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Archaeologists have uncovered remarkable discoveries, including a 400-year-old vampire burial in Poland and new insights from X-rays of King Tut's golden mask. Plus, the long-unsolved mystery of a kidnapped prince has finally been unraveled after two centuries.
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00:00A girl, once in Beautiful, ended up in a grave with a huge sickle across her neck.
00:05There were no signs of violence, no indications of any actual crime.
00:10Yet, someone was clearly terrified when they forced her into that grave.
00:15So scared, that they even placed a padlock on the big toe of her left foot.
00:20They wanted her to stay in the tomb once and for all, fearing she might rise and take revenge on
00:26her.
00:27So, a whole community turned against a young lady who wasn't even over 20 years old, deeming her to be
00:33of ultimate danger.
00:35Do you see what I'm driving at?
00:37Let's test your historical knowledge.
00:39Who has been feared throughout human history to such an extent that commoners couldn't shake off that lingering sense of
00:46dread, even after their passing?
00:49If you say witches, warlocks, and vampires, you'd be completely correct.
00:54Just a little hint here.
00:55If you can't overpower someone physically, you can do it supernaturally.
01:00Well, that's at least what people used to think back in the 17th century.
01:04Not only was there a sickle and a padlock, but there were also signs of an attempt to twist the
01:10girl's corpse in the grave and turn it face down.
01:13This attempt had failed, leaving her spine buckled and twisted.
01:18By the way, the padlock wasn't necessarily meant to lock a vampire.
01:21It was more likely a talisman against evil spirits.
01:26That's a peculiar and, let's face it, very cruel way to bury someone.
01:31Yet, it was a common practice for creating anti-vampire burial sites.
01:36The methods for preventing vampires from rising were quite elaborate.
01:40First off, let me introduce a term.
01:43Anti-vampire graves, known as revenant graves, date back thousands of years and have been found in various locations across
01:50Europe.
01:53Europe. You heard that right.
01:55Now, before you say, hey, vampires are a Romanian thing.
01:59Dracula. Duh.
02:00Let me convince you otherwise.
02:03They are a part of all European folklore, meaning you can find references to them throughout Europe.
02:08With new settlements in America, vampire lore spread there too, eventually turning into the Twilight Saga.
02:16These anti-vampire burials are characterized by evidence of precautions taken to prevent those who bit the dust from rising.
02:25Such measures could include placing large stones on the deceased's legs or even piercing the body with a lance to
02:31fix it to the ground.
02:32To be completely safe, they could also consider removing the head from the torso.
02:37So, burying the body face down, cutting off the head, and pressing the body with a stone were the methods
02:44used to keep someone believed to be a demonic being from leaving the grave.
02:49Let's return to the poor lady, or rather, the girl.
02:53Strangely, all of her 206 bones remained untouched.
02:57Yet no gravestone, no name, nothing.
03:00Just a lonely grave on a hill in northern Poland.
03:05Polinski, a professor of archaeology, and Zagrodzka began piecing together the story of the woman they eventually named Zosia.
03:13Carbon dating suggested she had been about 18 years old, and had passed away about 350 years ago during a
03:19chaotic time in Poland's history.
03:22There is little documentation about this graveyard which seemed to serve as a resting place for individuals marginalized by the
03:28community.
03:30Was Zosia a poor girl who had been marginalized because life forced her into the worst situation a lady could
03:36face?
03:37Not really.
03:38As the archaeologists delved deeper, they stumbled upon some hints that indicated she might have hailed from a rich family.
03:45Her burial featured a stylish bonnet, and the delicate silk along with shiny silver and gold threads found with it
03:52suggested that it was part of an elegant headdress.
03:55This all pointed to the idea that she had some serious status or wealth.
04:00But the way she was buried indicated her outsider status in the village of Pienne.
04:05Perhaps her presence there was unwanted, hence the idea of her being a vampire, backed up by the manner in
04:12which she was forced into the grave and held there.
04:16By analyzing the structure of her skull and extricating DNA from her skeleton, scientists created a reconstruction of what her
04:23face might have looked like.
04:25The specialists meticulously reshaped Zosia's likeness using modeling clay on a 3D printed model of her skull, which proved to
04:32be a deeply moving experience.
04:35They remarked that while they often worked on face reconstructions, in this case, they also sought to restore her dignity.
04:43Utilizing these three methods, the team reconstructed Zosia's 400-year-old face, revealing the human story buried beneath supernatural beliefs.
