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Mysterious eyes in binary code.  The Great Cipher of Louis XIV had codebreakers stumped for centuries. Source: Kundra / Adobe Stock

Louis XIV’s Great Cipher Baffled Codebreakers Until the 19th Century

In the clandestine corridors of 17th-century France, a remarkable cryptographic system known as the Great Cipher emerged, becoming the go-to code for the French monarch Louis XIV. The genius behind...
Mesopotamian clay balls have been unearthed in Iran. Source: Fair use

Mesopotamian Clay Balls: Ancient Relics or Prehistoric Hard Drives?

Research conducted in late 2013 offered intriguing clues to decoding the secrets of the Mesopotamian clay balls, which date back 5,500 years. The study, which used CT scanning to look inside the clay...
Medieval thief. Source: nyothep / Adobe Stock.

Thieves’ Cant: The Secret Language Used by History’s Criminals (Video)

For centuries, an enigmatic underworld thrived, its inhabitants conversing in a secret tongue that veiled their intentions. This clandestine dialect, known as thieves’ cant , existed from the 16th to...
Crossbow of Count Ulrich von Wurttemberg. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain.

Is the Hebrew Inscription on This Crossbow a Secret Code? (Video)

Art history resembles detective work , often concealing mysteries waiting to be unraveled. Among the array of crossbows at the New York Met, one stands out as truly exceptional. Its ivory panels bear...
Representational image of a magical Viking rune or Viking Code. Source: Artur / Adobe Stock

Unlocking the Cryptic Viking Code Using Runic Writing and Ancient DNA

Runic script is an alphabetic system based on a non-alphabetical order row. This means that it has letters, like in many languages, but the letters are not arranged in a standard alphabetical order...
Vikings values of bravery, honor and loyalty. Source: (Ben By AdobeStock)

Discovering the Drengr Code: The Truth About Viking Ethics

Many cultures throughout history have had their own unspoken societal rules, and the Vikings are no exception. The Drengr Code was a code of ethics and principles that was believed to have been...
The Shepherds of Arcadia, by Nicolas Poussin, is reproduced on the Shepherd’s Monument, along with the Shugborough Inscription. Source: Public domain

The Enigma of the Shugborough Inscription

In the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, sits an 18th-century monument known as the Shepherd’s Monument. The monument contains a relief, depicting a copy of a Nicolas Poussin...
A cylinder seal impression, ca. 2100 BC, sometimes interpreted as Ur-Nammu (seated) bestowing governorship on Ḫašḫamer, ensi of Iškun-Sin.

The Code of Ur-Nammu: When Ancient Sumerians Laid Down the Law, Everyone Obeyed

The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest surviving law code. This text was written on clay tablets in the Sumerian language and is reckoned to have been produced towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC...
The Tamam Shud Case is re-opening

The Tamam Shud Enigma: Australian Cold Case with Ancient Persian Connection Re-Opens!

On December 1, 1948, authorities were called to Somerton beach in Adelaide, South Australia. A dead body had been found. Little did police realize they were about to encounter what is now considered...
Square & compasses (Insignia of Freemasons) carved into stone. (Public Domain) Part of The Beale Papers Names Cipher C3.

Does Cryptic Code Hidden in Beale Ciphers Reveal Secrets of the Freemasons?

The Beale Ciphers have challenged treasure hunters for almost 200 years. Is the Declaration of Independence the key to finding the gold, silver, and precious stones that Beale buried near Bedford,...
The Shigir Idol head

World Famous Shigir Idol is Twice as Old as Stonehenge! [New Study]

The incredible Shigir Idol, a wooden wonder from the prehistoric world, was dated to approximately 11,600 years old in 2018. Now, a new study has pushed that date back a further 900 years. This means...
Two years ago, German scientists dated the Idol as being 11,000 years old.

