If You Dig Archeology, You Might Love These 50 Fascinating Finds From Around The World
No matter how much we dig, it seems there's always something new to discover. Quite literally... A 6th-century Byzantine bucket, an ancient Egyptian royal tomb and a sanctuary dedicated to the legendary, historical Greek hero Odysseus are just a few of the fascinating discoveries made by archeologists in 2025 alone.
Each interesting find over the years brings us a bit closer to understanding more about history and those who walked the earth before us. Thankfully, there are numerous online communities dedicated to sharing great archeological discoveries, just in case the rest of us missed them.
Bored Panda has dug through Archeology and Archeology World to dust off the best posts from those communities. From brass heads to hanging gardens, prepare for an epic trip around the world and a rare glimpse into years gone by. We also explore how archeological discoveries can help us shape the world we live in today. You'll find that info between the images.
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Medieval Humor - Abbey Of Sainte Foy, Conques, France, C.1050
Yew Tree On Each Side Of The North Porch Of The Over 1000 Years Old St. Edward's Church, England
The Hauntingly-Lifelike Eyes Of This 4,500-Year-Old Seated Scribe Are Made From White Magnesite (With Tiny Red Veins!) And Pupils Of Rock Crystal (Saqqara Necropolis, Louvre)
All the Saqqara artwork is astonishing in its realism and masterful ẹxecution. Check out the Wikipedia article "Saqqara".
Here Are Some Excuses From A 3,250-Year-Old Tablet In Ancient Egypt Where Workers' "Reasons For Not Coming To Work" Are Written
"His mother is being mummified."
"Brewing beer."
"Bitten by a scorpion."
"His eyes are hurting."
These Paintings In Chauvet-Pont-D'arc Cave In France Are More Than 36,000 Years Old
The Oldest Door Still In Use In Rome
Cast in bronze for emperor Hadrian' rebuilding, they date from about 115 AD Each door is solid bronze seven and a half feet wide & twenty-five feet high, yet so well balanced they can be pushed or pulled open easily by one person.
The Pantheon is the worlds oldest church still in use. A must see when visitin Rome. The doors are not the most impressive thing in that building ;-)
Bronze Head Of Thracian King Seuthes III Found In His Tomb. Odrysian Kingdom 4th Century Bc
Aspendos In Turkey Is Known For Having The Best-Preserved Theatre Of Antiquity
With a diameter of 96 metres (315 ft), it provided seating for 12,000 people. It was built in 155 by the Greek architect Zenon, a native of the city.
Temren - 600 Year Old Turkish Arrowheads
Cat Ring From Ancient Egypt, 2700 Years Old
My Step Father Went Metal Detecting And Found Saxon Gold
It’s Mind-Blowing How Well It’s Held Up — A Stunning 1,800 Year-Old Roman Mosaic Floor From The House Of Orpheus, Volubilis Near Meknes, Morocco
Archaeologists Found A Mysterious Stone Tablet In Georgia That Contains An Unknown Language
An Archaeological Site Unearthed In 1986 In China Revealed Giant Bronze Statues From A Lost Chinese Civilization Called Sanxingdui (Estimated To Be 3,000 Years Old)
A 10 Foot Tall Stone Statue From The 6th Century That Was Uncovered By A Potato Farmer In Kyrgyzstan In 2022
10,000 Year-Old Giraffe Engravings In The Sahara Desert
In 2019, A Retired Firefighter Turned Metal Detectorist Was Exploring A Field In Eastern England When He Found This Sapphire Ring Buried In The Ground
After having it appraised, it turned out to be the ring of a powerful bishop named Hugh of Northwold from the turn of the 13th century.
Traditional Persian Architecture In Kashan Iran
Two Majestic Marble Thrones Dating Back To The 2nd Century Bc Are Among The Treasures Of The Little-Known Of The Amphiareion Of Oropos, North Of Athens
2000 Years Old Shoes Of A Child. Discovered In The Ancient City Of Palmyra
Temple Of Khnum
A Roman Mosaic Uncovered In The Streets Of Stari Grad, On The Island Of Hvar In Croatia
Ancient Indian Swimming Pool Even Used To This Day. Probably Built In 5th Century
The Lena Shoal Shipwreck Was Discovered In 1997 At A Depth Of 48 Meters Near Lena Shoal In The Philippines
The vessel sank around 1490 during the Ming-Dynasty, and contained more than 5,000 objects, mostly Asian ceramics, like this rare Chinese plate depicting a flying elephant.
