The Strangest Things Buried In The Tombs Of Famous Kings And Queens

In 1793, France was in shambles. The public had overthrown the monarchy, imprisoning the royal family in the Temple in Paris. After Louis XVI was beheaded, his eight-year-old son, Louis XVII, was deemed the King of France. Louis was smuggled away to a cobbler's house to keep him safe before his mother, Marie-Antoinette, was also executed. 

Eventually the young boy was captured and reimprisoned in the Temple. There, he died in 1795 at the age of 10 of tuberculous. As soon as the news of his death broke, people were questioning if this was true. Had the young king really died? Or had he managed to get away to a place of safety?

It turns out a mummified heart finally gave closure to this tale. In French tradition, the royal's hearts are cut out and preserved - almost immediately following death. This was done to Louis as well. However, rather than be placed in the royal tomb, Basilica of Saint-Denis, Louis's physician held onto the heart - fearing it would be stolen during the revolution. (He was likely right, as the basilica was raided in the following years.) 

However, over the centuries, the heart fell into different hands - until the heart was finally returned to the basilica in 1975. After some DNA testing, it was confirmed that this was the heart of the young king, who did die while imprisoned at the age of 10. 

Now, his heart finally rests in the royal tomb amongst his fellow royals.

Many ancient kings and queens believed that any conveniences they wanted to enjoy in the afterlife had to be buried with them in their tomb. And for one king of the Han Dynasty, that included the ability to go to the bathroom in the most comfortable way possible - which was far more advanced than most of us would have believed possible. 

When archaeologists uncovered the 2,000-year-old tomb in China, they found more than 30 rooms. However, the most surprising find was a stone toilet - complete with armrests and the ability to flush. 

It's believed the toilet was connected to a pipe, which ran outside to a pit. This appears to be the oldest flushable toilet ever found. 

Weapons weren't uncommon to find in tombs, as they were thought to offer protection to the dead in the afterlife. However, the famous finding of King Tut's tomb included a very special kind of weapon. 

Most of us are familiar with King Tutankhamun, or Tut, not from his power as a king, but from the discovery of his tomb. Tut was only pharaoh for a decade before passing at age 19, so he didn't have much time to accomplish anything. 

For this reason, his tomb wasn't ransacked like so many other Egyptian royals. In fact, when archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb in 1922, it was the finest example humanity had found of an untouched Egyptian tomb. During the excavation, the team found over 5,000 artifacts that have been instrumental in learning about Egyptian culture. 

And now that takes us back to the weapon. The team found an iron dagger in the tomb, among other daggers, like a solid gold one placed on Tut's thigh. However, Tut died in 1323 BCE - at least 100 years before what we call the “Iron Age.” This dagger seems to predate when we thought humans had the technology to forge iron products. 

Historians believe the dagger may have been a gift from a ruler of another land.

Of all the people ever buried in the world, the award for the most extravagant display has to go to Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China. 

Qin Shi Huang was one of the most powerful people alive during his life - uniting a massive country and implementing impressive systems of record keeping and currency. 

But despite all his achievements in life, Qin Shi Huang had one goal above all else - achieve immortality. Somehow, Qin Shi Huang had heard the tales of ancient kings who had lived 10,000 years by ingesting cinnabar - an oxidized form of mercury. With seemingly everything to gain, Qin Shi Huang started having this cinnabar added to his wine. 

As we know today, mercury is highly toxic… so it's no real surprise that the ruler died likely of mercury poisoning sometime after he started this routine. But of course, Qin Shi Huang didn't know it was the mercury that killed him - so he still believed in its magical properties. This meant that when he was buried, his tomb was said to be encircled by a river of mercury. 

We know that there is some truth to this, as the site of his massive tomb has been found to have very high levels of mercury, even today - more than 2,000 years later.

In addition to the mercury rivers, Qin Shi Huang was buried with at least 8,000 life-sized terracotta soldiers, known today as the Terracotta Army. These soldiers, along with terracotta horses, have been found in the section of the tomb that has been excavated. The massive complex of the tomb - a more than 22-square-mile area - likely has many more treasures we haven't discovered yet.   

It wasn't uncommon for ancient rulers to be buried with other people. King Tut, for example, had his two stillborn daughters buried in his tomb with him. 

What's less common is when people would die specifically for the chance to be buried in the ruler's tomb. This was what happened with the pharaoh Aha, likely the first king of a united Egypt, who lived around 2900 BCE. 

As you can imagine, being the first pharaoh made Aha (also known as Menes) a pretty special guy. So special, it seems, that he was buried with 33 servants and officials. It's unclear how exactly these people died. Some believe they took their own lives to go with Aha to the afterlife. Or, there's a good chance they were killed, perhaps as part of a ritual, as none of them were over the age of 25. 

Additionally, seven young male lions were buried with the group. 

Had it not been for a rogue tooth, we may never have correctly identified Hatshepsut, one of the only confirmed female rulers of Egypt. 

Hatshepsut ruled 3,500 years ago and was overall considered a great leader - reigning in a time of peace and expanding trade. When Hatshepsut's tomb was found, her designated resting place was empty - and it was assumed that thieves had stolen her body. However, there were two mummies in the tomb. One was Hatshepsut's wet nurse, per an inscription. Another body just lay on the floor of the tomb. There was no information regarding who this was. 

However, archaeologists had found a box with Hatshepsut's name on it - inside was a liver and a molar. It turned out that the unidentified female body was missing the same tooth. When they lined it up (in a more scientific way of course) it was a perfect match - confirming Hatshepsut's identity. 

It's believed that the infected tooth was pulled shortly before her death, which was likely the cause of her demise.