The greatest archaeological discoveries ever
The top 3 according to 9 votes from people: The tomb of Tutankhamun · Lucy · The Terracotta Army. (Updated Mar 1, 2026.)
From the Rosetta Stone to the tomb of Tutankhamun, from Lucy to Ötzi the Iceman: the finds that rewrote what we know about the past. Which one fascinates you most?
Top 25
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1
The tomb of Tutankhamun
Howard Carter found it almost intact in 1922.
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2
Lucy
The 3.2-million-year-old skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1974.
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3
The Terracotta Army
Thousands of clay soldiers guarding China's first emperor, found in 1974.
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4
The Cave of Altamira
Prehistoric paintings of bison in Cantabria, Spain.
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5
Olduvai Gorge
The Tanzanian gorge full of our earliest ancestors.
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6
The Antikythera mechanism
An ancient Greek "computer" pulled from a shipwreck.
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7
The Staffordshire Hoard
The largest Anglo-Saxon gold hoard ever found, in 2009.
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8
Petra
The rose-red city of the Nabataeans in Jordan.
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9
The Rosetta Stone
Found in 1799, it was the key to reading hieroglyphs.
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10
The Library of Ashurbanipal
Thousands of clay tablets from Nineveh, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.
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11
Pompeii
A Roman city frozen in time by Vesuvius in AD 79.
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12
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Found by a shepherd in the caves of Qumran in 1947.
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13
Sutton Hoo
An Anglo-Saxon ship burial full of treasure, found in 1939.
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14
Troy
Homer's city, identified in Turkey in the 19th century.
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15
Mohenjo-daro
A planned city of the Indus civilisation.
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16
Ötzi the Iceman
A 5,000-year-old man found in an Alpine glacier in 1991.
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17
Knossos
The great Minoan palace of Crete.
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18
The grave of Richard III
Found under a car park in Leicester in 2012.
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19
Göbekli Tepe
Stone pillars older than Stonehenge and the pyramids.
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20
The Aztec Calendar Stone
The Sun Stone, dug up in Mexico City in 1790.
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21
Derinkuyu
An underground city in Cappadocia that could shelter thousands.
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22
Homo naledi
A new human species found in South Africa's Rising Star cave.
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23
The Sanxingdui gold mask
Spectacular Bronze Age finds in Sichuan.
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24
Skara Brae
A Neolithic village in Orkney uncovered by a storm.
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25
Akrotiri
The "Minoan Pompeii" on Santorini.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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