00:00Okay, what if I tell you that the extraterrestrials we all imagine as little green men may actually
00:07look like very normal earthlings and chill in Europe?
00:12This is the Iberian Peninsula, and people living there are under suspicion.
00:19Here's the reason.
00:21Somehow, parts of the most important artifacts that the Iberian civilization called Treasure
00:26of Volena are made of metal that simply can't be found on Earth, because it's metal from
00:32a meteorite.
00:33Now, let's tackle this step by step.
00:36This is the artifact itself, and it's composed of 59 different objects.
00:41Bowls, bottles, and bracelets.
00:44Hmm, is there a pattern there with all those bees?
00:47In total, the find weighs around 20 pounds, of which 18 pounds are 23 and a half carat gold.
00:54Now, if you're not a metal specialist, I'll clarify it for you right away.
00:59For comparison, 23 karat gold is 95.8% pure gold, so 23 and a half carat is even purer.
01:09The remaining percentage goes to other metals to help add strength and durability to the
01:14precious alloy.
01:15There was also silver, iron, and amber in that set.
01:19The artifact could have been pretty straightforward.
01:22But for these two, let's call them imposters.
01:25Look at this wrought iron bracelet and this hollow hemisphere.
01:29Can you see that?
01:30Those rusty lines on the hemisphere and the overall weird color of the bracelet do stand
01:36out, since everything else is made of purest gold.
01:39This all started back in 1963, when a researcher noticed a dark leaden metal among the shiny
01:46bowls and bottles.
01:48The metal was shiny in some areas and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that was mostly
01:53cracked.
01:54Now, just so you understand, gold does not usually act this way.
01:58Gold is one of the least reactive of all metals, so it won't even tarnish, let alone rust.
02:03To figure out where this suspicious iron came from, researcher turned to mass spectrometry,
02:11which checks out the mass-to-charge ratio of molecules.
02:15Their findings show that the nickel in the iron is similar to that found in meteoritic iron.
02:21Simply put, the bracelet and the hemisphere are of extraterrestrial origin.
02:27Now, the exact age of the trove is hard to determine, yet it's crucial.
02:32We need to know the exact age to see if it coincides with the start of the Iron Age in the Iberian
02:38Peninsula.
02:39If it does, then no further questions here.
02:43But if it doesn't, well, it's at the very least weird, if not suspicious.
02:49So there's this three-age system.
02:51It comprises the Stone Age, then the Bronze Age, and then the Iron Age.
02:56The Stone Age is of no importance here.
02:58So let's compare the Bronze Age and the Iron Ages.
03:02The Bronze Age began when it was realized that combining copper and tin produced a material
03:08that was more durable than either metal alone.
03:11This era was all about major upgrades in tools and weapons.
03:16But two standout inventions were riding systems and the wheel.
03:20Then came the Iron Age.
03:23This time was all about slowly bringing iron into everyday life.
03:27Iron was way easier to shape into cool designs than bronze.
03:32Now, this was a big deal, because iron, especially transformed into steel, provided significant
03:38improvements in all aspects of life.
03:41Tools became lighter, cheaper, and stronger compared to their bronze equivalents.
03:45You get it?
03:46Good.
03:47So researchers have long debated whether the treasure dates back to the post-Argaric era
03:53or the latter part of the Bronze Age.
03:56The most recent study claims that those artifacts were created in 1400 to 1200 BCE.
04:03And something really doesn't add up.
04:05First off, the Iron Age began around 500 years after these artifacts were crafted.
04:10Plus, ancient craftsmen couldn't know, back then, how to work with metals that landed on Earth
04:15approximately 1 million years ago.
04:18And while the dates are really hard to explain, there is a logical explanation for the craftsmanship.
04:24The theory here is that those metal workers simply had access to the fallen meteorite.
04:29And thus, they could study it well and discover its properties before using it for decorative
04:35purposes.
04:36They could have figured it out through trial and error.
04:38And once they knew exactly how to work with this extraterrestrial metal, they proceeded
04:43to adorn the artifacts with it.
