ADVERTISEMENT

We love to emphasize human development. And for good reason, it's amazing how far we've come in the last centuries, decades, and even years. Science advances in leaps, introducing one groundbreaking invention after the other, fueling our minds with thoughts about the next big thing.

But that doesn't mean that we were clueless in the past. If we were to dig a little bit in history, it would reveal that people have always had the capacity to outdo themselves. Yes, the tools might have been different and not so sophisticated, but some of the artifacts that survived the test of time still surprise us to this day.

Here's a collection of man-made things shared on arguably the biggest online history catalog, Museum of Artifacts. They definitely didn't lose the "wow" factor!

More info: Museum Of Artifacts | Reddit | Facebook | Instagram

#1

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

An 8-mile long "canvas" filled with ice age drawings of extinct animals has been discovered in the Amazon rainforest.

Fuckoff555 Report

#2

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Michelangelo's Moses is a marble sculpture made in 1513–15. One of the many details of this masterpiece is one very small muscle in the forearms that contracts only when lifting the pinky, otherwise it is invisible. Moses is lifting the pinky, therefore that tiny muscle is contracted.

Fuckoff555 Report

#3

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Wonderful 2000-year-old sapphire ring presumably belonged to Roman emperor Caligula, thought depicting his fourth wife Caesonia.

Figgyee Report

#4

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

In 1965, excavations in Mezhyrich, Ukraine, revealed the presence of 4 huts, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones. These dwellings, which are about 15,000 years old, are some of the oldest shelters known to have been constructed by pre-historic man.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
dundun avatar
DUN DUN
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

...I need time to process ALL those facts. Mammoth, mammoth bones, 149 mammoth bones, 15000 years old, constructed by pre-historic men. Okay, just processing it.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#5

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A newspaper ad from 1865 of an 18 year old man looking for a wife.

F**koff555 Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#6

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

The Veiled Christ, a 1753 marble sculpture by Giuseppe Sanmartino exhibited in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples. Due to its incredible detail, there was a legend that said that the statue was covered by real veil and slowly transformed over time into marble via chemical processes.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
jamesdansie avatar
Supernatural
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is there a sculptor alive today that could create something like this? Using the same tools??..

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#7

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

1,500-year-old Ceramic Maya Figurine with Removable Helmet, from El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala.

karmagheden Report

#8

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

First ever drawings of the moon made by Galileo Galeili after observing it through his telescope in 1609.

meme_stealing_bandit Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#9

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Prague's astrological clock is the oldest still functioning clock in the world, 1410.

reddit.com Report

#10

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

In the small village of Nashtifan, Iran, some of the oldest windmills in the world still spin. Made of natural clay, straw, and wood, the windmills have been milling grain for flour for an estimated 1,000 years.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
daqadoodles_1 avatar
Debbie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Makes me feel puny.... I mean, build something good, with natural materials, with a simple good function, and it outlives many...

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#11

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

An early example of a successful cranioplasty (Peru, ca. 400 CE). The patient survived, as evidenced by the well-healed in situ cranioplasty made from a gold inlay. Now on display at the Gold Museum of Peru and Weapons of the World in Lima.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
hedwards avatar
H Edwards
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They were experts at skull surgery, lots of successful trepanning examples as well (well-healed edges to the hole in the skull, proving that the patient lived long after the procedure).

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#12

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A 17th-century Ottoman three-mast tent made of silk and gilded leather. Now on display at the Turkish Chamber in the Dresden Armoury.

Fuckoff555 Report

#13

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Detail of the Hercules armor of the Emperor Maximilian II of Austria. Made in 1555, it's now on display at the Kunsthistorisches museum in Vienna.

Fuckoff555 Report

#14

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Bowl with Fish, Iran, probably Kashan (late 13th–mid-14th century).

deniscard Report

#15

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

2300 years old Scythian woman's boot preserved in the frozen ground of the Altai Mountains.

