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Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo (2024) Season 2 Episode 7 - Divine Discoveries
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FunTranscript
00:00Mysteries can be buried anywhere, under the earth, beneath the sea, or even right under
00:17our own feet.
00:22And when we stumble upon them, sometimes what we find can change history.
00:30Tonight, divine discoveries from a sacred fortress in the heart of Rome.
00:36The whole place is buttressed like a defensive stronghold.
00:40They have uncovered one of the most important religious institutions in the entire world.
00:46To a stone tablet with a sacred message.
00:50He does his best to read the writing, and what he's got astonishes him.
00:57To the oldest temple in the world.
00:59It's so ancient that it predates the construction of Stonehenge, and the pyramids at Giza.
01:04And the fact that it survived for over 11,000 years, only to be discovered by chance, makes
01:11that even more extraordinary.
01:14Join us now, because nothing stays hidden forever.
01:18Sometimes just doing your job results in astonishing finds, especially when that job is construction
01:36in an area rich in biblical history.
01:38It's 1913, and construction of the Palestine-Egypt Railway is moving full steam ahead along the
01:47coast of what is now the modern state of Israel.
01:51But as these railroad workers are clearing out space to lay track, they strike a large stone
01:59that seems out of place.
02:01In this sandy earth, they find a flat piece of marble, about two feet tall and two feet wide.
02:10As a few workers start to excavate it from the ground, they notice that there's very faint
02:17writing on it.
02:18It's been etched into the marble, and it's in a language that they can't understand.
02:23Intrigued by the find, one worker decides to take the large marble slab home with him.
02:32And when he gets it to his house, he puts it in his courtyard and uses it as a stepping
02:37stone.
02:38The inscription is placed face up, and it stays that way for 30 years.
02:44Then, in 1943, he puts the stone up for sale, and it attracts the attention of archaeologist
02:53Jacob Kaplan.
02:54Kaplan heads to the house, and when he takes a look at the inscription, he immediately recognizes
03:00the writing.
03:03It's Paleo-Hebrew, which is a style of writing that was used from 1000 BC up until about 135
03:10AD.
03:11So, right off the bat, Kaplan knows that this thing is really, really old.
03:17And although he can identify the script, he can't actually understand it.
03:22Nevertheless, he goes ahead and he buys the slab, and he takes it home, and enlists some
03:27of his colleagues to help him to decipher it.
03:30As they start to translate, the first line grabs their attention.
03:34It reads, I will call you to remember, for goodness forever, God spoke all these words.
03:43Then, further down the stone, they identify other words.
03:49You shall not murder.
03:51You shall not commit adultery.
03:53You shall not steal.
03:54In the Bible, Kaplan has found a fully intact stone of the Ten Commandments that dates back
04:04to the era of the Old Testament.
04:06In the Bible, the Ten Commandments were famously given to Moses by God at the top of Mount Sinai.
04:12But those tablets are smashed by Moses when he sees the Israelites worshipping the golden calf.
04:21God later dictated the commandments back to Moses, who inscribed them onto a second set
04:26of tablets in the 13th century BC.
04:29And then, according to the Bible, those tablets are stored in the Ark of the Covenant.
04:33But then, later on, the Ark and those tablets go missing.
04:37For a moment, it seems the mystery of the missing tablets may finally be solved.
04:43But as researchers study the stone more closely, they realize something doesn't add up.
04:50Only nine of the Ten Commandments from the Bible are present on this stone.
04:55The Third Commandment is missing.
04:57The Replacement Commandment is an order to build a temple on Mount Gerizim,
05:05which is a sacred site for Samaritans.
05:08Further research discovers that a Samaritan synagogue
05:12was built in the place where this stone tablet was found.
05:17That temple was constructed between 300 and 800 A.D.
05:23So the stone, while old, was likely created hundreds of years after Moses' time.
05:30Dr. Kaplan holds on to the stone for the next 50 years
05:35until finally his wife sells it after his death in 1995.
05:40Over the following decades, it changes hands a few times without much fanfare.
05:45Then, in December of 2024, the stone goes up for auction.
05:49The stone's age, its distinct Third Commandment,
05:54and the unusual story of its chance discovery ignite interest in the sale.
06:00Bidding starts out high, and then the price just keeps going up and up and up
06:04until finally, when the final gavel falls, the selling price is $5 million.
06:11The marble tablet goes to an anonymous buyer
06:14who pledges to donate it to an Israeli institution.
