A very disturbing discovery was found in 1888 in Egypt. It was a mummy that was found to be in a position that suggests that that person was screaming in pain while being mummified. It was believed that being mummified alive was a punishment given to that person. The mummified man was given the name Man E. Many believe that he was the son of Ramesses III, who was found to be a traitor.
Tests conducted with the body revealed that Man E. was around 40 years old at the time of his horrific mummification, which was historically consistent with the age at which Ramesses’ traitorous son died.
Piri Reis Map
Archaeologists finding old maps is not entirely new. However, this map from 1513, created by an Ottoman admiral and cartographer named Piri Reis, was shocking the entire archaeological world. That's because the map very accurately shows continents and coastlines that were thought to still be undiscovered at that time.
One example of this is how it has already shown the continent of Antarctica, which was still yet to be discovered in 1818 (more than three centuries later!). Remarkably, the continent of Antarctica that can be seen on this map is how it looked before it was covered in ice!
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a group of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts that were found in the Qumran Caves in the West Bank, near the Dead Sea. These scrolls are considered to be very important in terms of their historical, religious, and linguistic value.
Archaeologists strongly believe that the Dead Sea Scrolls were from an ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes. Tests conducted on these manuscripts have shown that they were from around 400 to 300 BC. They are currently stored in the Shrine of the Book on the grounds of the Israel Museum.
The Mount Owen Moa
An interesting discovery was made in the caves of Mount Owen in New Zealand three decades ago. It is a claw that looks very similar to something from a dinosaur species. It was mummified, so it retains most of its features and has not yet decomposed. It was from a 3,300 years old mummified upland moa - a prehistoric bird.
It most closely resembles the modern-day emu, which is the second-largest living bird. But, the moa is even bigger still, with some species measuring over 10 feet in height. With advanced dating processes from its DNA, it was found to have first appeared 18.5 million years ago!
Pyramid of the Sun
A greenstone mask dated back more than 2,000 years ago, was discovered in 2011 by researchers in Mexico, who were investigating the base of a pyramid. The Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, Mexico, got its name from the Aztecs. This ancient civilization was a lot more advanced than we had originally believed.
The Aztecs had access to many technologies and rituals which have only been discovered in the last few centuries. These let them carve rock into beautiful sculptures like this unique mask, even before the tools for such creations were invented.