TR Robertson — The history of humans and all the cultures and civilizations that have appeared and disappeared is fascinating to study and read about, especially those that we know little about. Within this history lies many creations, inventions and developments that still mystify scholars today. Part II will present more of the puzzles still awaiting answers.
Voynich Manuscript of Central Europe – This undeciphered text and drawings is said to have appeared in the 15th or 16th century. It contains botanical, figurative, and scientific drawings written in a language still unknown. The text is named after a bookseller who received the manuscript in 1912, Wilfrid M. Voynich, and made the work known to the public.
Khatt Shebib in Jordan – This unusual ancient wall is ninety-three miles long, never had a height of more that 3-4 feet and was built between the Nabataean and Umayyad period, but beyond this who built the wall, and the purpose of the wall is still unknown.
Aluminum Wedge of Aiud in Romania – This 5 lb. wedge of 89% aluminum was found with the bones of an 11,000-year-old Mastodon. Aluminum was not produced until the 1800’s and aluminum is not found in nature. The bones and the wedge were found buried thirty-three feet underground. How it got there and what the purpose was is unknown.
Clava Cains of Scotland – These are well preserved Bronze Age graves, rings and standing stones some 4,000 old, which have mysterious cup marks and indentations chiseled into the surface of the stones. The purpose and meaning of these markings and indentations is unknown.
Baghdad Battery – This unusual invention is over 2,000 years old. It consists of a 6-inch pot with a copper cylinder sealed with asphalt. There was a dozen of them made and they can produce 1-2 volts of electricity and the purpose of the inventions and who built them is unknown. There are also carvings on Egyptian ruins of similar objects that date to over 3,000 years old.
Rongorongo Writing of Easter Island – The remote island in the Pacific has 2 dozen objects with a unique undeciphered descriptions written on the wooden objects. The time period the objects were carved is not known and the meaning of the writing and purpose of the objects is not known.
Bimini road off the coast of Bimini Island – This unusual formation is either a 700-meter-long carved roadway, underwater, or a very unusual natural formation. There is no answer to the question of who might have made the roadway or if there was a civilization that might have existed and been destroyed by some natural occurrence or if this is just another of nature’s unique natural formations deep in the ocean.
Yonaguni Ruins of Japan – Another unique formation that might be natural or manmade, off the coast of the island of Yonaguni, Japan. These are over five stories high and form a stair stepped pyramid. There is no knowledge of the origin or who could have built the structures and why. The area is called an Underwater Machu Picchu. Studies are still underway to establish if they are natural formations or manmade.
Amazon Rainforest Geoglyphs – There are over 450 circular geoglyphs, over 3-3,500 years old, deep in the Amazon Rainforest. They cover a 13,000 square kilometer area. Their meaning, who built and carved them and why is unknown.
Carroll A. Deering Ghost Ship – This 5 masted schooner was discovered at sea, off the North Carolina coast, in 1921 with the 10-person crew missing, fully stocked with food in the galley, a logbook missing as well as personal belongings and navigational devices. The steering control was broken and no conclusion as to what happened has ever been established. The crew was never heard from It remains one of the biggest maritime mysteries.
Mary Celeste Mystery – Captain Benjamin Briggs, his family and a crew of eight set sail from New York in the early 1800’s. One month after their departure the boat was found some four hundred miles from Portugal in full sail, adrift, no signs of foul play and no one found on board. The lifeboat was missing and some of the sails were damaged. None of the crew or people on board were ever heard from again. Another in a list of many maritime mysteries.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke – Colonists of Roanoke had established a fort in 1587 on the island off present day North Carolina. When explorers returned to the area they found, the entire population of the fort was missing and the only thing unusual found was the word Croatoan carved on the fort’s gatepost and Cro carved on a nearby tree. Much speculation as to what might have happened exists, the most common being that the settlers ran into trouble and were taken in by the local Native American tribe, but this has yet to be proven. Other studies found that a severe drought might have led the settlers to abandon the fort, but no record found as to where they went and there is no history of any of the settlers appearing in other settlements.
Incident at Dyatlov Pass – In 1959, in the mountains of Russia (close to Siberia), nine young college students were involved in a college outing. All nine of these students would be found dead, scattered around the camp area, all dead from a variety of situations. The bodies were also in various states of dress, some were burned, some had blunt force trauma on the remains. No explanations have ever been found as to what happened to these young people. The most common explanation is they may have witnessed some type of experimentation in the mountains of Russia and died because of either what they saw or from the actual experiments being conducted.
Giant Stone Statues of Mont’e Prama – Located on the island of Sardinia, thousands of fragments of what were once large stone statues, many over seven feet tall, have been found. The statues have unique stylized triangular faces with T-shaped eyebrows and noses and large, round concentric circles for the eyes. Built by the Nuragic culture beginning in the eight century B.C., the statues were located around a large necropolis. The statues represent archers, boxers, and warriors. The exact purpose of the statues is unknown and why the faces have such an unusual design is unknown. Why the statues were broken into thousands of fragments and by whom is also still under investigation.
One interesting new book now available for purchase is from National Geographic, Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs. A detailed set of stories about some of the mysteries surrounding exploration of ancient cities on various continents. The newest issue of National Geographic magazine also has a listing of the one hundred discoveries that changed the World. Interesting to look at the selections that made the list of discoveries that shocked, amazed, and educated the world throughout history.
