33 Unexplained Historical Artifacts That Remain A Mystery

The world is full of unexplained mysteries that will never be solved. And that is what makes life so exciting; we never know what strange discoveries await us beyond every corner!

Some of life’s mysteries will eventually be solved, but others continue to trouble even the experts. Below there are some of the most exceptional and inexplicable artifacts ever found. These treasures will puzzle you for days, just wait and see—you’ll be amazed!

1. Las Bolas (The Balls)

These flawlessly spherical stone balls were made from molten lava. They're scattered throughout the Diquis Delta of southern Costa Rica. An ancient civilization possibly created the stone balls for astrological purposes. However, even archaeologists don’t know for sure the true reason for their creation!

2. Chinese aliens

In 1938, archaeologist Dr. Chi Pu Tu found an ancient cave in Baian-Kara-Ula, China which contained small discs with tiny hieroglyphics written on them that were telling the story of an ancient race of aliens named the Dropa. The discs were turned over to Russia for examination, although no further conclusions were made.

3. Ancient fossil

A fossilized handprint discovered in limestone in the Canadian Arctic was discovered to be 110 million years old. That suggests that human beings evolved on Earth far earlier than ever considered before. Pretty cool!

4. Ancient bulbs

Beneath the Temple of Hathor at Dendera in Egypt is a sculpture portraying figures gathered around what appear to be light bulbs. Some believers have even used this sculpture to attempt to make their own ancient light sources.

5. Burnt mounds

6,000 mysterious artifacts known as fulachtai fia have been discovered throughout Ireland and the UK. The purposes of these mounds are still unknown, although, according to working theories, they were used during the Bronze Age as breweries. Unbelievable, right?

6. The Antikythera Mechanism

This intriguing piece of machinery was found in the 2,000-year-old wreckage of a Greek cargo ship. It was originally thought to be an astrolabe, but to this day nobody is entirely sure what it does.

7. Egyptian bird

This bird toy was discovered in the Pa-di-Imen tomb in Saqqara, Egypt. It dates back to 200 B.C.E., and while no one is exactly certain what it's supposed to do, the Egyptians were pretty interested in flight, and this toy might have glided like a hawk.

8. The Petradox

This rock with 3 metallic prongs sticking out of it was designed to work as some electrical conductor. The idea gets pretty cool when you realize that this object in question, famous as the Petradox, was possibly created 100,000 years ago.

9. The King List

This document dates back to pre-history of the Sumerian people. It was originally believed to be a historical one containing a complete list of the nation’s kings. Later it was found to be fictional. No one can know why they'd do that!

10. The Codex Gigas

This is the world’s most massive illustrated manuscript, also famous as the Devil’s Bible. The story goes as follows: a monk made a deal with the devil when he had to deal with his execution, and the book was the result of their pact. There is no way of knowing for sure, however.

11. Solid Aluminum

In 1974, construction workers found this solid chunk of aluminum they estimated to be 400 years old. That might not sound remarkable until you learn that aluminum is made by humans and that it was produced like that until the 1800s.

12. The Olmec’s Giant Head

Between 1400 and 400 B.C.E, an ancient civilization famous as the Olmec lived in what is now Guatemala. This giant head they sculpted is unlike anything else they made, mainly because of its Caucasian features.

13. Mysterious Machines

Metal springs, eyelets, and spirals were discovered in layers of 100,000-year-old sediment. The objects could be between 20,000 and 100,000 years old, but people only began to work with metal 9,000 years ago making their origins super mysterious.

14. The Baghdad Battery

This 2000-year-old, 5.5-inch clay vessel has a copper cylinder held inside it by asphalt. Inside the cylinder was an oxidized iron rod. People initially believed it was an ancient battery source; now it seems more likely that it used to be a storage vessel.

15. Bolshoi Zayatsky Island Labyrinth

In 3,000 B.C.E., prehistoric people used to built villages on this Russian island. These communities often contained ancient mazes like this one. To this day their purpose is still unknown.

