33 Wildly Disturbing Archaeological Finds

Pompeii was pretty bad
33 Wildly Disturbing Archaeological Finds

Most people understand, generally, what archaeology entails. Which is to say, lots of digging in dirt and carefully brushing things off. More specifically, archaeologists are looking to unearth these artifacts in order to learn more about humans of the past.

Unfortunately, because we’re talking about humans, sometimes they find things that aren’t exactly heartwarming. It would be nice if all they ever dug up were pretty vases and married couples’ skeletons still locked in an embrace, but our darker moments are down there in the dirt as well. 

To that end, Redditors shared some of the most disturbing archaeological finds they were aware of. If you’d like to continue thinking the entire globe isn’t one big fat graveyard, I’d stop here.

PleasantSalad 3y ago When I was visiting Savanah | did a kayak tour through Ebenezer Creek. Hundreds of freed slaves followed the Union amy on Sherman's March to the sea. The union army was being sporadically shelled by in the rear by the confederates. The union army built a bridge over the marshy, alligator infested Ebenezer Creek and told the freed people at the rear they could cross once his 14,000 troops had crossed first. Deciding that the freed people had become a burden however, he ordered the bridge to be cut, abandoning 600-1000 freed slaves on the western bank.
SternCoats 3y ago Evidence of a second extinction event level meteor impact. It kind of means that extinction event meteors not only have happened, but are not all that rare of a thing when you take the age of the Earth into consideration.
Much_Committee_9355 . 3y ago There was the huge recent human sacrifice temple in Mexico they recently unearthed that had hug pillar that were decorated with human skulls all the way up to the ceiling.
Southern-Toe5605 Зу ago Vikings' burial sites are pretty disturbing. They were often buried with their wives, slaves and horses. The way Ötzi the Iceman died was pretty gruesome too. Also, all of the mass graves of the past plagues. I live in a city where a couple of years ago a mass grave of hundreds of 19th century cholera victims was discovered. We knew they were there somewhere, we've been finding bones in the ground for years, the discovery was still a shock for people who basically live now on this graveyard...
Melenduwir . Зу ago That there was an entire civilization living in the Amazon Basin that was destroyed by European diseases without Europeans making contact or becoming aware of it, and the Amazon rainforest is a gigantic, overgrown garden.
SquilliamFancySon95 . 3 3y ago The battle of Changping during the warring states period in China when the Qin defeated the Zhao kingdom. It's said the Qin killed over 450,000 and buried their soldiers alive. That region of China continues to find mass graves from that event to this day.
bureau44 Зу ago Göbekli Тере the sheer magnitude and age of the site are itself mind-boggling. A civilization without writing and apparently lacking proper settlements or agriculture continued to develop thus temple complex for thousands of years since 10.000 ВСЕ. Some monoliths might require up to hundred of people to bring and erect them. How did they pass the meaning of this endless project through generations? and the disturbing part: this huge complex was deliberately buried (and thus well preserved) under hundreds cubic tons of dirt around 8000 ВСЕ.
Just_Discussion6287 . Зу ago Homo Erectus mining gold. What was the purpose? Why would a primitive man(two or three species away from sapians) dig 20ft deep holes for a few ounces of metal?
Зу ago I'm less disturbed by what has been found and more so what hasn't. I don't remember the exact percentage (don't smite me) but basically all fossilized organisms only make up 1 to 10% of all life that was once on earth. It's horrifying to think of just how many things or creatures were here before us that will forever be lost to time without any way of possibly knowing anything about them other than the fact we will never know.
DoctorNerdly . Зу ago It's not really a single discovery, more of raw human nature exposed through repeated actions. Fetal skeletal remains are often found in privies near brothels.
Imaginehavinaname 3y ago The Aztec death whistle. It was used to mimic the cries of a human by the Aztec possibly during rituals or in the battlefield, and it worked a little too well. It is very unsettling to hear.
. Зу ago Then infants that were burried wearing a slightly older toddler's skullcap as a hat.
Informal-Salad-7304 Зу ago Edited 3y ago There is a hypothesized group of people called the sea peoples that may have raided and destroyed many villages. There were a LOT of towns near the Mediterranean sea in ВСЕ that burned down. The origins of the Sea Peoples are undocumented but may have originated from a number of different locations, such as western Asia Minor, the Aegean, the Mediterranean islands, and Southern Europe. I only first heard about this mysterious group of people when i was a freshman in college. Here's a quick read if anyone is interested https://www.worldhistory.org/Sea Peoples/
isaidyothnkubttrgo Зу ago In 2016/2017, they unearthed something like 900+ remains of babies who died or were killed by nuns in Tuam (two-um) Galway, Ireland. It was the septic tank of an old site where a laundry used to be. This is a place you were sent if you'd a baby out of wedlock or your family cared too much about how the neighbours thought of them. You washed clothes until you have birth and your baby went to an orphanage. Wealthy Irish, British and American couples came to help the poor babies who's mother was well and alive in
