Ready to have your mind blown? Dive into 20 jaw-dropping discoveries that sound totally made up—but they're absolutely real! From Viking treasures to ancient board games, natural nuclear reactors, and gold-covered shoes, this video is a wild ride through history's coolest surprises. Don't miss out—subscribe for more epic finds and comment your favorite discovery from the video! #history #archaeology #science #discoveries #ancient
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@kirtop-channel
0:00 - Introduction and Overview
0:29 - Remarkable Archaeological Hoards and Burials
3:29 - Ancient Innovations and Trade
6:20 - Buried Structures, Craft, and Connected Civilizations
10:02 - Ancient Animal Rituals and Mysteries
11:56 - The Natural Nuclear Reactor of Oklo
13:48 - Warrior Princesses and Ancient Artifacts
18:11 - Mysterious Finds and Unanswered Questions
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/03446o1UkrphwLdUErZj1B
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@kirtop-channel
0:00 - Introduction and Overview
0:29 - Remarkable Archaeological Hoards and Burials
3:29 - Ancient Innovations and Trade
6:20 - Buried Structures, Craft, and Connected Civilizations
10:02 - Ancient Animal Rituals and Mysteries
11:56 - The Natural Nuclear Reactor of Oklo
13:48 - Warrior Princesses and Ancient Artifacts
18:11 - Mysterious Finds and Unanswered Questions
We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/03446o1UkrphwLdUErZj1B
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00Two billion years ago, there were not only no humans on Earth, but not even any animals.
00:05And yet, deep beneath the Earth, an intricate mechanism was already operating,
00:10one that humanity would only manage to create in the 20th century,
00:13a device without which it is impossible to imagine modern energy today.
00:17Hey friend, you're on the Kurt Top Channel. My name is Alexander.
00:21Today, here are 20 discoveries from around the world that sound like pure fiction,
00:27but turned out to be completely real.
00:30Hordes. Under a new terrace, a resident of the Northern Netherlands was clearing rocks and gravel from his garden,
00:37getting ready to lay a new patio. But his shovel hit something metallic.
00:41Just a few hours later, it wasn't construction workers at the site anymore, but archaeologists.
00:46The man, who wished to remain anonymous, had dug up the largest Viking Age silver hoard in Danish history.
00:52Literally, over 700 items, with a total weight of 18 and a half kilograms.
00:59Ingots, bracelets, coins, coin fragments, and a tiny hammer.
01:03The second part of the hoard, about 300 to 320 items weighing six and a half kilograms,
01:09remained inside the clay vessel in which it had once been hidden,
01:12while archaeologists gathered the rest from the surrounding soil.
01:15For comparison, the previous record holder, the famous Tershalovsky hoard,
01:19weighed about six and a half kilograms.
01:20The new hoard is nearly three times heavier.
01:23And just so you know, this is no longer just a single find, but a revision of the national record.
01:28The hoard dates back to the 10th century.
01:31Among the coins were both English and Arabic ones,
01:34a great example of just how far silver traveled during the Viking Age.
01:38Some of these coins could have passed through Europe,
01:40while others made their way to Scandinavia from the east.
01:43Who hid all this wealth, and why they never came back for it, remains unknown.
01:47Instead, about a thousand years later, it was found completely by chance during ordinary garden work.
01:53A necklace made of 42 teeth.
01:56In Poland, in a 5,000-year-old grave, they found a necklace made of 42 teeth.
02:04Among them, canine, bear, and ungulate teeth have already been identified, but some might turn out to be human.
02:09And next to the buried individual lay two more human skulls, even though they weren't even looking for this grave
02:14at all.
02:15Archaeologists near Zar Zarovina were studying a cemetery about 1,600 years old,
02:20and were already wrapping up the season when, almost at the edge of the excavation,
02:24they noticed the remains of a small mound.
02:26Beneath it turned out to be a burial dating to around 2,900 B.C.,
02:31nearly 3,500 years older than the cemetery above.
02:34Inside lay the nearly complete skeleton of an adult man.
02:37Near the root of each tooth in the necklace, a hole had been deliberately drilled,
02:41so it could be strung on a cord.
02:43The cord itself had long since vanished,
02:46but the set was preserved well enough to now attempt to determine the origin of each tooth,
02:50using ancient DNA analysis.
02:52And this wasn't the only unusual object in that grave.
02:55Nearby lay a carefully crafted serpentinite battle axe,
02:59with its blades still bearing traces of use.
03:02A flint blade, as well as amber and bone jewelry, were also found there.
03:06But the biggest questions are raised by two additional human skulls,
03:09both belonging to adults.
03:11They could have been placed here during the ritual,
03:14transferred from another burial, or added later.
03:17There is no definitive answer yet.
