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00:01In what is known as the Garden of Egypt, an excavation reveals evidence that seems to clash with history.
00:09There was a series of shafts below the surface. It was a hidden cemetery crowded with bodies.
00:15But who were these people? And where do they all come from?
00:19In France, shifting sand uncovers a baffling structure lost for centuries.
00:24After more of the sand was cleared away, it was possible to get a visual on the entire structure.
00:30It forms the shape of a massive bowtie.
00:32On the banks of the legendary Indus River, surrounded by desert, archaeologists unearth an enormous gravesite.
00:40Dozens of human skeletons, many found in groups, almost as though they'd been buried in mass graves.
00:45Others were disarticulated, with many of their bones simply missing.
00:50Ancient lost cities. Forgotten treasures. Mysterious structures.
00:56As new technology uncovers remarkable tales hidden beneath the deserts of the world,
01:03the secrets in the sand will finally be revealed.
01:07West of Egypt's Nile River Valley, just 55 miles south of Cairo,
01:24the Fayum Basin sits in a natural depression spread over 12,000 square miles of desert.
01:30The region has long, hot, arid summers and short, dry winters.
01:35While the bottom layer of the basin is fed by canals connected to the Nile,
01:40the upper layer of Fayum is a desert-like terrain, with escarpments separated by plateaus and plains.
01:47In ancient times, Fayum was a desert oasis, referred to as the Garden of Egypt.
01:53This is from a time when a branch of the Nile River silted up and fresh water was diverted to the basin,
02:00attracting vegetation, wildlife, and a human population.
02:05As Fayum grew, it became home to several large and thriving villages,
02:10like Crocodilopolis, Karanis, and Cahoon.
02:13The region was most prosperous and stable from 2040 BCE to 1782 BCE,
02:19and that's generally called Egypt's Golden Age.
02:22The Roman Empire swept into Egypt around 30 BCE,
02:26and eventually brought Christianity with it in the next century,
02:29so it was a cultural and religious invasion as much as a military one.
02:33However, the people of Fayum and elsewhere in Roman Egypt
02:36continued many of their own traditions, such as embalming and burying their dead,
02:40despite the Roman preference for cremation.
02:43A group of archaeologists is excavating a dig site on the eastern edge of Fayum
02:47when they come across a surprise six to eight feet below the surface.
02:52There was a series of shafts below the surface,
02:55but underneath that was a second layer of sand where the mummified remains of at least 40 individuals were packed tightly together.
03:04It was a hidden cemetery crowded with bodies.
03:08Initial carbon dating of the mummies put them somewhere in the 1st to the 7th century CE.
03:14That's the Roman to late Roman and Byzantine era.
03:18And while it isn't entirely unusual to come across ancient burial sites in the Egyptian desert,
03:23these mummies were unique for several reasons.
03:26They exhibited no evidence of the embalming that was the common practice.
03:31Egyptians believed the mummified body was the home of the soul,
03:34and if the body was destroyed, then the soul or spirit might be lost.
03:39It was important to preserve the body with special resins and oils
03:41so it could enter the afterlife in the same physical form.
03:45Even more striking, despite the lack of embalming fluid,
03:49the Fayum mummies were extremely well preserved.
03:51The dry conditions of the Egyptian desert had slowed the decomposition process.
03:57But who were these individuals?
03:59And why were they all packed tightly together
04:02in a way that defies what we think we know about Egyptian funeral rites?
04:08Embalming was just one of the highly ritualized burial practices of ancient Egypt.
04:13Everything about the Egyptian funeral was about preparing for the afterlife,
04:18including the tomb, which was a haven for the soul.
04:21Egyptian tombs typically reflected the status or wealth of the individual,
04:26which is why kings and pharaohs were given the full pyramid treatment.
04:30Inside the tomb, hieroglyphics and paintings depicted scenes from daily life,
04:35religious rituals, and the afterlife journey.
04:39Egyptians also believed that the deceased would need certain items in the next world.
04:44And these grave goods included food and clothing, ceramics, furniture, and fancy things to wear.
04:51Everything from simple bracelets and amulets to luxurious jewelry.
04:56Unlike the grand and well-appointed tombs of pharaohs,
04:59almost none of these mummies were buried with any kind of grave goods.
05:03And what little there was was made up of everyday items,
05:06such as reed mats, broken bits of ceramic,
05:09wooden and terracotta figures, and date seeds and pits.
05:12Technically, you couldn't even call these burial sites tombs.
05:16There were very few coffins, and aside from some textile wrappings and some shrouds,
05:20it looked like not a lot of care had been given to each body's preparation.
05:24But that's not a dead end.
05:26It just means this is different from what we're used to finding.
05:28And maybe that's what makes it great.
05:30Maybe the fact that these mummies were placed in graves this way
05:33suggests they were ordinary citizens.
05:34Or maybe they were people with even lower status than that.
05:39As the archaeologists expand their excavation,
05:41they come across something truly astounding.
05:45The cemetery turned out to be much, much larger than originally believed.
05:49It was a staggering 300 acres.
05:52That's just under half a square mile.
05:55Even more shocking,
05:56the high concentration of bodies was consistent throughout.
06:00To find a single burial site containing what was suddenly estimated to be
06:05hundreds of thousands of mummified remains is incredible.
