10 Ancient Mysteries of Asia (Part 2)

by Joan Seth (joanseth77@gmail.com)

Part 2 of the article.

1. Mahram Bilqis, Yemen

This mysterious ruin is found in Yemen and is almost entirely covered with sand. According to legends, this holy site is attributed to the Biblical Queen of Sheba. The temple is surrounded by a wall of 260 metres length which is about 3-5 metres thick and may have once reached about 16 metres.

In the hall of the temple there are still a few of the 32 pillars that once supported the roof. The 8 monumental pillars that seem to watch the site as fierce guards look like as they have been casted as concrete.

Archaeologists have dated the site to 1500 – 1200 BC and possible older, definitely older than the times of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.



[The Queen of Sheba]

2. Masuda boulder, Japan

This mysterious boulder is found near Masuka Lake in Japan. It seems to have been thrown from heaven. It is strange because of its unusual shape: it contains two large square holes. The boulder is about 11 meters in length, 8 meters wide and about 4.7 meters high. The upper surface is smooth and some lower parts show signs of possible carving techniques.

The location and purpose of this boulder remains a mystery. The squares have flat surfaces and sharp corners, the construction of which requires the same technological abilities used in Egypt or South-America.

This Masuda boulder is another example of inimitable technology: applied in an inaccessible remote place, and apparently without any clear purpose.



[The Mystery of Masuda]

3. Marayoor Dolmens, India

Numerous dolmens can be found in Marayoor, India. The dolmens usually consist of 4 standing stones and a cap stone on top of them. All dolmens are made of hard granite.

Some of the stones are so neatly dressed that it is believed that they originate from the Iron Age while the less sophisticated worked stones are believed to be from the Stone Age.

During the Stone Age, the same types of dolmens were built in very remote regions like Western Europe, the Caucasus, Korea and India. Did the inhabitants of these regions invent the same idea, or did they have mutual contacts?



[Marayur dolmens losing the battle with time]

4. Nan Madol, New Guinea

Strange ruins of basalt pillars are to be found on the island of Pohnpei which is located at about 2000 km to the north-east of New Guinea. Some of the constructions are positioned in the water and an underwater tunnel connects a building with the sea which indicates that the site much be extremely old. According to historians, the site was erected around 1250 AD.

250 million tons of basalt logs were estimated to have been used to construct the whole city. The exact details of how this was done remain unknown. Each basalt log could have weighed around 50 tons. Furthermore, all of these were done on water.



[The Mystery Behind the Ancient Stone City of Nan Madol]

5. Petra, Jordan

Petra is a city in Jordan without houses but made up of only temples and tombs which all have been hewn from the rocks. It is not easy to reach this city since its access is very narrow. The light from the afternoon sun gives the red sand stone a unique appearance. The city was supposedly founded by the Nabateans, hundreds of years before Christ.

The top of this mountain was carved and cut by at least 7 metres, resulting in two remarkably tapering pillars. The purpose of building these pillars and their functions remain a mystery till today.



[The Ancient City of Petra in Jordan]

6. Yonaguni, Japan

Yonaguni is an underwater ziggurat type of construction, about 30 meters beneath the water surface. Yonaguni is a Japanese island near Okinawa and Taiwan.

It is a 5 layer platform hewn out of the bedrock, having straight planes and precisely defined sharp angles. It is about 200 meter wide and 30 meter high. Since it is 30 meters below sea level it is at least 10000 years old since in that time the sea level was - because of the melting of the icecaps at the end of the ice age; at a lower level than now.

This means that the structure is one of the oldest buildings in the world - together with the Sphinx in Egypt and Tihuanacu in Bolivia. Its exact purpose and origins still remains a mystery.



[The Mystery at Yonaguni]

7. Marib Dam, Yemen

The Marib Dam is in the north of Yemen, about 120 km to the east of Sana’a. Archaeologists have discovered that the first dam started back in 2000 BC, though many repairs and rebuilding occurred in later times.


Today, only the north side and south side, together with spillway channels and sluices remains. The dam has a width of about 580 meters, was originally 4 meters and later 16 meters in height, which initiated the irrigation of a wide area.
The ancient peoples manage to build a massive dam strong enough to withstand the enormous water mass without cement. Till date, how this was achieved remains a mystery.



[Marib Dam - Yemen]


8. The Plain of Jars, Laos

This mysterious plain found in Laos contains thousands of megalithic jars. These stone jars appear in clusters, ranging from a single or a few to several hundred jars at lower foothills surrounding the central plain and upland valleys.

Till today, their exact purpose and origins are still unknown. Local legends tell of an ancient king who defeated a race of giants. To celebrate his victory, he ordered the jars created to brew and store large amounts of Lao wine.



[Ancient Mystery of Plain of Jars]


9. Mehrgarh, Pakistan

This ancient ruined city was discovered in 1921 in Pakistan. It is estimated to date back to the 7th to 8th millennium BC, making it almost 9000 years old. If this was accurate, the entire concept of the Indus Civilization will be changed.

The city consists of a great public bath, upstairs bathrooms in houses and covered sewers. Such technological advances were near impossible to replicate during such ancient times.



[Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Discovery of a 9000-Year-Old Civilized Settlement]

10. Piri Reis Map, Turkey

This map was discovered in 1929 in Turkey, and was determined to be created by Ottoman-Turkish admiral Piri Reis in 1513.

The remaining half of the map that survived shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the eastern coast of Brazil with surprising accuracy. Various Atlantic islands including the Azores and Canary Islands are also depicted. Some claim that the map also depicts Japan.

Some claims this map supports a theory of global exploration by a pre-classical undiscovered civilization, supported by the amazing accuracy of this map. Others claim that this map was merely created by combining a set of different maps.



[The Piri Reis Map]

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