Buzz
Ongoing revelations, ranging from ancient manuscripts and fossils to unusual medieval artifacts, continue to reshape how society views past civilizations, offering a glimpse into eras we can hardly imagine. Even objects dating back just a few decades bring excitement by contributing another missing piece to the historical jigsaw puzzle.
The following list highlights some of the most remarkable discoveries made in recent years.
10. The Fiery Orb
On June 7, 1195, a solitary, massive dark cloud appeared against an otherwise clear blue sky above Norwich. Without warning, a spinning, fiery sphere emerged from this ominous cloud and plummeted toward Earth, landing near a river. While this might seem like an imaginative legend, an account of the event is documented in a monastic chronicle written by Gervase, a monk who served at Christ Church Cathedral in Canterbury.
Historians now consider (as of early 2022) this event to be the first reliable written documentation of ball lightning in England. Before this discovery, experts thought the earliest recorded sighting of this rare phenomenon occurred in the 17th century.
Gervase was an avid observer of celestial phenomena, and his thorough descriptions of what he witnessed emerging from the cloud strongly resemble later reports of ball lightning. Physicist Emeritus Professor Brian Tanner and historian Professor Giles Gasper were examining a medieval text when they stumbled upon Gervase's account. They shared their findings in January 2022.
9. The Death Dragons
'Dragons of Death' may seem like a title from *Game of Thrones*, but in reality, it refers to a thrilling discovery made in the Andes Mountains. A press release from 2022 revealed that a new species of pterosaur had been identified in these mountains, a creature that ruled the skies around 86 million years ago.
Among the well-preserved fossils, researchers found vertebrae and bones from both fore- and hind-limbs. These remains belong to the largest pterosaur ever to fly in South America. The fossils are kept at the Laboratory and Museum of Dinosaurs, where visitors can view a life-size replica of the pterosaur on display.
In December 2023, a remarkable prehistoric find made headlines. Fossil hunters unveiled a massive pliosaur skull measuring six and a half feet in length, discovered in a rock cliff along England's Jurassic Coast. This extraordinary fossil, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the skull of a fiery dragon, could potentially belong to a previously unidentified species, according to scientists.
While walking along the beach, fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs spotted a part of the ancient creature's snout. He reached out to local palaeontologist Steve Etches, and together, using a drone, they discovered the rest of the skull embedded 36 feet (11 meters) above the ground. After weeks of careful chiseling, they managed to extract the enormous fossilized skull. It is set to be displayed at the Etches Collection Museum in Kimmeridge, England, in 2024. Jacobs and Etches plan to revisit the cliff in search of more of the creature’s remains.
8. Vampire Slaying Kit
Imagine living in a time when keeping a vampire-hunting kit at home was necessary. Lord Hailey of Britain surely thought so. His box of vampire repellents recently fetched $15,000 (£13,000) at a Derbyshire auction. The kit contained crosses, crucifixes, a wooden stake, rosary beads, pistols, a Bible, and a bottle of holy water, with two crucifixes on the lid that doubled as secret sliding locks.
Along with the vampire-slaying items, the kit came with a document outlining the registration of an 'alien enemy' from 1915. As with many mysterious relics, the box attracted attention worldwide, drawing bids from the U.S., Canada, and France.
A vampire hunting kit might have been quite useful for the people of 17th-century Poland. In 2022, archaeologists revealed they had uncovered the burial of a woman, whose neck was secured by a sickle. This sickle was positioned in such a way that if the woman, believed to be a vampire, were to rise from her coffin, the blade would sever her head. Additionally, to ensure the dead stayed in her grave, the corpse was shackled by a padlock on her big toe.
7. 1,800-Year-Old Curse
Throughout history, fear of vampires was not the only widespread terror—there was also an intense global belief in and dread of curses.
A man named Jacob, who embraced Judaism before passing away nearly eighteen centuries ago, inscribed a curse in red ink. He instructed that this warning be placed on his grave to deter grave robbers. Written in Greek, it threatened that anyone who dared to disturb his tomb would be struck by a curse. The inscription also mentioned his age at death, 60 years, and confirmed that he was a full convert, along with his name.
The tombstone was unearthed in 2021 in a national park in Galilee, northern Israel, near the Jewish Beit She’arim cemetery. The discovery was documented in a May 2022 press release by the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, with photos of the marker included.
In 2021, archaeologists uncovered a 'curse jar' in the Agora of Athens, dating back 2,300 years, which was used to place a curse on at least 55 individuals. Upon examining the jar's contents, researchers found the dismembered head and legs of a chicken. The exterior of the jar was etched with the names of 55 people. It is believed that this jar was integral to a binding curse ritual practiced by the Athenians. Experts speculate that the curse was designed to affect the physical and mental capabilities of those named.
