00:00Take cover! Hundreds of arrows are flying down from the sky.
00:05A group of enemies is chasing you on the ground.
00:08A huge wave is coming from the sea.
00:10Oh, and you're in the Middle Ages.
00:12It would be cool to hide in an underground bunker from all these problems.
00:16But in the distant past, people didn't make bunkers.
00:20Instead, they used to build...
00:22Fortresses!
00:24Large, sturdy structures where locals could hide,
00:27fend off enemies, and wait out natural disasters.
00:31Let's take a look at some of the coolest ones.
00:34Some fortresses on this list are ancient,
00:37and almost nothing remains of them.
00:39But many still exist and amaze people.
00:43So the first fortress on our list is one of the largest by area in history.
00:48The only problem is that it hasn't survived intact.
00:51Last year, archaeologists excavated a 3,000-year-old fortress
00:55in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia.
00:59This Bronze Age fortress was a massive structure.
01:02However, specialists didn't fully grasp the scale of their discovery
01:06because of the tall grass at the excavation site.
01:10They did realize they had found something big.
01:13But when the cold weather set in and the grass disappeared,
01:17that something turned out to be 40 times larger.
01:21Archaeologists launched drones into the sky and took over 10,000 photos.
01:28After that, they assessed the full scale of their discovery.
01:32Then, they combined those images to create a digital model of the terrain and the entire area.
01:37All this data allowed them to create maps of the fortress,
01:42including its walls, towers, and the surrounding settlement.
01:46They found out that the fortress had protected people living nearby
01:50with a massive wall stretching 0.62 miles.
01:54It was located between two gorges in southern Georgia.
01:58Many years ago, this place was at a crossroads between Europe,
02:02the Middle East, and the Eurasian Steppe.
02:05Some people lived there, others came to trade goods,
02:08and some used it as a transit point.
02:12The settlement around the fortress expanded and shrank depending on the season.
02:17Archaeologists also found numerous pottery fragments, tools, livestock bones, and other artifacts,
02:24showing that a thriving society lived there 3,000 years ago.
02:28Now, we move to sunny Italy,
02:31where the impressive fortress of the Orsini was built in the 14th century.
02:36This building was installed on a cliff,
02:39and such a location helped people to protect their territory from enemies.
02:44It looks beautiful,
02:46but imagine how difficult it was to build it without modern technologies.
02:50A couple of hundred years after its construction,
02:53the fortress was renovated.
02:56Thanks to the professional skills of builders and architects,
02:59as well as high-quality materials,
03:01the fortress looks magnificent, even today.
03:05Despite enemies trying to destroy it many times,
03:08it still exists.
03:10The Italians equipped the fortress with a windmill and rainwater collection cisterns,
03:14allowing people to live autonomously inside the fortress for long periods.
03:19Additionally, the building has five underground levels
03:23that were used to move secretly in and out of the fortress.
03:27Take a look at these majestic fortifications,
03:30located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
03:34Just imagine how hard it was to deliver construction materials there.
03:38Builders really put in the effort.
03:41Welcome to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory.
03:45People started building fortifications in this place in the 11th century.
03:49And then upgraded it over the centuries,
03:52digging tunnels and reinforcing the cliff's summit.
03:55Thanks to relentless work and its unique location,
03:58these fortifications have survived numerous siege attempts.
04:03Now let's move to India,
04:05to one of the largest forts in the country,
04:08called Chittagar.
04:09It was built on a hill about 600 feet high
04:12and covered around 700 acres of land.
04:16That's about one-third the size of Newark Liberty International Airport in New York.
04:21Many towers and defensive walls have stood here since the construction in the 7th century,
04:27almost 1,500 years ago.
04:28To enter Chittagar Fort,
04:31you had to walk along a winding road one mile long
04:35and then pass through seven gates with iron spikes on the doors.
04:40The gates were also guarded by a watchtower,
04:43making the fortress nearly impregnable.
04:46India is a hot country,
04:48and the builders took this into account.
04:50Forty percent of Chittagar's space was covered in water.
04:55There were 84 reservoirs here,
04:57but only 22 remain today.
05:00These reservoirs, along with rain collection,
05:03could provide water for about 50,000 people for four years.
05:08For a thousand years,
05:10this castle was home to the British royal family.
05:13Built in the early 11th century by William the Conqueror,
05:17Windsor Castle remains an official royal palace
05:20to this day and attracts millions of tourists.
