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00:00ARCHEOLOGISTS UNCOVER MYSTERIOUS REMAINS WITHIN A CRYPT IN ISRAEL.
00:06FOUR OF THE RINGS WERE AROUND THE INDIVIDUAL'S NECK,
00:09AND THERE WERE OTHERS AROUND THE ARMS AND THE LEGS.
00:12WHO WAS THIS PERSON, AND WHY WERE THEY BURIED WRAPPED IN METAL RINGS?
00:16AN ASTONISHING DISCOVERY IS UNEARTHED IN THE SANDS OF THE EGYPTIAN DESERT.
00:20THEY NOTICED STRANGELY SMOOTH LIMESTONE BLOCKS ON THE CLIFF'S FACADE,
00:25CARVED RIGHT INTO THE LANDSCAPE.
00:28BUT WHAT WAS IT?
00:29IN THE JORDAN DESERT, RESEARCHERS UNEARTH A STRANGE STRUCTURE WITH REMARKABLE CARVED FEATURES.
00:36BUT THE MOST STRIKING THING INSIDE THE ROUND ROCK FORMATION
00:39WAS TWO STANDING VERTICAL STONES CALLED STEELYS, EACH WITH A HUMAN FACE CARVED INTO THEM.
00:46SO WHAT WERE THEY FOR? AND HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN STANDING HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE?
00:51ANCIENT LOST CITIES, FORGOTTEN TREASURES, MYSTERIOUS STRUCTURES,
00:58AS NEW TECHNOLOGY UNCOVERS REMARKABLE TALES HIDDEN BENEATH THE DESERTS OF THE WORLD,
01:05THE SECRETS IN THE SAND WILL FINALLY BE REVEALED.
01:10JUST A FEW MILES DUE NORTH OF THE JERUSALEM CITY CENTER LIES THE SETTLEMENT OF REMAT SHLOMO,
01:15ISRAEL.
01:17DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS, THIS AREA IS BLISTERINGLY HOT,
01:24WITH TEMPERATURES SOMETIMES REACHING ALMOST 110 DEGREES FARENHEIT.
01:29IT'S ALSO EXTREMELY DRY, AVERAGING JUST UNDER TWO INCHES OF RAIN PER MONTH,
01:34MOST OF WHICH FALLS DURING THE WET SEASON FROM OCTOBER TO APRIL.
01:49IT WAS ONCE PART OF JORDAN, BUT CAME UNDER ISRAELI CONTROL AFTER THE SIX-DAY WAR IN 1967.
01:57JERUSALEM IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST CITIES, WITH A HISTORY GOING BACK OVER 5,000 YEARS.
02:03ITS ORIGINS TRACE BACK TO ROUGHLY 3,000 B.C.E., WITH THE FIRST SETTLEMENT NEAR THE GIHAN SPRING.
02:11THE OLDEST MENTION OF JERUSALEM IS FROM EGYPTIAN TEXT DATING TO AROUND 2,000 B.C.E.,
02:16WHERE IT'S REFERRED TO AS RUSALIMUM.
02:19GIVEN THIS RICH HISTORY, IT'S NO SURPRISE THAT THE AREA IS OF KEEN INTEREST TO ARCHEOLOGISTS.
02:25A TEAM OF ARCHEOLOGISTS FROM THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY
02:29ARE EXCAVATING AN ANCIENT COMPLEX KNOWN AS KIRBAT AL MASSANI
02:33IN ADVANCE OF CONSTRUCTION WORK NEAR RAMAT SHLOMO, WHEN THEY UNEARTH A SURPRISE.
02:39TWO BURIAL CRIPS WERE UNCOVERED CONTAINING THE SCATTERED SKELETAL REMAINS OF SEVERAL INDIVIDUALS,
02:45INCLUDING CHILDREN, WOMEN, AND MEN.
02:49BUT THE REAL SHOCK CAME WHEN A THIRD TOOBE WAS FOUND.
02:53INSIDE WERE SKELETAL REMAINS THAT APPEARED TO BE WRAPPED IN METAL RINGS.
02:58FOUR OF THE RINGS WERE AROUND THE INDIVIDUAL'S NECK,
03:02AND THERE WERE OTHERS AROUND THE ARMS AND THE LEGS.
03:05BUT UNFORTUNATELY, THE BONES WERE SO SEVERELY DEGRADED
03:09THEY WERE ONLY ABLE TO RECOVER FRAGMENTS OF THE CRANIUM, A SMALL FINGER BONE, AND PARTS OF A FEMUR.
03:15THE POOR CONDITION OF THE REMAINS MAKES ESTABLISHING THINGS LIKE THE SEX OF THE PERSON OR AGE AT DEATH VERY DIFFICULT.
03:22SO THE QUESTION IS, WHO WAS THIS PERSON, AND WHY WERE THEY BURIED WRAPPED IN METAL RINGS?
03:28THE FIRST THING THAT SPRINGS TO MIND IS THAT MAYBE THEY WERE A PRISONER, A CRIMINAL BOUND WITH CHAINS AND THEN EXECUTED, OR POSSIBLY AN ENSLAVED PERSON.
03:37IN 2015, CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN THE VILLAGE OF GREAT CASTARDON IN THE EAST MIDLANDS OF ENGLAND DISCOVERED THE ANCIENT REMAINS OF A MAN WITH HEAVY IRON SHACKLES AND A PADLOCK AROUND HIS ANKLES.
03:51RADIOCARBON DATING PLACED THE REMAINS TO BETWEEN 226 AND 427 CE DURING THE ROMAN OCCUPATION OF BRITAN.
03:59THE MAN WAS LIKELY BETWEEN THE AGES OF 26 AND 35 WHEN HE DIED, AND THE BODY SHOWED EVIDENCE OF A LIFE OF PHYSICALLY DEMANDING LABOR.
04:07IT'S HISTORICAL FACT THAT SLAVERY WAS AN ACCEPTED PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AND THEY WERE KNOWN TO CHAIN SOME OF THEIR AGRICULTURAL SLAVES.
04:15SO THE SHACKLED MAN WAS PROBABLY A FARM LABORER.
04:18SO IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERED AT CIRBAT EL MASSANI WAS ALSO AN ENSLAVED PERSON?
04:24MAYBE, BUT THERE'S ONE KEY DIFFERENCE.
04:27THE SLAVE'S BODY DISCOVERED IN ENGLAND WAS NOT PROPERLY LAID OUT.
04:31IT WAS FOUND AT A STRANGE ANGLE, LYING SOMEWHAT ON ITS RIGHT SIDE WITH THE LEFT ARM RAISED UP ON A SLOP.
04:38THIS INDICATES THAT MAYBE THE MAN WAS THROWN INTO A DITCH, RATHER THAN GIVEN A PROPER BURIAL.
04:44ON THE OTHER HAND, THE BODY AT CIRBAT EL MASSANI WAS CAREFULLY BURIED, IN A GRAVE RESTING ON ITS BACK.
04:51SO IF THEY LIKELY WARREN AN ENSLAVED PERSON OR PRISONER, THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER EXPLANATION.
04:57FOR WHY THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS BURIED LADEN WITH METAL RINGS.
05:01MAYBE IT'S SOMETHING A LITTLE STRANGE OR INVOLVING SUPERSTITION.
05:05IN 2022, A TEAM OF ARCHEOLOGISTS FROM NICHOLAS COOPERNICUS UNIVERSITY IN TERON, POLAND, WERE EXCAVATING AN ANCIENT CASTLE WHEN THEY UNCOVERED SOMETHING TRULY BIZARRE.
05:17ON A RIVERBANK ADJACENT TO THE CASTLE, THEY NOTICED HUMAN BONES STICKING OUT FROM THE GROUND.
