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In Mexico and Guatemala stand great temples and pyramids built long ago by the Aztecs and Mayans, two extremely advanced civilizations. Despite their many breakthroughs much of these cultures and their practices remain shrouded in mystery.
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00:00This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.
00:16The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations,
00:21but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
00:30A thousand years ago, Indian empires flourished in what is now Mexico and Guatemala.
00:43People built incredible cities and awesome pyramids.
00:48They often used these same pyramids, however, for a grim ritual.
00:56The sacrifice of human beings.
01:00What sort of men were these?
01:04What dark secrets are entombed inside their massive pyramids?
01:17Vast areas of Central America are dense, uninhabited jungles.
01:22For centuries, the only regular visitors have been men known as Chicleros.
01:26They come in search of the Chiclay tree, from whose sack chewing gum is made.
01:34Often, it was these Chicleros who first discovered towering, blind-shrouded mounds.
01:41Ancient stone pyramids.
01:43All over Mexico and Guatemala, pyramids lie in ruins, remains of many separate Indian cultures,
01:53some dating back thousands of years.
01:55The few pyramids that have been restored are among the most awesome works of antiquity.
02:02In Cholula, there is a pyramid which, in volume, is the largest building on earth.
02:15It's the largest building on earth.
02:171,400 feet on each side, it covers 45 acres.
02:21To probe its construction, archaeologists dug four miles of tunnels inside the pyramid.
02:30They found steps of three earlier pyramids built one on top of another.
02:35The oldest dates back some 1800 years.
02:44In the heart of Mexico City, workers are digging out an Aztec pyramid.
02:55Covering two city blocks, the ruins consist of nine overlapping pyramids.
03:00Archaeologists are restoring the original appearance.
03:11It was here, in 1520, that Spanish conquistadores, led by Hernán Cortés,
03:17marveled at a gleaming white pyramid 100 feet high.
03:24It supported temples dedicated to the chief Aztec gods.
03:28The many temples and plazas comprised one of the great religious and ceremonial centers of ancient Mexico.
03:39When the Spaniards arrived in the New World,
03:42most of these pyramids were already in ruins.
03:46Sources of mystery, even to the native peoples.
03:50Later, travelers in Mexico who knew that the Egyptian pyramids were burial monuments,
03:56asked whether the pyramids of Mexico might contain tombs or buried treasures.
04:01When that was found, they wondered what strange meaning these pyramids might have had.
04:09Ancient American pyramids are found in the ruins of great architectural complexes.
04:14At the top of each pyramid is a platform reached by a steep staircase.
04:24Here stands a temple consisting of a few dark rooms.
04:27The ruins of the town of Mexico.
04:32Why did these tiny temples require such massive bases?
04:39Near Mexico City, sprawl the sun-baked ruins of Teotihuacan,
04:44largest and most mysterious city of ancient America.
04:48Dominating its avenues are huge pyramids.
04:51Here, the enigmas begin.
04:57Facing west, the largest pyramid of Teotihuacan was dedicated to the sun god.
05:04Only half the height of the largest Egyptian pyramid,
05:07the pyramid of the sun nevertheless covers the same immense area,
05:12almost 600,000 square feet.
05:16If the builders had contact with Egypt, no one can say.
05:19Recently, an ancient tunnel was discovered under the sun pyramid.
05:27It leads to a natural cavern where only a few pottery shards have been found.
05:32To Mexican Indians, caves symbolize Mother Earth.
05:37Some archaeologists believe the cave was the legendary birthplace of the pyramid builder's tribe.
05:42It's discovery has fueled speculation that somewhere in the huge bulk of the pyramid are hidden chambers,
05:54perhaps even a tomb.
05:59300 meters from the sun pyramid is a group of ancient holes forming a triple cross.
06:04From this spot, on June 21st, the longest day of the year,
06:12the sun can be seen to rise over the pyramid's third notch,
06:16precisely marking the summer solstice.
06:18Of the people who built Teotihuacan, little is known.
06:30To their origin, we have scarcely a clue.
06:32The city flourished for centuries.
06:37Then, suddenly, 1200 years ago, it was burnt and abandoned for reasons unknown.
06:44No other great city left so few traces of its demise.
06:52No hieroglyphic writing or apocalyptic legends record the city's end.
06:59Did the climate change suddenly?
07:01Could disease, hunger, and civil strife have made the city vulnerable to invaders from the north?
07:11Why was their city of over 200,000 laid out in such precise grids?
