Deserts are hostile and lonely places. Vast plains of sand stretching as far as the eye can see, and a hostile climate, make these huge swathes of land mysterious and fascinating.
From
long-forgotten cities, ancient monuments to ambitious artworks and, erm, a
stash of retro video games, deserts are the keepers of civilisations’ secrets,
some of which may never be unearthed.
Some of
their hidden secrets, however, have been discovered thanks
to archeologists getting their hands dirty, a bit of pure chance, or the
technological marvel that is Google Earth.
Here, to
excite your inner Indiana Jones, we’ve gathered together pictures of 25 of the
weirdest things discovered in deserts around the world.
25-A Giant Stone Hand In Chile
Situated
in the Atacama desert in Chile, along the Pan-American Highway, an enormous
hand rises 36 feet out of the sand. It looks like something from Game of
Thrones, but La Mano del Desierto, ”the Hand of the Desert,” was
commissioned by the isolated city of Antofagasta more than 25 years ago. The
hand is the work of Santiago sculptor Mario Mario Irarrázabal, and it’s a
monument dedicated to the emptiness of its Atacama Desert location, and
symbolises human vulnerability.
It's a
frequent target for vandals, according to Condé Nast Traveler, but twice a
year, volunteers from the city scrub the sculpture clean.
24-The
Ghost Town Of Namib Desert
Once home
to hundreds of German families, the town of Kolmanskop was founded in Namibian
Desert after the discovery of diamonds in 1908.
People
flocked to the area and built a grand town with European architecture, stately
homes, a hospital, casino and theatre, but by 1954, diamond mining had ceased
and the town was left to the mercy of the desert.
Kolmanskop
is still standing, although it’s an eery shadow of its former glorious
incarnation, and is now a popular spot for tourists.
23- Just
Some Upside Down Cadillacs
The
product of an eccentric millionaire and San Francisco art collective The Ant
Farm, Cadillac Ranch is an installation in a dusty Texas cow pasture, along
eastbound I-40, between exits 60 and 62.
The
artwork consists of 10 cars half-buried, nose-down, and facing west “at the
same angle as the Cheops’ pyramids,” according to Atlas Obscura. The Cadillacs
are completely covered in graffiti and visitors are encouraged to add their own
designs.
22- The "Desert
Breath" Art Installation
This
precise and beautiful arrangement of cone shapes, in between the Red Sea and a
mountain range in Egypt’s Eastern Desert region, has had Google Maps fanatics
in a whirl. Its explanation, however, couldn’t be simpler. It’s an art
installation called Desert Breath, and it was finished in 1997.
The work,
by D.A.S.T. Arteam, is epic in scale and took two years complete, with more
than 8,000 cubic metres of sand displaced across 100,000-square-metres of
desert.
21-Fairy
Circles In The Namib Desert
In the
Namib Desert, in the country of Namibia, evenly spaced, concentric circles in
the middle of vegetation have sparked the curiosity of scientists for years.
Fires, winds and aliens have all be floated as the cause for these peculiar
patterns, and the real explanation is still unknown.
According
to New Scientist, however, two theories stand out as the likely frontrunners.
One claims the empty patches, known as fairy circles, are created by termites
clearing vegetation in the area around their nests to create underground
reservoirs of water. The other leading idea is that the circles are caused by
plants competing for water.
Neither
of these fully explain why the circles remain barren for so long with no
visible trace of colonies. The mystery continues.
20- A
Fake Prada Store In The Texas Desert
Of all
the places you’d expect to find a Prada boutique, the lone stretch of land
along US 90, 26 miles outside the town of Marfa in Texas, isn’t one of them.
But in 2005, Berlin-based artists Elmgreen and Dragset built one - well, a fake
one - as an art installation.
It might
not be a real shop, but it did contain real Prada merchandise, before it was
robbed and vandalised just days after opening.
Built out
of a biodegradable substance, the building is designed to slowly
decay back into the Earth, acting as kind of a surrealist commentary on
Western materialism, according to Vogue.
19-Mysterious Patterns In The Gobi Desert,
China
In 2011,
Google Earth users found a bizarre collection of white lines carved into the
Gobi Desert areas of China’s Xinjiang and Gansu provinces. The unidentified
shapes, which include blocks of silver squares and concentric circles, sent the
internet into meltdown, with theorists speculating they could be anything from
satellite-weapon targets to messages to, or even from, aliens.
But
Jonathon Hill, a research technician at the Mars Space Flight Facility at
Arizona State University, told LiveScience that the weird zig-zag shapes were
most likely to be Chinese satellite calibration targets. We like the alien
theory more.
18-Ballistic
Missiles Leftover From The Cold War
Near
Tuscon, Arizona, is the Titan Missile Museum, a national monument that
preserves complex 571-7, the only remaining Titan II missile site out of 54,
that were once on alert across the US from 1963 to 1987.
