7 archaeological discoveries that rewrote history

june 26, 2025

Image: Shutterstock

From the tomb of King Tut to the clay army of China’s first emperor, here are some archaeological discoveries that redefined history.

Image: Shutterstock

Unearthed by French soldiers in Egypt in 1799, it is a royal decree (circa 196 BC) inscribed in three scripts: Demotic, hieroglyphic and ancient Greek. It helped archaeologists decipher the hieroglyphs.

Rosetta stone

Image: wikipedia.org/Kacperg333 

In 1922, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb, relatively undisturbed for 3,300 years, contained a mummy and over 5,000 objects.

Tomb of King Tut

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Lucy is a collection of bones belonging to a female primate from over 3 million years ago. It was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. 

Lucy

Image: wikipedia.org/Public domain 

Discovered accidentally by a farmer digging a well in 1974, the Terracotta army is a collection of 8,000 clay soldiers, horses and cavalry meant to protect the grave of China’s first emperor.

Terracotta Army

Image: Shutterstock

Discovered in a shipwreck in 1901, the Antikythera Mechanism is an ancient Greek astronomical calculator (circa 150-100 BC) used to track the movements of the sun, moon, and planets. 

Antikythera Mechanism

Image: Shutterstock

Mohenjo-daro, a major city of the Indus Valley Civilisation, was rediscovered by archaeologist R. D. Banerji in 1919. It is estimated to have been built around 2500 BC.

Mohenjo-daro

Image: Shutterstock

It is a collection of over 30,000 clay tablets and fragments dating back to the 7th century BC. It was found in the ruins of the city of Nineveh (northern Iraq) in 1850.

Library of Ashurbanipal

Image: wikipedia.org/Gary Todd

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