00:00Summer in the Middle East is so intense that it radically transforms the landscape,
00:05bringing back old forgotten cities.
00:08In 2018, a city built by a mysterious empire along the Tiger River
00:13was freed from its aquatic trap.
00:16Archaeologists rushed to the site,
00:19not wanting to miss this unique opportunity to search and learn more about the history of this city.
00:25They thought they had discovered Zakyku, a city of the Bronze Age,
00:29founded more than 3,000 years ago
00:31and submerged in the 1980s during the construction of the Mosul Dam.
00:36Once a prosperous caravan center of the Mithani kingdom,
00:39it had relatively abundant water,
00:42a rare resource in the region, thus guaranteeing its success.
00:46Knowledge of this kingdom remains limited,
00:49because no written chronicle has been found during the excavations.
00:52This is why archaeologists were delighted to discover the complete palace
00:56formerly occupied by their rulers.
00:58A few years later, after a new drought in the region,
01:02they set up fortifications protecting the city from invaders.
01:06The major discovery of their expedition was a huge public warehouse
01:10containing goods and crops,
01:13piles of wheat and barley, as well as metals and imported wood.
01:17Bread was the staple food of the inhabitants,
01:20which also prepared large soups and vegetable stews.
01:24Each household raised sheep, goats, cows and pigs,
01:28ensuring a regular source of milk and meat for the big occasions.
01:31All the buildings discovered so far
01:34have been built from raw earth bricks.
01:37The walls, submerged for more than 40 years,
01:40are remarkably well preserved,
01:42as if they had been swallowed up the day before.
01:44The royal palace is distinguished by its size,
01:47its thicker walls and its pavings also made of baked and sealed brick
01:51to be waterproof.
01:53The rulers had to maintain good relations with those of the great empire,
01:57of which Zakikou was a tributary.
01:59The city's merchants collected wood beams that they stored.
02:03These came from the forests of the mountains located in the north and east of Mesopotamia
02:08and were chained by the tiger.
02:10Merchants came to flow their goods there
02:13before crossing the river to the border regions.
02:16Zakikou was a prosperous trade center for about six centuries,
02:20until a devastating earthquake struck it in 1350.
02:24Archaeologists found five ceramic vases
02:27containing more than 100 clay tablets,
02:29made shortly after the earthquake.
02:31It is almost miraculous that these small clay tablets did not cook
02:35and survived underwater for decades.
02:37The creators of these tablets engraved notes on the clay that was still wet,
02:41dealing with subjects such as the inventory of new crops
02:44or testifying to their correspondence with other kingdoms.
02:47Once the notes were engraved, they let them dry in the sun.
02:50The scribes also had to learn new languages
02:53so that the messages could be understood by foreigners in the city.
02:57Researchers think that the discovered tablets were part of a private archive.
03:01They hope to be able to decipher these texts
03:03to deepen their knowledge of the history of Zakikou
03:06and its kingdom after this devastating earthquake.
03:09The damage inflicted on the building was such
03:12that it was impossible to give Zakikou his past splendor.
03:15The possible survivors were forced to leave the city.
03:18Decades later, the Assyrians, also from Mesopotamia,
03:23settled on these ruins.
03:25They built their own homes
03:27using pre-existing structures such as outer enclosures.
03:31However, their presence will only last 50 years
03:34before they decide to build a new capital on more fertile lands,
03:38hoping to thrive thanks to agriculture.
03:42The archaeologists who worked in Zakikou
03:44had to stop their excavations when the water level rose,
03:48submerging the city again.
03:50They protected the ruins by covering them with waterproof plastic sheets,
03:54then stones and gravel,
03:56hoping to preserve them from aquatic erosion
03:59and avoid their total disappearance.
04:01Aware of the crucial importance of the dam's water for the region,
04:05they plan to resume the excavations
04:07as soon as the water has been removed again.
