Chaco Culture National Historical Park is in north-western New Mexico and was the heart of the ancestral Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. During that time they built monumental “great houses” from the yellow-orange sandstone that permeates the region, the largest of which is Pueblo Bonita which had more than 600 rooms and was inhabited by about 1000 people. Just to the East is another such house, Chetro Ketl and even more to the west.

Thanks: Forthright, Josh, Jim Scott, Matt Van Pelt, Jacob Harris, Jeff Burton, ambientfusion, John, Adam Sanders, Matt Musselman & woowoowoo.

During the 1980s Saddam committed money from oil revenues to build many over-the-top monuments around Baghdad. The most famous is the now toppled statue of Saddam (it’s pretty hard to spot from the satellite photo) but most of the other monuments are still standing and make much better “top-down” viewing.

The Monument of the Unknown Soldier in Baghdad was dedicated to Iraqis lost in the Iran-Iraq war and supposedly represents a shield falling from the hands of a dying warrior. During the US occupation this was central to the “Green Zone” and used as the army headquarters.

To the west of the monument are the parade grounds. Each end of the parade grounds is marked by gigantic replicas of Saddam’s arms holding swords, constructed partially from the melted down rifles of dead soldiers. Although most would agree that Iraq lost the war with Iran the hands were built to commemorate Iraq’s supposed victory.

The Shaheed Monument was built to commemorate Iraqi soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war. The two large blue domes sit in the middle of an artificial lake, with an eternal flame at the centre.

Thanks: Matt, Doug, Keith T., Daniel, Todd Day, Sayf Sharif, Hans Masing, Sig

This isn’t really an optical illusion, just an image mismatch on highway I-80 between Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, but it looks really freaky! It makes my head hurt.

Thanks to Michelle, and apologies to Joe, who doesn’t like weirdness.