Over the years, many artifacts with cultural, historical, and archaeological significance have been lost. What’s surprising, though, is that many of these valuable objects were not really lost but simply forgotten. Either caused by human error or plain carelessness, a number of remarkable relics have remained hidden from the eyes of the public for decades or even centuries. Thankfully, many of these valuable artifacts eventually get rediscovered, often by accident.

10A Neolithic Figurine

In the 1850s, a mysterious Neolithic figurine was discovered in Skara Brae, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on Orkney Island at the northern tip of Scotland. Experts estimate the artifact to be around 5,000 years old. It was carved from a whalebone and measures 9.5 centimeters (3.7 in) high and 7.5 centimeters (3 in) wide. What makes this figurine interesting is that it’s one of the region’s oldest known statues depicting a person.

Dubbed “Buddo,” which means “friend” in the Orkney language, this artifact had been missing for more than 150 years. Buddo was stored in the archives of the Stromness Museum and then simply forgotten. It was only when archaeologists decided to review the artifacts from Skara Brae that Buddo was rediscovered.

At the time of its discovery, Buddo was the oldest human depiction ever found in that area. Experts aren’t sure what it is, but they think it might be a Neolithic idol or a ritualistic item left behind when the villagers moved to a different region.

9First-Edition Copy Of The Map That Changed The World

In the world of geology, William Smith is a legend. He is considered to be the “Father of English Geology” and the maker of the “map that changed the world.” Smith was the first person to create a geological map of a country. Specifically, Great Britain. During the time of its publication, Smith’s map was revolutionary. It was the first of its kind, influencing the future development of geological maps.

Records indicate that 370 copies of Smith’s geological map were produced, but only 70 exist to date. Just like Buddo, the map was stored in a safe place and then simply forgotten. The last time it was seen was between 40 and 50 years ago. It was rediscovered in the archives of the Geological Society, kept safe inside a leather sleeve case. In hindsight, getting lost for half a century was good for the map. It was not exposed to sunlight, and as such, it is in good condition and its colors have remained exquisite.

What makes this map special and valuable is that it is a first edition. Experts believe that the map was “certainly among the first 50 to come off the production line, and very probably among the first 10.” This information has led experts to estimate that the value of the map is in the six figures.

Today, maps like this can be easily created thanks to modern technology, but it probably took Smith close to 15 years to gather the data needed to create his.

8Oldest Surviving Cannonball In England

The Wars of the Roses is perhaps one of the most iconic moments in English history. The struggle involved the feuding houses of York and Lancaster in their fight over the English throne. It lasted for more than 30 years and ended when Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Several years ago, experts discovered an artifact that belonged to the historic Wars of the Roses. It was a cannonball used in the Battle of Northampton in 1460—one of the many battles in the Lancaster-York feud. Aside from fact that it was used during the Wars of the Roses, this particular artifact is highly prized for being the oldest surviving cannonball in English history. However, it got lost or perhaps simply forgotten. It was only rediscovered in 2014 by Glenn Foard, an archaeologist from the University of Huddersfield.

One of the mysteries involving this massive cannonball was who fired it. Was it the Lancastrian forces or the York soldiers? Thankfully, historical accounts have shed light upon this mystery. According to records, the Lancastrian forces were unable to use their cannons during the Battle of Northampton due to rain. As such, it can be safely assumed that it was the York soldiers who used the cannonball.

7Sculpture Of Cleopatra And Marc Antony’s Twin Babies

In 1918, archaeologists discovered a peculiar sandstone statue near the temple of Dendera. For decades after, the sculpture was on display in the Egyptian Museum. Visitors and museum staff would pass by the statue, not knowing its real identity and historical significance. It was only recently, when an Egyptologist named Giuseppina Capriotti examined the sculpture, that its mystery was revealed.

The sculpture depicts two naked children. One is a female while the other is a male. Both are holding a snake on one hand while the other hand is draped over the other twin’s shoulder. One eye-catching feature of this artifact are the discs sculpted on the children’s heads. They contain the udjat-eye or the eye of Horus, a common Egyptian symbol. Intriguingly, the discs are not identical. The girl has a crescent and lunar disc on her head while the boy has a Sun disc.

After conducting a thorough analysis, Capriotti discovered that the children depicted in the sculpture are Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene—the twin babies of Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Though the sculpture is in relatively good condition, the faces of the two children are not well preserved.

Not much is known about the twins, especially Alexander Helios, who suddenly vanished without a trace together with his younger brother, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Cleopatra Selene, on the other hand, married King Juba II of Mauretania.