06:09But who were these people?
06:10And where do they all come from?
06:13It wouldn't be the first time a massive burial was discovered in the Egyptian desert.
06:18200 miles south of Cairo,
06:21archaeologists excavating an area near the ancient city of Amarna
06:24discovered a cemetery estimated to contain over 6,000 individuals.
06:30During Egypt's 18th dynasty,
06:32Amarna was declared the new capital of Egypt by an eccentric pharaoh named Akhenaten.
06:36He pushed to have a city completed in just five years,
06:40an extreme pace that was only achievable on the backs of enslaved laborers.
06:44In other words, consistent with the profile of the Amarna individuals.
06:48As with the Fayum site,
06:49the bodies at Amarna were stacked closely together with little ceremony.
06:53There were very few grave goods,
06:55and most of them were simply wrapped or bagged in a rough, mat-like material.
07:00The origin of the bodies at Amarna was almost certainly the city itself.
07:05And while the cemetery at Fayum is relatively isolated,
07:09there were two pyramids nearby,
07:11the Midoum and the Selah.
07:14I mean, the Selah was less than a mile from there,
07:16so maybe the Fayum burial site
07:18was the final resting place for workers who built the pyramids.
07:22There is still an element of mystery surrounding the creation of Egypt's pyramids,
07:27but even a conservative estimate puts the workforce in the tens of thousands.
07:33It's believed the back-breaking work was performed mostly by worked gangs and agricultural laborers,
07:38and not by enslaved workers, as is often portrayed.
07:41To get the job done,
07:42massive blocks of limestone were quarried and ferried close to the site on barges along the Nile River.
07:47From there, it was a matter of transporting the blocks up and onto the pyramid base
07:51using ramps, ropes, and pulleys.
07:55Not much is known about the daily life of the pyramid builders,
07:59but there are records of some workers' graves found near existing pyramids.
08:03Analysis of their bones and teeth suggests that they were well-fed
08:07and may have even received medical care for injuries.
08:10While the idea of the Fayum cemetery being filled with the remains of local pyramid builders
08:16is an intriguing one,
08:18the math doesn't work out.
08:19The Selah and Medum pyramids were built in Egypt's fourth dynasty,
08:23which was just over 2,000 years before the Roman and Byzantine era.
08:28Such a huge number of bodies had to come from somewhere.
08:31The nearest big city is Cairo, or Memphis, as it was called back then,
08:35but that's more than 40 miles away.
08:38So is it possible another ancient town or city existed 2,000 years ago,
08:43closer to where the cemetery is now?
08:56A deep dive into the Fayum historical records reveals a potential clue.
09:01As it turns out, there were a few villages
09:03between the eastern edge of the Fayum Basin and the Nile River.
09:07As soon as the Egyptians figured out it was possible
09:09to divert the Nile's freshwater to the west with a series of canals,
09:13populations began to thrive in the desert.
09:17The villages of Tanis and Selah were established close to the main road
09:20that connected the Nile and the Fayum Basin,
09:23which became an important trade route.
09:25So not only did merchants and tradespeople travel from all over these villages,
09:28but they stayed there and raised families.
09:32What evolved over time was a population of ethnically diverse individuals,
09:37all living in the same location, evidently in harmony.
09:41So if the Fayum mummies as a group were discovered to have a diverse genetic makeup,
09:45that would strongly suggest that they were from one of the local villages.
09:50Samples of teeth, bone, and hair are collected from the mummies for analysis.
09:5437 burials were selected from across the entire cemetery
09:58to best represent a cross-section of the population.
10:02The first observation, and the most striking, was connected to hair color.
10:07Of the 37 samples, five had dark brown or black hair,
10:1212 had light or medium brown hair,
10:1516 were blonde,
10:17and four had red hair.
10:20That's pretty strong evidence that we've got substantial ethnic diversity.
10:25But here's the kicker.
10:26The bodies with the same colored hair get buried together.
10:30So in other words, mummies with blonde hair were discovered clustered in the same place, and so on.
10:37There are several possible explanations for this.
10:39It might be that members of the same ethnic group were buried together
10:42as an organizing principle of the cemetery.
10:44It's also possible they were all members of the same family.
10:48But continued work on the site leads to further revelations.
10:52Many of the graves were essentially pits,
10:55and they were both narrow and deep.
10:57As a cross-section, they resembled an elevator shaft
11:00with mummies stacked on top of one another.
11:03Strangely, the heads of the older mummies,
11:06those on the lower half, were facing west,
11:08and the more recently deceased mummies' heads were facing east.
11:11Given the timeline, it may be that the 180-degree shift
11:15was due to the spread of Christianity through Egypt.
11:19According to Christian scripture,
11:21Jesus was to return from the east,
11:23so the bodies might have been reoriented to prepare for his arrival.
11:28This was backed up by symbols of the cross
11:30found woven into many of the mummies' tunics and shrouds.
11:35While the true origin of the thousands of mummies remains a mystery,
11:39each discovery, no matter how small,
11:42is a potential clue for unlocking the secret.
11:45The Fayum Cemetery represents a compelling snapshot of ancient Egypt
11:50and a rare glimpse into the lives and deaths of those who lived there.
