The world is filled with ancient monuments
built by master craftsmen in order to honor
everything from kings and presidents to religious
figures.
And although most of these landmarks have
been carefully studied and researched by scientists
and historians, some are simply so old, incomplete,
or obscure that we still don’t know very
much about why they were built or what purpose
they served.
The following are 10 world landmarks that,
whether by intention or simply due to the
passage of time, continue to baffle the people
who study them.
10.
The Cahokia Mounds
Cahokia is the name given to an Indian settlement
that exists outside of Collinsville, Illinois.
Archeologists estimate that the city was founded
sometime around 650 AD, and its complex network
of burial grounds and sophisticated landscaping
prove that it was once a thriving community.
It has been estimated that at its peak the
city was home to as many as 40,000 people,
which would have made it the most populous
settlement in America prior to the arrival
of the Europeans.
The most notable aspect of Cahokia today are
the 80 mounds of earth, some as high as 100
feet, which dot the 2,200-acre site.
These helped create a network of plazas throughout
the city, and it is believed that important
buildings, like the home of the settlement’s
chief, were built on top of them.
The site also features a series of wooden
posts that archeologists have dubbed “woodhenge.”
The posts are said to mark the solstices and
equinoxes, and supposedly figured prominently
in the community’s astronomical mythology.
The Mystery
Although scientists are constantly discovering
new information about the Cohokia community,
the biggest mystery that remains is which
modern Indian tribe is descended from the
residents of the ancient city, as well as
just what it was that caused them to abandon
their settlement.
9.
Newgrange
Considered to be the oldest and most famous
prehistoric site in all of Ireland, Newgrange
is a tomb that was built from earth, wood,
clay, and stone around 3100 BC, some 1000
years before the construction of the pyramids
in Egypt.
It consists of a long passage that leads to
a cross-shaped chamber that was apparently
used as a tomb, as it contains stone basins
filled with cremated remains.
The most unique feature of Newgrange is its
careful and sturdy design, which has helped
the structure remain completely waterproof
to this day.
Most amazing of all, the entrance to the tomb
was positioned relative to the sun in such
a way that on the winter solstice, the shortest
day of the year, the rays from the sun are
channeled through the opening and down the
nearly 60 foot passageway, where they illuminate
the floor of the monument’s central room.
The Mystery
Archeologists know Newgrange was used as a
tomb, but why and for who still remains a
mystery.
The painstaking design needed to guarantee
that the yearly solstice event occurs suggests
that the site was held in high regard, but
other than the obvious hypothesis that the
sun featured prominently in the mythology
of the builders, scientists are at a loss
to describe the true reason for Newgrange’s
construction.
8.
The Yonaguni Monument
Of all the famous monuments in Japan, perhaps
none is more perplexing than Yonaguni, an
underwater rock formation that lies off the
coast of the Ryuku Islands.
It was discovered in 1987 by a group of divers
who were there to observe Hammerhead sharks,
and it immediately sparked a huge amount of
debate in the Japanese scientific community.
The monument is made up of a series of striking
rock formations including massive platforms,
carved steps, and huge stone pillars that
lie at depths of 5-40 meters.
There is a triangular formation that has become
known as “the turtle” for its unique shape,
as well as a long, straight wall that borders
one of the larger platforms.
The currents in the area are known for being
particularly treacherous, but this has not
stopped the Yonaguni monument from becoming
one of the most popular diving locations in
all of Japan.
The Mystery
The ongoing debate surrounding Yonaguni centers
on one key subject: is the monument a natural
phenomenon, or is it man-made?
Scientists have long argued that millennia
of strong currents and erosion have carved
the formations out of the ocean floor, and
they point to the fact that the monument is
all one piece of solid rock as proof that
it was not assembled by a builder.
Others, though, point to the many straight
edges, square corners and 90-degree angles
of the formation as proof that it’s artificial.
They often cite one formation in particular,
a section of rock that resembles a crude carving
of a human face, as evidence.
If they are right, then an even more interesting
mystery presents itself: who constructed the
Yonaguni Monument, and for what purpose?
7.
The Nazca Lines
The Nazca lines are a series of designs and
pictographs carved into the ground in the
Nazca Desert, a dry plateau located in Peru.
They cover an area of some 50 miles, and were
supposedly created between 200 BC and 700
AD by the Nazca Indians, who designed them
by scraping away the copper colored rocks
of the desert floor to expose the lighter-colored
earth beneath.