04:53It's ironic, isn't it?
04:55First, people tried their hardest to make the world forget her face and prevent her from ever coming back.
05:01400 years later, people did everything they could to bring her back to life.
05:06Her picture now is all over the internet, yet we will never see the faces of those who buried her.
05:12Alas, this reconstruction project only allows viewers to visually connect with Zosia, but her true story remains a mystery.
05:22But what we know for sure is that people who were deemed vampires were badly discriminated against, to say the
05:28least.
05:29Rumor had it that hungry vampires would even steal people to quench their thirst.
05:34Let's use math to prove this rumor wrong, and prove that Zosia wasn't one of them.
05:39Back in the year 1600, there were only 537 million people worldwide.
05:45Yeah, this data may not be very accurate, but it's pretty close to reality.
05:48A physicist, Kostas F. Tim Yu, calculated that if a vampire had been drinking one person's blood each month, humanity
05:56would have faced extinction within a few years.
05:59Starting with one vampire and a population of 537 million in 1600, this math shows we'd have no humans left
06:08by July 1602.
06:10But here we are now.
06:13Well, while placing a stone on a corpse to make sure the vampire doesn't rise may be something new to
06:18you.
06:19There are also a bunch of stereotypical things associated with these creatures that you definitely know, such as garlic and
06:27mirrors.
06:29Funnily enough, even though it's all based on a bunch of superstitions, there's pretty good logic behind the garlic thing.
06:35You see, it contains a special compound called allicin, which is a powerful antibiotic.
06:41While people back then couldn't know what an antibiotic was, they noticed garlic was pretty effective against various conditions.
06:48Since they believed vampires were created by a particular blood condition, they also believed garlic could defeat a vampire.
06:57And there's more.
06:58There's actually a blood condition called porphyria, which makes people look like real vampires.
07:04Their skin is pale and their teeth get bigger as their gums shrink.
07:09And guess what?
07:10People who have porphyria cannot consume garlic as it worsens their condition.
07:15Wow, that's a cool coincidence.
07:18The next superstition is a bit fresher, and it's about vampires avoiding mirrors.
07:24The first known reference to the mirrors comes from the book Dracula in 1897.
07:29But why wouldn't a vampire show a reflection?
07:32Simple.
07:33Before the plastic era we live in, mirrors were traditionally backed with silver.
07:38Silver was commonly believed to repel evil spirits, possibly because it has antimicrobial properties.
07:44Much like garlic, its healing properties may be what was supposed to scare off a vampire.
07:50Another reason why suspected vampires may have avoided mirrors is the changes to their appearance from conditions commonly confused with
07:58vampirism, like porphyria and rabies.
08:01People afflicted with these conditions may have avoided looking in mirrors for that reason, causing others to assume that vampires
08:08avoided mirrors.
08:11But if you've ever met a vampire and these methods don't repel it, I have one more trick for you.
08:15Ask the potential vampire to count.
08:18It can be spilled grains, seeds, or even the holes in the fishing net if you happen to have one.
08:24Vampires are into math, so they'll stop to count, delaying them until sunrise.
08:28And we all know that vampires don't do well in sunlight.
08:33Ironically, it's Count von Count, a vampire who teaches us how to count on Sesame Street.
08:39For more than 3,000 years, the gold mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamen stayed hidden in the Valley of the Kings.
08:45This artifact, which stands about 21 inches tall, shows how skilled and artistic the ancient Egyptians were.
08:52But nobody expected that x-rays would reveal its biggest secret.
08:57King Tut was the last ruler of his family during the 18th dynasty.
09:02He took the throne at just 9 years old, but ruled for only 10 years before he passed away unexpectedly.
09:09If we're being honest, back in ancient Egypt, he was mostly forgotten by the rulers who came after him.
09:15His tomb wasn't a big deal for them.
09:17So much so that even the grave robbers forgot about him.
09:21It might sound a bit sad, but the truth is that it was actually great news for us.
09:26Since his tomb was practically forgotten, it ended up being perfectly preserved.
09:31While the other tombs in the Valley of the Kings were looted, his remains sealed and untouched.
09:37So when it was discovered back in 1922, it had over 5,000 precious objects inside.
09:44That made Tutankhamen basically an instant celebrity and one of the best-known pharaohs nowadays.
09:52Among the treasures was the most stunning piece, his golden mask.