11:54The peaceful and picturesque commune of Marlien
12:07lies near the heart of France's Côte d'Or district,
12:10just 12 miles east of Dijon.
12:13Marlien is a mostly rural township
12:16made up of rolling hills and patchwork fields.
12:19While there is agricultural activity,
12:21including the famous Côte d'Or vineyards,
12:24the farming is limited by the arid conditions.
12:27Marlien gets a lot of sunshine,
12:301,900 hours per year.
12:32And the land can get extremely dry in the spring and summer months,
12:36which turns the soil into loose sand.
12:39As with most of Western Europe,
12:41France later fell to the expanding Roman Empire
12:43in the 2nd century B.C.
12:45Known as Gaul at the time,
12:47France was under Roman occupation until the 5th century AD.
12:51Dijon was originally a Roman settlement called Divio,
12:55as it was located on the main road dividing the route to Paris
12:59and the route to Lyon.
13:01Archaeologists are surveying the construction site of a future gravel pit
13:05when they uncover something unusual.
13:07Just below the surface,
13:10there was what appeared to be a mysterious shape.
13:13And after brushing aside a section of the surrounding sand,
13:18an unusual structure emerged,
13:21made from raised and densely packed earth
13:24measuring at least 50 feet across.
13:27After more of the sand was cleared away,
13:30it was possible to get a visual on the entire structure.
13:32From above, it forms the shape of a massive bow tie.
13:38The middle section is a circle of raised earth
13:41measuring 36 feet in diameter.
13:44On either side of the circle,
13:46two curved lines form a horseshoe shape
13:48about 25 feet across.
13:51One of the horseshoes is a complete enclosure,
13:54but the other is broken up by a series of gaps or dashes.
13:58A survey of the surrounding area
14:00is conducted to search for possible clues
14:03connected to the bow tie formation.
14:06An area of roughly 15 acres was cordoned off,
14:10and within this,
14:11three different sample excavation sites were laid out.
14:15The first site was located about 1,300 feet
14:19from the initial discovery.
14:21A grave site was discovered just below the surface.
14:25The grave site, or necropolis,
14:28contains six ceramic cremation urns
14:30that were dated to the first Iron Age,
14:33the period from roughly 800 BCE to 100 CE.
14:37Each of the urns was covered by a lid,
14:39and inside there was evidence
14:41of cremated bone remains within the ash.
14:45Some of the bone deposits
14:46were accompanied by rings and bracelets
14:48made from copper alloy and iron.
14:51The addition of these ceremonial items
14:53was consistent with other Iron Age burial sites
14:56discovered in France.
14:57But does that mean the mysterious horseshoe structure
15:00is an Iron Age creation?
15:04Also in the Côte d'Or district,
15:06a burial mound near the village of V
15:08was discovered to contain human remains,
15:11along with a wealth of funeral adornments.
15:13The burial took place around 500 BCE,
15:17and although most of the organic matter had decomposed,
15:21the sex of the deceased was believed to be female
15:23based on the jewelry found at the site,
15:26as well as the lack of weapons.
15:28The body had been placed in a square chamber,
15:31measuring almost 100 square feet.
15:34Along with it, there was a small treasure
15:35that included a 24-carat gold necklace,
15:38a bronze anklet,
15:40and several imported artifacts from Greece and Italy.
15:44Based on this, it was assumed the deceased
15:46was a woman of high social status.
15:48The gravesite is a perfect symbol of the Iron Age
15:52as a period of great change,
15:53especially the development of social hierarchies
15:56and a class system.
15:58Many of the aristocracy rose to the top
16:00thanks to the growing importance of the iron trade.
16:04But while the burial trinkets discovered
16:07in the first excavation site at Marley Inns
16:10were dated to the Iron Age,
16:12there's still nothing from the bow tie structure
16:15that bears any of the Iron Age design hallmarks.
16:19The researchers focused their efforts
16:21on the second excavation site,
16:23with surprising results.
16:26The second site was only 1,300 feet from the first one,
16:29and it was also revealed to be a necropolis.
16:33When the surface of the second site's layer of sand
16:35was cleared,
16:36five large circular enclosures
16:38were discovered encased in the earth.
16:41One of them was open,
16:42and four of them were covered with lids,
16:45but all of them contained human remains.
16:47The open one,
16:48which was also the largest one at 75 feet across,
16:52contained a funeral pyre inside.
16:55Several ceramic shards were recovered
16:58from inside the containers,
17:00as well as five copper alloy pins,
17:02and a necklace made of amber beads,
17:05which were found just outside the open container.
17:08Carbon dating analysis puts all the collected evidence
17:11somewhere between 1500 and 1300 BCE,
17:15which corresponds to the Bronze Age.
17:18Clearly there's something about this small patch of land
17:21that holds incredible significance
17:22for it to be a dedicated burial ground.
17:25Not just once,
17:26but by two different civilizations
17:28who lived a thousand years apart.
17:30It's definitely possible
17:32that this bow tie structure
17:34could also be connected
17:35to a burial rite of some kind.
17:37But whose?
17:39And from what era?
17:40As the team works on their third
17:51and final excavation site of Marlien,
17:54the area immediately surrounding the bow tie,
17:57more surprises are unearthed.