6Oldest Pharaoh Carvings

In the 1890s, archaeologist Archibald Sayce discovered a few remarkable carvings in the Egyptian village of Nag el-Hamdulab. Sadly, his discovery was not deemed important during his time and was only partially illustrated in a book. Fast forward in time, and archaeologist Labib Habachi went to the site and took pictures of the carvings. For some unknown reason, he never published them.

For years, the carvings remained forgotten. It was only in 2008, when Maria Gatto of Yale University saw Habachi’s photos, that the forgotten carvings were rediscovered.

This work of art is historically valuable since it is the oldest depiction of a pharaoh that we’ve ever found. The carvings depict a white-crowned figure traveling in “ceremonial processions and on sickle-shaped boats.” Experts theorize that what the images try to convey is a pharaoh going on a tax-collecting tour throughout Egypt.

Archaeologists estimate that the carvings were created somewhere between 3200 and 3100 BC, which is the period of time when Egypt was transitioning from two kingdoms to one. This has led experts to conclude that the pharaoh depicted in the carvings might be Narmer, who unified the two regions of Egypt.

5Murals Of Crusaders And Medieval Military Orders

Thanks to a storeroom reorganization and a burst water pipe, forgotten wall murals of Crusaders and medieval military orders were rediscovered in Saint-Louis Hospice in Jerusalem. They were painted by a French count named Comte Marie Paul Amedee de Piellat, who also built the hospital in the 1800s. He named it after St. Louis IX, a French king and a crusader.

During World War I, the Turkish forces got control of the hospital. They did not destroy the building, but they covered the walls with black paint, hiding de Piellat’s murals. When the war ended, the control of the hospital was given back to de Piellat. For several years, he worked on restoring the wall murals. Sadly, he died a few years later, unable to complete the restoration.

For almost a century, his work remained forgotten. It was only in 2014 that they were rediscovered. The nuns working in the hospital were doing some reorganization in the storerooms when they found the wall paintings. Coincidentally, a water pipe also burst, revealing several sections of the murals by stripping away plaster and modern paint.

The hospital has no plans to make the wall paintings a tourist attraction since the institution is still fully functional, catering to patients with chronic and terminal illnesses.

4World’s Oldest Complete Torah

The Torah is the most important text in Judaism. As such, any discovery related to it can be considered a significant religious and historical find. In 2013, Professor Mauro Perani of Bologna University—the oldest university in the world—discovered what is considered to be the oldest copy of the Torah.

The scroll was wrongly dated by a librarian in 1889. He estimated that the text was written in the 17th century. As a result, the scroll remained ignored and forgotten in Bologna’s library for more than 100 years. It was only when Perani decided to re-examine the text that its true identity and value were unveiled.

What caught Perani’s attention was that the script used in the scroll was “from a Babylonian tradition,” suggesting that it could have not been written in the 17th century. In addition, the text had “letters and symbols that were forbidden” by Jewish scholars in later copies of the Torah. These peculiarities led Perani to consult scholars who suggested that the artifact might have been created between the 12th and 13th centuries. And the scholars were right! Carbon dating puts the creation of the scroll between 1155 and 1225.

Before the discovery of this text, the oldest known copy of the Torah was from the 14th century.

3Bear Claw Necklace From The Lewis And Clark Expedition

William Clark and Meriwether Lewis achieved legendary status after exploring the American West. During their expedition, they were given several Native American artifacts. One of these was a rare bear claw necklace—a piece of jewelry that signified bravery and has long been associated with warriors among many Native American tribes. The necklace consists of 38 bear claws, each one measuring approximately 7.5 centimeters (3 in). It’s in relatively good condition, although the original red color of the claws has faded.

The necklace got lost due to a staff member’s mistake. When Harvard’s Peabody Museum acquired the artifact in 1941, a staff member mistakenly cataloged it with the South Pacific islands artifacts. For decades, this valuable memento from the Lewis and Clark expedition remained forgotten. It was only in December 2003 that the historical artifact was rediscovered after two collection assistants working in the Oceania storage rooms realized that the necklace they were documenting did not really look “Oceanic.”

2Noah’s Skeleton

After more than eight decades, Noah’s skeleton was finally rediscovered. Unfortunately, this is not the same Noah mentioned in the Bible. However, the two shared a common experience. The skeleton, which archaeologists estimate to be around 6,500 years old, was given the name Noah after experts discovered that he survived a massive flood—just like the Biblical Noah.

