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Short filmTranscript
00:00The Huns, a symbol of fear and terror, and their king, Attila.
00:07Many legends and sagas feature the funeral of Attila.
00:11To this day, his death is shrouded in mystery.
00:15They try to hide the tomb.
00:19Hungarian scientists are searching for the legendary tomb.
00:23They make fascinating discoveries and are getting closer and closer to the Huns.
00:30I'm standing on the wall of Attila's castle.
00:36Will they uncover the secret of the Hun king?
00:42Where's Attila's tomb?
00:48The great myths of mankind.
00:51Mysteries passed on over thousands of years.
00:54Inexplicable events, places shrouded in legend, and superhuman heroes.
01:02Even scientists are fascinated.
01:06Is there any truth to these ancient legends?
01:10Researchers across the globe are working hard to solve the greatest mysteries of our time.
01:15The Hungarian steppe.
01:36Home of the Huns in the 5th century.
01:39From here, they set out to plunder and conquer.
01:43Ghost riders attacking out of nowhere.
01:46Forcing entire tribes to flee.
01:55Their greatest leader, Attila, the king of the Huns.
01:59Who is this legendary ruler, responsible for instilling fear across Europe?
02:09Adam Baumgartner is fascinated by the myths surrounding the Huns.
02:14He heads a group south of Budapest that examines ancient combat techniques.
02:19Equipped with horses, armor, and weapons, they dive deep into the history of the Huns.
02:24The most fascinating thing about the Huns is that they came from nowhere.
02:34They fought with both Roman empires, defeating one of them.
02:38And they also wanted to recreate this beautiful period of history, to recreate the Hunnic lifestyle.
02:46To the group, there's more to it than just the folklore.
02:50Armor, clothes, weapons, and combat techniques.
02:53They want everything to be as true to detail as possible.
02:57Attila has become a cult legend to many Hungarians.
03:11Nobody knows exactly what the Hun king looked like.
03:15His people didn't leave behind written documents.
03:19Only his enemies write about him.
03:21And so Attila is remembered mainly as one thing.
03:26The scourge of God.
03:28The incarnation of the devil, spreading doom and disaster across the world.
03:37Psychological warfare works on the basis that we are hugely intelligent cognitive beings with very, very strong imaginations.
03:43Which means that imagination and our emotions can be manipulated.
03:47It works because it takes some of our attention away from the battlefield.
03:52It was in the Huns' favour to be feared because it meant that some of the battle had already been won even before the actual battle commenced.
04:00In the West, in the 4th century CE, the Huns appear on the world stage for the first time.
04:12As part of bloody campaigns, martial horsemen advance deep into the heart of Europe.
04:17Their greatest enemies are the Romans, still ruling over half the continent.
04:22But the empire struggles to fend off the quick advances of these new opponents.
04:27The Huns overrun and raid vast stretches of land.
04:36In the 4th century, the Roman Empire is divided into two separate empires.
04:41One in the West and one in the East.
04:44After subjecting a large number of Goths to their rule, the Huns move on to Roman legions.
04:56We don't know exactly why the Huns started to move.
05:00Perhaps it was climate change.
05:02Perhaps they were searching for new fertile land, for their growing numbers of horsemen.
05:06But we are certain that when they started to move, they pushed in front of them tens of thousands of people.
05:12And they fought those tribes as well, pushing them up against the walls of the Roman Empire.
05:19Scientists still debate the origins of the Huns to this day.
05:23The only thing they agree on is that they came from the huge Asian steppe.
05:28Nomads living off husbandry and hunting.
05:31Their departure to the West is closely tied to one name.
05:36Attila, born around 400 CE.
05:39In the 5th century, he and his allies took regions by storm.
05:44To this very day, Hungarians celebrate him as their national hero.
05:51Myths tend to get exaggerated over time because they come from an oral tradition, which means that each retelling is different.
05:57Further, many of them were performed, so to hold the audience's attention, it's important to make them as entertaining as possible.
06:05The heroic become more heroic, the magic becomes more magical, and the power becomes more powerful.
