00:00It is dark and hot, and it is difficult to breathe deeply underground in the mine of Karov, in the heart of Botswana.
00:08Your work day has started several hours ago, and yet the stone you are holding in your hands does not seem promising.
00:15On the other hand, there is a slim chance that it is the biggest diamond you have ever found.
00:21You decide to inform your Canadian bosses of the Ukara Diamond Corp, and bingo!
00:27The stone you have found turns out to be a stunning 2492 carat diamond, the second largest ever discovered.
00:37However, the average size of the ring rings is 1.7 carat.
00:42This means that this single diamond could be enough to provide rings to more than 1,465 married women.
00:48You can compare the size of this precious stone to that of a fist, and the weight of this priceless gem exceeds 400 grams.
00:57Its value has not yet been determined, but why not make some assumptions?
01:01Thus, another diamond of the same mine, which bears the name of Constellation, was sold for 63 million dollars in 2016.
01:10And it was only 813 carats, less than a third of the size of this new diamond.
01:17The only other discovered diamond that is larger is the famous Kulinan diamond.
01:22It was found in South Africa in 1905, and weighed 3106 carats.
01:28Now, calculate how many ring rings we could draw and write the number in the comments.
01:35Unfortunately, it was then cut into several smaller diamonds, and some of these fragments are now part of the British crown.
01:44Interesting fact, there was once an even larger stone that looked like a diamond.
01:49A black diamond called Carbonado.
01:52It was discovered on the surface of the ground in Brazil at the end of the 1800s.
01:56And the coolest thing is that it could come from a meteorite.
02:00The Carbonado Sergio, which is the name of the discovered stone, was divided into small pieces.
02:05They wanted to make industrial drilling wrenches out of it, because it is one of the most resistant materials on Earth.
02:11This new diamond was actually found using a cutting-edge technology.
02:15The company used a X-ray device called Megadiamond Recovery X-ray Transmission to detect the stone.
02:23It is not the first record diamond that Lucara found in the Karowe mine.
02:28In 2019, they discovered the Sewelo diamond, which weighed 1758 carats.
02:35At the time, it was the second largest diamond in the world.
02:39The luxury brand Louis Vuitton then bought the stone for an undisclosed amount.
02:45And before that, in 2015, they found the diamond Lesedilharona in the same mine.
02:52It weighed 1109 carats and brought 53 million dollars to the company in 2017.
03:00Diamonds are not the only surprising thing that can be found in the ground.
03:04The deeper you dig, the more likely you are to discover rare objects, such as an old lipstick, for example.
03:12It would be the oldest lipstick in the world.
03:15It would be about 5,000 years old.
03:17This deep red lipstick was found in a stone vial in southern Iran.
03:23The vial was discovered in 2001, but it took time for researchers to understand what it was.
03:29The reason is that it is not a modern tube lipstick.
03:33People probably applied it with a brush.
03:37Researchers are delighted, because this discovery could give us a glimpse of what women of the Bronze Age were doing to stand out.
03:44In elite societies, they probably applied this lipstick for a glamorous effect and displayed their high social status.
03:53Here is now the history of the vial.
03:55It comes from a cemetery of the 3rd millennium BC and is linked to the powerful Mesopotamian civilization.
04:02This civilization was very important at the time.
04:06The cemetery was discovered after a flood and, unfortunately, many objects were stolen.
04:12But fortunately, the authorities managed to recover this unique piece.
04:16The vial attracted the attention of scientists because it was different from the other objects they had found.
04:22Normally, they found gray and compact substances in similar containers.
04:27But when they opened this one, a fine powder spread.
04:32It was dark gray-purple, which they had never seen before.
04:37When the researchers analyzed the powder, they discovered that it was composed of hematite, which gave it this intense dark red color.
04:46It also contained other ingredients, such as vegetable oils and waxes, which made it very similar to what is found in a modern lipstick.
04:54Apparently, at the Bronze Age, makeup was a sign of luxury and high social status in this region.
05:01It was a sign of wealth and power, especially in elite circles.
05:06Moreover, researchers cannot say with certainty that it is the oldest lipstick in the world.
05:12Who knows, something older could appear one day.
05:17What if we went to Bulgaria right away to do some digging?
05:21Ah, wait!
05:23No need to take a shovel and get your hands dirty.
05:26An incredible discovery is already waiting for you.
05:29There, they found a large marble statue.
05:32It measures almost two meters high, which could represent Hermes, a Greek deity.
05:37But the craziest thing is that Eleatta was buried in an ancient well for about 2,000 years.
05:43The statue is in very good condition, especially the head, which is super well preserved.
05:48There are some cracks at the level of the hands.
05:51But overall, it is in incredible condition, according to the scientific director of the excavations.
05:57Here's how they found the statue.
05:59The team was doing routine searches in the southwest of Bulgaria, near the Greek border.
06:05This region used to be part of the old city of Heraclea Sintica, which dates back to the 4th century BC.
06:12While digging, the researchers came across the marble foot of the statue.
06:17From there, they carefully revealed the rest of the statue.
06:21It was a real surprise for them, because they did not expect to find something of this kind.
06:27At the moment, the team is trying to remove the statue from the wells without damaging it.
06:31It is very heavy.
06:33So they use a crane to lift it, and then they will transport it to the Petrek History Museum.
06:39Once restored, they plan to exhibit it.
06:42The experts are very enthusiastic.
06:45This discovery could teach us a lot about the culture of Heraclea Sintica, which is not a very well-known ancient site.
06:52Now, if you dream of making discoveries like this one, but you do not have a diploma, do not be discouraged.
06:59Even an amateur can make a scientific discovery.
07:02For example, you could find a Roman dodecahedron.
07:05It is a strange and mysterious 12-sided metal object, the size of a pamplum.
07:10And no one really knows what it was used for.
07:13Historians have been digging their heads about it for centuries.
07:18This dodecahedron was discovered last summer in the field of a farmer near Norton Disney, about 56 km southeast of Sheffield.
07:27A group of volunteers had already found coins and Roman brooches in the region, and therefore knew that the field could hold other treasures.
07:36A geophysical study had revealed underground areas where the terrestrial magnetic field was disturbed, which indicated that something could be hidden.
07:45The team began to dig trenches during a two-week search.
07:49The penultimate day, in trench 4, someone spotted the dodecahedron.
07:54Richard Parker, the group's secretary, was not far away, busy making tea when he heard a cry.
08:00They were all in shock because they had not found much metal, and then, boom, this impressive object appeared.
08:09What is even cooler with this dodecahedron is that it is complete, which is rare.
08:15Most of those we had discovered were broken or incomplete.
08:19In addition, it is larger than the others.
08:22Roman dodecahedrons can be as small as a golf ball, but this one looks more like a pamplum.
08:28Today, it is exhibited in a local museum.
08:31So far, more than 100 dodecahedrons have been discovered in northwestern Europe, mainly in ancient Roman territories, such as the Gallo-Roman regions.
08:40They date from a period between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.
08:45Each of them is made up of a hollow metal shell, usually in bronze.
08:51It has 12 faces with holes of different sizes on each face.
08:56Around the holes, concentric rings are engraved in the metal, and at each angle where the faces meet is a small name.
09:04They have no inscription, and are not mentioned anywhere in Roman texts.
09:08This is why no one knows what these two dodecahedrons were used for.
09:12There are many theories.
09:14They could be toys, dice, masu heads, or even measuring tools for distances in Roman artillery.
09:21Some even think that they were used to knit gloves, or even to calculate dates using stars.
09:27But most of these ideas are not really founded.
09:30So the mystery remains whole.
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