141. Extraordinary Trove of Ancient Gold Rings Discovered in Romanian Grave

Location: Oradea, Romania
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: $500,000*
The Copper Age, also known as the Chalcolithic Period, was an era that is characterized by the human discovery and manipulation of copper. Humans had yet to discover bronze alloys, but they were hot on the trail during the Copper Age.

Extraordinary Trove of Ancient Gold Rings Discovered in Romanian Grave @sciencealert/Pinterest
They also loved gold, it seems. In 2022, archaeologists in Romania uncovered a huge, extraordinary cache of golden rings that were once worn by a woman in her hair 6,500 years ago. The cache included 169 golden rings, an ornate spiral bracelet made of copper, and 800 bone beads. The size of the skeleton, and the fact that it was buried without weapons, indicated that this was a woman who was very rich, well-fed, and likely had an elite status in the Copper Age civilization.

142. Wallace Hartley’s Violin From the Titanic Found in Attic

Location: Bridlington, East Yorks, England
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: $1.7 million*
The sinking of the Titanic remains one of the deadliest and most infamous maritime disasters in history. Many, many artifacts have been uncovered from the remains of this formerly “Unsinkable” cruise ship.

Wallace Hartley’s Violin From the Titanic Found in Attic ©Matt Cardy/Getty Images
As many fans of history and the movie Titanic know, as the Titanic was sinking, a violinist, Wallace Hartley, played the song “Nearer, My God To Thee” on his violin. What else could he do? The end was inevitable. In 2013, Hartley’s rosewood violin, the same one that had serenaded the doomed passengers, was found in an attic in Bridlington, East Yorks, England. Somehow, the violin floated on a life jacket after the sinking. Though Hartley didn’t make it, his instrument did.

143. Scrap Dealer Buys Genuine Fabergé Egg at Flea Market

Location: Midwest, U.S.A.
Year Discovered: 2014
Est. Value: $33 million*
Faberge, a Russian company, created fifty Imperial Faberge Eggs for the members of the Russian Royal Family. One was found unexpectedly years ago when a scrap collector in the American Midwest bought it from a flea market for $14,000.

Scrap Dealer Buys Genuine Fabergé Egg at Flea Market ©Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
The dealer believed he could make a profit from the gold content, but little did he know that this random gold egg was an actual Faberge. The egg, which was one of the missing eight that had puzzled historians for decades, would later resell at auction for a price of $33 million, well over the dealer’s original estimate of a “small profit.”

144. $3 Million Worth of Baseball Cards Found in Ohio Attic

Location: Defiance, Ohio
Year Discovered: 2012
Est. Value: $3 million*
It’s amazing how valuable baseball cards can be. Just a sole card can sell for millions if it’s rare enough. In an attic in Defiance, Ohio, a family was cleaning out their deceased relative’s home when they stumbled upon a box with baseball cards.

$3 Million Worth of Baseball Cards Found in Ohio Attic @timemagazine/Pinterest
The 700-card collection was wrapped with twine and in remarkably good condition. They contained cards from greats like Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Connie Mack, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, and more. After getting the cards appraised, the collection was valued at $3 million. Many of the baseball cards came from the early 1900s from a series called E98, and finding E98 cards in such good condition was a shock to the card collector world.

145. 3,000-year-old ‘Lost Golden City’ Found in Egypt

Location: Luxor, Egypt
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: Unknown
In 2020, the “Lost Golden City of Egypt,” was discovered by archaeologists. The city had been buried by sands for millennia until it was uncovered by an archaeological team led by Zahi Hawass.

3,000-year-old ‘Lost Golden City’ Found in Egypt @ANC 24/7/Youtube
In this 3,000-year-old city, there were homes, a kitchen and bakery, administrative buildings, and a cemetery with rock-cut tombs. There were even items related to the production of glass and metal. Interestingly, two unusual burials, both of cows, were found inside a room in the Golden City. The city was unearthed in 2020, and it took weeks to excavate the area, as this Golden City, called Aten, was the largest city ever unearthed in Egypt.

