- 2 days ago
Imagine taking your dog out for a normal walk… and stumbling onto a stash of ancient gold coins worth a fortune. It sounds like a movie scene, but discoveries like this happen far more often than you’d think — and each one uncovers a story buried for centuries. In this video, we’re exploring the most unbelievable archaeological finds made by accident: treasures unearthed in backyards, fields, beaches, and even under living-room floors. From forgotten kingdoms to artifacts that rewrite history, these discoveries prove the world is still full of secrets hiding in plain sight. You never really know what you’re walking over. Let’s dive into some of the most jaw-dropping finds ordinary people have ever made. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
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Our Social Media:
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https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00You're heading to Spain with a team of archaeologists to try to find some ancient artifacts.
00:05You get lucky and uncover one of the greatest treasures of the Iberian Bronze Age.
00:10Iberian refers to the Bronze Age culture of Portugal and Spain.
00:14So you find and unearth coins, jewelry, vases, vessels, and two pretty strange items.
00:22One is something like a part of a scepter, and the other resembles a bracelet.
00:26And you know what's strange about them?
00:28They're connected with space.
00:31In 1963, several miles away from the city of Vienna, Spain, scientists discovered the treasure of Vienna,
00:39one of the most significant gold hoards from the Bronze Age.
00:43Interestingly, are there bronze treasures from the Golden Age?
00:46Never mind.
00:48All the gold found dates back to sometime between 1500 and 1200 BCE, except for that scepter and bracelet.
00:55But they were made by inhabitants of another planet, so their production date is unknown.
01:01Okay, that's a joke.
01:03However, a small part of this joke is true.
01:06When scientists studied the found gold, they discovered that those two items were made of iron.
01:12So what, you might think?
01:14Well, the catch is that in the Bronze Age, people didn't mine or manufacture iron.
01:19Work with this metal began around 850 BCE, about 400 to 700 years after the creation of the treasure of Vienna.
01:27A clue to this mystery can be found in ancient Egypt, in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
01:36An iron dagger was found, which was also made of similar iron.
01:40But this dagger was much more valuable than all the others.
01:44And that's because it was made from a space object, a meteorite.
01:48Yeah, yeah, that bracelet and scepter were also made of meteoritic iron.
01:53Its difference from earth metal is that cosmic iron has a high nickel content, so it all makes sense.
02:00People from the Bronze Age couldn't mine iron from the deep bowels of our planet,
02:03but nothing prevented them from collecting iron falling from the sky.
02:07Just imagine how cool it is to have jewelry or a dagger made of material that has traveled millions of years through the vast expanses of space.
02:18Perhaps it even contains particles of an ancient extinct star.
02:22Today, these two artifacts from the treasure of Vienna are the oldest recorded items in the Iberian Peninsula made of meteoritic iron.
02:30Now, with everything in its place, you can turn your attention to all the wealth of the treasure of Vienna.
02:39It contains 66 items.
02:42Bowls, bracelets, bottles, gold jewelry, three silver bottles, and an amber-gold button.
02:4822 pounds of ancient gold.
02:50People hid it, and only after 3,000 years, we were able to discover it.
02:56This archaeologist's dream can be found in the Vienna Museum,
03:00where exhibits from different time periods are presented,
03:02from prehistoric times like 50,000 years ago to the present day.
03:07Items from the Iberian period, from the Roman period, from the Arab civilization,
03:11you can find not only jewelry and coins, but there are also remnants of columns, ceramics, and other architectural artifacts.
03:19The collection is considered one of the most important prehistoric treasures of Europe.
03:24And the coolest thing is that you can see it all with your own eyes for just 2 euros, which is about $2.
03:29Go to Vienna, find the museum, and enjoy.
03:34Hey buddy, I heard you have a metal detector.
03:37Could you help me find a hammer I left somewhere in the field?
03:40Your old farmer friend asks.
03:42You take a metal detector and go searching.
03:45But instead of a hammer, you find hundreds, even thousands of silver coins worth $2 million.
03:50You're so happy that the farmer lost that hammer, and now you're rich.
03:56Stop!
03:57Considering that this land belongs to the farmer, would you tell him about the find, or take it with you?
04:02In reality, neither of these options happened.
04:06In 1992, Eric Laws was helping a farmer search for a lost hammer in a field near Hoxney, Suffolk, England.
04:12The metal detector stumbled upon a hidden treasure, a huge one.
04:17There were silver spoons, gold jewelry, more than 500 gold coins, and about 14,000 silver ones.
04:25Eric Laws accidentally discovered the largest collection of gold and silver from the late Roman period in Britain.
04:32Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he and the farmer didn't receive the treasure.
04:37It's now in the British Museum.
04:39Let's move away from the farmer's field to somewhere on the Mediterranean coast.
04:44Imagine you're a scuba diver.
04:46There was a strong storm yesterday, but now with the water calm, you dive in and discover the seabed covered with gold dinars.
04:54This story happened in 2015.
04:57The coins which the storm brought to the shore might have been minted even before the first crusade that started in 1096.
05:04This collection is one of the most impressive archaeological finds in the world.