06:17In the end, this humble relic will be preserved and admired for generations.
06:26Next, a different kind of sacred discovery,
06:29one frozen in time, high up in the Andes.
06:32On September 18, 1995, a mountain climber named Johan Reinhardt and his guide
06:41are climbing Ampato Mountain in southern Peru.
06:45They are hoping to get a photo of an active volcano nearby,
06:49but as they get close to the volcano,
06:51the sky fills with smoke, and ash begins to rain down on them.
06:59The ashfall is melting the snow under their feet,
07:03exposing rock that has been covered by ice caps for centuries.
07:07And as they near the peak,
07:09there's something bright and red on the ground catching Johan's attention.
07:13As he gets closer, he sees that the red is, in fact, red feathers sticking out from some rocks.
07:22And when he looks, he sees that the feathers seem to be part of a hat.
07:26Johan moves away some of the stones, and he is astonished.
07:31Looking up at him from the rocks is the face of a young girl,
07:38no more than 12 or 13 years old.
07:40The body looks very well preserved.
07:42She's wrapped in beautiful, colorful textiles,
07:46and she's surrounded by gold and silver figurines and pottery vessels.
07:52It's a breathtaking discovery, but one that's also incredibly fragile.
07:58Johan's worried that the heat from the active volcano
08:01will soon destroy this naturally preserved mummy.
08:04He carefully picks up the girl's body
08:07and begins with his guide the dangerous descent down the mountain.
08:12It is a perilous journey, a treacherous 45-degree descent.
08:18It takes two full days.
08:20And then when he and the guide are down at the bottom,
08:22it takes another 13 hours to walk to the nearest village.
08:26Safely recovered, the mummy becomes known as Juanita
08:29and is an international sensation hailed as one of the greatest discoveries of the century.
08:35But when researchers begin to study her more closely,
08:39they uncover something surprising.
08:42Juanita is sent to John Hopkins University in Baltimore,
08:45where she's scammed,
08:47and researchers determine that she was likely killed between the ages of 11 and 15.
08:52Cause of death, blunt force trauma to the head.
08:56But the evidence suggests that this was no accident.
09:01That Juanita was intentionally killed.
09:04Her death may have been brutal,
09:06but the treasures buried with her point to something far more sacred than murder.
09:11Several of the items Johan finds with her remains are fashioned of precious metals.
09:17It's not likely these would have been left accidentally behind by a murderer.
09:21However, it's much more likely that they were intentionally left behind as a sacrificial offering.
09:29The figures and ceramics feature Incan designs,
09:34which suggest that Juanita had been sacrificed to the gods.
09:38Child sacrifice is, of course, abhorrent,
09:42but at the time, it was a sacred duty.
09:45And this places her death to some time in the Incan Empire between 1400 and 1450.
09:52Juanita's sacrifice wasn't just ceremonial.
09:55It may have been a plea to calm a furious natural force.
10:00Historians believe that the nearby Misti and Sabancayo volcanoes
10:04were really at the point of erupting,
10:07and that Juanita may have been sacrificed in order to placate the gods
10:11and maybe make that eruption less catastrophic.
10:15There is something almost poetic, if you think about it,
10:18that Juanita may have been sacrificed to stop the eruption,
10:22only to be discovered as the ash melted away and revealed her grave.
10:31Let's say you're a regular guy with a passion for scuba diving.
10:36You love looking at coral reefs and tropical fish.
10:40Then one day, you accidentally spot something surprising under the waves.
10:45To 1998, in Guatemala, a local businessman named Roberto Samayoa
10:54is out enjoying one of his favorite pastimes,
10:57scuba diving in Lake Atitlan.
10:59This is a picturesque lake flanked by volcanoes and mountain peaks and charming villages.
11:09Around 50 feet below the surface, in very murky waters,
11:15Samayoa sees something out of place.
11:17He sees a shape start to emerge.
11:19Getting closer, he discovers it's a large stone structure.
11:26As he continues to explore, he finds a series of staircases, temples, plazas.
11:32This is not just one structure.
11:34In essence, it looks like some kind of underwater city.
11:38Samayoa reports his findings to local archaeologists,
11:47but no one believes him.
11:49Frustrated, he leaves the site untouched until 2007.
11:55Samayoa decides to take matters into his own hands.
11:59He dives upon his find once more,
12:02but this time he comes equipped with an underwater digital camera.
12:06He snaps a few photos and now everyone is beginning to believe him.