06:10His death is shrouded in legends, helping to solidify his mythical image.
06:18To this day, nobody knows how and where he was buried.
06:23His dead body is said to be protected by three layers of iron, silver, and gold.
06:29Allegedly, Attila's followers cut off their hair and wounded their faces to mourn his death, with blood in place of tears.
06:40Legend has it that the men who dug the pit were then killed to ensure the tomb would forever remain undiscovered.
06:47The practical answer for why the undertaking slaves were killed is that they didn't want anybody to find the treasure or find the tomb.
06:58But the more religious reason might be that he wanted to take these people with him.
07:03This was a common motif.
07:04This happened all over the world, where fallen kings would want to leave with their servants.
07:08Most experts believe Attila was buried in Hungary, in an undisclosed location near the Danube.
07:21The search for the legendary location inspires researchers and hobby treasure hunters alike.
07:37Time and time again, someone claims to have found him.
07:41But they are never right.
07:51Musician Leventi Sirenyi has been looking for traces of Attila and the Huns for quite some time.
08:01He's on his way to an excavation site in the Pillish Mountains.
08:07We are going to hell.
08:11His search for the Hun treasures is financed with private means.
08:15He has had a decade-long fascination with Attila and a brilliant career as a rock star.
08:22In Hungary, since the 1960s, Leventi Sirenyi has been as famous as John Lennon.
08:27Musician Leventi Sirenyi
08:28Today, he's visiting the place where he believes he'll find the treasure.
08:45He'll find traces of the Huns, the moonshine quarry.
08:48Here, Leventi Sirenyi and his excavation team have unearthed several treasures from the Hun era.
08:55Any new discovery could bring him one step closer to Attila.
09:00Leventi Sirenyi thinks the Huns used the area as a burial site.
09:06And he's hoping to find clues leading to the legendary Hun king.
09:17This used to be a Roman quarry.
09:20When the Huns arrived, they changed everything.
09:23But nobody knows why.
09:25Recently, the team has found some bones dating back 1,500 years.
09:31A first clue as to how the Huns might have used this former quarry.
09:42Researchers have found a complete skeleton beneath this rock.
09:45It belonged to a cow.
09:48They discovered more bones deeper down.
09:51A human skeleton.
09:53This is a typical pagan burial ritual.
09:57The place seems to be a sacred site to the Huns.
10:06Could Attila's tomb be close?
10:08Leventi Sirenyi and his team will continue their search in a few months.
10:12If Attila's tomb was to be found, it will probably be here in the Hungarian plain.
10:18But without any written clues, it's nearly impossible to pinpoint exactly where it could be.
10:25Studying the Huns is very difficult indeed because they were a nomadic people
10:28and the only way you can find out about them is to see what other peoples wrote about them when they came into contact.
10:34Other peoples, like the Romans, who described the Huns in some detail.
10:38Eastern Roman historian Priscus of Parnium describes a visit with Attila.
10:49Based on that, we know how Attila and the court look like and how the traditions of the Huns look.
10:56So Priscus said that Attila is a very noble man and he is very simple compared to the other Hunnic lords.
11:04Priscus presents Attila in a soft light.
11:08He showed himself temperate.
11:10His cup was made of wood, while to the guests were given goblets of gold and silver.
11:16But Attila has more than one face.
11:19He kills his brother Bleda to come into power.
11:23Both rule as kings, but Attila is only second in line.
11:27He wants to be the sole ruler and bring his brother's devotees into his own army.
11:33It remains unclear whether the fratricide really took place as recorded,
11:37or if Attila's enemies were merely attempting to slander him.
11:42But we know Attila wins the loyalty of the most important tribal chiefs.
11:53Germanic tribes also fight alongside him.
11:56Contemporaries estimate his army consists of half a million warriors,
12:01which is probably exaggerated.
12:03Jointly, they wage war against the Romans.
12:08Attila starts by fighting the Eastern Roman Empire.
12:12Emperor Theodosius pays dearly for peace and agrees to tribute payments.
12:18Attila goes on to turn against the Western Roman Empire.
