The actual day-to-day of archaeology and other similar professions may not be that exciting, as they often have to carefully spend time removing dirt from artifacts that may not be worth much of anything individually. Still, their collective work has inspired our imaginations and helped create countless fantasy works, as well as many lively discussions about the ancient past.
That work has also given us a window into what we know to be true about these ancient civilizations, and also what we have come to suspect could be true based on archaeological evidence. Let’s take a look at some of the most fascinating theories of historical cultures, based on what’s been gathered by these curators of the past…
10. The Aztecs Sacrificed Countless People Due To A Protein Shortage
It’s pretty widely known that Aztec people took part in cannibalism during their human sacrifices, but it was anthropologist Michael Harner who put forth a controversial theory in an attempt to further explain the “why” behind their religious ideology. The theory goes that their population was booming, but at the same time, the available game for protein was decreasing. Getting all eight essential amino acids and protein from maize and beans would require large quantities of food, making it relatively impractical. He also cited times of famine where even nobles sold their children into slavery to buy food and suggested the poor class could fight in wars to get POWs so they could cannibalize them in a blood ritual and eat them for protein.
Of course, there’s a competing theory by anthropologist and historian Bernard Ortiz De Montellano who argues that the rituals where cannibalism occurred were nearly always done at harvest time, as part of a celebration, and not during times of famine. Further, the cities where these blood sacrifices were known to take place were the bigger cities that received food tributes and weren’t particularly worried about food, even in general times of famine. Montellano argues that sacrificial victims’ bodies were sacred and that the reason for ingesting the body was to ingest a part of the gods themselves and was never connected in any official literature to protein deficiency.
9. The City Of Pavlopetri Was The Fabled Lost City Of Atlantis
In 2009, a group of Anglo-Greek marine geologists and archaeologists went to work to survey a promising area off the Southern Peloponnese that more primitive technology had suggested was a hotspot for discovery some 40 years earlier, and they made an amazing discovery. They found the ruins of an ancient city, mostly intact, that had sunk beneath the sea floor about 5,000 years ago, during the days of Homer’s epic legends.
The researchers believe it could have sunk due to a tsunami, earthquake, or both, somewhere around 1000 BC, leaving it resting below the waves for future discovery. While mapping it with modern digital technology they discovered 9,000 square meters of new buildings, and a very large Megaron, which was a structure used by elites for public gatherings, suggesting the city was used by important members of Mycenaean society. Due to the time period to which the city is dated, how quickly it disappeared beneath the waters, and the potential elite status of its inhabitants, some have suggested it could have been the fabled lost city of Atlantis.
8. Noah’s Story Was An Allegory For Survivors Of A Really Bad Local Flood
Even those who aren’t Christian are well aware of the story of Noah’s Ark, and his quest to save two of every animal from a great flood that would encompass the entire earth. But Noah’s was not the only similar story. The epic of Gilgamesh, the Qur’an, and many others have a story of an all-encompassing flood in which people had to go to great lengths, often using boats to survive. Now, while stories about bad local floods, or even allegorical stories of worldwide floods, are not confined to one area, there is a very large concentration of them coming from Ancient Mesopotamia — which is now modern-day Iraq.
This has caused researchers to consider whether the stories could have been allegories about a really bad local flood. While the geological record of the earth does not support a global flood, the geological record of Iraq does support the possibility of a bad flood, or even floods, back in the days of Ancient Mesopotamia. This flood (or floods) could have drowned many, destroyed their homes, and taken months to properly recede due to the geography of the area. With no internet or telephones to check outside their area, and all their known geography flooded, they wrote stories of the entire world being lost beneath a catastrophic deluge because as far as they knew, their entire world was flooded.
7. Contrary To Recent Popular Belief, Some Christians May Have Been Thrown To Lions
It used to be accepted that Christians, and many other malcontents, were thrown to the lions during the days of the Romans and it was believed to be a fact. Now, many historians and debunkers have told you that it isn’t true and that there is not a single corroborating text that states Christians were thrown to lions. However, the Romans didn’t always keep the best records.
During the early era of the Christian Church, when many Christians were being executed, throwing people to the beasts was a popular method of execution. This method involved all kinds of animals including lions, and one text tells of a Priest called Saturas, whom they first tried to kill with a boar, then with a bear, and then finally finished off with a leopard. As for the crueler Roman Emperors, Nero was known to cover Christians in animal skins before throwing them to the dogs. Now, as we stated, there is no extant evidence of lion-on-Christian action, but considering how popular it was to throw people to the animals, it would seem more like a bizarre accident than anything if they never got their chance to sink their teeth into any early Christian flesh.
6. Spartan Warriors Were Not That Amazing, It Was Mostly Propaganda
The Spartan reputation today is such that many still see them as the epitome of the most fearsome and powerful warrior. However, the truth is that much of what we think about the Spartans may have been nothing more than propaganda by the Greek historian Herodotus, and much of it from the Spartans themselves.
The Spartan state had a population of slaves known as helots that consisted, at any given time, of a much larger percentage of the population than the free Spartans themselves, and the Spartans felt fear was a good way to keep people in line, which only worked for a time as the helots did ultimately successfully rebel.