03:19So now archaeologists have to figure out,
03:21not only who this man was,
03:23but also whose teeth he was wearing,
03:26and why the heads of two other people ended up next to him.
03:30Armor that shone 1,700 years ago in Shuxian, China.
03:37At the Jinzong site, archaeologists retrieved hundreds of armor plates,
03:41about 1,700 years old from ancient wells and pits.
03:46The Three Kingdoms period, the Kingdom of Wu, founded by Sun Quan.
03:50And many of these plates still gleam with a silvery, bright white sheen,
03:54as if they were buried just recently, rather than 2,000 years ago.
03:58The secret turned out to be quite simple.
04:00The iron plates were dipped in molten tin,
04:03creating a thin, silvery layer that protected the metal from corrosion.
04:07And archaeologists found not only finished parts,
04:10but also raw tin, semi-finished goods, and production waste.
04:14That is, a full-fledged workshop existed here,
04:17where such armor was mass-produced.
04:19There is even a theory that these very shiny plates
04:22could have been related to the legendary Chinese bright light armor,
04:25but that cannot be proven yet.
04:27But the metal itself has genuinely kept its silvery shine,
04:31after around 1,700 years.
04:34A 4,600-year-old board game.
04:39In the Iranian city of Shadesukteh,
04:43also known as the Burnt City,
04:45during the latest, already the 21st, excavation season,
04:49they found a 4,600-year-old board game.
04:53And this isn't the same game that already made this place world famous.
04:56Back in 1977,
04:58they found a wooden board here,
05:00with tokens and dice.
05:02One of the most complete ancient board games known to archaeology.
05:07The new find is completely different in design.
05:09It turns out that in the very same society,
05:12several different gaming traditions existed at the same time.
05:16Much like how today,
05:17one household might keep chess,
05:19backgammon,
05:19and a deck of cards.
05:21The game was discovered in a vast cemetery,
05:23where, thanks to the dry,
05:24extremely rare organic materials for archaeology were preserved.
05:28Fragments of fabric, leather,
05:29and even eggshells.
05:30They also found a bone comb there,
05:32with an engraved pattern similar to an artifact from Central Asia.
05:36Yet another piece of circumstantial evidence of long-distance connections.
05:39Shari's Sukteh was a major trade hub of the Hellman civilization,
05:43flourishing in the 3rd millennium BC,
05:46and linking Central Asia,
05:47the Indus Valley,
05:48the Persian Gulf,
05:49and Mesopotamia.
05:50The city covered around 273,
05:54and craft workshops here,
05:55were often located right inside residential houses.
05:58The production of ceramics,
06:00stone vessels,
06:01and jewelry,
06:02was literally a part of everyday life,
06:04rather than a separate industrial area.
06:06Considering how many unusual things were found in this cemetery alone,
06:11I have a feeling that the burnt city will surprise archaeologists more than once
06:16in the upcoming excavation seasons.
06:19During the construction of a storm drain,
06:21in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg,
06:24workers stumbled upon oak beams at a depth of 8 meters.
06:29The wood looked so fresh,
06:30that at first everyone was sure it was the remains of some recent construction work,
06:34rather than something ancient.
06:36Dendrochronological analysis of the tree rings in the lab
06:38showed something completely different.
06:40The oaks were felled between 372 and 352 BC.
06:46That is Celtic culture,
06:47the Latin period,
06:49the European Iron Age.
06:50Each log is 3 to 4 meters long,
06:52weighing around 50 kilograms,
06:54and they were lifted with a crane after a long manual excavation.
06:58The structure combined massive timber and stonework,
07:01a rather rare engineering solution for that period.
07:04Because it was built right on the marshy bank of the main river,
07:07on unstable ground,
07:09where an ordinary foundation would have simply shifted.
07:12Exactly what it was remains uncertain.
07:15Perhaps a river gate guarding the path from the river to the settlement,
07:18or perhaps a dock where boats with people and cargo moored.
07:22The oak for the Celtic structure was brought from the Spessert forest,
07:25along with stone.
07:26Quite a long journey for that era.
07:28The marks of axes and adzes are well preserved on the beams,
07:31allowing us to study the very craftsmanship of Celtic carpenters.
07:35Given that a gold fibula,
07:37shaped like an animal's head,
07:38and other rich items had already been found nearby,
07:42archaeologists suspect they are looking at an important early Celtic center,
07:46whose existence was previously almost unknown.
07:49Each log is currently undergoing wet storage conservation.
07:52Without this,
07:53Iron Age wood pulled from underground begins to deteriorate in just a matter of days.
07:57Before that,
07:58specialists managed to perform a 3D scan of each element,
08:02and they ultimately plan to display part of the structure
08:05at the Stiffs Museum in Ashaffenberg.
08:08Golden shoes from the steppe.