12:21The Empire of the Hun King stretches from the Caspian Sea to the Alps.
12:26Despite what some historians would like us to believe, Attila wasn't just some ruthless barbarian.
12:33He must have also possessed some fairly exceptional skills to have been able to organize a cavalry this large.
12:40He must have spoken several languages since the Huns were people of various ethnicities.
12:45So he was knowledgeable, he was strategic, and he knew how to negotiate with other rulers.
12:51He must have been involved.
12:54Remains of the Huns are scattered all over Hungary.
12:58Archaeologist Gabor Wilhelm specializes in excavating antique tombs.
13:04To him, each grave is just a piece of the puzzle.
13:09Archaeological finds are crucial sources when it comes to reconstructing the history of the Huns,
13:15their spread and their wars.
13:17Starting in Central Asia, a map shows how the Huns ravaged almost all of Europe and Asia.
13:25Some finds even point to Attila himself.
13:34One particularly spectacular object is here in the Ketchkomet Museum.
13:39It is the skull of a warrior whose ostentatious tomb was only discovered quite recently.
13:48This warrior lived in the first half of the 5th century, just like Attila.
13:52And he was buried in a Hun ritual.
13:54This tomb is an important find because there are still many unanswered questions on the Huns.
14:08Thanks to written tradition, we know a few things about Attila, but finds from this era are rare.
14:16Even the smallest artifacts help us to complete this mosaic, this puzzle.
14:23We got the skull back from the anthropologist.
14:30He pointed out that the nasal bridge is very large.
14:35This is a crucial detail.
14:38It's a typical Mongolian feature.
14:39Right after the excavation, he also said that there are traces of the upper bandage up here.
14:46We were also able to see this in the first pictures.
14:49A very particular custom of ancient tribes is artificial cranial deformations.
15:05To elongate the skull, the Huns wrap their baby's heads in bandages while their bones are still malleable.
15:12These deformations were likely most practiced amongst aristocratic families to demonstrate their superior status.
15:27Brilliant.
15:29One of the most defund skulls he's ever seen.
15:34He must have been really handsome.
15:37But who is this mysterious Hun warrior?
15:44The tomb is unusually exquisite.
15:48Could this be Attila himself?
15:50Bountiful burial objects could mean Attila is close.
15:54Golden jewelry, belt buckles, an iron sword.
15:58No doubt this has to be the grave of a powerful man.
16:02But one detail doesn't add up.
16:04This warrior died young.
16:08Attila, however, probably lived until he was about 50.
16:11Nevertheless, the archaeologists linked the find directly to Attila.
16:15This young man was part of the Hun elite, so it's very likely that he knew Attila.
16:21It is quite possible that the young warrior fought alongside Attila.
16:26As the supreme ruler of the Huns, Attila always leads his people into battle.
16:38It is not only the Huns' legendary morale that gets the Roman rulers into dire straits.
16:43Adam Baumgartner's men trained with weapons of antiquity, swords, spears, arrows and bows.
16:52The premier class fighting on horseback like in Attila's time.
16:57The Huns are training their whole life.
16:59They are training with different weapons.
17:01They are training to use the spears, use the bows.
17:03The bow is the basic weapon and it is used to break up the formations of the enemies and also strike them from far away.
17:14The Huns are coming!
17:27The Huns are specialized in taking their opponents by surprise.
17:32The Baumgartner's group is rehearsing an attack on a Roman camp.
17:37The secret of the Hunnic warfare is that they are fighting from a running horse and they are using a very powerful bow.
17:50The Huns retreat after every attack, only to strike again unexpectedly at a later date.
17:58Everybody is afraid of what they don't understand, especially when it can sneak up fast and kill you at a distance.
18:03The Huns were very foreign and somewhat unknown.
18:07And not only that, they had practices of ripping their faces open when somebody died in battle as though they felt no pain.
18:13And when they rushed into war, they showed no fear.
18:16When you're thinking about having to face that kind of a force, it might be really scary to think that you might not have that inside of you that you need to match it.
18:26The Huns use a new technique to wage war.