So this survives centuries at the bottom of the ocean but I put my favourite mug in the dishwasher and it comes out without the design on it.
2000-Year-Old Preserved Loaf Of Bread Found In The Ruins Of Pompeii
1 out of 10 stars. Bread was very stale. Would not recommend.
Etruscan Wolf's Head Helmet. 2500 Years Old
Gauntlet Of “Lion” Armor Of Henry II, King Of France, 1550
The Trinity Library Over 300 Years Old Located In Dublin Ireland. Houses 200,000 Of The Library's Oldest Books. It's Also Of Great Cultural Importance
Mosaic Floor Of A 2000 Year Old Sunken Roman Palace, Baia, Naples, Italy
2,200 Year Old Greek Armbands
Spiral Staircase Designed By Leonardo Da Vinci In 1516
"This is at the Chambord Chateau in the Loire Valley in France." "Amboise, France"
Ball Of Carbonized Thread Of Linen Or Nettle Dating From The Middle Neolithic (5900 Years Old) From The Marin-Epagnier / Préfargier Site, France
Three Months Worth Off Digging Marbles Of A Victorian Landfill
A Rock Crystal Vase Owned By Eleanor Of Aquitaine (1124-1204), Her Only Known Artifact Known To Still Exist Today
1,500-Year-Old Ceramic Maya Figurine With Removable Helmet, From El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala
I've seen this before, and I still think it looks like a character in a game
Brass Heads That Were Found In Nigeria Dating Back To 12th-15th Centuries
The holes around the scalp and beard lines, Do you think they may have actually had hair of some sort?
Hatshepsut Temple
Newgrange, A Neolithic Tomb Dating Back To Around 5,200 Years Ago, Was Constructed Circa 3,200bc In County Meath, Republic Of Ireland. It Predates The Egyptian Pyramids By 600 Years And Stonehenge By 1000years
Atacama, Chile Is The Land Of Geoglyphs. Among The Nearly 5,000 Glyphs Discovered There In The Past 50 Years, None Is Greater Than The Atacama Giant
The largest prehistoric representation of a humanoid figure, it stretches 390ft or 119 meters.
The Only Terracotta Warrior Believed To Be Found Completely Intact. Buried With Emperor More Than 2000 Years Ago In China
An Egyptian Axe Estimated To Be Around 3000 Years Old
Kiz Kalesi, Mersin, Turkey. An Ancient Roman Castle In The Mediterranean Sea
Generations Of Snow-Bound Arctic Circle People Have Been Protecting Their Eyes From Snow Blindness For Over 4,000 Years With Snow Goggles (Usually Carving Whalebone, Horn, And Ivory)
Athens Unseen A Nearly 2,000-Year-Old Roman Reservoir Is Located At The Center Of The City Of Athens
Constructed by the emperor Hadrian around 125 AD, it has been used for nearly 1000 years providing water to the residents.
The Ruins Of The Black City, Mongolia
According to one of the many Mongolian legends, the first descendants of the gods built Khara-Khoto, a beautiful and rich city, which housed sages, merchants, brave soldiers and skilled craftsmen.
110 Year Old Library In Porto Portugal
A Roman Road Discovered While Excavating For A New Mcdonalds In Marino Italy. They Incorporated A Glass Floor In The Restaurant After Excavations Were Complete
The Unbroken Seal On Tutankhamun's Tomb, 1922. 3245 Years Untouched
A Ninth Century Talisman Of Charlemagne
Helmet Worn By The Athenian General Miltiades In The Battle Of Marathon 2500 Years Ago Given As An Offering To The Temple Of Zeus At Olympia
St. Georges's Church, Lalibela, Ethiopia. Hewn Out Of Solid Rock, The Extraordinary Church Of St. George (Bet Giorgis) Represents One Of The Wonders Of The Medieval World
Dating from the late 12th or early 13th century AD, the construction of the church is ascribed to King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, one of the last kings of the Zagwe dynasty. The construction of the church involved excavating a free-standing block of stone in a 25m by 25m wide pit and then removing all the waste material from around it. The stone masons then carefully chiseled away the church outline, shaping both the exterior and interior of the building as they went. The cruciform structure is approximately 12 m high.