05:09All these treasures surely can make the heads of those who find them spin, but they end up in a museum.
05:15And that's a good thing, because such wealth can drive a person crazy.
05:19A metal detector and a diving suit helped people discover ancient treasures.
05:24What's next?
05:25How about a dog?
05:26Yes, it could be perhaps a great replacement for a metal detector, by the way.
05:30So, in 2013, two people were walking their dog in Northern California on their property.
05:36Suddenly, they discovered a rusty can filled with coins minted from 1847 to 1894.
05:44There were about 1,500 coins, and they all were gold.
05:49Another chance for a carefree rich future?
05:51Not this time.
05:52The find caused a lot of controversy among specialists.
05:57There was one version, according to which these coins could have been stolen from the U.S. Mint.
06:01But later, the U.S. Mint debunked this suggestion, as they'd never had this gold in their storage.
06:07Anyway, it's interesting what the point was in hiding it all in someone else's yard.
06:13Some thief risked their freedom and life to get rich.
06:16When they succeeded, they just hid the coins as if they never existed.
06:19What a strange deal.
06:21Coins, jewelry, meteorite items, it's all cool.
06:24But let's end our video with something grand and epic.
06:28Archaeologists were conducting research near the Mediterranean coast of Egypt
06:32and discovered a treasure trove inside a sunken temple and sanctuary.
06:37Despite the waves, earthquakes, and seawater, the massive find was preserved in a not-bad condition.
06:43The temple was built a very long time ago and collapsed in the middle of the 2nd century BCE.
06:50It was an important structure in ancient Egypt.
06:53People considered this place holy.
06:56Pharaohs came to the temple to seek help from the higher powers of Egyptian mythology
07:00to obtain titles for their rule.
07:03Titles of kings of the universe.
07:06For many people, this place was like the center of the universe,
07:09and now it lies forgotten on the seabed, almost ruined.
07:13Time spares nothing.
07:15Researchers found out the temple had been part of an ancient port city.
07:18A long time ago, an earthquake occurred in this area and destroyed the city.
07:23Tidal waves softened the ground and dragged the town into the Mediterranean Sea.
07:27While studying the temple, scientists found many secret treasures there.
07:31Silver ceremonial instruments, gold jewelry, and alabaster vessels.
07:36In past times, people used them to store perfumes or greasy ointments called unguents.
07:42Perhaps in ancient Egypt, they weren't bad in the field of cosmetology.
07:47Near the temple, archaeologists discovered a Greek sanctuary.
07:51Apparently, the Greeks living in Egypt or coming here on business wanted to pay tribute to Aphrodite,
07:57so they created a small building in her honor.
08:00In that place, archaeologists found bronze and ceramic artifacts from different cultures.
08:04Scientists found out that the Greeks had permission to trade in the Egyptian city and even be its residents.
08:11It seems pharaohs living around 600 BCE were favorable to the Greeks.
08:16The profession of an archaeologist is very exciting.
08:20But what would you do if you found some ancient treasure?
08:23Before answering this question, find out what law applies to such finds in your country.
08:28This is a real human brain.
08:34Well, it was, until a hot cloud of ash turned it into glass.
08:39This crazy transformation happened almost 2,000 years ago,
08:43when Mount Vesuvius decided it was a good day to erupt and destroy cities like Pompeii,
08:49Amplantis, and Herculaneum.
08:51This particular brain belonged to a young man who lived in 79 CE in Herculaneum.
08:58Not the most famous Roman town, but it was the first place that was discovered under Vesuvius' ashes way back in 1709.
09:08Around 200 years later, archaeologists found the remains of this young man lying face down on a bed.
09:15All the smoke and ash probably made him disoriented.
09:19So, while most of the citizens of Herculaneum rushed to the shore, hoping to be rescued,
09:25the brain guy ended up trapped inside a building and passed out.
09:29Weirdly enough, this saved his brain from completely disappearing.
09:34How in the world does a brain turn into glass?
09:38Well, when Mount Vesuvius erupted, it didn't expel just lava.
09:42It also sent away a really, really hot cloud of ash before the solidified lava could flow down.
09:49This type of lava, known as pyroclastic flow, could get as hot as 869 degrees Fahrenheit.
09:56An insane temperature, we know.
09:59Hot enough to melt your brain, but not hot enough to turn it into glass.
10:03The cloud of ash, however, can reach temperatures between 932 degrees Fahrenheit to 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit.
10:13But to turn something into glass, you don't just need heat, you need rapid cooling too.
10:19To put it simply, you have to heat something to a very high temperature until it melts into a liquid.
10:24If you let it cool down slowly, the molecules of this liquid will start to calmly organize themselves in the shape of crystals.
10:33But if this something cools down super fast, it will solidify in whatever shape the liquid was.
10:39It's like making ice cubes.
10:42If you pour water into a tray and stick it in the freezer, it will turn into ice because it cools down quickly.
10:47But if you leave the water out at room temperature, it'll just evaporate.
10:53This means that the brain melted due to a really high temperature.
10:57But before it could crystallize, for example, or just boil away, it got really cold.