18:34Their secret weapon is the Hun bow, which at the time was unheard of in Europe.
18:40The ancient high-tech bow is made from various materials, wood, horn, sinew and bone, glued together in multiple layers.
18:50Here on the inside of the bow, you have the animal horn, the center has a wooden core and on the outside there are animal sinews.
19:04Here we can see that the horn and the grip have been reinforced with bone plates.
19:07All these features reinforce the bow while making it highly flexible.
19:16The bow is drawn further back and its various components are able to store more energy.
19:23The composite bow used by the Huns also has a special shape.
19:27The Huns used asymmetrical composite bows equipped with rigid horns.
19:34We can see that the lower limb is a bit shorter than the upper limb, making it much easier to move on horseback.
19:43This type of composite bow helps Attila win.
19:47The deadly arrows are accelerated by the horse's speed, which further increases the force of their impact.
19:53The nimble composite bows allow the Huns to shoot backwards even when galloping in the opposite direction.
20:01Meaning they can weaken their enemies even in retreat mode.
20:09We want to put the impact of these ancient arrows to the test.
20:13Our target? Two pumpkins.
20:15Our weapons? A longbow. The typical long-range weapon used in Roman times and into the Middle Ages.
20:27Next to it, the composite bow of the Huns.
20:34Bows can only be drawn right before they're shot, otherwise the force exerted at rest would be too great.
20:41Which type of weapon is more destructive?
20:50The bows are shot from the same distance, using the same type of arrow.
20:55The longbows up first.
20:56The longbow went through.
21:12Next up, the composite bow. It stores almost twice as much energy when drawn.
21:16Whoa! You smashed it!
21:17Oh yeah, it's complete.
21:19The result is clear. The arrow from the Hun bow penetrates the pumpkin almost completely.
21:22composite bow is the winner.
21:23Whoa, you smashed it!
21:34Oh yeah, it's complete.
21:39The result is clear. The arrow from the Hunbow penetrates the pumpkin almost completely.
21:45Composite bow is the winner.
21:48The Composite bow makes the Huns the superpower of late antiquity.
21:56And their merciless warfare becomes part of collective memory.
22:02The rumors about the brutal horsemen were quite demoralizing.
22:07Their goal is to force the enemy to surrender and have frightened soldiers join their ranks.
22:13A myth that survives the centuries.
22:17The expression, the Huns are coming, remains a symbol for calamity up until the 20th century.
22:27In 1900, German soldiers are deployed to China to thwart a rebellion.
22:34Emperor Wilhelm II gives his infamous Hun speech, asking his soldiers to show no mercy to their opponents.
22:42He wants the Chinese to fear the Germans like the world once feared Attila the Hun.
22:48Based on Wilhelm's address, the Hun becomes a new epithet for the Germans.
22:55British and American newspapers happily use this image during World War I.
23:00In World War II, Nazi propaganda tries to instrumentalize the old fear of enemy attacks from the east, comparing the Soviet army to the Huns.
23:10In December 1941, Hitler declares the Soviet Union is trying to destroy Europe as the Huns once did.
23:19And therefore, to save Europe, he must invade Russia.
23:23The Huns became a very valuable tool for later propaganda purposes, because if you needed to label a people as unpredictable, as violent, as ferocious, then you simply called them the Huns.
23:36And to do so brought with it this air of mystery, of wildness and of violence.
23:42The Huns, fearless and merciless warriors. An image that lives on for over 1500 years.
23:58In another experiment, we are trying to find out from which range the weapons are effective.
24:04In battles, penetrating power isn't the only deciding factor. Reach also plays a key role.
24:12On a field near the riding arena, the men mark out 200 meters by placing a pumpkin on the ground every 20 meters.
24:21The Roman longbow is once again going head-to-head with the composite bow.
24:29At 32 meters per second, the Roman arrow covers 100 meters.
24:37What force will the composite bow unleash?
24:41The Hun arrow reaches a speed of 42 meters per second and hits the ground at 170 meters.
24:50A difference of 70 meters. A clear advantage in attacks on the Romans.
