15 Ancient Artifacts That Turned Out to Be Worthless Garbage
![15 Ancient Artifacts That Turned Out to Be Worthless Garbage](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/8/3/878883_320x180.jpg)
Ancient artifacts always cause a buzz in the archaeology world, or at least we think so thanks to you know which movies. Indeed, really old timey-objects hold the promise of being as awesome as the Dead Sea Scrolls, or even as scientifically fascinating as the Antikythera mechanism. Other times, they’re just randy stuff, because we’re all sick. And other times they’re just creepy, like something you’d see in the first act of a horror movie.
In this Pictofact, we’re focusing on something different: baloney. Not, like, actually fossilized ugh (ew), but ancient artifacts that turned out to be useless stuff. And having treated this subject before, we know that we’ll inevitably have to deal with hoaxes. Because random stuff may be taken as priceless objects, but most of the time they’re just used by sketchy people desperate for attention. So we’re giving them attention right now, happy? Actually, wait, we are happy. After all, from finely made forgeries to truly random trash, you won’t believe the stuff that almost made the history books.
The Shroud of Turin
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Shroud of Turin Looking like our bed sheets the morning after we pass out drunk, the Shroud of Turin appeared around the 14th century. Is it Jesus' last blankie with his lovable face? Nope. The weaving technique does not match his time, the Catholic Church probably knew it was a hoax back in the 1300s, and radiocarbon dates it to, yup, around the same time. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/1/878901.jpg)
The Crystal Skulls
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Crystal Skulls Claimed to have been found in 1924, the Crystal Skulls were actually bought at an auction in 1943. And once put under a scanning electron microscope by an actual anthropologist, they turned out not to be 3,600-years- old, but just made during the 1930s with 1930s tech. Or maybe it's a cruel prank by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg just to laugh at us. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/5/878895.jpg)
The Tucson Artifacts
![BS Ancient Artifacts (24) November 6 1925 - Sword a pieces)-Depth 72 The Tucson Artifacts In 1924, a man found two ancient- looking, 60-pound lead crosses in Tucson. Then his friends found around 30 more artifacts, and took them as proof Roman-era Jews had lived in Arizona between 775 to 900 С.Е. Plot twist: Everything was just lame forgeries, with their Hebrew and Latin messages lifted straight from textbooks. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/8/878898.jpg)
Hobby Lobby's Dead Sea Scrolls
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Hobby Lobby Dead Sea Scrolls sees girls happy N191 ٧٩٩٩ N144 Best чма! TESV لكريم 1 TWIME الله SA 3 451 the nry41 ١٨ not 99359 Jupr ولا smit K2SA HSV The 0994424H 944 4 944 use Envoste Say 497 999999 ١٨ أوروة Y ٤١٨٢ H ACK received nature 6 الا V 81639Y ЛАТ und sour Nyon YOUR МЧУК max S the YMM19394 Nish 694231 kg 14934 TI AAHWA you سبو بحكة 1511 every HYUN JP كا W VIS 31 was 4.4 EN The owners of Hobby Lobby have a Bible Museum in Washington D.C., and](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/0/878900.jpg)
RozenskiP/Shutterstock, Ken and Nyetta/Wiki Commons
Sadly, The Hobby Lobby Dead Sea Scrolls Are All Crafty Fakes
The Tiara of Saitaphernes
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Tiara of Saitaphernes In 1896, the Louvre was all cocky about its recently-acquired, mint- condition 3rd-century Greek crown. But then actual experts said it was too neat to be real, and the creator even came out. In 1903, Russian artist Israel Rouchomovski proved he made it, and the Louvre hid it away in shame, only to later display it as a fake. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/7/878897.jpg)
5 Ridiculous Archaeological Frauds (That Fooled the World)
History
The AMV Runestone
![BS Ancient Artifacts The AVM Runestone Discovered in 1898, the Kensington Runestone is a whole thing that experts are just recently suspecting to be fake. In 2001, however, a second runestone was also found in Minnesota, and also claimed to be evidence of medieval settlers arriving centuries before Columbus. But it turns out the AVM Runestone was made in 1985 by drunk Germanic philology students. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/4/878894.jpg)
Tim Post/Minnesota Public Radio
5 Ridiculous Archaeological Frauds (That Fooled the World)
