OOPArts And Oddness
Historical information and artifacts can become controversial for several reasons.
They can be “OOPArts” (Out of Place Artifacts) which are things that shouldn’t be where they were found. New evidence can also pop up that discredits the old info. There are also hoaxes or human error. Here are some very weird ones that drive researchers looney.
New England Egg
The 4-inch stone was discovered in Lake Winnipesaukee, New England, in 1872.
What stumps people the most are the strange symbols and lines carved around it and the precise hold drilled down the middle. Even though it’s been studied for a year, no one has any idea who made it. It could also be some elaborate hoax.
The Coal Bell
A marine brass bell was found in West Virginia by a 10-year-old boy.
And while people would think, “so what”, the fact that it was found in a 300-million-year old vein of coal (and was a strange combination of metals) makes it a huge OOPArt. Religious scholars claim it was placed there before the flood.
Nevada Petroglyphs
In the wastelands of Reno, a pile of boulders holds some of the oldest rock carvings in the States.
There are designs of flowers, trees, and geometric shapes and lines. Tests showed they are over 14,000 years old and twice as old as any other carvings in the country. It’s quite the anomaly.
First People - Part I
Many people say that Christopher Columbus found North America, but many discoveries have proven that wrong.
The first people probably came from Asia and went across the ancient land bridge around Alaska over 15,000 years ago. The real title should be the first “foreign” visitors. So, who would win that "honor"?
First People - Part II
The first European visitors would be Vikings – as proven by remains in Newfoundland, Canada.
They arrived 5 centuries before Columbus. This means his title would be bumped down to the “most impactful” visit – for better or worse. The Chinese could also claim to ring the first figurative doorbell on the South American door.
The Fuente Magna
This Bolivian-found bowl frustrates the heck out of many archeologist and specialist.
Some say the writing is ancient Sumerian Cuneiform. Others say it’s not. Some say it’s fake. Others disagree. The only thing people CAN agree on is that where it was found was very out of place and weird. If it is real, the ancient seafarers would have more advanced than imagined.
Napa Figurine
Diggers were drilling in a southern part of Idaho in 1889 when the machine started spitting up pieces of clay and debris.
They thought nothing of it until a strange clay figurine popped out. The mystery wasn’t the doll, but that it was found 300 feet below the earth under a sealed layer of volcanic basalt.
Roman Trinket
The land around Mexico is ripe with amazing historical ruins.
But one head (found sealed in a cave under a pyramid) was different from all the other artifacts around it. The closest comparison is Roman sculpture, which was confirmed years later. Did the Vikings bring it over with them? Maybe the Romans did?
Antikythera Mechanism
This device could be considered one of the oldest analog “computers”.
It’s an ancient Greek hand-powered “orrery” (like those solar system spinning things) to follow star positions and eclipses – possibly even the celestial timing of the original Olympic Games. It’s unusual because the sophisticated workmanship was not thought possible at that time.
Olmec Head
Big stone heads are a common historical find in Central America.
They were made over 3000 years ago, and all with distinct pre-Hispanic races. However, one of them in the Guatemalan jungle was found with distinct Caucasian features. This means that there probably was a foreign visitor long before the current dates suggest.
Pedro Mountain Mummy
A mummy was discovered in the early 1930s in Wyoming. What made it special was how small it was.
The public got hold of the information and soon tales of people with healing powers spread through the land. Tests showed it was a person with a deformity. Sadly, the remains went missing in the 1980s.
Davenport Tablets
For a while, the three inscribed tables (found by Reverend Jacob Gass in 1877, Iowa) were hailed as some kind of missing link between civilizations - mostly because of the depiction of little-known ancient Egyptian ceremonies.
Modern test finally showed that they were fake and probably planted to mess with the Reverend.
Texas Giant Footprint
More and more people now believe that the world had giant humans at some point. One odd find made these people jump for joy.
A huge foot imprint was found in Texas in an area famous for limestone dinosaur footprints. Scientists say they are “too perfect” and not at all how a person that size would walk.
Mayan Calendar
The spooky ancient calendar is known by many people, but the biggest push came as 2012 approached and everyone thought the world would and (and they made a movie too).
The stone is very old (2500 years) and definitely from that civilization, but the time tracking and “predictions” cause a lot of debate.