US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — I must say, among the rubbish of our time, scientists sometimes find really curious objects, but more often than not, such finds raise more questions than answers. To understand the indestructible passion of archaeologists for the endless race for the past of mankind, you yourself need to go to the excavations and spend many hours working with a shovel in the hope of making an archaeological sensation …
1. “The Candelabrum of Paracas”
Many of you probably heard about the Nazca geoglyphs – huge rock paintings located in the southern part of Peru, but few people know that in the same Nazca desert, about 200 km from the geoglyphs, there is another mysterious object, over the destination of which they have been breaking for many years heads of archaeologists.
The Paracas Candelabrum (or Andean Candelabrum) is huge: 128 m long and 74 wide, and the thickness of the lines reaches 4 m. Despite the fact that it is located near the Nazca lines, experts are convinced that the creators of geoglyphs do not have no relation to him. The artifacts found during excavations in the Candelabra area suggest that the image was created around 200 BC, according to some reports, the Nazca geoglyphs appeared 600-800 years later. The similarity of the image technique hints that the Nazca culture is the successor to the Paracas culture, which owns the Candelabrum.
Scientists more or less understand when the “Andean Candelabrum” appeared and who created it, but the goals of ancient artists are still unclear. Some archaeologists are convinced that the object is a shrine to the creator god Viracocha, who was worshiped by the local tribes, while others believe that the image served as a guide for ancient sailors – a huge “chandelier” is carved on a hillside, making it clearly visible from the ocean distances of about 20 km.
2. “Uffington White Horse”
Stonehenge is not the only archaeological site of good old England, although when it comes to the antiquities of Misty Albion, they always remember it in the first place.
The ancient sculptors had to work hard over a giant stylized horse figure, located near the town of Uffington, in the modern county of Oxfordshire – the lines of the picture are deep trenches filled with shredded chalk, while the image is up to 115 m long. Imagine the efforts of the creators of the “Horse” ”It was worth decorating the hill with such an installation, because they did not have excavators, bulldozers or other technical devices that modern builders can boast of.
The drawing is similar to the images of horses found on coins of the Bronze Age, next to it, archaeologists have discovered burial sites, presumably appeared in the Neolithic era. Scientists cannot yet agree on the time of the creation of the White Horse – many of them claim that the geoglyph is too well preserved for the object of the Bronze Age, but others indicate that local residents have carefully monitored the state of the Horse since ancient times. and every few years they “update” the drawing – this explains its almost original appearance.
3. “The book of the Zagreb mummy”
The Zagreb Flax Book is known as the longest text in Etruscan from the written monuments of this great culture that have survived to our time. The Etruscan dialect had a significant impact on the formation of Latin, but unfortunately, there are currently no related Etruscan languages, in addition, so few documents of that era have reached us that it is not possible to completely decipher the text of the “Book” – scientists managed to translate only a few its fragments. From the currently known contents of the Book of the Zagreb Mummy (another name for the artifact), we can conclude that the document is a ritual calendar that describes the subtleties of the Etruscan religious traditions.
The book is dated to the 3rd century BC, therefore the fact of its existence is unique – manuscripts made of fabric, ruthless Time, as a rule, destroys it much earlier. One of the reasons why the monument of Etruscan culture is now available for study is considered to be that the material of the book was used to wrap one of the Egyptian mummies . The Zagreb Flax Book was discovered on a mummy in a tomb near Alexandria in the mid-19th century, however, scientists for a long time did not pay attention to it, believing that the mysterious writing on the cloth was made by the Egyptian.
4. “The Rock of the White Shaman”
Archaeologists and historians have been studying artifacts of the peoples of North and South America for many decades, but still the culture of the pre-Columbian period of American history remains largely a mystery to specialists.
The “White Shaman Rock”, located near the Pekos River in the territory of the modern state of Texas, is ranked among the most famous and at the same time – the most mysterious monuments of that era. According to scientists, a huge (about 7 m in length) drawing appeared more than 4 thousand years ago and belongs to an ancient culture, about which almost nothing is known now. Some archaeologists are convinced that the art object depicts a scene of a battle or some kind of martial ritual; there is also an opinion that the artist showed the moment of communication of the ancients with spirits through mescaline, a psychotropic substance contained in a peyote cactus.
5. Geoglyphs of Sayama Mountain
The cave paintings located in Bolivia, on one of the slopes of Mount Sayama, remind us of the Nazca and Andean Candelabra geoglyphs using the creation technique – they are also carved in solid rock, while Bolivian drawings are much larger than Peruvian ones – the images cover an area of about 7.5 thousand m² (15 times more than the Nazca geoglyphs), the length of some lines that make up the Sayama objects is about 18 km.
With such an outstanding size, the geoglyphs of Mount Sayama have not yet been practically studied – the true scale of the work done by ancient artists became known relatively recently, when archaeologists had the opportunity to use satellite imagery in their studies. Amazing accuracy and accuracy of the lines of the picture put the experts at a standstill – as if they were drawn on a ruler. The purpose of the image also remains unclear, according to some assumptions, the ancient inhabitants of Bolivia made astronomical calculations with their help, in addition, the drawing can be a form of ritual burial.