Little Horse Found In Syracuse (Sicily) In A Child's Tomb And Dating Back To 710 Bc. It Looks Like A Work By Picasso Or Postmodern
A Massive 2700-Year-Old, 18-Ton Statue Of An Assyrian Deity That Was Excavated In Iraq In November 2023
Lower Part Of A Leg And Foot With Sandal Of The Over Life Size Statue Of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius(Reign 161-180 A.d.) Found At Sagalassos, Turkey In 2008
Found A Gold Coin Sticking Out Of The Ground
While travelling around Balkans, I stayed in a hostel/camping outside of the Bar city in Montenegro. This is a old port city. While walking around the forest area near the hostel I noticed a coin sticking out of the ground. I thought it was an euro or something like that, but when I picked it up I couldn't believe my eyes. It had some Arabic letters on it. I saw those coins before, but only in the internet. After examination and doing a little bit of research I found out that it's a golden 100 Kurush, made under the rules of sultan Abdul Aziz in (1277 Islamic )1862 year. This is just insane for me.
Mattia, An Archeology Student Participating In The Excavation Of Bagni Di San Casciano In Tuscany. He's Holding A Roman Bronze Archer Found In Mud At The Bottom Of A Votive Hot Spring. 2022-2024
From Tomb Of Ramesses V-Vi
British Archaeologist Leonard Woolley And His Wife Catherine At The Moment Of The Discovery Of Pottery Pipes That Were Used As A Sewage And Rainwater Network In What Is Considered The First Water Drainage System In History Before About 4000 Bc. Ur (Mesopotamia) In 1930
A Cannon Ball Still Stuck In A House From The American Revolution In Yorktown, Virginia 1781
Checking homeowner's insurance policy... Cannonballs... Cannonballs... Nothing about cannonballs.
13th Century Roman Catholic Bishop’s Helmet
I read a lot of Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction books, and he accounts bishops and priests fighting alongside soldiers in certain battles, especially in the Middle Ages.
13th Century Crusader, Located On The Isle Of Skye In Scotland
Jerash, Jordan. It Is Considered One Of The Largest And Most Well Preserved Sites Of Roman Architecture In The World Outside Of Italy And Its History Goes Back More Than 6,500 Years
A 900-Year-Old Church Still Standing In Wicklow, Ireland
The Palace Of King Ardashir I (R. 224-240 Ce), The Founder Of The Persian Sasanian Empire
Built around 224 CE opposite the city he had founded, Ardashir-Khurrah (“Glory of Ardashir”), on the bank of the western branch of Tangab river.
A 1,800-Year-Old Roman Gladiator Arena That Was Discovered In Western Turkey In July 2021
Used To Be An Archeologist For A Few Years And Now I’m A Gardener… I Find More Stuff Gardening Than Actually Archeologying
Archeologying is totally a word. It’s right there in black and white
Perhaps One Of The Most Famous Photographs In Archaeology
The first discovery of one of the 17 colossal Olmec heads in today’s Museo de La Venta, in Mexico. The artist, Richard H. Stewart 1947
The Scythian Gold Pectoral Was Found In Tovsta Mohyla, A Large Scythian Royal Kurgan, By The Archaeologist And Poet, Borys Mozolevsky, In 1971
It combined eastern and western jewellery techniques -casting, filigree, enamelling etc from 4th century BC.
A bunch of griffins eating horses on the bottom row. Or are those dragons?
The Pyramidion (Capstone) Of The "Black Pyramid" Of Amenemhat III Looks Extremely Cool
Peekaboo! 2100 Year-Old Head Of Hygieia
3,000 Year Old Egyptian Bracelet From The Cairo Museum
The Mosaic Floor Of A 4th-Century Synagogue Features A Zodiac Wheel Alongside Traditional Images Of A Torah Ark And Menorahs In Tiberias, Israel
The Excavation Team In Turkey Found A Small, Clay Tablet That Detailed A Large Furniture Purchase
Mosaic After The Flood At The Ancient Hellenistic Town Of Zeugma
Small Figurine Found In Children’s Grave. Siberia, 4000 Years Old
5,000-Year-Old Wooden Boat Used By The Pharaohs Is Discovered By French Archaeologists
My Rabbit Dug A Hole And Found This Little Pot Near Nijmegen, The Netherlands
What Are These Things? Found About 2 Meters Down While Digging For A Septic Tank In Oaxaca, Mexico
It definitely looks like some kind of pre-Columbian effigy vessel
Unmarked Man-Made Cave Dwellings Found In A Vertical Cliff, Georgia
The First Kiss, Recorded Over 12,000 Years Ago. I Took This Photo In 2022, At Serra Da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil
Cacaxtla's Wall Paint
The amount of paint that still exists astonishes me. 2000 years and some still look fresh.