18:00Several artifacts were collected
18:02from below the surface,
18:04including several cut flint artifacts,
18:07a copper alloy dagger,
18:09and a pair of armbands
18:11that were likely worn by an archer.
18:14One of the armbands was discovered
18:16to have residues of iron oxide
18:19corresponding to a substance called pyrite,
18:22an ingredient for igniting fire.
18:25So in one relatively contained space,
18:29there were several weapons,
18:30which may or may not have been used as weapons
18:33since they might simply have been ceremonial,
18:37plus the tools of fire making,
18:40possibly for a funeral pyre.
18:43Adding it up,
18:44all signs point to the remains
18:46of an ancient grave site or necropolis.
18:50But the real surprise
18:51was that the cut flint artifacts
18:53were identified as having been created
18:55in the Neolithic period,
18:57which began 9,000 years ago.
19:00Is it possible that the origins
19:02of the bowtie structure
19:04go back as far as the 8th
19:06or 7th millennium BCE?
19:09Several regions of France
19:10are home to Neolithic monuments,
19:12such as the stone megaliths
19:14of Brittany and Auvergne.
19:16Whether they formed a circle,
19:18a large chamber,
19:19or were simply placed upright
19:20along the landscape,
19:22the purpose and construction
19:23of these enormous stone structures
19:25is still a topic of great debate.
19:28The most famous, of course,
19:30is the Stonehenge Monument
19:32on England's Salisbury Plain.
19:35Stonehenge and circular Neolithic structures
19:37like it are believed to be inspired
19:39by shapes in nature,
19:40such as the sun and the moon.
19:42The passing of the seasons
19:44and the almost godlike appearance
19:46of the sun may have been central
19:48to the religious beliefs
19:49of the Neolithic people.
19:51Although the true purpose of Stonehenge
19:54is still open to interpretation,
19:56there's no doubt about the precision
19:59of its layout and design,
20:01which is impressive,
20:02even by today's standards.
20:05Stonehenge functions as an ancient calendar,
20:08tracking the position of the sun
20:10and the stars throughout the year.
20:13Looking at the overall design
20:15of the bowtie structure,
20:17it's possible that the central circle
20:19and curving horseshoe pattern
20:21had a similar significance
20:23for the prehistoric people
20:24who created it.
20:26But at this point,
20:27we just don't know.
20:29Exploration and analysis
20:31of the bowtie site is ongoing
20:33as researchers continue
20:34to uncover new clues.
20:36But one thing is for certain.
20:38As a burial ground
20:39for at least two
20:40and possibly three different groups
20:42living hundreds to thousands
20:44of years apart,
20:45the monument in Marleyan
20:46is a remarkable testament
20:48to what was once ancient
20:49hallowed ground.
21:00The Endis River
21:01is one of the longest in the world,
21:03flowing over 2,000 miles
21:05through Tibet,
21:06India,
21:07Kashmir,
21:08and Pakistan.
21:09This powerful current
21:11begins in the tallest peaks
21:12of the Himalayan mountains
21:14before plunging
21:15into one of the driest valleys
21:16on Earth.
21:18The Endis River Valley
21:20is one of the most
21:21inhospitable places
21:22in the world.
21:23The temperatures alone
21:24make it incredibly difficult
21:26for any living thing
21:27to survive here,
21:28ranging from near freezing
21:29in the winter
21:30to over 110 degrees Fahrenheit
21:33in summer.
21:35It's not surprising
21:36that the desert itself
21:37is virtually uninhabited.
21:38Only very small human settlements
21:40can survive here
21:41under the extreme desert conditions.
21:42But this wasn't
21:44always the case.
21:46In the arid plains
21:48stretching out
21:49from the Endis Riverbanks,
21:51archaeologists are excavating
21:52a cluster of strange mounds
21:54rising from the desert floor
21:56when they make
21:57a surprising discovery.
22:00They uncover dozens
22:01of unusual wax seals,
22:03each one remarkably well-crafted
22:06and adorned
22:06with intricate carvings
22:08of animals.
22:09Cows, buffalo, tigers,
22:11some of them even depict
22:13mythical creatures,
22:14including what looks
22:15an awful lot like a unicorn.
22:17To an untrained eye,
22:19they might seem
22:20purely ornamental,
22:22but they aren't just pictures.
22:24They're part of an ancient language.
22:28They sort of look like Sumerian,
22:30a pictorial language
22:31that used images
22:32to represent words or phrases,
22:34which dates back
22:35to just over 5,000 years
22:37to the people
22:38of ancient Mesopotamia.
22:40But they lived
22:41hundreds of miles
22:41from the Endis River
22:42in modern-day Iraq.
22:44So what are these seals
22:45doing here?
22:54Archaeologists working
22:55at the site
22:56from the Endis Riverbanks
22:57continue to dig
22:59and soon make
23:00a disturbing discovery.
23:02They begin turning up
23:03dozens of human skeletons.
23:05Many of these bodies
23:07were found in groups,
23:08almost as though
23:09they'd been buried
23:09in mass graves.
23:11Others were eerily
23:12disarticulated,
23:13with many of their bones
23:13simply missing.
23:16In total,
23:17they find the remains
23:17of more than 30 skeletons.
23:19And unlike organized burials,
23:21where all the bodies
23:22are laid down
23:23in these deliberate poses
23:24and look like they're sleeping
23:25or something,
23:26most of these bodies
23:27are twisted
23:28into these contorted positions.
