00:00Archaeologists have been studying Petra in Jordan for 200 years, and in 2024, they found
00:06something they had never seen before.
00:09It's a tomb with at least 12 complete human skeletons and artifacts that are over 2,000
00:15years old right in front of the treasury.
00:18Bronze, iron, and ceramic items were placed with the deceased, which shows how people
00:23honored their loved ones when they passed away.
00:26It's a rare chance for scientists to learn more about the Nabataeans, an ancient group
00:31of Arabian nomads who built Petra.
00:34The objects found in the tomb under Petra's treasury are in amazing condition, but the
00:39skeletons became fragile because it's damp inside the tomb.
00:43They plan to study the remains and extract DNA to see if the people in the tomb were
00:48related.
00:49While some scientists are solving tomb mysteries, others have trained AI to find new ancient
00:55sites for them.
00:56They've created an algorithm that works with a special type of satellite imagery.
01:01This technique uses radio waves that can peek under things like sand, soil, and even ice
01:06to find hidden objects.
01:08AI will help search a huge desert on the Arabian Peninsula called the Empty Quarter for archaeological
01:14treasures.
01:15The lead scientists of the experiment trained the algorithm to recognize hidden locations
01:21using data from a site they had found before.
01:24The new tech can discover buried structures within 20 inches, which is very precise.
01:31Another groundbreaking tech, LIDAR, which means Light Detection and Ranging, helped
01:36archaeologists reveal new hidden cities all around the world.
01:40LIDAR can see big structures beneath layers of vegetation and map even subtle changes
01:45in ancient landscapes.
01:47They use it to scan large areas from a small plane flying over places that aren't so
01:51easy to study from the ground, like dense jungle.
01:54In 2024 alone, they found new Maya settlements in southern Mexico, gardens, roads, and rivers
02:01in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, ancient ruins on the Pacific island of Tonga, and
02:06the remains of two medieval cities along the Silk Road route in Uzbekistan.
02:12Maybe some smart technology can also explain what Marge Simpson is doing on Earth in an
02:17ancient Egyptian tomb from 3,000 years ago.
02:21The drawing featuring a woman with yellow-colored skin, a blue crown, and a green outfit is
02:26alarmingly like the famous cartoon character.
02:30If you don't see a resemblance here, I hope you'll at least enjoy an amazingly well-preserved
02:35necklace with amethyst and agate beads.
02:38It's from another recent find from Egypt – an ancient tomb with 11 sealed burials
02:43near Luxor.
02:45Archaeologists also found two copper mirrors, one with a lotus-shaped handle, and the second
02:50with a unique design of the deity of the sky, women, fertility, and love in ancient Egypt.
02:56The hair of the figurine was originally made from almost 4,000 mud beads.
03:02Another awesome find from 2024 is an ancient Greek shrine with intact burials, a sarcophagus,
03:09and plenty of gold inside.
03:12They think it was built before the year 300, before the Common Era.
03:16Even the marble lions, also found inside, were made from the same marble as the Parthenon
03:21in Athens.
03:22Greece is so full of ancient treasures that the city of Thessaloniki will house around
03:27300,000 of those artifacts in their new subway system.
03:32Meanwhile, archaeologists in France have found a monument unlike any other, and they can't
03:37figure out what it was used for.
03:39It's direct proof that people used to live here between the Neolithic and the early Iron
03:44Age periods.
03:46The coolest part is a monument made of three unique shapes that fit together like puzzle
03:51pieces.
03:52Some gravel found in the monument could mean there used to be a wooden fence called a palisade.
03:58People who built it probably used it for protection or decoration.
04:02The team studied the layers of soil around the monument to learn more about its origins.
04:07The only tools found so far were sharp flintstones, not the cartoon characters, which were used
04:13during the Neolithic period.
04:15The next step will be radiocarbon dating to figure out exactly how old the site is.
04:22The oldest saddle ever found so far was found in the grave of a woman near the edge of the
04:28Taklamakan Desert in northwest China.
04:31This saddle is the oldest ever discovered.
04:33It was crafted from pieces of leather that were sewn together and stuffed with straw
04:37and animal hair to make it soft.
04:40Normally, things made from natural materials like this don't last very long, because
04:45they rot or fall apart.
04:47But the Taklamakan Desert is so dry that it helped preserve the artifact.
04:52The herdswoman who used the saddle was buried in her full riding attire, so this proves
04:56that not only men used saddles and took part in herding and traveling.
05:02Let's shift to Guatemala, where an ornate jade mask made by the ancient Maya people
05:08was waiting for centuries to be discovered.
05:11Scientists use radiocarbon dating to figure out the age of the mask.
05:15They believe the mask may represent a Maya storm deity, a powerful figure in their mythology.
05:21These kinds of masks were often made to honor Maya royalty, and they were placed in the
05:25tombs of kings and queens when they were buried.
05:28The king's tomb was also decorated with carvings made using tools crafted from volcanic obsidian.
05:36After 15 years of searching, scientists may have finally figured out where the altar stone
05:41of Stonehenge comes from.
05:43They compared the tiny minerals inside the altar stone with rocks from many places in
05:48Wales and England and ruled out lots of spots.
05:52Then they found the perfect match with a place in Scotland, more than 466 miles away from
05:58Stonehenge.
05:59This area might even be Orkney, a group of islands in the far northeast of Scotland where
06:05a lot was going on during the Neolithic period.
06:08The big question now is how ancient people moved such a massive stone so far.
06:13The altar stone is over 16 feet long and weighs more than 6 tons.
06:18The new theory is that they might have used boats to carry it across the coastline and
06:22rivers.
06:23Once it was close to Stonehenge, they theoretically dragged it across the land using wooden sleds,
06:29ropes, and a lot of teamwork.
06:33Meanwhile, in the north of France, an ancient home popped to the surface during the construction
06:39of a new house.
06:40It turned out to be a luxury urban house for the elite from the 2nd century of the Common
06:45Era.
06:46The inside of the house was destroyed by a fire, but under the destroyed layer, there
06:51are beautiful real-size fresco paintings.
06:55Turkish archaeologists unearthed the arm and foot bones of elephants that lived around
07:009 million years ago.
07:02They also found fossils of early horses, giraffes, and even saber-toothed cats.
07:07They've already identified 43 distinct types of animals from this site and collected more
07:13than 4,000 fossils.
07:16One more cool find from Turkey is a 64,000-year-old workshop inside Nkheja Cave.
07:23It looks like people used it for 24,000 years non-stop.
07:27There are some tools inside, like flakes and blades, which were made inside the workshop.
07:34In eastern Turkey, a farmer accidentally found a 1,000-square-foot mosaic from the late Roman
07:40or early Byzantine period just beneath the dirt.
07:44Experts say it's a one-of-a-kind thing from this region, and it's still in one piece
07:48after all this time.
07:50The pattern shows dozens of trees, plants, and animals that were found in ancient Turkey.
07:56There could be more treasures in the area, so they plan to keep digging.
08:01Our final stop will be in Sicily, where archaeologists uncovered a huge ancient thermocomplex.
08:07Inside, they found two rooms with floors covered in colorful mosaic designs, along with a large
08:13courtyard surrounded by arched wings.
08:17As they kept digging, they discovered more parts of the ancient city.
08:21They found new roads and the remains of a huge complex, along with stretches of old
08:25stone walls that were part of the city's fortifications.
08:29These discoveries are helping scientists imagine what the city might've looked like during
08:34ancient times.
08:35No one knows for sure whether the bathhouse was built by the Greeks or the Romans, since
08:40both civilizations lived in Sicily long ago.
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