24:55With their superior long-range weapon, the Huns under Attila weaken the Roman empires in the East and the West.
25:08They advance by the thousands and break their adversary's line of defense with a deadly rain of arrows.
25:16The Roman army is helpless.
25:18The Hun arrows decide battle after battle.
25:28The Huns are legendary because of his novel military technique.
25:32Soon every child in Europe knows Attila's name.
25:35But his death still remains a mystery to this day.
25:40Nobody knows where he was buried.
25:44Some believe Attila's tomb has to be in the riverbed of the Danube or the Tisa, one of its tributaries.
25:51The exact location unknown.
25:53Descriptions only tell us how the burial reportedly took place.
26:00The details bear great resemblance to the funeral of Visigoth King Alaric, who ruled only a few decades before Attila.
26:09Allegedly, he is buried in a drained riverbed as well.
26:14Attila's final resting place is also meant to remain a secret forever.
26:20He is said to have been buried per request under a river in a secret ceremony.
26:27So, can we find Attila's tomb in one of the Hungarian rivers?
26:31Attila Tote is an underwater archaeologist.
26:43The Hungarian rivers are like a second home to him and his team.
26:48If Attila's grave really were to be found on the bottom of the Danube or one of its tributaries,
26:54Attila Tote would be the one to find it.
27:02From his boat, the scientist scours the riverbed for hidden objects using a side-scan sonar.
27:11There are big trees on the water.
27:14It's a bit dangerous today.
27:17Not to hit a tree trunk.
27:22Can he find Attila's tomb?
27:25Actually, we don't know where is Attila's tomb.
27:28It is possible that under the Danube because, of course, he was a very important person.
27:35His centre of his empire was in the present-day Hungary somewhere.
27:41So, probably they tried to hide the tomb so it could be actually true.
27:50Riverbeds are wonderful locations for preserving historic material.
27:53There is no air and that means that the material can be preserved for centuries.
27:59So, there's every chance that if we found the right place, then Attila's burial chamber would be preserved just perfectly.
28:05But how could a king be buried under a river?
28:15The Danube or Tisa would have had to be dammed or drained.
28:19The Hun warriors on horseback could only have achieved this by using topographical features.
28:25With islands to shorten the dam.
28:30A natural barrier would mean the water only needs to be dammed on one side, while the other side serves as a natural drain.
28:38This way, Attila's men might be able to dig a grave that could be inundated at a later date.
28:43We found Roman materials and far older relics along the Danube. I don't see why we wouldn't be able to find memories of the Huns if not Attila's grave itself.
28:56Will the underwater archaeologists track down Attila's hidden tomb?
29:02The Danube is full of cultural remains starting from history up to modern period, because this was the highway of Europe.
29:16It's highly likely that it was crossed by a Hun army 1500 years ago.
29:23On the screen, we can see what is under the water.
29:26It's like a map, a flat map of the Danube right and left of the boat, and we see everything which is just a little bit emerging from the riverbed.
29:40Ultrasonic waves and GPS data from the boat provide researchers with images of what lies beneath the riverbed.
29:48Whatever is hidden down there, a tomb, ruins, lost treasures, will be visible on the screen.
29:54Suddenly, they discover something.
30:00We have a very big block, maybe a piece of wall.
30:07We are just going over two walls, forming rectangular structures.
30:15Structure maybe, maybe, oh, it's beautiful.
30:18I think it was a Roman tower, a big tower of fortification.
30:29An old Roman fort on the outer imperial frontier.
30:32So this is the position where we have to dive, and I think it's a very good location because we have no current.
30:45The depth is only 4.7 metres.
30:48Yeah, we saved the position, so we dive here and look at what's under the water.
30:52The site is promising.
30:53This is exactly where the river divided the Roman Empire from the great empire of the Huns, 2,000 years ago.
31:05The Danubian lemurs.
31:07The Romans build a series of forts along the stream because of the repeated clashes between Huns and Romans.
31:14Attila is looking to raid and force them into making tribute payments, a business model that submits opponents.
31:27To the Romans, it's the beginning of a long and trying war.
