From a Lost Story to Underwater Treasure, Top 10 Historical Discoveries Made In 2023

These Findings Span an Astonishing Range

The year 2023 was particularly busy for historians and researchers as numerous exciting and important archaeological and literary discoveries were made around the globe. From the bottom of the ocean to the Great Pyramids, this year’s findings spanned an astonishing range. Many of these discoveries have either expanded our knowledge of the ancient world and given us some astonishingly beautiful or well-preserved examples of ancient craftsmanship, ingenuity, and artistic talent. Here are 10 of the most exciting and important discoveries made in 2023.

1. The Mysterious Man in Led Zeppelin IV Album Cover

The man carrying a bundle of sticks on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1971 album remained a mystery for half a century. Finally, the mystery was solved in 2023 as the Wiltshire Museum in southwestern England announced that the photo was of a thatcher from the late Victorian era. A visiting research fellow had managed to locate the original image which is supposedly of a widower named Lot Long or Longyear, who lived in the town of Mere in the 19th century. The photo was taken by photographer Ernest Howard Farmer, as per CNN.

2. Truman Capote’s lost story

An addition was made to the collection of famed American author Truman Capote after an editor from “The Strand” magazine discovered a previously unknown short story in one of Capote’s notebooks. The short story “Another Day in Paradise”, which is about a disillusioned American woman who uses her inheritance to buy a villa in Sicily, was found while author Andrew F. Gulli was looking through Capote’s works at Washington’s Library of Congress. A team worked to decipher the story, and the discovery was made.

3. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Techniques For Mona Lisa

Two new revelations were made about one of the most famous works of Leonardo da Vinci, “Mona Lisa” this year. The first was about the location of where it was painted. A historian recently asserted that the bridge in the background of the painting is actually in a different picturesque Tuscan town than the previously believed location. The second revelation was about a technique used by Da Vinci. Scientists in France and the UK used X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy and discovered a mineral compound known as plumbonacrite, which helps paint dry faster. The authors of the study believe that Leonardo might have been the first to use the compound, proving that he was way ahead of his time.

4. The Hidden Hallway in the Great Pyramid

The Great Pyramid of Giza has revealed several secrets in the Scan Pyramids project, which uses technology including infrared thermography and cosmic-ray imaging to map the architectural intricacies of the ancient site. The latest finding was a 30-foot corridor close to the main entrance, constructed to redistribute weight around the entrance, or possibly to allow access to an unknown chamber, according to Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, CNN reported. Further study of the hallway may help scientists better understand how the pyramid was made.

5. The unusual discovery of the painting “The Payment of the Tithes”

A lost piece of art history was found at the residence of a French family. While appraising their home in Northern France, a family found a dusty painting sitting in their living room. Later it was found that the painting was one of the greatest known works of 17th century Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The painting was sold at an auction at the Daguerre auction house in Paris where it fetched a whopping $850,000, as per CNN.

6. Henry VIII’s Markings

The British monarch Henry VIII was known to doodle in the margins of books. This year, a Canadian professor spotted the royal marginalia unexpectedly while looking at an ancient prayer book owned by the monarch late in his life. About 14 markings in total were found in total which were compared to other known markings to confirm their authenticity. The book which was a gift to the king contained prayers for repentance, for wisdom, destruction of enemies, and for the King and his army, as per the CNN report.

7. Cave findings made by drones

There have been continued efforts to survey the prehistoric cave paintings in an area in Alicante, Spain. However, some of the areas in the caves are inaccessible or simply too risky for humans to explore. Thus, archaeologists this year sent drones into the caves to scout out terrain and within days, the drones found new imagery of deer, goats, and human figures painted on the cave walls. These new cave paintings are some of the most significant of their kind in the region as per the archaeology team.

8. The Oldest Toilet with A Flush

Earlier in February, archaeologists shared the details of what may be the world’s oldest known flush toilet. The 2,400-year-old lavatory with a bent pipe is considered to be a status symbol among China’s elite at the time. The discovery was made last summer in the ruins of a palace at the Yueyang archaeological site in the city of Xi’an, according to Chinese state media. The toilet was supposedly used only by a select few in the ruling.

9. The oldest known sandals in Europe

In 1857, about 22 woven sandals were discovered by Spanish miners. These were first carbon-dated in the 1970s and were thought to be about 5,000 years old. However, a new study from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Alcalá University in Spain found that the footwear, made of plant fibers, are, in fact, over 1500 years old and possibly the oldest known European shoes. These were well-preserved thanks to the dry conditions of the Spanish caves where the sandals were discovered.

10. Underwater treasure

This year, sea explorers and divers found metallic treasure on the sea floor of the coast of Sardinia, Italy. The explorers found about 30,000 to 50,000 large bronze coins, which dated back to the fourth century AD, lying on the ocean floor. The treasure possibly points to an undiscovered shipwreck in the area, the Italian culture ministry said in a statement in November. The coins were surprisingly well-preserved. The divers also found amphorae, narrow-necked Roman or Greek jars with two handles apart from the coins.