Archaeological discoveries always remind us of the creative mind of our ancestors. This is also a great chance to travel back in time and learn more about centuries of history. This tape contains 10 of the most mysterious archaeological discoveries of all time.

The Voynich manuscript is considered one of the most mysterious manuscripts in the world. It was discovered in 1912 in Northern Italy. The language and author of the manuscript are still unknown. According to archaeologists, only 240 pages of the manuscript have survived, while a significant portion of the pages are missing. The drawings of various herbal plants are the most interesting part of the scripture and do not correspond to any known plant species. The Voynich manuscript is believed to have been written in the 15th century. Besides the herbal section, it also contains an astronomical, biological, cosmological and pharmaceutical section.

In 1986, during excavations in a cave in New Zealand, a group of archaeologists discovered a bird's claw with remains of flesh and muscles. Scientists later confirmed that this is the paw of the wingless bird Moa, which became extinct more than 2,000 years ago. The wingless moa was a heavy bird, up to 3 meters in height and up to 250 kg in weight. The reason for the disappearance was ancient people who hunted this species of bird. The found Moa paw is preserved at the Natural History Museum of New Zealand.

Sacsayhuaman is an ancient Incan fortress located in Machu Picchu, Peru. Construction of this complex structure was started in 1440 by Emperor Pacakuti. It took over 100 years to complete the city. The wall is made up of many various types stone, including diorite blocks, Ukiah limestones and dark andesite, where each block weighs hundreds of tons. Sacsayhuaman's 600-meter protective wall has a zigzag shape, protecting the famous archaeological tower, the temple of the sun and other buildings of the city.

The Nazca Lines are an unusual series of geoglyphs in the desert of southern Peru. This is one of the most popular popular objects world heritage UNESCO in the country. The ancient mysterious formations are shaped like trapezoids, rectangles, triangles, as well as 70 animals, plants and other geometric shapes. The purpose of the Nazca Lines is still unknown. Archaeologists estimate that the lines were created by the Nazca Indians between 500 BC and 700 AD. It's amazing that these ancient paintings remain intact for 2000 years. A large number of people still believe that these lines were created by aliens for their subsequent return to Earth.

Gobekli Tepe is the oldest archaeological site in the world, located in Turkey. Thanks to this discovery, we have gained insight into the life of Stone Age people approximately 11,000 years ago. For the construction of buildings, they used huge stone pillars weighing 15 - 22 tons, carved from huge blocks of rocks. During excavations, archaeologists found 200 giant pillars from which a certain temple of ancient people was built. This discovery helped archaeologists study the Neolithic Revolution in detail.

In 1974, a team of archaeologists in Xi'an, China, conducted excavations, discovering the most outstanding piece of funerary art in the world - the Terracotta Army. They found thousands of clay soldiers buried next to the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Clay soldiers were buried with him for protection from various forces after death. The age of this ancient complex is approximately 2200 years. Along with the sculptures, various weapons were also found. The complex consists of 4 main pits, three of which are occupied by terracotta armies and weapons, while the fourth remains empty. Much of the Emperor's tomb still remains unexcavated.

The Moai statues on Easter Island are one of the most mysterious archaeological discoveries ever made. These statues are the main attraction on Easter Island - one of the most remote islands in Chile. Moai statues were carved by the ancient Rapa Nui people between 1300 and 1500 AD. A total of 288 statues were found, located in various parts Islands. The height of the Moai reaches 4 meters, and the entire Moai weighs 80 tons. The Rapa Nui people used the rocks extinct volcano, creating your creations. The researchers also discovered that some of the statues have feet located below ground level.

Stonehenge is a 5,000-year-old prehistoric monument located in the English city of Salisbury. This monument was made up of many small and large stone blocks. The largest of the sandstone boulders reaches a height of 10 meters and weighs about 25 tons. The actual purpose of construction and purpose of Stonehenge is still unknown. Stonehenge was built between 3000 and 2000 BC. Neolithic builders brought huge stones from the Preseli Hills, more than 200 kilometers from this mysterious monument. About 240 people are believed to be buried in the Stonehenge area.