The skeleton, dating back to roughly 4500 BC, was discovered by a joint expedition by the British Museum and the Penn Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. It was unearthed in the Royal Cemetery of Ur (modern-day Iraq) by Sir Leonard Woolley. Not much is known about Noah, but after conducting an analysis, Woolley postulated that he was a well-muscled man with a height of 178 centimeters (5′ 10″) and that he died at the age of 50.

For more than 80 years, Noah’s skeleton remained hidden in the basement of Penn Museum. It was only in 2014, when the museum decided to digitize all records pertaining to the joint expedition of the British Museum and the Penn Museum between 1922 and 1934, that the skeleton was rediscovered.

The rediscovery of Noah is significant since human remains during his era are extremely rare, and with new scientific techniques, experts can potentially learn a lot about the diet and lifestyle of people from Noah’s time period.

1Isaac Newton’s Recipe For The Philosopher’s Stone

It is a widely known fact that Isaac Newton is a legendary physicist. But what many people do not know is that he also dabbled in alchemy. In fact, Newton tried unsuccessfully to transform lead into gold for years.

Just recently, experts rediscovered a recipe that Newton might have used to create the philosopher’s stone—a fabled object capable of turning any base metal, such as lead, into a valuable one, such as gold. What makes this recipe remarkable is that it was handwritten by the legendary physicist himself.

For decades, the recipe was held by a private collector. It was only in 2016 that it was rediscovered and unveiled to the public. The valuable manuscript was bought by a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit called Chemical Heritage Foundation, which is working on uploading the images and transcriptions of the recipe to the Internet so that the public can view it.

Newton’s recipe for creating the philosopher’s stone would have not been lost and forgotten had his own Alma Mater, Cambridge University, decided to archive it in 1888. Back then, Cambridge University declined the opportunity to store any of Newton’s works that involved alchemy.

Paul Jongko is a freelance writer who spends his time writing interesting stuff and managing MeBook. When not busy working, Paul creates piano covers, masters his capoeira skills, and does progressive calisthenics training. Follow him on Twitter.

It’s no secret that we humans love to eat good food and consume refreshing drinks. Not surprisingly, we have made several finds at historical sites that show it’s always been this way. As we continue to uncover our past, we have found the exact treats that people enjoyed throughout time.

10 Royal Tea

Tea is one of the oldest beverages consumed by humans. But for many years, its earliest reference came from a Chinese text dating to 59 BC that vaguely referenced a drink that might have used tea. It wasn’t until January 2016 that the first definitive evidence of tea as an ancient beverage was found.

When archaeologists examined the Han Yangling Mausoleum in Xi’an, which is the tomb of Chinese Jing Emperor Liu Qi who died in 141 BC, they found a leafy substance resembling tea. When tested, the leaves showed two definitive substances in tea: caffeine and theanine.

Even by today’s standards, the tea was of high quality and may have been mostly for royalty like the emperor. Interestingly, the tomb is located far away from where tea is actually grown, meaning that it was prized enough to be both imported and buried in the tombs of important men.

9 Wine Older Than Christ

In 2013, archaeologists uncovered strange findings in the ruins of a 3,700-year-old Canaanite palace in Israel. Forty pots were discovered which appeared to contain complex wines much different from what most people had at the time.

This wine wasn’t an everyday beverage; it was for important, special occasions. Its complexity and diversity of tastes mean that it was reserved for the upper class for their banquets. The wine had long ago dissipated, but some of its residue allowed researchers to test its contents.

They discovered a variety of different flavors inside the wine—from honey and mint to cedar and tree resins. This showed that ancient wine was made with the same sophistication as today.

8 Ritual Cannabis

In 2008, Chinese archaeologists were looking through a 2,700-year-old tomb that contained some Gushi people, ancient Caucasian nomads from the Gobi Desert. Inside the tomb was a Gushi shaman who was obviously treated with much respect due to the items stored beside him—archery equipment, a rare harp, and, most interestingly, 1 kilogram (2 lb) of cannabis.

At the time, most cannabis grown was hemp, which was a useful, common crop at the time. However, this cannabis was grown to be consumed because of a high THC content similar to modern strains. Because of the absence of a pipe, the drug was most likely eaten or put into a burning fire and the fumes inhaled. It may have been used for spiritual purposes or as a medicine.

7 Bog Butter

During the Iron Age in Ireland, our ancestors must have loved butter because it’s constantly being discovered in ancient peat bogs. Over the years, turf cutters (workers who harvest peat from the bogs) have found several preserved bodies and artifacts from the distant past. Bog butter is usually found with them.