The Pazyryk Rug
''The oldest hand-knotted oriental rug known was excavated from the Altai Mountains in Siberia in 1948. It was discovered in the grave of the prince of Altai near Pazyryk, 5400 feet above sea level, and clearly shows how well hand-knotted rugs were produced thousands of years ago. Radiocarbon testing revealed that the Pazyryk carpet was woven in the 5th century B.C., thus approximately 2500 years old. The advanced weaving techniques and the sophisticated design and construction, used in this rug, suggest the art of carpet weaving to go back much further than the 5th century B.C.. to be at least 4000 years old. Today the rug is in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, Russia.''
Terracotta Dice From The Indus Valley, India, 2500 - 1000 Bc
Luxor Temple
A Year Ago Today I Dug A 17th Century Sword
1300-Year-Old Arrow Found On The Surface Of Glacial Ice In Norway
9,000 Year Old Baja Cave Paintings
Naghsh-E Rostam, Marvdasht, Fars, Iran
Found High In The Mountains Of Mongolia. What Is It?
It’s a mani stone with the Tibetan mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” on it. Found throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world. The mantra is that of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion. When spoken, written, or in this case carved into stone, it provides a benefit to that person… in essence.
Just to clarify, the mantra is Sanskrit written in Tibetan U-Chan script.
Mani is Sanskrit for jewel. Padme is Sanskrit for lotus. Roughly translated the "Behold! Jewel in lotus, my heart"
Jeju Island, South Korea. Jeju Stone Park And Other Dol Hareubangs
A Corinthian Helmet Was Discovered In A 5th Century Bc Grave In The Taman Peninsula, Southwest Russia
Petroglyphs In Arizona
Qasr Al-Abd, Jewish / Hellenistic Architecture, Jordan
My Dad Had This In Storage, Seems Old And Kinda Big, Can I Use It For Food?
Ramesseum - Memorial Temple Of Ramesses II
Six And A Half Inch Scottsbluff/Eden Knife, Found In Idaho. (9,250 To 8,850 Years B.p.)
Anne Watkins With Obsidian Blade
Niha Temple, Lebanon
The Ancient City Of Susa (Horse In Hebrew) In Iran
Stumbled Upon These Petroglyphs While Camping And I’ve Never Seen So Many In My Life
My Son Found A Piece Of This Old Terracotta Pot…
An Archaeologist Claims She’s Found A Stunning Statue Of Cleopatra At Her Alleged Tomb
A Statue Depicting A Three-Fingered And Five-Fingered Hand Crossing With A DNA Helix Was Discovered In Ambo, Peru
This is something that looks roughly like an inaccurate representation of a helix. It has absolutely nothing to do with DNA, not even if you believe in ancient astronauts who visited Earth.
Madinet Habu
Runestone Rediscovered Two Days Ago In Ystad, Sweden
Stone Of The Sun
The Stone of the Sun is the most iconic sculpture associated with the Mexicas. Discovered in December 1790 in the Plaza Mayor of the capital of New Spain, it has often been incorrectly identified as the Aztec Calendar due to its symbolic content, including the names of the days and the cosmogonic suns.
This large gladiatorial sacrificial altar, known as a temalacatl, was left unfinished because of a deep crack running from one side to the center of the piece at the rear. Despite this fracture, it is believed to have been used for staging fights between warriors during the tlacaxipehualizli ceremony.
The design of the disk prominently features the face of Xiuhtecuhtli emerging from an earth hole, holding a pair of human hearts and with his tongue transformed into a sacrificial knife. He is surrounded by the four suns that preceded the Fifth Sun, which are inscribed within the sequence of the 20 day signs. This is framed by the figure of the Sun with its four beams, symmetrically accompanied by sacrificial sharp points. The central star is encircled by two Xiuhcoatls, or "Fire Serpents," which symbolically carry it across the heavens.
Very interesting we need more like this and less celebrity gossip please.
Very interesting we need more like this and less celebrity gossip please.