The lines have managed to remain intact for
hundreds of years thanks to the region’s
arid climate, which sees it receive little
rain or wind throughout the year.
Some of the lines span distances of 600 feet,
and they depict everything from simple designs
and shapes to characterizations of plants,
insects, and animals.
The Mystery
Scientists know who made the Nazca Lines and
how they did it, but they still don’t know
why.
The most popular and reasonable hypothesis
is that the lines must have figured in the
Nazca people’s religious beliefs, and that
they made the designs as offerings to the
gods, who would’ve been able to see them
from the heavens.
Still, other scientists argue that the lines
are evidence of massive looms that the Nazcas
used to make textiles, and one investigator
has even made the preposterous claim that
they are the remnants of ancient airfields
used by a vanished, technologically advanced
society.
6.
Goseck Circle
One of the most mysterious landmarks in Germany
is the Goseck Circle, a monument made out
of earth, gravel, and wooden palisades that
is regarded as the earliest example of a primitive
“solar observatory.”
The circle consists of a series of circular
ditches surrounded by palisade walls (which
have since been reconstructed) that house
a raised mound of dirt in the center.
The palisades have three openings, or gates,
that point southeast, southwest, and north.
It is believed that the monument was built
around 4900 BC by Neolithic peoples, and that
the three openings correspond to the direction
from which the sun rises on the winter solstice.
The Mystery
The monument’s careful construction has
led many scientists to believe that the Goseck
Circle was built to serve as some kind of
primitive solar or lunar calendar, but its
exact use is still a source of debate.
Evidence has shown that a so-called “solar
cult” was widespread in ancient Europe.
This has led to speculation that the Circle
was used in some kind of ritual, perhaps even
in conjunction with human sacrifice.
This hypothesis has yet to be proven, but
archeologists have uncovered several human
bones, including a headless skeleton, just
outside the palisade walls.
5.
Sacsayhuaman
Not far from the famous Inca city of Machu
Picchu lies Sacsayhuaman, a strange embankment
of stone walls located just outside of Cuzco.
The series of three walls was assembled from
massive 200-ton blocks of rock and limestone,
and they are arranged in a zigzag pattern
along the hillside.
The longest is roughly 1000 feet in length
and each stands some fifteen feet tall.
The monument is in astonishingly good condition
for its age, especially considering the region’s
propensity for earthquakes, but the tops of
the walls are somewhat demolished, as the
monument was plundered by the Spanish to build
churches in Cuzco.
The area surrounding the monument has been
found to be the source of several underground
catacombs called chincanas, which were supposedly
used as connecting passageways to other Inca
structures in the area.
The Mystery
Most scientists agree that Sacsayhuaman served
as a kind of fortress of barrier wall, but
this has been disputed.
The strange shape and angles of the wall have
led some speculate that it may have had a
more symbolic function, one example being
that the wall, when seen next to Cuzco from
above, forms the shape of the head of a Cougar.
Even more mysterious than the monument’s
use, though, are the methods that were used
in its construction.
Like most Inca stone works, Sacsayhuaman was
built with large stones that fit together
so perfectly that not even a sheet of paper
can be placed in the gaps between them.
Just how the Incas managed such expert placements,
or, for that matter, how they managed to transport
and lift the heavy hunks of stone, is still
not fully known.
4.
The Easter Island Moai
One of the most iconic series of monuments
in the Pacific islands is the Moai, a group
of huge statues of exaggerated human figures
that are found only on the small, isolated
island of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island.
The Moai were carved sometime between 1250
and 1500 AD by the island’s earliest inhabitants,
and are believed to depict the people’s
ancestors, who in their culture were held
in the same regard as deities.
The Moai were chiseled and carved from tuff,
a volcanic rock that is prevalent on the island,
and they all feature the same characteristics
of an oversized head, broad nose, and a mysterious,
indecipherable facial expression.
Scientists have determined that as many as
887 of the statues were originally carved,
but years of infighting among the island’s
clans led to many being destroyed.
Today, only 394 are still standing, the largest
of which is 30 feet tall and weighs over 70
tons.
The Mystery
While there is a fairly solid consensus on
why the Moai were erected, how the islanders
did it is still up for debate.
The average Moai weighs several tons, and
for years scientists were at a loss to describe
how the monuments were transported from Rano
Raraku, where most of them were constructed,
to their various locations around the island.
In recent years, the most popular theory is
that the builders used wooden sleds and log
rollers to move the Moai, an answer that would
also explain how the once verdant island became
almost totally barren due to deforestation.
