Lovecraft

Hard to describe what lovecraftian means, but here's an example.

I have never had the pleasure of reading any HP Lovecraft books, but his influence is referenced in countless instances of fiction. It's hard to say what's exactly Lovecraftian, but you know it when you see it. Some of the key elements are driving people insane, tentacles, ancient beings, and more tentacles. The prominence of these creatures in popular culture still shocks me when people still don't know what Lovecraft means. Hopefully, if you were unfamiliar with the term before reading this, then you'll now recognize this theme.

Even though I have never read a Lovecraft book, I get excited when a story introduces a Lovecraft element. World of Warcraft has been slowly introducing creatures called "the old gods" that are basically Cthulu and pals. Some of the names are similar too. In vanilla WoW, there is a boss called C'thun which is a clear reference to Cthulu. In the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the master was trying to resurrect the old ones. He even referenced that they are imprisoned under the earth. The flood parasites from Halo could arguably be considered Lovecraftian due to their design. I don't know what it is, but a story just gets cooler for me when they bring these guys up. I think it's because these creatures have the unique characteristic of being the ultimate evil (even more so than the devil in my opinion) and therefore the greatest challenge for a hero to overcome.

Anachronistic Artifacts

I've talked about Atlantis before being a huge subject of interest for me, but anachronistic artifacts probably intrigue me the most. Not only do anachronistic artifacts -at the very least- imply a lost civilization, but they force us to question our current understanding of our planet and human history. Plus unlike Atlantis, these artifacts are absolute facts.

Piri Reis Map
 
This map is actually a compilation of other maps by the Ottoman admiral Piri Reis in 1513. The source maps used were allegedly from the Library of Alexandria. The most amazing aspect of this map is that it depicts the coastline of Antarctica, and Antarctica wasn't discovered until 1820.


Most peculiar about the map is that the notes about Antarctica indicate that the area has a warm climate. These notes lead speculation that it may not really be Antarctica, or perhaps our understanding of climate is seriously flawed.

The Antikytheria Mechanism 

An ancient Greek analog computer found in 1901 off the coast of Antikytheria. Dated to 150-100 BC, this clockwork machine was used to track astronomical positions for calendrical purposes. The first astronomical clocks weren't made until the 14th century. This artifact predates that by over a millennium!

The picture may not look very impressive minus the fact that it's an ancient gear, but if you look up further scans of this artifact, you can see how remarkably complex it is.

Baghdad Battery

As depicted in the picture, this artifact consists of a ceramic pot with a tube of copper and an iron rod inside. The style of the pottery suggests that it is from 200-600 AD. It has been hypothesized that if someone were to put an acid such as lemon juice, vinegar, or even wine; an electrical current could be produced. The purpose of this battery has been speculated to be for electroplating gold onto silver trinkets found in Iraq.

Perhaps not as impressive as the others on this list, it is still fascinating that electricity may have been harnessed so early.

The London Hammer
I saved the best for last. This is a hammer found in London, TX in 1936. What's remarkable is that this hammer is encased in a 400 million year old rock! Now some have suggested that this may have been the result of a process called concretion. The problem with that theory is that the wooden handle has already begun the process of transforming into coal.

Obviously a discovery like this calls everything into question and makes researching anachronistic artifacts one of my favorite hobbies.