Pyramids are the most remarkable ancient structures ever seen on Earth. Even though many civilizations built their own pyramids, the Egyptian pyramids stand out on this list. The Pyramid of Cheops is on the list of the greatest wonders ancient world. Researchers believe that the Egyptians built the pyramids in 2700 BC, mainly as tombs for royal mummies. The Pyramid of Cheops is the oldest and tallest pyramid in Egypt with a height of more than 150 meters. It took almost 20 years and millions of limestone blocks to complete its construction. In addition to mummies, valuable treasures with preserved bodies were kept inside the Egyptian pyramids, and the walls were decorated with beautiful paintings and statues.

The Lost City of Atlantis is probably the most mysterious place that is still the subject of archaeological debate. Plato in 360 BC put forward the first assumption about the City of Atlantis, destroyed by ocean waves. Researchers believed that a strong tsunami hit the city in the 10th millennium BC, plunging it to the ocean floor. But the actual truth about Atlantis is still unknown, as one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries. Ancient historians claimed that Atlantis was built by the God of the Sea, Poseidon, and occupied a vast territory. Researchers have not determined the actual location of this city due to the colossal size and great depth of the Atlantic Ocean.


If you want to get acquainted not only with these interesting facts, but also with others, I suggest you go to the “Hero of the Runet” website - here there is a huge number incredible facts about our world, as well as the funniest stories from the life of both the inhabitants of our planet and about it itself.

12 chosen

Humanity strives for the future, trying to predict what lies ahead. But it also looks back to the past to discover how ancient civilizations were born and developed. If traveling to the future is still only a fantasy, then traveling to the past happens every day. In search of secrets and discoveries, archaeologists go back thousands of years, whose amazing finds not only reveal the secrets of the past, but also give rise to many new questions: who are we, where are we from, what are we like? The most famous archaeological discoveries: excavations of Troy and Pompeii, Egyptian pyramids and the caves of Lascaux, are annually replenished with new finds, no less amazing. Sometimes a new archaeological discovery reveals the mystery and meaning of previous ones. Let's follow the path taken before us...

Ancient writings

Rosetta stone

In July 1799, near the village of Rashid (Rosetta), French sappers as part of Napoleon's army sent to the Egyptian expedition found a slab with text written in 3 languages. The text was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic script and... Ancient Greek. Thanks to this discovery, another great discovery became possible - the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphs made by Jean Francois Champollion. The Rosetta Stone can be seen in the British Museum in London.

It was not important government correspondence or the secrets of ancient inventions, but ordinary correspondence between soldiers and their wives on wooden tablets that was discovered by archaeologists during excavations of a Roman fort. Vindolanda. And yet, this is one of the famous discoveries, because thanks to these texts it became possible to plunge into ordinary life and the atmosphere of that distant time. 752 tablets with letters were found, but the search is still ongoing. Thousands of years ago people wrote simple letters...

In 1849, the British archaeologist Austin Henry Layard, in the ruins of a palace on the banks of the Euphrates, found the first part of the oldest Nineveh libraries, known as Library of Ashurbanipal. Three years later, his assistant, traveler and diplomat Ormuzd Rasam, discovered the second part of the priceless treasure. This is the oldest state archive of the first real civilization in human history. 25 thousand tablets with cuneiform texts have survived to this day, which were collected over 25 years by order of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

The found tablets from the library of Nineveh contain descriptions of rituals, astrological predictions, spells, prophecies, medical and legal tests, and even literary works.

Ancient temples, settlements and entire armies

Angkor Wat - the temple city, found by the French traveler Henri Mouhot in 1861, was built at the beginning of the 12th century and is located near ancient capital Khmer Angkor Thoma. Angkor Wat became not only the grandest monument of Buddhist art, but also gave its name to an entire era in the history of Cambodia, and its towers became a symbol of the country and adorned the national flag.

Göbekli Tepe – the most ancient temple that has changed many ideas about our past. This temple complex on the territory of modern Turkey, which is the oldest known to date (approximately 12 thousand years). The upright stones are carved with quite complex images of animals, which are considered an example of early forms of writing.