05:23BUT HERE'S WHERE IT GETS REALLY WEIRD.
05:25AFTER AN EXCAVATION, THEY FOUND THAT THE INDIVIDUAL WAS BURIED WITH A SEMICIRCULAR SICKLE PINNED AROUND THEIR NECK.
05:33AND THAT'S NOT ALL, THE SKELETON'S BIG TOE ON THE LEFT FOOT HAD A RUSTED OLD TRIANGULAR HAD LOCK ATTACHED TO IT.
05:42ANALYSIS OF THE REMAINS REVEALED THAT THEY BELONGED TO A FEMALE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 17 AND 21.
05:48AND SHE HAD THE KIMMERLY ANOMOLY, WHICH IS A CONDITION WHERE AN EXTRA PIECE OF BONE FORMS ON THE FIRST CERVICAL VERTEBRA.
05:55THIS COULD HAVE LED HER TO FINTING REGULARLY OR HAVING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN SEEN AS EVIL BEHAVIOR.
06:02REPORTS OF VAMPIRE SIGHTINGS AND ATTACKS BECAME WIDESPREAD ACROSS MEDIEVAL EUROPE.
06:07AND UNUSUAL MEASURES WERE TAKEN TO ENSURE THAT SUSPECTED VAMPIRES COULD NOT RISE FROM THE DEAD.
06:14SOME INDIVIDUALS WERE BURIED WITH LARGE STONES AROUND THEIR NECKS.
06:18OTHERS WERE BURIED FACE DOWN.
06:20AND SOME, LIKE THE WOMAN IN POLAND, WERE PINNED DOWN WITH METAL OBJECTS AND SECURED WITH LOCKS.
06:27SO COULD THIS EXPLAIN THE BODY FOUND AT KIRBAT EL MASSANI THAT WAS CHAINED WITH METAL RINGS?
06:33IT'S POSSIBLE, BUT THE TIMELINE AND LOCATION ARE PROBLEMATIC.
06:37MOST VAMPIRE BURIALS TOOK PLACE IN EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES RIGHT UP UNTIL THE 18TH CENTURY.
06:43WE KNOW FROM THE GRAVE GOODS AND THE GEOLOGY OF THE SITE AT KIRBAT EL MASSANI THAT THE BODIES THERE ARE LIKELY FROM THE 5TH CENTURY CE.
06:52ALMOST 1,000 YEARS BEFORE THE VAMPIRE SCARE IN EUROPE.
06:55SO THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER REASON FOR THE RINGS ON THE BODY.
06:59THE TEAM AT KIRBAT EL MASSANI INVESTIGATES THE GRAVE SITE FURTHER AND MAKES ANOTHER SURPRISING DISCOVERY.
07:06ALONG WITH THE RINGS, IRON PLATES WERE FOUND WHERE THE STOMACH WOULD HAVE BEEN.
07:10THIS PERSON WAS EFFECTIVELY COVERED IN METAL, WHICH COULD SUGGEST THAT IT WAS SOME KIND OF CRUDELY MADE BODY ARMOR.
07:16SO MAYBE THIS IS A WARRIOR'S GRAVE.
07:19THAT'S A POSSIBILITY, BUT ALL THAT METAL WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY CUMBERSOM. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HEAVY.
07:24I CAN'T SEE SOMEBODY BEING ABLE TO MOVE AROUND OR FIGHT EFFECTIVELY WITH METAL RINGS WEIGHING DOWN THEIR ARMS AND LEGS.
07:30PLUS, IF THIS PERSON WAS GOING TO GET A WARRIOR'S BURIAL, YOU WOULD EXPECT TO FIND THINGS LIKE SOMEBODY
07:36SWORDS OR ARROWS OR SPEARS WITH THEM, AT LEAST A HELMET. THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THAT HERE.
07:42AS THE EXCAVATION NEARS COMPLETION, THE SCOPE OF THE COMPLEX AT KIRBAT AL MASSANI COMES INTO VIEW.
07:49THIS PLACE IS HUGE. THEY UNEARTH THREE APPSES ASSUMED TO BE PART OF A CHURCH OR MONASTERY, BUILT WITH FINALLY CUT LIMESTONE BLOCKS.
07:58THERE ARE ALSO ROOMS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN AN INN, WHICH MAKES SENSE GIVEN THAT THE SITE IS NEAR THE MAIN ROAD THAT LED FROM JAFFA AND LIDDA.
08:06TO JERUSALEM.
08:08THE COMPLEX IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BUILT BETWEEN 350 AND 650 CE, WHEN CHRISTIANITY WAS BECOMING THE DOMINANT RELIGION IN THE REGION,
08:16AND JERUSALEM WAS A SPIRITUAL CENTER, ATTRACTING PILDROMS FROM FAR AND WIDE.
08:22THIS PERIOD ALSO SAW THE SPREAD OF MONASTICISM, A DEVOUT WAY OF LIFE WHERE PEOPLE DETACHED FROM THE WORLD TO FOCUS ON SPIRITUAL CONCERNS,
08:30AND LIVED IN MONASTERIES LIKE KIRBAT EL-MASANI.
08:34THIS PERIOD ALSO SAW THE GROWTH OF ASCETICISM.
08:37BASICALLY, THAT'S AVOIDING ANYTHING PLEASURABLE.
08:40ASCETICISM IS A WORD THAT'S SOMETIMES USED INTERCHANGEABLY WITH MONASTICISM, BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME.
08:46ASCETICS PRACTICE EXTREME SELF-DENIAL, WHEREAS MONKS ISOLATE THEMSELVES FROM THE WORLD.
08:53NEITHER OF THEM SOUND VERY FUN.
08:55THE MOST STRINGENT ASCETICS PRACTICE SELF-INFLICTED PAIN AND VOLUNTARY SUFFERING,
09:00AND ONE OF THESE PRACTICES WAS TO LIMIT MOBILITY BY WRAPPING THEMSELVES IN HEAVY METAL CHAINS,
09:05LIKE THE ONES FOUND WITH THE REMAINS AT KIRBAT EL-MASANI.
09:09SO GIVEN THIS, THE GRAVE LIKELY BELONGED TO AN ASCETIC WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE A MONK
09:13AND PROBABLY LIVED IN ISOLATION AT THE MONASTERY.
09:16BUT WHO WAS HE?
09:27SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS AT KIRBAT EL-MASANI, THE TEAM SALVADES WHAT LITTLE REMAINS OF THE SKELETON
09:32AND TURNS IT INTO THE LAB FOR ANALYSIS.
09:35THE RESULTS ARE STARTLING.
09:38THEY RECOVERED A SINGLE TOOTH.
09:40AN ANALYSIS OF THE ENAMEL SHOWED THE PRESENCE OF AMILEX,
09:43WHICH IS A PROTEIN ENCODED ON THE X-CHROMOSOME.
09:46ALSO NOTABLE WAS THE ABSENCE OF AMILE, WHICH IS PRESENT ONLY IN MALES,
09:51MEANING THIS WAS A WOMAN.
09:54WHILE THE USE OF CHAINS BY MALE ASCETICS FROM THIS ERA IS WIDELY KNOWN,
09:58THIS IS THE FIRST ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE THAT WOMEN ENGAGED IN SELF-TORTURE
10:03DURING THE BYZANTINE PERIOD, AN AMAZING DISCOVERY.
10:08FEMALES TENDED TO PRACTICE LESS EXTREME FORMS OF ASCETICISM
10:11BY FASTING, MEDITATING, AND PRAYING.
10:15SO JUST WHO WAS THIS WOMAN THAT TOOK HER BELIEFS TO SUCH LENGTHS?