Once a
top-secret location, the site is now open to the public, who can enjoy guided
tours of the control room, experience a simulated missile launch, and head
200ft underground to see the Titan II missile up close. No need to worry, it’s
been long decommissioned.
17-
The 60-Ft Buried Boat That Baffled Archeologists
For
ancient Egyptian royalty, it was common to be buried with some kind of vehicle,
including boats. But in 2016, Czech archeologists uncovered an ancient funerary
boat that left them baffled, according to the Smithsonian Magazine.
The
62-foot-long boat, dating back more than 4,500 years, was found in a tomb made
of mud bricks. Not only was it amazingly well preserved, with its high-quality
wood still intact, but it was located nowhere near a royal burial ground,
raising the possibility it was buried with a commoner. But how could they have
afforded it? How could they have transported it inland? It certainly raised
more questions than it answered.
16-
Giant Concrete Arrows In Arizona
In the
Arizona desert, and dotted throughout the US, are enormous concrete arrows. The
structures were built in the late 1920s and early 1930s by the Air Traffic
Control Association, according to CNN Travel. Measuring up to 70ft in length,
the arrows were placed at the base of lit beacons, which were used to help mail
pilots with navigation, long before satellites and GPS.
While
most of the light towers are long gone, the arrows lie abandoned, waiting to be
discovered by walkers, or by eagle-eyed enthusiasts studying Google's aerial
maps.
15- A
Desert Graveyard For Sea Mammals
In
Chile’s Atacama Desert there’s a hill called Cerro Ballena, “Whale Hill,”
which has long been known as a fossil bed for whales, thanks to
the visible bones sticking out of the rocks. It was only during roadworks
on the Pan-Am Highway in 2014, however, that researchers were allowed access to
properly examine the site.
According
to the BBC, scientists now have a theory as to how so many of the animals ended
up in this location more than five million years ago. The evidence suggests it
was a result of four mass strandings due to ingesting toxic algae. The
creatures were then washed into an estuary, where they became buried with sand
over millennia.
14-
The Tunisian Lake That Sprung From Nowhere
In 2014,
shepherds in Tunisia happened upon a lake that had seemingly appeared out of
nowhere. It was no small body of water, either, covering an estimated one
hectare and up to 18 metres deep, according to The Guardian.
Lac de
Gafsa, as it was christened, became a buzzing hang-out spot for locals, who
delighted in the opportunity to cool off in the baking heat, despite warnings
it could be contaminated, even potentially radioactive.
The area
is known for its phosphate mine and, claimed local seismologists, the lake
potentially came from an underwater spring freed by the mining process. Locals,
however, were undeterred, despite the water turning green.
13-
The Phone Booth In The Mojave Desert
The
Mojave phone booth was first installed in 1948 to service the local volcanic
cinder miners. By 1997, however, it became an internet obsession and something
of an icon, with people around the world calling the booth in the hope someone
might answer, and visitors camping beside it just for the chance to pick
up a random call.
According
to Slate, the booth rose to prominence after an LA resident spotted a telephone
icon on a map and, intrigued by its remote location, decided to visit. He wrote
about his adventure, included the booth's telephone number, and piqued the
interest of others. An Arizona man, Godfrey Daniels, started a website devoted
to the booth, it featured in the New York Times, and its reputation took off.
Its
popularity was its downfall, however, and it was removed in 2000 because of
visitors' environmental impact on the surrounding national preserve.
12-
Yabba Dabba Doo! Bedrock City In Arizona
An
amusement park and RV site inspired by Bedrock City from The Flintstones sounds
like a fun idea, right? Unfortunately, despite its awesome premise, the reality
of this Arizona attraction was just a little bit grim. The barren desert
landscape combined with concrete ‘prehistoric homes,’ and tatty, misshapen
statues of Fred and the gang, amounted to an odd and slightly post-apocalyptic
vibe.
The park
opened in 1972 and became a cult roadside attraction until it finally closed in
2015.
11-
The Mansion Of Death Valley
Known as
Scotty’s Castle, this opulent Spanish Colonial Revival style villa is not a
real castle, and nor does it belong to anyone called Scotty. It was, in fact,
built by Chicago insurance broker Albert Johnson, who was lured to Death Valley
to invest in the fraudulent scheme of con man Walter Scott, known as “Death
Valley Scotty”.
The two
unexpectedly became friends, according to Atlas Obscura, and with the
encouragement of his wife, Johnson began construction on an ambitious holiday
home in 1922, investing $1.4 million dollars into the project. Once the Wall
Street Crash of 1929 hit, the project went bust and the mansion was never
completed.
It
eventually came under the ownership of the National Park Service, which offered
guided tours until a flash flood caused damage in 2015. The property will be
open to visitors again in 2020.
10-
The Works Of Old Men
Located
in Jordan's Azraq Oasis, these crazy structures were first observed from the
air by British pilot Percy Maitland in 1927. These “Works of the Old Men,” as
Bedouins call them, are hundreds of wheel structures more than 80ft wide and
some of them date back some 8,500 years.
