Albert Einstein once said: “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity; I am not sure about the universe.” We do not need a great effort to prove the correctness of this statement, day after day we discover how much human stupidity has caused huge losses, and history is full of such events.
For example, many ancient archaeological sites no longer exist on Earth because of naive and unjustified human errors!
In the list, we review 5 archaeological sites that were completely destroyed for the same reason that we talked about above!
1-Ancient archaeological sites destroyed by human stupidity!
1-Temple of Artemis
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis, was burned by a man named Herostratus so that he would become famous for his guilt. Because of his actions, the ancient Greeks made it illegal to even say his name.
The Temple of Artemis was a Greek temple located in the city of Ephesus in present-day Turkey. Also known as the "Temple of Diana", it was rebuilt three times.
The first temple was destroyed in the seventh century BC during a flood. The second time it was rebuilt was around 560 BC.
It is supposed to be the first Greek temple built entirely of marble. The building was destroyed in 356 BC by the arsonist Herostratus.
To perpetuate his name, Herostratus decided to burn this world-famous temple. So, on July 21, 356 BC, the Temple of Artemis was set on fire.
A little later he was arrested and after his confession he was executed. To discourage those with similar intentions, the Ephesus authorities passed a law forbidding citizens even to speak in his name.
2-Parthenon
The Parthenon was largely intact until 1687 when the Venetians attacked an Ottoman ammunition storage site located there. Not only did 700 artillery shells hit the temple, but the gunpowder there was ignited, destroying 28 pillars and causing irreparable damage.
Presented around the world as a symbol of wealth, intellect and culture, the Parthenon was the finest representation of Greece's golden age.
Its construction began in 447 BC, and it took nine years to build. Dedicated to the goddess Athena, the temple had a 40-foot-high gold and ivory statue of Athena.
It was also used as a city treasury. Around the sixth century AD, Greece fell to the Byzantine Christians, the Parthenon was converted into a church, and the famous statue of Athena was removed.
In 1687, Venetian forces raided Athens as part of the war against the Ottoman Empire. During the war, the Parthenon was used by the Ottoman Turks as a storage site for gunpowder.
On September 26, 1687, the Venetians bombarded the building with cannon fire. The western facade of the building was hit by about 700 artillery shells.
Due to the constant bombardment, the gunpowder stored in the Parthenon eventually ignited. The blast tore off 28 columns, damaged several interior rooms, and killed about 300 people.
3-Amber room
The Amber Room was a world-famous room decorated with amber panels, gold leaf, mirrors, and containing several tons of precious stones. At one point considered the eighth wonder of the world, the room was dismantled on the orders of Hitler during World War II and shipped in boxes to Königsberg. But after the Battle of Königsberg in 1945, the Amber Room was never seen again.
In 1701, Frederick, the first king of Prussia, ordered the construction of the Amber Room at the request of his wife, Sophie Charlotte.
It was originally intended to be in Charlottenburg Palace, King Frederick's residence, but was eventually installed in the Berlin City Palace.
The room is decorated with amber panels. These panels were decorated with gold leaf and mirrors, and when the room was completed, it contained several tons of precious stones, but the Amber Room was short-lived in the Berlin City Palace.
In 1716, Peter the Great of Russia visited the palace and was amazed by the unique room. Therefore, King Frederick's son gave the room to Peter the Great. In Russia, the Amber Room was installed in the Catherine Palace.
The Amber Room, considered the "eighth wonder of the world", remained in Catherine's Palace until the invasion of German soldiers during World War II.
Under the guidance of two experts, German soldiers dismantled the entire room in just 36 hours and placed it in 27 boxes.
The boxes were shipped to Königsberg, Germany, where they arrived on October 14, 1941, and a month later they were displayed.
In 1943, Hitler ordered the dormitory room to be moved from Königsberg, but before moving the room, the person in charge of the civil administration had fled the city.
In 1944, Königsberg was bombed so hard by the British Air Force that the last known location of the ward room was reduced to rubble. Since then, the trace of the room has been lost.
4-The Mayan Scrolls, the most famous archaeological site destroyed by humans
The written history of the Maya civilization, the Maya manuscripts, were mostly burned or destroyed during the 16th century by the Spanish bishop Diego de Landa who considered them evil, causing the loss of complete knowledge of Mayan culture, religion and language.
One of the archaeological sites whose ruins were a great loss to humanity is the Mayan civilization.
The Maya civilization is one of the most famous classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Famous for its architecture, mathematics, calendar, art, astrological system, and Maya hieroglyphic script, a highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas.
The Mayan people preserved their history through manuscripts. These codices were folding books written by professional scribes on Mesoamerican bark paper.
The scrolls are named for the cities in which the Mayans eventually settled. They contained ritual dates, astronomical information, and many other details about their culture and society.
According to Alonso de Zoria, a Spanish royal judge, he saw several Maya scrolls in the Guatemalan highlands in 1540.
It is also mentioned that these books contained the history of the Mayan civilization for more than eight hundred years back. However, almost all of this information was lost to one man, Diego de Landa.
Landa was a Spanish bishop who is often described by historians as ruthless and fanatical. He believed that the idolatry of the Maya civilization was demonic and ordered the burning of manuscripts and images of worship.
Only four manuscripts survived this ordeal: the Dresden Codex, the Codex Madrid, the Codex Paris, and the Groulier Codex.
5-Apollo 11 tapes
NASA had an original copy of the footage of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, but it was erased because NASA lacked the data tapes and needed to use them elsewhere. Hence, the only recordings we have of the first moon landing are in degraded SSTV backups.
Here, the original, unprocessed video was recorded on a 14-inch diameter reel recording of magnetic analog data tape.