10:19HISTORICAL RECORDS INDICATE THAT WOMEN IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
10:22BEGAN PRACTICING ASCETICISM AS EARLY AS THE 4TH CENTURY CE,
10:27AS A SPIRITUAL PURSUIT THAT LIKELY BEGAN WITH THE NOBILITY.
10:32MANY CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES WERE FOUNDED IN JERUSALEM BY
10:35WEALTHY WOMEN FROM THE ROMAN ARISTOCRACY
10:38LOOKING FOR A SPIRITUAL CONNECTION AS A WAY OF ATONING FOR THEIR LAVISH LIFESTYLES.
10:43BUT SOME OF THEM TOOK IT A STEP FURTHER.
10:46TWO WELL-KNOWN ASCETICS WERE MELANIA THE ELDER,
10:49A CHRISTIAN SAINT FROM A NOBLE FAMILY,
10:51AND HER GRANDDAUGHTER MELANIA THE YOUNGER,
10:53WHO FOUNDED CONVENTS IN THE KIDRON VALLEY
10:56AND ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES LOCATED NEAR JERUSALEM'S OLD CITY.
11:00MELANIA THE YOUNGER WAS KNOWN FOR HER EXTREME PRACTICES,
11:04WHICH INCLUDED CONFINING HERSELF IN A WOODEN BOX
11:07THAT RESTRICTED ALL MOVEMENT.
11:10SOME FEMALE ASCETICS FROM THE TIME
11:12EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO DISGUISE THEMSELVES AS MEN.
11:15PELAGIA THE PENITENT, RECOGNIZED AS A SAINT BY SEVERAL CHURCHES,
11:19WAS A FORMER SEX WORKER WHO TURNED TO CHRISTIANITY
11:22AND LED A LIFE OF SELF-DENIAL, FASTING, AND PRAYER DISGUISED AS A MAN.
11:26THIS AT LEAST SUGGESTS THAT MONASTIC LIFE
11:29WAS SOMETIMES SIMPLY NOT AVAILABLE FOR WOMEN.
11:32AS FOR WHO THE CHAINED WOMAN FOUNDED KIRBAT EL-MASANI WAS, THAT IS STILL A MYSTERY.
11:39AND THERE MAY BE MORE FORGOTTEN FEMALE ASCETICS HIDDEN BENEATH ANCIENT MONASTERIES.
11:45THE DISCOVERY OF THE FEMALE REMAINS AT KIRBAT EL-MASANI CHALLENGES TRADITIONAL HISTORICAL NARRATIVES
11:52BY SHOWING THAT WOMEN ENGAGED IN EXTREME RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN THE BYZANTINE ERA,
11:57AND HINTS THAT FEMALE ASCETICISM MAY HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE WIDESPREAD THAN PREVIOUSLY BELIEVED.
12:03JUST OVER FOUR MILES FROM THE MODERN CITY OF SOHAJ ON THE WESTERN BANK OF THE NILE,
12:16THE CLIFFS OF ATHROBIS RISE UP FROM THE DESERT FLOOR.
12:20WHEN YOU THINK OF EGYPT, YOU THINK OF THE DESERT.
12:22AND THAT'S BECAUSE 96% OF THAT COUNTRY IS EXACTLY THAT.
12:25BUT IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK, YOU CAN ALSO FIND HUGE SWATHS OF FERTILLE LAND THERE.
12:31AND ONE OF THOSE PLACES IS AN AREA SURROUNDING ATHROBIS.
12:35THIS IS BECAUSE THE NILE RIVER CARRIES SEDIMENT THOUSANDS OF MILES NORTHWARDS,
12:40THROUGH EGYPT, TOWARDS THE MEDITERANEAN.
12:42AND WHEN THE RIVER FLOODS, THESE SEDIMENTS ARE DISPERSED ACROSS THE VALLEY,
12:46TURNING THE SAND INTO RICH SOIL.
12:49TODAY, 95% OF EGYPTIANS LIVE WITHIN A FEW MILES OF THE NILE'S BANKS,
12:56A PATTERN THAT STRETCHES BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
13:01WHO BUILT THEIR LARGEST CITIES ALONG THE RIVER.
13:05A GROUP OF ARCHEOLOGISTS IS INVESTIGATING THE CLIFF'S BASE
13:08AS PART OF AN ONGOING EXCAVATION WHEN THEY SPOT SOMETHING STRANGE.
13:13THEY NOTICED STRANGELY SMOOTH LIMESTONE BLOCKS ON THE CLIFF'S FACADE.
13:18ON CLOSER INSPECTION, THEY REALIZED THEY WERE ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THE REMAINS OF A STRUCTURE,
13:24CARVED RIGHT INTO THE LANDSCAPE.
13:27AS THE TEAM BRUSHES AWAY CENTURIES OF SAND, THEY REVEAL FIGURES CARVED INTO THE LIMESTONE.
13:34TWO STAND OUT AS PARTICULARLY UNUSUAL.
13:37THESE TWO FIGURES HAVE HUMAN BODIES AND THE HEADS OF ANIMALS.
13:40ONE IS AN IBIS AND ONE IS A FALCON.
13:43THEY'RE SURROUNDED BY CARVINGS OF EGYPTIAN GODS.
13:46AND AT FIRST, YOU MIGHT THINK THAT THEY'RE GODS TOO.
13:49BUT THEY'RE ACTUALLY BEINGS KNOWN AS DEACANS.
13:52IN ANCIENT EGYPT, DEACANS REPRESENTED 36 SMALL CONSTELLATIONS OF STARS.
13:58EACH DEACAN CORRESPONDED TO ABOUT 10 DEGREES OF SKY.
14:02SO WITH 36 SECTIONS OF 10 DEGREES EACH, YOU GOT A FULL 360-DEGREE PANORAMA.
14:08AND BY TRACKING THE DEACANS AS THEY MOVED THROUGH THE SKY,
14:11EGYPTIANS WERE ABLE TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT THE DATE WAS.
14:16EACH OF THE 36 DEACANS WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR DEITY.
14:20IN THE CASE OF THE DEACANS OF ATHROBUS,
14:22THE FALCON-HEADED GOD MAY HAVE BEEN LINKED TO THE SKY GOD HORUS,
14:25WHILE THE IBIS HEAD MIGHT EVOKE THOTH, GOD OF WRITING AND WISDOM.
14:29THOUGH WE CAN'T BE SURE, BUT WE'RE LEFT WONDERING, WHY WERE THEY CARVED HERE?
14:34320 MILES FROM ATHROBUS, IN THE NORTHER REACHES OF THE NILE DELTA,
14:39A TEAM OF ARCHEOLOGISTS WORKING IN THE RUINS OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF KAFAR EL SHAIK,
14:45COME ACROSS THE WORK OF SOME OF EGYPT'S EARLIEST ASTRONOMERS.
14:49THEY FOUND A VAST COMPLEX BUILT FROM MUDBRICKS SPANNING MORE THAN 10,000 SQUARE FEET
14:56THAT CONTAINED A HUGE LIMESTONE SUNDIAL BUILT OUT OF 15-FOOT BLOCKS.
15:03THIS SUNDIAL ACTED LIKE A CLOCK ALLOWING THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS TO TRACK THE TIME THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
15:11RESEARCHERS ALSO FOUND SEVERAL OTHER TOOLS THAT INDICATED THAT THIS BUILDING WAS ALSO USED AT NIGHT.
15:17ONE OF THEM WAS A MERKET, WHICH WAS ESSENTIALLY A WEIGHT ATTACHED TO A WOODEN HANDLE
15:22THAT HELPED ANCIENT ASTRONOMERS TRACK THE ALIGNMENT OF THE DEACANS ACROSS THE NIGHT SKY.