08:09On the Manjishlak Peninsula in western Kazakhstan,
08:13at the Karakabak burial ground,
08:15archaeologists Andrei Astafiev and Evgeny Bogdanov
08:19unearthed the 1,500-year-old grave of a young noblewoman.
08:24She was dressed in a ceremonial costume,
08:27imitating royal attire,
08:28and the main element was the shoes,
08:30covered with thin gold plates,
08:32which were referred to in the publication simply as the golden shoes.
08:36But on these shoes, just like on that woman's belt,
08:39the class were not functional.
08:41They simply lacked the fasteners needed for actual everyday use.
08:44Researchers believe that both the shoes and the belt
08:47were made specifically for the funeral,
08:49not for everyday use.
08:50In other words,
08:51what we have here is not the deceased's worn clothing,
08:54but a costume tailored entirely for the funeral ritual.
08:57The headdress was adorned with a central plaque,
08:59featuring an image resembling a Gorgonian,
09:01the head of Medusa the Gorgon from Greek mythology,
09:04used as a protective amulet in the Hellenistic tradition.
09:06At the same time,
09:07other details of the costume,
09:08a buckle depicting birds of prey with outstretched wings,
09:12hark back to much more ancient times.
09:14With the Scythian tradition,
09:15this results in a blend of at least three cultural influences
09:18in a single funerary outfit.
09:20The Karakabak burial site turned out to be
09:23not just a place of internment,
09:24but a major craft and commercial center.
09:26Traces of metallurgy,
09:28jewelry making,
09:28glass making,
09:29and pottery production have been found here,
09:31while neighboring burials contain
09:32Byzantine-style cloisonné enamel ornaments.
09:35The archaeological site itself was discovered back in 2006,
09:38and it dates to the period from the 1st to the 6th century AD.
09:42Over 150 coins from six different states have been found there,
09:46ranging from Parthia and Sassanian Iran
09:48to Byzantium and China.
09:50For a remote settlement on the eastern shore of the Caspian,
09:53this is a remarkably wide network of connections.
09:55Apparently,
09:56Karakabak was an important point on the trade route
09:59connecting Central Asia with the North Caucasus,
10:01the Volga region,
10:02and the southern Urals.
10:04Some researchers even suggest that this might be
10:06the legendary city of Aspoboda,
10:08mentioned in ancient sources,
10:10although there is no direct evidence for this yet.
10:12The archaeologists themselves call this more of a hypothesis
10:15than an established fact.
10:17Stone turtles from the cave.
10:20About 16,500 years ago,
10:23someone placed dozens of stone turtles vertically into the ground in a Turkish cave.
10:29Archaeologists found about 25 of these figures,
10:31and they were not placed randomly,
10:34but around stones arranged in a circle.
10:37The largest turtle is about 30 centimeters long,
10:40and there are several strange things here.
10:42Many of the figurines look unfinished or rushed.
10:44In other words,
10:46perhaps to these ancient people,
10:47the appearance of the turtle itself
10:49wasn't as important as where and how it was placed.
10:52In the same cave,
10:53they previously found horns,
10:54an eagle talon,
10:55mollusk shells,
10:57and turtle carapaces,
10:58intentionally hidden in natural niches in the walls.
11:02And,
11:02next to one of these clusters,
11:04lay a stone that also resembled a turtle.
11:06All of this led researchers to suggest
11:08that the site was used for more than just ordinary daily life.
11:12Excavation director Denise Sara proposed an even more unusual theory.
11:16Some of the figurines resemble the shape of the Gidekaya Hill itself,
11:19within which the cave is located.
11:21Perhaps people were literally creating miniature representations of the surrounding landscape.
11:25She even allows for a connection to some early form of mountain worship,
11:28but emphasizes that there is not yet enough evidence to support such a conclusion.
11:32And turtles appear in ancient rituals,
11:34not only here,
11:35in the Israeli cave of Hilazon Taktit,
11:38in the grave of an elderly woman,
11:39the remains of at least 71 tortoises were found.
11:43They were eaten first,
11:44and then the shells were deliberately placed in the burial.
11:47So, 16,000 years later,
11:49the question remains quite simple.
11:51Why exactly was the turtle so important to the people who came to this cave?
11:56The reactor started by nature.
12:00Nearly 2 billion years ago,
12:02underground in Africa,
12:04a nuclear reactor started working on its own.
12:06This is not a metaphor or a bold claim.
12:10The same nuclear chain reaction used in nuclear power plants today
12:14was actually happening there.
12:17It was discovered completely by accident in 1972.
12:21French specialists examined uranium ore from the Oklo deposit in Gabon
12:25and noticed something odd.
12:26It contained less of the specific uranium isotope
12:29that serves as fuel for nuclear reactors.
12:31Simply put,
12:32the ore looked as if some of the fuel in it
12:34had already been used at some point.