3.
The Georgia Guidestones
While most of the mysterious monuments on
this list only became that way as centuries
passed, the Georgia Guidestones, also known
as American Stonehenge, are one landmark that
was always intended to be an enigma.
The monument, which consists of four monolithic
slabs of granite that support a single capstone,
was commissioned in 1979 by a man who went
by the pseudonym of R.C. Christian.
A local mason carefully crafted it so that
one slot in the stones is aligned with the
sun on the solstices and equinoxes, and one
small hole is always pointed in the direction
of the North Star.
Most interesting, though, are the inscriptions
on the slabs, which an accompanying plaque
describes as “the guidestones to an Age
of Reason.”
In eight different languages, the slabs offer
a strange ten-point plan to ensure peace on
Earth that includes vague proclamations like
“prize truth–beauty–love–seeking harmony
with the infinite,” to very specific commands
like “maintain humanity under 500,000,000
in perpetual balance with nature.”
Comments like this one have made the Guidestones
one of the most controversial landmarks in
the United States, and they have long been
protested and even vandalized by groups that
would like to see them demolished.
The Mystery
For all their controversy, very little is
known about who built the Guidestones or what
their true purpose is.
R.C. Christian claimed he represented an independent
organization when he commissioned the landmark,
but neither he nor his group has spoken up
since its construction.
Since the monument was built during the height
of the Cold War, one popular theory about
the group’s intentions is that the Guidestones
were to serve as a primer for how to rebuild
society in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.
2.
The Great Sphinx of Giza
Sphinxes are massive stone statues that depict
the body of a reclining lion with the head
and face of a human.
The figures are found all over the world in
different forms, but they are most commonly
linked with Egypt, which features the most
famous example in the form of the Great Sphinx
of Giza.
Incredibly, the statue is carved out of one
monolithic piece of rock, and at 240 feet
long, 20 feet wide, and 66 feet tall, it is
considered to be the biggest monument of its
kind in the world.
Historians largely accept the function of
the Sphinx to have been that of a symbolic
guardian, since the statues were strategically
placed around important structures like temples,
tombs, and pyramids.
The Great Sphinx of Giza appears to be no
different.
It stands adjacent to the pyramid of the pharaoh
Khafra, and most archeologists believe that
it is his face that is depicted on that of
the statue.
The Mystery
Despite its reputation as one of the most
famous monuments of antiquity, there is still
very little known about the Great Sphinx of
Giza.
Egyptologists might have a small understanding
of why the statue was built, but when, how,
and by who is still shrouded in mystery.
The pharaoh Khafra is the main suspect, which
would date the structure back to around 2500
BC, but other scientists have argued that
evidence of water erosion of the statue suggests
that it is much older and perhaps even predated
the dynastic era of the Egyptians.
This theory has few modern adherents, but
if true it would mean the Great Sphinx of
Giza is even more mysterious than previously
believed.
1.
Stonehenge
Of all the world’s famous monuments, none
has gained as much of a reputation for pure,
simple mystery as Stonehenge.
Stonehenge has been inspiring debate among
scholars, scientists, and historians since
the Middle Ages.
Located in the English countryside, the landmark
is believed to date back to 2500 BC, and consists
of several mammoth pieces of rock arranged
and piled on top of one another in what appears
at first to be a random design.
The site is surrounded by a small, circular
ditch, and is flanked by burial mounds on
all sides.
Although the rock formations that still remain
are undoubtedly impressive, it is thought
that the modern version of Stonehenge is only
a small remnant of a much larger monument
that was damaged with the passing of time,
and it is largely believed that the building
process was so extensive that it could have
lasted on and off for anywhere from 1500 to
7000 years.
The Mystery
Stonehenge has become renowned for puzzling
even the most brilliant researchers, and over
the years the many gaps in the history of
its construction, the nature of its use, and
the true identity of its builders have become
known as “The Mystery of Stonehenge.”
The Neolithic people who built the monument
left behind no written records, so scientists
can only base their theories on the meager
evidence that exists at the site.
This has led to wild speculation that the
monument was left by aliens, or that it was
built by some eons-old society of technologically
advanced super-humans.
All craziness aside, the most common explanation
remains that Stonehenge served as some kind
of graveyard monument that played a role in
the builders’ version of the afterlife,
a claim that is backed up by its proximity
to several hundred burial mounds.
Yet another theory suggests that the site
was a place for spiritual healing and the
worship of long dead ancestors.