15:27RESEARCHERS WERE ABLE TO DATE THE SITE TO THE 6TH CENTURY BCE,
15:31MAKING IT THE OLDEST KNOWN OBSERVATORY IN ALL OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
15:35COULD THIS SITE AT ATHROBUS HAVE BEEN BUILT AROUND THE SAME TIME
15:38AS PART OF THAT SOCIETY'S CURIOSITY ABOUT THE STARS?
15:43THE DEACANS AREN'T THE ONLY FIGURES CARVED INTO THE LIMESTONE.
15:46THE TEAM ALSO SPOTTED THE SILUETTE OF A PHARAOH KNOWN AS PTOLEMY VIII,
15:50ONE OF ANCIENT EGYPT'S MOST VOLATILE RULERS.
15:53PTOLEMY VIII'S REIGN WAS INCREDIBLY CHAOTIC AND LED TO THE EMPIRE'S ECONOMIC COLLAPSE.
16:00HE WAS CONSTANTLY AT ODDS WITH HIS SIBLINGS, DRIVING HIS OWN BROTHER OUT OF THE COUNTRY TO KEEP THE THRONE.
16:07HE MARRIED HIS OLDER SISTER, BUT THEY FEUDED CONSTANTLY AND HE WENT SO FAR AS TO KILL THEIR OWN SON OUT OF SPITE.
16:17BUT THE REAL TIPPING POINT CAME WHEN HE DECIDED TO MARRY HIS NIECE, A MOVE THAT SPARKED A FULL-BLOWN CIVIL WAR.
16:26PTOLEMY HUNG ONTO HIS POSITION BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH, OFTEN RELYING ON DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT FROM ROME TO KEEP HIM IN PAPER.
16:34EXPERTS DATE THE STRUCTURE AT ATHRABUS TO THE SECOND CENTURY BCE, DURING THE REIGN OF PTOLEMY VIII, HUNDREDS OF YEARS AFTER THE OBSERVATORY AT KAFRA EL SHAIKH WAS BUILT.
16:45SO WHY DID THE PHARAOH LEAVE HIS MARK ON THIS PARTICULAR STRUCTURE?
16:49AS WORK CONTINUES ON THE RUINS FROM ATHRABUS, THE ARCHEOLOGISTS REALIZE FOR THE FIRST TIME THE TRUE EXTENT OF WHAT THEY HAVE UNCOVERED.
16:58THIS STRUCTURE IS ENORMOUS. IT'S OVER 150 FEET WIDE.
17:02AND IT'S MADE UP OF THESE TWO SYMMETRICAL COLUMNS.
17:06UNFORTUNATELY, BOTH OF THOSE COLUMNS HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY A NEARBY LIMESTONE QUARRY.
17:11SO TODAY, THEY'RE ONLY ABOUT 15 FEET TALL, BUT IT'S BELIEVED THAT THEY ONCE TOWERED UP TO 60 FEET ABOVE.
17:20WE KNOW THAT ANCIENT EGYPTAN PHAROES FREQUENTLY COMMISSIONED GRAND ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS TO SHOWCASE THEIR POWER AND DEMONSTRATE THEIR DEVOTION TO THE GODS.
17:28MASSIVE STRUCTURES THAT TOOK DECADES TO COMPLETE AND WERE OFTEN INITIATED AT THE VERY START OF A PHARAOH'S REIGN.
17:35COULD THE SITE OF ATHRABUS REPRESENT A CONTINUATION OF THIS TRADITION?
17:39IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS WAS INTENDED TO SERVE AS THE TOMB OF PTOLEMY VIII HIMSELF?
17:53A SHORT DISTANCE FROM ATHRABUS, A LOCAL POLICE STATION RECEIVES A CALL THAT LEADS TO A SHOCKING DISCOVERY.
18:00POLICE LEARN THAT A SMALL GANG IS ILLEGALLY EXCAVATING A SMALL MOUND NEAR A KNOWN ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE.
18:08WHEN THEY INVESTIGATE, THEY'RE ASTONISHED TO FIND AN EXCEPTIONALLY WELL-PRESERVED TOMB.
18:16INSIDE, THEY FIND A CENTRAL LOBBY AND A SMALL BURIAL ROOM WITH DETAILED FUNERARY RIGHTS DEPICTED ON EVERY SINGLE WALL.
18:24IN THE BURIAL ROOM, THERE ARE TWO LINESTONE SARCOPHAGA, EACH CONTAINING A MUMMY.
18:30THESE MUMMIES WERE LIKELY A MARRIED COUPLE AND PROBABLY REALLY IMPORTANT IN THE AREA
18:34BECAUSE THEY WERE SURROUNDED BY DOZENS OF GRAVE OFFERINGS, INCLUDING MORE THAN 50 MUMMIFIED ANIMALS.
18:42THEY ALSO HAD CATS, THEY HAD DOGS, THEY EVEN HAD EAGLES.
18:46AND THEY HAD HUNDREDS OF FRAGMENTS OF POTTERY.
18:49AND ALL OF IT WAS JUST MEANT TO TRAVEL WITH THAT COUPLE INTO THE AFTERLIFE.
18:55RESEARCHERS ARE ABLE TO DATE THIS EXTRAORDINARY TOMB BACK MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS, TO THE TAIL END OF THE PTOLEMAIC PERIOD.
19:03THE GRAVES ARE EVIDENCE THAT HIGH-PROFILE PTOLEMAIC BURIALS TOOK PLACE EXTREMELY CLOSE TO ATHROBAS.
19:09BASED ON THIS, IT'S EVEN MORE LIKELY THAT THE STRUCTURE BURIED IN THE CLIFF FACE IS ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE TOMB.
19:15BUT THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THIS THEORY.
19:17FOR ONE, MANY BELIEVE THAT PTOLEMY VIII IS LIKELY BURIED CLOSER TO ALEXANDRIA, WHICH WAS THE CAPITAL AT THE END OF HIS REIGN, AND THE RESTING PLACE FOR MANY OF HIS RELATIVES.
19:30ANOTHER THEORY SUGGESTS THAT PTOLEMY WAS BURIED IN SYRETE, A LIBYAN COLONY THAT HE ONCE RULED.
19:36IN THE ANCIENT CITY OF PTOLEMAIS, A GRAND TOMB WAS DISCOVERED THAT SOME BELIEVE MAY HAVE BEEN INTENDED AS HIS FINAL RESTING PLACE.
19:44ULTIMATELY, WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHERE PTOLEMY IS BURIED.
19:47SO, IF THE STRUCTURE AT ATHROBAS PROBABLY ISN'T PTOLEMY'S TOMB, WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?
19:55AS RESEARCHERS FINALLY UNEARTH THE FULL FACADE BURIED IN THE CLIFFSIDE, THE BUILDING'S STRIKING SILHUETTE POINTS TO FRESH POSSIBILITIES.
20:04THE TWO TOWERS, JOINED BY A SHORTER BUILDING, IS AN ICONIC STAPLE OF ANCIENT EGYPTAN ARCHITECTURE KNOWN AS A PILON.
20:11THESE PILONS WERE BUILT TO SYMBOLIZE THE HORIZON.
20:14THE TOWERS EACH REPRESENTED A HUGE MOUNTAIN, AND THE SPACE BETWEEN THE TWO SHOWED THE VALLEY IN WHICH THE SUN SET.
20:20THEY ALSO SHARE A CLOSE RESEMBLANCE TO THE HIROGLYPH AKET, WHICH TRANSLATES TO HORIZON, AND SHOWS A SUN SETTING BETWEEN TWO LARGE HILLS.
