At the current rate of discovery, there will soon be no mysteries left to solve, leaving all manner of scientists unemployed. Just kidding, the wacky minds of past civilizations have left us plenty of work, sometimes inconsequential but always enlightening.
10 Egyptian Animals
The ancient Egyptians were keen naturalists and tedious archivists, allowing modern researchers to piece together the region’s ecology as it flourished 6,000 years ago.
Animal iconography was a common motif, and the assortment of local beasts was preserved through a variety of media, including carvings, rock art, ceremonial pieces, and murals on tomb walls. Combined, these sources provide a thorough record of Egyptian fauna and a depressing reminder that of the 37 large mammal species that once roamed the Earth, only eight remain.
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The picture was strikingly different in the pre-Christ era: Egypt mirrored a North African Serengeti, inhabited by all manner of savanna dwellers, including lions, wildebeests, zebras, and wild dogs. Sadly, a good number of these creatures were lost during periods of drought, although human competition and loss of habitat are also to blame.
With many elements of an ecosystem codependent, the process is accelerated as each new species is returned to dust. For example, every herbivore that dies off provides one less food source for predators. Researchers warn that the few survivors are at greater risk now than at virtually any time since the end of the last ice age.
9 The Downfall Of Cahokia
About 1,000 years ago, Cahokia was North America’s greatest city, composed of 120 mounds spread out over 15 square kilometers (6 mi2) of the mighty Mississippi-adjacent floodplain. At one point, the city boasted a population of 20,000, larger than that of London and other prominent European centers. Some estimates place an even more impressive 40,000 inhabitants within its ancient city limits.
The settlement flourished until about 600–700 years ago when its population—already in decline and reeling from the political struggles inherent to all civilizations—was apparently decimated by some mysterious natural disaster. Now it appears that a series of megafloods was to blame.
The discovery was somewhat accidental. Researchers were dredging up sediment from Horseshoe Lake near the city’s epicenter. They were in search of fossilized remains, artifacts, and pollen to gauge the extent of human activity at Cahokia.
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Instead, they found evidence for numerous past flooding events, which regularly occurred before Cahokia was founded. The floods took a hiatus and then returned with a vengeance around the time that the population declined. Therefore, the city’s great riparian lifeline, which ensured its existence, guaranteed its downfall as well.
8 Mysterious Cave Mural
Archaeologists working at a Neolithic hot spot near the Turkish city of Konya were baffled by a cave mural depicting what appears to be an extensive collection of Etch A Sketches enshrined beneath a leopard-skin rug.
Initially discovered during previous excavations in the 1960s, researchers had not been able to agree on the interpretation of the mural. Some considered it the world’s oldest map, showing the ancient community at Catalhoyuk during its apogee around 9,000 years ago. Others chalked it up to crazy, prehistoric abstractions—unknowable themes dreamed up by artists who are long gone.
Researchers now believe they’ve cracked the conundrum: The mural records a past volcanic eruption. The cells represent the settlement viewed from above, the odd spotted object is nearby Mount Hassan, and the formerly unintelligible lines branching therefrom are flows of magma and pillars of smoke.
Supporting that hypothesis, the mound pictured in the mural has two humps of similar size like those on Mount Hassan, which are known as Small and Big Mount Hassan. Furthermore, pieces of pumice (ejected volcanic rocks) found within the area suggest that an eruption occurred about 8,900 years ago when Catalhoyuk was thriving.