12:13Researchers spend the next five years using sonar
12:17to map out this underwater metropolis.
12:21What they uncover is more than ruins.
12:24It's the remains of a 2,500-year-old Mayan city.
12:30Once thought to be just a legend,
12:32they name it Samabaj,
12:34a blend of Samayoa's name and the Mayan word for stone.
12:40As researchers explore further,
12:42it's the religious elements that unlock the mystery of Samabaj.
12:47Within the ruins, they find 16 different religious structures
12:50and two saunas,
12:52which the Maya would use to cleanse themselves
12:55before religious ceremonies.
12:57And then there's a large central square
12:59with a stone altar and a sacred pillar at one end.
13:03When the Maya were thriving in this area,
13:06around 350 B.C. to 250 A.D.,
13:09this city sat on an island in the middle of this lake.
13:13For centuries, Samabaj stood as a sacred sanctuary.
13:18So how did this entire ancient city wind up underwater?
13:21One of the volcanoes along the shore of Lake Atitlan erupted.
13:29Lava flowed down toward the lake
13:31and plugged up a drainage channel
13:33that carried overflow down the mountain.
13:36It's kind of like when you plug up your bathtub
13:37while the water's running.
13:39The water just continues to rise and rise and rise.
13:41By the time the water stopped rising,
13:44Samabaj was deep under the lake
13:46and stayed at a site for 1,700 years
13:50until Samayoa found it.
13:53Ironically, the same water that drowned Samabaj
13:57helped preserve it.
13:58Because of the island's location deep down in murky waters,
14:01the site has not fallen victim to things like looting,
14:05which has caused desecration of other historical sites
14:09all throughout Central America.
14:10So thanks to that volcanic eruption,
14:12combined with Samayoa's discovery,
14:15Samabaj is probably the most well-preserved site
14:18of Mayan culture to this day.
14:23From an ancient city lost below the waves
14:26to an even older site buried under the earth,
14:30our next story takes us to a hilltop in Turkey.
14:35Back in 1986, in southeastern Turkey,
14:38a farmer is plowing his property
14:40along the foothills of the Taurus Mountains.
14:44He reaches this area, which is called Belly Hill,
14:47a mound of land that stands about 50 feet higher
14:50than the surrounding plateaus.
14:52This area is filled with large stones
14:55that all poke up through the earth,
14:58threatening to break his equipment.
15:00The farmer's been trying to remove some of these stones.
15:02Most of them are too large to get out of the ground.
15:04But on this day in particular,
15:06one of these stones catches his attention.
15:10He takes a closer look,
15:12and he clears away some of the surrounding dirt.
15:15It's a limestone statue of a human figure
15:17with finely carved eyes, nose, and mouth.
15:21Below that, there's not much of a body
15:23except for a large phallus.
15:25The statue looks really old,
15:30and so the farmer decides to take this
15:32to a museum about 12 miles away.
15:35The director of the museum
15:36does not seem very interested in this find,
15:38but when the farmer threatens to throw it away,
15:40they do reach a compromise
15:41and decide to place the statue in the museum garden.
15:44The statue sits there until 1992
15:48when a visiting archaeologist named Klaus Schmidt sees it.
15:52Dr. Schmidt has been doing excavation work nearby
15:56and recognizes this as a Neolithic figure,
15:59at least several thousand years old.
16:01He wants to know more,
16:02so he travels to the farm where it was found.
16:04When he sees the large mound of land
16:06that rises up above the plateau,
16:08he can tell that it's man-made,
16:10and these large stones
16:12that keep getting in the farmer's way
16:13are actually the tops of limestone structures.
16:17Schmidt turns his attention to the mound
16:19and begins to dig.
16:25Not very long after these excavations began,
16:28archaeologists find massive limestone megaliths
16:31that are so close to the surface
16:33that some of them have actually been scraped
16:34by the farmer's equipment.
16:36Further down,
16:37they find 16-foot-tall stone pillars,
16:40each weighing between 7 and 10 tons.
16:43Some of them are carved
16:44with detailed reliefs of animals,
16:46like lions, foxes, snakes, and vultures.
16:51There are also enormous megaliths
16:53arranged in a circular pattern
16:55over 90 feet in diameter.
16:58Altogether, the site leads archaeologists
17:00to believe that they've uncovered
17:02some kind of giant temple.
17:05The site is called Gobekli Tepe,
17:09and carbon dating puts its construction
17:11between 9,500 and 9,000 B.C.,
17:15making it the oldest temple
17:17ever discovered in the world.