They are
thought to have astronomical significance, built to align with the sunrise on
the winter solstice, but as for their purpose? No one is quite sure.
9- A
Massive Stash Of Vintage Video Games
For more
than three decades, rumours circulated that games manufacturer Atari, which was
massive in the 1980s, had buried millions of copies of the now infamous game
"ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.”
The game
was released in 1982 and became known as the worst video game in history.
Despite poor reviews, it initially sold well but according to The Independent,
Atari failed to shift between 2.5 million and 3.5 million cartridges, and had
produced more copies of the game then there were Atari consoles to play it on.
Oops.
The
rumour was confirmed in 2014 when documentary filmmakers discovered the buried
cache in a landfill site in New Mexico.
8- A
Hidden Swimming Pool In The Mojave Desert
This
little man-made oasis was just 11ft by 5ft and hidden in a secret location in
the Mojave Desert, until its closure in 2014.
Known as
Social Pool, it was built by Austrian-born artist Alfredo Barsuglia and was
open to anyone to use. The only catch was, you had to find it first.
Interested
parties first had to go to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in West
Hollywood to ask for one of four keys that accessed the pool, as well as GPS
coordinates. There were strict rules for using it: don’t copy the key, return
it within 24 hours, and replenish the pool with a gallon of fresh water.
7- The Abandoned
Domes Of Casa Grande
These
flying saucer-shaped structures were built in the late 1970s and early 1980s as
facilities to manufacturer computers, but were never completed. They’ve since
fallen into wrack and ruin and, despite signs forbidding trespassing, have
caught the imagination of Casa Grande locals.
According
to Atlas Obscura, rumour is that the domes have been used for witchcraft and
satanic worship, especially the tunnels that run beneath the east of the
facility. Ghost stories aside, no trespassing is probably good advice.
6- Where Half Of The
Residents Live Underground: Coober Pedy, Australia
Coober
Pedy is the world’s largest opal mining area , but when prospectors discovered
the region’s hidden treasure back in 1915, there was a practical problem. The
area is seriously hot - temperatures can be 113 degrees in the shade, according
to Smithsonian Magazine.
Using
mining tools, early settlers solved this problem by digging holes into the
hillsides to make underground homes. Today, about half of the population still
live in these dugouts where the temperature remains cool, and the subterranean
network includes public bars and a hotel, as well as underground homes.
In 1985,
the town hit the big screen when it was used as a filming location for Mad Max
Beyond Thunderdome.
5- The Historically
Important Dead Sea Scrolls
The world
famous Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered in a small desert cave in the
West Bank by a local shepherd in 1946. Archeologists quickly began a
search of the surrounding desert caves in a hope to discover more biblical-era
documents. The remains of 900 manuscripts have since been found in 12 caves
located near Qumran, but the search is not over. Archeologists
were still searching caves in the area as of 2018, according to Live
Science.
4-The World-Renowned
Nasca Lines In Peru
It was
only with the advent of commercial flight over Peru in the 1920s that the full
extent of the Nazca Lines was discovered. What at first appeared to be
geometric shapes were soon identified as more distinct shapes, including a
spider, a monkey and a hummingbird, raising a whole load of questions as to
what exactly their purpose was.
According
to National Geographic, the true purpose of these incredible geoglyphs is still
unknown, though the evidence points to some sort of ritual
connection. Scientists think that the majority of lines were made by the
Nazca people, who flourished from around A.D. 1 to 700.
3- A Fake Egyptian
City Buried In California
North of
Santa Barbara, along the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, stands a 35-ft-tall statue of
Rameses II, and a promenade lined by five-ton sphinxes and an 800-foot long
temple. Rather than being the remains of an ancient metropolis, these
structures are actually the long-forgotten film set of Cecil B. DeMille's The
Ten Commandments, one of the largest and most expensive film sets in Hollywood
history.
According
to smithsonian.com, the production couldn’t afford to dismantle the set, and
DeMille didn’t want to leave it intact and available for other filmmakers to
use. Legend has it that the director chose to bulldoze the whole thing instead.
2- A 500-Year-Old
Shipwreck Loaded With Gold
In 2016,
diamond miners working the Namibian desert discovered the wreckage of a
500-year-old Portuguese ship filled with gold coins. The haul is believed to be
worth upwards of £9 million, according to The Independent, and the ship has
been confirmed as the remains of the Bom Jesus. The ship left Lisbon in 1533
and disappeared en route to India, along with its entire crew, near the
Namibian town of Oranjemund.
1- Eight Million
Mummified Dogs
Under
Egypt’s Saqqara desert, archeologists discovered a complex underground network
some 2,500 years old, and in it were eight million mummified dogs and puppies,
according to edition.cnn.
According
to scientists at Cardiff University, the animals would have been offerings to
the gods and were regarded as intermediaries between the donor and the
gods. In addition to the dog catacombs, the Saqqara desert also contains
similar catacombs dedicated to baboons, cows, bulls, ibises, hawks, and cats.
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