13 Ancient Artifacts Researchers Still Can't Explain

Our ancient ancestors left behind artifacts that continue to defy explanation, fueling theories their capabilities were far beyond what we assume. From intricate devices resembling computers to massive stone structures, these 13 archaeological finds have researchers puzzled over their origins.

13. The Antikythera Mechanism

This ancient Greek hand-powered computer from around 60 BC is considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Designed to calculate astronomical positions, it continues to baffle researchers with its intricate craftsmanship and advanced technological design for its era. Experts are still working to decipher its various functions and unlock all its secrets.

12. The Voynich Manuscript

This medieval manuscript, named after its former owner Wilfred M. Voynich, contains writings in an unknown language or code that has remained undecipherable by linguistics experts and codebreakers for centuries. Its bizarre illustrations of unidentifiable plants and cosmological sections have fueled theories it could be an alchemical, astronomical, or even alien document.

11. The Plain of Jars

Across the Xieng Khouang plateau of Laos lie thousands of ancient stone jars carved from solid rock, ranging from human-sized to massive carved monoliths weighing over 30 tons. Their sheer number, size, and arrangement into clusters and rows indicate an immense prehistoric effort, but their original purpose remains unknown.

10. Roman Dodecahedrons

These small hollow bronze objects with 12 flat surfaces have been found across former territories of the Roman Empire, but their use remains a mystery. Theories range from religious to candleholders and even archaic geometric teaching tools, but no consensus has been reached on their enigmatic purpose.

9. The Nazca Lines

Only visible from the air, these immense geoglyphs etched into the Nazca Desert of Peru depict hundreds of figures like animals, plants and geometric shapes up to 1,200 feet across. Their massive scale and precision suggest they held significance beyond just drawings, but their intended meaning is still unknown.

8. The Baghdad Battery

This 6-inch terra cotta pot with an iron rod protruding through the top found in an ancient village near Baghdad may have functioned as an electrochemical cell, leading some to theorize it represents an ancient form of battery pre-dating modern electrical discoveries by millennia. However, its exact purpose and mechanisms remain unclear.

7. The Longyou Grottoes

Located in China, these cave systems contain thousands of chiseled, life-sized human figures seated in rows, along with intricate relief carvings on the walls and ceilings. Their immense scale and level of detail imply a major undertaking with religious significance, yet their original purpose eludes researchers.

6. The Phaistos Disc

Found on Crete, this baked clay disc imprinted with enigmatic hieroglyphic symbols in a spiral sequence has baffled linguists for over a century. Despite numerous attempted translations, its writing system, language, and meaning remain indecipherable, representing one of the most famous unsolved mysteries from the ancient Minoan civilization.

5. The Giant Spheres of Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, these massive stone balls ranging from a few feet to over 15 feet across were carved and arranged by an unknown pre-Columbian culture. Their precision and immense size hint at an impressive feat of engineering and purpose, but their exact origins and use are still mysterious.

4. The Sajama Lines

Etched across Bolivia, these immense lines, trenches and mounds stretch for miles across the landscape, and are believed to depict ritual pathways or processional routes, but little is definitively known. Their staggering scale and geometric complexity have researchers puzzled over their methods of construction and original function.

3. The Cochno Stone

Located in Scotland, this massive slab is carved with cup and ring markings repeated thousands of times in a dizzying spiral pattern across its surface. Despite numerous theories, the intricate decorations defy conclusive explanations of their purpose or meaning behind such immense communal labor.

2. The Klerksdorp Spheres

Found in South Africa, these small metallic spheres appear to be manufactured objects, leading to controversial claims they represent evidence of an unknown ancient civilization or even theorized extraterrestrial visitors. While their true nature remains hotly debated, many researchers believe they formed under natural geological conditions still not fully understood.

1. The Baigong Pipes

This cluster of iron pipes buried in an isolated pyramid-shaped mountain in China has researchers perplexed regarding their method of manufacture and transport. Carbon dating indicates they could be as old as 150,000 years, far preceding humanity's capability for such industrial-scale smelting and pipeline construction at that time.