Forgotten Mysteries You've Never Heard Of

Linguist here. In terms of the Indus Valley symbols shown at 11:07, I would (in case anyone is interested) say that it's highly likely that the symbols all represent a single object or phonetic sound but they might be slightly altered to indicate gender, plurality, ownership or other indications related to the context of the connotation (think: Polish noun forms and determiners). I.E. the symbols could convey 'my butterfly','her butterfly', 'two butterflies', 'the dead butterflies from the past', etc. It is unlikely, in my opinion, that each symbol connotes a distinct and separate meaning/sound since ancient communication always favored function over form. What this means is that due to limited materials, the imperative of being clearly understood, and the relative time and effort necessary to compose the written language would negate stylistic/artistic choices and lead us to believe that there was a definite intention to convey meaning rather than aesthetics. That's just my two cents. I could be dead wrong.

I would love an Indus Valley civilization deep dive. My best friend is a pre-vedic Hindu by way of Guyana so now really enjoy any pre-vedic history.

I would love more of all of these subjects. Indus valley, Pythagoreans, greek cults and/or Mediterranean cultures, eastern European history, all of it.

I can't let this opportunity for a movie quote to pass by, "I do not envy you the headache you will have when you awake. But for now, rest well and dream of large women."

Yes Simon, I would like to see a video (or a part of a video) on the Pythagoreans. I really appreciate you covering the Indus Valley civilization as it gets too little attention. I visited the Punjab when traveling in Pakistan in the early 1980s, so I am interested in topics from this area. As for decoding the writing of the Indus Civilization, it reminds me of the Mayan system of writing. If I remember correctly archaeologists pecked away at the problem for decades until one very young man cracked the code. Genius is where you find it, and no one can predict when it will occur. Let's keep our fingers crossed...

I agree with Simon, honestly, our ancestors were probably painting boobs on cave walls 30,000 years ago.

This was a top tier video. As for the teaser, I had heard of the unknown girl's death mask and how it was used for CPR Annie before, and I obviously knew "Annie, are you okay" but I NEVER knew they were connected before! That's particularly crazy since I know back before google, yahoo, or even Ask Jeeves, I wondered what that song was really about but never found out.

Thanks for doing The Lady of the Seinne, one I (and others I'm sure) suggested a while ago. The Laerdall CPR dolls have helped countless people and will continue to for generations!

Maybe it's just cause I have been rereading the Dune series (all of them) over the Summer. But I can't help hear the description of the Temple in Malta and not think the lowermost floor is probably just cistern for freshwater during the summer months which is why the stairs don't go all the way to the lower level's floor; you probably didn't need to go any lower to collect water and they used this as an early warning that water supply was getting too low to last much longer. Likely the temple was more of a Town Center in a Religious State hence having an upper floor that is more general, an inner set of temples on the second floor, and a massive vault of a room with no obvious purpose and a strange almost hidden stairwell. It likely served as a temple and collection/distribution center run by the Clerics that doubled as government.

Best episode in ages Simon, thoroughly entertaining and makes me want to research the separate topics more, 10/10.

2:05 - Chapter 1 - The megaliths of malta 7:40 - Chapter 2 - The indus valley script 12:35 - Chapter 3 - The rohonc codex 16:30 - Chapter 4 - The elusinian cult 20:00 - Conclusion

How about videos on modern mysteries? Such as how does Simon make so many videos across so many channels?

As a teacher, I would love to see more on Pythagoras, especially if the Cult of Zero could be covered as well!

Can't believe they documented the structures on Malta 7000 years ago! Now that's dedication

Also vaguely related is Stayin’ Alive cause that song has a very good rhythm for CPR chest compressions

My uni class travelled to Eleysis for a project of which I was head of, focusing around the cult, the arcitecture of the various structures that evolved from 700BCE to the late Roman times when the place was shut down as a "paganistic" site and a small church was built nearby. It's still one of the loveliest memories I have as an undergrad. If you're ever in Athens, do take the few mile trip to visit Eleysis, it's a really weird place, with the ancient ruins among a heavily industrial town. When we visited, we found flowers, candles and sweets left in a nook near the supposed entry to the Underworld, suggesting there's a handful of modern times worshipers there! A few of my friends and I were planning on investigating, maybe making a short documentary on this, but then the pandemic struck. Perhaps it's worth a trip back.

I gave my 2½yr old nephew a piece of chalk and the first thing he drew was the ol "twig and berries ". (Pretty good depiction too) Humans gonna human.

I would love to see you cover the Harrapan civilisation and the Pythagoean cult would be a good one too. It is said that Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, but that pales into insignificance alongside the lives saved by Annie who is probably also the most kissed woman in history.

The mystery of the Rohonc Codex makes me want to play the long game and fake some "important literature from an unknown language", writing some lengthy text in a fictional language with few, if any, hints to how to translate it, then either bury it in a time capsule that says not to open it until 2400 or something, or pass it down to my future kids and have them pass it down to theirs, so on and so forth, all so that in some distant era, when people find it, they spend ages trying to decode and translate the "lamguage", thrown off by a lot of random gibberish and such to complicate it, only for the it to somewhere say something like "Dear historians and archeologists of the future. I just wasted your time."

My honeymoon cruise included Malta. It is truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth and has an amazing history.