31:32Neither protective walls nor military equipment can shelter them from the Hun attacks.
31:37The chain mail is a typical piece of Roman armour.
31:46Used for centuries, it protects them against cut and thrust weapons.
31:50But can it also deflect Hun arrows?
31:54This group wants to put it to the test.
31:57From a 10 metre distance, the penetrating power of an arrow is deadly.
32:02The chain mail does not stop the projectile.
32:09The Huns use another kind of protection.
32:16Lamella or scale armour, which can even withstand arrows.
32:21Hun leaders and tribal chiefs went into battle wearing this armour.
32:26And Attila most probably did too.
32:28The armour is created from thin plates of lamellas made from iron.
32:41It's very light, very moveable.
32:44You could raise your hand, you could use the bows.
32:48This is a very protective layer.
32:50A test will show if the lamella armour can really protect against projectiles.
32:59Can the thin iron lamellas deflect an arrow?
33:03The arrow really bounces off.
33:16The energy spreads across the lamellas, weakening the impact.
33:22It's clear, the Hun armour provides better protection, at least against incoming arrows.
33:29It's also light and flexible, ideal for fighting high on horseback.
33:35It went through the chains and the lamellar blocked it.
33:38Their weapons, armour and combat techniques fuel the myth of the invincible Hun.
33:47The Hun combat technique is superior, thanks to their bowmen and horses.
34:01Together, the rider and his horse form a perfect fighting machine, nimble and fast.
34:08Contemporaries scoff at them, claiming the Huns lived their entire lives on horseback, purportedly even sleeping in the saddle and negotiating on horseback.
34:17The Huns are training from early childhood on horseback.
34:37The speed of the horses also giving them additional range and power.
34:41Their horses allow the Huns to cover up to 80 kilometres per day, which makes them more than twice as fast as the Roman legions.
34:54The horseback attacks are also psychologically powerful.
34:57They are using the blood of their enemies to warming up the horses.
35:02They put it up to the nose, so they are not afraid from the smell of the blood.
35:11Ghost riders attacking their adversaries out of the blue, lightly armed, but incredibly fast and nimble.
35:19They instill fear into the hearts of Europeans.
35:21And one man embodies this terror like no other.
35:29Attila, almost superhuman, invincible.
35:34At the peak of his power in 451, Attila attacked Roman cities in Gaul, culminating in a decisive battle of the Catalonian plains.
35:4440,000 Roman warriors against 45,000 Huns against 45,000 Huns and their devotees.
35:53In ancient times, it's the battle of the nations.
35:57The Roman troops managed to push back and surround Attila.
36:01It's a stalemate.
36:03For the very first time, the dreaded Hun king is forced to admit defeat.
36:07Attila loses his reputation for being invincible.
36:18The following year, he invades Italy, but can't conquer Rome.
36:22In 453, Germanic princess Ildiko arrives at Attila's court.
36:38He marries her, and the Huns celebrate all night.
36:42But in the morning, there is silence, the legend goes.
36:45An attendant finds Attila dead in his bed next to his wife.
36:56He is said to have choked on his own blood, maybe in a drunken stupor.
37:02Or did Ildiko kill him?
37:04So, was he poisoned? Did he die in his sleep?
37:09There certainly would have been motivations to tell a different story if he did die in his sleep.
37:12One, warrior cultures tend to prioritize warrior deaths.
37:18So, to die of a murder would have been much better than to die in your sleep.
37:23And at the same time, people want to blame somebody when something bad happens.
37:27And so, you can imagine that when you walk in and you find your king dead,
37:31and a woman cowering there, it would have been easy to have blamed her whether she did it or not.
37:35Attila's death is just as mysterious as the circumstances of his funeral, shrouded in ancient myths.
37:45The version of the story in which Attila is buried in a river makes it into the Hungarian history books.
37:52But the tomb still hasn't been found till this very day.
37:55Does it lie on the bottom of the Danube or Tisa?
37:59And why is the uncertainty so tormenting?
38:01When there are knowledge gaps that need to be filled, when we haven't been able to find out what happened to the mortal remains of a famous person like Attila, there's always room for speculation.
