Speaking of Qin Shi Huang (259 BC-210 BC), the first emperor in Chinese history, historians and archaeologists cannot fail to mention the great underground wonder he left inside for future generations: its gigantic mausoleum: Qin Shi Huang’s army of soldiers and horses with more than 8,000 statues made of baked clay.

More than 4 decades after the day the Terracotta Army was accidentally discovered, Qin Shi Huang’s brave soldiers and horses remain one of the 5 most expensive, mysterious and attractive archaeological discoveries to date.

Below are the five greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, which readers are invited to follow:

Perhaps, it would be difficult for people to admire the great underground wonder built in 246 BC if it were not for the fact that a farmer from Shaanxi (China) accidentally found the first statue when he dug a well for water in 1974 .

Since then, three large-scale archaeological excavations have uncovered thousands more fired clay soldiers along with many weapons and horse statues. At that time, the historian learned that this army of nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses guarded the dream of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

The surprising thing is that each soldier statue is life-size, with different hairstyles, faces, ears, expressions and charisma. The weapons are still sharp today.

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Photo: Internet

As an emperor who made great contributions to the construction and completion of the Great Wall, it is not surprising that Qin Shi Huang carefully prepared his funeral. To build his tomb, he ordered more than 700,000 people to work day and night for almost 40 years.

The scale and power are fully demonstrated in this mausoleum: in the giant mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, there is not only a terracotta army of 8,000 statues and countless horses and weapons, but also this underground wonder is built. Built according to strict feng shui rules and a sophisticated system of traps: punish anyone who dares to interrupt the emperor’s sleep.

Archaeological Research in Asia magazine cited historical records from ancient astronomers saying: Qin Shi Huang’s tomb is designed in a perfect north-south direction. This tomb complex fully converges geographical and astronomical elements.

GOLDEN MASK OF PHARAOH TUT

Egypt, the country of the mysterious giant pyramids, has always been one of the names that most attracts archaeologists in the world.

Mention Egypt and people quickly remember Giza, the pharaohs, the latest mummification technique and the mysteries buried for thousands of years under majestic tombs in the hot desert. Among them, King Tut and his mysterious golden mask make historians constantly research and learn.

King Tutankhamun (King Tut) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who reigned from 1332 to 1323 BC. C., during the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history.

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King Tut’s golden mask. Photo: Fineartamerica

The golden mask (replica of the king’s face) weighing 11 kg is the part that covers the embalmed body of the young king who died in 1323 BC. C. at the age of 19, after ruling for 10 years.

The solid gold base sparkles with lapis lazuli, turquoise and other semi-precious stones. The chin is attached to a beard made of gold, and on the forehead are fastened a vulture and a cobra, gods who together symbolize the unity of Lower and Upper Egypt.

The mask reappeared in the modern world in 1922 , when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s nearly intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, a royal cemetery along the Nile River in ancient Egypt.

Until now, many historians have not yet found the reason why Pharaoh Tutankhamun died so early. The fact that grave robbers unearthed and “demolished” many parts of King Tut’s tomb made it difficult for researchers to recreate history from thousands of years ago.

GIANT STONE HEAD

When talking about Mexico, a country in North America, many people think of the Teotihuacán Valley, where the most monumental pyramid complex of the Sun and the Moon is located, which represents the ancient architecture of America, but they forget about civilization Olmec. important in this country.

Emerging from the swampy forests of the Gulf of Mexico coast between 400 and 1400 BC. C., the Olmec civilization had an extremely brilliant culture with unique artifacts in the world. The most prominent of them is the giant work of art they call the giant stone head statue.

More than 2 millennia after the reign of the Olmecs, a farmer accidentally unearthed a giant stone head, revealing the great history of ancient Mexico.

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This head statue is the first of 17 similar heads that have not been restored. They are believed to be portraits of Olmec rulers.

The majestic statues measure between 1.5 and 3 meters high and each weigh several tons. This giant basalt artifact has in common its almond-shaped eyes, its snub nose and its full lips. But the head statue has a unique and different image, expression and headdress. Archaeologists believe it is because the Olmecs wanted to depict the faces of each different ruler.

It was made of basalt, but archaeologists discovered that most of the head statues were located about 100 km from the basalt quarry. Therefore, researchers still cannot understand how the Olmecs were able to transport monolithic rocks weighing almost ten tons to the central plaza to carve and display.

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD SEA

In 1947 , Muhammed ed-Dib, a nomadic Bedouin shepherd, was searching for a lost goat along the cliffs of the Dead Sea

No one expected that a farmer’s search for a lost goat would open the door to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century : in a narrow cave, Muhammed ed-Dib discovered that clay vessels containing ancient scrolls written between the 300 BC and 70 AD. They are part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the largest and most elaborate manuscripts in human history.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 981 different records, dating back 2,000 years. About 230 of them transcribe stories from the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament. The rest contains other religious texts, such as prayers, hymns and teachings.

Although the Dead Sea Scrolls were written primarily in Hebrew, historians have also found manuscripts in languages ​​older than Hebrew, including various dialects of Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and Arabic.

Over the years, archaeologists have found more 12 cave scrolls in the eastern Judean Desert, what is now the West Bank. Thanks to the right conditions, some scrolls remained intact, most of the rest were damaged, creating a storehouse of more than 25,000 pieces of scrolls and papyri.

The difficult problem for historians and archaeologists is how this remaining piece of paper still has countless pieces left to complete. In the future, the DNA method may be useful because many scrolls were made from animal skin.

From what can be read, researchers debate the authorship of the scroll. Some historians believe that the scrolls come from many different sources, from many different authors; Others attribute everything to a Jewish sect that lived near 12 caves in the 1st century AD

To this day, the Dead Sea Scrolls still contain many questions that have researchers searching for answers.

VENUS WILLENDORF

Short, fat and almost 30,000 years old, the Venus of Willendorf is a symbol of Ice Age women. The 10 cm high statue, depicting a female figure with breasts, buttocks and abdomen but without feet or facial features, is one of the most important archaeological artifacts and artefacts in modern archaeology.

Archaeologists found the figurine in 1908 , about a week after excavations at Willendorf II, a site in Austria along the Danube River, about 50 miles from Vienna. Archaeologists called this statue Venus of Willendorf.

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The Venus of Willendorf statue is on display at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria. Photo: AFP