History is filled with mysteries, some small scale like the
origins of a book and others on a very large scale such as the disappearance of
an entire civilization.
I recently came across a list of 10 historical mysteries
that don't seem to get too much attention.
The Tarim Mummies
An archaeological excavation beneath the Tarim Basin in
western China unearthed more than 100 mummified corpses dating back more than
2000 years. Even though dug up in China,
when a college professor viewed the mummies in a museum, he was shocked to
discover they had blonde hair and long noses. In 1993 he returned to the museum to collect
DNA samples from the mummies. Tests
validated his belief, showing that the bodies were of European genetic stock. Ancient Chinese texts from as early as the
first millennium BC mention groups of Caucasian people living in the far east,
but there is no mention on any living in the Tarim Basin.
The Voynich
Manuscript
This is quite possibly the most unreadable book in the
world. The 500-year-old, 240 page
manuscript was discovered in 1912 at a library in Rome. It contains illustrations and writing in an
unknown language. The best
cryptographers have been unable to decipher the text, but statistical analysis
of the writing shows that it does seem to follow the basic structure and laws
of a working language.
Who Was Robin Hood?
The real-life existence of a bandit living in the forest who
stole from the rich and gave to the poor is more plausible than the legendary
King Author and a magical sword named Excalibur. The historical hunt for the real Robin Hood
has discovered several possibilities including Robert Hod, a fugitive in
Yorkshire who went by Hobbehod as well as Robert Hood of Wakefield. The name Robin Hood eventually became
synonymous with being an outlaw. His
identity would later become even murkier as various authors wove more
characters into the tale such as Prince John and Richard the Lionhearted.
The Carnac Stones
As with the construction of Stonehenge, it was a
backbreaking task for the people responsible for the Carnac Stones. On the coast of Brittany, in northwestern
France, there are over 3000 megalithic standing stones arranged in exacting
lines and spread out over 12 kilometers (7.2 miles). The local myth explains them as a Roman
legion on the march when the wizard Merlin turned them to stone. The identity of the Neolithic people who
build them is unknown.
The Bog Bodies
Hundreds of these ancient bodies have been discovered buried
around the northern wetlands of Europe.
Researchers who inspected them have found tell-tale signs of torture and
medieval foul play. These clues have led
some to suspect that the dead were victims of ritual sacrifice. [I recall reading about an incident in England,
I think in the 1800s, where a body was found in a bog and it was so well
preserved that the locals believed it to be a recent murder which resulted in a
police investigation.]
Disappearance Of The
Indus Valley Civilization
The ancient Indus Valley people were India's oldest known
civilization. Their bronze-age culture
stretched from western India to Afghanistan with a population of over 5
million. Their abrupt decline rivaled
that of the Mayans. Excavations in 1922
uncovered a culture that maintained a sophisticated sewage drainage system and
immaculate bathrooms, but found no evidence of armies, slaves, social
conflicts, or other vices prevalent in ancient societies.
The Lost Roman Legion
After an underachieving Roman army led by General Crassus
was defeated by Persia, legend says that a small band of POWs wandered through
the desert and were captured by the Han military. An Oxford historian who compared ancient
records claimed that the lost Roman legion founded a small town near the Gobi
Desert named Liqian, which is Chinese for Rome.
DNA tests are being conducted to hopefully explain some of the
residents' green eyes and blond hair.
Fall Of The Minoans
The fall of the Minoan Empire has proven just as puzzling as
the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Approximately 3,500 years ago, life on Crete was disrupted by a huge
volcanic eruption on the neighbor island of Thera. Ancient clay tablets show that the Minoan
Empire continued for another 50 years.
Theories about their demise include a blanket of ash devastating their
crops and another one says their weakened society was left vulnerable to an
eventual Greek takeover.
Lost City Of Helike
The Greek writer Pausanias wrote about a great earthquake
that destroyed the city of Helike followed by a tsunami that swept away what
remained. The once flourishing city had
been a worship center devoted to Poseidon.
No trace of this legendary society existed outside of ancient Greek
texts until 1861 when a bronze coin was found showing the head of Poseidon. In 2001, the ruins of Helike were located
beneath coastal mud and gravel. Work is
currently under way to unearth what some consider the real Atlantis.
Rongorongo
Rongorongo is an indecipherable hieroglyphic writing used by
the early inhabitants of Easter Island, often referred to as the other Easter Island mystery. Rongorongo appeared mysteriously in the
1700s, at a time when no other neighboring oceanic people had any type of
written language. The language was lost along
with the best hopes of deciphering it when early European colonizers banned it
because of its pagan roots.
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