10 Disturbingly Bizarre Archeology Finds That Will Make You Question Humanity

Archaeologists must hold really exciting jobs. Apart from tedious research and paperwork, they have a handle on most of buried history. Literally.

Sometimes a dig will turn up the most peculiar artifacts that force us to look at our past with a disquieting jumble of questions. Did these really exist? Did humans really do that?

Here are 10 pieces of disconcerting evidence archaeologists have dug up:

#1. 25 “alien” corpses

Did the aliens really land on earth? A Mexican dig unearthed a grave of corpses with extremely elongated skulls. Despite the excitement of having discovered the apparent existence of extraterrestrial life, scientists disputed the find as merely part of a cultural phenomenon. Apparently, a thousand years ago, children in Central America were subject to head reshaping for aesthetic purposes. Their parents tied flat boards on both sides of their skull, using pressure to eventually cause their skulls to gradually grow upwards instead of out.

#2. DNA evidence pointing to Louis XVI’s blood as souvenirs

There have been rumors people dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood of the newly guillotined King Louis XVI during the French Revolution in 1793. When scientists ran DNA tests on one of these bloody souvenirs and the recently unearthed king’s mummified head, guess what? The DNA was a match!

#3. 5,000-year-old blood

In 1991, the naturally preserved body of “Otzi the Iceman,” a Copper Age European, was discovered in the Otztal Alps between Austria and Italy. The 5,300-year-old mummy yielded the most perfectly preserved blood dating back to 3,300 BCE.

#4. An Australian grave containing this creature, among other things…

One dig uncovered a mass grave in Australia holding “mega-kangaroos,” 20-foot long lizards, and 3.1 ton (6,000 lbs.) giant wombats as large as mini-size cars whose pouches could fit an entire human!

#5. Neanderthal bones with human teeth marks on them.

49,000-year-old cannibalism!

#6. A 2,600-year-old brain, pickled and preserved.

A skull unearthed in Northern England was discovered to have an artificially preserved brain. Archaeologists believed the head was ritualistically removed and its brain pickled to withstand the test of time before it was buried.

#7. Evidence of mass human sacrifice.

In 2012, archaeologists dug up a mass grave in Peru at the temple of Pachacamac. It contained a circle of adult skeletons arranged around infant skeletons, all belonging to the Ychsma, an ancient tribe predating the Incas.

#8. A 14th century vampire!

Or at least one suspected to be. This skeleton with an iron stake through its heart dug up in Bulgaria was believed to be a medieval vampire.

#9. Fragments from the Egyptian “Book of the Dead”

This notorious 1400 B.C. book, featured in Hollywood blockbusters like “The Mummy,” has many fragments missing. Astonishingly enough, over a hundred fragments describing spells for the afterlife were found in a basement of the Queensland Museum.

#10. A Viking mass grave with dismembered heads.

A road crew in Dorset, U.K. dug up a total of 51 skeletons dating back to 1000 A.D. The remains were arranged in two piles: one pile for heads, and another for bodies. Scientists believe they may have been those of mercenary Jomsvikings.

Any other bizarre historical findings turn up lately?