From the first computer to ancient manuscripts, fields of jars, and carvings of landscapes made hundreds of years ago, these are the things that experts still don’t understand.
Antikythera mechanism
The Antikythera mechanism (fragment A – front and rear); visible is as the largest gear in the mechanism, approximately 13 centimeters (5.1 in) in diameter. © Public Domain
The Antikythera mechanism, which is 2,000 years old and was found in an ancient Greek shipwreck, has been called the first computer. It used a wind-up dial system to track the time of the Sun, Moon, and five planets, as well as a calendar, the period of the Moon, and when eclipses would happen.
People thought it must have come from aliens because it was more advanced than any other tool that would be made for the next 1,000 years. Even though most researchers don’t agree with that theory, they still don’t know how the Greeks made something so much better than we’ve ever seen from that time.
Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich Manuscript is a document that is notable for its strange text, which to date hasn’t been decyphered. Theories range from a secret language or code to an old sort of joke or hoax. © Public Domain
The Voynich Manuscript was authored in Central Europe 600 years ago, but scholars still don’t know what it says or what language it’s in because it’s the only example of its looped alphabet they know of. Every year, students come up with new translations, but none of them have stuck so far.
Recently, artificial intelligence suggested that the words are Hebrew written in code, but that study could only match 80% of the words to Hebrew and still couldn’t make sentences that made sense. Carbon dating has shown that the Voynich Manuscript is from the 1400s. It has drawings of plants that don’t look like any known species.
Plain of Jars
Plain of Jars-Site 1-The biggest jar. © Wikimedia Commons
The Plain of Jars is a Laos field surrounded by mountains. No one knows why the huge stone jars, some of which are almost ten feet tall, were put there 2,500 years ago. Since there were human bones nearby, it’s possible that the jars were used to bury people or hold decaying bodies before they were burned or moved on to another portion of the funeral process.
Locals, on the other hand, say that the vessels held whiskey for a giant from legend or rice wine to celebrate how giants helped them beat their enemies. There are still unexploded U.S. bombs in the area from the Vietnam War, so only 7 of the 60 Plain of Jars locations are open to the public. From the first computer to ancient manuscripts, fields of jars, and carvings of landscapes made hundreds of years ago, these are the things that experts still don’t understand.
Roman Dodecahedrons
Dodecahedron, 1st–4th century, bronze, Hunt Museum, Limerick, Ireland. © Wikimedia Commons
Their name comes from the fact that they have 12 sides, but experts can only agree on their shape. The Roman dodecahedrons were made between 100 and 300 AD out of bronze or stone and had a hole in the middle. Some people think the 12 sides were related to the 12 zodiac signs. Other people think the objects were weapons, toys, or religious symbols.
Nazca Lines
Birds eye view of the Nazca Lines ©️ Wikipedia
Between 1 AD and 700 AD, the Nazca people of Peru cut 12 to 15 inches into rust-colored rock, revealing lighter-colored rock in deeper layers. The result was huge pictures of animals, plants, people, and geometric shapes carved into the ground. These pictures are best seen from an airplane.
Some crazy theories say that the carvings are evidence of aliens or ancient astronauts, but researchers can’t agree on more reasonable theories. Early researchers thought the Nazca Lines were about astronomy, but more recent theories say they were used to ask the gods for rain.
Paracas Candelabra
Paracas Candelabra – Ica, Peru. © Wikimedia Commons
Paracas Candelabra of the Andes, carved into a hill of hardened sand in Peru, is similar to the Nazca Lines but has its mysteries. The 600-foot-long piece of art was made around 200 BC, but no one knows what it means, even though its name suggests it is a candelabra.
Some say it was made to honor the Incan god of creation, Viracocha. Others, on the other hand, think it looked like the drug jimson weed and would attract people who took it. From the first computer to ancient manuscripts, fields of jars, and carvings of landscapes made hundreds of years ago, these are the things that experts still don’t understand.
Thonis-Heracleion
Before bringing it to the surface, archaeologists Franck Goddio and his team inspect the colossal red granite statue of a pharaoh of over 5 meters in height, weighing 5.5 tons, and shattered into 5 fragments. It was found close to the great temple of sunken Heracleion.© Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, photo: Christoph Gerigk
About 2,700 years ago, the Egyptian city of Thonis-Heracleion was the gateway to the Mediterranean, but the city’s center was lost to time for thousands of years. A group of divers didn’t find some ancient artifacts until the early 2000s.
They eventually discovered that a whole city was buried underwater near the coast of Egypt, complete with bridges, 16-foot statues, animal mausoleums, and other ancient wonders. Archaeologists don’t know how a whole city got into the Mediterranean Sea.
Linear A
Linear A. Ink-written inscriptions around the inner surface of a cup. © Wikimedia Commons
Linear A and Linear B, two different but similar writing styles, have been found on old Minoan artifacts, but researchers are still not sure what Linear A means. Linear B is based on Greek, and it was broken in 1952. Instead of letters, it shows syllables. Still, this information hasn’t helped us figure out how to read Linear A, which was used from 1800 BC to 1450 BC.
Dogū
Dogū, Ebisuda site in Tajiri, Miyagi Prefecture, 1000–400 BC. © Wikimedia Commons
The dog is a clay figure that looks like a cross between people and animals. They were made during Japan’s Neolithic Jomon period. Archaeologists have found about 18,000 of them between 2,300 and 10,000 years old, but they still don’t know what they were used for.
Some people think everyday things were used as toys, while others think they could have been signs of fertility. From the first computer to ancient manuscripts, fields of jars, and carvings of landscapes made hundreds of years ago, these are the things that experts still don’t understand.
Sacsayhuaman
A section of the wall of Sacsayhuamán. © Wikimedia Commons
The Incan stone building in Cusco, Peru, raises many questions. At first, it was thought to be a fort, but later, evidence showed that it was used for ceremonies. No matter what it was used for, Sacsayhuaman’s architecture is amazing. Its stones fit together so well that they stay in place even without mortar.
Even though they fit together well, they are not all the same shape. This suggests that the workers may have made up the design as they went along. Sacsayhuaman is an ancient mystery because it was hard to move the stones, which might weigh more than 100 tons each.
