Top 10 Scary Ancient Secrets

These are the top ten scary ancient secrets that 99%  of people don't know about.

Let's learn about these:

Number 10

The Altamura cave man

When researchers were exploring the cave of  Lamalunga beneath the Italian town of Altamira. They were hoping to learn more about how the cave had been formed and it's history as they gazed around the limestone walls. 

Their flashlights crossed a peculiar formation. It wasn't something normally formed in a cave, but appeared to be a limestone nonetheless clamoring over to investigate. These researchers soon realize that, they were looking at no stone no stalactite or gmite, but a skull.

 Indeed this skull was ribbed with stony formations, the years of limestone dripping onto its face allowing it to have the appearance of the surrounding walls. The body was investigated by more researchers and discovered to be a Neanderthal. The skeleton perfectly preserved by the cave’s stagnant environment. How many visitors had visited this cave without knowing what secrets it held?

 

 Number 9

 Hubel Caves

 

 We haven't crawled out of these caves yet as our next stop on this ancient tour is Hubei, a province in China. When archaeologists explored a remote area near the Three Gorges Dam, they found a series of strange holes cut into a sheer wall of stone. Each hole was roughly cut rectangular and fairly deep. There's also the detail of the coffins that we're sticking out of them. Yes, it seems that whoever built this ancient site did so with the intention of burying their dead inside of it. 

This correlates with theories of the time about how it was considered dangerous for people to bury their dead in the ground for fear of animals stealing grandma for dinner. As a result, these coffins were designed to prevent animals from getting an easy meal. 

It's unknown exactly how the coffins were carried to their location. Carbon dating reveals that these burials were likely carried out by the BO people, an ancient Chinese ethnic minority, which was present during the Tang Dynasty.

Number 8

The Gaelic Tree Mystery

 In 2015 harsh winds were responsible for uprooting a 200 years old tree and a thousand years old mystery. Located in Ireland, farmers were recovering from a recent windstorm when they went in to inspect the damages. It was likely a sobering sight to see a tree they might have known as the source of comfort or location for friendly picnicking violently uprooted been slaughtered by the wind. What was then, more immediately sobering was the skeleton found tangled in its roots.

Hiring archaeologists, it was quickly revealed that the remains were of a young Gaelic man roughly 1000 years old.

Despite his skeletal disposition, clear evidence of knife wounds were visible on his ribs and hand, whether buried by his family or his murderer. None can say. And the case remains open to this day.

 

Number 7

The Jigsaw Mummies

We are taking a much shorter trip around the world to Scotland specifically South East. This discovery honestly ought to be a fairly standard affair. Mummies and mummification have been widespread for an extremely long time. In general, mummies are mostly made through the dehydration of a corpse’s flesh, which allows them to retain some of their appearance that they had in life.

That bandages are not required. As a result, there are actually hundreds of mummy's around the world as depending on the environment of their burial. They could just accidentally and up that way. Egypt was the most famous for there's because they were the first to dehydrate corpses on purpose, which is now wrong. Thanks to this discovery. As the mummies were investigated, it was revealed that they were deliberately mummified. Not only that, but more disturbingly, they weren't all the same. Analyzing the strange make up of their body structure lead researchers to realize that the mummies were actually constructed from multiple different bodies, each one using different parts.

Number 6

 The Hands of Egypt

On the topic of Egypt which we briefly were another secret was uncovered in the City of Avarice, undertaking the excavation of the ancient and ominously named city.

Researchers discovered several pits in front of the palace filled with 16 human hands. More interestingly every single hand was a right hand. The reason for this is attributed to that hand having cultural significance within ancient Egyptian culture, where the removal of a hand from an enemy combatant would allow a soldier to prove their victory.

They could then exchange the hand for gold. Whether or not the disarmed opponent was dead or alive was apparently left up to the victor as lacking their left hand would forever prevent them from participating in conflicts ever again. And mark them as a failure.

Number  5

The Leper Warriors

Found within an ancient Italian cemetery the bones of a warrior revealed a startling reality of the ancient military orders of the time. Prior to the establishment of cities of cities within the region nomadic peoples found themselves and constant conflict that mixed with the issue of leprosy and the lack of medical capabilities to treat.

It led to drastic solutions which hoped to solve the issue not by curing leprosy, but by ensuring its victims could go out swinging employing lepers as warriors. These soldiers raged their way through the battlefield. The idea of hesitation in out of style instinct when their life was already in the hands of God. One corpse from Campochiaro even showed evidence of having survived a direct strike to the skull from an opponent's mace and the after effects of ancient attempt at brain surgery. Pretty sick, if you ask me.

Number 4

Monk In A Statue

Well this image may have made its way around the internet the story behind it certainly has not. When a traitor of ancient Chinese relics sent his newly acquired golden statue of a sitting Buddha to an expert in order to restore it to its original splendor, they were shocked to discover that the statue contained a mummified corpse. 

When unwrapping this terrible gift, the name of the corpse was found to have been written on a bundle of cloth, dubbing the man as the Monk, Liquan. This gave evidence to theories of how the process of self-mummification rose to popularity, with a living person would slowly poison themselves to make their body too toxic for even maggots to eat. 

Any one who completed the ritual would be revered and warships, their body encased in gold. So then, how many more of these statues might be needing a little X-ray?

Number 3

 Vampire Burials

When digging up a mass grave and Venice, of which there are probably thousands. One corpse stood out as slightly unusual to archaeologists. Buried with a massive chunk of stone in her mouth. The corpse was confirmed to have been buried around the time of the bubonic plague.

 Since handling corpses would have been extremely stupid out the time, scientists decided to run a little investigation into the matter. Their results concluded that whoever had buried the woman believed that she might have been a vampire and place the stone in her mouth to prevent her from snacking on plague victims. This is similar to the polish vampire burials that were also recently uncovered, where a woman was buried with a modified sickle placed around her neck .That so metal.

 

Number 2

 Persian Chemical Warfare

When 19 Roman soldiers storm the Persian tunnel what they were met with that would change the world forever in about 2000 years. A wall of smoke enveloped melting their lung. Their bodies would be found years later, desperately clawing at their armor. 

What this is attributed to is an ancient chemical weapon constructed from sulfur and bitumen being thrown into a fire. The smoke was then directed up the into the tunnels where it would turn into acid, once breathed in by anyone who contacted it. A starkly brutal weapon and a reminder of the horrors of war.

Number 1

 Incorruptibility

This strange practices general lee held as a strong belief by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox denominations of Catholicism. The idea is that if a corpse is seen as incorruptible they must be a saint. And the process of making a saint requires examination and bureaucracy. If judged well, the body is sealed in wax and put on display or worshippers will gather around to view the holy figure.

 This practice has largely ceased in the modern era, but the bodies of saints are still on display to this day. Their forms freely available for all to see. It's kind of weird.

 

 

THE END