Thor’s Hammer (900 AD, Denmark)
The discovery of a 10th-century Viking artifact resembling the Hammer of Thor has solved a long-running mystery surrounding more than 1,000 ancient amulets found across Northern Europe. The relics, known as the Mjöllnir amulets, appear to depict hammers, which historians have linked to the Norse god Thor. However, this could not be concluded with certainty as their shapes were not conclusive, and none of them contained inscriptions revealing their identity.
But earlier this year, another similar pendant was found in Købelev, on the Danish Island of Lolland, which contained the runic inscription “this is a hammer”. Cast in bronze, and likely plated with silver, tin, and gold, the 1,100-year-old pendant shows that Thor’s myth deeply influenced Viking jewelry.
The Quipu of Caral (3,000 BC, Peru)
The Sacred City of Caral is a 5,000-year-old metropolis which represents the oldest known civilization in the Americas, known as the Norte Chico. Among the many incredible artifacts recovered at the site, archaeologists found a segment of knotted strings known as a quipu.
Quipus, sometimes called ‘talking knots’, were recording devices that consisted of colored, spun, and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair or made of cotton cords. It is known that by the time of the Inca, the system aided in collecting data and keeping records, ranging from monitoring tax obligations, properly collecting census records, calendrical information, and military organization.
Terracotta Baby Bottle, Toy, and Rattle, All in One (400 BC, Italy)
In 2013, archaeologists in Italy found a 2,400-year-old terracotta baby’s bottle, which doubled as a pig-shaped toy. The unique artifact is one of several rare objects found last in Manduria, when construction work exposed a Messapian tomb.
The relic is known as a guttus, which is a vessel with a narrow mouth or neck from which liquids were poured. They were used for wine and other drinks, but in this case, the guttus was used for feeding a baby or young child. Uniquely, this guttus was also shaped like a pig with pointy ears and human-like eyes. It also featured terracotta rattles in its tummy.
The Nebra Sky Disc (1,600 BC, Germany)
The Nebra Sky Disc is a 3,600-year-old bronze disc, which is such an extraordinary piece that it was initially believed to be an archaeological forgery. However, detailed scientific analysis revealed that it is indeed authentic, and the precious artifact is now included in UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World’ register.
The Nebra Sky Disc was discovered in Ziegelroda Forest, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It had been ritually buried in a prehistoric enclosure atop a hill (the Mittelberg), along with two precious swords, two axes, two spiral arm-rings, and one bronze chisel.
Gold-Encrusted Dagger of Stonehenge’s Bush Barrow (2,000 BC, England)
In 1808, William Cunnington, one of Britain’s earliest professional archaeologists, discovered what has become known as the crown jewels of the ‘King of Stonehenge’. They were found within a large Bronze Age burial mound just ½ mile from Stonehenge, known today as Bush Barrow.
Within the 4,000-year-old barrow, Cunnington found ornate jewelry, a gold lozenge that fastened his cloak, and an intricately decorated dagger. The dagger was originally adorned with up to 140,000 tiny gold studs just a third of a millimeter wide.