09:57This mask is said to be an exact image of the king's face, or at least it was supposed to
10:02be, but we'll get to that later.
10:04The purpose of this accurate representation of his face was to make sure that his soul would recognize him in
10:11the afterlife and return to his mummified body.
10:14In ancient Egyptian beliefs, this would allow him to continue living in the afterlife.
10:19The details of the mask clearly looked incredibly difficult to create.
10:24But people didn't realize how complex it truly was until many years later.
10:29The first x-rays of the mask were taken in 1967.
10:34Back then, the main reason for these scans was practical – conservation.
10:38The mask was heading to Paris for an exhibition, and it was the first time it had ever left Paris.
10:44This would help them keep track of any changes during the exhibit.
10:48Plus, the images could give clues about how the mask was made.
10:52But back then, they probably didn't fully realize just how complex its construction was.
10:58I mean, Egyptian goldsmiths didn't use modern soldering techniques.
11:03So, how did they make this mask?
11:05New x-rays taken in 2007 gave us some answers.
11:10It turned out the Egyptians didn't use pure gold, which is 24 carats.
11:15The mask was actually made of 23 carat gold, meaning it was mixed with another material.
11:20So, specialists discovered that the gold sheets contained a small amount of copper, a reddish-brown metal.
11:27This was likely done to make the material more flexible and easier to shape.
11:31They would then shape the gold sheets by heating and hammering them over and over again.
11:36But there was one more secret inside the mask that wasn't discovered until 2015.
11:42The year before, the staff at Cairo's Egyptian Museum were working on the mask display,
11:48when the long beard of the mask accidentally got knocked off.
11:52Another theory is that the beard had become loose over time and just fell off.
11:57Either way, the fact that King Tut's beard came off caused a lot of stress.
12:02After all, we're talking about one of Cairo's biggest tourist attractions.
12:06So, the experts had to fix the problem quickly.
12:09The restoration process started with a detailed recording of the mask's condition.
12:15To do this, they had to take a full three-dimensional scan of the artifact.
12:19And, by accident, they found something very interesting in the mask.
12:24Inside the royal beard, there is a gold tube,
12:28an intriguing structure that the Egyptians likely used to attach the beard to the rest of the mask.
12:33And that proved, once again, that the process of making this mask was even more complex than experts thought.
12:42But the mysteries don't stop there.
12:44Remember how we mentioned that the mask was thought to perfectly represent King Tutankhamun's face?
12:50Well, that might not be entirely true.
12:53Some popular theories suggest the mask was never meant for him and was actually made for someone else.
13:00A study published in 2015 suggested the mask was originally made for a female pharaoh,
13:06his supposed stepmother, the famous and beautiful Egyptian queen Nefertiti.
13:12The biggest clue comes from an inscription on the mask.
13:15At first glance, it seemed to belong to Tutankhamun.
13:19But after a close examination, researchers noted that something else was actually written underneath King Tut's name.
13:26The royal name stamp seems to have been altered,
13:29and originally, it had something written on it that translates to Queen Nefertiti.
13:38There is another feature of King Tut's golden mask that was overlooked for years,
13:42which adds even more mystery.
13:44As we mentioned earlier, experts believe he wasn't respected much by the pharaohs who came after him.
13:50And one of the clues that made archaeologists think this is the pierced ears on the mask.
13:56Some researchers believe that King Tutankhamun wouldn't have worn earrings after he was a kid.
14:02So, according to their theory, by the time he passed away at 18,
14:06he shouldn't have been represented with pierced ears.
14:09This could also support the idea that the mask originally belonged to Nefertiti,
14:14or maybe to someone who wasn't even connected to King Tut.
14:19But the mask isn't the only source of mystery.
14:22In fact, his whole tomb is full of puzzles.
14:25Recently, historians found a sign that the place where King Tut was supposed to be buried
14:30was changed at the last minute.
14:32For years, experts wonder why a pharaoh who ruled for nine years
14:37ended up in such a simple tomb.
14:39When compared to the grandeur of other pharaohs' tombs,
14:43his tomb seemed, well, a bit plain.
14:46The idea that a king like Tutankhamun would have such an unremarkable resting place
14:51just doesn't match up with the power and importance he must have had in ancient Egypt.
14:57So, what happened?
14:59Well, apparently, this might have something to do with his successor, Pharaoh Ai.
