Beyond Fiction: 8 Amazing Discoveries in Unexpected Corners
We've all made unexpected discoveries before. You may have found $20 in a coat pocket you forgot about, or uncovered an unexpected family legacy while cleaning your basement. Like my own finds, the discoveries on this list came as surprises. They range from the odd to the priceless, and include everything in between.
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- In 2015, archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar discovered a hidden underground pyramid in Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, further unveiling the historical wonders of the ancient city.
- A lost 16th-century Portuguese ship loaded with gold and copper was miraculously uncovered in the Namibian desert by diamond miners in 200
- A rare Qing Dynasty vase found in a Paris attic stunned experts by selling for $19 million at Sotheby’s, far surpassing its expected value.
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- In 2006, two brothers uncovered a hidden Norman Rockwell painting worth $1
- 4 million behind a wall in their late father's Vermont home.
- The priceless Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek astronomical calculator, was recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck off a Greek island in 190
- Researchers in China were shocked in 1990 to find that a seemingly ordinary Buddha statue contained the mummified remains of a monk.
- Roman and Ottoman coins discovered in a Japanese castle in 2016 have puzzled archaeologists due to the lack of known historical connection.
Many of these finds would make great material for documentaries or Netflix movies. Some were purely lucky; others required persistence and hard work. We hope this list inspires you to stay curious and keep your eyes open. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something amazing too.
1. An underground pyramid found in Bolivia
Location: Tiwanaku, Bolivia
Year of discovery: 2015
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Estimated value: unknown
Bolivia's Tiwanaku region and its ancient monuments have yielded numerous finds, and excavations by private teams and the government have continued for years. In 2015, archaeologists discovered an underground pyramid in Tiwanaku using ground-penetrating radar.
They also found monolithic blocks inside the pyramid. Excavations there are still ongoing. Tiwanaku was once home to one of the most important cities in ancient South America. The site spans a large area and has produced stone edifices, palace ruins, sculptures, and more. Since 2000, Tiwanaku has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. A long-lost ship found in the Namibian desert — with gold on board
Location: Oranjemund, Namibia
Year of discovery: 2008
Estimated: $13 million
A shipwreck in a desert sounds impossible, but the remains of the Bom Jesus were found in Namibia. This Portuguese ship sank about five hundred years ago off the Namibian coast. As coastal sands shifted and waters receded, the Bom Jesus reappeared.
When she went down in a severe storm, she was bound for India and loaded with treasure, including gold and copper bars. Diamond miners found the wreck and notified the Namibian government, which sent a team to excavate. They recovered two thousand gold coins and tens of thousands of pounds of copper ingots, almost all intact.
3. A unique Qing Dynasty vase discovered in an attic
Location: Paris, France
Discovery Year: 2018
Estimated: $19 million
While sorting through their attic, a French couple found a beautifully decorated porcelain vase that had gone unnoticed for years. They took it to Sotheby’s in Paris for appraisal.
Sotheby’s determined the vase was an original work from the Qing Dynasty and initially estimated its value between $590,000 and $825,000. At auction, however, bidding pushed the price far higher: the vase sold for $19 million.
4. Two brothers find a $15 million painting hidden in a wall
Location: Arlington, Vermont
Year of discovery: 2006
Estimated: $15.4 million
While clearing out their late father's house, two brothers discovered something hidden inside a wall: an original Norman Rockwell painting. It matched a painting hanging on the wall just a few inches away.
Their father had apparently hidden the real Rockwell during a divorce, leaving a disguised copy in its place. After the father’s death, the original was sold at Sotheby’s; the painting, titled "Breaking Home Ties," fetched $15.4 million.
5. The Antikythera mechanism — a shocking find from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck
Location: Antikythera, Greece
Discovery Year: 1900
Estimated value: Priceless
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient astronomical calculator roughly two thousand years old, made from dozens of finely crafted bronze gears. The sophistication of the device, created by the ancient Greeks, took years for scientists to fully understand; Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University compared its significance to that of great works of art.
Sponge divers discovered the mechanism in 1900 while exploring a shipwreck near the small Greek island of Antikythera. Radiocarbon dating places the device around 65 BC. Its historical and scientific value makes it essentially priceless.
6. A secret mummy found inside a statue
Location: China
Year of discovery: 1990
Estimated: $80,000*
A thousand-year-old Buddha statue was already valuable, but tests performed during restoration work produced a startling result. X-rays revealed a human skeleton inside — the statue was actually a sarcophagus containing a mummy.
Faced with this discovery, researchers decided to leave the burial as the individual’s intended final resting place.
7. Ancient Roman coins found in the ruins of a Japanese castle
Location: Okinawa, Japan
Year of discovery: 2016
Estimated value: $10,000 - $100,000*
At Katsuren Castle, an ancient site in Okinawa, archaeologists uncovered a surprising mix of artifacts: ancient Ottoman and Roman coins among them. Ten of these foreign coins were found in the ruins in 2016.
Excavations at Katsuren began in 2013, but the coins were not found until 2016. Other items included Chinese ceramics and coins brought through trade with China. As for the Roman and Ottoman coins, archaeologists remain puzzled about how they ended up at Katsuren Castle.
8. Atari's E.T. video games uncovered at a New Mexico landfill
Location: Alamogordo, New Mexico
Discovery Year: 2014
Estimated value: $5 - $10 million*
This story has many twists. In the fall of 1983, video game maker Atari concluded that E.T., the extraterrestrial video game, was a major commercial failure. Faced with excess inventory, Atari secretly buried large quantities of unsold cartridges at the Alamogordo landfill in New Mexico.
The "Atari dump" became an urban legend for years, since many found the claim hard to believe. That changed in 2014, when excavation at Alamogordo confirmed the story: millions of unsold copies of E.T. had indeed been buried there.