Amateur archaeologists in eastern England found something super weird while digging through old Roman stuff: a bronze object with 12 flat faces, about the size of a fist. It turned out to be a Roman dodecahedron, an object that's been confusing experts for centuries. Since the first one was found in 1739, around 130 have been discovered all over Northern and Western Europe. Despite being from Roman times, no one knows what they were used for—there's nothing written about them or any pictures of them in ancient texts. This mystery just gives us more questions than answers, and it's not the only one of its kind!
00:00You know how it goes. As the years pass, common knowledge slips away faster than you can say,
00:05what's that thingamajig for? Just think, our grandkids will probably be scratching their heads
00:11over the buttons on our old school phones. So it's no wonder that some ancient artifacts
00:17have got us all stumped too. Take a look at this funky object. Any guesses on what it is?
00:24A musical instrument, a toy, or maybe something out of this world? Beats me, and even the experts
00:31have no exact answer. This little guy is a Roman dodecahedron, discovered by some amateur archaeologists
00:38near Lincoln, England. It's shaped like a fist and made of a mix of metals. Now, as for what this
00:45thingy was used for, that's the million-dollar question. Supposedly, these guys were all the
00:51rage back in the day in northern Gaul and Roman Germany. According to some ancient maps, similar
00:57dodecahedrons have turned up in Europe, Britain, and even along the Maritime Silk Road in southeast
01:03Asia. The plot thickens as more and more of these dodecahedrons pop up. Some had wax inside,
01:11leading scientists to think they were candle holders. Others think they might have been used
01:16for knitting gloves, since none have been found in warmer regions. There's even one found in Geneva
01:22with zodiac signs etched on it, sparking some woo-woo theories about fortune-telling.
01:28And now, a fresh discovery has got everyone's head spinning. Could this be some kind of sacred
01:34tool for the Romans? Who knows? Maybe it's the first multi-tool ever, invented way before Swiss
01:40army knives were a thing. Carved stone balls from Scotland are another historical mystery.
01:47They most likely date back to the late Neolithic period, and come in various types, from sandstone
01:53to granite. They're all roughly the same size and have intricate, evenly spaced patterns of circular
01:59bosses or knobs. Most of these designs have six bosses, but the number can range from three to 160.
02:06Some of these balls are more skillfully crafted than others, and a few even have extra decorations.
02:13There are over 400 carved stone balls, and mostly found in Scotland, although some have turned up
02:19in northern England and Ireland. These stone balls rarely show signs of damage or use, and there are
02:25no clues that would give away their function. Most experts think they weren't practical tools, but had
02:31some symbolic or social importance. Probably a sign of power or prestige within their communities.
02:39The Fulcton drums are the three stone cylinders from Neolithic Britain, discovered in the late 19th century
02:45in a burial mound in East Yorkshire. Nothing similar has been found anywhere else in the British Isles, from
02:52any prehistoric period. Each drum is decorated with unique designs covering the sides and domed tops.
02:59The decorations are mostly geometric, arranged in panels with stylized human faces peeking out
03:05from two of the drums. Recent studies of the artifacts using new technologies show that the
03:11designs had been carved and re-carved over time. A team of experts also analyzed the composition of
03:17the drums, and it turns out that they were made from local chalk. In the late Bronze Age in Europe,
03:24long before coins became common, finely crafted metal objects served as portable wealth and symbols of high
03:31status. Across Europe, archaeologists have found all sorts of artifacts, from gold adornments worn by elites
03:38to large bronze cauldrons used in feasts. Beautifully decorated gold rings discovered in Wales are among these items.
03:46They're known as lock rings and may have been used to hold hair. Now they're flattened after spending nearly 3,000 years underground.
03:56They used to have cone-shaped openings at each end. They were found at different times, but were likely worn as a pair and buried together in a single hoard.
04:06Other Roman artifacts made of the copper alloy were first catalogued as lunate pendants. But during a recent re-examination,
04:14experts found that these items were actually small mortar and pestle sets, known as cosmetic grinders.
04:22They were used to grind minerals for makeup and were specifically designed for applying liner and shadows to the eyes.
04:29They were mistaken for pendants because of suspension loops that allowed them to be carried on a cord.
04:34These cosmetic sets from the first century of the current era were unique to Britain.
04:39They proved the influence of imported cosmetics and beauty trends from the Mediterranean and Roman provinces, including Egypt.
04:48The Salzburg Cube, also known as the Wolf's Egg Iron, was discovered in the late 19th century in Austria.
04:55It doesn't really look like a cube, but is more like a rounded object with two flat sides.
05:01Down the middle, it has a groove, and the surface is covered with pits and craters.
05:06Workers accidentally found this artifact when they blew apart a piece of coal.
05:11The coal seam it came from is thought to be over 60 million years old.
05:16The Salzburg cube moved between museums, mysteriously vanished in the early 20th century, and then showed up again.
05:24Some researchers thought it must be a Victorian-era candlestick holder,
05:28but still, no one knows the true story of the cube or its current location.
05:33Archaeologists have unearthed an incredible historical find in Pakistan,
05:39an ancient sphinx estimated to be around 12,500 years old.
05:44The region where it was found was once a busy center of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.
05:50It had advanced urban planning, intricate art, and sophisticated drainage systems.
05:55The discovery of the ancient sphinx is a good example of their progressive art.
06:00We all know of the great sphinx of Giza, but what was the significance of the sphinx in the Indus Valley culture?
06:07Their sphinx has designs and carvings that show scenes with their daily activities,
06:13which means it may have had a more complex role than a symbol of power or guardian.
06:18It could stand for a balance between humans and nature, or even a deity associated with agriculture.
06:25Araca in Chile sits on the sandy dunes of the Atacama Desert, known as the driest desert in the world.
06:35Long before this coastal town was built in the 16th century, the Sinchoro people called this region their home.
06:41Archaeologists found hundreds of their mummies.
06:45Radiocarbon dating showed that these mummies are over 7,000 years old,
06:49which makes them 2,000 years older than the famous Egyptian mummies.
06:53The Sinchoro used special techniques to preserve the mummies, not just relying on the dry climate for that.
07:00And unlike the Egyptians, they didn't just do it for the elite members of their society, but for everyone, no matter what age or status they had.
07:09The local people living in Araca now are so used to finding mummies in their backyards that they don't feel weird about living among them.
07:18In the winter of 1850, a powerful storm with extra high tides hit the west coast of Orkney, Scotland.
07:26The wind and waves ripped away the surf, covering a mound, and revealed stone-built structures beneath.
07:32A local antiquarian decided to dig up the village that he thought was from the Iron Age.
07:38He managed to unearth the remains of four houses and many artifacts from two villages.
07:44The villages had been buried under sand, so everything was really well preserved.
07:49Carbon dating wasn't a thing back then yet, so it was tricky to tell the exact age of the villages.
07:55Almost a century later, with new tech, researchers were finally able to tell that the place was actually from Neolithic times.
08:02You can still see stone dressers and box beds in the prehistoric houses.
08:07Archaeologists and historians working on the famous terracotta army think that it might have been inspired by or modeled on ancient Greek sculptures.
08:18It would mean there was a cultural contact between east and west much earlier than we thought, long before the Silk Road trade route.
08:26There was probably western influence in China during the era of its first emperor, who took the throne in 246 before the current era.
08:36Before that time, China didn't have a tradition of building life-sized sculptures.
08:41Earlier terracotta soldiers were much smaller, less than 10 inches tall.
08:46Greek artists might have even been present to train Chinese sculptors.
08:51That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:57Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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