15:04After King Tutankhamun passed away,
15:07researchers believe that Ai made sure to erase him from Egypt's history.
15:11So, one theory suggests that he was probably behind the quick decision
15:15to place King Tut's body in a smaller, less impressive tomb.
15:20When experts looked at Ai's own tomb, they found something interesting.
15:24There is a large wall covered in painted baboons.
15:27This is the same type of artwork found in Tutankhamun's tomb.
15:31It seems like the same person might have chosen the artwork for both tombs.
15:37Now, the design and decoration of the two tombs are almost identical,
15:42suggesting there was a shared hand behind both.
15:45But there is one key difference.
15:48Ai's tomb is fit for a king.
15:50It's much bigger and more impressive,
15:52even though the style and artwork are similar to what you see in Tutankhamun's tomb.
15:57So, the theory suggests that Ai decided what went into both tombs.
16:02Since Tut passed away unexpectedly at a young age,
16:06his grand tomb wasn't finished in time.
16:09Normally, pharaohs start building their tombs while they're still alive
16:12to make sure everything is perfect.
16:14But Tut passed away when he was just 18,
16:17so there wasn't enough time.
16:19Ai may have taken advantage of the situation,
16:22ordering a smaller tomb for Tut and keeping a larger one for himself.
16:27Experts believe this theory explains why Tutankhamun's tomb is so simple
16:32and how Ai managed to wipe his memory from history so easily.
16:36But in the end, the story of King Tut's mask and tomb
16:40is full of mystery and intrigue.
16:43Each new discovery sheds more light on what really happened all those years ago.
16:47But one thing is for sure,
16:49the secrets of ancient Egypt still have much to reveal.
16:53And King Tutankhamun will continue to fascinate people for years to come.
16:59It's true that any mysterious story loses all its charm
17:03when scientists reveal the truth.
17:05The royal intrigues of the past centuries can be solved with the help of modern technology.
17:10And fairy tales can be explained with the help of science.
17:13And now, we'll see how it happens.
17:16There is a state called Baden in southwestern Germany.
17:20Until the 20th century, it was a sovereign state.
17:23We're not going to study its history now,
17:25but let's look at an interesting case that occurred there in the 19th century.
17:30At that time, Baden was ruled by Grand Duke Karl and Grand Duchess Stephanie.
17:34On September 29, 1812, the Duchess gave birth to a son, the future heir.
17:40But unfortunately, he passed away 18 days later.
17:44A terribly sad story that spawned many rumors about the unnamed heir.
17:49People whispered among each other that an unrelated grandmother,
17:54Countess Louise Caroline von Hochberg,
17:57had replaced the heir with another kid,
17:59and that the real prince was hidden from everyone in an unknown place.
18:02But why would Louise Caroline do this?
18:05Because Stephanie could no longer give birth to an heir,
18:08and one of Louise Caroline's son could get the throne.
18:12Whoa!
18:13Royal intrigues like a TV series.
18:15Yeah, being a little prince at that time was quite dangerous.
18:20Okay, Duke Karl's heir passed away or was hidden.
18:23It's unknown.
18:24Almost 16 years had passed since then, and everyone had forgotten about him.
18:29But then, out of nowhere, a mysterious guy, about 16 years old,
18:34appeared on the streets of the place that is now Nuremberg.
18:36He was just wandering around the town square.
18:39He had no documents, no money, no food.
18:42He was exhausted, wore dirty clothes, and looked hungry.
18:46He hardly spoke because of a lack of strength and could hardly write his name,
18:51Kasper Hauser, and in his hand, he was clutching an unsigned letter.
18:56According to the contents of the letter and the guy's words,
19:00he spent all his life in a cramped, dark dungeon from which he never came out.
19:05All this time, he was fed and cared for by an unknown benefactor.
19:09The guy had never seen their face and didn't know who they were.
19:13After that, suddenly, he found himself in the center of the city.
19:18Rumors began to spread around the city that this was the heir from Baden,
19:22the real one that was replaced. People really believed that he was the missing prince from the
19:27past and looked for evidence confirming their theory. However, there was nothing but rumors
19:33about this. The guy had to wait almost 200 years before the technology that could determine his
19:39identity appeared. In the mid-1990s, genetic data showed that Kasper Hauser didn't belong to the
19:46Baden line. But then those tests were disproved.
19:49In general, a long series of investigations began to determine the DNA of the mysterious guy.
19:56And only recently, scientists have finally been able to put an end to this issue.
