# What else don't we know - mysterious objects **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570 "2024-01-24T00:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/1 "2024-01-24T00:02:12Z")
[The bronze Roman dodecahedron](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roman-dodecahedron-what-do-you-think-it-was-for/585945) has famously puzzled everyone as to it’s purpose - even historical experts. What other items do we have from the past that we can’t confidently identify the utility of and that it’s purpose has continued to confound us? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/2 "2024-01-24T11:52:41Z")
[Stonehenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/3 "2024-01-24T12:04:05Z")
The “Baghdad Battery”. > **[Baghdad Battery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery)** > > The Baghdad Battery is the name given to a set of three artifacts which were found together: a ceramic pot, a tube of copper, and a rod of iron. It was discovered in present-day Khujut Rabu, Iraq in 1936, close to the metropolis of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian (150 BC – 223 AD) and Sasanian (224–650 AD) empires, and it is believed to date from either of these periods. Similar artifacts have been found at nearby sites. > Its origin and purpose remain unclear. It was hypothesized by Wilhel... Any time you take two dissimilar metals and immerse them in anything acidic it just naturally makes an electrical cell, so the fact that it does actually make a functional “battery” is probably just coincidence. Plus, there are no electrical connections anywhere on it. On the other hand, no one has yet to come up with a convincing explanation of what it was actually used for. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/4 "2024-01-24T13:21:37Z")
It’s neat to see innovation like that even if it didn’t function in a way we can confirm. I wonder what it was like for the inventors back then. Maybe they could get grants or funding in those eras. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/5 "2024-01-24T16:15:06Z")
That’s cool and equally baffling. From the linked article: " The artifact disappeared in 2003 during the US-led invasion of Iraq" Yikes! 😮 ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/6 "2024-01-24T16:21:27Z")
Diquís Spheres: > **[Stone spheres of Costa Rica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_spheres_of_Costa_Rica)** > > The stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over 300 petrospheres in Costa Rica, on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are also known as bolas de piedra (literally stone balls). The spheres are commonly attributed to the extinct Diquís culture, and they are sometimes referred to as the Diquís Spheres. They are the best-known stone sculptures of the Isthmo-Colombian area. > They are thought to have been placed in lines along the approach to the houses of chiefs, but their... [![](https://i.imgur.com/p4iP9Z9.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/p4iP9Z9.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/7 "2024-01-24T16:24:12Z")
Maybe it was a party trick. As they’d get drunk they’d dare each other to touch the zappy thing. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/8 "2024-01-24T16:45:34Z")
There are also the mysterious carved stone balls (band name!) of Scotland: > **[Carved stone balls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carved_stone_balls)** > > Carved stone balls are petrospheres dated from the late Neolithic, to possibly as late as the Iron Age, mainly found in Scotland, but also elsewhere in Britain and Ireland. They are usually round and rarely oval, and of fairly uniform size at around .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0... ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/9 "2024-01-24T16:46:29Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Stonehenge Who the fuck builds a stone henge? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mbyzgeee2mg/maxresdefault.jpg "Ylvis - Stonehenge [Official music video HD] [Explicit lyrics]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbyzgeee2mg) It’s killing me that no one knows Why it was built 5,000 years ago ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/10 "2024-01-24T16:51:43Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Who the fuck builds a stone henge? Eddie Izzard may have an idea about that (comedy): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DiFq_nk8pE0/hqdefault.jpg "Eddie Izzard - Stonehenge") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiFq_nk8pE0) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/11 "2024-01-24T16:57:20Z")
That would have been a bitch to roll a15+ ton rock around to carve the other sides. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/12 "2024-01-24T19:45:42Z")
The _ **Iron Pillar of Delhi** _ is supposed to be fairly mysterious. The claim is that it is 1500 years old, but shows little or no signs of corrosion. It is 99.72% composed of iron. It was made “400 years before there was a foundry large enough to cast it”. I can’t say how much of the claims are accurate and how much are baloney. The _ **Nanjing Belt** _ is another “mysterious” artifact. The mystery is that the segments have a high aluminum content in the alloy, but they allegedly date to the 3rd century, when the ability to smelt or extract aluminum was not developed until the 19th century. Wikipedia has a list of Ooparts (Out of place artifacts) which are items that don’t seem to make sense for the context in which they were found. > **[Out-of-place artifact](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-place_artifact)** > > An out-of-place artifact (OOPArt or oopart) is an artifact of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest found in an unusual context, which challenges conventional historical chronology by its presence in that context. Such artifacts may appear too advanced for the technology known to have existed at the time, or may suggest human presence at a time before humans are known to have existed. Other examples may suggest contact between different cultures that is hard to account for with ... ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/13 "2024-01-24T20:13:12Z")
The Phaistos Disc. It appears to be a circular tablet with some kind of script or message pressed into it, but nobody has deciphered it, or even properly identified the writing system. despite many attempts and some claims of breakthrough. > **[Phaistos Disc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaistos_Disc)** > > The Phaistos Disc or Phaistos Disk is a disk of fired clay from the island of Crete, possibly from the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC), bearing a text in an unknown script and language. Its purpose and its original place of manufacture remain disputed. It is now on display at the archaeological museum of Heraklion. The name is sometimes spelled Phaestos or Festos. > The disk was discovered in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier during the excavation of the Min... ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/14 "2024-01-24T20:24:02Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Who the fuck builds a stone henge? In ancient times, Hundreds of years before the dawn of history Lived a strange race of people, the Druids No one knows who they were or what they were doing But their legacy remains Hewn into the living rock, of Stonehenge ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/15 "2024-01-24T20:32:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The Phaistos Disc. Fascinating read. Presumably, since that ‘font’ was pressed into wet clay, there are other examples that are either undiscovered or have been destroyed. ETA: Maybe there was an equivalent of book burning by an incoming ruler? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/16 "2024-01-24T20:39:10Z")
The \*Bible rock on the other side of my pond. Not a particularly rocky area. Just a funny shape with one squared off corner. That looks cut. The kids have speculated for years. Gold nuggets underneath. An alien vessel that hit so hard it partially buried itself. A pyramid someone forgot to finish. I’m waiting on the big wigs from reality show fame to come turn this place into another Oak Island. Any day now. Yep, I’ll be raking in the bucks. For sure. (\* We call it Bible rock because we don’t have a family Bible and all the kids have put their names and birthdays on it. And many other folks) ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/17 "2024-01-24T20:50:57Z")
Voynich Manuscript > **[Voynich manuscript](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript)** > > The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex, hand-written in an unknown script referred to as 'Voynichese.' The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438). Stylistic analysis has indicated the manuscript may have been composed in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. While the origins, authorship, and purpose of the manuscript are still debated, hypotheses range from a script for a natural language or constructed language, an unread code The manus... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/18 "2024-01-24T20:56:56Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Who the fuck builds a stone henge? We had a wood henge here once but it rotted. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/19 "2024-01-24T21:08:44Z")
Yeah, what’s really tantalising about it is - if that really is a script, this was made using basically movable type, invented at least a couple of thousand years earlier than the earliest other example of movable type in China in 1040 or so. The Minoan version just didn’t seem to catch on though. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570/20 "2024-01-24T21:33:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > We had a wood henge here once but it rotted. Woodhenge [is actually a thing.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodhenge) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-else-dont-we-know-mysterious-objects/996570.md?page=2)