146. Mysterious Plane Found at the Bottom of Lake Norman

Location: Lake Norman, North Carolina
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: $130,000* (Lake LA-4 Amphibian Aircraft, Unsunk)
In September of 2013, something was found at the bottom of a lake that you wouldn’t expect—a plane. A dive team conducting practice drills for the Charlotte, North Carolina Fire Department located the submerged plane and contacted the F.A.A. to notify them of their find. They were able to identify the aircraft partially because of sonar technology.

Mysterious Plane Found at the Bottom of Lake Norman @imgur/Pinterest
The F.A.A. identified the plane, which was submerged beneath ninety feet of water and not visible from Lake Norman’s surface, was a Lake LA-4 Amphibian Aircraft. The craft went down in 1974, killing a North Carolina resident that was flying it.

147. Dinosaur Tracks from 113 Million Years Ago Uncovered in Texas

Location: Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose, Texas
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: Priceless
Dinosaur Valley State Park, a common tourist attraction in Glen Rose, Texas, is well-known for its dinosaur tracks. The Park is about one hour’s drive from Fort Worth, and people come from all over the country to see remnants of a time when dinosaurs roamed the land.

Dinosaur Tracks from 113 Million Years Ago Uncovered in Texas @asIiceofhistory/Twitter
In late August of 2022, new dino tracks emerged. They had previously been covered by water from the nearby Paluxy River, but they became visible when the waters dried up. These tracks are around 133 million years old, and it is thought that they belonged to an Arocanthosaurus, a theropod that could reach a mass of 14,000 pounds.

148. Millennia-Old Gold Mask Found in China Stuns Experts

Location: Sanxingdui Dig, Sichuan, China
Year Discovered: 2021
Est. Value: $11,196* (Half-Pound of Gold Price)
At the Sanxingdui Dig in Sichuan, China, experts have uncovered not one, but two, golden masks. The half-pound mask finds were unprecedented. Sanxingdui has yielded many different artifacts since it was discovered in 1929, but this level of craftsmanship and luxury has not been unveiled until these masks.

Millennia-Old Gold Mask Found in China Stuns Experts ©中国新闻网/Wikimedia
The foot-long golden masks were crafted by ancient people, and they were found among a cache that included 500 pieces, such as a bronze head, urn, jade knife, and more. A half-pound of gold is worth around $11,196, but this mask would likely be far more valuable because of the historical meaning attached to it.

149. Rich, Ancient City is Unearthed in Greece

Location: Near Chiliomodi, Greece
Year Discovered: 2018
Est. Value: Unknown
According to the legend, Agamemnon, the Greek King of Mycenae during the Trojan War, allowed Trojan prisoners to construct their own city. The housing settlement was thought to be a myth until its discovery in 2018 near Chiliomodi, Greece. The ancient city was known as Tenea, and excavations have found paved roads and other buildings to indicate it was a functioning settlement.

Rich, Ancient City Is Unearthed in Greece @ArchaeoNewsNet/Pinterest
Archaeologists have been excavating the site since 2013, but it wasn’t until relatively recently that they found these specific remains. They discovered stone, marble, and clay floors, along with carefully constructed walls and hundreds of rare coins. These findings, according to excavators, revealed that Tenea had once been very wealthy.

150. $200 Million Ansel Adams Negatives Found at Garage Sale

Location: Fresno, California
Year Discovered: 2010
Est. Value: $200 million* (Maybe)
American photographer Ansel Adams is one of history’s best-known artists, famous for his black-and-white images of the West. Adams was born in San Francisco, California, and he quickly made a name for himself two decades later. When Adams died in the 1980s, his net worth was around $85 million.

$200 Million Ansel Adams Negatives Found at Garage Sale @Alafoto/Youtube
Some of his work is still turning up. In 2010 in Fresno, California, a man named Rick Norsigian bought a box of glass negatives from a garage sale for $45. Norsigian recognized them as potentially Adams’ work, and, after having them authenticated, he claimed their value at $200 million. For what it’s worth, the validity of this find is still in dispute to this day.