12:36Testing showed that this is exactly what happened.
12:39Only it wasn't done by humans.
12:41About 2 billion years ago,
12:43the required type of uranium
12:44was far more abundant in nature
12:46than it is today.
12:48In Oklo,
12:49it ended up concentrated in rich enough deposits,
12:52and groundwater was constantly seeping through the rock.
12:55That happened to be enough to trigger a chain reaction.
12:57But the most interesting part is that the reactor was also self-regulating.
13:01As long as there was water between the rocks,
13:04the reaction continued,
13:05and everything around it heated up.
13:07Then the water would boil and evaporate,
13:08and the reaction would stop.
13:10The rock would cool down,
13:11the water would return,
13:12and everything would start up again.
13:13According to calculations,
13:15one such cycle looked something like this.
13:17About half an hour of operation,
13:19and a pause of roughly two and a half hours.
13:21A whole group of these natural reactor zones
13:23was discovered in Oklo.
13:24And this process went on,
13:26not for a few days,
13:27but probably for hundreds of thousands of years.
13:30The physicist Paul Kuroda
13:31had predicted the very possibility
13:33of a natural nuclear reactor back in 1956.
13:36And 16 years later,
13:39they found a place where nature
13:41had already tested this idea in practice,
13:44nearly 2 billion years
13:46before humans even appeared.
13:48Princesses who could fight.
13:50In the tomb of the Egyptian princesses,
13:53archaeologists found bows,
13:54arrows,
13:56maces,
13:56and daggers.
13:57For a long time,
13:58all of this was considered
13:59ordinary grave goods.
14:01Beautiful weapons meant to accompany
14:03the woman into the afterlife.
14:04But when scientists re-examined their bones,
14:07it turned out that some of these princesses
14:09may have actually used these weapons
14:10while they were alive.
14:12We are talking about the mummies
14:14of the pharaoh's daughters,
14:15named Amenemhat II,
14:17who lived about 4,000 years ago.
14:20They were discovered back in the 19th century,
14:22and over a hundred years later,
14:25the remains were rediscovered and studied
14:27in the collection of the Cairo Museum.
14:29The soft tissues were barely preserved,
14:31but the bones revealed much more
14:33than the researchers had expected.
14:34One of the princesses had an upper body
14:36so well developed as if she had spent years
14:39performing the same strenuous arm movements.
14:41Researchers believe that such physical strain
14:43could have been linked to the use of a mace
14:46or a dagger.
14:47In another, they found changes
14:49that closely match habitual archery.
14:52Moreover, old fractures were discovered
14:54on her ribs and foot,
14:56which had managed to heal completely.
14:58This doesn't mean that Egyptian princesses
15:00took to the battlefield alongside the army.
15:02It's simply impossible to prove something like that
15:05from bones alone.
15:06They could have trained, hunted,
15:08or engaged in other heavy physical labor.
15:11But now, the weapons from these tombs
15:13look completely different.
15:15Perhaps these were not merely symbolic objects,
15:18but things that these women
15:20actually knew how to use.
15:21And the image of an Egyptian princess
15:23who spent her entire life
15:25merely sitting in a palace,
15:27surrounded by servants,
15:28becomes noticeably less convincing after that.
15:31A ring with a single word.
15:33On a gold ring about 2,000 years old,
15:36archaeologists found just one single word.
15:39The catch is that the ring was found in Thailand,
15:41yet the word is written
15:43in an ancient Indian script.
15:45Next to it lay a second gold ring
15:46without an inscription,
15:48along with human remains.
15:49And this is roughly how researchers
15:51translate the single word on the first one.
15:54One who protects Pushya.
15:56It might be a wish of good luck,
15:57or maybe it's just the name of the man
15:59who owned the ring.
16:00The very presence of Indian script
16:02on a gold ornament,
16:03found some 130 kilometers from Bangkok,
16:06is an interesting fact in itself.
16:09This is direct evidence
16:10that trade and cultural ties
16:12between South and Southeast Asia
16:14existed about 2,000 years ago,
16:17rather than emerging much later,
16:19as is sometimes believed.
16:20Both rings were found next to each other
16:22on July 2nd, 2026,
16:25at an Iron Age site dating back roughly
16:271,500 to 2,500 years ago.
16:31When gold, bronze, and iron
16:33were just beginning to gain
16:34truly great significance
16:36in the local culture.
16:38Paints that have survived
16:39for thousands of years.
16:41On ancient Egyptian sarcophagi,
16:43you can still see red, yellow, and blue,
16:47looking almost as it did
16:48when it was applied thousands of years ago.
16:51And for a long time,
16:52it seemed that the secret was quite simple.
16:54Good pigments and glue
16:55made from animal tissue.
