Des archéologues amateurs dans l'est de l'Angleterre ont trouvé quelque chose de très étrange en fouillant des objets romains anciens : un objet en bronze avec 12 faces plates, de la taille d'un poing environ. Il s'est avéré que c'était un dodécaèdre romain, un objet qui confond les experts depuis des siècles. Depuis que le premier a été découvert en 1739, environ 130 ont été trouvés dans toute l'Europe du Nord et de l'Ouest. Malgré leur origine romaine, personne ne sait à quoi ils servaient — il n'existe aucun écrit à leur sujet ni aucune illustration dans les textes anciens. Ce mystère nous laisse plus de questions que de réponses, et ce n'est pas le seul en son genre ! Animation créée par Sympa.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Musique par Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com
Pour ne rien perdre de Sympa, abonnez-vous!: https://goo.gl/6E4Xna
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nos réseaux sociaux :
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sympasympacom/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sympa.officiel/
Stock de fichiers (photos, vidéos et autres):
https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Si tu en veux encore plus, fais un tour ici:
http://sympa-sympa.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Musique par Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com
Pour ne rien perdre de Sympa, abonnez-vous!: https://goo.gl/6E4Xna
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nos réseaux sociaux :
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sympasympacom/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sympa.officiel/
Stock de fichiers (photos, vidéos et autres):
https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Si tu en veux encore plus, fais un tour ici:
http://sympa-sympa.com
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00You know how it usually goes.
00:02Over the years, general knowledge disappears more quickly than we can say what this thing is for.
00:08Imagine, our little children scratching their heads in front of the keys of our old phones.
00:13It is therefore a surprising war that some ancient artifacts also leave us perplexed.
00:18Look at this curious object.
00:20What do you think?
00:21A musical instrument?
00:22A toy?
00:23Or maybe an alien invention?
00:25Nobody really knows, not even the experts.
00:29This little object is a Roman dodecahedron,
00:31discovered by amateur archaeologists near Lincoln, in England.
00:36It has the shape of a fist and is made up of a metal alloy.
00:40So, what was this thing for?
00:42That's the million-dollar question.
00:45Apparently, these things were hot at the time in northern Gaul and Roman Germany,
00:49according to some ancient maps.
00:51Similar dodecahedrons have been found in Europe,
00:55in Great Britain,
00:56and even along the road of maritime silk,
01:00in Southeast Asia.
01:02The mystery is growing as more and more of these dodecahedrons are discovered.
01:07Some contained wax,
01:09which led scientists to believe that they could be candle holders.
01:13Others assume that they could be used to knit gloves,
01:17since none have been found in warmer regions.
01:21An example discovered in Geneva bears the signs of the Zodiac,
01:25which has aroused some crazy theories about its mystical powers.
01:30And now, new discoveries question all of this.
01:33Was it a sacred tool for the Romans?
01:36Who knows? Maybe the first multifunction tool,
01:39long before the invention of the Swiss knife.
01:42The Scottish-sculpted stone balls represent another historical enigma.
01:46Going back to the late Neolithic,
01:49around 3000 to 2500 BC,
01:52they are made of various types of stone,
01:55ranging from grey to granite.
01:57All of them are similar in size,
02:00and feature complex circular patterns,
02:02which are regularly spaced,
02:04composed of bumps or pommels.
02:06Most of these patterns have 6 bumps,
02:09but their number can vary from 3 to 160.
02:13Some of these balls are finer than others,
02:15and some even feature additional decorations.
02:19More than 400 sculpted stone balls have been found mainly in Scotland,
02:23although some have also been discovered
02:26in Northern England and Ireland.
02:29These stone balls generally do not show any signs of wear or damage,
02:33and no clue can determine their function.
02:36Most experts agree that they were not practical tools,
02:41but had a symbolic or social importance,
02:44probably an external sign of prestige within their community.
02:49The Folkton stone balls are three-cylinder stones
02:52dating from the British Neolithic,
02:54discovered at the end of the 19th century
02:56in a funerary tumulus in East Yorkshire.
02:58No similar prehistoric object
03:00has ever been found elsewhere in the British Isles.
03:03Each stone ball is decorated with unique patterns,
03:06which cover the sides and top of it.
03:09These ornaments are mainly geometric,
03:11arranged in panels,
03:13and stylized human faces are reproduced on two of the stones.
03:17Recent studies, using new technologies,
03:19have revealed that these patterns
03:21had been sculpted and re-sculpted over time.
03:24A team of experts has also analyzed the composition of the stones,
03:27revealing that they were made of local chalk.
03:31At the late Bronze Age in Europe,
03:33long before coins were widespread,
03:35finely crafted metal objects
03:37served as portable wealth and external signs of prestige.
03:41All over the continent,
03:43archaeologists have discovered a wide variety of artifacts,
03:45ranging from gold plating worn by the elites
03:48to large bronze cauldrons used during banquets.
03:51Among these objects,
03:52we find magnificent gold rings,
03:54discovered in Wales.
03:56Known as lock rings,
03:58they could have been used to hold hair.
04:00After spending nearly 3,000 years underground,
04:03they are now flattened.