CaptainChats Зу ago Infant Sacrifices in ancient Carthage. This is sort of debated because we don't have direct evidence of child sacrifice, the is no big bloody alter labeled burn babies here. But what we do have is Roman accounts of child sacrifice in Carthage. On its own that isn't super damming, the Roman's accused everyone they didn't like of doing human sacrifices. The part that's disturbing is the remains of infant cremations mixed in with cremated animal remains. This may have just been a Carthaginian burial tradition, an animal sacrifice accompanying a lost child. However the odd thing is
Rodby Зу ago Edited Зу ago The first King of Hawai'i, Kamehameha the Great, united the islands via conquest, and on Oahu he defeated the main force opposing him by trapping them on a cliff (the Pali) and essentially shoving them off. In the 1960's when they began building a highway through the mountains, they at one point were doing construction in the area where the battle was fought, and the construction unearthed hundreds of skulls and human remains. To this day no one camps or hikes in the valley beneath the Pali because of several supernatural incidents many believe
DepressoPls Зу ago Edited Зу ago King Tuts tomb. I saw a picture of the seal that was on the tomb entrance before it was opened and idk why but it made me feel so sad and disturbed that it was opened. I know it was a great discovery and taught us a lot about ancient Egypt but it's still sad. I wish a little that their tombs wouldn't be disturbed and would last for thousands of years more without being discovered.
Dendad6972 2 . 3y ago Pompeii is up there.
3y ago Not maybe as old as other discoveries, but I'm consistently disturbed by all of the children they are finding buried at old residential schools across Canada and the United States. Thousands and Thousands of children. Buried and hidden from history until now.
prostateExamination . Зу ago Just imagine being the first guy to dig up a skull of a t rex
HoopOnPoop Зу ago Not really archeological in the sense of having been dug up from ancient times but the fully preserved dead bodies on Everest and other mountains. The fact that some are/were actually used as landmarks to mark paths and distances is super creepy to me.
SecretPersonality178 . 3y ago That lake at the bottom of the ocean that was so dense the submarine bounced off.
Creme_Bru-Doggs Зу ago Going through the journals of conquistadors, there's evidence Mesoamerica had philosophical schools the equal of Western/Eastern traditions, but completely unique. As you might imagine, eradicating all traces of it was one of the Church's biggest priorities. Give the book '1491' a read, it includes a HEARTBREAKING transcript of a philosophical/theological debate between Aztec and Spanish priests.
Fine-Strategy-6804 . 3y ago Mayan temples where remnants of blood flowed down after a heart was taken out of the chest of someone who was sacrificed.
. Зу ago The fact that we've had 5 extinction events, and that the 6th and largest is staring us in the face and we are still arguing over politics, borders and most people think god(s) going to appear any minute now and bestow eternal bliss as a reward. I find it hard not to panic about that sometimes.
3y ago It's not exactly archaeological but it's somewhat adjacent. In my hometown area in Massachusetts there's a manmade reservoir called the Quabbin, several towns were eminent domained and forced to move to create a water supply for Boston. As part of the process they had to demolish houses and dig up graveyards. More than a few bodies had to be moved into new coffins and they discovered more than a few people had been mistakenly buried alive. How did they know? They found scratches on the lids of the coffins and lining material under their nails.
kezzadafourth . 3y ago The body that was accidentally dug up while making a new parking lot that turns out to be the true king of England
Зу ago Bog bodies. Being able to see the final pained facial expression of a murdered/sacrificed person, as well as the extraordinarily well- preserved details of the wounds that ended their life, after hundreds or even thousands of years... it's almost hard to fathom what you're looking at.
spiritgaming14 . 3y ago Not sure if this counts but the Dyatlov Pass Incident, hikers found with horrific injuries. Two found in there underwear, one was found without eyes or a tongue.
LeeodoreRoosevelt Зу ago There were several child mummies found in the Andes as part of human sacrifice rituals. They were supposedly drugged, sealed into an underground room and died from exposure. I guess it's not that disturbing if it was considered highly honorable to die that way by Incan society
can u tell its me a Зу ago Neolithic structure housing 3-4 deep pits full of severed body parts. One pit was just hands, one was just feet etc. | was sure that it was a German site, COS the book I read was about European paganism, but all I can find is this story about a pit of hands in Egypt from 2012.
a 3y ago There's evidence of ancient solar storms about 9,200 years ago that devastated life on earth. The fact that there's nothing we can do about the inevitable next one, and we don't know when that's going to happen, is terrifying.
youburyitidigitup Зу ago Edited Зу ago Archaeology student here. Here's one I learned in class. A pueblo village went through a horrible drought and famine. A dwelling was found with the remains of a family that had died violently and had several cut marks all over their body. They also found a human coprolite (ancient poop). It is common practice to run chemical analyses of coprolites to figure out a person's last meal. It was human flesh. The DNA of the flesh particles matched the DNA of the family. Somebody murdered and ate the family, then pooped in the house.

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