20:29THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS WERE OBSESSED WITH THE CONCEPT OF THE HORIZON, IN PART BECAUSE IT REPRESENTED A CONSTANT THREAT TO ONE OF THEIR OLDEST AND MOST IMPORTANT GODS, RA.
20:43IT WAS BELIEVED THAT AT NIGHT, RA WOULD DESCEND BELOW THE HORIZON, WHERE HE ENTERED THE UNDERWORLD AND WAS FORCED TO BATTLE A GIANT SERPENT KNOWN AS APOPHIS.
20:55ONLY IF HE WON WOULD THE SUN RISE AGAIN.
21:00PILONS LIKE THE ONE AT ATHROBIS WERE A LITERAL REPRESENTATION OF A BOUNDARY AND WERE POSITIONED AT THE ENTRANCE TO SOME OF EGYPT'S GRANDEST TEMPLES.
21:08MOST OF THESE TEMPLES WERE BUILT TO HOUSE EGYPTIAN GODS WHO WERE CHANNELLED THROUGH SACRED SCULPTURES AND RITUALS.
21:15PRIESTS WOULD TEND TO THESE TEMPLES CONDUCTING CEREMONIES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO APPEASE THE GODS IN AN EFFORT TO MAINTAIN PEACE.
21:24SO IF THE TEMPLE AT ATHROBIS IS ONE OF THESE HOUSES, THE QUESTION BECOMES WHICH GOD WAS IT BUILT FOR?
21:32HAVING REVEALED THE ENTIRETY OF THE TEMPLE FACADE, RESEARCHERS ARE DRAWN TO ONE LAST SET OF FIGURES ETCHED INTO THE STONE.
21:40ALONGSIDE THE PHARAOH AND THE DEACANS IS THE FIGURE OF A MAN HOLDING A FLAIL.
21:44THIS IS MIN, THE GOD OF MALE FERTILITY, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DEITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT, WHICH RELIED HEAVILY ON AGRICULTURE.
21:52EACH YEAR BEFORE THE HARVEST SEASON, IMAGES OF MIN WOULD BE BROUGHT OUT OF THE TEMPLES AND INTO THE FIELDS TO BLESS THE CROBS.
22:00THE CULT OF MIN GREW EXTREMELY STRONG IN THE AREA SURROUNDING ATHROBIS, AND ENORMOUS FESTIVALS WOULD HAVE BEEN HELD IN HIS HONOR.
22:10YOU WOULD THINK THIS WOULD MAKE HIM THE STAR ATTRACTION OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE, BUT THIS ISN'T THE CASE.
22:17THERE ARE TWO OTHER GODS ETCHED INTO THE RELIEFS. ONE IS A WOMAN WITH THE HEAD OF A LION, AND THE OTHER IS A YOUNG BOY.
22:25THESE ARE MIN'S WIFE AND SON, REPIT AND COLANTHIS. IN FACT, IT'S A REPIT THAT APPEARS TO BE TAKING CENTER STAGE,
22:32WITH THE PHARAO MAKING OFFERINGS TO HER AND HER SON, RATHER THAN TO HER HUSBAND.
22:37IT'S UNCLEAR EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF ROLE REPIT OR HER SON WOULD HAVE PLAYED IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY,
22:42BUT IT LIKELY WOULD HAVE BEEN RELATED SOMEHOW TO FERTILITY.
22:46WHAT IS KNOWN IS THAT BEFORE THE GREEKS LABELED THIS PLACE ATHROBIS, EGYPTIANS CALLED IT HUT REPIT, OR DOMAIN OF REPIT.
22:55SO, IT MAY WELL BE THAT THIS TEMPLE ONCE STOOD AT THE CENTER OF AN ENTIRE TOWN DEDICATED TO THAT LION-HEADED GODDESS.
23:05TODAY, THE ATHROBIS SITE STRETCHES OVER 75 ACRES.
23:10MOST OF THE AREA IS STILL COVERED BY A LAYER OF LIMESTONE RUBBLE.
23:14BUT RESEARCHERS ARE CONFIDENT THAT THEIR ONGOING EFFORTS WILL ONE DAY UNCOVER THE ENTIRETY OF THIS STUNNING, LONG-FORGOTTEN COMPLEX.
23:23THE UNRELENTING SYRIAN DESERT SPANS MORE THAN 200,000 SQUARE MILES OF WEST ASIA, INCLUDING PARTS OF SAUDI ARABIA, SYRIA, AND 85% OF JORDAN'S LANDMASS.
23:46THE SYRIAN DESERT IS ONE OF THE MOST ARID AND HOTTEST DESERTS IN THE WORLD, WITH SUMMER TEMPERATURES FREQUENTLY REACHING OVER 100 DEGREES FARENHEIT.
23:56THE DRY LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHEASTERN JORDAN IS MADE UP OF SANDY PLATEAUS, OCCASIONALLY BROKEN UP BY MOUNTAIN RANGES AND RIVER VALLEYS CALLED WADIS.
24:07WHILE THERE'S EVIDENCE OF HUMAN ACTIVITY IN JORDAN GOING BACK TO THE PALEOLYPIC PERIOD, LARGE SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY WERE FIRST SETTLED BY NOMADIC TRIBES LIKE THE CANANITES AND SHASU IN THE BRONZE AGE BETWEEN 3200 AND 1200 BC.
24:21THESE SETTLEMENTS WERE CONSOLIDATED INTO KINGDOMS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS UNTIL THE CLASSICAL PERIOD WHEN JORDAN CAME UNDER GREEK AND ROMAN INFLUENCE.
24:31NOT SURPRISINGLY, THERE'S BEEN A WEALTH OF DISCOVERIES FOUND BENEATH THE SAND OF JORDAN'S DESERTS.
24:39THE MOST FAMOUS IS THE ROSE CITY OF PETRA, MADE UP OF ROCK-CUT TOMBS AND ADVANCED WATER SYSTEMS.
24:45IN THE NORTH, THE ROMAN CITY OF JERASH WAS REVEALED TO CONTAIN A HIPPODROME AND THE TEMPLE OF ARNAPIS.
24:53A TEAM OF ARCHEOLOGISTS IS BUSY AT WORK IN THE SOUTHWESTERN BADIA REGION OF JORDAN WHEN THEY COME ACROSS A SURPRISING DISCOVERY.
25:01THEY WERE SURVEYING AN AREA BETWEEN THE ALJAPHER BASIN AND A NEARBY MOUNTAIN RANGE IN A FAIRLY OPEN AND FLAT SECTION OF THE DESERT,
25:10AND DISCOVERED A CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE MADE FROM ROCKS AND STONES WITH AN ALTER-LIKE FORMATION IN THE CENTER,
25:19AS WELL AS A STONE HEARTH WITH TRACES OF BURNT CHARCOAL.
25:27IN ADDITION TO THE ALTER AND HEARTH, THERE WERE SEVERAL SMALLER STONES IN THE SHAPE OF ANIMAL FIGURINES PLACED AROUND THE PERIMETER.
25:35BUT THE MOST STRIKING THING INSIDE THE ROUND ROCK FORMATION WAS TWO STANDING VERTICAL STONES CALLED STELES, EACH WITH A HUMAN FACE CARVED INTO THEM.
25:46THE FIRST ONE STOOD AROUND 2 FEET 3 INCHES TALL AND BORE A SIMPLE SET OF EYES, NOSE AND MOUTH.
25:53THE TALLER ONE AT OVER THREE AND A HALF FEET DISPLAYED A LARGER HUMAN FACE, ALONG WITH A NUMBER OF VERTICAL LINES CARVED BESIDE IT IN A UNIQUE DESIGN OR PATTERN.
26:03SO WHAT WERE THEY FOR? AND HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN STANDING HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE?
