- 6 days ago
Deep beneath the soil in Scotland, archaeologists uncovered one of the largest Neolithic stones ever found. If they had left it exposed, it could’ve rivaled Stonehenge in fame. But instead of displaying it, they made a chilling decision — they buried it again. No museum, no monument, no viewing platform. In this video, we explore what they found, why they reburied it, and what made this discovery so unsettling. 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
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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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00:00Deep beneath the soil in Scotland lies one of the largest Neolithic stones ever discovered.
00:06If it had been left above ground, it might have drawn more visitors than Stonehenge.
00:11But something strange happened.
00:14After excavating it, the archaeologists chose not to display it.
00:19Instead, they reburied it for good.
00:22Whatever they felt, whatever they saw, it was enough to seal the stone back into the earth.
00:29Why, though?
00:31I mean, we know Neolithic people drew and carved warnings and important pieces of information on stone.
00:38That's why the Cocknose Stone was so intriguing when it was first discovered.
00:42It all began with Reverend James Harvey, a local minister who stumbled upon this enormous slab back in the 1880s near Clydebank, just outside Glasgow, Scotland.
00:53The stone was a typical sandstone, like the ones you'll find in Stonehenge.
00:58But it was a smooth type of sandstone that worked as a canvas.
01:03When Harvey found the rock, it was covered in swirling rings, deep grooves, and strange cup-like markings.
01:10Harvey must have recognized right away that this was no ordinary rock.
01:14It was a message from thousands of years ago.
01:18As a matter of fact, it was a message straight from 3000 BCE.
01:22Cochno means little cups in Gaelic.
01:26The ones who named it were literally describing what they were seeing, rings upon connecting rings.
01:33These drawings have sparked so many theories.
01:36Some experts see them as the earliest forms of written language, like abstract codes that predate words.
01:42And then there are those who think the stone holds a map of the sky, a way for Neolithic people to track the sun, moon, and stars.
01:51Like the Pyramids of Giza, which some people believe are hauntingly aligned with the constellation of Orion.
01:58The cups and markings on the Cochno Stone could be aligned with some special constellation.
02:03The most bizarre theory is the one that says the stone was used as a portal.
02:09One of the scientists says that locals believed that the drawings could indicate this was a place to be reborn.
02:16A place where people could sink into the earth, only to be born again.
02:22In this life or in the afterlife.
02:24If that were true, maybe that's why they hid it, right?
02:29Not quite.
02:30In the 1930s, an archaeologist named Ludovic Mann heard about the rock and decided to visit it.
02:37This guy had an unusual idea and decided to take paint to the site and paint over the markings on the stone's surface.
02:45His weird idea had a deeper meaning, though.
02:48He was trying to connect the dots, literally, and see if the stone worked as an ancient astronomical chart.
02:55He thought the carvings might predict solar and lunar movements, even eclipses.
03:00Some say that, actually, what Mann did was vandalize the slab of stone.
03:06That's maybe why archaeologists decided to rebury the stone back in 1965.
03:12They noticed markings of graffiti and erosion from the climate and agreed that it was best kept safe under the ground.
03:18The Cochno stone stretches roughly 43 feet by 26 feet.
03:23That's almost the size of a bus.
03:26What sets the Cochno stone apart from other slabs of rock is how clear and complex its carvings are.
03:33Many scientists call it one of the best examples of this prehistoric art in all of Europe.
03:38The patterns that show up there can also be found at various Neolithic sites across Europe and beyond, such as Greece, France, Australia, Spain, Italy, and much more.
03:50They all share similar cup and ring markings.
03:53To be clearer, this type of prehistoric art is also known as a petroglyph.
03:59Petroglyphs are carvings made by prehistoric people right into the surface of rocks.
04:04Instead of using paint, they chipped, scratched, or pecked at the stone to create images like animals, symbols, spirals, or scenes from daily life.
04:13Yet, despite all the attention, no one has cracked the code on the Cochno stone.
04:19Instead, this is what happened.
04:22For a while, it rested quietly beneath the soil until it was dramatically unearthed back in 2016.
04:29I say dramatically because this decision shook the archaeological community.
04:34Archaeologists from the University of Glasgow decided to reopen the site to study the rock once again.
04:39But this time, instead of exposing it to the elements, they used drones and high-tech 3D scanning to capture every groove and swirl with shocking detail.
04:50The team created a digital replica so precise it could be studied without ever touching the real thing ever again.
04:57This new approach gave hope that one day the Cochno stone might finally reveal its secrets.
05:03Or at least help us understand what Neolithic people thought was worth carving into stone and hiding beneath the earth.
05:12But this digital resurrection came with a price.
05:16The real stone, vulnerable after centuries underground, had to be buried once more.
05:21Shielded from the various hands and, let's face it, smelly feet of the modern world.
05:26Now, the Cochno stone sleeps once again beneath the Scottish soil.
05:31Something needs to be clear here is that although researchers haven't decoded the symbols on this rock yet, they do know one thing.
05:40Neolithic rock art was a powerful form of communication and spirituality for ancient communities.
