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When a little home reno uncovers an entire underground city

30 Randos That Crush Indiana Jones in the Discovery Department

November 14, 2023

Move over Bruce Willis (and your oil-drilling crew) — construction workers are the unlikely heroes in this flick. Whether it’s uncovering a 2,200-year-old Egyptian temple while digging a sewer, or stumbling into an entire underground city during a home renovation, these crews would make Indiana Jones (and every HGTV host) green with envy.

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Mystery Tombs

A GREEK FARMER PARKED HIS VEHICLE UNDER A TREE, AND IT ALMOST SANK INTO A HIDDEN TOMB. CRACKED.COM Не was able to back it out before it sank into the ground, but when he did, he noticed the suspicious-looking hole. It turned out to be a perfectly undisturbed 3,400-year-old Late Minoan tomb containing a pair of coffins. — Source

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AN AUSTRIAN MAN DIGGING IN THE DIRT FOUND A LITERAL TREASURE. CRACKED.COM The man was trying to expand his backyard pond when he dug up more than 200 pieces of 650-year-old jewelry. Не tossed the mud-crusted baubles into a box in his basement, and it wasn't until he saw jewels shining through the dried dirt that he realized they might be worth something. — Source

28

AN ARGENTINIAN MAN OUT WALKING ON HIS FARM FOUND A 10,000-YEAR-OLD SHELL. CRACKED.COM »OCA Jose Antonio Nievas was out walking by a stream when he spotted a meter-long shell that belonged to a glyptodont, a prehistoric animal similar to a large armadillo. His wife says that when he reported to his family that he'd seen what he figured was a dinosaur shell, they all laughed. — Source

27

A BADGER DIGGING ITS DEN FOUND A BUNCH OF MEDIEVAL SLAVIC CHIEFTAINS. CRACKED.COM Two residents of Stolpe, Germany were on a walk when they spotted a bone the badger had unearthed. Archaeologists were called to excavate, and they found eight 12th-century graves, including the bronze accessories of a Slavic warrior. — Source

26

A WOMAN FOUND A LOCK OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S HAIR HIDDEN IN A RING. CRACKED.COM Maral 1855 The woman says she found the ring in an attic in Wales, and that it belonged to her late father-in-law. The ring, inscribed with Brontë's name, opened up to reveal a band of plaited hair. Apparently it was a thing during the 19th century to put hair in jewelry. — Source

25

A GALILEE GARDENER PULLING WEEDS FOUND A MEDIEVAL RING. CRACKED.COM Dekel Ben-Shitrit dug the ring out of the dirt and posted it on Facebook, where his neighbor saw it and realized it was rare. Turns out it was a 700-year-old signet ring carved with the image of St. Nicholas. The expert who identified the ring figures it could have been dropped by a religious pilgrim. — Source

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A GERMAN STUDENT FOUND A 17TH-CENTURY PAINTING INSIDE A COUCH FROM A FLEA MARKET. CRACKED.COM The student purchased the pull-out sofa for about $215. When she unfolded it, she found Preparation to Escape to Egypt, a 400-year-old Venetian oil painting which later sold at auction for $27,630. And probably a few handfuls of change. — Source

23

A NEW YORK WOMAN FOUND A MILLION-DOLLAR PAINTING IN THE GARBAGE. CRACKED.COM Elizabeth Gibson was out for a walk in Manhattan in 2003 when she spotted a brightly colored painting in the trash. It caught her eye, so she grabbed it. Four years later, she found out the painting was Tres Personajes by Rufino Tamayo, which had been stolen in 1987. Sotheby's later sold it for a million bucks. — Source

22

A king's severed head CRACKED.COM The head of King Henri IV of France turned up in some guy's attic. Seems a tax collector bought it years ago, stored it there, then forgot about it. — Source

21

Dead Germans 5 CRACKED.COM No one expected to find 21 Germans killed in WWI all together in this underground shelter. With them was a goat, and the less questions asked about that, the better. — Source

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Toxic desert lake GRACKED.COM A lake appeared out of nowhere in the Tunisian desert. Then, days later, the water suddenly turned deep green. Scientists warned it may be toxic. Didn't stop people diving in, though. — Source

19

Smallpox scabs GRACKED.COM A librarian opened a book from 1888 and fround an envelope inside with smallpox scabs. Scientists were excited that they might harbor the live virus. The librarian was less pleased. — Source

18

This damn bird claw CRACKED.COM Cavers were exploring Mt. Owen in New Zealand. They stumbled on the startlingly fleshy remains of a 3,000-year-old Moa, a flightless bird twice the height of a human being. — Source

17

As city workers were digging a trench for a fiber optic cable at the Hollister Airport dog park, they found an active WWII practice bomb. DISARMED 9/10/18 MCSO CH The Jerry Gabe Municipal Dog Park located in California was once a former Navy base in the 1940s, so it is believed to host more bombs and fuel tanks underground. CRACKED.COM — Source

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A 2017 Argentine police raid on an art collector's home found a secret room with Nazi relics. - FF The room had toys, statues, medical devices and more, all probably owned by top Nazi party members. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

