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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.
This post may include affiliate links.
Archeology is about so much more than just digging up and dusting off ancient ruins and relics. According to Oxford University, it plays a part in building the future we want to see.
Archeological discoveries, big and small, give us the tools to "examine and explain human behaviour, understand how society functions, learn from the past and apply those lessons to the present, and analyse the drivers and implications of a changing world and how different countries, places and cultures interact," explains the university's site.
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#2
Yew Tree On Each Side Of The North Porch Of The Over 1000 Years Old St. Edward's Church, England
#3
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)
Shadreck Chirikure is a Professor of Archaeological Science. He believes that studying the past, through what people leave behind, can offer insights into some of the world’s biggest challenges – like hunger, health, and protecting the environment. Chirikure says archeology doesn't get the credit it deserves.
The expert adds that the key to getting the most out of archeological discoveries is to look at what they tell us about the different options we have at our disposal in today's world. How can we modify old concepts to suit our changing circumstances?
#4
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."
#6
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.
"For example, of the many 'gifts' that the Romans gave to the world, concrete is one of the most studied materials. It has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases known to cause global warming and climate extremes," writes Chirikure.
He adds that research proves this to be true. One study in design and engineering found that adapting Roman techniques can improve modern concrete formulations, making them durable and environmentally friendly.
#8
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.
Other experts agree. To study archeology is to ‘travel’ through the full spectrum of human diversity, says archeologist Dr. Letty ten Harkel.
"Anyone who has studied archeology will understand that celebrating our differences and embracing diversity will make the world a better place," she writes, adding that this is especially important in today's society with all its tensions and discrimination.
#12
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
Through her "Medieval Migrants of the North Sea World" project, ten Harkel set out to prove that people have been moving around and interacting with those from different cultural and religious backgrounds since the medieval period. The expert believes the modern world can take a leaf out of the ancient books.
"Even in currently prosperous and peaceful regions like western Europe, the arrival of refugees and migrants from other cultural and religious backgrounds causes significant unease among factions of the population as they are regarded as alien and ultimately ‘dangerous’ to established lifeways," says ten Harkel.
#13
Archaeologists Found A Mysterious Stone Tablet In Georgia That Contains An Unknown Language
#14
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)
#15
A 10 Foot Tall Stone Statue From The 6th Century That Was Uncovered By A Potato Farmer In Kyrgyzstan In 2022
Chirikure also makes mention of migration in an article he wrote for The Conversation. The professor says that archeology shows us the different ways human societies have organized themselves in the past.
"For example, discoveries of evidence showing the migrations of different groups of people in Africa show the limitations imposed by the national borders created by colonial powers. Before European colonialism, African peoples were connected in different ways," he reveals. "Archeology presents this African heritage and offers social cohesion as an alternative to xenophobia."
So before you brush off the next big find as “history,” remember that it plays a huge part in our future too!
#17
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.
#19
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
#24
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.
#28
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
#32
Ball Of Carbonized Thread Of Linen Or Nettle Dating From The Middle Neolithic (5900 Years Old) From The Marin-Epagnier / Préfargier Site, France
#34
A Rock Crystal Vase Owned By Eleanor Of Aquitaine (1124-1204), Her Only Known Artifact Known To Still Exist Today
#35
1,500-Year-Old Ceramic Maya Figurine With Removable Helmet, From El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala
#38
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
#39
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.
#40
The Only Terracotta Warrior Believed To Be Found Completely Intact. Buried With Emperor More Than 2000 Years Ago In China
#43
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)
#44
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.
#45
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.
#47
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
#50
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
#51
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.
#52
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
#53
A Massive 2700-Year-Old, 18-Ton Statue Of An Assyrian Deity That Was Excavated In Iraq In November 2023
#54
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
#55
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.
#56
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
#58
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
#59
A Cannon Ball Still Stuck In A House From The American Revolution In Yorktown, Virginia 1781
#62
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
#64
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.
#66
Used To Be An Archeologist For A Few Years And Now I’m A Gardener… I Find More Stuff Gardening Than Actually Archeologying
#67
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
#68
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.
#73
The Mosaic Floor Of A 4th-Century Synagogue Features A Zodiac Wheel Alongside Traditional Images Of A Torah Ark And Menorahs In Tiberias, Israel
#74
The Excavation Team In Turkey Found A Small, Clay Tablet That Detailed A Large Furniture Purchase
#79
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
#81
The First Kiss, Recorded Over 12,000 Years Ago. I Took This Photo In 2022, At Serra Da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil
#90
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"
#92
A Corinthian Helmet Was Discovered In A 5th Century Bc Grave In The Taman Peninsula, Southwest Russia
#104
A Statue Depicting A Three-Fingered And Five-Fingered Hand Crossing With A DNA Helix Was Discovered In Ambo, Peru
#107
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.
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What do you think ?
Rose the Cook 4 months ago
Very interesting we need more like this and less celebrity gossip please.
Rose the Cook 4 months ago
Very interesting we need more like this and less celebrity gossip please.
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