16:57But when scientists broke down
16:58the composition of the ancient paint,
16:59literally protein by protein,
17:01they found something unexpected inside.
17:03In a new study,
17:04they examined 28 microscopic samples
17:07of paint and glue
17:08from 14 Egyptian artifacts
17:11dating from about 3,400
17:14to 2,000 years ago.
17:16Among the usual components,
17:17there were indeed traces of animal tissue,
17:20bone, and connective fibers.
17:21But alongside them were plant proteins,
17:23including sesame and moringa.
17:25And moringa is particularly interesting here.
17:27This tree was known
17:28to the ancient Egyptians.
17:30But previously,
17:31its proteins hadn't been
17:32directly detected in art materials.
17:34That means some craftsmen,
17:351,000 years ago,
17:37could have added a product of this plant
17:38to the paint or glue
17:39used to coat the sarcophagus.
17:41But there's another curious detail
17:43about moringa.
17:44In Greco-Roman Egypt,
17:45this plant was associated with Pata,
17:47the god of craftsmen and artisans.
17:49That is why researchers concede
17:51that moringa could have been added
17:52not only for its properties,
17:54but also because it held special significance.
17:57Proving this 2,000 years later
17:58is no longer possible.
18:00But the coincidence looks interesting.
18:02It turns out that Egyptian artisans
18:04didn't just mix some pigment
18:06with some glue.
18:06They had their own recipes,
18:08which included rather
18:09unexpected ingredients.
18:11And some of these paints
18:12outlived the artisans themselves
18:13by several thousand years.
18:15Grave robbers.
18:16A tomb where people were buried
18:18for 700 years.
18:20In one Egyptian tomb,
18:22people were buried
18:22for almost 700 years.
18:25New bodies were placed
18:26on top of the old ones
18:27until the small burial chamber
18:29literally turned into
18:30a multi-story cemetery.
18:31And among these burials,
18:33archaeologists found
18:33one very strange detail.
18:35A mummified dog
18:36lying across the feet
18:37of a man and a woman.
18:39We are talking about
18:39Tomb TT-209
18:42near Luxor.
18:43It began to be used
18:44around the 8th century BC.
18:46And the last burials
18:47appeared there back
18:48during the Ptolemaic era.
18:49Researchers counted
18:5016 relatively well-preserved bodies
18:53and the remains
18:54of at least
18:55four more people.
18:56At first,
18:57everything looked pretty neat.
18:58People were buried
18:59individually
18:59in their own coffins.
19:01Personal belongings
19:02were left nearby.
19:03But generations passed
19:04and space grew tighter.
19:05Yet for some reason,
19:06they kept using that tomb.
19:08Eventually,
19:08they started placing
19:09new coffins
19:09right on top
19:10of the old ones.
19:11In several layers,
19:12archaeologists literally
19:13see one burial
19:15over another.
19:16Toward the end
19:16of the tomb's history,
19:17the tomb had become
19:18a full-fledged,
19:20multi-level system.
19:21And somewhere
19:22within this burial tangle,
19:23a dog appeared.
19:24It was placed there
19:25intentionally,
19:26not brought in by chance.
19:27Exactly what it signified
19:28is unknown.
19:29Perhaps the animal
19:30was meant to accompany
19:31the deceased
19:32into the afterlife.
19:33Such concepts
19:34were quite common in Egypt.
19:35The very same burial chamber
19:37was opened again
19:38and again
19:39over the course
19:40of hundreds of years,
19:41adding new deceased
19:43individuals each time.
19:44Why this tomb
19:45remains so important
19:46to people
19:46for tens of generations
19:48we still do not know.
19:51A workshop
19:52that is 9,000 years old.
19:54Several thousand years
19:55before the Bronze Age began,
19:57people in Turkey
19:58had already set aside
19:59a separate room
20:00for working with copper.
20:01Archaeologists found
20:02everything there
20:03all at once.
20:04Raw malachite,
20:05unfinished items,
20:06copper beads,
20:07and production waste.
20:08And this workshop
20:09is about 9,000 years old.
20:12The strangest thing
20:13is that there was
20:14no smelting furnace
20:15there at all.
20:16People didn't know
20:16how to smelt metal yet
20:18like they would later on,
20:19but they had already
20:20been experimenting with it
20:21for quite a long time,
20:22long enough to set up
20:23a dedicated workplace.
20:24The use of copper
20:25and malachite
20:26in Chionu
20:26can be traced
20:27over approximately
20:282,000 years,
20:30meaning working
20:31with this material
20:31had long become
20:32a familiar part
20:33of the craft here
20:34and was passed down
20:35from generation
20:36to generation.
20:36And all of this
20:37was happening
20:38thousands of years
20:39before the emergence
20:40of advanced metallurgy.
