00:00This is not a dune set. This is a very real desert in Niger.
00:10Djado was probably built by the nomadic Sow people and is filled with xars,
00:16which are fortified houses made of salt and clay, with giant walls and secret passages.
00:22Located deep in the desert, it was once a vital stop for trans-Saharan caravans,
00:28but is now a hotspot for smugglers and bandits.
00:32The site has been off-limits since 2002 due to its dangers.
00:36The origin of the xars remain a mystery.
00:39No archaeological studies have been conducted, leaving many questions unanswered.
00:44Even today, shifting sands reveal and conceal parts of these ancient ruins,
00:50enabling local speculation about what might still be hidden beneath the desert.
00:58Speaking of connective tunnels, scientists were blown away by the discovery of lava tubes in Saudi Arabia.
01:05These underground passages form when molten lava cools down.
01:09Researchers believe that ancient nomadic groups may have utilized these tunnels
01:14to survive the super harsh desert climates.
01:18While excavating the tunnels, archaeologists uncovered artifacts, rock art, and skeletal remains.
01:24The art and animal bones show that the people who used the tunnels were probably sheep and goat herders.
01:31They are still piecing together whether these groups lived in the tunnels for extended periods
01:35or just used them as temporary shelters.
01:41The Great Pyramid of Giza has been standing for thousands of years, but it's still hiding secrets.
01:47Using special scanning technology, scientists found two hidden structures under an ancient burial ground.
01:53The first is a shallow L-shaped structure, and below it is a much larger space
01:59that could be a final resting place or a chamber.
02:03The smaller structure was filled with sand on purpose, while the deeper one might be an empty chamber.
02:10Experts believe the two are connected, possibly as an entrance leading to a secret chamber.
02:16This is big news because it might give us some more insight into who built the pyramids and why.
02:25The world is full of ancient writing, but some messages refuse to give up their secrets,
02:31like the mystery of the Bashplemi tablet.
02:34This unusual stone, pulled from a lake in Georgia, is covered in symbols no one can read.
02:40Even with modern technology, experts are completely stumped.
02:45The tablet is about the size of a book with 60 symbols carefully carved into its surface,
02:51but 39 of them don't match any known language.
02:55Some resemble scripts from ancient civilizations in the Middle East, India, and Egypt,
03:00but none are an exact match.
03:03To make things even trickier, part of the tablet is broken off,
03:07meaning a piece of the puzzle is missing forever.
03:11To rule out a hoax, scientists studied the tablet closely.
03:15They confirmed it's made of vesicular basalt, an extremely tough local rock.
03:21Whoever carved these symbols must have been really skilled.
03:25Based on similar archaeological finds, experts believe the tablet could date back thousands of years,
03:31possibly to the Late Bronze or Early Iron Age.
03:35Some symbols repeat, which could mean they're numbers.
03:39Maybe it's an inventory list, a record of battles, or even an offering to the deities.
03:45Until someone cracks the code, the Bashplemi tablet remains an unsolved mystery from the depths of history.
03:54Experts are still stumped with what this Minoan disc might mean.
03:59The Phaistos disc is one of the most mysterious finds from the Minoan civilization.
04:04This 6-inch clay object, discovered in 1908,
04:08has strange spiral markings that no one has fully decoded yet.
04:13The disc has 241 symbols on both sides,
04:17showing everything from people and animals to tools and plants.
04:21Experts have come up with many theories about what the symbols mean.
04:25Some think it's an early form of Greek.
04:28Others suggest it's a prayer or a hymn.
04:31And some even believe it could be a letter from a king in Anatolia to a Greek ruler.
04:36Let's see who will be the first to figure this out.
04:42It's always a fun day at an archaeologist's office
04:45when they find something as big as a 2,000-year-old marble head.
04:49A French archaeologist's mission went digging inside an old medieval house near Alexandria in Egypt
04:55and found a statue's head depicting an old, possibly ill, man.
05:01This statue dates from the last Egyptian dynasty, before it became part of the Roman Empire,
05:06and the site where it was found is associated with the likes of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.
05:12For archaeologists, even the smallest finds at this site means a lot.
05:19You've heard of Lucy, right?
05:21The Australopithecus that was an early ancestor for us humans.
05:26Well, scientists found some of her species' footprints somewhere in Tanzania.
05:31The so-called Laetoli footprints are over 3 million years old.
05:36The trail stretched 88 feet and has about 70 footprints,
05:41left behind when a bunch of early humans walked across some wet volcanic ash.
05:46What's cool is that these early humans were already walking on two feet, like us,
05:51not all hunched over like apes.
05:54The close spacing of the prints shows they probably had short legs and a shorter stride than we do today.
06:04In an ancient Egyptian temple, archaeologists uncovered a shrine unlike any other,
06:10a place dedicated to falcons and two mysterious deities.
06:14One deity had a falcon's head, while the other wore a crown with a sun disk and cow horns.
06:21But the most baffling discovery was an inscription that read,
06:24It is improper to boil a head in here.
06:28At the heart of the shrine, there are 15 headless falcons carefully arranged on a pedestal,
06:33likely as offerings to the falcon-headed deity.
06:37One theory suggests the birds were boiled first, perhaps to pluck their feathers,
06:42before being placed in the shrine, following the strange rule carved into stone.
06:49Archaeologists also found a 13-inch iron harpoon nearby.
06:53Its true purpose remains unknown, although the shrine also held remains of fish, mammals, and bird eggs,
07:00suggesting that the rituals may have included feasting.
07:07And speaking of ancient Egypt, meet Hathor.
07:10Scientists named her after the ancient Egyptian deity of motherhood, music, and singing.
07:16This wooden statue, housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
07:20was thought to be just a beautiful artifact, until a surprising secret was uncovered.
07:26Using an X-ray machine, experts found a mechanical operating system inside it,
07:31with pulleys and axles connecting her shoulder to her left leg.
07:36When activated, the system made her hand raise and lower,
07:40an engineering marvel from over 3,000 years ago.
07:44The statue was created during Egypt's Middle Kingdom, around 1800 BCE,
07:50and is often compared to 19th-century automata due to its advanced design.
07:56It's believed the statue was used in religious ceremonies, symbolizing Hathor's role in dance and music.
08:05An unexpected discovery happened in northern Kuwait,
08:08where a Kuwaiti-Polish team uncovered a mysterious 7,500-year-old statue.
08:14The statue features an elongated skull, no mouth, narrow eyes, and a flattened nose.
08:20This feature is thought to be an Ophidian figurine, named after the Greek word for snake,
08:26and it was likely made by the Ubaid culture, a civilization known for their pottery skills.
08:32While no one knows exactly what role this weird statue played,
08:36it might have been linked to rituals or symbolic practices.
08:40Some scientists think these figurines, found in homes or final resting places,
08:44were tied to important cultural beliefs.
08:50We couldn't mention unresolved mysteries of this world without speaking about these elongated skulls.
08:56In the deserts of Peru, researchers uncovered five ancient skeletons, two with unnaturally elongated skulls.
09:05While head-shaping was common in many cultures, these skulls defy explanation.
09:11Local legends tell tales of the so-called Gentiles, a mysterious race banished underground by the powerful deities.
09:20Some say this is what the skulls represent.
09:23Others think this is some type of genetic anomaly, which was confirmed after finding an infant skull,
09:29too large to be artificially shaped.
09:35That's it for today!
09:37So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:42Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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