Any schoolchild when asked “who discovered America?” will cheerfully report - Christopher Columbus! However, this is not so, because long before the Spaniards the Vikings arrived on the land of America and this happened five hundred years before the arrival of Columbus. A Viking settlement has been discovered on the island of Newfoundland, which has long been considered a legend set out in the saga of Eric the Red.

Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang, found east of Mount Lishan near the city of Lintong by peasants digging a well, is one of the greatest and most amazing archaeological finds. An army of 8 thousand sculptures was discovered in the tomb of Emperor Shi Huang, ruler of the Qin kingdom, with whom 48 concubines and countless treasures were buried. Among the statues found in the tomb, it is impossible to find a single identical face! Details of clothing, weapons and equipment are reproduced with amazing accuracy. The burial area is about 56 square meters. km.

Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang

Ancient mummies

Mummy Xin Zhui, a noble rich Chinese woman who died in 168. BC was discovered in the Chinese city of Changsha in 1971. Her body was hidden behind 4 sarcophagi and immersed in an unknown yellowish liquid, which evaporated immediately after opening. What is so amazing about this particular mummy? Unlike the famous ancient Egyptian ones, it retained joint mobility and muscle elasticity!

Princess Ukok– the famous princess of Altai - a mummy found in 1993 by the expedition of Natalya Polosmak. The age of the find, discovered in a mound on the Altai Ukok plateau, is more than 2.5 thousand years.

Residents of Altai consider the “princess” to be their ancestor and associate many negative things with her. natural phenomena, which they attributed to the anger of the princess, whose body was transported to the National Museum in Gorno-Altaisk.

Mummy Maiden (maidens) – one of the latest finds by archaeologists was discovered on the slope of a volcano Llullaillaco on the border of Argentina and Chile. Two more baby mummies were found with her. All three bodies were not embalmed, but deep frozen!

According to the findings of archaeologists, they were all sacrificed, as gold, silver, vessels with food and a headdress made of feathers of unknown birds were found next to them.

1. Rurik settlement in Novgorod

More than a thousand years ago, on a low hill, not far from the center of modern Veliky Novgorod, there stood a city - a rich administrative, trade and craft center of the entire Ilmen region - Rurik's settlement. Archaeologists have discovered many things of Scandinavian origin in its cultural layer. The settlement became the predecessor of the capital of the Novgorod principality; It was here, according to legend, that the Varangian Rurik came to reign.

One of the most famous archaeological sites of the Paleolithic era is located in Russia, in Voronezh region. The first human settlements in Kostenki appeared 45 thousand years ago. Piles of animal bones were found in Kostenki - the ancient inhabitants of these places built houses from mammoth bones. Among the 40,000 finds are tools and works of art.

3. Gnezdovo

On both sides of the Dnieper in the Smolensk region there is the largest monument dating back to the birth of ancient Russian state— Gnezdovo burial mound complex. Once upon a time, 3500-4000 mounds were poured here. Both Slavs and Scandinavians in the VIII-X centuries. /bm9icg===>ekakhs buried the dead in the same way: first they placed the body in a funeral pyre, and then they built a mound. Some mounds are built on burnt burial boats; such burials turned out to be especially rich. Jewelry, broken swords and other items were found in them.

Phanagoria is one of the few ancient Greek colonies in the territory modern Russia. The large port city served as the second capital of the Bosporan kingdom after Panticapaeum (modern Kerch). On the territory of the modern city, administrative and residential buildings of the late 6th - first half of the 5th century were excavated. BC The most valuable find in the history of excavations was wooden ship. It was possible to date it thanks to a metal ram, on which a cast sign of the king of the Bosporan state Mithridates VI Eupator (star and crescent) was found. Apparently, the ship of the bireme (a rowing warship with two rows of oars on each side) was part of the royal fleet and was burned during the assault on Phanagoria in 63 BC.

