10 Strangest Archaeological Treasure Discoveries!

Number 10. 


Shipwreck treasure  archaeologists recently made an amazing  breakthrough when they discovered an  underwater treasure worth roughly 1  million dollars the find was made on the  vessel the capitana a ship that sank  during a hurricane in 1715.  back then the ship was on its way to  spain sailing along the florida coast  when disaster struck  now over 300 years later the wreckage  was discovered by a local florida  resident named eric schmidt eric found  the wreckage with his family back in  2015 but didn't unveil his fine to the  world until much later once he had  already gotten rich in total eric and  his family got away with 52 gold coins  40 feet of pure gold chain and over 110  silver coins the discovery would change  eric's family forever  in an interview with the national  geographic eric admitted that on most of  his treasure hunts he excavated nothing  except beer cans but on this fateful day  he was diving 15 feet off a beach in  fort prince when he started seeing coins  in the sand he was so excited he says he  literally started shaking these gold  coins proved to be worth roughly five  hundred thousand dollars each  they are rare tri-centennial royal gold  coins from spain at the time of their  conquest of south america  the treasure ended up being split  between the schmidt family the state of  florida and the other members of the  dive team it was a hefty haul and even  when split three different ways it was  an extremely valuable fine for everyone.


Number 9.


Ancient amber jewelry  archaeologists in russia uncovered a  unique burial that was filled with  extremely valuable jewelry the burial  site was uncovered while a team from the  local university was exploring ancient  settlements near lake onega in one of  the settlements was a grave and inside  the grave was someone researchers say  was of extremely high status in the  ancient society  they were entombed inside an oval-shaped  pit and the walls were painted in red  ochre  on top of the burial were around 140  pieces of jewelry that had been placed  over the dead person  each piece of jewelry was crafted from  precious amber with the team finding  buttons pendants and all manner of  trinkets  even with all the artifacts it's hard  for archaeologists to say exactly who  this person was  they were able to date the grave to  around 3400 bc or nearly 5 500 years ago  this era is known as the copper age a  brief transitional period between the  neolithic age and the bronze age it was  when humans began to mine metal and  stone fashioning such precious materials  into valuable goods for trade and to  signify high status within small  communities  why was amber so popular the reason is  that the baltic region of europe is home  to the largest deposit of amber anywhere  on the planet this deposit dates back 44  million years and the prehistoric people  in the area were the first to mine it  they fell in love with its color and  natural beauty and it probably held much  significance to them that we no longer  understand besides being a beautiful  material it was easy to work with and to  create complex shapes making it perfect  for jewelry.


Number 8.


Mysterious ring  a mysterious ring misplaced for 2 000  years was just discovered in the city of  david in israel it was unearthed during  excavations of the famous pilgrims path  in jerusalem archaeologists say that  whoever lost the ring  probably did so after taking a bath  here's what happened  two thousand years before today a  penitent jewish person was climbing  along the pilgrim's path to atone for  their sins the path is about two  thousand feet through the city of david  up to temple mount which is believed to  be where jesus was originally crucified  the pilgrim stopped for a ritual bath  known as a mikvah to cleanse himself he  probably took off the ring and when he  came out of the ritual purification bath  he forgot all about it and kept on  walking up the hill  somebody stepped on it the ring got  smushed into the dirt and there it  stayed until just a few weeks ago  even completely crusted with dirt the  blue stone in its center still sparkles  after two millennia one of the  archaeologists sifting through dirt on  the pilgrim's path found it in their  bucket of dirt but perhaps even more  fascinating than the ring itself is what  it symbolizes  whoever lost this ring had climbed the  pilgrim's path just before the romans  showed up in jerusalem and destroyed  pretty much everything they could find  in the year 70 a.d  he may have been one of the last people  that climbed to temple mount when there  was still peace in the city.


Number 7.


