12 Mysterious Places On Earth
This World is a strange place where uncanny is interwoven seamlessly with the usual and the mundane. There are strange ruins on this earth that glare hard with their presence and ask us to explore further on the nature of their structure. They are the mysterious places on earth that still need some research and prodding to bring them out from the shadows of mystery that envelops them. Here you will read the list of 12 such strange and mysterious places on Earth:
1. Three Buried Ancient Megalithic Stone Circles
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
In the south of Turkey, north of the border with Syria, there are three megalithic circles that are considered to be older than Stonehenge stone circle stone. To one’s astonishment, the ancient stone circles were built by hunter-gatherers in those days. Previously, it was believed that early humans would not have been able to make the building in such a fine manner. The three stone circles at Göbekli Tepe were deliberately buried for reasons unknown. Some people believe that Göbekli Tepe and the surrounding region were the historical basis behind the biblical Garden of Eden.
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2. Lake Michigan Stonehenge
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Lake Michigan has its own share of Stonehenge. While scanning underneath the waters of Lake Michigan for shipwrecks, archeologists found something strange and a lot more interesting than they bargained for: they discovered a boulder with a prehistoric carving of a mastodon, as well as a series of stones arranged in a Stonehenge-like manner.
3. Machu Picchu
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The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (7972 feet elevation), erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. The origin still remains contested.
4. Underwater Ruins in Japan
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On the southern coast of Yonaguni, Japan, lie submerged ruins estimated to be around 8,000 years old. Though some people believed that it was carved by geographic phenomena, it’s now confirmed to be man-made as the intricate stairways, carvings and right angles suggest. It was discovered in 1995 by a sport diver who swam too far off the Okinawa shore with a camera in hand.
5. Submerged Wonders of Alexandria, Egypt
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Waters have always preserved history. Off the shores of Alexandria, the city of Alexander the Great, lie what are believed to be the ruins of the royal quarters of Cleopatra. It is believed that earthquakes over 1,500 years ago were responsible for casting this into the sea, along with artifacts, statues and other parts of Cleopatra’s palace. The city of Alexandria even plans to offer underwater tours of this wonder.
6. Great Zimbabwe Ruins
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Did you know that the modern-day African country of Zimbabwe was actually named after stone ruins that lie all over the countryside? The ‘Great Zimbabwe Ruins’ are some of the oldest and largest structures located in Southern Africa and at its peak, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe are estimated to have housed as many as 18,000 inhabitants. The Great Zimbabwe ruins span 1,800 acres and were constructed starting in the 11th century without the use for mortar. They were abandoned but nobody knows why!
7. Easter Island
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One of the world's most famous yet least visited archaeological sites, Easter Island is a small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. Located in the Pacific Ocean at 27 degrees south of the equator and some 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of Chile, it is considered to be the world’s most remote inhabited island. That culture's most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least 288 of which once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. There are some 250 of these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart and creating an almost unbroken line around the perimeter of the island. Another 600moai statue, in various stages of completion, are scattered around the island, either in quarries or along ancient roads between the quarries and the coastal areas where the statues were most often erected. Nobody knows about the kind of civilization that inhabited this place.
8. The Mysterious Stones of Baalbek
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It is Lebanon that claims the largest Roman temple ever built. Some of the foundation stones that make up the main platform weigh in at around 800-1000 tons. However, the true origins of this site are shrouded in mystery, but it is known that the Romans called it Heliopolis - with its namesake in Egypt. Scholars and independent researchers argue that it could have been constructed by the Phoenicians who were known in the Bible as the Canaanites, the people of Canaan. It also refers to this area as being inhabited by giants.
9. Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse
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Located in Georgia, the ‘Georgia Guidestones’ is a stone structure of five 16-feet-tall, 20-ton slabs of polished granite and is inscribed in eight languages including Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Hindi and Swahili with instructions for dazed post-apocalyptic survivors attempting to rebuild civilization. It’s oriented to track the sun’s east-west migration year-round, and has holes that allow gazers to locate the North Star. The Georgia Guidestones were commissioned by an anonymous group, whose identity remains a mystery.
10. Peru’s Chavín de Huantar Ruins
Image Source: wikipedia.org
This archaeological site, what appears to revolve around an ancient temple, perhaps holds more mystery than Machu Picchu. The Chavin, meanwhile, are of course an ancient civilization before the Common Era about who we know some, but of course not as much as a recent civilization like the Incas. The Chavin people lived in the highlands of the Andes and gradually branched out from the high areas into the valleys below.
11. Newgrange - Ireland
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Newgrange is the finest of some 26 ancient tribal burial chambers in the Boyne River valley north of Dublin. A great round tomb with fine rock carvings, Newgrange is about 5000 years old, making it centuries older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt and a thousand years older than Stonehenge. Newgrange’s astronomical alignment, striking round shape and spiral designs all add to the mystery and wonder of this ancient site, and prompting much speculation as to its purpose and meaning.
12. Coral Castle, Monument to Lost Love
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How did one five-foot-tall, 100-pound man build an intricate rock garden using pieces of coral that weighed several tons each? Coral Castle, in Homestead, Florida, was built by Latvian immigrant Ed Leedskalnin’s as a monument to a lost love. He began building it in 1923 after being jilted by his fiance in Latvia just days before their wedding, and dedicated his life to completing it. Construction continued even after his death in 1951. Experts are puzzled as to how Leedskalnin, who had only a fourth-grade education, could have built Coral Castle by himself. One engineer claims that even Albert Einstein couldn’t figure it out.
So which mysterious places on the Earth would you like to visit? Here you can find more Amazing Places In The World You Won't Believe That Actually Exist!
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