In October 2015, the Tauride Chersonese Museum-Reserve passed to Russia, and although UNESCO refused to recognize this fact, the museum-reserve is now under the leadership of Russian ministry culture. The only Greek polis in the Black Sea region, Chersonesus managed to be a Roman colony, become part of the Bosporan kingdom, short time was independent, became part of Byzantium, survived the raids of Genghis Khan's troops, was twice destroyed and plundered by the Lithuanian princes, and saw Genoese merchants. Its cultural layer preserves the memory of every period of the history of the ancient city.

6. Selitrennoye settlement (Sarai-Batu)

On the territory of the Astrakhan region there is the capital of the Golden Horde, founded by Batu Khan - the city of Sarai-Batu. It became saltpeter much later, when under Peter I, saltpeter production plants were installed here.

The foundations of many buildings - public, residential and industrial - were found on the territory of the monument. The cities of Golden Orzha were built by conquered peoples, so the material culture of the village of Sarai-Batu was very eclectic.

7. Old Ryazan ancient settlement

One of the richest cities Ancient Rus', the capital of the Ryazan principality was not at all where modern Ryazan stands. The settlement of Old Ryazan was discovered in 1822 thanks to an accidental find - a treasure trove of gold jewelry. After the Great Patriotic War, excavations were taken seriously. Three temples, objects of art, houses and premises where people practiced crafts, and 16 treasures with coins and valuables were found at the site.

8. Arkaim

3 thousand years BC, a huge fortified city was built on the territory of the modern Chelyabinsk region. In special workshops, its residents smelted bronze and practiced pottery. The city was strictly planned and had storm drainage.

The circular figures formed by the remains of fortifications and dwellings in the steppe have attracted not only historians, but also adherents of occultism of all kinds: they call the archaeological monument “a place of power”, “the cradle of humanity” and “the ancestral home of the Aryans”.

In Russia, the development of archeology as a scientific branch began in the 18th century. Since then, many archaeological finds have been made: Byzantine bracelets, ancient leather goods, relief tiles, clay toys, treasures, jewelry, axes, knives, bronze daggers, nomadic objects, etc.

A large number of historical artifacts have been found by archaeologists in Moscow. A real sensation was the treasure discovered in 1967 during the construction of the northern ramp of the Rossiya Hotel. The builders found a clay jug with silver ingots with hallmarks of the 14th-15th centuries.

Archaeologists find ancient artifacts today not only on the territory of Moscow and the Moscow region, but also on the Taman Peninsula, in Kerch, as well as in four centers of ancient cultures: on the shores of the Baltic, in Veliky Novgorod, in the center of the North-East of Ancient Rus' - the Suzdal region - and on the territory of the former Bosporan kingdom. Along with objects of Christian culture, archaeologists are discovering objects dating back to pagan times. Some of the finds date back to the first period of the Stone Age - the Paleolithic - which began about 2.5 million years ago.

See the infographics from AiF.ru to see what interesting finds were discovered on the territory of Russia.

The most famous archaeological finds in Russia

"Archaeology is a rigorous academic discipline with a touch of gold rush." —

Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb.

Location of discovery Description

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

• Mammoth Dima (Kirgilyakh mammoth)

  
  

  1977, mouth of the Kirgilyakh stream, Susumansky district, Magadan region

  At a depth of 2 m from the surface of the earth, during work to open a supposed gold deposit, the body of a baby mammoth 104 cm tall and weighing about 90 kg was discovered. The baby mammoth lived from 13 to 40 thousand years ago. His skin, entrails and soft fabrics perfectly preserved. He received his “name” Dima from the name of a small stream near which he was found. For the first time, such a find was suitable for research.

• Arkaim

  
  

  1987, on the border of the Bredinsky district and the Kizilsky district of the Chelyabinsk region

  A fortified settlement of the Middle Bronze Age at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e consists of a fortified city, two necropolises and the remains of ancient pastures (corrals). The city has two circular walls, one surrounded by the other. Attached to both ring walls are rooms in the shape of a circular sector. There was a ring road between the walls; straight streets lead from this road to the central square. The city had storm drain with water drainage. The monument is distinguished by the unique preservation of defensive structures, the presence of synchronous burial grounds and the integrity of the historical landscape.

