90 Extraordinary Artifacts That Have Surprised People For Centuries And Still Do Today (New Pics)

We often admire historical artifacts on display at museums or exhibitions, glimpsing fragments of a world long gone. There’s something magical about seeing the past come alive through a carefully preserved object—an ornate vase, an intricately carved throne, or a centuries-old manuscript. These items connect us to human creativity, resilience, and imagination across time. Yet the experience we enjoy today often masks the complicated journeys these artifacts took to reach display cases around the world.

But here’s the catch: for centuries, legendary artifacts haven’t always reached museums through fair means. Many were looted, traded under duress, or forcibly taken from their original homes. Business Insider points out that countless items in cultural institutions like London’s British Museum or New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art were taken from colonized peoples, often without consent. These artifacts were rarely brought to museums purely for education or admiration; they were often plundered as symbols of conquest, wealth, or political control. The world’s treasures, it seems, are as entangled in power struggles as they are in artistry.

National Geographic explains how colonialism transformed collecting into a mania. Objects didn’t simply arrive in museums on their own; colonial powers didn’t map the globe out of pure curiosity. Anthropologists, missionaries, merchants, and military officers all collaborated to bring wonders back to Europe. Museums often sent wish lists to colonial expeditions, requesting rare items to display or sell. What began as exploration quickly turned into a systematic extraction of cultural wealth. The treasures we admire today often carry hidden histories of coercion, manipulation, and power.

Consider the case of the Mandu Yenu, a beaded throne from Cameroon’s Bamum people. In 1907, German officials suggested that Sultan Ibrahim Njoya gift a replica or ideally the original throne to Kaiser Wilhelm II for his 50th birthday. Njoya had resisted many prior requests, but this time he agreed to have a copy made. When it became clear the replica wouldn’t be ready in time, he was persuaded to hand over the original. The throne, adorned with protective figures and inherited from Njoya’s father, was removed from Cameroon and has remained in Berlin’s Ethnological Museum ever since.

The looting of cultural treasures didn’t end with colonialism. Artifacts continue to be smuggled and traded illegally across borders. The United Nations reported in November 2025 that over 37,000 cultural objects: including coins, musical instruments, works of art, and archaeological artifacts, were seized during an international operation conducted by Interpol and law enforcement agencies from 23 countries. Smugglers exploit gaps in international law, turning priceless cultural objects into commodities for profit. The global fight to protect history is ongoing, and these stolen treasures often vanish into private collections, far from the communities they originated from.

Interpol has highlighted numerous recent cases showing the scope of the issue. For example, Ukrainian customs authorities intercepted 87 historically valuable items, including icons of Saint Seraphim of Sarov and ancient coins, which smugglers tried to export illegally to Poland, Moldova, and Romania. Each recovered piece tells a story of attempted theft, cultural erasure, and the ongoing struggle to protect heritage. The sheer volume of stolen or trafficked artifacts reveals how much history is at risk and how vulnerable cultural treasures remain in an increasingly globalized world.

The problem is widespread. In Spain, investigators uncovered a group that looted archaeological sites in Cáceres, using metal detectors to steal thousands of Roman coins and sell them on social media. In Greece, three people were arrested for attempting to sell five Byzantine icons for $80,000.

Fortunately, there’s a shift happening. Museums are beginning to return artifacts to their countries of origin. Deutsche Welle reports that in December, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced it would return 14 sculptures to Cambodia and two to Thailand, all procured through the now-convicted British art dealer Douglas Latchford. Institutions are increasingly recognizing the moral and cultural responsibility to restore looted treasures, acknowledging that the artifacts were acquired through coercion, exploitation, or outright theft.

In July 2023, two Dutch museums, including the Rijksmuseum, returned hundreds of artifacts to Indonesia and Sri Lanka, former colonies. “The objects were wrongfully brought to the Netherlands during the colonial period, acquired under duress or by looting,” the Dutch government said. These returns signal a growing awareness that history cannot simply be admired from afar; it belongs to the people and cultures that created it. While restitution cannot undo the past, it restores dignity and recognizes the deep, often painful, histories behind these treasures.

From centuries-old royal thrones to modern archaeological finds, artifacts carry more than beauty—they carry the weight of human history, power, and conflict. Many objects we admire today were looted, coerced, or smuggled, and only recently are institutions beginning to confront these truths. Protecting cultural heritage requires vigilance, ethical stewardship, and restitution where possible. These treasures remind us that history is not just a story in textbooks; it’s living, messy, and deeply intertwined with human ambition, greed, and creativity. 

Well, these posts clearly show how artifacts are a vibrant part of our shared history, and, of course, they belong in the places where they were created, preserving their cultural and historical context. Pandas, which one of these artifacts caught your eye the most?