While playing Pokemon Go, instead of a Pikachu... Bass Pro Shop This woman found a dead body under a Wyoming bridge. COUNTY CRACKED.COM — Source

14

A peat cutter in Lindow Moss took an object which he thought was a piece of wood off the elevator of the peat- shredding machine and threw it at his work-mate before realizing it was actually a human foot. The rest of the body was soon discovered by Cheshire County archaeologists. Upon further examination, scientists have suggested that the man was killed in sadistic ways: two blows to the head, strangled with cord and and his throat slit. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Dinosaurs

CRACKED.COM In 2011, miners in Alberta, Canada, found a huge nodosaur fossil. It was so undamaged, it could have been walking around a couple of weeks ago. — Source

12

When contractor Gary Haynes was hired to renovate a shut-down chiropractic clinic, he probably expected to find strange stuff in the basement, but not... ...jars containing fetuses. Prior to 1950, when the building was a medical clinic, a rumor flew around saying the clinic ran an illegal abortion service. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Two Filipino fishermen returning home for the day noticed a drifting partially submerged yacht. CRACKED COM They would then discover that its captain was still on board, as a mummy. How long he had been dead was impossible to determine, since conditions at sea could have mummified him within weeks. — Source

10

A family in Auburn, PA was trying to insulate their home but upon tearing down the wall, dozens of animal carcasses spilled out. - The Resimated Yearty Operating Des $41 Includes mg&Tray The corpses were wrapped in newspapers from 1930s and 1940s. The family is certain that there are more hiding in their walls but have run out of money trying to get them out. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

A COUPLE LOOKING FOR A HAWAIIAN SUNSET FOUND ANCIENT PETROGLYPHS ON THE BEACH. CRACKED.COM Lonnie Watson and Mark Louviere were in Honolulu when they stumbled across the 400-year-old sandstone carvings on the shore. Experts believe the glyphs, which number at least 17 and stretch across 60 feet of beach, were left by the early inhabitants of the Waianae coast. — Source

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A CHINESE BOY LOOKING FOR A NUTCRACKER FOUND A DINOSAUR NEST. CRACKED.COM Ten-year-old Zhang Yangzhe was wandering around near the Dong River trying to find something hard enough to crack open his walnut. Не stumbled upon a fossilized egg that was laid 66 million years ago by a Cretaceous-era dinosaur. Presumably someone intervened before he found something even harder to crack that open. — Source

7

A TURKISH MAN REMODELING HIS HOME FOUND AN UNDERGROUND CITY. CRACKED.COM A man In the Cappadocia region knocked down a wall in his basement, only to discover a secret passageway to the ancient city of Derinkuyu The multi-level complex was used as protection during the Byzantine era, not as a man cave. — Source

6

Wooly Mammoths

A MICHIGAN FARMER TRYING TO INSTALL A WATER PIPE FOUND WOOLY MAMMOTH BONES. CRACKED.COM James Bristle was mid-construction when his digger hit something hard. Turned out to be a near-complete mammoth skeleton from 11,700-15,000 years ago. Scientists think the creature was possibly killed and definitely butchered by early humans. — Source

5

CONSTRUCTION WORKERS DIGGING A SEWER FOUND AN ANCIENT TEMPLE. CRACKED.COM The workers were drilling a sewage drain in an Egyptian city when they unearthed a 2,200-year-old temple from the era of King Ptolemy IV. Archeologists found walls decorated with carvings of the Egyptian fertility god Hapi, which seems like a pretty on-the-nose name. — Source

4

CRACKED.COM A CALIFORNIA WOMAN BOUGHT A JACKSON POLLOCK PAINTING FOR $5 AT A THRIFT STORE. A forensic art specialist helped determine 10625 38.4 W that the painting Teri Horton purchased is THE UNITED -280m W COL an original work by the artist also known - - ISEN 9 as Jack the Dripper. DOLLAR Its estimated value: anywhere from $10 million to $50 million. — Source

3

AN EGYPTIAN MAN DIGGING IN HIS YARD FOUND A SECRET PASSAGE TO THE GREAT PYRAMID. CRACKED.COM The man came across a corridor made of stone blocks while doing some amateur (illegal) excavation. Officials determined that the corridor was the Pyramid of Khufu's legendary causeway, which archeologists had been trying to find for decades. So he's definitely cursed now. — Source

2

AN INCREDIBLY RARE CHESS PIECE WAS FOUND IN A DRAWER IN SCOTLAND. CRACKED.COM The medieval chess piece, one of the long-lost Lewis Chessmen, had been gathering dust in a drawer for 55 years before the family thought to have it assessed. Apparently their grandfather had purchased it in 1964 for £5, and had no idea of its cultural importance. Or its million-dollar value. — Source

1

A KID PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK LITERALLY STUMBLED OVER A STEGOMASTODON SKULL. CRACKED.COM Nine-year-old Jude Sparks tripped over the 1.2-million-year-old fossil while looking for a good place to hide from his brothers during a hike in Las Cruces, New Mexico. While running, he kicked the tusk and face-planted next to the jawbone of what he figured was a giant elephant. — Source

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