05:23But almost a thousand years ago,
05:25it was an important strategic fortress built along the Thames.
05:30Windsor Castle was essential for Britain
05:31to guard the western approach to London.
05:34Its sturdy stone fortifications allowed the castle
05:37to survive numerous attacks.
05:39Today, walking through this architectural masterpiece,
05:43it's hard to believe that large-scale battles
05:45took place here centuries ago.
05:47Welcome to the largest preserved castle complex in the world.
05:53It's called Prague Castle
05:54and is located in the Czech Republic.
05:57This is not just a strategically important fortress,
06:00but also a true work of art.
06:03Gothic palaces and cathedrals
06:05still attract thousands of tourists from around the world.
06:09Now imagine how cool it would be
06:11to play hide-and-seek inside this fortress.
06:13Although it would probably be a pretty creepy experience.
06:18Despite being built in 880,
06:20the complex still looks impressive and well-fortified.
06:24It seems it could easily remain intact
06:26for several more centuries.
06:28How many modern buildings do you think
06:30can survive for thousands of years?
06:33Let's move on to more modern structures.
06:36Fort Knox in Kentucky was built in 1918,
06:39but several years later, in 1936,
06:43builders added the U.S. Bullion Depository to it
06:46as an adjacent construction.
06:49Engineers have been improving the security system
06:51of this modern fortress.
06:54This is where the largest portion
06:55of America's official gold reserves is stored.
06:59The walls of this building
07:00consist of layers of granite,
07:03concrete, and steel.
07:05The vault itself is an ultra-secure safe.
07:08Constant digital surveillance,
07:10security, and the newest guard technologies
07:13make Fort Knox one of the most impenetrable fortresses
07:16in the world,
07:18and arguably the most secure safe
07:20in the United States.
07:22And of course,
07:23almost no one knows exactly how much gold
07:26and other precious metals they keep there.
07:29Perhaps the most unusual fortress on our list.
07:33Massive, rusty structures rise above the estuaries
07:36of the Thames and Mercy Rivers.
07:38The Monsell forts in the United Kingdom
07:40were built to monitor enemy submarines.
07:43But since the 1950s,
07:45they have no longer been in use.
07:47Now, seven rusty towers attract tourists.
07:51Would you like to visit them?
07:53We started this video with an ancient fortress,
07:56so let's end on a similar note.
07:58This is probably the oldest fortress in the world.
08:01An international team of archaeologists
08:04discovered the remains of ancient fortifications
08:07in Siberia.
08:09The fortress they found was 8,000 years old.
08:12It belonged to hunter-gatherers
08:14who lived in this cold region.
08:17Scientists and archaeologists
08:18previously thought that settlements
08:20with complex architectural structures
08:22appeared after the advent of agriculture.
08:25Now, this claim is being questioned.
08:28The hunter-gatherers of western Siberia
08:31fished, hunted elk and deer
08:33and used spears with stone and bone tips.
08:36They made ceramic vessels to store fat and meat.
08:40There was no agriculture,
08:42no wheat farming,
08:43no digging of garden beds.
08:45They lived a mostly nomadic lifestyle.
08:48But it turns out they could also unite
08:50and build large settlements.
08:52To date, there are about 10 similar sites
08:55from the Stone Age period in Siberia.
08:58However,
08:59don't think that this fortress
09:00looked like medieval castles.
09:02People of that time
09:03created houses out of dirt.
09:05The walls were reinforced
09:06with wooden fences.
09:09But why did people start
09:10building a fortress there?
09:12The Siberian taiga
09:13is rich in rivers and lakes
09:15full of fish.
09:17Many large animals inhabit the area.
09:20Obviously, those were resources
09:21that competing groups fought over.
09:23To gain control of territories
09:25and increase their population,
09:27people began building
09:28defensive structures.
09:30Previously,
09:31scientists assumed
09:32that there were no major conflicts
09:33or competition
09:34among hunter-gatherers.
09:37But the discovery
09:38in western Siberia
09:39shows us that
09:40even 8,000 years ago,
09:42people weren't so different
09:43from modern humans.
09:44That's it for today.
09:47So hey,
09:47if you pacified your curiosity,
09:49then give the video a like
09:50and share it with your friends.
09:51Or if you want more,
09:53just click on these videos
09:54and stay on the bright side.
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