The map of 1491  one of the most valuable maps in the  world is considered a piece of treasure  it was created by a german cartographer  named henricus martellus in the 15th  century in 1491 to be exact  henrikhus had been living in florence at  the time and it's believed that the  famous explorer christopher columbus  himself studied the map extensively  before getting on a boat and sailing to  north america  the map has changed hands quite a few  times over the years it ended up at yale  in 1962 gifted by an anonymous donor  scholars hailed it as an important link  to what is known as the age of discovery  when european civilizations moved into  the west the only problem was that after  floating around for 500 years much of  the map was illegible and broken  researchers couldn't decipher exactly  what was written on it because it was  practically dissolved  a team of researchers and imaging  specialists decided to use  multi-spectral imaging to reveal the old  treasure map secrets they photographed  the map in 12 reflective colors  including frequencies beyond visible  light they then put all these images  together in a computer and analyzed the  information using high-tech software and  from here they were able to get a fresh  version of the 1491 map  the researchers recovered way more  information than they dared hoped for it  shows earth from the atlantic ocean in  the west to japan in the east there are  short descriptions in latin of several  regions and people for example the  people of balor in north asia that live  on deermate and have no wine another  major revelation was the representation  of southern africa  the researchers were able to determine  that this map was based on an important  map made hundreds of years prior by the  people of africa but preserved by a  european source  it greatly influenced future map makers  and how explorers would plan their  journeys to see the world since it was  the only thing they had.


Number 6.


Gold coins  a group of construction workers  discovered a secret stash of  239 gold coins estimated to be worth  over 350 thousand dollars  the amazing and rather surprising  discovery came from the grounds of an  old manor in the northwest of france  three craftsmen were working to restore  the old house after it was purchased by  a couple in 2012.  the builders were merging a barn with a  nursery when inside the wall they  uncovered a mysterious metal box they  were shocked when inside the box was  literal treasure coins made of pure gold  spilling between their fingers  and in case one treasure wasn't enough  several days later they found a purse  filled with even more coins tucked  behind a ceiling beam in total there  were 239 coins all minted during the  reign of louis xiii and louis xiv  this is according to the regional  preventative archaeology service who  authenticated and researched the  discovered coins the oldest of them date  back to the year 1638 with the most  recent being from 1692  nobody knows exactly who left the coins  behind the mansion was constructed way  before the coins were minted during the  13th century it was owned by a string of  affluent merchants farmers and other  generally rich people but who might have  hidden the coins and forgotten about  them  maybe someone who had to escape in the  middle of the night or maybe someone  died without ever telling anyone those  coins probably have a lot of stories to  tell.


Number 5. 


The phoenix crown  a mysterious phoenix crown covered in  gems was found in the secret tomb of a  woman in china  phoenix crowns also known as fenguan  were extremely ornate crowns made of  phoenixes and dragons carved out of gold  used by elite women in ancient chinese  society  empresses and concubines of the emperor  of china began wearing them around the  year 500 and they were made to be the  most exquisite and gorgeous headdresses  ever seen  they were maybe even more elaborate and  expensive than many crowns and jewels  from other kingdoms around the world  while there have been a handful of these  remarkable crowns discovered by  archaeologists throughout the years the  recent discovery of a phoenix crown in  the tomb of lee chi is one of the most  impressive  he was an emperor during the tang  dynasty and died at the age of only 25.  it was in his tomb that archaeologists  unearth a skull wearing a phoenix crown  still intact  this woman had likely been the consort  to the emperor who was either killed or  sacrificed after his death to be buried  alongside him wearing the beautiful  crown because it was buried for so long  the crown and the skull were wrapped in  soil and it was very difficult for  researchers to put it back together  again and restore it to its former glory  it had around 370 gems and hundreds of  pearls but since these crowns are so  ornate and so delicate it is incredible  that this crown survived at all making  it especially precious.


Number 4.


Terrorist treasure tunnels  in june of 2014 the islamic state  captured the city of mosul in iraq blew  up a heap of archaeological sites using  dynamite and then began digging tunnels  in search of treasure and artifacts it  was a huge catastrophe for the world of  history however all these years later a  german archaeologist from the university  of heidelberg visited the site of mosul  and explored an ancient palace built  thousands of years ago by the assyrian  empire only accessible because of the  destruction back in 2014  the archaeologists went into the tunnels  dug by the terrorists and miraculously  uncovered treasure that they had missed  he found a throne room built about 2000  years ago during the end of the assyrian  empire before the region of mesopotamia  fell apart  the archaeologists didn't find gems or  coins or huge piles of gold he found  archaeological treasures instead like a  pair of statues flanking the entrance to  the mysterious throne room each one  weighing 40 tons these statues depict  protective spirits known as lamasu  creatures with human heads bull bodies  and bird wings the throne room was  likely used by king sargon ii  unfortunately all of the true treasure  like idols artifacts and jewels were  already pillaged by the islamic state  with a lot of them being sold on the  black market tracking them all down is  going to be quite the project.