38:17There's no tomb we can examine, no skeletons we can look at, so there's a lot of room for imagination.
38:23Attila Tote and his team have found the remains of a Roman fort in the Danube using a sonar device.
38:33They need special equipment for the dive.
38:36This metal detector is a very useful device for us because the visibility is very short.
38:42I mean, 20, 40 centimetres in the Danube.
38:44So when we are swimming, we are just scanning the riverbed and it is signing every small metal object so you can touch it and look at it if it is an archaeological find or not.
39:04Attila Tote's group is one of the most experienced teams in Hungary.
39:08They have found many remains from the Huns and Romans.
39:11Discovering Attila's tomb would fulfil their lifelong dream.
39:28Of course, everything could be possible, so we are searching the Danube and the Tissa and all rivers here in the Carpathian Basin for cultural heritage.
39:38The divers have reached the site of the former Roman fortifications.
39:46They go down to where there was once dry land.
39:53Patience and the right tools are the only way to find something in the mud.
39:58Patience and the right tools are the only way to find something in the mud.
40:12The diver passes the Roman walls once providing protection against the Huns.
40:16Diving through the murky water of the Danube.
40:22Suddenly, the metal detector starts going off.
40:25There's got to be an iron object hidden between the stones.
40:30Will the diver manage to retrieve it?
40:42A piece of iron emerges from the Danube.
40:45A piece of iron emerges from the Danube.
41:02Looks like a handmade ancient iron nail.
41:07A Roman nail.
41:11A Roman nail.
41:12Not a rare sight for the archaeologists.
41:15They don't discover any Hun remains this time.
41:18If in a day I will find an iron coffin inside a silver and gold coffin, of course naturally I will not throw it back to the water.
41:36But we will excavate it and investigate.
41:39Of course everything could be possible.
41:40Until then, the Danube shall keep the secret for herself.
41:48A great hero needs a death shrouded by myths.
42:01To the Hungarians, Attila is like a national myth.
42:06He's become a central figure in Hungarian history.
42:11Because of his power and the way he was able to intimidate his opponents.
42:16Maybe those wanting to find Attila's tomb have to look elsewhere.
42:27Budapest, once the heart of Europe.
42:29The once royal city of Hungary, back in medieval times, is now a major tourist attraction.
42:44It is also where the life work of an unknown author is stored.
42:48The Hungarians refer to him as Anonymous.
42:51His oeuvre is titled The Gesta Hungarorum, The Deeds of the Hungarians.
43:02The 800-year-old manuscript is kept in a national library in Buda Castle.
43:07Historian, Laszlo Vesprimi, has studied it for years.
43:14It is the first depiction of Hungarian history that goes back to Attila's time.
43:18Narrations and legends that had previously been passed on orally.
43:23In Hungary, it's a valuable treasure documenting their past.
43:28And it turns out the old text really contains hidden clues about Attila's tomb.
43:35This is one of the most valuable manuscripts of the National Library, written by Anonymous, a nameless Hungarian chronicler, and entitled The Deeds of the Hungarians.
43:55It was written around the year 1200 and has been preserved in a 13th-century manuscript.
43:59The text tells of Arpad, who ruled 450 years after Attila.
44:06Is Arpad the key to Attila's tomb?
44:10To Hungarians, he's the second hero besides Attila.
44:14He frees his people from foreign rule and secures the region around the Danube.
44:19Before he died in 907, he made a special request.
44:22When the great prince Arpad died, which was in 907 according to Chronicles, it was documented that he wanted to be buried in the city of King Attila, in Civitatem Attile Regis.
44:37But where is this ancient royal city of Attila?
44:45Some think it could be the old Buddha, west of Budapest.
44:50On medieval maps, the place is called Sicambria, capital of the Hungarians.
44:57Was this the city of the kings Arpad and Attila?
45:00Sicambria is believed to be lost, but its ruins might be found in the woods of the Pillish Mountains.
45:17Just a few kilometers outside Budapest, near the town of Buda Kalash, everything comes together.