• Roman legionary helmet

  
  

  Rostov region

  During the construction of the Rostov-Taganrog highway, a helmet was found, as well as the remains of a scabbard, clothing characteristic of the vestments and ammunition of a Roman soldier from the times of the Roman Republic. The Celtic type helmet was common in the 1st-2nd centuries BC. Archaeologists consider the discovery to be someone's lost treasure, as it was found at an ancient crossroads of trade routes between Europe and Asia. According to another version of archaeologists, a Roman detachment attacked one of these trade caravans, but received a worthy rebuff, and the deceased warrior-commander remained lying for centuries in the Don soil.

• Birch bark letters

  
  

  Veliky Novgorod

  Charters are monuments of writing of Ancient Rus' of the 11th-15th centuries. The first birch bark letter was found in 1951 in a residential area of ​​​​ancient Novgorod. It was a list of feudal duties scratched on birch bark in favor of some Thomas. Following Novgorod, many documents on birch bark were discovered in Staraya Russa, Smolensk, Pskov, Vitebsk, Mstislavl and Tver. Birch bark letters helped archaeologists learn about the scope of human relationships, lifestyles, economic ties between people, as well as existing conflicts.

• Mangazeya

  
  

  Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region

  Description – Mangazeya is the first Russian polar city of the 17th century. In 1968, during excavations, archaeologists discovered many products, objects made of leather and fabric, the remains of ancient defensive structures and about forty buildings of various types - residential, economic, administrative, commercial and religious - purposes.
  Archaeologists explored approximately 15 thousand m² of territory. During archaeological excavations, it turned out that the polar city had a typical division for ancient Russian cities into the city itself (the Kremlin) and the suburb.

• Basilica of medieval Chersonese

  
  

  modern Sevastopol in Crimea

  Discovered in 1935, the 6th-century basilica was a rectangular building divided inside by longitudinal rows of columns. The ruler of Kyiv, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, accepted the rite of baptism in Chersonesos. It is unknown in which Christian church this happened. But the most studied Christian monument of medieval Chersonesos are the remains of the basilica.

• Treasures of the Golden Horde

  
  

  Outskirts of Simferopol, Crimea

  In 1967, on the outskirts of Simferopol, during work on the construction of a pit, it was found large number gold and silver jewelry with inserts of pearls, emerald, spinel and other stones, gold coins, headdress decorations, paiza with the name of Khan Keldibek, which is a gilded tablet about 30 cm long, made of silver. In essence, it was a letter of credence that the khan presented to his ambassadors. The treasures were buried in the second half of the 14th century, during the invasion of Timur. According to historians, they were brought from a variety of places: China, Northern India, Iran, Asia Minor, Yemen, the Levant, Venice and Genoa, indicating widespread contacts of the Golden Horde.

• "Princess of Ukok"

  
  

  Ukok Plateau, Altai Republic

  In 1993, during excavations of a mound on the Ukok plateau, a mummy of a woman was found, which was more than 2.5 thousand years old. Residents of the region called the mummy the Princess of Ukok (Altai princess, Ochy-bala). The mummy lay on its side with its legs slightly pulled up. She had numerous tattoos on her arms. During the excavations, archaeologists discovered that the deck in which the body of the buried woman was placed was filled with ice. That is why the mummy is well preserved. DNA and skeletal analysis of the princess revealed her Indo-European origins.

• "Varangian Guest"

  
  

  Pskov, st. Soviet

  In 2003, during archaeological excavations not far from the chambers of the merchant Podznoev, near the Old Ascension Monastery, the burial of a noble woman, in a Scandinavian costume and jewelry, who lived about a thousand years ago, was discovered. Silver coins that were given by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII to Olga's embassy in 957, a Scandinavian costume and jewelry were found in the burial. Archaeologists suggest that her burial place was connected to trade routes, which may have been under the control of a separate Scandinavian settlement.