23:30At first glance,
23:32it might seem as though
23:33these people died violently,
23:35but that might not
23:36be the whole story.
23:38Over the years,
23:39shifting desert sands
23:40may have disturbed
23:42the remains,
23:43causing the skeletons
23:44to move
23:45and settle
23:45in unnatural positions.
23:48Considering the sheer
23:49number of bodies,
23:51this site could very well
23:52be a long-forgotten cemetery.
23:54If so,
23:54it's possible
23:55that an ancient civilization
23:56once stood nearby.
23:59But who were these people?
24:00And when did they live here?
24:02As the excavation continues,
24:04the team unearths
24:05a series of items
24:06that offer tantalizing clues.
24:09They discovered
24:10a metal statue of a woman
24:11dubbed the Dancing Girl.
24:13She's small,
24:14standing roughly
24:14four inches tall
24:15and made with
24:16breathtaking detail.
24:17Her arms and legs
24:18are exaggeratedly long
24:19and a total of 28 bangles
24:21have been individually sculpted
24:23onto her body.
24:25Other copper objects
24:26recovered from the site
24:27are more practical.
24:28Things like axes,
24:29knives,
24:30arrowheads,
24:31and vessels,
24:32like bowls,
24:33made out of hammered metal.
24:35Analysis shows
24:36that many of these artifacts
24:38were made
24:39by combining tin
24:40and copper
24:41to create bronze.
24:43Some even contain
24:44traces of arsenic,
24:46which is known
24:47to harden bronze
24:48and make it
24:49even more durable.
24:51Taken together,
24:52the seals
24:53the human remains
24:54and these bronze objects.
24:56It's possible
24:57we're looking at
24:58a settlement
24:59from the Bronze Age,
25:00which would date
25:01the site
25:02to between roughly
25:033300 and 1200 BCE.
25:07As the excavations
25:08at this site,
25:09now known as
25:10Mohenjo-Daro,
25:11expand dramatically,
25:13the team makes
25:13an astounding breakthrough.
25:15They unearthed the ruins
25:17of an entire city,
25:19lost for thousands of years.
25:20The scale is remarkable,
25:23spanning over 250 acres of land.
25:26Not only is it enormous,
25:28it's also meticulously engineered,
25:31with the buildings
25:31laid out in a grid system,
25:33just like we see
25:34in modern cities.
25:36The city is divided
25:37into two halves,
25:39with the western side
25:40comprising larger buildings,
25:41and the eastern side
25:42believed to have housed
25:43many of the city's residents.
25:45Based on the size
25:45of these ancient foundations,
25:46we can estimate
25:47that up to 40,000 people
25:49lived here,
25:51which would make it
25:51one of the largest cities
25:52in the world
25:53at that time.
25:55400 miles northeast
25:56of Mohenjo-Daro,
25:58archaeologists
25:58had uncovered
25:59the remains
26:00of a second ancient city,
26:02known today
26:02as Harappa.
26:04Despite the distance
26:05between the two settlements,
26:07they share several
26:08striking features.
26:10Harappa's design
26:11and construction
26:11mirror those
26:13of Mohenjo-Daro.
26:14Both cities
26:15follow a grid-like layout.
26:17They have buildings
26:17made from bricks,
26:19they have advanced infrastructure
26:20like an elaborate sewer system,
26:22and they have washing platforms
26:24in virtually every home.
26:27The artifacts discovered here
26:29also bear a clear resemblance
26:32to those found
26:33at Mohenjo-Daro.
26:35Among them
26:36is a statue
26:36known as
26:37The Other Dancing Girl,
26:40depicting a woman
26:40in a pose
26:41remarkably similar
26:43to what was found
26:44at Mohenjo-Daro.
26:46Bronze tools
26:47and weapons
26:48were also recovered,
26:50crafted using
26:50the same techniques
26:52seen in Mohenjo-Daro,
26:53suggesting
26:54a strong cultural connection
26:56between the two sites.
26:59Excavations also revealed
27:01more wax seals
27:02made of soapstone.
27:03They show similar etchings
27:05and animal figures
27:06as the ones
27:07from Mohenjo-Daro,
27:09meaning that these two cities
27:10communicated using
27:12the same language.
27:14The civilization
27:15discovered at Harappa
27:16was a previously unknown one,
27:18and while we don't know
27:19what these people
27:19called themselves,
27:20they were dubbed
27:20the Indus Valley Civilization.
27:24Based on the similarities
27:25between Harappa
27:26and Mohenjo-Daro,
27:27it's safe to say
27:28that the two cities
27:28were connected,
27:30and that Mohenjo-Daro
27:30was also a part
27:31of the Indus Valley Civilization.
27:33While Harappa
27:34and Mohenjo-Daro
27:35may be the largest cities
27:37left behind
27:38by the Indus Valley Civilization,
27:40they are far
27:41from the only ones.
27:42Over the last century,
27:43more than 1,500 settlements
27:44have been discovered,
27:45scattered all across
27:46modern-day Afghanistan,
27:48Pakistan, and India.
27:50That is larger
27:51than ancient Egypt
27:52and ancient Mesopotamia
27:54combined.