05:47These carvings were carefully etched onto rocks, scattered across hills, grazing lands, and near water sources.
05:53They likely served practical purposes such as marking important locations or guiding seasonal movements.
06:00But their significance went far beyond that.
06:03For Neolithic people, these carved stones were deeply spiritual, acting as connections to ancestors, natural forces, and sacred landscapes.
06:13The rocks carried meaning as part of a larger relationship between people and their environment.
06:18They helped turn the landscape into a living map of both everyday life and spiritual belief.
06:24That's probably why we find it all over the world.
06:28On the subject of mysterious rocks, we need to talk about these petroglyph-filled rocks that also actually sing.
06:35I want you to meet the Kupgal petroglyphs, which are located in Bellary District of Karnataka, India.
06:43This Neolithic or Stone Age site was first discovered in the late 1800s, lost, and then rediscovered in the early 21st century.
06:52These petroglyphs were carved into the dark surface of Dolorite rock.
06:57Different from the soft and tender sandstone, the Dolorite rock is a hard, dark, volcanic rock formed from cooled magma.
07:06This fascinating rock art focuses mainly on cattle, specifically the long-hoored humped variety we still see in the region today.
07:15These aren't just random doodles. Some of the cattle are drawn solo, while others appear in scenes facing off against each other,
07:24being ridden by human-like figures, or surrounded by people with bows and arrows, maybe representing hunting or capture.
07:32Beyond cattle and humans, there are a few other animals like elephants, tigers, deer, and some abstract symbols like dots, ladders, or footprints.
07:41But there aren't big narrative scenes. The most interesting thing here is that Kupgal, apart from being visually expressive and super important, also sings.
07:53Among its most unique features are the so-called rock gongs.
07:58These rock gongs are boulders with natural cup-like depressions that ring out like bells when they're struck with smaller stones, often called a hammerstone.
08:07What happens is that instead of emitting a dull thud, the rock sings.
08:13It's like Earth's own xylophone.
08:16This is a real phenomena that can also be found in other parts of the world.
08:20These so-called musical rocks emit resonant metallic tones that can be heard for hundreds of feet.
08:27Most rocks, when you hit them, don't produce sound because they absorb energy.
08:31But certain types of rocks, usually the harder ones, are more dense and at the same time elastic enough to vibrate when they're struck.
08:41In many ancient cultures, sound was used for more than mere entertainment.
08:46For many cultures, sound was used as a bridge to the divine.
08:50So researchers suggest that these gongs might have been used in spiritual ceremonies and gatherings.
08:55There's a place on Earth that looks like it came straight out of the movie Dune.
09:01Massive platforms of stone and mud rise in the middle of a scorching desert.
09:06And somehow, people manage to survive in such a hostile environment.
09:10Oh, really?
09:11But unlike the movie, this real city in Peru was abandoned over 3,000 years ago and has stayed hidden from us until now.
09:21Meet Pinieco.
09:22This lost city is located in the Huarara province, north of Lima.
09:27After eight years of excavation and conservation work, some of its secrets have finally been brought to light.
09:35It may look eerie and lifeless now, but it wasn't always this way.
09:39Experts think this place used to be a busy trading center for ancient Peruvians.
09:44In fact, it was part of the oldest known civilization in the Americas, at least as far as we know.
09:50And no, they weren't the Mayas or the Aztecs.
09:53That's a common mistake.
09:55I'm talking about the Coral Supe civilization.
09:59This society existed more than 5,000 years ago.
10:02That's super old.
10:04To put that in perspective, while the Sumerians in Mesopotamia were reaching their peak,
10:08and the Egyptians were just starting to build things in Giza, the people in Coral were already building pyramids.
10:16Thanks to them, Peru is now seen as one of the six places where civilization first began.
10:22But unlike the objects we find from ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, you won't see Coral artifacts in museums.
10:30At least, not fancy vases covered in mysterious letters, since they didn't know pottery or writing.
10:36What they did know was how to build big.
10:39They left behind mind-blowing architecture, such as stepped pyramids and huge sunken plazas.
10:46You know, like massive open-air arenas, big enough to hold hundreds of people.
10:50And it's not like they just had one pyramid here and a plaza there.
10:55No.
10:55As I said, they built big.
10:58So far, researchers have found as many as 30 major metropolitan centers across what we now call the Coral region,
11:06or Peru's north-central coast.
11:08You can think of them as full-on cities, with residential areas, several plazas, and ceremonial temples.
11:15Their largest pyramid, known as Paramide Mayor, stands nearly 100 feet tall,
11:21with a base covering an area the size of about four football fields.
11:25That's substantial.
11:27Oh my God!
11:28And building all that surely wasn't easy.
11:31It took planning, coordination, and specialists.
11:34That suggests that Coral must have had organized labor and strong leadership to pull it off.
11:40Despite creating these incredible constructions,
11:43Coral's cities stayed hidden for thousands of years.
11:46And even when researchers first came across the area, it took decades for them to realize how important it really was.
11:54They already knew about the ruins back in the 1940s.
