for almost 30 centuries ancient egypt was the greatest civilization in the mediterranean world the main sources of information about ancient egypt are the many artifacts and relics uncovered in modern egypt each artifact helps archaeologists to understand the ancient civilization further but it also reveals unanswered questions and mysteries the rich and unrivaled civilization of ancient egypt entranced and captured the interest of historians and archaeologists for so long to the point where they even created a word solely for enthusiasts and experts of this civilization egyptologists and so from the khufu ship to the land roaming whale here are 15 strangest things discovered in egypt number 15. khufu ship every dig is a mystery and you'll never know just what you'll discover who would have thought that archaeologists would find a huge vessel pretty much intact and in pristine condition when they excavated the site near the giza pyramid complex back in 1954 the kufu ship's discovery was one of the greatest discoveries in egypt a total of 1200 pieces of the vessel were unearthed and carefully reassembled the finished assembly was a magnificent ship measuring 143 feet long and almost 2 feet wide the ship was restored without using a single nail and according to experts it's so well designed and well built that it could still sail the nile river the kufu ship stood the test of time and survived more than 4 600 years although we're still unsure of its real purpose some egyptologists and archaeologists have a few facts though according to experts it's most likely that the khufu ship is a solar bark these vessels were used by the powerful sun god ra to accompany him to the heavens in ancient egyptian mythology the ancient pharaohs that once ruled over ancient egypt used these solar barks as the representation of raw on earth however these solar barks aren't used to travel on land nor the sea instead they were primarily created to accompany the kings in the afterlife although the khufu ship bears some signs that it has been used in water it's very likely that the vessel was used to carry pharaoh khufu's body from memphis to giza just like a pilgrimage vessel one of the most interesting theories about the purpose of the vessel is that it may answer the mystery behind the construction of the pyramids the vessel has an asymmetrical structure and this design meant that it's capable of lifting large stone blocks what do you think the real purpose of the khufu vessel was number 14 tiny sarcophagus countless sarcophagi have been found in egypt and each one contained secrets ready to be revealed one of the most famous sarcophagus was the black sarcophagus recently uncovered however did you know that among them was the smallest sarcophagus archaeologists found unlike the normal sarcophagus that measures more than eight feet long this tiny sarcophagus is only about three to four inches long now what does this miniature sarcophagus contain since its discovery in 1907 scientists hypothesized that the tiny coffin contained a bundle of organs the teeny tiny coffin revealed the youngest mummy in ancient egypt according to archaeologists the fetus inside the sarcophagus they discovered was only about 16 to 18 weeks of gestation researchers theorized that the fetus likely died because of a miscarriage number 13 silver pharaoh so sinus the first was the third pharaoh of the 21st dynasty of ancient egypt it's quite unclear how long he reigned egypt but his afterlife may provide a missing link in egyptian history according to some egyptologists the discovery of the royal tomb of pharaoh sunessus the first may be even more remarkable than that of tutankhamen his tomb was discovered back in 1940 on the downside his tomb was located in tennis in lower egypt where the environment was moist and so most of the perishable wood artifacts were already destroyed on the upside his tomb is one of the most intact and shows no traces of being robbed compared to the tomb of tutankhamun that has been robbed twice one of the most magnificent things found in the tomb is the king's funerary mask it was made of gold and lapis lazuli a precious stone that has a deep blue color the pharaoh was also enclosed in a silver coffin now you would think that gold is inherently more valuable but back in ancient egypt a silver coffin was very rare because in egypt getting silver is harder than obtaining gold temple inscriptions suggest that for much of egypt's history silver was valued more highly than gold and this is most especially true for ancient egypt's declining years no other silver sarcophagus has been found although archaeologists see a lot of the pharaoh's afterlife little is known about his reign but now researchers suggest that during sunessa's reign he was a political mastermind the pharaoh ruled during egypt's most enigmatic and mysterious period the third intermediate period at the time egypt was divided between two opposed rulers the high priests in the south and the pharaohs who were exiled to the north in tennis although his exact reign is unknown it was estimated that tsunesis managed world tannis for more than 40 years as opposed to king tut who only reigned for ten because of this he was known as a great leader who even managed to amass wealth which is evident from his sumptuous burial even still a lot of mystery surrounds his reign number 12 no tombs the pyramid of kefran also known as the second pyramid is built next to the great pyramid of khufu it was named after the son of khufu kefrin the pyramid is 448 feet tall and is about 706 feet at the base most pyramids were built for religious purposes more specifically they're created to honor the gods these gods are egypt's pharaohs that ruled in the ancient civilization these massive pyramids are created after each one of them and located inside are the most precious and sumptuous burial chambers in the entire world mummified bodies encased in gold sarcophagi and countless treasures are expected inside however the pyramid of kefran is quite different they found no one in the main chamber inside there were no inscriptions inside the pyramid but it's not completely empty either even though there wasn't anyone buried inside they discovered a sarcophagus in the pyramid's main chamber and