Science in The World presents you: archaeological discoveries that will keep you up tonight!
I don’t know if you’ve ever imagined that history lies only a couple of inches under us, waiting and waiting for the archaeologists to dig in and show it to the world, but that’s reality. We have plenty of evidence for everything just beneath us, but we only know about it when someone decides to share with the rest of the world.
Archaeological discoveries and the overall act of digging up the past have not only helped people put together details about the history and the way everything was brought to life but also turned up shocking finds that are as mind-blowing as they’re disturbing.
Whether good or bad, these magnificent archaeological discoveries are important for experts as well as ordinary people seeking to understand the world before them, centuries ago. It’s true that some discoveries confirm old theories about history, while others don’t give us any details but rather more and more questions.
Every scientific discovery unravels a piece of history, so if you want to know more about the things that happened in the past, long before all of us stepped foot on this planet, this article is for you. However, I must warn you that it will be more of a disturbing journey, but it is still one that is worth talking about.
If you’re up for it, let’s unravel today’s story because it’s time to talk about some archaeological discoveries that will keep you up tonight!
1. Buried children
The first one of these archaeological discoveries that is more likely to disturb you was discovered in Canada in 2021. Many years ago, between the late 19th and late 20th centuries, the Canadian government built and boarded a couple of schools that educated around 150,000 Indigenous children.
The majority of these creepy residential schools closed their doors by 1998, but their frightening legacy continues to shape and scare generations of Canadians.
The reason I say such strong words is that experts discovered that many of these schools abused the kids under their care, with the main objective of estranging them from their cultural heritage and strenuously integrating them into white Canadian society.
If you thought that this story already sounded terrifying, wait until you read the rest of it, because newer archeological discoveries have only expanded the terror of these “educational” institutions.
Over 1,300 unmarked graves, which more likely contain students’ remains, have been discovered at different schools in western Canada. According to experts, burying kids in unmarked graves helped these schools fulfill their disturbing missions, meaning that it was easier for them to erase those kids from history while also erasing their own tracks and attempts to dehumanize them.
Some people who are familiar with the tragic things that happened in these schools’ territories said that sometimes children had to dig their classmates’ graves, so you can only imagine how much trauma these poor kids suffered.
We have many other disturbing archaeological discoveries to cover today, so keep reading!
2. The Inca Ice Mummies
We know mountains as one of nature’s most beautiful things, being the perfect places to go when we want to enjoy gorgeous landscapes and move our bodies at the same time. But hundreds of years ago, people used mountains as the perfect places to perform their sacrifices.
The Inca Ice Mummies are the second archaeological discovery we’ll talk about, and what you’re about to read might shock and amaze you at the same time. In 1999, a group of experts went on an excavation trip in the Andes Mountains, where they discovered the bodies of three 500-year-old mummified children on Llullaillaco, which is a gorgeous but extremely cold peak bordering Chile and Argentina.
The mountaintop is so cold that its severe freezing conditions ensured the kids’ bodies were fantastically well-preserved, hence the name ice mummies. The incredibly good conditions the bodies were in helped researchers gather more information regarding the circumstances in which these children lost their lives.
One of the three bodies recovered from the mountain belonged to a girl nicknamed Llullaillaco Maiden, or Ice Maiden, who was only 13 years old at the time of her death.
Experts ran a couple of tests and discovered that she was drugged with coca, which is the plant from which cocaine is derived, and alcohol, then left to die on the freezing mountaintop. She wasn’t all alone, as experts discovered that there were two other ice mummies with her, both much younger.
The reason why the 3 children were left to perish on the freezing mountain was that they were sacrifices in a ritual that was meant to make the gods have mercy on the people, giving them rain, health, food to eat, and strength to recover from devastating disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
All of these archaeological discoveries are bizarre, but in this case, people used to believe that the person sacrificed would have an amazing afterlife and the family of the “offering” would have everyone’s respect, support, love, and appreciation.
3. The Lake of Skeletons
Okay, let’s continue with these archaeological discoveries because it’s time to talk about what is known as The Lake of Skeletons. Roopkund Lake sits approximately 16,000 feet above sea level in the breathtaking Indian Himalayas and is frozen for many months throughout the year.
In 1942, while doing his duty, a policeman was around the lake and discovered something that terrified him: several creepy creatures in and around the water. After different investigations, experts discovered the remains of hundreds of individuals. Who were these people, what happened to them, and why were their bodies there?
I guess it’s safe to say that the thing connecting all of these archaeological discoveries is the creepy factor. And this one is no exception. After several excavations and analyses, one of the experts’ theories was that those people were killed by a strong hailstorm, but they’re still not sure about what actually happened.
We’re not done with these bizarre archaeological discoveries, so keep reading!
4. What about cannibalization?
These archaeological discoveries keep getting weirder and weirder, and now it’s time to say a couple of things about cannibalization. Hundreds of years ago, Jamestown was England’s first deep-rooted settlement in North America. It wasn’t easy for the village to sustain itself because there were hard times people faced, such as starvation and diseases.
But the biggest challenge occurred in the 17th century, in the winter of 1609–1610. That tough year was known by people as starvation time, and colonists in Jamestown struggled to find food. Experts believe that more than half of the population didn’t live to see the trees blooming in the spring.
The ones who survived the starvation started eating horses, mice, leather, and sometimes even each other, as some sources suggest. Archaeological discoveries can give us plenty of information regarding things that happened in the past, and in 2012, a group of archaeologists wanted to know more about the difficult year people in Jamestown went through.
They started digging, and they made a terrible discovery: the remains of a 14-year-old girl showed proof that people performed acts of cannibalism. The tests showed that her bones had marks that seemed to have been made with a sharp knife, and her flesh was most likely cut away to serve as food for those in terrible hunger.
I don’t know about you, but my face is looking all weird while I’m typing about these archaeological discoveries, and I’m pretty sure I won’t forget about them anytime soon. But enough about me. Which one of these archaeological discoveries did you find the most disturbing?
If you want to read more about archaeological discoveries, I recommend you check out this book because it’s much more detailed and comprehensive than what I’ve included here, so you don’t want to miss it!
Until next time, here’s another article you have to check out: 7 Crazy Things That Happened During Surgery