27:56At its height,
27:58it's thought
27:58the Indus Valley Civilization
28:00had a population
28:01of more than
28:025 million people,
28:04but over the span
28:05of just two centuries,
28:08a culture that thrived
28:09for hundreds of years
28:11basically disappeared.
28:14So how could a civilization
28:16that spanned
28:17such a vast region
28:19contained such advanced cities
28:23and was inhabited
28:24by millions of people
28:26just disappear?
28:29During the Late Bronze Age,
28:40the shores
28:41of the Mediterranean
28:42were terrorized
28:43by a ruthless confederacy
28:44of fighters
28:45known today
28:46as the Sea People.
28:51We don't know much
28:52about who the Sea People were,
28:54but we do know
28:55they did not back down
28:56from a fight.
28:57And almost everything
28:58we do know
28:59comes from ancient
29:00Egyptian writings
29:01where early historians
29:02recorded several
29:03violent clashes.
29:05The Egyptians told
29:07of a people
29:07who came from the sea
29:08in their warships
29:09and none could stand
29:11against them.
29:12These fearsome fighters
29:13repeatedly attacked
29:14ancient Egypt
29:15with devastating consequences.
29:17One inscription
29:18from the reign
29:19of Pharaoh Merneptah
29:19recounts an epic battle
29:21where Egyptian archers,
29:22charioteers,
29:23and infantrymen
29:24reportedly killed
29:25over 6,000 sea people.
29:27The Sea People
29:28may have been trying
29:29to establish settlements
29:30on land.
29:31One hypothesis
29:32is if they went up
29:33the Indus River
29:34to the banks
29:34of Mohenjo-Daro
29:35and then wiped
29:37that city out.
29:38And once that city
29:39was conquered,
29:39the rest of the Indus Valley
29:41civilization
29:41may have fallen
29:42like dominoes.
29:44The collapse of the civilization
29:47coincides with the rise
29:49of another powerful
29:51nomadic people
29:52known as the Aryans,
29:55an Indo-Iranian people
29:57who began to expand
29:58into the Indus Valley
29:59and the Genghis land
30:01around 1800 BCE,
30:05right when the Indus Valley
30:07civilization started
30:09to disappear.
30:10One theory suggests
30:12that the Aryans
30:13arrived so fast
30:14and in such great numbers
30:16that they overwhelmed
30:17many of the Indus Valley
30:18settlements,
30:19including the larger cities.
30:22But despite multiple threats
30:24from invading forces,
30:26the theory that a violent war
30:27caused the downfall
30:28of the Indus Valley
30:28civilization
30:29is missing a major
30:30piece of the puzzle.
30:31Neither Mohenjo-Daro
30:32nor Harappa
30:33show any evidence
30:34of military fortifications,
30:36nor are there any depictions
30:37of war or conquest
30:38in their artwork.
30:41Determined to find the reason
30:42for the civilization's collapse,
30:44a team of intrepid researchers
30:46ventures into the Himalayan mountains
30:48to the Dharamjali cave.
30:51Rock formations like caves
30:53are incredible sources
30:55of information.
30:56Over the course
30:57of thousands of years,
30:59water flowing into the caves
31:01carries debris
31:02from the ground above.
31:04This debris,
31:05or sediment,
31:06then becomes compressed
31:08into rock.
31:10By looking at these
31:11sedimentary rock structures,
31:13we can reverse engineer
31:15entire environments
31:17that no longer exist.
31:19In this case,
31:20the study focused
31:21on a single stalagmite,
31:23roughly 10 inches long,
31:25located at the back
31:25of the cave.
31:27They were able
31:28to reconstruct
31:29Western India's
31:30rainfall patterns,
31:31stretching back
31:32thousands of years,
31:33using trace elements,
31:34along with oxygen,
31:36carbon,
31:36and calcium isotopes
31:38trapped inside
31:39the stalagmite.
31:40The analysis revealed
31:42that around 2200 BCE,
31:43the intensity
31:44of summer monsoons
31:45in the Indus River Valley
31:46began to decrease.
31:47As the monsoon pattern
31:48shifted,
31:49droughts grew longer
31:50and longer.
31:52These droughts
31:52lasted anywhere
31:53between 25 and 90 years,
31:56and continued
31:56for nearly two centuries.
31:58The changing climate
31:59made large cities
32:00like Mohenjo-Daro
32:01and Harappa
32:02completely unsustainable.
32:04Residents basically
32:05had to choose
32:06between migrating
32:07or starving,
32:08and that's not a very hard
32:09choice to pick between.
32:10As the cities dried up,
32:12populations were forced
32:12to move to the foothills
32:13of the mountains,
32:14and so they had to set up
32:15smaller but more
32:16sustainable communities
32:17that could rely
32:18on fewer crops.
32:20While we can't say
32:22with total certainty
32:23that climate change
32:24brought down
32:25the Indus Valley
32:26civilization,
32:27it certainly seems
32:28the most plausible
32:29explanation to date.
32:32Today,
32:32the collapse
32:33of the Indus Valley people
32:34acts as a haunting reminder
32:36that even the most
32:37powerful civilizations
32:38in the world
32:39are not immune
32:40to Mother Nature's whims,
32:41and the effects
32:42of a changing environment
32:44can have devastating consequences.