SnorriGrisomson Report

#16

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A Viking era ring inscribed with the words 'for Allah', found in the grave of a woman who was buried 1200 years ago in Birka, 25 km west of modern-day Stockholm. The ring constitutes a unique material evidence of direct contact between the Vikings and the Abbasid Caliphate.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
anvime avatar
Burs
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is for the people who pretend to be educated while complaining about “diversity” in media or books set in the past. We used to travel much more than we think and while we weren’t as diverse as now, things were not as simple as old media portrays. For example there were black citizens in medieval- renaissance Europe, mostly ex slaves or their descendants from AlAndalus (Arabian country in the Iberian peninsula). Some quite successful, Like Juan de Pareja (Velazquez’s servant and later apprentice).

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#17

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Ancient ‘Beware of Dog’ Sign From 2,000 Years Ago. A mosaic in front of a Roman poet's house in Pompeii, 1st Century AD. "Cave Canem"/caveat canine/beware of dog.

GaGator43 Report

Add photo comments
POST
kaylaj avatar
Kayla J
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cerberus est canis @the house of the tragic poet, one of the many amazing mosaics at that home.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#18

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Samurai helmet (kabuko) shaped like an octopus. 1700s, Japan. 

PolarMolecule Report

#19

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

An ancient Egyptian gold ring with a carnelian bezel in form of a cat. From the Third Intermediate Period (1070–712 BC), it's now in the collection of the British Museum.

Fuckoff555 Report

#20

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

2000-year-old Roman face cream/lotion. Dating back to II AD. Object was found in the temple complex dedicated to Mars. It's world's oldest cosmetic face cream and it has finger marks in the lid.

innuendoPL Report

Add photo comments
POST
whisky-lady avatar
Ksenia M
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Googled it: The researchers report in this week's Nature that the two major components, each making up about 40% of the total, were starch and animal fat, which probably came from the carcass of a cow or goat. They think the starch was added to reduce the greasy feeling of fat on the skin. It is still used for the same purpose today in body lotions and hand creams. The remaining ingredient was synthetic tin oxide (or cassiterite). Although it is greyish in its natural state, it would have coloured the cream white"

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#21

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Incan Wall, a fine example of master Stonemasonry. Cuzco, 1400's. 

AStolenSweetroll Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#22

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Small sculpture of death with a bow made in 1520 Germany.

Raymands Report

Add photo comments
POST
blasphemousriots avatar
Rick
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is the sassiest skeleton I have ever seen. It’s giving me full on Nightmare Before Christmas fabulousness.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#23

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

"Ratto di Proserpina" is a large Baroque marble sculptural group by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1621 and 1622. Bernini was only 23 years old at its completion. Now on display at the Galleria Borghese in Rome.

Fuckoff555 Report

#24

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Detail from the "unswept floor" mosaic made by Heraclitus, showing a mouse eating a walnut. 2nd century CE, now on display at the Vatican Museums.

Fuckoff555 Report

#25

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

3400 yo painter's palette from ancient Egypt, Amenhotep III era.

ViVilma Report

Add photo comments
POST
maddie-star-2 avatar
Maddie Star ⭐
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

as an artist, I love this... how amazing. Really is a treasure, it must have been worth a fortune in its time let alone now

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#26

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A Roman bathhouse still in use after 2,000 years in Khenchela, Algeria.

bigmeat Report

#27

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Mourning clothes worn by count Magnus Brahe at the funeral of king Karl XIV Johan of Sweden in 1844.

eam2468 Report

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#28

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Elaborate Ottoman-era birdhouses resembling miniature palaces and mosques.

Fuckoff555 Report

#29

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Ivory carving of a skull and coiled snake with carnelian eyes. Japan, Edo period, 1860.

MunakataSennin Report

#30

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A gun hidden within a bible, made for Francesco Morozini, Doge of Venice (1619-1694). The owner of the bible could pull the silk bookmark to shoot while the book was still closed. Now on display at the Museo Correr in Venice.