11:03The flow from the eruption was not hot enough for this to happen.
11:07But the cloud of ash that reached town before the pyroclastic flow was hot enough to start this process.
11:13And fast enough to leave just at the right time.
11:16To figure out the exact temperature needed for this brain-to-glass transformation,
11:22scientists used a technique called differential scanning calorimetry.
11:27This fancy name basically means that they heat up glass shards to see when they start to change shape.
11:33They discovered that the cloud of ash had to be exactly 950 degrees Fahrenheit hot for the brain cells to start melting.
11:42Now, remember how I said this guy was inside a building, but most of the citizens were outside?
11:50Well, those people were also exposed to this drastic change in temperature.
11:54But they didn't turn into glass because they were not being protected by the walls of a building.
11:59The protection provided by the skull surely helped our guy, but it was not enough.
12:04And since other people didn't have the same protection, their brains basically poofed.
12:10And before you ask, no, no other parts of his body turned into glass.
12:16You see, you need some liquid for the glassmaking process to happen.
12:19The brain has a lot of water and fat, which makes it a prime candidate for the glassification process.
12:25Yes, I've just made that word up.
12:29Other organs might have contained liquid, but they weren't as protected as the brain,
12:33so they were destroyed by the heat.
12:35And bones?
12:36Well, bones don't have enough liquid, so they just remained the same.
12:40The ones that didn't char, anyway.
12:43When the brain turned into glass, it looked a lot like an obsidian stone,
12:48a type of volcanic glass formed by the cool lava of a volcano.
12:52Even the forensic archaeologist who discovered this glassified brain thought it was just a stone at first.
13:00He was studying the bones of our hero when he noticed something shining inside of his skull,
13:05right in the middle of all the volcanic ash that filled it.
13:09To his surprise, this thing was way more fragile than obsidian, and smaller too,
13:14with some fragments being only a few millimeters large.
13:17He only figured this was part of that guy's brain after he took the glass to the lab.
13:23With the help of a microscope, he discovered that this was not a stone, but an organic tissue,
13:29which is basically cells that form our organs.
13:33This organic tissue was made by protein, a molecule produced by living things like animals and plants.
13:39And this was not just any protein.
13:42This one was specific to the human brain, because every organ is made of different types of protein.
13:49The researchers also found nerve cells preserved inside this glass,
13:54complete with the tendrils that help them receive and send messages.
13:58The microscope also showed what was left of myelin,
14:02a fatty substance that gives a speed boost to the messages traveling along the nerves.
14:06This isn't the first time scientists discovered preserved human brains.
14:12In fact, more than 4,000 brains have been found since the 17th century.
14:17It may not look like a big number, but keep in mind that finding only the brain preserved in a skeleton
14:23while the other organs are gone is not that common.
14:27You see, the human brain is actually the first thing that decomposes when we're six feet under,
14:33and it usually turns into liquid.
14:35When scientists stumble upon a human brain, it's usually dried, frozen, or literally turned into soap.
14:43A brain can be dehydrated if a person perishes in a place that is very hot, like a desert.
14:49Frozen brains are found, obviously, in places that are super cold, like polar tundras.
14:54A brain turned into soap may sound weird, but the saponification process is not that rare.
15:02You need a lot of fat and oils to make soap, and the human brain is filled with this.
15:07It's a complex process, but if you find a brain that turned into soap,
15:11it must have been buried in a place that is very wet and has little oxygen.
15:15Back in 1982, for example, construction workers found dozens of human skeletons in a pond in Florida.
15:23They were all 8,000 years old, and 91 of them actually had their brains still somewhat intact.
15:30And by intact, I mean they turned into jelly soap.
15:34During the 2000s, the brains of 45 people were found in Spain, preserved because of this saponification process.
15:44This discovery helped researchers understand the chemical composition of the brains
15:48and even the weather conditions of the moment when these people passed away.
15:54Scientists also discovered two 3,700-year-old brains in Turkey
15:59that belonged to a middle-aged man and a teenager that were trying to escape an attack on their city.
16:05This time, their brains turned into charcoal because of a super-hot fire.
16:10And even though their skulls preserved the brains in this state,
16:13the heating and cooling process was probably not intense enough to glassify them.
16:19But this?
16:20It's the first time in history that scientists have found a brain that naturally turned into glass.
16:26It's like finding a unicorn, but in a more scientific way.
16:31So what does this discovery mean?
16:33Well, for starters, it gives us a glimpse into the lives of those who existed such a long time ago.
16:40Secondly, it taught scientists an amazing way to preserve the human brain.
16:45It also shows just how powerful nature can be.
16:49Powerful enough to turn a brain into glass,
16:51but delicate enough to preserve it for thousands of years.
16:56So, let's give a shout-out to the young man who unknowingly contributed to science.
17:01He probably had no idea that his brain would one day be the star of a groundbreaking discovery.
17:06His tragic end has given us a fascinating peek into the past.
17:10That's it for today.
17:13So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
17:18Or, if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!
17:22So, let's do that!
17:28You're right!
17:35Oh!
17:36Good morning!
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