Wikipedia
Archeaoraptor
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Archaeoraptor With the fossil proudly featured in a 1999 issue of National Geographic, the Archaeoraptor was proclaimed to be the missing link between dinosaurs and birds. Except the term missing link already suggested its FEATHERS FO BS status. In reality, the thing was TREX and adidas OF constructed out of unrelated fossils back in 1997, and the article wasn't even peer-reviewed. Cringe, guys. mahzia CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/9/878899.jpg)
Jonathan Chen/Wiki Commons, National Geographic
Baigong Pipes
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Baigong Pipes There's still discussion on just what the pipe-like features in China's White Mountain are, but the evidence suggests they're just fossilized trees or tree roots. They're not 150,000-year-old plumbing tech, but rather parts of trees whose outsides have been replaced by iron and calcium. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/6/878896.jpg)
The Piltdown Man
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Piltdown Man Half ape and half man, the one-million-year-old missing link called Piltdown Man was discovered in 1912. 40 years later, though, it was shown to be a good ol' fraud, a scam, a hoax made up of orangutan and human bone fragments. Recent research pins the blame directly on its discoverer: Charles today I'd be a billionaire tech-bro guru Dawson. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/2/878902.jpg)
The London Hammer
![BS Ancient Artifacts The London Hammer Found in 1936 in London, Texas (everyone's favorite London), this man-made iron hammer is encased in a limey, Lower Cretaceous rock concretion, which doesn't make any sense and would change our understanding of human history. Except non- Creationist scientists (A.K.A. scientists) just consider it a curiosity: A normal old-timey hammer that got some sediment hardened around it. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/8/9/878889.jpg)
Francis Drake's Brass Plate
![BS Ancient Artifacts Drake's Plate of Brass the LUNE ITALUSU. CYTLE G ID THE NATURAL HIRR Barby ONLEN ПЦАНЫЙ DE KS FOREVER ITALE Polle this N Policia BER adidas HOT LS 16.00 DE BE KE MERAS JONACIONS California, 1936. A late-16th century brass plate allegedly left by Francis Drake is found, and professor/Drake fanboy Eugene Bolton squeals in excitement. But it was all a practical joke by Bolton's own colleagues, who were just tired of his fanboying. Bolton died before his colleagues could come forward, though. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/0/878890.jpg)
The Coso Artifact
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Coso Artifact For a hot second, the Coso artifact was proof that there were cars 500,000 years ago. Or something. However, the Coso thing-o isn't an Atlantean-time- traveler-whatever piece of ancient tech encased in a half-a-million-year old geode, but just a regular old spark plug embedded in a perfectly normal iron concretion. 4 3 2 MADE IN U.S.A. GRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/8/8/878888.jpg)
The Acámbaro Figures
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Acámbaro Figures Didn't you hear? There's actual evidence humans and dinosaurs lived together! And it comes in cool action figure form! 33,000 dinosaur-shaped figures were supposedly discovered in Acámbaro, México, in 1944. Of course, there isn't any evidence they're actually ancient, and lab tests indicate they were made in (drum roll, please) the '40s. *** TATA - CABALLO SADPLE CON D CAMAG AMERICANO COMIS COMVER MOANS OWEN CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/1/878891.jpg)
The Fiji Mermaid
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Fiji Mermaid The mermaid was exhibited in 1842 by P. T. Barnum -which immediately tells you it was a fake. It was the torso and head of a monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. The original is lost, but copies remain, including one in Harvard's possession. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/3/878893.jpg)
The Cardiff Giant
![BS Ancient Artifacts The Cardiff Giant In 1869, workers in Cardiff, New York dug up a 10- foot-tall petrified man. It was all just a prank by George Hull to mess with Bible literalists who thought giants walked the earth. Не got sculptors to work on a 11-foot hunk of stone and had it buried. The next year they were charging money to see it. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/2/878892.jpg)
Martin Lewinson/Wiki Commons,
New York State Historical Association Library/Wiki Commons