151. Couple Discovers Giant Monopoly Board Under Their Carpet

Location: U.S.
Year Discovered: 2021
Est. Value: $500-$1,000* (Installation Price)
In 1950s America, there were a lot of architectural trends, but few were as strange as turning the floor of your living room into a board game. According to The Mirror, this was a “massive trend” at the time, though it died off quickly.

Couple Discover’s Giant Monopoly Board Under Their Carpet @reddit/Instagram
One U.S. couple moved into a home that was built in the fifties and, in 2021, they went viral on Reddit for revealing that their living room was, when uncovered, a giant Monopoly board. The board had been covered in carpet, as it clearly wasn’t too much of a selling point after the trend died down. Still, it gave the couple quite a shock when they ripped the carpets up.

152. World’s Largest Water Lily Hid in Plain Sight for 177 Years

Location: Kew Gardens, London, England
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: N/A
Some of the most interesting finds are those that have been in plain sight for a long time; you might wonder how you missed them. The Victoria boliviana is the largest water lilies in the world, but it was undiscovered until 2022.

World’s Largest Water Lily Hid in Plain Sight for 177 Years in Boliva @natalia_chirps/Twitter
As it turns out, this water lily has been hiding in plain sight at London’s Kew Gardens for an eye-opening 177 years. It had been mistaken for another plant species. Before it was at Kew Gardens, Victoria boliviana had hidden out at Bolivia’s National Herbarium for thirty-four years, where it was apparently undetected there, too. The species, after it was properly identified, is now the largest of its kind, and it can support up to 176 pounds and grow to nearly ten feet wide in the wild.

153. Strange Stone Spheres Found in Costa Rica

Location: Isla del Coco, Costa Rica and Diquis Delta, Costa Rica
Year Discovered: 1930s
Est. Value: Unknown
Known locally as Las Bolas, these stone spheres have puzzled archaeologists since they were discovered in the 1930s. Around three-hundred of these spheres have been found throughout Costa Rica, and they vary in size from a few inches to nearly seven feet in diameter. Some of Las Bolas weigh as much as 15 tons.

Strange Stone Spheres Called Las Bolas Found in Costa Rica @yougethere/Pinterest
The petrospheres were likely made by indigenous tribes such as the Teribe, Guaymi, and Boruca, all of which were present during Spain’s conquest of Costa Rica. The spheres’ purpose is still unknown, though they have been dated back to between 800 and 1500 A.D.

154. 10,000-Year-Old Japanese Atlantis Discovered Underwater

Location: Yonaguni Island, Japan
Year Discovered: 1986
Est. Value: Unknown
This underwater city has been nicknamed the “Japanese Atlantis.” It is 10,000 years old and located off the coast of Yonaguni. The city consists of a series of unusual geological formations that look a lot like pyramids.

10,000-Year-Old Japanese Atlantis Discovered Underwater @Third_Eye_Seeks/Twitter
Discovered in the eighties by a local diver, the Yonaguni Monument is similar to other formations around the world with its flat surfaces and defined edges. There is a debate over whether the Yonaguni Monument is natural or manmade. The monument has arched entrances, parallel angles, and narrow passageways, yet many scientists claim the formation is not man-made. Though the mythical origin story of a Japanese Atlantis has been proven untrue, people still believe it.

155. Gigantic Desert Animal Traps Found Crisscrossing Through Multiple Countries

Location: Israel, Egypt, Jordan
Year Discovered: Early 1900s
Est. Value: Unknown
For a while, mysterious lines located in Near East deserts puzzled archaeologists, who wondered what purpose they could have served. These stone walls were too low to have served as a defense against humans.

Gigantic Desert Animal Traps Criscrossing Through Multiple Countries @TheOnionGoddess/Twitter
As it turns out, these kite-like lines, which were first discovered in the early 1900s by R.A.F. pilots, functioned as giant animal traps. Some of these lines linked up, making chains forty miles long. These 2,400-year-old kites were used as animal traps to funnel animals like gazelles into one area, where they could be harvested for food. The kites essentially corralled these animals, providing a convenient food source for ancient peoples trying to survive in the harsh desert.