In recent years, it's as if the world has become smaller. There's no room for mysticism in the global village. We now know why the grass is green and the sky blue. We've figured out how to swim like fish and fly like birds.
But there are still mysteries on our planet that have yet to be unraveled. This applies in full to the customs and knowledge of our ancient ancestors, as a significant chunk of their understanding of the world has been irreversibly lost. Below are the top 5 greatest and most puzzling enigmas in human history.
1. The ancient continent of Lemuria
No list of ancient mysteries would be complete without a lost continent. Within the ancient legends and beliefs of the peoples of South Asia and Oceania we frequently see mention of the mystical Lemuria, which was said to be home to a great civilization. This lost continent was said to be located in the Pacific Ocean.
Polynesian folklore refers to Lemuria more than anywhere else, describing the birthplace of all of humanity. Today, we still don't know for sure whether Lemuria was anything more than ancient myth.
2. The holy footprints of Piska Nagri
Residents of the Indian village Piska Nagri believe they've found the footprints of God. In a cave near the village one can see a pair of footprints, seemingly left behind in the hard granite, not carved out of it. The footprints are shaped like typical wooden sandals that were worn in that region in ancient times. Villagers believe the prints were left by the gods Rama and Lakshmana, who passed through the village in search of Rama's wife. Aside from these divine footprints, researchers have been extremely perplexed by the image of the flying object next to them, for which there is still no scientific theory.
3. The Tarim Basin mummies
The world was shaken to its core when in 1979 Chinese archaeologists discovered 200 mummies in the Tarim Basin, which is located in the westernmost province of China - Xinjiang. The mummies are about 4000 years old. Most puzzling about these human remains is that they all possessed Caucasian traits. What's more, DNA tests confirmed that they were indeed Caucasian. Further intensifying the mystery is the fact that not a single ancient text mentioned any such groups of people ever living in the region.
4. The Roman dodecahedra
The Roman dodecahedra are mysterious bronze objects of a strange geometric shape. They have been found all over Europe - from Wales through Hungary, all the way to South Romania. However, the greatest number of dodecahedra have been discovered in Germany. The majority of these objects date to the 1st century A.D. No one has yet been able to figure out what these dodecahedra were designed for or their purpose. Researchers theorize they may have been religious artifacts.
5. The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich Manuscript is an enigmatic book that remains undecipherable. It is kept at Yale University. The manuscript has been dated to the 15th century, its parchment pages containing the text of a strange and unknown language, with some scientists believing it's a code.
No one knows what the subject matter of the book is about. Since its discovery in 1912, no one has been able to read the mysterious texts. Researchers have been further perplexed by the fact that most of the illustrations are of unknown species plants on top of strange astronomical diagrams. The book has been analyzed by scientists and cartographers from around the world but no one has been able to figure out the message... or whether there is one.
