VIDEO: These Recent Archaeological Discoveries Could Change Everything We Know

Scientists are always busy and so are archaeologists and together they can discover great things that tell us a lot about who we are and how we have evolved in time.

Every year a new discovery is made and some of them really manage to turn everything around and change history as we know it.

According to listverse.com, every year, our knowledge of the past improves a little bit. 2016 has been no different. Scientists have made several discoveries and revelations which have helped us better understand (and, in some cases, drastically altered) our history.

We’ve known for a while that the ancient Chinese enjoyed a drink due to evidence of fermented beverages derived from rice found at a 9,000-year-old site in the Henan Province.

However, in 2016, we learned that the Chinese were also beer lovers. Archaeologists excavating the Shaanxi Province found beer-making equipment dating to 3400–2900 BC.

This marks the first direct evidence of beer being made on-site in China. Residue found in the vessels also revealed the ingredients of the ancient beer, including broomcorn millet, lily, a grain called Job’s tears, and barley.

The presence of barley was especially surprising as it pushed back the arrival of the crop in China by 1,000 years. According to current evidence, the ancient Chinese used barley for beer centuries before using it for food.

In mid-2016, scientists were able to wrap up a mystery that had been puzzling archaeologists since Howard Carter found King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.

Among the many items buried with the young pharaoh was a dagger made of iron. This was unusual as ironwork in Egypt 3,300 years ago was incredibly rare and the dagger had not rusted.

An examination with an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer revealed that the metal used for the dagger was of extraterrestrial origin. The high levels of cobalt and nickel matched that of known meteorites recovered from the Red Sea.

Another iron artifact from ancient Egypt was tested in 2013 and was also made using meteorite fragments. Archaeologists suspected this outcome due to ancient texts referencing “iron of the sky.” Now they believe that other items recovered from the pharaoh’s tomb were also made using meteorite iron.

A few years ago when scientists mapped out the human genome, they were surprised to discover that we have about 4 percent Neanderthal DNA due to cross-species breeding. However, our ancestors got something else from their Neanderthal cousins—a primitive version of the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Through statistical modeling, scientists were able to recreate the evolutionary steps of the HPV16 virus. When modern humans and Neanderthals split into different species, the virus also split into two distinct strains.

Initially, the HPV16A virus was only carried by Neanderthals and Denisovans. When humans migrated out of Africa, they only carried the B, C, and D strains.

However, when they reached Europe and Asia and started having sex with Neanderthals, they gained the HPV16A strain, too. Further study into our genetic history could explain why the virus can cause cancer in some people but clear right up for others.