• Denisovsky man

  
  

  Altai region, 250 kilometers from the city of Biysk

  In 2008, a phalanx of a 9-year-old girl’s finger was found in Denisova Cave in the Altai Territory. Using DNA analysis, it was possible to establish that the remains belong to a species of people representing a special branch in the evolution of the genus Homo, different from both Neanderthals and modern people. This species is called Denisovan man.

• Ruins of the palace of King Mithridates VI Eupator

  
  

  Taman Peninsula

  In 2009, archaeologists discovered a structure that was built in the 1st century BC, as well as well-preserved ceramics and wallets with coins. Mithridates the Great became ruler in 113 BC. e. As a result of successful military campaigns, he managed to subjugate almost the entire Black Sea coast. He received the Taman Peninsula from the Bosporan king from the Spartokid dynasty who renounced power.

• Veneti treasure

  
  

  Bryansk region, in the valley of the Desna River

  In 2010, “black diggers” discovered a treasure consisting of jewelry created in the third century AD by Slavic jewelers. The treasure includes several sets of bronze jewelry, both female and male. Among them are head crowns, torcs, breast chains, brooches (clothing fasteners), bracelets, pendants, glass beads dating back to the 3rd century AD.

• 15 egg-shaped fossils

  
  

  With. Mokraya Olkhovka, Kotovsky district, Volgograd region

  In 2010, after the ground collapsed during a flood, 15 egg-shaped fossils came to light. Their diameter is 1–1.2 meters. Scientists still cannot give a definite answer about the nature of this anomaly. Some argue that these are still the eggs of ancient dinosaurs that lived here millions of years ago. Other versions include the fruits of the ancients marine plants, the crash site of an alien ship or the phenomenon of iron rocks coming to the surface.

• Byzantine temple of the 9th–11th centuries.

  
  

  With. Veseloye in the Imereti Lowland

  In 2011, in the southwestern part of the Imereti Lowland, in the Olympic development zone, the ruins of a temple built by Byzantine builders from local sandstone were found. It belongs to the “inscribed cross” type, widespread at that time (when the dome is supported on a light drum by four supports. An iron cross, silver and bronze jewelry were also discovered at the excavation site: pendants, pins, rings. Research has shown that the temple belongs to the rarest monuments of Byzantine architecture on the territory of Russia.

• Phanagorian temple of ancient Greek colonization

  
  

  Sennaya village, Temryuk district of Kuban

  In 2016, during excavations in the Upper Town, archaeologists discovered the oldest ancient temple in Russia - from the 5th century BC. Temple area - about 14.5 square meter. It was built of mud brick without a foundation. Interesting feature of this Phanagorian temple is the location of a small altar on the left side at the entrance to the temple. Typically, the ancient Greeks placed altars on the outside of temples, close to the entrance.

Russian archaeologists have unearthed many amazing finds that help to better understand the history of the country and humanity. We remember the 7 biggest sensations of Russian archeology.

Princess Ukok

An amazing discovery by archaeologists in the Altai Mountains, on the Ukok plateau, which thundered not only throughout Russia, but became famous throughout the world. In 1993, Novosibirsk archaeologists found the burial of a woman there, dating back to the 5th-3rd centuries BC. Due to the climate of this place, as well as the depth of the burial, the grave was covered with ice, which means it was preserved from decomposition.
For several days, trying not to damage the burial, archaeologists melted the ice. Six horses with saddles and harnesses, a larch block with bronze nails were found in the burial chamber. The mummy of a young girl (she was about 25 years old at the time of death) was well preserved. She wore a wig and a silk shirt, a woolen skirt, felt socks and a fur coat. Scientists argue whether she was a noble person or whether she belonged to the middle layer of Pazyryk society.
The indigenous Altai people believe that the floods and earthquakes on their land are connected with the fact that the “princess” was moved to the museum, and demand that she be returned to the Ukok plateau. In the meantime, the amazing exhibit can be seen in the Gorno-Altaisk Museum, where an extension and a sarcophagus were specially created for it, maintaining temperature and humidity conditions.