Number 3.


Amber necklace  an ornate amber necklace was recently  uncovered during road work in poland  the construction of a new road revealed  an ancient cemetery which caused all  work to be halted while archaeologists  went in to investigate they exhumed the  bodies buried in the cemetery  discovering not only human remains but  also precious treasures and a startling  number of animal bones they found recent  treasure like coins from the 18th and  19th century along with everyday items  like pins and buttons but they also  discovered an amazing amber necklace  made up of 35 polished beads and a  heart-shaped pendant  the amber necklace hasn't been dated  just yet but it could go back thousands  of years  poland is home to some of the largest  deposits of amber anywhere in europe in  fact the oldest example of jewelry being  crafted out of amber in poland dates  back 6 000 years  archaeologists uncovered an ancient  amber workshop in the modern city of  gdensk  it was here where prehistoric craftsmen  made and sold jewelry which was then  distributed throughout europe to the  various tribes.



Number 2. 


Cursed treasure  the croatia's treasure is a collection  of priceless artifacts dating back to  the rule of king croasis of lydia he  reigned from 560 to 547 bc  lording over the kingdom of lydia and  what is now modern-day turkey  it was discovered back in the 60s with  researchers initially believing the  treasure was cursed after the artifacts  were gathered from the small village of  gehr in 1965 the villagers descended on  the site and dug up everything they  could find by the end of 1966 the whole  area looked like an unfinished  construction zone full of holes it's  been estimated that the villagers robbed  at least 150 gold artifacts and then  left the place looking like a garbage  dump these artifacts were then sold  illegally to smugglers but instead of  enjoying a life of riches most of the  villagers ended up suffering serious  misfortune  this led to rumors of the treasure being  cursed but it wasn't that they got sick  or anything like that instead the  misfortune came because the villagers  ended up getting captured and arrested  by the police after they argued on how  to properly divide the profit someone  was so angry that they snitched and all  the villagers went down in a massive  police investigation  it was uncovered later that many of the  stolen artifacts were purchased by the  metropolitan museum of art in new york  whoops  a turkish journalist discovered  treasures from the horde on display  there in 1985 and so he snitched on the  museum the museum tried to cover it up  saying that the artifacts came from  greece  after six long years in court the museum  finally agreed to return the treasures  to turkey where they've been held ever  since.


Number 1.


Medieval treasure trove  a trove of medieval treasure was  recently found in a field seemingly in  the middle of nowhere in poland there  were thousands of artifacts uncovered  with most of them dating back about 900  years the discovery was made by a team  of researchers with the polish academy  of sciences  they were sent to photograph the site  where a previous discovery of coins was  made in 1935.  when the researchers arrived villagers  told them rumors of another lost  treasure somewhere in the area that was  never found  intrigued the archaeologists began  digging around on plots of land outside  the village they found nothing  it wasn't until they started snooping  around in an empty field that they found  a ceramic vessel filled with coins  more snooping resulted in the discovery  of over 6  500 silver coins  these coins were jammed into linen  pouches and scattered throughout the  field and archaeologists have no idea  why  other than just coins the archaeologists  also found silver ingots and gold rings  one of the rings has an inscription on  it that researchers say could suggest a  connection to an ancient princess named  maria she was the daughter of the prince  of kiev and the sister-in-law of the  polish king boluslaw the second of  rymeth how the princess's ring could  have possibly gotten lost with a horde  of treasure is a mystery still being  investigated by archaeologists 

Thanks for Reading what's the most  precious treasure you ever found?; I found  a gold ring once let me know in the  comments below and don't forget to  share, see you  soon bye

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