20:01They used the technology that helped study Neanderthal DNA fragments.
20:05The new method showed more accurate results. And yes, it turned out that Kasper Hauser's DNA
20:11didn't match the genetic code of the members of the Baden family.
20:15Scientists are confident that new technologies for analyzing genetic material will help decipher
20:21other historical mysteries. But who was this Kasper Hauser? Scientists don't know. It's not even
20:28known which way to look to determine his genealogy. Now it's time for a creepy story. Listen carefully
20:35to these words. We are inhabitants of the land of St. Martin, who is regarded with peculiar veneration
20:42in the country which gave us birth. The sun does not rise upon our countrymen. Our land is little
20:49cheered by its beams. We are contented with that twilight which, among you, precedes the sunrise or
20:55follows the sunset. Moreover, a certain luminous country is seen, not far distant from ours, and
21:03divided from it by a very considerable river. It sounds like some kind of a letter from an unknown
21:09fairy tale, right? Do you know who said that? A young brother and sister who appeared out of
21:15nowhere in a small English village in the 12th century. But the strangest thing was that the skin
21:21of these guys was green. Some people think it's true. Others are sure it's just a fairy tale.
21:28But in any case, it's a pretty strange story. The story of the green children of Woolpit.
21:35This event took place during the reign of King Stephen in the middle of the 12th century on
21:40the territory of the ancient village of Woolpit. In Old English, it sounded like Wolfpit, a pit for
21:47catching wolves. In 1150, not far from this pit, a group of locals found two little kids, a boy and
21:54a girl with green skin. They couldn't explain who they were or where they came from because they spoke
22:00with a strange, unknown language. They looked nervous and scared. People brought them to the
22:06house of Sir Richard de Calme. The nobleman gave food to his young guests, but they refused to eat,
22:12despite the fact that they looked very hungry. They muttered strange words and barely spoke to
22:18Sir Richard. This went on for several days. But then they saw green beans in the garden and began
22:23to eat them greedily right out of the ground. Which one of you would consider this picture
22:28creepy enough? Seriously, it looks like a scene from a horror movie. A green boy and a girl found
22:34at a wolf pit eating beans with their bare hands right out of the ground. According to the canon of
22:40the genre, more terrible events should happen next. Livestock gets sick, vegetables and fruits rot,
22:47A mysterious voice whispers in the halls, mold growls on the ceiling, and an unknown sticky liquid
22:54seeps through the walls. Ew, what if these kids would summon some monster and drag Sir Richard into
23:01the underworld? Fortunately, none of this happened. Richard treated the kids with love and within
23:07several years taught them to eat regular food. And if you believe the records of that time,
23:12this affected their skin color. They lost their green hue and became healthier. In addition,
23:19Richard taught them to speak English. And when he questioned them about what had happened to them,
23:23they said they didn't know how they got to the village. They told him this,
23:28We only remember that on a certain day, when we were feeding our father's flocks in the field,
23:33we heard a great sound, such as we are now accustomed to hearing at St. Edmund's,
23:38when the bells are chiming. And while listening to the sound in admiration,
23:43we became on a sudden, as it were, entered, and found ourselves among you in the fields where you
23:48were reaping. You have already heard the rest of their words at the beginning of this story.
23:53It was pretty creepy. So Richard took the kids to the nearest church. No one could figure out where
23:59these kids had come from. For many years, the girl worked for Richard and then got married.
24:03Her brother, unfortunately, passed away. Almost a thousand years have passed since
24:09these strange events. But it seems that scientists finally know the secret of the green children of
24:15Woolpit. At that time, the king was persecuting Flemish immigrants in England. Some of them probably
24:22hid near the village of Woolpit, where they raised their kids. A lack of food could have caused the green
24:27color of their skin. When they returned to a normal diet, their skin became normal.
24:33By the way, certain foods can have too much influences on how you look. For example,
24:38if you eat carrots for a long time, then your skin will have a yellowish tinge.
24:43If that brother and sister ate green beans daily, this could trigger the production of a certain
24:48green pigment. Okay, this mystery is more or less clear. But what about their unknown language?
24:54Most likely, they spoke like their parents, that is, in their native Flemish language.
24:59That's why the villagers couldn't understand them. And that strange story about the place where they
25:04lived can be explained by a rich imagination. But honestly, it would be cool if there was
25:10something really magical in this story, don't you think?
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