45:22Ecologist Imre Lansky has studied the medieval maps and is convinced that the ancient royal city is located in this forest.
45:33I can't put it in any other way.
45:37This is the atrium of the castle, and I'll show you where the walls stood.
45:42There we can also see the moat.
45:44There we can also see the moat.
45:54Imre Lansky is sure that he's standing amidst the ruins of the palace of Hon King Attila.
46:00This rock, and this rock.
46:01I'm standing on the wall of Attila's castle. The wall was already here back then.
46:21If Imre Lansky's assumption proves to be true, Attila's tomb might also be somewhere among these trees and rocks.
46:28This was Sicambria. Later it was called Attila's castle.
46:33Attila's life is a source of myths and legends. The once powerful Hon King also inspired European poets.
46:51Under the name of King Etzel, he was also featured in the medieval German saga, Nibelungenlied.
47:00Joachim Heinzler takes a closer look at this myth in the monastery library of St. Gall.
47:14He is a Nibelung expert. He thinks the investigation needs to be conducted using the old text.
47:20In Germanic poetry, this Etzel is indeed the name used in literature to refer to Attila the Hun.
47:28You can tell by the name. Language historians were able to trace the name Etzel directly back to Attila.
47:34In the Nibelungenlied, Etzel marries Burgundian princess Kriemhild.
47:44Etzel is not portrayed as a brutal ruler, but as an old and mild-mannered ruler.
47:49His royal city is called Etzelburg and lies where old Buddha used to be.
48:08This old Buddha, Obuda, was called Etzelburg in the Middle Ages. We know this as there are records confirming it.
48:24And in the Nibelungenlied, the Etzelburg is also referred to as Etzel's residence.
48:29Imre Lansky believes Attila's grave lies in an old quarry directly behind the ruins of the reputed royal city.
48:44An excerpt from the Gesta Hungarorum serves as his guiding light.
48:49This book describes that Arpad was buried over the source of a small creek running through the rock.
48:59This is why we've come here. I follow the directions in the Gesta Hungarorum.
49:06And it is also written that he was buried in a mine. If it hasn't been pillaged, Arpad and Attila have to be there.
49:29The ecologist has observed irregularities in the treetops.
49:33Some of the trees have grown in a peculiar way, which could point to a cavity in the ground.
49:40After eight or ten meters, the tree or its main branch begins tilting to the side and cannot continue growing straight.
49:50So it grows sideways. You can see that perfectly over there.
49:54And over there on the black locust, we can also see the deformation along the whole tree.
50:00There's got to be a large cavity underneath us, between here and there.
50:10Infrared imaging also points to a cavity.
50:14The cross section of the area reveals a source of heat.
50:17This means there's an air pocket.
50:19Lansky has the ground drilled and uses an endoscopic camera.
50:26He wants to see if specialists can confirm his suspicion.
50:31Are there man-made cavities beneath the rocks?
50:35At about 12 meters down, there's got to be a crack and the edge of a cavity.
50:53The camera probe slowly makes its way through the ground.
51:06How many meters down are we?
51:09Ten meters.
51:10There you go. Here we are.
51:23Slowly, slowly.
51:30This is too straight.
51:32This stone has been worked.
51:35This is a fragmented stone.
51:38It is pretty smooth over here too.
51:42Go back a bit.
51:44And the rock is not the same.
51:51This shows that we're looking in the right place.
51:53Imre Lansky has found the cavity.
51:54It's fantastic.
51:56Unbelievable.
51:58Very, very good.
52:00Is this the defining piece of the puzzle in the search for Attila's tomb?
52:17Imre Lansky has to be patient and raise money to excavate this site.
52:27If we were lucky enough actually to find the place where Attila the Hun was buried then,
52:32and only then, I think, could we say that he would be no longer a myth.
52:37Attila the Hun feared and admired to this day.
52:41It only seems to be a matter of time until the mystery surrounding his tomb will be revealed.
53:11The End
53:19The End
53:20The End
53:21Part 2
53:22The End
53:24The End
53:27The End
53:29The End
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