20:42Chionu is one of the places
20:43where it's particularly
20:44easy to see
20:45how early people
20:46began experimenting
20:47with new technologies.
20:49Gobekli Tepe
20:50and Navalichori
20:51are located
20:52in the very same region,
20:53sites that also changed
20:55our understanding
20:56of what people
20:57of that era
20:57were capable of.
20:58A snake nearly
20:59seven meters long.
21:01On the rocks
21:01of northern Australia,
21:03archaeologists found
21:04depictions
21:04of the rainbow serpent,
21:06one of which stretches
21:06for nearly seven meters.
21:08It has an open maw
21:09resembling a crocodile's,
21:11a long tongue,
21:12and several rows of teeth.
21:13And the most interesting part,
21:15size isn't even
21:16the main point here.
21:17The rainbow serpent
21:18is one of the most
21:19important figures
21:19in Australian
21:20aboriginal mythology.
21:21It is associated
21:22with water,
21:23the earth,
21:24and the dreamtime.
21:25It was envisioned
21:26differently in various regions.
21:27That is why the drawings
21:28differ greatly
21:29from one another.
21:30Researchers surveyed
21:31165 rock art sites
21:33in Arnhem Land
21:34and they found
21:3529 depictions
21:36of the rainbow serpent
21:37across 21 sites.
21:39The largest of them
21:40appeared relatively late,
21:42judging by the style
21:43of the drawings,
21:43the paint composition,
21:44and the fact
21:45that many depictions
21:46overlap others.
21:47Many date back
21:48to the 19th
21:49and early 20th centuries.
21:52And this is where
21:53the story shifts.
21:54It was precisely
21:55during this time
21:56that European colonization
21:57hit the local peoples
21:59especially hard.
22:00New diseases spread,
22:02traditional connections
22:03between local communities
22:04were being torn apart,
22:05people were losing
22:06the lands where their families
22:07had lived for generations.
22:08Researchers noticed
22:09that right around that time,
22:10mythical figures on the rocks
22:12began to get much larger.
22:13The rainbow serpent
22:14was painted more
22:15and more often
22:15and on a massive scale.
22:17Next came giant humans,
22:19pythons,
22:20crocodiles,
22:21kangaroos,
22:22and even a baleen whale.
22:24Researchers suggest
22:25that during that period,
22:26such massive images
22:27helped people stay connected
22:28to their land
22:29and traditions.
22:30The rainbow serpent
22:31was a vital part
22:32of local lore.
22:33Therefore,
22:34its figure on the rock
22:35could serve as a reminder
22:36that these stories
22:38and customs
22:38hadn't vanished.
22:39Perhaps that is why
22:41during times
22:41of great change,
22:43serpents
22:43and other mythical creatures
22:45around here
22:45began to appear
22:46on such a massive scale.
22:49A treasure found
22:50with a metal detector.
22:52In Buckinghamshire, UK,
22:54Adam McClelland
22:55went out into a field
22:56with a metal detector.
22:58He had the landowner's permission,
23:00but did he expect
23:01to find items there
23:02that might have been used
23:03almost 2,000 years ago
23:05during Roman religious ceremonies?
23:06That's a completely
23:08different question.
23:09Two bronze mounts
23:10with colored enamel,
23:12a glass gaming piece,
23:13a bone die,
23:14and fragments of a bronze rattle
23:17emerged from the ground.
23:18Individually,
23:19some of these items
23:20might not seem that unusual,
23:22but it was the entire set
23:23that caught the experts' attention.
23:25Artifacts of this type
23:26are associated
23:27with Roman religious rituals,
23:29and in Britain,
23:30such finds
23:31are extremely rare.
23:32And at this point,
23:33the story of an ordinary
23:34metal-detecting outing
23:35was no longer
23:36so straightforward.
23:38Archaeologists from Oxford
23:39came to the site
23:39to properly investigate the area
23:41and retrieve anything
23:42that might still be left
23:43in the ground.
23:44The restoration
23:45turned out to be expensive,
23:46but it was paid for
23:48by a private sponsor.
23:49Now the hoard
23:49is set to be displayed
23:50to the public
23:51at the Discover Bucks Museum
23:53in Aylesbury.
23:54Not a bad result
23:55for a guy
23:56who just decided
23:57to walk across a field
23:58with a metal detector.
23:59A two-meter-long turtle.
24:01Paleontologists
24:02from the Brazilian Amazon
24:03came looking
24:04for small fossils,
24:05and they almost walked
24:06right past a shell
24:07over a meter
24:08and a half long.
24:09It was spotted
24:10by Professor Francisco Negri,
24:12who was bringing up
24:13the rear of the group.
24:14The rest of the expedition members
24:16had already moved on
24:17by that point.
24:17Part of a giant
24:18freshwater turtle shell
24:19was sticking out of the rock.
