These ancient mysteries continue to perplex. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most intriguing unanswered questions and issues in the field of ancient history.
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00:00 "When you look at how many lines are actually there, it's an incredible number.
00:03 Over 800 lines total."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most intriguing unanswered questions and issues in the field of ancient history.
00:13 "Stonehenge itself was extensively excavated during the 20th century.
00:18 Those digs established that the monument was built in stages."
00:24 Number 10. The Copper Scroll Treasure
00:28 Despite being one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Copper Scroll varies significantly from the others.
00:33 It's written on metal, not papyrus or parchment, and uses a different writing system.
00:38 But most importantly, it's not religious in nature.
00:41 Rather, it reveals the supposed locations of hidden treasure.
00:44 "Could these brittle fragments of corroded metal hold the clues to finding ancient buried gold?"
00:51 The scroll dates back to the first century, when the area it was found in was under the control of the Roman Empire.
00:57 As such, many experts believe that the treasure was hidden to prevent it falling into the hands of the Romans.
01:02 "Did they commission the Copper Scroll to preserve the exact location of over 60 separate hordes?"
01:10 Unfortunately, the clues are quite abstract and none of the treasure has been recovered.
01:15 Furthermore, some theorize that it doesn't even exist, or that the Romans found it.
01:20 We just don't know.
01:22 "The wealth was so great, the Roman Emperors could fund the construction of the greatest amphitheater ever built."
01:31 Number 9. The Plain of Jars
01:33 In Laos lies the Plain of Jars, and it's exactly what it sounds like, a plain of jars.
01:39 The stone vessels dot the Sien Hoan plateau, but no one really knows what they're for.
01:44 Complicating matters is the lack of research into the jars,
01:47 as undetonated bombs from the Vietnam War make access extremely difficult.
01:52 The vessels vary in all manners, with different sizes, placements, decorations, and even lids.
01:57 "No jar was alike, they were all different."
02:00 The leading theory is that the stone jars were used as burial urns,
02:03 but there is some evidence that seems to contradict that assertion.
02:07 Research is slowly but surely ongoing, so perhaps one day we'll know conclusively what the jars were for,
02:13 who made them, and how they got there.
02:15 "You know, I really don't know why they were there, but I'm in awe."
02:19 Number 8. Cleopatra's Tomb
02:21 Despite being one of the most important figures in human history,
02:24 we have no idea where Cleopatra ended up.
02:27 "For centuries, this enigmatic woman has captured the imagination of the world.
02:32 But the location of her tomb is still a mystery."
02:38 Cleopatra served as Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom for 21 years between 51 and 30 BCE.
02:45 Her life came to an end at her own hands,
02:47 as she poisoned herself after Octavian invaded Egypt and defeated her lover Mark Antony.
02:52 Octavian allowed them to be buried together, but their tomb has never been found.
02:57 "This kicks off an incredible mystery that lasts to this day."
03:01 Experts assume that it's somewhere around Alexandria,
03:04 and recent searches have narrowed it to the ancient city of Taposiris Magna.
03:09 But as of yet, Antony and Cleopatra remain lost to time together.
03:13 As Shakespeare wrote,
03:14 "No grave on earth shall clip in it a pair so famous."
03:18 "And its discovery would be one of the greatest finds in the history of archaeology."
03:24 Number 7. King Arthur
03:26 There's a lot to unpack about King Arthur.
03:28 Mainly, was he real?
03:30 Arguably the most popular and influential character in the Western canon,
03:33 King Arthur is the subject of his own field of study.
03:36 The problem is that the first written record of Arthur appears three centuries after his reign,
03:41 meaning there was tons of time to, shall we say, embellish the record.
03:45 "He becomes the center of these medieval romances,
03:49 where he is the quintessential leader."
03:51 This legendary storytelling was not helped by Geoffrey of Monmouth's mostly fictional account,
03:56 from which much Arthurian material is taken.
03:59 Many scholars agree that King Arthur never existed, but this is far from being a consensus.
04:05 Furthermore, some argue that he is a completely fictional fabrication,
04:09 while others posit that he is a composite character of war heroes.
04:13 "Is it possible that King Arthur wasn't merely a myth, but rather a real man?"
04:19 Number 6. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
04:23 And speaking of things that may never have existed,
04:26 let's talk about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
04:28 A number of ancient writers have described the gardens and praised the engineering behind them,
04:32 lending credence to the idea that they actually existed.
04:36 "Since it was built nearly 3,000 years ago, no one has found a single trace."
04:40 However, none of these writers were the primary source of the descriptions,
04:45 which makes them seem more like legend than historical fact.
04:48 No contemporary account of the gardens exists,
04:51 and no archaeological record has ever been found.
04:54 However, some theorize that evidence lies under the excavated Euphrates River.
04:59 "Gardens built by a king to demonstrate his mastery over nature."
05:04 Oxford scholar Stephanie Dalley also posits that historians confused Babylon for Nineveh,
05:09 where evidence of a complex aqueduct system does exist.
05:12 Number 5. The Ark of the Covenant
05:15 Biblical artifacts are a source of fascination,
05:17 especially when they relate to real history.