17:20It's so ancient that it predates writing
17:23and the invention of the wheel.
17:26It was constructed 6,000 years
17:28before Stonehenge
17:29or the pyramids at Giza.
17:31Its age is astonishing,
17:34but what's even more surprising
17:35is how it was built.
17:39Schmidt estimates
17:40it would have taken
17:41over 500 people
17:43to build Gobekli.
17:45But humans were believed
17:47to be hunter-gatherers at this time,
17:49and this site suggests
17:51that there was much more
17:52intelligence,
17:53cooperation,
17:54and planning
17:55that went into this
17:56than archaeologists
17:58could have possibly thought.
18:00Gobekli Tepe
18:01was a truly epic feat
18:02of design and construction
18:03for its time.
18:04And the fact that it survived
18:08for over 11,000 years,
18:10only to be discovered
18:11by chance
18:12by a farmer,
18:13makes that history
18:14even more extraordinary.
18:20When we think of papal palaces,
18:22we usually think of the Vatican.
18:24But the popes actually
18:26had an earlier home,
18:27one lost to time,
18:29until very recently.
18:31It's the summer of 2024,
18:36and the city of Rome in Italy
18:37is gearing up for Jubilee 2025.
18:41It's a massive Catholic celebration,
18:44and it's expected to draw
18:46roughly 30 million pilgrims
18:48to the city.
18:50To prepare for the influx of tourists,
18:52the city undergoes
18:53a lot of upgrades.
18:54One major project
18:56is renovating
18:56and repaving
18:57the public square
18:58in front of
18:59Basilica di San Giovanni
19:01in Laterano,
19:03the oldest public Catholic church
19:05in Rome,
19:05which was founded in 324.
19:09The plan is to add
19:11new landscaping,
19:12lighting,
19:13even a fountain.
19:14But not long after
19:15shovels hit the ground,
19:17workers strike something
19:19that appears to be
19:21an ancient wall.
19:24Then another.
19:27Then another.
19:29It seems they've stumbled
19:31on some kind of structure.
19:33They call in
19:35a team of archaeologists
19:36largely led by Daniella Porro.
19:38She's the special superintendent
19:40of archaeology in Rome.
19:43She analyzes these walls
19:44and sees that they're made of tough,
19:46basically an amalgam of stone
19:49from volcanic ash
19:50buttressed by wood.
19:53She's able to realize
19:54through her analysis
19:56that these walls
19:57date back
19:57to the 9th century,
19:59which means
20:00they have found
20:01something incredibly special.
20:04These are the fortification walls
20:07that protected
20:08the original palace
20:10of the Pope.
20:12Before the Pope
20:14and the Catholic Church
20:15were based in nearby
20:16Vatican City,
20:17the head of the church
20:18resided
20:19in an elaborate papal palace
20:21in the heart of Rome.
20:23It was built around 312 AD
20:25during the reign
20:26of the Emperor
20:27Constantine the Great.
20:28The palace would undergo
20:29several expansions
20:31and upgrades
20:31over the next 500 years
20:33as the church
20:34grew in power.
20:35As the church expanded,
20:37the papal palace
20:38became a target
20:40for Arab
20:41anti-Catholic invaders
20:43and even Roman aristocratic
20:46infighting
20:46right at its doorstep.
20:48In fact,
20:49the violence
20:50and the conflict
20:51got so bad
20:52that in 1309,
20:54the papacy
20:54left the basilica
20:56and actually relocated
20:58the seat of the Pope
20:59to Avignon, France.
21:01Abandoned and empty,
21:03the palace
21:03falls into neglect
21:05and ultimately
21:06is decimated
21:07by fire.
21:08In 1377,
21:12the papacy
21:12finally made its way
21:13back to Italy,
21:14this time
21:15to Vatican City.
21:16A few hundred years later,
21:18Pope Sixtus V
21:19decided to tear down
21:21most of what remained
21:22of the original
21:23palace complex.
21:25When construction crews
21:27rediscovered
21:27the palace ruins
21:28500 years later,
21:31archaeologists
21:31turned their attention
21:32to preserving the site.
21:35Antiquity experts
21:36and archaeologists
21:37feel it may take years
21:38to fully grasp
21:40the enormity
21:41of what is
21:42in this structure.
21:44What they do know
21:45is that they have
21:46uncovered
21:46an incredibly
21:47well-preserved time capsule
21:48of one of the most
21:50important religious institutions
21:52and religious titles
21:54in the entire world.