04:46Plus, there were the Phoenicians, who contributed to their craftsmanship.
04:51Now, it's true that the Arborian people have been processing metal and making pottery long
04:56before the Phoenicians settled on the peninsula.
04:58But the arrival of new metalworking techniques and the introduction of the potter's wheel enable
05:05them to produce better quality goods much faster than before.
05:10So, we've figured out the extraterrestrial origins of the Iberian artifacts.
05:15But guess what?
05:16This area is still under suspicion.
05:19The reason for that is the language they spoke.
05:22You see, for most modern languages people use today, there will always be some proto-language.
05:30Say, for Italian, Spanish, and French, it's Latin, hence their similarities.
05:35But wait!
05:36Iberian was largely spoken where modern Spain is.
05:40So why isn't Spanish similar to it?
05:43Well, the truth is, no language today is similar to the Iberian.
05:48Maybe only the Basque language.
05:50But it's because of some similarities found in their numerical systems.
05:54Basque is classified as a language isolate, or simply unrelated to any other known languages
06:00and the only language isolate in Europe.
06:03The Iberian language is unclassified.
06:07While the scripts written in it have been deciphered to various extents,
06:11the language itself remains largely unknown.
06:14And look at the alphabet the Iberians had.
06:17Looks like it doesn't really belong to our planet.
06:19But hold up!
06:21This one might be a bit of a stretch.
06:23When the Phoenicians came to the peninsula, they brought along their alphabet to the Iberians.
06:28But honestly, the Iberians probably weren't keen on just copying someone else's writing system.
06:35So they tweaked it until it looked completely different.
06:38Let's just say they took some inspiration and ran with it.
06:41While linguists can guess to some extent how most characters sounded,
06:47actually translating the language is still completely impossible.
06:51The Iberian language was non-Indo-European and faded away over 2,000 years ago.
06:58And there aren't any similar languages left to help us out.
07:02Super frustrating, right?
07:04Yeah.
07:04We got over 2,000 Iberian inscriptions from tombs, coins, potteries, lead plates, and even cave wall carvings.
07:13But aside from a handful of words, we're totally in the dark about what they mean.
07:18Now, if we could understand their language, we might have learned that they were great thinkers and all.
07:24But we can only contemplate the works of art they left.
07:28Iberian culture has a lot of amazing stuff made by talented artisans.
07:33We're talking about not just metalwork and ceramics,
07:36but also detailed sculptures, textiles, jewelry, and other personal bling.
07:42But here's the catch.
07:44Making all those luxury items depended a lot on a big farming class.
07:50At the heart of Iberian society, most folks were involved in farming and taking care of livestock.
07:56Depending on where you were, the types of farming varied.
08:00For example, up in the north, they were all about growing grains,
08:04while down in Valencia, they focused on producing olive oil and other agricultural aspects.
08:09In the west, raising animals was the name of the game.
08:12Still, we don't have much information about the day-to-day lives of the many people doing this essential work.
08:20Yet, on the flip side, we know a lot about the upper class of Iberian society
08:25who control these agricultural resources and hire the artisans.
08:30By the 7th century BCE, we start to see a group of Iberian princes
08:35who were living the good life, trading with the Phoenicians, and enjoying fancy luxury items.
08:40You can spot this elite class in their burial practices.
08:46Cremation was the go-to method for funerals among the Iberians,
08:50and wealthy individuals were often found in cemeteries with all sorts of lavish goods and funerary sculptures
08:56that give us a peek into the fashion and hairstyles of the rich.
09:00Interestingly, starting in the 6th century BCE, there was a noticeable drop in the number of recognizable burials,
09:09which suggests that these elaborate funeral customs became more exclusive to a small elite.
09:15Meanwhile, the fate of the majority—farmers, artisans, soldiers, and laborers—who made up a big chunk of the population—remains a bit of a mystery.
09:24It used to be a pretty advanced civilization, but it vanished without a trace.
09:31Researchers think it could have been due to some massive earthquake.
09:34But so far, we don't know for sure.
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