Ongoing discoveries, from ancient texts and fossils to peculiar medieval artifacts, continue to broaden society’s perspective on past life. Even objects from just a few decades ago add pieces to the historical puzzle.
Here are some of the most exciting discoveries announced recently.
Fiery Globe
On June 7, 1195, a massive dark cloud hung over Norwich. Suddenly, a spinning, fiery ball emerged and hurtled toward Earth, “falling toward a river.” This account exists in a monastic chronicle by Gervase, a monk at Christ Church Cathedral in Canterbury.
Historians now believe this is the first credible written record of ball lightning in England. Before this, the earliest sighting was thought to be in the 17th century. Gervase’s detailed writings closely resemble later reports of ball lightning. Physicist Emeritus Professor Brian Tanner and historian Professor Giles Gasper found Gervase’s account while studying a medieval text and published their findings in January 2022.
Dragons of Death
Dragon of Death sounds like a Game of Thrones spin-off, but it’s a new pterosaur species discovered in the Andes Mountains. This creature ruled the skies about 86 million years ago.
Scientists found well-preserved fossils, including vertebrae and limb bones, from the largest pterosaur to roam South America. The remains are stored at the Laboratory and Museum of Dinosaurs, where visitors can see a life-size replica.
Another incredible find was a six-and-a-half-foot-long pliosaur skull unearthed from a rock cliff along England’s Jurassic Coast in December 2023. This skull, resembling a fiery dragon’s, may belong to a new species.
Fossil enthusiast Phil Jacobs spotted part of the snout. He and palaeontologist Steve Etches extracted the massive skull after weeks of chiseling. The skull will be displayed at the Etches Collection Museum in Kimmeridge, England, in 2024. They plan to find the rest of the creature’s remains.
Vampire Slaying Kit
Imagine needing a vampire hunting kit at home. Lord Hailey of Britain did. His box of vampire repellents recently sold at auction for $15,000. It included crosses, crucifixes, a wooden stake, rosary beads, pistols, a Bible, and holy water.
The kit also had a document detailing the registration of an “alien enemy” in 1915. This mysterious box made headlines and drew bids worldwide.
A vampire hunting kit would have been useful in 17th-century Poland. In 2022, archaeologists found a woman buried with a sickle across her neck to prevent her rising as a vampire. She was also shackled to her grave.
1,800-Year-Old Curse
Like the fear of vampires, curses were once widely acknowledged and feared.
Jacob, a Jewish convert, wrote a curse in red ink 1,800 years ago and had it placed on his grave to deter robbers. In Greek, it warned that anyone opening the grave would be cursed. The inscription indicated he died at 60 and listed his name.
The grave marker was found in 2021 in a national park in Galilee, home to the Jewish Beit She’arim cemetery. Images were released by the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority in May 2022.
In 2021, archaeologists also found a “curse jar” in Athens used 2,300 years ago to curse at least 55 people. Inside were the dismembered head and legs of a chicken. The jar was inscribed with 55 names and was likely used in a binding curse ritual.
Largest Predatory Dinosaur
Fossil discoveries are always exciting, expanding our knowledge of dinosaurs and ancient creatures.
Paleontologists announced in June 2022 the discovery of a new spinosaurid dinosaur fossil on the Isle of Wight. Named the “White Rock” spinosaurid, it was one of Europe’s largest land-based hunters, measuring over 33 feet and sporting a crocodile-like face.
The fossil was found in the Vectis Formation, where the spinosaurid lived in lagoons. This discovery supports the idea that spinosaurid dinosaurs originated in western Europe.
Deepest Shipwreck in the World
The USS Samuel B. Roberts, a U.S. Navy destroyer escort in WWII, sank during the Battle of Samar. It was found in 22,621 feet of water in the Philippine Sea in June 2022.
The wreck, the deepest in the world, shows it hit the seafloor bow first and has puncture holes from Japanese shells. The ship’s last known survivor died on March 20, 2022.
Texan adventurer Victor Vescovo discovered the wreck. He’s also the first person to visit the deepest points of Earth’s five oceans.
Ice Age Cave Bear DNA
Cave bears stopped roaming Europe and northern Asia 25,000 years ago. Scientists believe human population growth led to a decline in suitable habitats for these bears.
Researchers recovered a genome from a 360,000-year-old cave bear in the Caucasus Mountains in 2021. This is the oldest genetic material extracted from bones not in permafrost.
DNA analysis revealed cave bears evolved 1.5 million years ago from common ancestors shared by brown and polar bears. They formed their own lineage before splitting into polar and brown bear species.
Remnants of a “Fairy World”
At an archaeological site in Sichuan, China, excavators found a treasure trove of artifacts in a series of pits, including a bronze sculpture of a snake with a human head, a bronze box with jade and gold masks, and a bronze altar.
Experts believe these reflected the imagined “fairy world” of the time. Two pits were excavated in the 1980s, with six more since 2020. A total of 13,000 Bronze Age artifacts have been uncovered, likely evidence of ritualistic events. Burned artifacts suggest attempts to communicate with another realm.
Hidden Van Gogh Painting
Vincent van Gogh painted over 35 self-portraits. In June 2022, another was discovered on the back of his Head of a Peasant Woman painting during an X-ray examination.
Conservators at the National Galleries of Scotland found an image of the painter with his intact left ear. The portrait had been hidden for at least a century, covered by glue and cardboard when framed in the early 1900s.
Seeing the Universe Through a Clearer Lens
In July 2022, the world saw the James Webb Space Telescope’s capabilities.
NASA revealed images, including never-before-seen views of the cosmos and the deepest infrared view of the universe. The telescope also showed a second dying star of the Southern Ring nebula for the first time.
It unveiled rapid star formation in the Carina Nebula and found a supermassive black hole predating others, with a mass equal to nine million suns.
The telescope discovered methyl cation, a key component of organic material on Earth, and captured sandstorms on a planet 235 trillion miles away.
In October 2023, it spotted around 40 pairs of Jupiter-sized planets free-floating in the Orion Nebula and may have found dimethyl sulfide on exoplanet K2-18b, suggesting potential signs of life, making 2024 promising.
These recent discoveries offer exciting insights into our past and the universe, continually reshaping our understanding of the world around us.
What discovery excites you the most? Leave your comment below!
