"5 Important Things From History That No One Can Explain"

Read more: www.cracked.com...

As modern humans with constant access to every piece of information that has ever been known, we like to think we're pretty smart. Surely, in these times of carbon dating, digital reconstruction, and computerized archiving, we've learned everything there is to know about our primitive ancestors. Well, you might be surprised -- there are still several major events in history that today's scientists, after years of extensive research, know precisely [SNIP] about.

5. We Don't Know What the Ancient Egyptians Actually Looked Like

4. There Are Giant Stone Heads in Central America, and We Have No Idea How They Got There

3. There Is a Huge Network of Mysterious, Man-Made Caves in China

2. We Can't Read One of History's Most Important Languages

1. The "Sea Peoples" Destroyed Virtually Every Major City of the Ancient World ... and We Have No Idea Who They Were

I thought this was pretty interesting. Some I've read snippets about on ATS and feel like members may have sussed out some theories on these topics before? I would love to hear what members think about the list - any speculations about the mysteries or calling BS because it is Cracked after all, etc. - and also if there are other things members would add to the list.

I was particularly struck by the Etruscan Language being mostly indecipherable. It just seems odd given how much we know about other languages of that era.

a reply to: kosmicjack

What a freakin' awesome article - I hadn't even heard much of the mysterious "Sea Peoples" or the extensive cave system in China. I thought the article was so funny too - the caption under one of the giant stone heads: "Give me a discman, you son of a bitch" LOL absolutely hysterical.


Great thread - thanks for sharing this. I much enjoyed it

originally posted by: kosmicjack
Read more: www.cracked.com...

As modern humans with constant access to every piece of information that has ever been known, we like to think we're pretty smart. Surely, in these times of carbon dating, digital reconstruction, and computerized archiving, we've learned everything there is to know about our primitive ancestors. Well, you might be surprised -- there are still several major events in history that today's scientists, after years of extensive research, know precisely [SNIP] about.

5. We Don't Know What the Ancient Egyptians Actually Looked Like

4. There Are Giant Stone Heads in Central America, and We Have No Idea How They Got There

3. There Is a Huge Network of Mysterious, Man-Made Caves in China

2. We Can't Read One of History's Most Important Languages

1. The "Sea Peoples" Destroyed Virtually Every Major City of the Ancient World ... and We Have No Idea Who They Were

I thought this was pretty interesting. Some I've read snippets about on ATS and feel like members may have sussed some of this out? I would love to hear what members think about the list - any speculations about the mysteries or calling BS because it is Cracked after all, etc. - and also if there are other things members would add to the list.

I was particularly struck by the Etruscan Language being mostly indecipherable. It just seems odd given how much we know about other languages of that era.

5) like me and you today
4) aincient indignant people who carved them
3) a hobo with a spoon and too much time on his hands
2)Because it was not a language it was art depicting stories
1) it was the atlantians from sponge bob!!!

Great article s&f

a reply to: kosmicjack

Okay I googled those man made caves in china and holy moly if I didn't beleive in a previously advanced civilization before humans I do now. How the hell can we not see that with all this evidence!

a reply to: kosmicjack
"We can't read Etruscan" is pessimistic.
I have a copy of an introduction to the Etruscan Language (by Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante, 1983), with a seven-page glossary of words and a rudimentary outline of the grammar.
I even managed to put together an Etruscan birthday poem for a friend of mine, though I was obliged to invent a style of poetry for the purpose (I decided that "same number of syllables in each line" should constitute a poem).

a reply to: kosmicjack

Thanks for that. It just made my bus journey from work very pleasant.

a reply to: kosmicjack

I though it obvious who the ancient Egyptians were…

Image

4. There Are Giant Stone Heads in Central America, and We Have No Idea How They Got There

Here Is a theory for how they moved the stone heads. They say in the article that the wheel was not invented then. I personally would have carved the rocks into balls, rolled them into position then re-carved them into the head shapes.

Gotta love cracked! For being a humor site they produce some really intriguing articles.

The article is mistitled, which is forgivable since titles have to catch the eye.

It's not that these things can't be "explained."
More like "Five Important Things From History That We Don't Know Every Detail About."

Harte

a reply to: kosmicjack

There are a lot of mysteries in this world. I think we haven't yet discovered the mysteries that are still buried or lie beneath the ocean and the ocean floor. Some of the claims on how ancient civilizations moved and created these mammoth stone monuments are just theories. It's one thing to theorize how they moved these massive stones, but to stack them 14 stories high as they were done with the pyramids is really difficult to explain. Cutting stone is no easy task even with today's technology.