05:20 The Ark of the Covenant plays a major role in the Book of Exodus,
05:23 being the vessel of the Ten Commandments tablets.
05:26 "According to the Old Testament, the Israelites carry the Ark for 40 years,
05:32 wandering through the desert."
05:33 The Ark is also later mentioned as carrying Aaron's walking stick
05:37 and a pot of divine food called manna.
05:39 Written records of the Ark disappear with the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem,
05:43 which occurred in 587 BCE.
05:46 King Nebuchadnezzar II and his men sacked Solomon's Temple,
05:50 which is where the Ark was said to have been stored.
05:52 "He houses the Ark inside, within a special room called the Holy of Holies."
05:59 It's unclear what happened to the divine vessel,
06:01 as there is no evidence that it was taken or destroyed.
06:04 "They also set Jerusalem on fire, and everything burns, including perhaps the Ark."
06:13 Number 4. The Voynich Manuscript
06:17 It's rare that a book invents its own language.
06:20 While the Voynich Manuscript did, it's called Voynichese,
06:23 which is fancy talk for what the hell is this thing saying?
06:26 "In this tangle of text and images, an expert's eye can easily get lost."
06:32 It's about 600 years old, having been penned during the early Italian Renaissance.
06:37 While we know when and where it came from,
06:39 that's about the extent of our collective knowledge.
06:41 The manuscript is 240 pages in length,
06:44 but not one of them truly provides a clue as to who wrote it or why.
06:48 "It's the world's most mysterious book, written by an unknown author."
06:53 Furthermore, the contents are completely unintelligible,
06:57 following no known languages or writing systems.
07:00 Research into the book is ongoing,
07:02 but even the best cryptographers of the 20th century couldn't crack its elusive codes.
07:06 "For the time being, the Voynich Manuscript remains what it has been for the last 600 years."
07:11 "It's a hall of mirrors reflecting each researcher's own imagination."
07:16 Number 3. The Nazca Lines
07:18 Head to southern Peru, get yourself in a helicopter,
07:21 and you may see the legendary Nazca Lines.
07:24 "They lie neglected for more than a thousand years,
07:27 and aren't rediscovered until the era of the airplane."
07:32 Created in the desert of the same name,
07:33 the Nazca Lines are a series of complex geoglyphs made by removing the surface pebbles
07:38 and exposing the lighter-colored subsoil underneath.
07:41 These date back as early as 500 BCE,
07:44 and were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
07:48 However, no one knows why the ancient Nazca culture constructed these famous designs.
07:52 "And for a hundred years now, ever since SESPI first spotted them,
07:56 they've been a mystery."
07:57 Theories range from religious significance to astronomical interpretations
08:01 to a fancy irrigation or aqueduct system.
08:04 Or maybe they just wanted to draw big monkeys in the desert. Who knows?
08:08 "There are spirals, zigzags,
08:10 there are drawings of birds, spiders, monkeys, immense in scale."
08:15 Number 2. The Collapse of the Late Bronze Age
08:18 You'd think something as monumental as a complete societal collapse
08:21 would be well understood, but you would be mistaken.
08:24 "Armageddon. The apocalypse. The end of the world.
08:28 Predicted thousands of times, but in 1200 BC it actually happened."
08:34 Between 1200 and 1150 BCE,
08:37 cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East violently collapsed,
08:41 bringing about the Greek Dark Ages.
08:43 The palace economy of the time was upended,
08:46 and the entire Hittite Empire was disintegrated.
08:48 "What we've got is a series of destructions.
08:50 Most of the main cities, towns, palaces are destroyed."
08:55 So what exactly happened in those history-altering years?
08:59 Well, explanations like volcanic eruptions, deadly pandemics,
09:02 devastating droughts, and violent invasions have been put forth,
09:06 but those are still just speculations.
09:08 The truth is, our knowledge of the collapse is about as dark
09:12 as the Dark Ages that followed.
09:14 "What is undeniable is that after the fall, something entirely new emerged."
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09:34 Number 1. Stonehenge
09:38 We know Stonehenge is in England.
09:40 We know the stones weigh about 25 tons each.
09:43 We know it's aligned with the summer and winter solstices.
09:46 And we know it's about 5,000 years old.
09:48 And, well, that's about it.
09:50 "Who built it? How was it built? And why?"
09:54 Stonehenge predates the Egyptian pyramids,
09:57 with the first phase of construction occurring about 3100 BCE.
10:01 Unfortunately, the culture that built Stonehenge did not leave records,
10:05 so modern researchers can only speculate about its nature.
10:08 "All these giants are made of sarsen,
10:11 a local sandstone harder than granite.
10:14 Yet they were carved and fitted like woodwork."
10:18 We don't know why the monument was built,
10:20 and we certainly don't know how it was built.
10:23 In fact, its construction is so baffling that many theories,
10:26 including supernatural ones, have been put forth.
10:29 "Around 2500 BC, Stonehenge became a monument like no other.
10:36 A symbol of everything the Stone Age could achieve."
10:41 Do you have the answers to any ancient mysteries?
10:43 Let us know in the comments below.
10:45 "What the hell is this?"
10:46 "Nobody knows for sure, Russ."
10:48 Did you enjoy this video?
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10:57 [Music]