16. The London Hammer

In the 1930s, a couple that was going for a walk found this rock with a strange handle sticking out of it. It appears that the rock in question was approximately 400 million years old and that the hammer inside was perhaps even older!

17. The Polonnaruwa Meteorite

When this meteorite fell to earth in 2013, it was thought to contain algae from a planet other than Earth. If that were the case, it would be the first non-Earth algae ever recovered. Some scientists speculated that the algae were not from another planet.

18. Stonehenge

The mysterious ring of stones in England is thought to be over 4,000 years old. To this day nobody is entirely certain why it was created and what purpose it might have served when it was built.

19. Mysterious chalk

When 65-million-year-old Cretaceous chalk ovoids were discovered in France, researchers were flummoxed. They seemed to have been deliberately created, but humans were not around then, so how on earth were they made?

20. Mysterious Codes

In addition to the giant head sculptures on Easter Island, there are also numerous pieces of code carved into the rocks. Even now researchers are trying to figure out what these ancient carvings could mean.

21. Ancient stone walls

Throughout Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, these low rising ancient walls dot the terrain. For years people have wondered why they were built. Some historians believe that they were probably used to catch animals.

22. Hidden treasure

An ancient copper scroll was discovered at the archaeological site of Qumran in 1952 which described a secret bounty of treasure. The scroll is over 2,000 years old, but the treasure it details has never been found.

23. The Piri Reis Map

This map was drawn in 1513 by Piri Reis—an admiral of the Turkish Navy. It depicted Europe, North Africa, the coast of Brazil, some islands, and Antarctica, which supposedly was not discovered for 300 more years! How weird is that?

24. Witch Bottles

In the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, keeping “witch bottles” in your home was normal. These bottles were full of charms such as hair and fingernails which were meant to prevent witches from causing you harm.

25. Aluminum Chunk

When this 300 million-year-old coal deposit was found in Russia, researchers were puzzled to find a piece of the modern aluminum inside of it. Some people speculated the involvement of aliens, while others figured it was a piece of mining equipment.

26. Jesus’s Death Shroud

When this shroud was turned over to the Roman Catholic Church in 1353, they recorded it as being the official death shroud of Jesus Christ. Later carbon dating proved that the fabric was produced in the 14th century, which made that highly unlikely.

27. The Ark of the Covenant

You possibly best know this object from its appearance in Raiders of the Lost Ark which featured the beloved college professor-cum-adventurer, Indiana Jones. While rumors of its existence have persisted for years, no actual ark has ever been officially documented.

28. The Nazca Lines

These pieces of art span over 200 miles of land in Peru and were believed to have been created between 1 and 700 AD. No one knows who made these cool works of art, or what symbolism they might hold.

29. Potbelly Hill

In the Urfa plain of southeast Turkey sit the remains of a temple known as Potbelly Hill. Despite the lighthearted name, this site is really serious. It was 5,000 years older than Stonehenge and was believed to be the first place human beings ever practiced religion.

30. The Voynich Manuscript

Found in 1912, this 600-year-old book was infamous for being written in a language that nobody could read! For years it was thought to be in a code, although researchers now consider it to be a language from East Asia.

31. The Sanxingdui Treasures

In China, numerous caches of treasure from a dynasty that collapsed more than 3,000 years ago have been recovered. Strangely enough, nobody knows why the treasure was buried in the first place!

32. Noah’s Ark

In the story of Noah in the Old Testament, Noah built an ark to help him, his family, and some lucky animals survive a flood sent by God to wipe out the planet. Although many people claim to have discovered this boat, it remains undiscovered for now.

33. The City of Nan Madol

This city was built near Micronesia in 200 B.C.E. It was constructed using pieces of coral reef. How on earth the people responsible managed to complete such a feat still has historians baffled today.

Reference: Boredom Therapy