Fuckoff555 Report

#31

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Stockings, 1830, cotton/silk.

PythiaPhemonoe Report

#32

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

An amateur treasure hunter with a metal detector turned up a Medieval, gold ring that was set with a sapphire stone in Sherwood Forest—haunt of the legendary (or real) Robin Hood. Experts have examined the ring and believe it may date to the 14 th century.

bigmeat Report

Add photo comments
POST
blasphemousriots avatar
Rick
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Genuine question, but how can they “tell” if a ring is from that century (if it doesn’t have the year engraved on it)?

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#33

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

14000 years old bisons sculptures found in Le Tuc d'Audoubert cave. Ariege, France.

innuendoPL Report

Add photo comments
POST
wh4ok avatar
Jon S.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are astonishing in their detail. To see such realistic depictions from so long ago highlights how our presumption of 'primitive' art before classical Greece is so often wrong

View more commentsArrow down menu
#34

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Two books I picked up from the Goodwill where I work. The one on the left was printed in 1711 and is a collection of Pliny the Younger’s letters. The one on the right was printed in 1771 and is a school book about Greek Mythology.

DaTank84 Report

#35

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Abuna Yemata Guh is a monolithic church located in the Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is situated at a height of 2,580 metres (its entrance is highlighted by a red circle) and has to be climbed on foot to reach. It is notable for its wall paintings dating back to the 5th century.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bet the mail carrier on that route gets royally pissed off whenever there’s mail for the church.

pusfarm avatar
Pusfarm
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you think you don't want to get up Sunday morning to go to your church down the street, imagine this being your local church!

barbara-delahunty avatar
PurpleUnicorn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ethiopia has lots of churches and monasteries carved into the living rock, and they all have detailed interiors

roxy_eastland avatar
Roxy Eastland
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe Christianity in Ethiopia is older than Christianity in Europe?

elhulkova avatar
Romenriel
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not older than Christianity in Italy and Greece, because of Roman Empire, but definitely older than in most parts of Europe.

Load More Replies...
albannachlass avatar
Drakaina Dreadnought
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know anything about the history of this region, but I find it interesting that the people are depicted with light skin. Perhaps it was necessary for contrast with their clothing and such.

luthervonwolfen avatar
Luther von Wolfen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On the Red Sea, Ethiopia has been in regular contact the Arabian peninsula for 1000s of years. Many Ethiopians are light-skinned compared with peoples in other parts of Africa.

Load More Replies...
marshafredell avatar
Lovin' Life
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is beautiful but I'll never see it. I'm scared of heights

luthervonwolfen avatar
Luther von Wolfen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ethiopia is in NE Africa. Landlocked now, but it used to border on the Red Sea. In the Old Testament, it's called Assyria. In Acts 8:26-40, an Ethiopian eunuch, servant of the Ethiopian queen, converts to Christianity and is instructed to spread the Gospel in Ethiopia.

jeanmariecp avatar
Jean Thompson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The huge rock where the church is located looks like a standing man - head, arms, legs, body. Dare I say it, but it even appears to have a pe**s in the right place ...

geritara avatar
Geri Taran
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope that the present warring won't destroy this amazing site.

rileyhquinn avatar
Riley Quinn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gotta say, the location is an obvious excuse to stay home and watch football.

cyberchook avatar
Cybele Spanjaard
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can never fathom how so many seemingly inaccessible buildings and other similar places were ever reached to be erected or decorated and so detailed. Brave craftsmen indeed. Possibly the aged geographical and weathering altered some but who climbed here to actually find these ??

jevais avatar
jevais
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amongst the 1st Christian are the Copts of Ethiopia.

dmarsh avatar
Daniel Marsh
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please note that all of the disciples pictured have beards, mostly long. There's a relentless drumbeat of know-nothings who insist all medieval portraits of Christ and the disciples are historically inaccurate because of their long hair and beards.

