9 Recent Mysterious Archaeological Findings That Baffle Scientists (Part I)

1. Regal perfume of Queen Cleopatra

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Evidence of perfumery production has been found in Syria, dating back 7,000 years. The results of hieroglyphic analysis help reveal that the ancient Egyptians began making perfume around 3,000 BC, initially for beliefs and sacrifices, then later in embalming.
According to Ancient Egypt Online, the first time the word "Kyphi" (meaning temple’s religious incense) appeared in the pyramids was in between the 5th and 6th dynasties of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (from 2686 – 2181 BC). While these inscriptions does not provide any recipe for creating Kyphi, or list out any specific ingredients, they make it clear that Kyphi was one of the luxuries that pharaohs used on their journey toward Kingdom Come.

Source: Pinterest

Among the pharaohs, Queen Cleopatra was famous for her love of perfume. So what was her scent like? Must have been alluring to help her win the hearts of the era’s heroes, including the Roman dictator Julius Caesar and Roman Consul, Mark Antony respectively.
According to the Mysterious Universe website, the document records: “After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra left Rome to become the queen of Egypt. There she greeted Mark Antony, a Roman politician, on a ship with perfumed sails. Cleopatra’s arrival was announced by clouds of perfume before her barge came into view.” Therefore, Cleopatra's signature perfume is always a mystery sought to be discovered by later generations.

2. Ancient hominid interbreeding

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For three years, anthropologist Alan Rogers has attempted to solve an evolutionary puzzle. His research untangles millions of years of human evolution by analyzing DNA strands from ancient human species known as hominins. Like many evolutionary geneticists, Rogers compares hominin genomes looking for genetic patterns such as mutations and shared genes. He develops statistical methods that infer the history of ancient human populations.
In 2017, Rogers led a study which found that two lineages of ancient humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans, separated much earlier than previously thought and proposed a bottleneck population size. It caused some controversy—anthropologists Mafessoni and Prüfer argued that their method for analyzing the DNA produced different results. Rogers agreed, but realized that neither method explained the genetic data very well.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

“Both of our methods under discussion were missing something, but what?” asked Rogers, professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.
The new study has solved that puzzle and in doing so, it has documented the earliest known interbreeding event between ancient human populations—a group known as the “super-archaics” in Eurasia interbred with a Neanderthal-Denisovan ancestor about 700,000 years ago. The event was between two populations that were more distantly related than any other recorded. The authors also proposed a revised timeline for human migration out of Africa and into Eurasia. The method for analyzing ancient DNA provides a new way to look farther back into the human lineage than ever before.
“We’ve never known about this episode of interbreeding and we’ve never been able to estimate the size of the super-archaic population,” said Rogers, lead author of the study. “We’re just shedding light on an interval on human evolutionary history that was previously completely dark.”

3. Long-lost chapel discovered in Auckland

Source: Durham Archaelogy

Excavations at Auckland Castle, County Durham, have discovered a long-lost 14th-century chapel associated with the influential Bishop Bek. Historical records document the construction of the chapel in the early 1300s. They describe it as a large building, ‘sumptuously constructed’ – reflecting the status of Anthony Bek, who was Prince Bishop of Durham from 1284 to 1310, and an extremely powerful figure in medieval Britain.
The chapel was demolished in the 1650s, after the Civil War, and, although its remains were known to exist at Auckland Castle, the exact location remained a mystery until it was revealed by research carried out by The Auckland Project and Durham University.

Source: Andy Gammon Art & Design

Several years of excavations uncovered a huge building: 12m wide and 40m long internally, with walls 1.5m thick. Other discoveries, including the bases of huge stone columns inside the building, buttresses along its side, and even part of the floor, confirmed the identity of the building as the medieval chapel.
Several beautiful artefacts were discovered that reflect the high-status ecclesiastical occupation of the site, including two book clasps, an enamelled mount possibly depicting St Cuthbert, and what is believed to be a part from stained-glass working equipment, made from extremely rare baleen (whalebone). A few examples of imports from continental Europe were also found, including the enamel band of a liturgical vessel from Limoges, and a wine glass with shell decoration of Iberian design.

4. World’s oldest intact shipwreck

Source: YouTube

Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the world’s oldest intact shipwreck at the bottom of the Black Sea where it appears to have lain undisturbed for more than 2,400 years.
The 23-metre (75ft) vessel, thought to be ancient Greek, was discovered with its mast, rudders and rowing benches all present and correct just over a mile below the surface. A lack of oxygen at that depth preserved it, the researchers said.

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“A ship surviving intact from the classical world, lying in over 2km of water, is something I would never have believed possible,” said Professor Jon Adams, the principal investigator with the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (MAP), the team that made the find. “This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world.”
The ship is believed to have been a trading vessel of a type that researchers say has only previously been seen “on the side of ancient Greek pottery such as the ‘Siren Vase’ in the British Museum”.