6. Artifacts of Terteria
Three stone tablets found by scientists in the vicinity of the Romanian village of Terteria contain symbols that are currently the oldest written speech on the planet.
Scientists initially suggested that the Terteria tablets date back to the third millennium BC, but a more thorough radiocarbon analysis revealed that the artifacts are much older. Now most archaeologists agree that the tablets were created about 7.5 thousand years ago, long before the Sumerian script, which was previously considered the oldest in the world. Most likely, the finds of Romanian archaeologists belong to the pre-Indo-European Vinca culture, which was common in the territory of modern Southeastern Europe in the Neolithic era, since the symbols on the tablets are very similar to the pictograms depicted on the remains of the ancient Vinca found in the year 1875 ceramics.
7. Blythe figures
This archaeological site, located in southern California in the Colorado desert, near the city of Blythe, is a giant geometric shapes, as well as images of animals and people . The length of the largest figure is about 50 m, while until 1932, specialists had no idea about the size of the “installation”, its size was only determined using aerial photography.
Archaeologists cannot agree on the age of geoglyphs – numbers from 450 to 2 thousand years are called, it is also unclear what exactly is shown in the figures. According to one of the most common versions, huge figures were created by the ancestors of the Mojave and Queens, currently living in the lower reaches of the Colorado River. According to the traditions of the indigenous inhabitants of this region, in the form of human figures, the artists depicted various forms of the god Mastambo, the Creator of All That Is, and the animals they painted are nothing more than the Hatakuli beast man who was directly involved in creating the world.
8. The death of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great is one of the most famous historical characters. Thousands of scientific and fiction books and hundreds of films are devoted to the life of the great commander, but practically nothing is known about the causes of his death.
Most historians agree with the point of view accepted in orthodox scientific circles on the time and place of Alexander’s death – June 10, 323 BC, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon, but what killed the most ambitious conqueror in history is a convincing answer to this question still not.
For a long time it was believed that Alexander was poisoned, and almost all members of his entourage visited the suspects – from military leaders to the lovers of an outstanding historical figure. The version of poisoning is based on the testimonies of contemporaries claiming that invincible Alexander was suddenly struck by an unknown ailment, spent about two weeks suffering from severe pain in his stomach, and then died suddenly. This information cannot be considered conclusive evidence of the poisoning of the commander, since such symptoms may indicate pancreatitis, viral hepatitis, endocarditis or any infectious disease such as typhoid fever or malaria. At the then level of development of medicine, any of these diseases could become fatal for Alexander.
Surprisingly, the death of Alexander was predicted by the Chaldeans living in Babylon – they warned the commander that he would die soon after entering Babylon, in addition, Calanus, one of the scientists who accompanied the army of the conqueror, dying, told Alexander that when he the army will capture Babylon, they will meet again. So do not believe the predictors after that.
9. Jamaican minaret
The Jamaican minaret located in the northwestern part of Afghanistan was erected at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, however, its perfect design, stunning decor and craftsmanship of medieval Afghan builders are still amazed at all who happened to see this burnt brick architectural masterpiece .
The height of the minaret is about 60 m, according to one of the inscriptions on its walls, the structure was built in 1194 in honor of the victory of the Sultan Giyaz al-Din over the army of the ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty, but many experts question this information. According to one version, the minaret is all that remains of the city of Firuzkuh (which means “Turquoise Mountain”), which during the heyday of the Gourdian dynasty was the capital of the empire, covering the territories of modern Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the armed forces of the Mongol Empire, under the command of the notorious Genghis Khan, wiped the city from the face of the earth, but they somehow overlooked the tall minaret. Due to this inattention of the Mongols, as well as the fact that no one remembered the building for almost 700 years after the invasion of Genghis Khan, the architectural monument is perfectly preserved, but at present it is not possible to conduct comprehensive studies of the building due to the unstable socio-political situation in Afghanistan.
10. The Emerald Tablet
Unlike other archaeological phenomena of the collection, the Emerald Tablet has not survived to our time, so scientists do not know who was the author of the original of this document, what it was intended for and what fate befell a monument of medieval oriental art.
The only thing that is known for sure about the Emerald Tablet is that it was first mentioned in an Arabic book dated to the VIth or VIIIth centuries of our era. In some early copies of the “Tablet” made by Arabic translators, there is evidence that the original was written in the ancient Syriac language, but experts have no evidence of this. The earliest Latin translation of the tablet dates back to the XVIIth centuries, later several more versions of the text were created, the authorship of one of them belongs to the famous scientist, Sir Isaac Newton.
According to some scholars, the Emerald Tablet describes the technology for converting various metals to gold using the mythical substance known as the philosopher’s stone, but so far no one has been able to conduct this alchemical experiment – probably the Latin and Arabic translations of the original “instruction” are not too accurate.
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