24:21As they began
24:22clearing around the find,
24:24its dimensions
24:24became even more impressive.
24:26The turtle itself
24:27could have reached
24:28roughly two meters in length
24:29during its lifetime.
24:30Most likely,
24:31it's a Stupendimus geographicus,
24:33the largest known
24:34freshwater turtle
24:35that lived in South America
24:37around 8 to 10 million years ago.
24:40And it didn't stop
24:41with just the shell.
24:42Parts of the pelvis
24:43and femur
24:44were also preserved nearby.
24:46If further research
24:47confirms the initial findings,
24:49scientists might be looking
24:50at one of the most
24:51complete specimens
24:52of this giant turtle
24:54ever found in Brazil.
24:55But first,
24:56the fossil had to somehow
24:57be retrieved from the Amazon.
24:59There were only a few days left
25:00before the expedition ended.
25:02And naturally,
25:03no one had brought
25:03the equipment needed
25:04to transport a five-foot shell.
25:07The researchers had to work
25:08with local boatmen
25:09to build a wooden frame
25:11and literally figure out
25:12how to transport it
25:13on the fly.
25:14And that's the beauty
25:15of this find.
25:17A team of 16 people
25:19came here
25:20looking for small fossils.
25:22Almost the entire group
25:24walked right past it.
25:25Only the guy
25:26bringing up the rear
25:27noticed the remains
25:28of one of the largest
25:29freshwater turtles
25:30to have ever roamed the Earth.
25:33A horde with leather cords.
25:36Archaeologists don't find
25:37a 2,000-year-old bronze ornament
25:40every day.
25:41But they still find them.
25:43But the pieces of leather
25:44that have been lying
25:45in the ground with them
25:45all this time
25:46are a completely different story.
25:48That is exactly
25:49what was found
25:50near the village
25:50of Tatarski Sarsaz
25:52in Tatarstan.
25:53Under a layer of stones,
25:55archaeologists uncovered
25:56a horde of women's jewelry.
25:58A bronze breastplate
25:59made of three plates
26:00and decorative shoe fittings.
26:02Moreover,
26:02some of them still had
26:03leather laces attached.
26:06And this is important
26:07not because the laces
26:08themselves look impressive.
26:09It's just that metal
26:10can survive in the ground
26:11for thousands of years
26:12whereas leather
26:13usually disappears
26:14much sooner.
26:15Here, both parts
26:16were preserved together.
26:17The bronze ornament
26:18and the material
26:19once used to fasten them.
26:20Based on the set of items,
26:22researchers suggest
26:23they might be looking
26:23at an almost complete
26:25female costume
26:26that existed
26:27around the 2nd century B.C.
26:29to the 3rd century A.D.
26:31In similar hordes
26:32from this region,
26:33items made in the Roman Empire
26:35are sometimes found.
26:37Similar hordes
26:37have already been found
26:38in this region.
26:39One of the most famous
26:40was discovered
26:41back in 1913.
26:43Moreover,
26:44among such finds,
26:45items from the Roman Empire
26:46are sometimes discovered.
26:47A good example
26:48of how far individual objects
26:50could travel
26:50nearly 2,000 years ago.
26:53And archaeologists
26:53have only just begun
26:54to study the settlement itself.
26:56More extensive excavations
26:58are already planned here
26:59for 2027.
27:01So, bronze pectorals
27:03and leather laces
27:04might be far
27:05from the last things
27:06pulled from beneath the rocks.
27:08A calendar
27:096,500 years old.
27:116,500 years ago,
27:14people built
27:14a massive circle
27:15in the heart
27:16of modern Europe
27:17whose gates
27:18were aligned
27:19with the sun
27:20and the moon.
27:20One of the lines
27:21aligned with the solstice
27:23and the other
27:23with a lunar cycle
27:24repeating every
27:2518.6 years.
27:27And roughly
27:282,000 years later,
27:30for some reason,
27:31at least 15 people
27:32were buried
27:33inside that very
27:34same place.
27:35The structure
27:36was discovered
27:36near the Czech village
27:37of Chilebi.
27:38It was truly massive.
27:40A ditch
27:40about 2.5 meters deep
27:42surrounded an area
27:44up to 250 meters
27:46in diameter.
27:47Behind it
27:47stood a wooden palisade
27:48with 12 gates
27:50leading inside.
27:51When researchers
27:53studied their layout,
27:54it became clear
27:55that it was definitely
27:56not random.
27:57One line pointed
27:58to the sunrise
27:58and sunset
27:59during the summer
28:00and winter solstices.
28:01The second one
28:02was linked
28:02to a major lunar
28:03standstill,
28:04the moment
28:05when the moon's
28:05position reaches
28:06the extreme points
28:07of its cycle.
28:08This happens
28:09about once every
28:1018.6 years.
