5 of History’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries
The world is full of mysteries. The following five cases demonstrate not only the impossible beauty of the planet and human creativity but also the importance pausing to recognize both.
1.Stonehenge
This circular, prehistoric stone formation stands in Wiltshire, England on the Salisbury Plain and is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the origins for this Bronze Age megalith monument remain unclear. Carbon-dating and related methods point to construction somewhere between 3000 and 2000 BC. With each block weighing several tons, it is unclear how and why people moved these boulders, especially the bluestones of the inner circle. Unlike the sandstone slabs of the outer ring, which comes from local quarries, the bluestones came 200 miles from Wales.
Who Built Stonehenge?
There are probably hundreds of myths and legends about Stonehenge. Various people have attributed the building of this great megalith to the Danes, Romans, Saxons, Greeks, Atlanteans, Egyptians, Phoenicians Celts, King Aurelius Ambrosious, Merlin, and even Aliens. The Stonehenge Riverside Project found that Stonehenge was built in two phases. The first – a ditch, bank and circle of bluestones – was built 500 years earlier than previously thought, more than 4,500 years ago. The second phase, when the larger, iconic outer circle was erected, came about 500 years after the first. But no one has a conclussive answer as to who built Stonehenge.
What was Stonehenge used for?
Over the years of research regarding Stonehenge there have been several different theories put forward as to why Stonehenge was built. The three most plausible seem to be:
1. A Sacred Burial Site
2. A Site for Celestial or Astronomical Alignments
3. A Place for Healing
Historically popular opinion was that it was used as a Druid temple, however more modern understanding recognises that Stonehenge pre-dated the Druids by some 2,000 years. However the legacy lives on - thousands of modern day druids and people of alternative religions visit Stonehenge every year, particularly around the solstices and equinoxes.
Historical source: Link 1, Link 2
2. The Voynich Manuscript
This remarkable illustrated codex was discovered by Polish book dealer Wilfried M. Voynich, who discovered it in an Italian monastery in 1912. The Voynich Manuscript is generally considered the world’s most mysterious tome due to its hand-written, coded text. Linguists, cryptographers, and others have closely scrutinized its language but only come to the conclusion that it has an organized, consistent script potentially related to East and Central Asian families.
(Its pages are also filled with colorful drawings of strange diagrams, odd events and plants that do not seem to match any known species, adding to the intrigue of the document and the difficulty of deciphering it. The original author of the manuscript remains unknown, but carbon dating has revealed that its pages were made sometime between 1404 and 1438. It has been called "the world's most mysterious manuscript." One thing most theorists agree on is that the book is unlikely to be a hoax, given the amount of time, money and detail that would have been required to make it.
For a closer look, head over to Yale University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library: The Voynich Manuscript
Historical source: Link
3. The Piri Reis Map
This important map of the world was accidentally discovered in 1929 inside of a bundle of disregarded materials at a Turkish museum. The Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis had crafted the map in 1513 based on military intelligence, charts, and other world maps. These remarkably included Columbus’ otherwise lost maps and various sources from the Library of Alexandria. Only around one-third of this gazelle-skin parchment survives today, with portions of Europe, North Africa, Brazil, and various island countries.
There are numerous legends about the peculiar precision of the Piri Reis Map, in particular, the map appears to show Antarctica almost 300 years before it was discovered. Not only does it show Antarctica, but the continent is drawn as a land mass as it would have appeared before it was covered with its ice cap over 6,000 years ago. How could these early map makers have known about the continent? Mysteries asides this fascinating world map demonstrates the exploration of the New World at the time, and you can view it today at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey.
Historical source: Link
More info: Link
4.Mystery of Egyptian Mummies
In the surveys on the mummies of Egypt; scientists were astonished by the traces of cocaine and nicotine in the hair of the mummies, in their bones and in their skins. Because cocaine and nicotine are derived only from coca and tobacco plants that are unique to the American continent.
The fact that these plants we have only been aware of since their discovery of America in the 1400s. But these plants had been used by pharaohs who lived 2,000 years ago.
Documantery: Video Link
5. Aluminum Wedge of Aiud
In a similarly specious mystery, Romanian workers at a construction site the city of Aiud in 1974 made an incredible discovery. Around 35 feet down into a sand trench, they found a pair of mastodon bones dating back around 11,000 years. They also found an even odder object – a 4-pound wedge-shaped piece of aluminum that could not have been crafted before 1825. This was the year that metallic aluminum was basically invented, and yet there sat an aluminum wedge beside ancient mastodon bones from much farther back.
Many lay people assumed the metal was part of alien landing gear or the remnant of a time traveler’s hasty retreat. Although there is room for speculation, the Aiud wedge sees far more likely to be a piece of a modern excavator bucket or similar tool that was lost in the sand in recent times.
Source: Link
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