Peat bogs have unique preservative properties. Before salt was widely used as a preservative in Ireland, butter would be put into tubs and crates and then stored in the bogs for extended periods of time. This also caused it to taste better. There were even different varieties of butter, including nondairy made from animal fat.

In 2009, turf cutters discovered around 35 kilograms (77 lb) of 3,000-year-old bog butter which was exceptionally preserved, although it had long ago gained a waxy consistency. According to an article on bog butter from 1892, it tasted somewhat like cheese.

6 Mayan Chocolate

Historians now know that the use of cocoa originated thousands of years ago in Central America with the Olmec civilization and later passed to the Maya. We used to believe that the earliest use occurred at a Mayan site in modern Guatemala that dates back to AD 460, but that changed in 2002 when a Mayan “teapot” was reexamined.

Called “teapots” because of their resemblance to modern teapots, these vessels were used for distinctive rituals during elite funerals. Residue on the pots tested positive for theobromine—the chemical marker of cocoa.

According to Mayan texts, they had consumed the drink for much of their existence, but there was no proof of this until the discovery in 2002. As the pots dated to around 500 BC, it proved that the Maya had been using cocoa nearly 1,000 years longer than previously thought and that they most likely inherited this tradition from the Olmec, who died out around this time.

5 2,400-Year-Old Salad Dressing

When the wreckage of an ancient Roman vessel was found off the coast of the Greek island Chios in 2005, no one expected that two amphorae (two-handled ceramic jars) with starfish living on them contained flavoring ingredients that are still used today. Inside the jars were the remnants of olive oil flavored with oregano.

Chios was well-known for exporting wine at the time, but this showed that they may have been exporting this substance, too. Even today, older generations on the island are known to mix oregano and other spices with olive oil to serve along with foods or to use as a preservative—meaning the tradition from thousands of years ago is still alive today.

4 Peruvian Popcorn

Popcorn is a common snack around the world, but it wasn’t until 2012 that its origins were uncovered. Since corn originated from the Americas, it can be reasoned that the history of popcorn also came from there. In fact, this was proved when corn samples were discovered in several Peruvian excavation sites.

Found in different forms like corncobs, husks, and stalks, the corn (aka maize) dates from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago and was likely brought from Mexico where corn was first grown. The areas in Peru where the corn was found were the perfect place for preservation—arid and dry—so it gave archaeologists a perfect picture of how corn was consumed.

The popcorn was likely cooked by wrapping the cob and then resting it over coals, heating it over a fire, or putting it inside an oven. Other than its preparation as popcorn, corn was turned into flour. However, due to the scarcity of the corn discovered, it was not likely to be a staple of ancient Peruvian diets. It was probably a snack or delicacy that was not eaten frequently.

3 Pompeian Delicacies

The ancient Roman city of Pompeii—perfectly preserved after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79—continues to provide archaeologists with insights into the daily lives of the Romans. Even the foods of the Romans have remained, including the diet of the elite.

The difference between the classes of Pompeii can be found in the drains. In the central properties of Pompeii, the remains of some strange cuisines can be found, including fish, sea urchins, and a giraffe leg bone.

This was the only giraffe bone found in an excavation of ancient Rome, showing just how far-flung Roman trading was at the time. There were even exotic spices from the distant portions of Asia, some from as far away as Indonesia.

2 Shipwrecked Cheese

The Swedish royal warship Kronan sank in 1676, but it was rediscovered in 1980. Since then, the ship has yielded several thousand artifacts that have been preserved by the water and time.

In 2016, one of the most interesting finds came from a container pressed into clay near the wreckage. When it was brought to the surface, the divers immediately noticed a pungent smell.

Inside the container, they discovered 340-year-old cheese that had been somewhat preserved. Although it was nothing more than bacteria by then, they could examine the contents, which they described as “a mixture of yeast and Roquefort, a sort of really ripe, unpasteurized cheese.”

1 The World’s Oldest Noodles

In China, noodles have been a standard food for thousands of years. Until 2005, the earliest mention of noodles came from a nearly 2,000-year-old text from the early Han dynasty.

But when archaeologists went to Lajia, a small community in northwestern China destroyed by an earthquake 4,000 years ago, they discovered an overturned clay bowl 3 meters (10 ft) below ground. The bowl contained a pile of well-preserved noodles, making them the oldest noodles in the world.

The noodles were thin, yellow, and around 50 centimeters (20 in) long. They looked like the traditional noodle, lamian, and were created from millet, which was a standard part of the Chinese diet at the time.

Gordon Gora is a struggling author who is desperately trying to make it. He is working on several projects, but until he finishes one, he will write for for his bread and butter. You can write him at [email protected].