which means there could be another cave nearby full of only male skeletons, right? Unless there were no men. Unless this was a society of only women like the Amazons of the ancient Greeks. Ever since 2013, scientists have been obsessed over the rising star cave. They have made a lot of fascinating discoveries. In 2024, they found out that Homo naledi may have used fire. In 2025, scientists announced the extremely controversial claim that they also buried their dead. Scientists who weren't involved in the study were quick to dismiss the burial theory as nonsense. Their main argument was that there is no way a human relative with such a small brain performed such complex social behavior. But if there are only women here, then maybe this is a graveyard. Maybe the size of our brain doesn't necessarily mean as much as we think it does. Let's not forget how little scientists know about the human brain. The results of the teeth analysis have come as a huge shock to everyone. There is no known ancient cemetery, human, archaic human, or primate that contains only females. This is a one-of-a-kind discovery for the human race. Lee Berger, who has been at the rising star cave system from day one, believes that Homo naledi buried its dead on purpose. He said the most likely reason for the all-female skeletons is that they were selected after death to be buried separately from the men. If true, and it hasn't been 100% confirmed yet, this changes human history in a big way. It proves that 300,000 years ago, before humans could even control fire, people were already coming up with rituals and ceremonies. They developed funerary rites and separated themselves by gender. The implications for the human race are enormous. As more developments are made in South Africa, you'll be sure to find them here on Origins Explained. Thanks for watching! Which discovery did you like the most? What would you like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to hit that subscribe button and I'll see you soon.