07:19What was their religion?
07:22Who were their gods?
07:25We are still searching for clues.
07:28One pyramid is decorated with great serpents.
07:38The snake heads resemble Quetzalcoatl, an important Mexican deity of later centuries.
07:45A strange blend of god, man, and beast, he was revered for introducing learning and art.
07:51He shares the pyramid with Tlaloc, the fierce Mexican rain god.
08:00Remarkably, the same goggle eyes are found 700 miles to the east in ruined cities whose people we do know.
08:08They were a separate culture, the Mayan, and were somehow connected to Teotihuacan.
08:14Within a century of the end of Teotihuacan, the Mayan empire also collapsed.
08:24At the Mayan center of Chichen Itza, there is a temple known as the Caracol.
08:28It was a solar and astronomical observatory used a thousand years ago by Mayan priests.
08:40Night after night, astronomer priests charted the movements of heavenly bodies,
08:45making sightings with sticks or hollow tubes.
08:48Despite their lack of modern instruments, these early astronomers created a solar calendar
08:55whose accuracy was unrivaled until the 19th century.
09:02They recorded the rising of stars, had an excellent lunar calendar, and could warn of eclipses years in advance.
09:10The Dresden Codex, an ancient Mayan manuscript, preserves their calculation of the motions of Venus,
09:17accurate to one hour in a span of 300 years.
09:24For the Maya, the cycle of day and night was linked to the supernatural world of life and death.
09:33The nine tiers of their pyramids represented the nine levels of the underworld.
09:39Why, if the pyramids were connected with death, did they not have tombs?
09:46In 1949, archaeologist Alberto Rus was exploring a pyramid at the Mayan center of Palenque.
09:58To his surprise, he uncovered a rubble-filled staircase leading down to the heart of the pyramid.
10:09At the bottom of the staircase, Rus found skeletons of several youths, perhaps placed there as guardians.
10:21Then, he broke through to a large vaulted room.
10:28Around the walls were stucco reliefs of Mayan gods, known as lords of darkness.
10:34In the center of the chamber, Dr. Rus saw a huge stone monolith covered with carvings.
10:43We lifted the flat inscribed stone and found a large opening that was covered with another stone.
10:56We lifted that one, too, and found a sarcophagus in which appeared a skeleton of a man with all his jade jewelry.
11:06Over the man's face was a mask made of 200 jade pieces.
11:13To the Mayans, more precious than gold.
11:18The sarcophagus lid, its colors restored, shows a priest looking up through sacred trees.
11:24It appears the lid was intended to help the deceased to heavenly paradise.
11:34The pyramids, however, had another more grisly connection with death.
11:38They were often the scene of grim ceremonies ending in human sacrifice.
11:43Why were such technically advanced people so mesmerized by blood and death?
12:00When archaeologists excavated the Karakol at Chichen Itza, they found 14 skulls on a platform adjoining the main stairway.
12:08The skulls belonged to victims of human sacrifice.
12:22The most common form of sacrifice, the heart was torn still beating from the victim's chest by the high priest and offered to the gods.
12:44The victims were prisoners of war, slaves, or even devout volunteers.
12:53Often, the body was divided among priests and populace and evil.
13:02According to Dr. Rus, we don't know whether the Mayans performed sacrifices on the tops of the pyramids.
13:09For the Aztecs, we have information from the writings of the chronicles, including some drawings.
13:21And there you can see that they made human sacrifices in front of the temple on the tops of the pyramids.
13:31After they killed the sacrificial victims, they threw them down the stairs.
13:35In front of the pyramid of Mexico City was a bizarre structure called the skull rack.
13:50According to Spanish reports, it contained 136,000 human heads.
13:56The Aztec obsession with sacrifice was no isolated example.
14:06Five centuries earlier, the Mayans of Chichen Itza also practiced sacrifice.
14:12It is believed that this platform once supported poles on which were stacked the heads of sacrificial victims.
14:26There were many situations that called for sacrifice.
14:29The rain god had to be appeased.
14:31And to protect the sun during its nightly passage through the underworld,
14:37priests felt compelled to make daily offerings of human hearts and blood.
14:45Ancient Mexican and Mayan art is rich in death-inspired images.
14:49Nightmare visions of the grotesque, the fantastic, and the terrifying abound.
15:03The famous calendar stone found near the Aztec pyramid embodies the highest flowering of their science and art.
15:19At its center is the sun god.