so even today it's a mystery as to why there's no one buried in the sarcophagus inside the magnificent pyramid of kefran number 11. exotic pets if you've heard about ancient egypt before then you probably know how this magnificent civilization worshiped cats ancient egyptians believed that cats were magical creatures that were capable of bringing great luck to the people who gave them shelter and food and so for so long cats are treasured pets they're given importance by everyone they're fed treats by royalty and when they die they're also mummified some of them even rest in their owner's very own burial chambers this fact is more solidified by the countless statues and paintings found in ancient egypt cats are seen in egyptian mythology as the transformation of the goddess bastet however ancient egyptians also gave importance to a lot more animals for instance archaeologists discovered a bunch of weird and exotic animal remains in ancient egypt as it seems ancient egyptians did not only keep cats and dogs but they also took care of a bunch of exotic pets just like today owning an exotic pet was a sign of power and wealth when archaeologists excavated a graveyard near the nile river they were surprised to see remains of baboons hippos elephants leopards and even crocodiles think about how dangerous and difficult it was for them to keep animals in check elephants might have been manageable but it's quite hard to take care of apex predators like the leopard and the crocodile according to archaeologists most of the animals may have been sacrificed after their owners perished number 10 black sarcophagus when king tutankhamun's tomb was discovered it immediately gained the attention of the entire world many feared that the curse of the pharaoh would be inflicted to the people who dared to disturb the final resting place of the young king and so when lord carnervon died shortly after discovering the tomb a lot of people believe that the curse really does exist and so when the black sarcophagus was discovered in alexandria egypt the world was disturbed once again and warned egyptologists and archaeologists not to open it some people believe that bad luck would befall should anyone attempt to open the sarcophagus the sarcophagus was nearly nine feet long and five feet wide at first people speculated that finally this sarcophagus contains the remains of alexander the great the sarcophagus was opened back in 2018 no curse was released and they didn't find the remains of alexander either but instead archaeologists found three skeletal remains and a lot of nasty sewage water two of the skeletons were identified as the remains of two males while the other is female no one knows who these three skeletons are number nine ancient graffiti everywhere we go we see street art also known as graffiti i guess there was no difference between the people today and the people in ancient egypt sakhara is an ancient egyptian site used for burials now near this site is a pyramid built about 4700 years ago and if you look closely you'll find an inscription protected by a glass case you're probably wondering who created this graffiti and why are people protecting it well this was written by a visitor of saqqara more than 3000 years ago it seemed that they visited zakara because of curiosity and to offer up prayers to the gods of western memphis on behalf of their families this isn't the only ancient graffiti found in sakhara and while it's now seen as a very grave offense to write or draw anything in an ancient side or artifact these graffiti created thousands of years ago are considered as part of the sites themselves number eight seraphim of sakhara the serapeum of saqqara was a burial site in ancient egypt and you probably wouldn't guess who's buried in this site on the first try in this place lies the remains of sacred bulls of the apis cult at memphis it was discovered back in 1851 and it was estimated that it was originally created around 1400 bc the highlight of this site is a great vault it's hand carved from sandstone and lined with 24 side chambers containing huge sarcophagi it's quite curious and interesting to witness evidence of the early beliefs of ancient egyptians number 7 mysterious black goo several mummies were recently discovered and they were mysteriously covered in black goo mummies from the 19th and 22nd dynasty of ancient egypt were given this bizarre treatment one of them was a priest to the sun god ra he was wrapped in fine linen and jet black goop was poured all over him scientists started to wonder what the contents of this black substance were and so they have their work cut out for them it's very hard to examine the contents of a black goo that was created thousands of years ago as many as a hundred samples of this substance were taken in the lab scientists discovered that most of the goo was made up of plant oil animal fat and tree resin however this isn't the complete list of the goose contents as some of the ingredients may have degraded a long time ago the black fluid was also applied to some of the statues in king tutankhamun's tomb now it's quite unclear just why they used this black liquid one theory is that the black fluid was used to deter tomb raiders as the substance was only evident on mummies of the social elites another theory suggests that this is one of the many methods of the ancient egyptians used to preserve the dead and their possessions in the afterlife but then again we can never really be too sure number six mud mummy the mummification of the pharaohs and the elite egyptians was a very complicated and expensive process they used special and valuable resources just to make sure that the dead would still prosper in the afterlife among the numerous mummies found in egypt archaeologists and egyptologists studied and took note of the method of mummification that the ancient egyptians used and so they were baffled when they discovered the mud mummy instead of the usual sarcophagus the mud mummy was enclosed in a mud carapace this is a mortuary treatment never seen before and never documented in ancient egypt's archaeological records so why was this particular mummy covered with mud rather than resin well it was said that the mud carapace was created to preserve the mummy after it