We love to emphasize human development. And for good reason,
it's amazing how far we've come in the last centuries, decades, and even years.
Science advances in leaps, introducing one groundbreaking invention after the
other, fueling our minds with thoughts about the next big thing.
But that doesn't mean that we were clueless in the past. If
we were to dig a little bit in history, it would reveal that people have always
had the capacity to outdo themselves. Yes, the tools might have been different
and not so sophisticated, but some of the artifacts that survived the test of
time still surprise us to this day.
Here's a collection of man-made things shared on arguably
the biggest online history catalog, Museum of Artifacts. They definitely didn't
lose the "wow" factor!
Check this out: Museum Of Artifacts
Michelangelo's Moses is a marble sculpture made in 1513–15.
One of the many details of this masterpiece is one very small muscle in the
forearms that contracts only when lifting the pinky, otherwise it is invisible.
Moses is lifting the pinky, therefore that tiny muscle is contracted.
An 8-mile long "canvas" filled with ice age
drawings of extinct animals has been discovered in the Amazon rainforest.
Wonderful 2000-year-old sapphire ring presumably belonged to
Roman emperor Caligula, thought depicting his fourth wife Caesonia.
In 1965, excavations in Mezhyrich, Ukraine, revealed the
presence of 4 huts, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones. These dwellings,
which are about 15,000 years old, are some of the oldest shelters known to have
been constructed by pre-historic man.
First ever drawings of the moon made by Galileo Galeili
after observing it through his telescope in 1609.
The Veiled Christ, a 1753 marble sculpture by Giuseppe
Sanmartino exhibited in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples. Due to its incredible
detail, there was a legend that said that the statue was covered by real veil
and slowly transformed over time into marble via chemical processes.
1,500-year-old Ceramic Maya Figurine with Removable Helmet,
from El Perú-Waka', Petén, Guatemala.
A newspaper ad from 1865 of an 18 year old man looking for a
wife.
Detail of the Hercules armor of the Emperor Maximilian II of
Austria. Made in 1555, it's now on display at the Kunsthistorisches museum in
Vienna.
An early example of a successful cranioplasty (Peru, ca. 400
CE). The patient survived, as evidenced by the well-healed in situ cranioplasty
made from a gold inlay. Now on display at the Gold Museum of Peru and Weapons
of the World in Lima.
Prague's astrological clock is the oldest still functioning
clock in the world, 1410.
In the small village of Nashtifan, Iran, some of the oldest
windmills in the world still spin. Made of natural clay, straw, and wood, the
windmills have been milling grain for flour for an estimated 1,000 years.
A 17th-century Ottoman three-mast tent made of silk and
gilded leather. Now on display at the Turkish Chamber in the Dresden Armoury.
Bowl with Fish, Iran, probably Kashan (late 13th–mid-14th
century).
2300 years old Scythian woman's boot preserved in the frozen
ground of the Altai Mountains.
2000-year-old Roman face cream/lotion. Dating back to II AD.
Object was found in the temple complex dedicated to Mars. It's world's oldest
cosmetic face cream and it has finger marks in the lid.
A Viking era ring inscribed with the words 'for Allah',
found in the grave of a woman who was buried 1200 years ago in Birka, 25 km
west of modern-day Stockholm. The ring constitutes a unique material evidence
of direct contact between the Vikings and the Abbasid Caliphate.
Ancient ‘Beware of Dog’ Sign From 2,000 Years Ago. A mosaic
in front of a Roman poet's house in Pompeii, 1st Century AD. "Cave
Canem"/caveat canine/beware of dog.
Mourning clothes worn by count Magnus Brahe at the funeral
of king Karl XIV Johan of Sweden in 1844.
An ancient Egyptian gold ring with a carnelian bezel in form
of a cat. From the Third Intermediate Period (1070–712 BC), it's now in the
collection of the British Museum.
Small sculpture of death with a bow made in 1520 Germany.
Samurai helmet (kabuko) shaped like an octopus. 1700s,
Japan.
Incan Wall, a fine example of master Stonemasonry. Cuzco,
1400's.
3400 yo painter's palette from ancient Egypt, Amenhotep III
era.
"Ratto di Proserpina" is a large Baroque marble
sculptural group by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1621
and 1622. Bernini was only 23 years old at its completion. Now on display at
the Galleria Borghese in Rome.
Stockings, 1830, cotton/silk.
Detail from the "unswept floor" mosaic made by
Heraclitus, showing a mouse eating a walnut. 2nd century CE, now on display at
the Vatican Museums.
A gun hidden within a bible, made for Francesco Morozini,
Doge of Venice (1619-1694). The owner of the bible could pull the silk bookmark
to shoot while the book was still closed. Now on display at the Museo Correr in
Venice.
A Roman bathhouse still in use after 2,000 years in
Khenchela, Algeria.
Ivory carving of a skull and coiled snake with carnelian
eyes. Japan, Edo period, 1860.
Elaborate Ottoman-era birdhouses resembling miniature
palaces and mosques.
An amateur treasure hunter with a metal detector turned up a
Medieval, gold ring that was set with a sapphire stone in Sherwood Forest, haunt
of the legendary (or real) Robin Hood. Experts have examined the ring and
believe it may date to the 14 th century.
Two books I picked up from the Goodwill where I work. The
one on the left was printed in 1711 and is a collection of Pliny the Younger’s
letters. The one on the right was printed in 1771 and is a school book about
Greek Mythology.
14000 years old bisons sculptures found in Le Tuc
d'Audoubert cave. Ariege, France.
Abuna Yemata Guh is a monolithic church located in the
Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is situated at a height of 2,580 metres (its
entrance is highlighted by a red circle) and has to be climbed on foot to
reach. It is notable for its wall paintings dating back to the 5th century.
An Inuit otter amulet. Engraved and pigmented ivory,
c.1870-1880.
Crystal spearhead found in a 5,000-year-old megalithic tomb
in Spain. The tomb had the remains of 25 individuals, several of whom had
consumed a poisonous substance.
A Roman toddler's footprint in a red clay tile, imprinted as
it was drying ~2000 years ago. Vaison-la-Romaine (ancient Vasio Vocontiorum).
One of the 4000-year-old well-preserved wagons unearthed in
the Lchashen village in the vicinity of Lake Sevan. Made of oak, they are the
oldest known wagons in the world. Now on display at the History Museum of
Armenia.
2000 year-old glass mosaics, from the ancient city of Zeugma
in Turkey.
Thirteen-year-old Israeli goes foraging for mushrooms,
stumbles upon a Byzantine burial inscription.
Chand Baori, the largest and deepest stepwell in India. It
consists of 3500 narrow steps over 13 stories and extends 30 m into the ground.
The oldest parts of the stepwell date from the 8th century, while the upper
stories with the columned arcade around it were built in the 18th century.
The Da Vinci Globe, dated 1504, is the oldest known globe to
show the New World. Engraved with immaculate detail on two conjoined lower
halves of ostrich eggs.
Oldest surviving pair of Levis jeans, 1879.
9000 year old cave painting in Tassili cave Algeria.
Depicting a shaman during psychedelic mushroom use.
The ceiling of the 2000 years old hypostyle hall of the
temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt.
(1528-29) German hunting knife that's also a gun, that's
also a calendar.
Breastplate Armor of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1549.
A cabin on board the Aachen, a 19th-century steamship hit by
a torpedo in July 1915. Now located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Curious Artefacts: Hitler's Telephone, one of the deadliest
weapons of all times
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