26:13SAMPLES FROM THE STRUCTURE IN THE SOUTHWESTERN BADIA REGION OF JORDAN ARE TAKEN FOR RADIO CARBON DATING.
26:23OVER 15 SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED FROM THE CHARCOAL REMAINS FOUND AMONG THE HEARTH'S ROCKS AND STONES.
26:31THE RESULTS WERE UNIFORMLY CONSISTENT, PUTTING THE SITE AT AROUND 7,000 B.C., WHICH FALLS IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC PERIOD.
26:43THE NEOLITHIC ERA SPANS MORE THAN FIVE MILLENNIA, FROM 10,000 TO 4500 B.C.E., SO IT ENCOMPASSES A LOT OF CHANGE IN HUMAN ACTIVITY.
26:53IN JORDAN, JUST LIKE IN OTHER PLACES, THERE WAS A SLOW TRANSITION FROM TRIBAL HUNTER-GATHERER SOCIETIES TO CULTURES WITH DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS.
27:04FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE STRANGE FORMATION REVEALS A POSSIBLE CLUE.
27:09THE CIRCULAR ARRANGEMENT OF THE STRUCTURE PLUS THE ULTRA-LIKE FORMATION IN THE CENTER SUGGESTED IT MAY HAVE BEEN CONNECTED TO AN ANCIENT RITUAL OR CEREMONY.
27:20AND THAT LINE OF THINKING WAS SUPPORTED BY THE ANTHROPOMORPHIC NATURE OF THE TWO STONE CARVINGS.
27:27THE PRACTICE OF GIVING HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS TO NON-HUMAN ENTITIES HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MILLENNIA.
27:34WHETHER IT'S ANIMALS, DEITIES, OR COMPLETELY INANIMATE OBJECTS SUCH AS ROCKS AND STONES.
27:41MANY ANCIENT CULTURES IMPOSED HUMAN TRAITS AS A FORM OF STORYTELLING TO PASS DOWN MYTHS AND FOLKLORE.
27:48BUT IT ALSO HAD A DEEP SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE.
27:53ONE OF THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF THIS WAS FOUND AT GOBEKLI TEPE, A SETTLEMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA AND WHAT WE NOW CALL TURKEY.
28:01IT WAS INHABITED FROM ROUGHLY 9500 TO 8000 B.C., ALSO THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD.
28:07AND IT FEATURED A LARGE STONE CIRCLE WITH PILLARS DECORATED WITH CARVINGS OF HUMAN FEATURES LIKE ARMS, HANDS, AND CLOTHING.
28:15THE CARVINGS PROVIDED ARCHEOLOGISTS WITH RARE INSIGHTS INTO A POSSIBLE PREHISTORIC RELIGION, AS WELL AS THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE PERIOD.
28:24SINCE THE STONE CIRCLE AT GOBEKLI TEPE DIDN'T APPEAR TO HAVE A FUNCTION CONNECTED TO HUNTING, FARMING, OR DWELLING, IT WAS BELIEVED TO BE A COMMUNAL OR SPIRITUAL GATHERING PLACE.
28:35IF THAT WERE THE CASE, IT WOULD MAKE IT ONE OF THE WORLD'S FIRST KNOWN TEMPLES.
28:40SO IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE STRANGE DISCOVERY IN JORDAN SERVED A SIMILAR PURPOSE?
28:45A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE TWO STONE CARVINGS LEADS TO A SURPRISING CONNECTION.
28:52THE HUMAN FACES DEPICTED WERE CARVED IN SIMPLE, CLEAN LINES CONSISTENT WITH OTHER CARVINGS OF THAT PERIOD.
29:00BUT IT WAS THE CURIOUS PATTERN EDGED BESIDE THE FACE OF THE LARGEST STONE THAT BECAME THE FOCUS.
29:07TWO LINES IN A V-SHAPE COMING TOGETHER TO CREATE AN ENCLOSED CIRCLE LIKE A KEYHOLE.
29:14WHAT COULD IT MEAN?
29:16WELL, GIVEN THAT THE STONE STRUCTURE WAS CARBON-DATED TO 7,000 B.C., THE KEYHOLE SHAPE WAS ULTIMATELY IDENTIFIED AS BEING THE SAME SHAPE AS A NEOLITHIC HUNTING TRAP CALLED A DESERT KITE.
29:30DESERT KITES WERE STONE WALLS, OFTEN HUNDREDS OF FEET LONG, THAT CONVERGED INTO A ROUND CONTAINED SPACE.
29:39THEY WERE BUILT BY NOMADIC TRIBES DURING THE HUNTER-GATHERER PHASE OF THE EARLY NEOLITHIC PERIOD AND USED TO TRAP ANIMALS LIKE DEER AND GASELES.
29:48HUNTING PARTIES WOULD DRIVE HERDS INTO THE OPEN END OF THE KITES AND DOWN INTO THE CONFINED SPACE, WHERE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PARTY CORRALLED THE ANIMALS FOR SLAUGHTER.
29:58THEY WERE NAMED IN THE 1920s BY BRITISH ROYAL AIR FORCE PILOTS FLYING ACROSS THE REGION.
30:04THEY WERE MARKED ON THEIR RESEMBLANCE TO KITES AND THE NAME STUCK.
30:08TO DATE, THERE HAVE BEEN OVER 6,000 OF THESE ANCIENT ANIMAL TRAPS IDENTIFIED ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST.
30:14BUT WERE ANY OF THEM CONNECTED TO THE SOUTHEASTERN BODY A ROCK CIRCLE?
30:21A LARGER SURVEY IS CONDUCTED TO INCLUDE THE SURROUNDING AREA.
30:31AND IT DOESN'T TAKE LONG TO FIND ANSWERS.
30:34SURE ENOUGH, THE SURROUNDING DESERT LANDSCAPE SHOWED EVIDENCE OF MULTIPLE DESERT KITES SHAPED MUCH LIKE THE ONE CARVED NEXT TO THE FACE ON THE STONE.
30:42SO THERE'S A STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ITEMS FOUND INSIDE THE ROCK CIRCLE AND THE HUNTING METHODS OF THE NEOLITHIC NOMADS WHO BUILT IT.
30:50THE BIGGER PICTURE THAT EMERGED WAS OF A HUNTING CAMPSITE FEATURING SEVERAL LARGE DESERT KITES.
30:58THE ROCK CIRCLE SERVED AS THE SPIRITUAL CENTER FOR THE HUNTERS, A PLACE TO ENGAGE IN CEREMONIES OR RITUALS CONNECTED TO THE UPCOMING HUNT.
31:08THE PRESENCE OF THE ALTAR, HEARTH AND SMALLER CARVED ANIMAL FIGURINES LIKELY ALL PLAYED A ROLE IN THESE RITUALS.
31:17WHETHER IT WAS TO INVOKE SUPERNATURAL FORCES FOR A SUCCESSFUL HUNT OR TO BRING OUT AN ABUNDANCE OF PREY TO CAPTURE.
31:25THIS REMARKABLE NEOLITHIC STONE ALTAR DISCOVERED IN THE JORDAN DESERT REPRESENTS A CRITICAL LINK BETWEEN MASS HUNTING AND RITUAL PERFORMANCE
31:35AND MAY BE ONE OF THE EARLIEST EXAMPLES OF ART AS AN EXPRESSION OF FAITH.
31:49SET IN THE HEART OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO, WHITE SAND'S NATIONAL PARK EXTENDS OVER 275 SQUARE MILES, DAZZLING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VISITORS EVERY YEAR.
32:01MOST OF THE WORLD'S DESERT SAND IS MADE OF QUARTS GRAIN, TINY PIECES OF ROCK WEATHERED BY YEARS OF EXPOSURE TO THE ELEMENTS.
