Speaker 1: Ever come across something like an object or a discovery
that makes you think, wait, how is that even possible?
Like something so advanced it seems to completely contradict what
we think we know about history.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure, Like it's throwing a wrench in
the timeline, you.
Speaker 1: Know, right, Like those things that just should not exist
based on our understanding of the past, but somehow they do. Today,
we're going to do a deep dive into those baffling
out of place artifacts O parts for short.
Speaker 2: I love it. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: We've got some truly mind bending examples to explore. Mysterious
discs hidden in the mountains of Tibet, a complex clockwork
device from ancient Greece, iron pipes that predate known metallurgy,
and even a naturally occurring nuclear reactor that's billions of
years old.
Speaker 2: Sounds like we've got our work cut out for us.
Speaker 1: We do, so get ready to explore some wild possibilities.
Are these O parts evidence of time travelers?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Time travelers, lost advanced civilizations, or maybe just misunderstood history.
Let's dive in and see what we can uncover. Let's
start with a story that sounds like it's straight out
of an Indiana Jones movie. The drop is picture this
the rugged bayen Har Mountains of Tibet nineteen thirty seven.
A team of archaeologists is exploring a remote cave system
when they stumble upon a collection of seven hundred and
sixteen granite discs.
Speaker 2: Seven hundred and sixteen Wow, what are they doing with
all those discs? I know? Right?
Speaker 1: And these aren't just any old rocks. They're each about
nine inches in diameter, perfectly circular, with a one inch
hole in the center, and covered in these intricate, almost
hieroglyphic like engravings.
Speaker 2: Okay, starting to sound a little mysterious now, and.
Speaker 1: It gets even wilder. They're estimated to be twelve thousand
years old.
Speaker 2: Whoa twelve thousand years That's like way before any major
civilizations we know of exactly.
Speaker 1: So what did these engravings say? What secrets are etched
into these ancient discs? Well, in the early nineteen sixties,
a professor named zum Nui claimed to have deciphered the writing.
Speaker 2: Okay, and what did it say?
Speaker 1: Get this a mind blowing tale of a spaceship that
crashed in the mountains thousands of years ago and its survivors.
These beings called the drop of People were stranded on earth.
Speaker 2: Okay, now that's a story I'd love to hear more.
Speaker 1: About me too. And there are even reports of additional
finds at the site, like advanced star maps and skeletal
remains of these unusually proportioned beings small bodies, large heads.
And get this, some analogies of the stone supposedly revealed
high cobalt content and unusual electrical properties.
Speaker 2: Really high cobalt, so like it would have been incredibly
difficult to carve with primitive tools.
Speaker 1: Right. So, with all this evidence, where are these drop
of stones now in a museum somewhere? Right? Well, that's
where things get a little murky. An Austrian engineer named
Ernst Wagner claimed to have photographed the stones at a
museum in China in nineteen seventy four. But the photos
are super low resolution and you can't really make out
any details. And here's the kicker. A lot of the
Drop a Stone narrative, the names of key figures, the
professor's translation. Well, it seems like a lot of it
might be based on let's say, created storytelling.
Speaker 2: Oh no, you mean like a hoax it's definitely possible.
Speaker 1: There's even a book Sun Gods in Exile that tells
a super detailed story of.
Speaker 2: The dropa I think I've heard of that one, but the.
Speaker 1: Author later admitted to making it all up.
Speaker 2: All we're saying the drop astones are just a complete fabrication,
a product of someone's overactive imagination.
Speaker 1: It's hard to say for sure, but it's definitely a
good reminder to approach these extraordinary claims with maybe a
little bit of healthy skepticism.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little skepticism.
Speaker 1: Never hurts, but it does make you wonder why are
we so drawn to these kinds of stories. You know,
what is it about ancient mysteries and lost civilizations that
really captures our imaginations.
Speaker 2: I think it's that human need to find out what
we don't know, that desire to uncover secrets of the past.
I mean, it's pretty exciting stuff, right, Definitely.
Speaker 1: Okay, so maybe the dropistones are a bust, but hey,
it was a fun ride. But there's plenty more airports
to uncover. Let's switch gear and dive into the Mediterranean Sea.
Back in nineteen hundred, an ancient Roman shipwreck was discovered
off the coast of Antikithera, a Greek island Anti Catherra.
Speaker 2: Isn't that where they found that ancient Greek computer?
Speaker 1: You got it, the Antikeitherra mechanism. At first they thought
it was just a lump of corrodied bronze and wood.
But then so they found something remarkable, A gear embedded
in the mass.
Speaker 2: A gear. What's so special about a gear?
Speaker 1: This wasn't just any gear. It was a precisely crafted gear,
suggesting a level of technology that was way ahead of
its time. I mean, this was ancient Greece.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there's more to this gear than meets the eye.
I'm intrigued.
Speaker 1: It took decades of research X rays, gamma rays, even
three D modeling to figure out what this thing really was.
Speaker 2: I bet so did they find out?
Speaker 1: It's amazing. It's a complex system of at least thirty
interlocking bronze gears all working together to drive these dials
and pointers. Not just a simple gear, but a full
blown astronomical calculator able to track the movements of selectial
bodies with incredible precision.
