8 Ancient Mysteries We May Never Know the Answers To

Hey, youngsters! Do you dig the Twitters and TikToks? Thanks to social media, we can instantly find out which handbag Khloé Kardashian is using today! Fun! A million years from now, archeologists will uncover an iPad buried deep underground, turn it on (‘cause there’s still enough juice in the battery!), and experience the joys of YouTube megastar Jake Paul like their ancestors once did! But while learning about the past (and by “past” I mean the “present” today but will someday be the past in the future) will become increasingly easy in the future, learning about the past can be difficult today because, like, Alexander the Great didn’t govern by Tweet. For this reason, there are archeological findings and the histories of certain ancient civilizations that we will never fully understand. Here are 8 questions we’ll probably never solve.

1. What does the Voynich Manuscript mean?

This mysterious manuscript, named after Polish book dealer Wilfrid Voynich who purchased it in 1912, has been confounding cryptographers who have spent the subsequent 100+ years trying to make sense of the writings and illustrations contained within. For example, none of the sketched out plants have been identified as anything that exists in reality, and the text consists of more than 170,000 different characters. It was originally suspected that Voynich himself created it to attract publicity and cause some mischief, but carbon dating indicates 15th century origins, so probably not.

2. What’s the deal with the Bent Pyramid?

Everybody knows what pyramids are shaped like, right? Like pyramids, duh! Ah, but like many things there are exceptions to the rule, my friends. For instance, a pyramid built during the reign of the Pharaoh Snefru is decidedly different. While the way the lower base was built is consistent with your typical pyramid, things start to get weird as you go higher. The angle of the slope abruptly changes and they ended up with, well, what they ended up with. One theory is that it had to be finished hastily in response to the unexpected death of the person it was intended for. But we like to believe the giant aliens who made it lost their patience when building what was intended to be an elaborate sand castle, patting the top of it with their hands and saying, “We’re done here.”

3. What purpose did the Plain of Jars serve?

Imagine this: you’re wandering around the mountains of Laos when, low and behold, you come across a bunch of large stone jars scattered about, some of which are 10 feet tall. What!? We dunno. They were created around 2500 years ago, and the abundance of nearby human bones might suggest the jars were used for purposes of cremation or perhaps to house corpses prior to the funeral rites. The locals claim the jars were used to make whisky or rice wine for giants that once lived there, so, um, yep. Probably that. Airtight explanation for sure.