Archaeology is the study of our past. But it's often also the study of the unknown. There are huge gaps in our knowledge about the people and places that came before us, and sometimes, new discoveries only seem to deepen those gaps. It can be frustrating for archaeologists and scientists. But it's always exciting for us. We love good old fashioned mysteries. And you're about to see a lot of them in this video. Come on in!
A demonic wall in Norway: In 1940, a group of conservators working inside the church of Saad in Norway made headlines by discovering a so-called demonic wall hidden inside the building. The wall is covered in intricate artwork of demons, angels, humans, and animals, all interconnected. They cover the entire wall and even extend up to the ceiling. Many of the details are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. At the time of the wall's discovery, archaeologists said that the artwork had probably been created in the 17th century. In July 2021, conservation work was again needed on the church, and new information about the demonic wall came to light. Those 1940 conservators didn't discover the wall. They created it. The blame for this fraud has now been clearly attributed to Gerard Gotaas and his son Per Gotaas, who were hired to restore the 12th-century frescoes on the church walls in 1935. The project took them 6 years, with the supposedly discovered walls coming during the fifth. The 2021 conservation project confirmed that there were 15th-century drawings on the demonic wall. But then the father-and-son Gotaas team had painted over them with their fantasy-inspired images. Both are now deceased, so they took the secret of their deception to the grave.
Ancient footprints: In addition to studying the past, archaeology is about walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. And sometimes we mean that literally. In February 2014, researchers announced the discovery of a collection of footprints left an incredible 800,000 years ago by a mixed group of prehistoric adults and children in Hattisburg, England. The footprints are on the coastline, so it's a wonder they haven't been washed away by the water before. Hattisburg has become something of a UK hotspot for ancient discoveries, having also recently yielded fossil bones and stone tools from around the same era. It's possible that there was a large-scale settlement in the area at that time, which contradicts what we thought we knew about early humans. We tend to see humans from this era as nomadic hunter-gatherers who roamed the land rather than settling down. Perhaps there was something about prehistoric Hattisburg that persuaded them to stay for a while. These are the oldest human footprints in the UK, but they're not close to being the oldest in the world. That honor goes to a set of footprints in the Laetoli in Tanzania that were made approximately 3.5 million years ago.
Unique Turkish mosaic: Turkey is a country with a long history and has been home to some of the greatest civilizations in world history. For those reasons, incredible archaeological discoveries are made there with some regularity. When a Turkish archaeologist gets excited, it's because he's found something truly unique. Here's an example. This mosaic of a pair of winged human figures fishing on mythical horse-like creatures was found in the Yüreğir district of Adana, Turkey, in February 2013. After being informed about the discovery, the deputy mayor of the city proclaimed that this is the only mosaic of its kind in the world. It has been 11 years since then, and no one has come out to contradict the claim. Apart from its unusual design, whose symbolic meaning is unknown, it is strange because it is made from a mixture of glass and marble. Archaeologists cannot decide whether it belongs to the late Roman era or the early Byzantine era. The discovery was made just a week after the villa containing it was first identified by archaeologists, so they must work quickly in Turkey.
Roman sarcophagus discovery: England was once an extension of the Roman Empire, so it's not necessarily a surprise to find an ancient Roman sarcophagus there. However, it is unusual to find a Roman sarcophagus outside the confines of a Roman tomb or cemetery. This one was interred in a Georgian-era pleasure garden in Baw in July 2021. It is a large limestone sarcophagus and still contains the remains of two people. It appears that the limestone was quarried locally. Archaeologists were quick to point out that the burial was positioned north-south, which identifies it as pre-Christian. It seems unlikely that the presence
