Here are the many ways you could have died throughout history

It's human to have an unfortunate tendency to idealize the past in relation to the present, and it even has a name: pastism. It's not just a matter of regretting the passing of time, no, it's downright putting a bygone era on a pedestal, one that we ourselves may never have experienced. If the present has its many faults, so does the past. So how about a trip back in time?

Past vs Present

It's a fact that many disasters and unfortunate events can occur in our daily lives. For example, you go out and get hit by a car. It's a lousy, tragic way to die, but that's the way it is; it's the 'wrong place at the wrong time'. Some will say that our age is saturated with danger, and that it was inevitably better before. But was it? 100%? Living 2,000 years ago, or more, was not the smooth ride many people imagine it to be.

Death suits you so well

Here are several ways you could have died throughout history. And it was intense, to say the least.

The cold

Extreme climate change is not a problem unique to our time. For example, in the course of its history, the Earth has experienced several ice ages, the last of which was 20,000 years ago. With temperatures 5°C lower on average than today, how does that sound? Scientists estimate that the next period will occur in 1,500 years' time, if we survive the global warming that is taking place as a result of human activity.

Dinosaurs

They fascinate us and fuel our common imagination. And even if millions of years separate their existence from ours, the least we can say is that cohabitation would have gone very badly. These gargantuan superpredators would have complicated our existence on land and at sea. If hippos are responsible for almost 500 deaths a year, just imagine how many would have been caused by T-Rex and his pals!

Asteroids

Also known as minor planets, these rocky or metallic bodies of varying size are responsible for the disappearance of the famous dinosaurs. While it is now possible to monitor them and prevent them from colliding with the Earth's surface, this was not the case several thousand years ago. And given that space activity was more intense in the past, the chances of dying as a result of being hit by one of these celestial bodies were all the greater!

Human sacrifice

At a time when certain great civilizations enjoyed unprecedented influence (Mayas, Incas, Aztecs), you could very well have ended up as an object of sacrifice for one of their many gods. Beheading, torture, drowning in the cenotes, you name it.

Proof that it wasn't always better before.

Read more:

⋙ The end of the universe might have finally been predicted by scientists

⋙ ‘Time traveller’ from 2906 makes bizarre claims about our universe's future

⋙ Beginning of the universe: Scientists discover a way to look back in time

⋙ NASA reveals deepest image of the universe from new space telescope

⋙ This is how you would die on each planet in the solar system

This article has been translated from Gentside FR.