Will the Ark of the Covenant and Cleopatra’s tomb ever be discovered? There are certain mysteries that might never be solved.
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Some historical mysteries, such as the birthdate of Jesus, the identity of Jack the Ripper, and the location of Cleopatra’s tomb, may never be resolved. This can occasionally be attributed to the destruction of an archeological site or the loss of pertinent excavated material. In other cases, it’s because the evidence that is available is too ambiguous to help researchers reach an agreement, or fresh evidence is unlikely to surface.
These mysteries are all the more fascinating because there are no answers. Here, Live Science examines 20 of these historical queries that might never be fully answered.
In 1924, was Mount Everest scaled?
Sandy Irvine and George Mallory departing for the North Col of Everest in the final photo. (Photo courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society/Noel E. Odell via Getty Images.)
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first confirmed climbers of Mount Everest, having ascended to the top on May 29, 1953. They might not have been the first to go to the summit, though.
British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine perished on Mount Everest in 1924. Since then, there has been conjecture over the possibility that they made it to the summit prior to their demise. The body of Mallory was discovered by climber Conrad Anker in 1999, over 27,000 feet (8,229 m) up the 29,032-foot (8,849 m) peak. In 2024, a National Geographic documentary team found Irvine’s foot still in its sock and boot. There is still no sign of the camera the two first brought. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear likely that we will ever be able to determine whether the two made it to the top before they died.
How did the Mary Celeste end up?
The Mary Celeste was discovered adrift and abandoned some 400 miles (644 km) east of the Azores when the British ship Dei Gratia anchored alongside it on December 5, 1872. The ship was undamaged, and there was no indication of any battle, although a lifeboat was missing. The fate of the ten passengers and crew members on board the ship has remained a mystery ever since they vanished. There have been numerous theories proposed. One theory is that the crew may have fled the ship due to concerns that it would catch fire and explode due to a leak from the alcohol load. A waterspout might have posed a hazard to the ship, according to another theory. As of right now, the mystery has never
Where are Peking Man’s bones?
In 1923, bones from a hominid known as “Peking Man” were discovered in a cave close to the Beijing neighborhood of Zhoukoudian. Prior to the Pearl Harbor assault in 1941, Japan tried to transport the fossils to the United States after invading China in 1937. The site of the fossils is still unknown, and the attempt was unsuccessful. They are buried someplace in China, according to one idea, while another claims they were sunk while aboard a ship. Although it is doubtful that the fossils would be discovered, new Peking Man artifacts are being discovered during recent cave investigations close to Zhoukoudian.
Where is the grave of Alexander the Great located?
Alexander the Great ruled over the largest empire in antiquity by the age of 32, having surged over Asia and conquered a realm spanning from the Balkans to Pakistan. When he passed away in 323 B.C., his dominion collapsed like a house of cards. A disease in Babylon brought down the king. According to historical accounts, his body was kept in Memphis while a tomb was constructed for him in Alexandria, and two years later, one of his generals is said to have taken it back to ancient Egypt.
But nobody is certain of the precise location of that famous tomb. Building in the now-submerged “Palaces District” has led some to speculate that it has sunk beneath the seas. If so, researchers previously told Live Science that it might have been destroyed by millennia of natural and human forces. Even if it were discovered, there probably wouldn’t be many distinguishing characteristics that would establish Alexander’s ownership of the tomb. Researchers might need an undamaged inscription to identify the tomb because the ancient historians who wrote about its construction offered few physical descriptions of it.
Was King Arthur ever real?
Over the course of more than a millennium, the tale of King Arthur has been told and repeated countless times. Famous elements of the Arthurian stories include Camelot, the knights of the round table, the wizard Merlin, and the sword Excalibur.
But the reality was probably less magical if King Arthur was real. Even the veracity of the earliest surviving records, which go back to the ninth century, are questionable; they describe a leader—possibly not even a king—who engaged in multiple conflicts with the Saxons.
Tintagel, a seaside location that is said to have been King Arthur’s house, is one of several locations in Britain that traditions associate with him; nevertheless, excavations have not shown if Arthur ever lived there or even existed. In the end, it is doubtful that researchers will ever be able to determine if King Arthur was a real person or if he was a work of fiction.
What became of the “vanished” colonists at Roanoke?
John White and 120 other individuals arrived at Roanoke Island on July 22, 1587. He set out for England a few months later in the hopes of replenishing his depleted supplies. However, by the time he returned three years later, all of the residents were disappeared.
The sole hint as to where they might be? On a palisdae, the enigmatic word “CROATOAN” was carved, and on a tree, another CRO. White believed the locals had visited what is now known as Hatteras Island, formerly Croatoan Island. However, White was never able to amass enough money for another search before a storm swept in and stopped him from getting to the island.
There is no archaeological evidence to support the claims made in some records that Chief Powhattan killed some of the colonists. According to some stories, the colonists either died naturally or the Spanish attacked the locals. William Kelso, emeritus director of archaeology and research at the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, recently told Live Science that the colonists’ fate is “the biggest unsolved mystery in American history,” regardless of the circumstances.
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