04:05In the past, they had defaults
04:08and a cone-shaped opening at each end.
04:16Although they were discovered at different times,
04:19they were probably carried by pairs
04:21and buried together in the same cache.
04:24Other Roman artifacts made of copper
04:27were initially classified as lunar pendants.
04:30However, during a recent re-evaluation,
04:33experts have discovered that these objects
04:36were actually small sets of mortars and pylons
04:39used to grind cosmetics.
04:41These containers were used to spray
04:43the minerals intended for makeup
04:45and specifically designed to apply
04:47glue and eye shadow.
04:49They had been mistakenly taken for pendants
04:51due to the suspension loops
04:53that allowed them to be worn around the neck.
04:55These cosmetic sets,
04:57dating from the first century of our era,
04:59are unique to Great Britain.
05:01They testify to the influence of imported cosmetics
05:04and to aesthetic trends from the Mediterranean
05:06and the Roman provinces,
05:08starting with Egypt.
05:10The Salzburg Cube,
05:12also known as Wolfsegg's Fair,
05:14was discovered at the end of the 19th century
05:16in Austria.
05:18It does not really look like a cube
05:20but rather a rounded object with two flat sides.
05:22A groove crosses its middle
05:24and its surface is covered
05:26with hollows and craters.
05:28This artifact was accidentally discovered
05:30by workers
05:32who blew up a coal vein.
05:34It is estimated that the vein,
05:36from which it comes,
05:38is more than 60 million years old.
05:40This cube was moved from one museum to another
05:42before mysteriously disappearing
05:44at the beginning of the 20th century
05:46and then reappearing.
05:48Some researchers thought it could be
05:50a boujoir from the Victorian era.
05:52But no one still knows
05:54the real history of the cube
05:56or its current location.
05:58Archaeologists have made
06:00an incredible historical discovery
06:02in Pakistan,
06:04an ancient sphinx
06:06estimated to be around 12,500 years old.
06:08The region where it was found
06:10was once a flourishing center
06:12of Arab civilization,
06:14known for its advanced urban planning,
06:16its complex art
06:18and its sophisticated water evacuation systems.
06:20The discovery of this ancient sphinx
06:22perfectly illustrates the extent of their progress.
06:24We all know the Great Sphinx of Giza,
06:26but what was the meaning
06:28of the sphinx in the culture
06:30of the Indus Valley?
06:32The lure is adorned with patterns and sculptures
06:34representing scenes of everyday life,
06:36suggesting a more complex role
06:38than a simple symbol of power.
06:40It could represent the balance
06:42of man with nature
06:44or even a deity associated with agriculture.
06:46Arika, in Chile,
06:48is located on the sandy dunes
06:50of the Atacama Desert,
06:52known as the most arid desert in the world.
06:54Long before this coastal city
06:56was founded in the 16th century,
06:58the Chinchorro people lived in this region.
07:00Archaeologists have discovered
07:02hundreds of their mummies
07:04and the dating to radiocarbon
07:06has revealed that the latter
07:08were more than 7,000 years old,
07:10which makes them older by 2,000 years
07:12than the famous Egyptian mummies.
07:14The Chinchorro used sophisticated techniques
07:16to preserve the mummies
07:18without relying on the arid climate.
07:20Unlike the Egyptians,
07:22they did not mummify only the members of the elite
07:24but all the individuals,
07:26regardless of their age or social status.
07:28The inhabitants of present-day Arika
07:30are so used to discovering mummies
07:32in their gardens
07:34that they do not find it strange
07:36to live among them.
07:38In the winter of 1850,
07:40a violent storm accompanied
07:42by exceptionally high tides
07:44hit the west coast of the Orchard Archipelago
07:46in Scotland.
07:48The wind and waves tore off the tower
07:50which covered a mound
07:52The amateur geologist therefore decided
07:54to excavate the village of Skara Brae,
07:56which he believed to date from the Iron Age,
07:58i.e. from 500 BC to 500 AD.
08:02He managed to reveal
08:04the remains of four houses
08:06and many artefacts
08:08from two villages.
08:10These had been buried under the sand,
08:12which allowed for exceptional conservation.
08:14The dating to carbon did not yet exist at the time,
08:16which made it difficult
08:18to determine the exact age of these villages.
08:20Almost a century later,
08:22thanks to new technologies,
08:24researchers were finally able to establish
08:26that this site dated from the Neolithic,
08:28from 3100 CE
08:30to 2500 A.D.
08:32We can still see
08:34furniture carved in stone
08:36and prehistoric beds.
08:38Archaeologists
08:40and historians working on the famous
08:42army of baked earth think
08:44that it could have been inspired
08:46by ancient Greek sculptures.
08:48This would create a cultural contact
08:50between the East and the West
08:52much earlier than we thought,
08:54well before the establishment
08:56of the Silk Road.
08:58A Western influence probably existed
09:00in China during the reign
09:02of its first emperor,
09:04who seized the throne
09:06in 246 A.D.
09:08Before that time,
09:10China was not used
09:12to carrying out
09:14large-scale sculptures.
09:16This is how
09:18Chinese artists
09:20would have been able
09:22to share their knowledge
09:24with Chinese sculptors.