Speaker 2: Wow. Hold on, they had a computer in ancient Greece.
What were they using it for?
Speaker 1: Well, it's not exactly a computer as we know it,
but it's pretty darn close. It could track the cycles
of the sun and moon, predict eclipses, and even keep
track of the dates of the Olympic Games.
Speaker 2: The Olympic Games.
Speaker 1: That's pretty impressive, right, Imagine the knowledge and skill needed
to build something like this over two thousand years ago.
So does this mean the ancient Greeks were more advanced
than we give them credit for. I mean, this seems
pretty high tech for its time.
Speaker 2: It definitely makes you wonder, doesn't it. It challenges some
of our assumptions about what ancient civilizations were capable of.
Speaker 1: It does, but it's important to remember that while the
antikathera mechanism is super complex and well preserved, there are
mentions of similar devices in ancient texts.
Speaker 2: Oh really, so maybe it wasn't as out of place
as it seems.
Speaker 1: Right. So it's a remarkable testament to the ingenuity of
the ancient Greeks, but not necessarily evidence of something completely
beyond their capabilities. But it does make you think what
other amazing inventions are out there hidden beneath the sands
of time, just waiting to be rediscovered.
Speaker 2: It's pretty exciting to think about.
Speaker 1: All Right, from crash spaceships to ancient computers, we've covered
some pretty wild stuff. Ready for the next oport, let's
journey to a remote mountain range in China's Chinghai Province,
where we'll encounter something that seems to completely contradict our
understanding of ancient metallurgy.
Speaker 2: Ooh, I'm always up for a good metallurgy mystery. Hit
me with it.
Speaker 1: Picture this nineteen ninety six. An archaeologist is exploring Mount
Bagong and he stumbles upon a cave. But this is
no ordinary cave. Its entrance is triangular, almost like a pyramid.
Inside he finds iron scraps, oddly shaped stones, and get this,
iron pipes running deep into the mountain.
Speaker 2: Iron pipes. That's a little strange. But iron isn't exactly rare,
So what makes these pipes so unusual?
Speaker 1: Well, they're estimated to be over one hundred and fifty
thousand years old.
Speaker 2: One hundred and fifty thousand years Hold on, that doesn't
add up. Humans weren't smelting iron back then.
Speaker 1: Were they Nope, not by a long shot. So if
humans didn't create these pipes, who did? That's the million
dollar question? Theories range from natural formations to a long
lost civilization with advanced metallurgical knowledge. Some people even think
they were part of an ancient plumbing system or conduits
for harnessing geothermal energy.
Speaker 2: Ancient plumbing or geothermal energy. Now that's thinking outside the box, right,
So what are.
Speaker 1: These pipes may have? Maybe they'll give us a clue.
Analysis shows about thirty percent ferric oxide basically rusted iron,
along with silicon dioxide and calcium oxide. But here's another twist.
About eight percent of the material is.
Speaker 2: Unidentified unidentified material. Okay, now we're getting into some real
mystery territory, I.
Speaker 1: Know, right, But wait, there's more. Some skeptics say these
pipes might not be man made at all. They could
be fossilized tree roots.
Speaker 2: Fossilized tree roots really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's called permineralization. Over a super long time, minerals
gradually replace the organic material of tree roots, creating iron
rich formations that look like pipes.
Speaker 2: So we could be mistaking ancient trees for some kind
of lost civilizations plumbing. That's pretty wild, it.
Speaker 1: Is with these o parts. It's always a tug of
war between these crazy theories and the possibility of a
more down to earth explanation, which is still super cool.
By the way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the natural world can create some pretty incredible thing.
Speaker 1: Totally okay, so maybe the Baguon pipes are a natural wonder. Still,
it's amazing, But let's not lose that sense of mystery
just yet. Ready for another head scratcher. Bring it on,
all right, let's head back to the Viking Age, a
time of fierce warriors and legendary craftsmanship. We're gonna look
at the olf Birt swords, weapons of exceptional quality that
have baffled historians and metallurgists for centuries.
Speaker 2: Viking swords. Ooh, I love a good Viking tale. Were
these swords forged by like mythical dwarves or something?
Speaker 1: Huh? Maybe? What we do know is that the ulf
Birt swords dating back to the ninth century were way stronger, sharper,
and more flexible than any other sword from that era.
They could hold a crazy sharp edge, bend almost double
without breaking, and were surprisingly light.
Speaker 2: That sounds like the ultimal Viking weapon. What was their
secret some kind of lost forging technique?
Speaker 1: Well, the secret weapon was the metal itself. These swords
had an incredibly high carbon content almost three times higher
than your average medieval sword, and they were incredibly pure,
almost no impurities.
Speaker 2: High carbon, high purity. That's crucible steel. But wasn't that
technology supposed to be way ahead of its time exactly?
Speaker 1: That's what makes the oorporate sword such a puzzle. Crucible
steel needs extremely high temperatures to make, like twenty four
hundred degrees fahrenheit. You have to melt and refine the
iron ore to get that level of purity and carbon content.