View more commentsArrow down menu
#36

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

An Inuit otter amulet. Engraved and pigmented ivory, c.1870-1880.

Fuckoff555 Report

#37

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

2000 year-old glass mosaics, from the ancient city of Zeugma in Turkey.

tismuma Report

Add photo comments
POST
wendillon avatar
Monday
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine how excited the people excavating that must have been. To chip away at the rock little by little to unveil that beauty.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#38

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Crystal spearhead found in a 5,000-year-old megalithic tomb in Spain. The tomb had the remains of 25 individuals, several of whom had consumed a poisonous substance.

Kunstkurator Report

#39

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A Roman toddler's footprint in a red clay tile, imprinted as it was drying ~2000 years ago. Vaison-la-Romaine (ancient Vasio Vocontiorum).

TheSanityInspector Report

#40

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

One of the 4000-year-old well-preserved wagons unearthed in the Lchashen village in the vicinity of Lake Sevan. Made of oak, they are the oldest known wagons in the world. Now on display at the History Museum of Armenia.

Fuckoff555 Report

#41

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Chand Baori, the largest and deepest stepwell in India. It consists of 3500 narrow steps over 13 stories and extends 30 m into the ground. The oldest parts of the stepwell date from the 8th century, while the upper stories with the columned arcade around it were built in the 18th century.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
sdeveno12 avatar
BasedWang
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For everyone thinking its only to gather water because of the word "well", it wasn't... At the bottom the air is 5-6°C cooler... So in intense heat waves people would gather here.... And yes ceremonial and religious rituals were done here as well

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#42

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

The Da Vinci Globe, dated 1504, is the oldest known globe to show the New World. Engraved with immaculate detail on two conjoined lower halves of ostrich eggs.

Fuckoff555 Report

Add photo comments
POST
carolyngerbrands avatar
Caro Caro
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one is intriguing too: There have long been theories that Portuguese sailors reached northern Australia between 1521 and 1524, before their Dutch and English counterparts arrived on the continent. They found canons.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#43

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Thirteen-year-old Israeli goes foraging for mushrooms, stumbles upon a Byzantine burial inscription.

NoDrinksBefore12 Report

#44

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

The ceiling of the 2000 years old hypostyle hall of the temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt.

Fuckoff555 Report

#45

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

(1528-29) German hunting knife that's also a gun, that's also a calendar.

Russell12349 Report

#46

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

9000 year old cave painting in Tassili cave Algeria. Depicting a shaman during psychedelic mushroom use.

gillbeats Report

#47

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Oldest surviving pair of Levis jeans, 1879.

AStolenSweetroll Report

Add photo comments
POST
jaynekyra avatar
Jayne Kyra
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My thighs managed to rub friction holes into every pair of jeans I own, except for Levi´s and Mustang.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#48

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

A cabin on board the Aachen, a 19th-century steamship hit by a torpedo in July 1915. Now located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Fuckoff555 Report

#49

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Breastplate Armor of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1549.

GaGator43 Report

Add photo comments
POST
tiinamwiik avatar
Tiina Wiik Yksityinen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Many interesting details that say something about the time, like Virgin Mary standing on a crest moon. This was in the time when Ottomans had spread their empire deep into Europe, but were eventually forced to retreat, so the battle of Christianity vs. Islam was a defining theme of the era.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#50

Interesting-Artifact-Pics

Curious Artefacts: Hitler's Telephone, one of the deadliest weapons of all times [1000x562]

sortaeTheDog Report

Add photo comments
POST
wehf100 avatar
Wilf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This was given to a British Brigadier by the Russians as a souvenir- he was the first British soldier to enter the Fuhrerbunker. It remained unknown for decades because looting was punishable by court-marshall and he was the Brigadier responsible for enforcing the rules!

View more commentsArrow down menu

Note: this post originally had 116 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.