Birch bark letters

It took a long time to get to this discovery: it was known from chronicles that in Rus' they wrote on birch bark; archaeologists sometimes found tools with which they wrote, but assumed that they were hairpins or nails. They were looking for birch bark documents near Novgorod, but the Great Patriotic War began, and the search stopped. Only in 1951, at the Nerevsky excavation site, “Birch bark letter No. 1” was finally discovered. To date, more than a thousand birch bark letters and even one birch bark icon have been found. Residents of Novgorod find them when laying communications, and a fragment of “Certificate No. 612” was found by a native of Novgorod, Chelnokov, in his own flower pot when transplanting flowers!
Now letters are known from various places in Russia, as well as Belarus and Ukraine. These are official documents, lists, educational exercises, drawings, personal notes containing a wide variety of vocabulary - from love to obscenity.

Scythian gold

On the vast territory between the Danube and Don there are many mounds. They remained here from the Scythian tribe, and each mound is “gold-bearing”, because only the Scythians put so much gold in the burials of both the nobility and ordinary people. For the Scythians, gold was a symbol of life after death, and therefore it was placed in all mounds and in the most different forms. Raids on Scythian mounds began in the Middle Ages, but even now archaeologists are finding treasures in them. In one of the mounds they found the burial of a female warrior with weapons and gold beads, in another - a bronze panel depicting the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons, in the third - a diadem made of sheet gold... The collections of the Hermitage and other famous museums are filled with hundreds of kilograms of Scythian gold jewelry.

Unknown type of person

On March 24, 2010, the journal Nature published a sensational article about the “Denisovo man,” whose remains were found in the Denisova Cave, located in the valley of the Anui River in Altai. In the cave were found the bone of the last phalanx of a child's finger, three huge molars belonging to young man, and phalanx of the toes. The researchers conducted a DNA analysis and found that the bone remains date back to 40 thousand years ago. Moreover, “Denisovan man” turned out to be an extinct type of person, whose genome is significantly different from ours. The evolutionary divergence of such a person and a Neanderthal occurred about 640 thousand years ago. Later these people became extinct or partially mixed with Homo sapiens. In the cave itself, archaeologists uncovered 22 layers corresponding to different cultural eras. Now any tourist can get into this cave.

White Sea labyrinths

There are labyrinths in all parts of the world among peoples located on different stages development. In Russia, the most famous labyrinths are located near the White Sea: there are about forty of them there, more than thirty of them are on Solovetsky Islands Arkhangelsk region. All northern labyrinths are made of medium-sized stones, have an oval shape in plan, and inside there are intricate passages leading to the center. Until now, no one knows the exact purpose of labyrinths, especially since there is more than one type of them. But most often archaeologists associate them with the cult of the dead and funeral rites. This theory is supported by the fact that on the large Zayatsky Island, under the stone heaps of the labyrinth, archaeologists discovered burnt human bones and stone tools. There is an assumption that the ancient people who lived by the sea believed that the soul of a deceased person was transported across the water to another island, and it should not return back. The labyrinth served this purpose: the soul “wandered” in it and returned back to the kingdom of the dead. Perhaps labyrinths were also used in initiation rites. Unfortunately, the study of labyrinths is difficult, because by excavating the labyrinth, the archaeologist destroys the monument itself.

Mammoth blood

In the area of ​​the Kyrgyz Lake Issyk-Kul, sites of primitive people, petroglyphs, burial grounds from different times, cenotaphs, stone sculptures of the Turkic era, medieval settlements, treasures have already been discovered... But archaeologists did not stop there and... went under water! The international Russian-Kyrgyz underwater archaeological expedition on Lake Issyk-Kul yielded amazing results. At least 5 ancient cities were discovered at the bottom of the lake, whose age is about 3 thousand years. These cities stood on one of the branches of the Great Silk Road. It is assumed that these places were not only a trading, but also a “resort” center of the ancient world. According to one legend, there was an ancient Armenian monastery here, in which the relics of the Apostle Matthew were buried. By at least, in the famous “Catalan Atlas” Lake Issyk-Kul, and the monastery, and the shrine are indicated.