32:46In South Wales,
32:57just west of Cardiff,
32:59the yellow and grey cliffs
33:01of the Vale of Glamorgan
33:02run more than 30 miles
33:04along the coast
33:05of the Bristol Channel.
33:07The Vale,
33:07as it's known,
33:08is part of the
33:09Glamorgan Heritage Coast,
33:11renowned for its stunning
33:12coastline and sandy beaches.
33:14One of the most popular beaches
33:15is nestled into a curve
33:17called Dunraven Bay.
33:19The cooler ocean temperatures
33:21ensure that only
33:22the brave and hardy
33:23will attempt to swim
33:24in the bay,
33:25but the surrounding cliffs
33:26offer a spectacular view
33:28for hikers.
33:29The living history
33:30of the Vale
33:31goes back as far
33:32as the Stone Age,
33:33when the area was used
33:35as a fortified trading post.
33:37During the Roman Empire,
33:38its strategic location
33:40led the Roman army
33:41to build a second fortress,
33:42and this was transformed
33:43over the years
33:44and used as a convalescent hospital
33:46during both world wars.
33:48Thanks to the bay's geology,
33:50a lot of that history
33:51just keeps offering itself up.
33:53The stratified, eroding cliffs
33:55and constantly shifting sands
33:57continually kick up
33:58hidden treasures
33:59from the past,
34:00and every item
34:01that gets recovered
34:02offers this glimpse
34:03into the lives
34:04of the people
34:05who lived here before,
34:06and in some cases,
34:07thousands of years before.
34:09A local resident
34:11is walking along the beach
34:12when he makes
34:13a startling discovery.
34:15The man was strolling
34:16with his seven-year-old son
34:17and dog
34:18when they spotted
34:18three bones in the sand,
34:20a small circular one
34:21and two larger bones.
34:23At first,
34:24they assumed the bones
34:24were from an animal,
34:25but they took them home
34:26to have a closer look,
34:28and after further examination,
34:29the family realized
34:30they might be human.
34:34Or,
34:35there's a third possibility too,
34:36maybe it's not an animal bone
34:38or a human bone,
34:38but a fossil.
34:40After all,
34:40dinosaurs did live here
34:42millions of years ago.
34:43There have been
34:44many discoveries
34:45along the Welsh coast
34:46that led to direct proof
34:48of dinosaur activity.
34:50The red siltstone rock
34:51at Lavernock Point,
34:52between Cardiff
34:53and the town of Barrie,
34:54was known to contain
34:55many prehistoric fossils.
34:57On one occasion,
34:58a young girl spotted
34:59five giant footprints
35:00on the rock surface,
35:01each spaced about
35:0230 inches apart.
35:04The National Museum of Wales
35:06confirmed the footprints
35:07belonged to a herbivore
35:09from the late Triassic period
35:10called the Camelodia.
35:12It was known for its long body
35:14and small head,
35:15and it likely stood
35:16only 10 feet tall
35:17and 16 feet long.
35:19And close to Cardiff,
35:21two brothers discovered
35:23the skull, teeth, claws,
35:25and foot bones
35:26of a small dinosaur
35:27embedded right in a cliff face.
35:29They turned out
35:30to have discovered
35:31the remains of a Dracoraptor,
35:33or Dragon Thief,
35:35a small meat-eating species
35:37that likely lived
35:38on a nearby island
35:39200 million years ago,
35:41but whose remains
35:42washed onto the shore.
35:44Given the concentration
35:46of dinosaurs in this region,
35:48it's entirely possible
35:49that the Dunraven bones
35:50could be dinosaurs,
35:51but judging by their size
35:53and judging by the shape,
35:55they look an awful lot more
35:56like their human leg bones.
35:58So now the question is,
36:00whose?
36:01And from how long ago?
36:03Throughout its history,
36:13the Bristol Channel
36:14has served as a trade route
36:15for merchant ships.
36:16The area was particularly busy
36:18in the 16th and 17th centuries,
36:21as vessels from all over
36:22would pass in and out
36:23of the channel's estuary.
36:25But the Bristol Channel
36:27was also known
36:28for having an extremely high
36:29and low tide range,
36:31up to 45 feet.
36:33Combined with the rough
36:34Atlantic waters,
36:35this made for dangerous
36:36sailing conditions
36:37and resulted in many shipwrecks
36:39and many deaths at sea.
36:43The prevailing winds and currents
36:44would push the debris
36:46from the wrecks
36:46right up to the Welsh shoreline,
36:48including the bodies
36:50of dead sailors.
36:51So in the days that followed,
36:53the local community
36:53would give those sailors
36:55a proper burial,
36:56either in existing cemeteries
36:57or occasionally
36:59in newly created ones
37:01dedicated specifically
37:02to the victims
37:03of the shipwrecks.
37:05One of the more recent discoveries
37:07took place at Monknash,
37:08less than five miles
37:10from Dunraven Bay.
37:12Monknash has this beautiful beach
37:14with this dramatic cliff
37:15for a backdrop.
37:17This one day
37:17when there were really high tides
37:19and especially strong winter winds,
37:21a big chunk of that cliffside
37:23got eroded,
37:24and that left these human,
37:26skeletal remains sticking out.
37:28I mean, you could see them
37:30from the beach.