was damaged now the mud carapace wasn't the only odd thing about it the remains were estimated to date back to 1207 bc and were damaged after death however the coffin was meant for a woman who died more recently and so this mummy was apparently misplaced according to some this may just have been the work of a tomb robber back in the days nonetheless it remains a mystery number 5. elder cheese would you dare to eat a snack that's more than 3 200 years old well this right here is the elder cheese at first archaeologists were baffled when they saw a huge solidified whitish mass in one of the jars in the ancient tomb of tommy's a high-ranking egyptian official when scientists studied the contents of the huge solid mass they found that they just discovered the elder cheese well that's not really what they called it but anyway this discovery is significant because it's the first evidence that the ancient egyptians created cheese further analysis revealed that the cheese was made out of sheep's and goat's milk if this really is the case then the cheese would have probably been very acidic but because of its age scientists also found traces of a bacterium that causes the potentially deadly disease brucellosis which spreads from animals to people through unpasteurized dairy products if this is true then scientists may not have only found the elder cheese but they've also found the oldest biomolecular evidence of a deadly disease number four mysterious void the great pyramid or khufu's pyramid stands at 460 feet and it remains to be the largest of the egyptian pyramids located at giza on the outskirts of cairo the pyramid was built about 4500 years ago at the time when ancient egypt was at its peak the civilization was powerful and wealthy thanks to trading in agriculture which is one of the blessings of the nile river it's truly magnificent to see the pyramid in person and it's no wonder that this structure is a majestic architectural feat however it has a lot of enigmatic features three years ago a team of researchers scanned the pyramid looking for hidden chambers they discovered that there's a massive void inside the great pyramid of giza this void is at least a hundred feet long however even today we still don't know what lies inside this chamber and now it's time for today's topic now that we know that there are hidden chambers in the great pyramid do you think that we can find a lot more of its secrets this photo right here shows what seems to be anubis anubis is a god represented by a jackal or the figure of a man with the head of a jackal it makes sense that anubis will guard the hidden chambers because he's the god of death in egyptian mythology after all the egyptian people believe that anubis helped decide the fate of the dead in the afterlife for this reason he's highly associated with mummification in burial sites he was also reputed to be the inventor of embalming an art he first employed on the corpse of osiris the god of fertility resurrection and the afterlife anubis is the protector of the gates to the underworld and so wouldn't it make sense that he will guard the eternal resting place of the pharaohs the earthly representations of ra what do you think is in the hidden chambers of the great pyramid as always comment down below with the hashtag today's topic and let us know your opinion about what we just showed on screen with that said let's keep things moving before we go on i've got a little challenge for you that'll take five seconds to complete you just leave a like on this video smash the subscribe button and click the notification bell right now and that's it try it number 3. disc of cebu just as its name suggests the disk of cebu is a dome-shaped plate it was discovered in the tomb of prince cebu the son of the pharaoh and ajib the disc was created out of metamorphic siltstone a very fragile material it has a diameter of 24 inches and a height of 4.17 inches now no one knows who made it and no one really knows why they made it either some possible uses may have been for mixing grains with meat and water much like an ancient food processor or blender or it may have been a plate an incense holder or a piece of steam turbine what do you think is the purpose of this mysterious disk number two mummies with golden tongues archaeologists have discovered two thousand-year-old mummies with golden tongues placed inside their mouths in northern egypt they were poorly preserved but they were given gold foil amulets shaped like tongues for so long archaeologists were baffled why these mummies didn't receive a golden treatment in terms of preservation but they received such an important amulet one hypothesis is that they were given these golden tongues so that they would be able to speak before the court of the god osiris the god of resurrection and death in the afterlife in ancient egyptian mythology osiris who was once the god of fertility became the lord of the underworld and judged the dead number 1. land roaming whale more than 10 years ago egyptologists were baffled when they discovered the very mysterious and strange remains of an unknown species the creature seemed to be semi-aquatic with a tail and four legs after many years they discovered that this creature is actually the remains of the ancestors of the modern whales unlike the whales that roam our oceans today these whales who scientists named phiomicitus anubis are accomplished hunters researchers even named it after the god of death of the egyptian mythology anubis because the creature had a deadly bite it can annihilate any creature in its path just by using its deadly jaws this creature certainly looked bizarre because while it ruled the ocean it also had four limbs that it used to walk on land the fossil may suggest that whales were once herbivore land mammals that evolved into carnivorous species then further evolved into marine animals that rely on filter feeding what do you think of these strange discoveries and which of these entries intrigued you the most do you know of any other strange and mysterious archaeological artifacts discovered recently let us know what you think in the comments down below also check out our other cool stuff showing up on the screen right now and i'll see you in the next video take care everybody