Creating a ramp for every level of the pyramid means that ramps would have had to extend several miles to reduce the steepness of the ramp just so they could reach the upper levels of the pyramid. It doesn't sound plausible even when you consider having hundreds of slaves doing the work.

originally posted by: Shepard64
a reply to: kosmicjack

Okay I googled those man made caves in china and holy moly if I didn't beleive in a previously advanced civilization before humans I do now. How the hell can we not see that with all this evidence!

Those caves have been dated to the Han dynasty though, which was 2000 years ago. You know, the same time that Jesus was supposed to be on earth? That doesn't exactly predate any ancient civilizations... Didn't you read the article?

Great pyramids of Giza

Stone hedge

Sun and Moon temples of Mexico

Religion created to control masses (has worked ever since)

Man I can go on all day about things we don't actually know of our past. But I digress..

Sea people is kind of cool, thanks for that one

originally posted by: Elementalist
Great pyramids of Giza

Stone hedge

Sun and Moon temples of Mexico

Religion created to control masses (has worked ever since)

Man I can go on all day about things we don't actually know of our past. But I digress..

Sea people is kind of cool, thanks for that one

"Religion created to control the masses"....and keep us divided.

I am not religious, but the christian bible does hold a few grains of wisdom.

For example-"look at these men, they are of one language and one purpose, let (us) go amongst them and confound their language to divide them, or else there is nothing they seek to do that will be denied them"-tower of babble story.

Why do you think " they" keep us at each other instead if all working as one?

They fear us, they fear our ascension to the stars.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Oh no I just read the part he posted here, then googled the caves and didn't find a date for the construction. I'm not sure I can trust the dates they give just like the ones for the pyramids.

a reply to: kosmicjack

5. I think Greek descriptions of Egyptians are decently reliable. There are North African tribes that haven't mingled much and provide a good start to understanding Egyptian races. Facial features from the many statues also provide clues although they have been idealized no doubt. Movies simply don't even try to be historically accurate. I don't find this such a big wonder myself.

4. There is some good information about the Olmecs, thought to be the antecedents of several other great cultures. They are known to have built extensive road systems and while transporting 20 ton rocks isn't easy I don't find it a big mystery. The idea they had to fight through a jungle and such is silly, we know they built travel networks. Odd to be on the list when there are much larger stoneworks in South America with single stones up to 80 tons being moved significant distances above the tree line and carved to great precision despite being super hard stone.

3. No clue about those Chinese caves! A real mystery for sure!

2. Although the Etruscan language isn't figured out we know lots about the culture and its history. I don't see this as a giant mystery myself.

1. I always thought of the 'Sea People' as being forefathers of the Vikings, but there is no historical evidence to support they traveled so far that early in time. Wiki has good info saying who the 'Sea Peoples' were. en.wikipedia.org...
Better mysteries to put at #1 than this for sure!

originally posted by: Shepard64
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Oh no I just read the part he posted here, then googled the caves and didn't find a date for the construction. I'm not sure I can trust the dates they give just like the ones for the pyramids.

Why? Do you not trust scientific dating methods or something? You clearly are uneducated on this topic, and you are going to start off with science denialism so you can shoehorn the topic into a crazy conspiracy theory. Why don't you look into how they dated the caves and see if the science is actually flawed before you start dismissing the science?

a reply to: infinityorder

This is not the point, your looking to much into it... all men and women can find wisdom, they don't need doctrine and hierarchy to accomplish such.

My point; religion was a tool designed by man, and it worked over millions, it's not very wise to kneel and bow to someone elses idol or archtypes/gods.

This tool, we don't know how or why was created, just like pyramids, Stonehenge, temples so vast, etc.

So, I find that fascinating

Nice thread. I believe the stones were transported by boat, like the granite in ancient Egypt for building the pyramids. The chinese cave looks like an emperors preparation for the afterlife. I'm sure there are references to the sea people's origins if we dig a bit deeper.

With regards to what egyptians looked like that's just silly. We have a decent knowledge of DNA and can already produce what people look like based on their genes minus environmental influences. Makes good reading but stupid nevertheless

Stitchin's theory on the Olmecs is that they were interlopers from Africa, forcing the natives to work the mines till they were overthrown. Among his evidence is the phenomena of those stone heads found marred.

"That the other heads might have been discovered out of their original setting is suggested by the fact that very often they show signs of deliberate vandalism and most were buried sometime before 900 BCE in what appears to have been a purposeful ritual distancing with the past. However, it has also been suggested that some of the heads were buried shortly after their production in a process of ancestor worship or that they were defaced and buried by subsequent rulers to legitimize their claim to power and exclude competing lineages. It could also be that they were even damaged in order to neutralize the dead ruler's power."
www.ancient.eu...

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