Now, when it comes to the facts, the Spartan won-loss record in battle was a little under 50%, which for warriors with such a reputation, is pretty bad. There is still some reason to believe that Spartans had slightly better unit organization and that many of their regular troops were slightly above the regular Greek average in terms of skill, but not to any amazing level. Further, individual skill only mattered for so much, as most battles back then consisted mainly of forming into a phalanx and smashing your soldiers into your enemy counterparts.
5. Scientists Have New Evidence Of City-States Dotting The Maya Lowlands
Back in 2016, surveyors flew over the area that once comprised the Ancient Maya Empire, and used laser imaging to map 830 square miles of the ruins — which is an area larger than the island of Maui. When the surveyors looked at the results, it proved a theory that had fallen out of favor and took their breath away. Many archaeologists had theorized that the Maya, who had an extensive economic and social system, had interconnected city-states dotted throughout the Maya Lowlands. But that theory had started to fall out of favor for lack of direct evidence.
However, this laser imaging changed everything, and in one fell swoop revealed over 60,000 new potential sites of interest. These included 60 miles of causeways, roads, and canals to connect cities, large maize farms, houses of all sizes, and even defensive fortifications that suggested they had come under attack from the Western edges of their borders. All in all, it has given researchers a wealth of new Maya ruins to explore, and reminded us all just how advanced many ancient civilizations were.
4. Are The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon Myth, Or Were We Looking In The Wrong Place?
The ancient stories tell of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis, because she missed the lush gardens of her native lands. They were said to have flowing waterfalls and all types of vegetation, with wonderful aromas of various plants wafting through the air — a magical oasis, in the middle of the desert. Now, the problem is that no evidence has ever been found in the site where Babylon once lay, and all records about it are after-the-fact stories, so some historians have started to believe it is nothing more than a historical mirage in the desert.
However, Dr. Stephanie Dalley, a research fellow at the Oriental Institute of England’s Oxford University, believes that the only reason we have not found evidence of its existence is because we are looking in the wrong place. According to Dr. Dalley, who is an expert at reading ancient Mesopotamian texts, the Hanging Gardens were actually built in nearby Nineveh by King Sennacherib. Now, this is something that archaeological evidence backs up, as the ruins of Nineveh (Mosul in modern-day Iraq) have remnants of an aqueduct system, artwork depicting lush, hanging gardens, and an inscription from Sennacherib bragging about how he had managed to bring water a long distance.
3. Homer’s Epics Iliad And Odyssey Were First Written Down By A Woman
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey combine to create one of the greatest epics of all time, but for all the cultural importance they have had over the years, we know precious little about their actual origination. This is largely because Homer remains a pretty big mystery to historians, other than his being an ancient bard who didn’t actually put pen to paper himself. That second part is quite normal, of course, as most Ancient Greek legends were passed down through oral storytelling and embellished over time.
The bigger question for many historians is who really transcribed them. Andrew Dalby, the author of “Rediscovering Homer” suggests that it was a woman who finally recorded the stories for posterity. He theorizes that because being a public poet and getting to put on a live performance was a male’s job, they wouldn’t want to give up that position for a long slog writing down a poetic epic, especially since it was unlikely to net them much of a return. He suggests that a rich backer, who would have had to buy all the necessary goatskin, had a woman pen the epics anonymously.
2. Permanent Human Settlements May Have Predated Ancient Agriculture
One of the most commonly accepted pieces of wisdom when it comes to the rise of human civilization, is that humans only formed communities after they created agriculture, which they did as a necessity. In other words, the human community only exists because we had to stop being nomadic hunter-gatherer raiders who clubbed each other to death over territory, and settle down and grow food instead. However, recent evidence has not only put that theory into question but almost entirely overturned it, at least as any kind of absolute truth. Archaeologists have found evidence of permanent human settlements from hunter-gatherer tribes in the area that is now Israel and Jordan, some dating as far back as 14,000 years ago.
This suggests that the idea that humans could only come together and stop being loosely connected tribes of a few nomadic hunters (at best) when they had no choice but to work together is nothing more than hokum. Humans are social creatures who generally like being around other humans, and would want to have their company to enjoy whether they needed that arrangement for efficient resource management or not.
1. Ancient Native Americans Burned Down Many Trees In The Plains States
If you’ve ever visited the area, you might wonder why the Great Plains of the United States have so few trees. Many of the early settlers were so shocked by these long grasslands they were convinced that the plains would be a bad place to grow crops, and often made dangerous trips up to Oregon instead.
The truth is, long before European settlers came to the continent, there is reason to believe the Great Plains were once covered in forestland. As to how most of it disappeared, multiple potential explanations have been put forth. The area, while still getting a lot of rain, has more of a chance to experience temporary drought than many surrounding areas, gets hit by a lot of lightning strikes, which can cause fires, and the Native Americans were known to burn down trees to create land better for grazing for game animals.
What we don’t know is how much effect the Native Americans’ burning had, as we have no idea how sophisticated their methods were. We also don’t know how big an offender lightning strikes may have been, creating fires that could race across the landscape at speeds of 15-20 kilometers per hour. Either way, the landscape was irreparably altered, and we can only imagine what it once looked like.