Beaver's teeth 'used to carve the oldest wooden statue in the world’

Dating back 11,000 years - with a coded message left by ancient man from the Mesolithic Age - the Shigir Idol is almost three times as old as the Egyptian pyramids. New scientific findings suggest...
Satan – the lead character in the poem ‘Paradise Lost’. Source: Jesse-lee Lang / Adobe Stock

350 Year Old Code Found In Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’

Has an undergraduate student discovered a secret message in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost ? Miranda Phaal, an undergraduate from Tufts University in Massachusetts, discovered what is being...
The glass jewel with the encoded message

Coded Jewel Found in 300-Year-Old US Tavern Has Secret Message to Overthrow British King

Brunswick Town, in North Carolina, was once ‘a hotbed of anti-crown sentiment’ where rebellions were plotted and planned. Now archaeologists have made an amazing discovery in a once razed tavern that...
The Voynich Manuscript is open to the public to attempt translation

Voynich Manuscript Is Solved And This Time It’s Academic

Claims of ‘cracking the code’ of the Voynich manuscript have lost their sheen somewhat over the last few years, with weak cases being presented from all and sundry. This attempt, described...
Two pages from the Voynich Manuscript. Has the Voynich Manuscript code finally been cracked?

Has the Enigmatic Voynich Manuscript Code Finally Been Cracked?

The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious illustrated hand-written vellum codex in a currently unidentified written and visual code. However, according to a non-peer reviewed paper published in John's...
Some of the Mitla mosaics.

Mitla Mosaics: A Coded Language May Plaster the Walls of a Zapotec City of the Dead

Unique and curious designs plaster the walls of the most popular Zapotec archaeological site in Mexico. They are called the Mitla mosaics and are unrivalled in their precision and quality of...
A section of the letter supposedly written by a nun possessed by Satan.

17th Century Letter Allegedly Written by Possessed Nun Decoded For the First Time

After 341 years, a mysterious jumble of archaic script allegedly written by an Italian nun possessed by Satan has finally been unraveled. Scientists have accomplished the feat through the use of a...
The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) provided an incredibly clear view of the medieval text.

6th Century Roman Law Text Discovered After Being Hidden for Centuries Inside Parchment Recycled as Medieval Bookbinding

The secrets within medieval manuscripts can be read once again, thanks to modern technology and new imaging techniques. Experts now suggest that computational imaging and signal processing advances...
Diagram of the Seqe/Ceke system of Cusco, a believed system of energy lines radiating from Cusco that connected through the cities, shrines, temples and sacred sites of the Incan empire. Planned intricately, the temple of Coricancha sat at the center.

Rediscovering the Lost Code of the Inca Cosmic Power Matrix

The National Museum in Quito, Ecuador exhibits an otherworldly collection of sheet-gold masks representing the Andean sun god Inti. Zig-zag rays of golden light burst from his face and some end in...
A 13th century, double-edged sword, possibly of German manufacture but discovered in England in the 19th century (British Museum 1858,1116.5)

The Encoded Crusader Sword: Can You Solve the Cryptic Code?

Can you solve the cryptic code engraved into the blade of this 13th century sword? The curious inscription continues to baffle historians, cryptographers ad linguists and last year the British...
Intellectual, Code Breaker, Blasphemer: George Smith and the Ancient Chaldean Account of Genesis

Intellectual, Code Breaker, Blasphemer: George Smith and the Ancient Chaldean Account of Genesis

George Smith was born in 1840 in London to poor parents, and consequently left school at the tender age of fifteen to take up an apprenticeship with Messrs Bradburry and Evans, a firm of engravers...
An Inca quipu, from the Larco Museum in Lima, Peru.

Researchers Say New Find of Khipu Strings May Help Unravel the Inca Record-keeping System

Archaeologists have discovered a collection of khipu (quipu) —a system of colored strings and knots people used to record various matters and send messages in the pre- and post-colonial eras in Peru—...
Side B of the Enigmatic Phaistos Disc. Figurine of goddess Astarte with horned headdress

Enigmatic Phaistos Disc may be Ancient Hymn to Astarte, Goddess of Love

An enigmatic clay tablet pulled from the ruins of an ancient Minoan palace has been one of the most puzzling mysteries in archaeology. But now a linguist believes a goddess is the key to unlocking...

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