15:22Sticking out in the form of a knife, his tongue depicts the god's incessant demand to be fed with human hearts and blood.
15:29Why were these people so preoccupied with death?
15:36How could cultures so advanced in art and science be so obsessed by blood and sacrifice?
15:43They were a people who invented zero and counted time in the millions of years.
15:50Yet, slaughter fascinated them more than anything else.
15:54In the shadow of the pyramid was the bustling marketplace.
16:00Amidst clay pots and garden vegetables, a young man leads a procession.
16:06He is dressed in the garb of the god to whom he will be sacrificed.
16:11Such sacrificial victims felt especially honored, since their souls would rise to the house of the sun.
16:18For ancient Mexicans, there were no absolute barriers between the living and the dead.
16:26They feared death, but believed it flowed naturally from life.
16:31We know their descendants, simple corn farmers living in the torrid plains and jungle villages of Central America.
16:38In the Yucatán, most of the villagers are pure Mayans.
16:47Today, the Mayans' descendants remain suspended between ancient and modern worlds.
16:53Tied to unfathomed mysteries in the buried cities of their ancestors.
16:58Deep in the Guatemala jungle is the most awesome of all Mayan ruins, the fabulous city of Tikal.
17:11Like ancient skyscrapers, its huge pyramids pierce the rainforest canopy.
17:18They support dark, narrow temples with walls up to 40 feet thick.
17:23Crowning the temples are giant roof combs, covered with ornate but decaying sculpture.
17:30Once, gleaming white plaster coated the pyramids.
17:35The temples were painted a gaudy red.
17:37Great crowds gathered in the plazas to watch spectacles of pomp and sacrifice.
17:46The population didn't have access to the temples, which were on tops of the pyramids.
17:51The only ones allowed were the priests.
17:56For the ordinary people, the pyramids were proof that the ruling class had great power,
18:07that they had better obey.
18:11Perhaps the pyramids were symbols of ruling class power designed to awe and frighten the populace.
18:17The pyramid stairs are so steep that some tourists have slipped and fallen to their deaths.
18:25Perhaps they were built so that bodies of sacrificial victims would roll unimpeded to the ground.
18:35Everywhere at Tikal are altars paired with vertical stones called stelae.
18:40A common theme of altar carvings is the bound prisoner destined for decapitation.
18:50On one stone, skull and thigh bones represent the captive dispatched by two executioners with stone knives.
18:58Why are there so many altars at Tikal?
19:05Could it have known the horrors of mass sacrifice?
19:09More than 50,000 people once lived in Tikal.
19:13But in 889 AD, the dates carved in stone suddenly stopped.
19:20The city was mysteriously abandoned.
19:23The whole Mayan empire collapsed.
19:25No one knows why.
19:31The jungle has today reclaimed its territory.
19:35Once gleaming temples have crumbled to ruin.
19:42No other civilizations vanished so mysteriously.
19:46Most experts believe the city dwellers fled to small villages, leaving the ceremonial centers empty.
19:57Why did they leave?
19:58What chased them out?
20:07In ancient America, gods and men met in ways we may never understand.
20:11For these peoples, reality was multileveled, like the steps of their pyramids.
20:31In a system of mystical thinking alien to us, pyramids were symbolic stairways to heaven,
20:37the ultimate in spiritual technology.
20:42Somewhere, in the vast gulf between the pyramid builders' accomplishments and their practices,
20:48lies the answer to their mysterious disappearance.
20:56Primeval jungle spreads round Tikal in every direction.
21:00The dense rain forest covers 20,000 square miles, concealing countless ruins.
21:06Archaeologists are just now uncovering what could be the greatest ruin of all.
21:14Fifty miles north of Tikal, an old Mayan road stretches toward the unexcavated city of El Mirador
21:21and its giant rubble-covered pyramids.
21:25Today, El Mirador is almost completely concealed by vegetation.
21:30Both larger and older than Tikal, it may be the first true city of the Americas.
21:36At El Mirador, archaeologists hope to find crucial clues to the strange fate of the lost civilization of the Americas.
21:45Coming up next, 20th Century with Mike Wallace reports on the winners and losers of America's ever-expanding gambling mania.
21:58Then, the Coast Guard sets sail on weapons at war.
22:01And later tonight, Wealth and Power Week continues with Carnegie, Morgan, Rockefeller,
22:07and other captains of industry and robber barons who shape the world we live in.
22:12At 9, here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive.
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