28:12That is,
28:13the builders
28:13didn't just observe
28:14where the sun
28:15appeared in the morning.
28:16To notice a lunar
28:17cycle like that,
28:18one had to watch
28:18the sky for years
28:19and perhaps pass
28:21these observations down
28:22from one generation
28:23to the next.
28:24Near the gate,
28:24archaeologists found
28:25skulls and large cow horns.
28:27Researchers suggest
28:28that they could once
28:29have been mounted
28:29directly to the wooden
28:30passageways,
28:31so people were
28:32entering the circle
28:33beneath actual
28:34skulls and horns.
28:35And all of this
28:36took place in a structure
28:37that was simultaneously
28:38tied to observations
28:40of the sun and the moon.
28:41And similar structures
28:42are already known
28:43across central Europe.
28:44For instance,
28:45the famous Goseck circle
28:46in Germany.
28:47It is also aligned
28:48with the solstice
28:49and is even older
28:50than the Czech complex.
28:51It was an essential
28:52part of life
28:52for the early farming
28:53societies long before
28:55Stonehenge ever appeared.
28:56But Kleby had yet
28:58another surprise in store.
28:59Inside,
29:00archaeologists unearthed
29:01the remains of at least
29:0115 individuals.
29:03The strangest thing
29:04is that they were buried
29:05here about 2,000 years
29:07after the circle was built.
29:09For those who arranged
29:10this burial,
29:11the structure was already
29:13ancient.
29:14They were separated
29:14from its original builders
29:16by about as much time
29:17as separates us today
29:18from the Roman Empire.
29:20Why,
29:21after so many centuries,
29:22did people return
29:23to this exact spot?
29:24And why they decided
29:25to bury so many people
29:27here at once
29:27is still unknown.
29:28The tablet is older
29:31than Sumerian writing.
29:33This ancient tablet
29:34was found in Greece
29:35back in 1993.
29:38Strange symbols
29:39were carved on it.
29:39And when the wood
29:40was dated,
29:41it turned out
29:42to be around
29:425,260 BC.
29:45And that's where
29:46the problem arose.
29:47There were still
29:48about 2,000 years
29:50to go
29:50before the first
29:52generally recognized
29:53texts
29:53from Mesopotamia.
29:55The tablet was discovered
29:56near late Castoria
29:57at the site
29:57of the Dispilio
29:58Neolithic Settlement.
29:59The settlement itself
30:00had been known
30:01since the 1930s
30:02when the lake's
30:03water level
30:04dropped significantly
30:05and the remains
30:06of ancient structures
30:07appeared on the shore.
30:08But it was a small
30:08piece of wood
30:09with signs on it
30:10that became the site's
30:11most controversial find.
30:13And in 2024,
30:15the story gained
30:16another very interesting date.
30:18In the wood
30:19from Dispilio,
30:20researchers found traces
30:21of a cosmic radiation burst
30:23that occurred in
30:245,259 BC.
30:27Such bursts
30:28leave a mark
30:28in the tree rings,
30:29almost like a barcode
30:31with a specific year.
30:32Only one thing matters.
30:34This doesn't mean
30:35the tablet itself
30:36has now been dated
30:37to the exact year,
30:38but it made it clear
30:39that the settlement
30:39really did exist here
30:41more than 7,000 years ago.
30:43But the main question
30:44remains the same.
30:45What exactly
30:46is written on the tablet?
30:47And here,
30:47it's best not to rush
30:48to conclusions.
30:49The symbols
30:50are still undeciphered,
30:52and most researchers
30:53don't consider it
30:54a full-fledged
30:55writing system.
30:55A more cautious term
30:56is proto-writing.
30:58That is,
30:58the symbols
30:59could have denoted
30:59the quantity of things,
31:00names,
31:01property,
31:02or some other information.
31:03But we don't yet know
31:04if they conveyed
31:05actual speech.
31:06Moreover,
31:07the tablet isn't
31:08entirely an isolated find.
31:10Similar symbols
31:11have also been found
31:11on ceramics
31:12from this region.
31:13So we can't just dismiss it
31:14as accidental scratches either,
31:16at least for now.
31:17Dispilio doesn't deprive
31:18the Sumerians
31:19of their status
31:20as the creators
31:20of the oldest known
31:21writing system.
31:22But the tablet reveals
31:24something no less interesting.
31:262,000 years before
31:27the Sumerian texts,
31:28people in Europe
31:29were already carving
31:30repeating symbols,
31:31the meaning of which
31:32we still can't understand.
31:34And if a longer inscription
31:35is ever found,
31:36or that very key
31:37to deciphering it,
31:38we will have to return
31:40to this small wooden tablet
31:41once again.
31:42Which discoveries
31:43surprised you the most?
31:45And if you like this video,
31:46leave a like
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