04:11About 1,600 years ago,
04:13a flourishing community lived along the Niya River,
04:16at the heart of what is now the Taklamakan Desert,
04:19in the People's Republic of China.
04:21This river, fed by the melting of snow from the mountains,
04:24ran through the desert for miles.
04:26After three years of hard work,
04:28the archaeologists managed to exhumate eight tombs,
04:32where the desert heat had perfectly preserved the clothes
04:35and objects they contained.
04:37The buried people belonged to the former city of Niya,
04:40a center formerly prosperous of the kingdom,
04:43located on the Silk Road,
04:45and which housed more than 3,000 souls
04:47before being swallowed up by the desert sands.
04:49The ruins of Niya were only discovered in 1901.
04:53Since then, scientists from all over the world
04:55have tried to unravel the secrets of this city.
04:58The tombs discovered at the end of the 20th century
05:00seem to have belonged to members of the elite,
05:03as evidenced by the luxurious objects found.
05:06A carcass and a bow, metal arrowheads,
05:09gold earrings, a necklace of glass beads,
05:12a lacquered box containing a comb,
05:14make-up and a sewing accessory.
05:17High-quality silk was also found,
05:21with bright colors such as green and yellow,
05:24surprisingly intact.
05:26The fabric also had Chinese characteristics,
05:29citing historical works,
05:31which allowed scientists to date its manufacture.
05:34Later, archaeologists discovered a vast site
05:38and excavated three buildings in ruins.
05:40It will probably take many more years
05:42to understand why the city perished
05:45and what happened to its inhabitants.
05:48Saudi and French archaeologists
05:51united their efforts near Riyadh,
05:53the capital of Saudi Arabia,
05:55and discovered an ancient colony dating back 8,000 years.
05:59They used cutting-edge technologies,
06:01such as laser digitization,
06:03drones and aerial photography
06:06to reveal this treasure of the Neolithic era.
06:09In this important archaeological site,
06:12they excavated a stone temple,
06:14the remains of a hotel
06:16and more than 2,000 graves,
06:18offering a valuable insight into ancient rituals.
06:22The team also discovered the foundations
06:24of four imposing buildings,
06:26corner towers and exterior courtyards,
06:28all equipped with underground tanks
06:30to store water for agriculture.
06:33An ingenious irrigation system,
06:35including canals and tanks,
06:37allowed the city to thrive
06:39in one of the most arid deserts in the world.
06:41Rupestre drawings,
06:43engraved on the nearby mountain,
06:45illustrate the daily life of the inhabitants.
06:47The excavations, which have been going on for more than 40 years,
06:50continue to reveal new artefacts,
06:52always offering more answers to the questions of researchers.
06:55Fishermen discovered bones,
06:57tools and artefacts
06:59dating from 9,000 years ago at the bottom of the North Sea.
07:02British archaeologists and paleontologists
07:05and Dutchmen rushed to examine these discoveries,
07:08hoping to discover traces of the submerged Doggerland.
07:12They were not disappointed
07:14and even discovered perfect footprints
07:16left by the men of the Mesolithic.
07:1812,000 years ago,
07:19during the last great glacial period,
07:21the British Isles were not at all islands.
07:24They were part of a vast land
07:26composed of hills, swamps and dense forests
07:29that linked them to the European continent.
07:31This land, called Doggerland,
07:34housed a prehistoric hunter-gatherer society.
07:37However, with the melting of the glaciers,
07:40the sea level began to rise
07:42at a speed of one to two meters per century,
07:44forcing the inhabitants to migrate to the regions
07:47that correspond today to England and the Netherlands.
07:50The experts then decided to explore the history of Doggerland
07:53by exploiting the data provided by the oil companies
07:56operating in the North Sea.
07:58So far, they have created digital models
08:00representing the 47,000 square kilometers
08:02that Doggerland covered before its submersion.
08:05They still have to analyze samples of ancient insects
08:08and prehistoric plants,
08:10as well as the DNA of the animals found
08:12to obtain a complete image of this disappeared region.
Comments