32:08BUT HERE, THE SAND IS ALMOST ALL COMPOSED OF PURE GYPSUM, A BRIGHT WHITE MINERAL THAT CAN BE ALMOST BLINDING IN THE SUN.
32:17GYPSUM IS QUITE A COMMON MINERAL, BUT GYPSUM SAND IS EXTREMELY RARE BECAUSE IT'S WATER SOLUBLE.
32:24LIKE SALT OR SUGAR, IT DISSOLVES IN WATER AND WON'T SOLIDIFY AGAIN UNLESS THE MOISTURE EVAPORATES.
32:31BUT WHITE SAND'S NATIONAL PARK LIES AT THE BOTTOM OF A BASIN SURROUNDED BY THE SAN ANDREAS AND SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS.
32:38THESE MOUNTAINS ARE MADE UP OF LAYERS OF GYPSUM. SO WHEN IT RAINS, THE MINERALS WASH DOWN INTO THE BASIN, AND WHEN THE WATER EVENTUALLY EVAPORATES, THE SAND IS LEFT BEHIND.
32:48A NATIONAL PARK BIOLOGIST EXPLORING THE SAND AFTER A RAINSTORM NOTICES SOMETHING STRANGE.
32:55HE SPOTTED SETS OF DISAPPEARING FOOTPRENTS. WHEN THE GROUND WAS WET, HE COULD CLEARLY MAKE OUT SEVERAL TRACKS, WHICH SEEMED TO BELONG TO A RANGE OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS.
33:05BUT THEN WHEN THE EARTH DRYED UP AGAIN, THEY JUST VANISHED.
33:09TODAY, WE KNOW THEM AS GHOST TRACKS. BUT THEY BAFFLED EXPERTS FOR ALMOST A CENTURY.
33:15IN THE 1930S, A LOCAL TRAPPER DESCRIBED FINDING HUGE, COMMA-SHAPED PRINTS UP TO 20 INCHES LONG.
33:22AT FIRST, MANY BELIEVED THESE WERE THE FIRST CONFIRMED EVIDENCE OF BIGFOOT.
33:27BUT NOW WE KNOW THAT THESE TRACKS ACTUALLY BELONG TO A GIANT GROUND SLOTH THAT ROAMED NORTH AMERICA TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO.
33:34HERE'S WHERE IT GETS ODD. INSIDE ONE OF THE SLOTH TRACKS WAS WHAT APPEARED TO BE A HUMAN FOOTPRINT.
33:41DOZENS MORE OF THESE PRINTS WERE SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE DESERT.
33:44BUT THERE ARE NO OTHER CLUES TO TELL US WHO THEY MIGHT HAVE BELONGED TO.
33:48THERE ARE NO REMNANTS OF ANCIENT HUMAN SETTLEMENTS ANYWHERE IN WHITE SANDS.
33:52NO ARROWHEADS, STONE TOOLS, OR TRACES OF BUILDINGS.
33:56WHO WERE THESE MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE?
33:59AS INTEREST IN THE FOOTPRINT GROWS, SOME EXPERTS WONDER WHETHER THEY COULD HAVE BEEN LEFT BY ONE OF NORTH AMERICA'S OLDEST PEOPLE, KNOWN AS CLOVIS CULTURE.
34:09CLOVIS CULTURE WAS FIRST DISCOVERED 300 MILES NORTHEAST OF WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF A VILLAGE CALLED FOLSOM.
34:19A LOCAL RANCHER WAS RIDING ALONG A GULLY WHEN HE SPOTTED THE BONES OF ICE-AGE BISON AND MAMMOTS BURIED IN THE EMBANKMENT.
34:27CUT MARKS ON THE BONES SUGGESTED THAT THESE ANIMALS HADN'T DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES.
34:32THEY'D BEEN BUTCHERED.
34:3420 YEARS LATER, AN ARCHEOLOGIST WORKING NEAR THE CITY OF CLOVIS BEGAN TO UNCOVER EXQUISITELY CRAFTED STONE POINTS.
34:41THE POINTS HAD BEEN CARVED WITH GROOVES ALONG THEIR EDGES TO MAKE THEM AS SHARP AS POSSIBLE.
34:47AND THEY BECAME KNOWN AS CLOVIS POINTS.
34:50OVER THE LAST CENTURY, MORE THAN 10,000 CLOVIS POINTS HAVE BEEN FOUND SCATTERED ACROSS NORTH AMERICA, DATED BETWEEN ROUGHLY 9,500 AND 9,000 BCE.
35:00THEY'RE OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE BONES OF LARGE ANIMALS, INDICATING THAT THE CLOVIS CULTURE THRIVED ON BUTCHERING BIG GAME.
35:07SO, COULD THE MYSTERIOUS WHITE SANDS FOOTPRINTS BE FROM THIS PERIOD?
35:11WAS THE GIANT SLOTH THEY WERE FOLLOWING INTENDED AS PREY?
35:14IN ORDER TO CONFIRM WHETHER THESE PRINTS COULD BELONG TO THE CLOVIS HUNTERS, A TEAM BEGINS AN ELABORATE EFFORT TO DATE THE FOOTPRINTS.
35:23THEY IDENTIFIED 61 HUMAN TRACKS IN TOTAL, TRAPPED IN MULTIPLE LAYERS OF EARTH.
35:29BUT THESE PRINTS AREN'T PHYSICAL OBJECTS, WHICH MAKES THEM IMPOSSIBLE TO DATE.
35:34SO, THEY SEARCHED THE SEDIMENT LAYERS FOR ORGANIC MATERIAL AND FOUND DOZENS OF PRESERVED RUPIA SEROSA SEEDS, ALSO KNOWN AS DITCHGRASS.
35:44BY DATING THE SEEDS DIRECTLY ABOVE AND BELOW THE FOOTPRINTS, THEY WERE ABLE TO ESTABLISH THAT THE PRINTS WERE FAR TOO OLD TO BELONG TO THE CLOVIS CULTURE.
35:53IN FACT, THESE WERE FAR TOO OLD TO BELONG TO ANY KNOWN CULTURE.
35:57THESE TRACKS WERE LEFT BETWEEN 21 AND 23,000 YEARS AGO.
36:02THE STAGGERING RESULTS SENT SHOCKWAVES THROUGH THE ARCHEOLOGICAL WORLD.
36:07THIS DISCOVERY CHANGES EVERYTHING.
36:09FOR DECADES, THE CLOVIS FIRST THEORY WAS WIDELY ACCEPTED.
36:13THE IDEA THAT THE CLOVIS WERE THE VERY FIRST HUMANS TO ARRIVE IN NORTH AMERICA, AND THAT THEY DID THAT NO MORE THAN 13,000 YEARS AGO.
36:20BUT HERE WE HAVE EVIDENCE OF A FAR OLDER GROUP MAKING THAT JOURNEY MUCH EARLIER.
36:27THE CLOVIS FIRST THEORY SUGGESTED THAT HUMANS REACHED AMERICA BY CROSSING THE BEARING STRAIGHT.
36:32A LAND BRIDGE THAT FORMED BETWEEN MODERN DAY RUSSIA AND ALASKA.
36:36THEY WOULD THEN HAVE SPREAD SOUTHWARDS, FOLLOWING AN ICE-FREE CORONOR AS MASSIVE ICE SHEETS,
36:41COVERING MUCH OF MODERN DAY CANADA, GRADUALLY RECEDED.
36:45THIS THEORY RELIES ON THE IDEA THAT THIS WAVE OF MIGRATION TO THE AMERICAS, LED BY CLOVIS CULTURE, WAS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND.
36:53BUT THESE ANCIENT FOOTPRINTS CHALLENGE THAT NOTION.