37:31The cliff made it extra challenging
37:33to reach the bodies
37:33and attempt any kind of excavation.
37:36And to make matters worse,
37:37the loose, sandy earth
37:38gave way easily.
37:40The excavation took
37:41eight days to complete,
37:42and by the time it was finished,
37:43the remains of six different individuals
37:45were identified.
37:49Bioarchaeological analysis
37:50placed the remains as dating
37:52from the late 16th
37:53or early 17th century.
37:55Historical records show
37:57that the earliest burial license
37:58in the parish of Monknash
38:00was granted in 1609,
38:02which means these six individuals
38:04could easily have been buried together
38:06after a single event,
38:08such as a shipwreck.
38:10If the Dunraven bones
38:11belonged to one of the many
38:12shipwrecked sailors
38:13from over the centuries,
38:15then their actual identity
38:16and country of origin
38:17would be difficult,
38:18if not impossible, to trace.
38:20But it's also possible
38:21that the bones have
38:22a more local connection.
38:24Behind the cliffs
38:25of Dunraven Bay
38:26lies the original site
38:28of Dunraven Castle,
38:29a fortress with ghostly sightings
38:31and origins going back millennia.
38:35Dunraven Castle was built
38:36from 1802 to 1806
38:38for a Glamorgan member of parliament
38:40named Thomas Wyndham.
38:42Wyndham and his descendants
38:43frequently hosted dignitaries
38:45and diplomats
38:46in the castle's great halls,
38:48and they used to throw
38:49these big annual balls
38:50for the conservative party.
38:52But long before that,
38:54the castle grounds
38:55were the site
38:55of an Iron Age fortress.
38:57Some of the defensive ditches
38:59and banks remained
39:00for centuries,
39:01but most were destroyed
39:02by coastal erosion.
39:04Over the years,
39:04that same erosion
39:05led to the discovery
39:06of ancient human burials.
39:09Before it was ultimately
39:10demolished in 1962,
39:13Dunraven Castle
39:13was used as a Red Cross hospital
39:15in both world wars.
39:17It's unlikely that the patients
39:19who died in the hospital
39:20were buried on site,
39:22but hospital staff
39:23and visitors
39:24all reported seeing
39:25the ghost of a woman
39:26dressed in blue
39:27at the castle.
39:28But while the story
39:30of the blue ghost
39:31certainly adds an element
39:32of spooky otherworldliness,
39:34there's another
39:35all-too-real story
39:36from the late Middle Ages
39:37that might solve the riddle,
39:39and it's a story
39:39of bloodshed.
39:41In 1400 AD,
39:43there was a Welsh-led rebellion
39:44against the King of England,
39:45Henry IV.
39:47The Welsh Revolt
39:48was the last major phase
39:50of Welsh independence
39:51before the annexation
39:52of Wales into England
39:53in 1542.
39:55It began when
39:56a Wayne Glendour,
39:58a descendant of several
39:59Welsh royal dynasties,
40:01declared himself
40:02the Prince of Wales.
40:04After many successful
40:06castle sieges
40:07and battlefield victories,
40:09Glendour was crowned prince
40:10in the presence of Scottish,
40:12French, Spanish,
40:13and Breton envoys.
40:15He summoned a national parliament,
40:17reintroduced traditional
40:18Welsh laws,
40:19and established a Welsh church
40:20and two universities.
40:22But the British retaliated
40:24with another series of battles,
40:26including the Battle of Stalling Down,
40:28which took place
40:29on the Vale of Glamorgan.
40:31However, it didn't end well
40:33for the Brits.
40:34After an 18-hour fight,
40:36the Glendour-led Welsh army,
40:38along with the allied French army,
40:40decimated the English,
40:41who retreated through Cardiff.
40:44Given the reputed death toll
40:46of this battle,
40:47is it possible
40:48that the Dunraven bones
40:49belonged to one
40:50of the fallen soldiers?
40:52Evidence found
40:53in a local village
40:54supports that theory.
40:55Just three miles
40:56from the battle site,
40:57a church in the town
40:58of Glendblethien
40:59was found to have
41:00an oak plank on the floor,
41:02which covered
41:02a hidden passageway.
41:03So when that plank
41:04was lifted,
41:06it revealed this stone stairway
41:08leading to a crypt.
41:10It wasn't very big.
41:11It was just 17 feet
41:12by 15 feet,
41:13but it held the bodies
41:15of more than 300 men,
41:18none of which had coffins.
41:22Stalling down
41:22was the only battle
41:23known to have taken place
41:24in the vicinity,
41:25so it was believed
41:26the bodies were
41:27all casualties of war.
41:29Once discovered,
41:30they were given
41:31a proper burial
41:31in the church graveyard,
41:32which was only six miles
41:34from Dunraven.
41:35With the amount of erosion
41:36to the coast
41:36over the past 200 years,
41:38it's definitely possible
41:39that some of those remains
41:40ended up at the beach.
41:42The investigation
41:43into the origins
41:44of the bones of Dunraven
41:46is ongoing
41:47and will no doubt
41:48add layers
41:49to Glendmorgan's
41:50rich history.
41:51Who knows
41:52what hidden secrets
41:53remain buried
41:54in the shifting sands
41:55of the coast of Wales?
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