Random Most Bizarre Historical Artifacts Ever Discovered On Construction Sites (16 items)

(#4) An 1894 Time Capsule Was Discovered Under A Scottish Bridge

In 2015, in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, a 121-year-old time capsule was discovered by construction workers on a section of the Ruthven Road bridge. The capsule itself was a metal box, similar to a safe-deposit box at a bank.
When the capsule was opened, the items inside that were found included: a bottle of whisky, a newspaper from 1894, a scroll, and some other items. The items and the box itself were donated to the nearby Highland Folk Museum to be studied. It is believed that the time capsule was placed within the structure of the bridge when it was originally constructed at the end of the 19th century.
(#13) The 2,200-Year-Old, Long-Lost Temple Of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV Was Found In Egypt

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that construction workers drilling a new sewage drain in Kom Shakau village in Tama township in northern Sohag in Egypt uncovered the 2,200-year-old long-lost temple of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV. He was the fourth pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 221 BC to 205 BC when he perished.

On October 2, 2019, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, said construction was suspended while archeologists attempt to uncover the temple ruins. The drilling team found several limestone walls with inscriptions, one of which is Ptolemy IV's name.
(#2) A 700-Year-Old Mummy Was Found Under A Chinese Road

In 2011, a very well-preserved mummified woman was found underneath a modern road in the city of Taizhou, in the Jiangsu Province of eastern China. The woman, a member of the Ming Dynasty, was found by a construction crew working on a road that she was buried under. Construction workers described her as being submerged in a "‘brown liquid."

She was just under five feet tall, and dressed in silk finery with robes, slippers, jewelry. Amazingly, her hair and eyebrows were still intact. After observing her and her tomb, Taizhou Museum director Wang Weiyin estimated that the mummy was about 700 years old.
(#15) Whale Bones Were Found Under A Light Rail Dig Site In Edinburgh

Experts at the National Museum of Scotland identified two large male sperm whale fin bones discovered by workers at a light rail system construction sight on the port of Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland. According to the Scotsman, the bones might have been a trophy from one of many whaling expeditions from 1616 to 1963. Researchers preface that the bones could be nearly 800 years old.

City of Edinburgh archaeologist John Lawson said, "These bones provide a rare glimpse into and also a physical link with Leith's whaling past, one of its lesser-known maritime industries and one which in the 20th century reached as far as the Antarctic."

Other interesting discoveries from the Trams construction site on Constitution Street include a wall from 1790 surrounding a graveyard, a historic graveyard, a cannonball, and the South Leith Parish Church wall.
(#1) A Mummified Toddler Was Found In A Parisian Apartment

In 1850, a Parisian couple was having work done in their apartment when the mummified remains of a baby fell out of a wall. At first, there was a lot of suspicion about the couple. But Dr. Marcel Bereget decided to determine the amount of time since death by using common house flies to see if they would swarm over the body. It was determined that the child had passed quite some time ago.

There was no further information about who the child was or how he or she perished and ended up in the wall. Likely, the child had been there for years.
(#8) A 60,000-Year-Old Wooly Mammoth Tusk Was Found In Washington State

Beneath the modern frame and foundation of a residential building in Seattle, lay a single, fossilized tusk of mammuthus columbi, the Columbian Mammoth. The fossilized tusk found beneath the building measured over eight feet long, according to paleontologists who were called in to examine the find.
After closer inspection, it was confidently assessed to be at least 60,000 years old and would need to be carbon dated. Particular credit should be given to AMLI, the residential company that owned the building and land, for taking the step to request that the tusk be removed and preserved by paleontologists. The tusk was soon taken to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle.