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LesterKingOfAnts t1_ir0441r wrote

Reply to comment by BarKnight in Gold coins hidden in 7th Century found in wall by BarKnight

Oh, there is. I read recently that only 20% of ancient documents (hundreds of thousands, have been translated and studied. It is also estimated that 80% of ancient documents have been lost forever.

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ImportantCommentator t1_ir05kg0 wrote

But if 80% are lost forever wouldn't 20%. By the same as 100%?

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Bartsimho t1_ir0atbq wrote

It is 20% of the full 100% but 80% of 80% lost.

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FIGHT_ALEX t1_ir0cq02 wrote

This happens 60% of the time

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Mczern t1_ir0ku4w wrote

It's been long believed that the Mayans were the original creators of Sex Panther. Unfortunately the recipe and historical records were believed to be buried in order to protect them against the Spanish.

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TroutFishingInCanada t1_ir0nux7 wrote

The Aztec knockoff, Fornication Jaguar, is… okay.

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Arkanslayer t1_ir3clms wrote

Then we only have 16% left to discover. That doesn't sound as cool.

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Fidodo t1_ir05lzx wrote

That's it? I'd imagine it'd be much more that have been destroyed.

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G1trogFr0g t1_ir0c0ps wrote

Yes, but how much is smut, random ramblings of a students? Imagine somebody archiving all of Reddit as if anybody would want to study this message

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stickybobcat t1_ir0cmot wrote

Tell that to the fisherman's wife (pearl diver)

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Risley t1_ir0jalx wrote

Oh I did, I leaned over a bit and ripped a massive fart. In my tongue, she got the whole diatribe.

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idcidcidc666420 t1_ir3sf7z wrote

sure, that existed, but a ton was valuable. there was a huge amount of actual valuable Iiterature and scientific work at. for instance, the library of Alexandria and there are 100s of other similar instances.

tons of historical documents and government documents have been destroyed in fires over the years, especially in the 1800s. even in the modern day, huge archives of historical documents continue to burn up, such as in Brazil a couple years ago.

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idcidcidc666420 t1_ir3r3bu wrote

on top of that a lot are hoaxes or of otherwise questionable origin. quite a bit of what was once thought certain is not and there are a lot more hoaxes that haven't been found. there's a surprising amount of possible unknowns in our history- things that we think of as certain

https://www.unz.com/article/how-fake-is-roman-antiquity/#v=onepage&q=roman%20concrete%20harena%20fossicia&f=false

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LesterKingOfAnts t1_ir5fbkf wrote

That's interesting. I had never given too much thought about how hoaxes over the centuries could become thought of as "real history".

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