36:56SO WERE THERE PEOPLE HERE ALREADY?
36:59NEARLY 3,000 MILES AWAY, A TEAM OF ARCHEOLOGISTS WORKING ALONG ALASKA'S TANINA RIVER MAKE THEIR OWN ASTONISHING DISCOVERY,
37:08UNEARTHING YET MORE TRACES OF SOME OF THE EARLIEST NATIVE AMERICANS.
37:12THEY WERE CONDUCTING SURVEYS IN A HEAVILY WOODED REMOTE AREA WHEN THEY FOUND THE REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT CAMPSITE.
37:19IT INCLUDED A RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE AND A CENTRAL HEARTH THAT WAS LIKELY BUILT TO COOK FOOD.
37:24INSIDE THE HEARTH, THEY UNCOVERED THE CREMATED REMAINS OF A YOUNG CHILD, WHO HAD DIED AROUND 3 YEARS OLD.
37:31BELOW THE HEARTH, TWO MORE INFANTS WERE UNCOVERED. THIS TIME, THEY WERE BURIED BUT NOT CREMATED.
37:37NOW, THESE CHILDREN WERE MUCH YOUNGER THAN THE FIRST, WITH THE OLDEST BEING NO MORE THAN SEVEN MONTHS OLD.
37:43THEY HAD BEEN BURIED IN GRAVES FILLED WITH OFFERINGS, INCLUDING DECORATED ANTLERS AND A SET OF STONE TOOLS.
37:51IN ORDER TO DATE THESE BURIALS, THE RESEARCHERS CAREFULLY EXTRACT DNA FROM ONE OF THE INFANTS AND BEGAN A DETAILED ANALYSIS.
37:59THE RESULTS PROVED THAT THESE INFANTS WERE BURIED AT THE END OF THE PALEOLITHIC ERA, AROUND 11,500 YEARS AGO.
38:06THIS ALONE MARKS AN INCREDIBLE DISCOVERY, BECAUSE DNA THIS ANCIENT IS REALLY RARE.
38:11BUT THESE SAMPLES ALSO ALLOWED US TO LOOK BACK EVEN FURTHER INTO THE PAST, AND FORM A DETAILED PICTURE OF THESE CHILDREN'S GENETIC ANCESTRY.
38:19UP UNTIL THIS DISCOVERY, TWO MAIN GROUPS OF NATIVE AMERICANS HAD BEEN IDENTIFIED, SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN NATIVE AMERICANS.
38:26BUT THESE INFANTS BELONGED TO NEITHER.
38:29INSTEAD, THEY PROVED THE EXISTENCE OF A THIRD PREVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED GROUP.
38:34TODAY, THIS GROUP IS KNOWN AS THE ANCIENT BARRINGIANS.
38:38WE NOW BELIEVE THAT THE ANCIENT BARRINGIANS BEGAN TO SPLIT FROM THEIR EAST ASIAN ANCESTORS AROUND 25,000 YEARS AGO.
38:45BASED ON THIS GENETIC EVIDENCE, IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THESE ANCIENT NATIVE AMERICANS FORMED ONE OF THE EARLIEST KNOWN WAVES OF MIGRATION TO NORTH AMERICA.
38:53THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE CLOVIS CULTURE APPEARED.
38:56THE DISCOVERY OF THE ANCIENT BARRINGIAN POPULATION PRESENTS FASCINATING POSSIBILITIES FOR THE RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATING THE WHITE SAND'S FOOTPRINTS.
39:16FINDING AN ENTIRELY NEW ANCIENT AMERICAN GROUP MEANS HUMANS DIDN'T REACH NORTH AMERICA IN ONE LARGE WAVE OF MIGRATION LIKE WE PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.
39:25INSTEAD, THEY APPEAR TO HAVE ARRIVED AS A BUNCH OF SMALL, GENETICALLY DISTINCT GROUPS, MANY OF WHICH MAY STILL BE UNDISCOVERED.
39:34SO NOW THE QUESTION BECOMES, COULD THE PEOPLE WHO LEFT THEIR FOOTPRINTS IN THE DESERT HAVE BEEN ONE OF THESE UNIDENTIFIED GROUPS OF ANCIENT NATIVE AMERICANS?
39:43AND IF SO, WHAT'S THE STORY OF HOW THAT POPULATION MADE ITS WAY TO WHAT IS NOW THE SOUTHWESTERN U.S.?
39:52THE TRUTH IS, WE DON'T KNOW HOW THESE ANCIENT HUMANS REACH NEW MEXICO.
39:56IT'S POSSIBLE THEY MAY HAVE TRAVELLED BY BOAT, FOLLOWING THE SIBERIAN AND ALASKAN SHORELINE SOUTH, BEFORE TRAVELING INLAND ON FOOT.
40:03OR THEY MAY HAVE FOUND A DIFFERENT PASSAGE, ONE WE STILL DON'T KNOW ABOUT.
40:08TO THIS DAY, THE WHITE SAND'S FOOTPRINTS REMAIN SHROUDED IN MYSTERY.
40:13BUT WHILE THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TELL US WHO THESE PEOPLE WERE, THEY DO PAINT A VIVID PICTURE OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THEY LIVED.
40:21TODAY, WHITE SAND'S NATIONAL PARK IS A TRUE DESERT, BUT IT WASN'T ALWAYS.
40:27THE DITCHWEED SEEDS THAT WERE FOUND TRAPPED IN LAYERS OF SEDIMENT ARE ACTUALLY AQUATIC PLANTS.
40:33TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, THESE PLANTS GREW ON THE BANKS OF AN ENORMOUS BODY OF WATER CALLED LAKE OTERRO.
40:40LAKE OTERRO WAS HUGE.
40:43IT COVERED ROUGHLY 1,600 SQUARE MILES, TRANSFORMING THIS DESERT LANDSCAPE INTO A THRIVING WETLAND.
40:50THEN, AROUND 23,000 YEARS AGO, THE REGION BECAME DRYER AND THE LAKE RECEDED, LEAVING BEHIND A SOFT SURFACE COVERED BY GYPSUM SAND AND SILT.
41:00THIS WAS THE SURFACE THAT ENDED UP PRESERVING THE WHITE SAND'S FOOTPRINTS.
41:05WE DON'T JUST SEE HUMANS STALKING GIANT SLOTHS HERE.
41:08OTHER FOSSILIZED TRACKS PROVE THAT THERE WAS A WHOLE RANGE OF ANIMALS PASSING THROUGH THE SHORES OF LAKE OTERRO.
41:14YOU'VE GOT MAMMOTHS, YOU'VE GOT CAMELS.
41:17I MEAN, THEY'RE TRAVELING IN HERDS AS FAMILIES.
41:20IN ONE SPOT, THERE WAS EVEN FOOTPRINTS THAT SHOW A BABY MAMMOTH SPINNING AROUND AND MAYBE EVEN PLAYING NEXT TO ITS PARENTS.
41:28IN ALMOST ALL CASES, THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS AND DIFFERENT SPECIES SEEM TO HAVE BEEN PEACEFUL.
41:35IT'S EVEN POSSIBLE THAT HUMANS WOULD HAVE FOLLOWED ANIMALS HERE, TRAVELING IN ONE LARGE EXTENDED COMMUNITY FROM ONE LAKE TO ANOTHER.
41:43THE EXTRAORDINARY TRACKS IN WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK SERVE AS A FASCINATING TIME CAPSULE, BRINGING A LONG GONE WORLD TO LIFE USING LITTLE MORE THAN FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND,
41:55WHILE POSSIBLY REWRITING THE HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST INHABITANTS.
42:00THE HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST INHABITANTS.
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