6. Largest Predatory Dinosaur
The excitement of fossil discoveries never wanes, as each find adds to our understanding of ancient creatures and dinosaurs.
In June 2022, paleontologists revealed a new fossil of a spinosaurid dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight. This species, named the 'White Rock' spinosaurid, was one of the largest land predators in Europe. Measuring over 33 feet (10 meters) in length, it possessed a face resembling that of a crocodile.
The fossil was unearthed from the Vectis Formation, a rock face where the spinosaurid once roamed the lagoons. This discovery also lends further support to the theory that spinosaurid dinosaurs originated in western Europe.
5. Deepest Shipwreck in the World
The USS Samuel B. Roberts, a destroyer escort of the U.S. Navy, played a significant role in WWII. It was the first of three Navy ships to bear the same name. During the Battle of Samar, the ship was sunk amidst a powerful display of force by U.S. warships, which successfully thwarted the Imperial Japanese Navy from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet stationed near the island of Leyte.
In March 2022, the last known survivor of the ship passed away. Later that year, in June 2022, it was announced that the wreck of the USS Samuel B. Roberts had been found at a depth of 22,621 feet (6,895 meters) in the Philippine Sea. This wreck, the deepest ever discovered, shows signs of having struck the seafloor bow-first in images captured by a submersible. Additionally, several puncture marks from Japanese shells were visible on the wreck.
The wreck was located by Texan adventurer Victor Vescovo, who is also the first person to have explored the deepest points of Earth's five oceans.
4. Ice Age Cave Bear DNA
Around 25,000 years ago, massive herbivorous cave bears ceased their roaming across Europe and northern Asia. Scientists suggest that the rapid growth of human populations led to a reduction in suitable habitats, particularly caves, causing these bears to eventually disappear.
It was long assumed that cave bears which struggled to build up fat reserves in the summer would die during hibernation. The bones found in caves throughout Europe and northern Asia largely supported this theory. In an effort to learn more about these enigmatic creatures, researchers recovered the genome of a 360,000-year-old cave bear from the Caucasus Mountains in 2021. This marked the oldest genetic material ever extracted from bones not preserved in permafrost.
DNA analysis of the cave bear revealed that these animals first evolved around 1.5 million years ago. More surprisingly, they evolved from a shared ancestor with both brown and polar bears, meaning cave bears branched off into their own lineage before a descendant of an unknown ancestor split into what we now know as the polar bear and brown bear species.
3. Seeing the Universe through a Clearer Lens
In July 2022, the world was introduced to the remarkable capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope, offering a new and mind-blowing perspective of the universe.
NASA shared groundbreaking images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, including never-before-seen views of the cosmos and the deepest-ever infrared view of the universe. The telescope also provided the first glimpse of a second dying star in the Southern Ring Nebula.
The James Webb Telescope revealed previously hidden stages of star formation in the Carina Nebula. It also discovered a supermassive black hole, predating all previous black hole findings. With a mass equivalent to nine million suns, this enormous and ancient black hole remains a mystery that scientists have yet to fully understand.
In a remarkable discovery, the telescope identified a chemical known as methyl cation, which forms a major part of the organic material on Earth. Additionally, it captured images of sandstorms occurring on a distant planet, approximately 235 trillion miles away from Earth.
In October 2023, the James Webb Telescope spotted nearly 40 pairs of planets, each the size of Jupiter, floating freely through the Orion Nebula. The cause behind this phenomenon remains unclear. Furthermore, the telescope may have uncovered signs of life on the exoplanet K2-18b, potentially detecting dimethyl sulfide. This discovery has created tremendous excitement for 2024.
2. Hidden Van Gogh Painting
When you think of Vincent van Gogh and The Starry Night, a missing ear often comes to mind. Van Gogh, widely known for his iconic works, also painted over 35 self-portraits alongside his more famous pieces.
In June 2022, a chance discovery revealed an additional self-portrait by van Gogh. The painting Head of a Peasant Woman was X-rayed before being displayed at an exhibition. While examining the X-ray of the back of the painting, conservators at the National Galleries of Scotland were stunned to uncover an image of van Gogh himself. This self-portrait was particularly striking because it showed the artist with his left ear intact. It is believed this hidden portrait had been covered for over a century, concealed under layers of glue and cardboard when framed in the early 1900s.
1. Remnants of a “Fairy World”
In Sichuan, China, archaeologists made an extraordinary find at an excavation site when they uncovered a series of pits. Among the items discovered were a bronze sculpture depicting a snake with a human head, a bronze box containing jade and gold masks, and a bronze altar.
Experts believe these sculptures and masks represent the “fairy world” that people of the time imagined. The site had already yielded two pits in the 1980s, with six more excavated since 2020. A total of 13,000 artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age have been found. The artifacts suggest ritualistic practices, with some being burned—indicating that those who did so may have believed that the act would open a portal to another realm or seek guidance from it.