11:58But it wasn't until the 90s that the first major study of Coral was done.
12:03And there's a reason they were ignored for so long.
12:05The architecture was so advanced, and the proportions so huge, that people thought,
12:11nah, this has to be something modern.
12:14They couldn't have been more wrong, though.
12:16And in 2001, studies finally recognized that Coral was the oldest known civilization in the Americas.
12:24Archaeologists believe this society existed from around 3,000 to 1,800 years before the Common Era.
12:30And for 4,000 years, they flourished in complete isolation.
12:35Chances are, they never met another civilization at all.
12:39This may explain why they are considered such a peaceful society.
12:43Researchers haven't found any signs of conflict.
12:46No fortifications, no battle gear, no trace of fighting.
12:51Instead, they seem more focused on commerce and, well, pleasure.
12:55Looks like they love music.
12:56In one of the temples, for example, archaeologists found 32 flutes made from bird bones.
13:03I wonder what that sounded like.
13:05Anyway, the Coral lived along three rivers.
13:08The Fortaleza, the Patavilca, and the Supe.
13:14Just like the newly discovered city of Penieco.
13:17This lost city was built on a natural terrace, about 1,970 feet above sea level.
13:23And no, they didn't do that for the view.
13:26It was for security.
13:28Building higher up protected them from flooding, since the site sits parallel to the Supe River.
13:34Just recently, after eight years of excavation, experts finally uncovered its beauty.
13:39Altogether, they found 18 structures, including temples, residential complexes, and a huge circular plaza.
13:46There were also ceremonial halls built on top of large step platforms, along with stairways, courtyards, and carefully designed walls.
13:55These structures served both practical and symbolic purposes.
13:59I mean, this was their hotspot, the place where people came together for rituals.
14:04Inside one of the structures, researchers uncovered remarkable finds, like sculptures molded in raw clay that portray human figures, animals, and ceremonial objects.
14:14They also dug up stone tools, such as grinders, crushers, and hammers.
14:20And remember I said they like music, right?
14:23Well, the team also found patutus there.
14:26That's like an old-school trumpet made of giant shells brought from the Pacific Ocean.
14:31Now, if you look at the map, one thing stands out.
14:35Penieco is farther inland than other corral cities we've discovered.
14:39And that's important.
14:40The city's location was completely strategic.
14:44And that's why it earned the nickname, City of Social Integration.
14:48There's this theory that says Penieco played a key role in trading hermitite, a mineral used since ancient times, to make red pigment.
14:57Back then, this was fancy stuff.
14:59Penieco likely served as a hub linking the coastal and highland villages of Supe and Waura.
15:05Maybe they traded hermitite for fish and shellfish from the coastal villagers.
15:11But now comes the big question.
15:13What happened to the people who lived there?
15:16Why was Penieco completely abandoned after thousands of years?
15:20Well, that still remains a mystery.
15:22There are different theories about why the Corral Supe civilization disappeared and why their most important cities were left abandoned.
15:30One of them is the maritime hypothesis.
15:33It suggests that societies first developed along the coast, relying heavily on fishing, and only later moved inland.
15:40So, in that view, cities were abandoned as people shifted away from them.
15:45But that doesn't fit Penieco, right?
15:47I mean, it's way too far inland to count as a seaside city.
15:51So, it's hard to say what really happened.
15:54If you look at their main city, archaeologists haven't found any solid evidence of one big disaster.
16:00No massive earthquake, no huge flood, nothing like that.
16:04And the same goes with Penieco.
16:06There's just no sign of a single event that suddenly wiped them out.
16:10The likely explanation is a shift in climate.
16:14A change in the weather could have caused long droughts that affected local farming.
16:18That would have forced people to abandon their cities, like what happened in northern Mesopotamia.
16:23Now, can we say that with absolute certainty?
16:27Honestly, no.
16:28It's much more likely that several distinct factors led to the decline of that society.
16:33They might have also faced some internal conflict.
16:36Issues of leadership or organization, for example.
16:39But that's impossible to prove with archaeology alone.
16:44Either way, Penieco is a huge discovery.
16:46It gives us new clues to better understand the crisis the Corral civilization faced before its collapse.
16:54But for now, many of their secrets are still waiting to be uncovered.
16:58And there's still so much for researchers to figure out about how this civilization was born and how it evolved over time.
17:05If you want to visit Penieco, here's some good news.
17:09The site has recently been opened to the public.
17:11It's about a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Lima, and you can get there either by a private vehicle or through tourist services.
17:19Yeah, it's not the easiest journey, but the breathtaking landscapes will make up for it.
17:24And if you don't have the time or the money to fly all the way to Peru, don't worry.
17:30If you know Spanish, you can explore a virtual museum dedicated to Corral.
17:34It features 10 thematic rooms designed to take you on a journey back to the origins of civilization.
17:40You'll find photos, videos, infographics.
17:44It's a whole immersive experience.
17:46Of course, it's not the same as standing on the site itself.
17:49But it still offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of the oldest known civilization in the Americas.
17:56That's it for today.
17:57So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
18:02Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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