Speaker 2: So how did these Viking blacksmiths figure out how to
do that centuries before everyone else? Did they have some
secret knowledge passed down from like aliens or time travelers?
Speaker 1: Now that would be a story, while it's fine to
think about. The more likely explanation is combination of exceptional skill,
rare resources, and maybe some knowledge shared through trade routes
that went far beyond.
Speaker 2: Europe trade routes. So maybe they had access to techniques
or materials from other parts of the world where crucible
steel was already known.
Speaker 1: That's definitely a possibility. Some historians believe they might have
gotten their iron ore from Asia, where similar skill making
techniques were already in use. It shows how interconnected the
world was even back then, and how knowledge and technology
could travel across vast distances.
Speaker 2: It's fascinating to think about those ancient connections, how knowledge
was shared and spread throughout different cultures.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So the Olfboart swords might not
be proof of some crazy advanced technology, but they show
how ingenious and resourceful people were back then. They accomplished
some incredible things even with the limited tools and knowledge
they had.
Speaker 2: It definitely puts things in perspective, Doesn't it totally right?
Speaker 1: We've gone from spaceships to ancient calculators to biking superswords
ready for our final oput? And this one's a real dizzy.
We're going way back in time, billions of years to
a time long before humans even existed.
Speaker 2: Billions of years. Wow, okay, you've got my attention. What
could possibly predate humanity by that much?
Speaker 1: Get ready for this? A naturally occurring nuclear reactor discovered
in nineteen seventy two and oaklogabon This ancient marvel is
estimated to be over one point eight billion years old.
Speaker 2: And natural nuclear reactor weight. How is that even possible?
Don't you need like complex technology and a controlled environment
for nuclear reactions.
Speaker 1: Right, it seems impossible. But here's the thing. They found
depleted uranium ore at the site, depleted in a way
that could only be explained by nuclear fission.
Speaker 2: So they weren't just guessing. There's actual evidence that nuclear
reactions were happening billions of years ago.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the evidence is there. The concentrations of fission byproducts,
the isotopic ratios of the uranium at all points to
a sustained chain reaction. But here's the catch. For a
natural nuclear reactor to occur, you need some incredibly specific conditions.
Speaker 2: Okay, so what kind of crazy cosmic coincidence had to
happen for this natural nuclear reactor to just spring up.
Speaker 1: Well, first you need a ton of uranium two thirty five,
the stuff that makes nuclear fission possible. Then you need
a moderator, something like water to slow down the neutrons
released during fission so the chain reaction can keep going.
And of course you need a geological formation that can
contain the whole thing so it doesn't just explode.
Speaker 2: So it's like nature accidentally stumbled upon the recipe for
nuclear fission. That's mind blowing, it really is.
Speaker 1: And get this, it's estimated that this natural reactor ran
for at least five hundred thousand years, not as a
big explosion, but a slow, controlled burn, generating a relatively
small amount of power compared to modern nuclear reactors.
Speaker 2: Five hundred thousand years that's just incredible. So what does
this ancient nuclear reactor tell us about the Earth billions
of years ago. Does it change how we think about
early Earth?
Speaker 1: Well, it definitely adds a new layer of complexity to
our understanding of the planet's history. It challenges our assumptions
about what's possible and shows just how powerful natural processes
can be.
Speaker 2: It's both humbling and awe inspiring, right thinking that nature
was doing its nuclear thing long for humans even entered
the picture.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it puts things into perspective. We're part of a
much bigger story, a story that spans billions of years
and involves forces and phenomena we're just starting to grasp.
Speaker 2: Definitely, it makes you wonder what other secrets are out
there waiting to be discovered.
Speaker 1: So we've traveled from crashed spaceships, to ancient computers, to
Viking superswords, and even a natural nuclear reactor. Our OOPArt
journey has taken us to the edge of what we
thought was possible. But before we wrap things up, I'm curious,
what do you find most compelling about these OOPArts.
Speaker 2: Hmmm, that's a good question, you know. I think it's
the way they challenge our assumptions about the past, about technology,
and about our place in the grand scheme of things.
They really force us to confront the limits of our
knowledge and embrace the mystery and wonder that still surrounds us.
Speaker 1: I totally agree. Each oppart is like a puzzle piece
that doesn't quite fit the picture we have in our minds.
It makes us rethink the whole picture and consider different
perspectives exactly.
Speaker 2: And who knows, maybe someday we'll find an OOPArt that
completely changes how we understand history or unlocks secrets of
the universe we never thought possible.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be something? All right? Listeners, I hope this
deep dive has sparked your curiosity and inspired you to
look at the world with a fresh sense of wonder.
You never know what amazing discoveries might be waiting just
around the corner.
Speaker 2: That's right, Keep your minds open, ask questions, and never
stop exploring the wonders of our world, both past and present.
Speaker 1: Well said, and.
Speaker 2: Hey, if you come across any strange artifacts or unexplained phenomena,
be sure to let us know.
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear about it. So for now, we're
signing off, but stay tuned for Part two of our
O part extravaganza, where we'll dive even deeper into these
fascinating objects and explore what they might reveal about our
shared human story.