21:58Next,
21:59a casual walk
22:00in the woods
22:01leads to finding
22:02another piece
22:03of papal history,
22:04one that dates back
22:06hundreds of years.
22:10It's January 2024.
22:12Jacek Kukowski
22:13is walking along
22:15railroad tracks
22:16in northwest Poland
22:18near the German border.
22:19This area
22:21was used
22:21as a Nazi
22:22escape route
22:23at the end
22:24of World War II.
22:25So people sometimes
22:26find remnants
22:27of the past here,
22:28helmets,
22:29firearms,
22:30or other
22:30military artifacts.
22:32As he's walking,
22:33his eye catches
22:34something half-buried
22:36under the base
22:37of a tree.
22:40He realizes
22:41it's a wedge-shaped object.
22:43It's made of metal.
22:44But upon closer inspection,
22:46he sees this is not
22:47a Nazi war relic.
22:48In fact,
22:49he doesn't even think
22:50it's from the modern era.
22:51It's nothing like
22:52he's ever seen before.
22:54Jacek Kukowski
22:57brings his discovery
22:58to a local museum,
22:59hoping their experts
23:00can shed some light
23:01on this find.
23:02There,
23:03archaeologist
23:03Jagor Shkirka
23:04identifies
23:05that the object
23:06is made of lead.
23:08He examines it,
23:09and on one side,
23:10he sees letters
23:11and some Roman numerals,
23:13which captures
23:14his attention.
23:15Kukka has seen
23:16an artifact
23:16like this before.
23:18It's a lead papal bull seal,
23:21or bulla,
23:22used to authenticate
23:22papal decrees.
23:25Kukka is now all in,
23:27and he wants to find out
23:28which pope
23:29this actually belonged to.
23:31Every pope's bulla
23:32has on one side
23:34an image of
23:35Saints Peter and Paul,
23:36but the other side
23:38is always unique.
23:39It has the pope's name.
23:42Unfortunately,
23:43this seal is cracked,
23:44but he's able
23:45to decipher
23:46certain things
23:47that give him clues
23:48as to which pope
23:49this might be from.
23:50He's able to see
23:51the letters E
23:52and U.S.
23:55And based on these clues,
23:56he's able to deduce
23:58that this was
23:58the papal bull seal
24:00of one of four
24:02possible popes.
24:04Benedict XI,
24:06Clement V,
24:08Benedict XII,
24:09or Clement VI,
24:11all of which
24:12will date the seal
24:13between 1303
24:14and 1352.
24:17Unfortunately,
24:18the document
24:18the seal was attached to
24:20decayed long ago.
24:21so we may never know
24:24exactly which pope
24:25this bull belonged to.
24:27In any case,
24:29the seal survived
24:29in that spot
24:30for centuries,
24:32but the mystery
24:32will likely survive
24:34for many, many more.
24:35imagine finding an unusual stone
24:41in a pile of rubble
24:42and learning
24:43it's covered in writing,
24:45dating back thousands of years.
24:47What happens next
24:48is an adventure story
24:49straight out of the movies.
24:52In 1868,
24:53a French missionary
24:54is traveling
24:56in what is now
24:57modern-day Jordan,
24:58delivering aid
24:59and spreading Christianity
25:01in the region.
25:01His work takes him
25:02to a small,
25:04abandoned area
25:04near the village
25:05of Dubon
25:06where something
25:07catches his eye.
25:09In a pile of rubble
25:11in ruins,
25:12there's one stone
25:14that looks
25:15out of place.
25:18It's about
25:19four feet tall,
25:21it's black,
25:22and it's covered
25:23in strange characters.
25:24He can't read
25:27the writing on it,
25:27but he does his best
25:29to copy out
25:31some of the script
25:32with a quick sketch.
25:35Later,
25:36he returns to Jerusalem
25:37and shows it
25:38to a friend
25:39who thinks
25:40that the writing
25:40looks like Phoenician,
25:42an ancient script
25:43that was the foundation
25:45of the Greek
25:46and Hebrew alphabets.
25:48Soon,
25:49news of the Phoenician stone
25:50catches the ear
25:52of Charles Clermont Gano,
25:53a French translator
25:55and amateur archaeologist
25:57based in Jerusalem.
25:59Charles is intrigued,
26:00and so he dispatches
26:01a friend called
26:02Yacoub Caravagga
26:03to go make
26:04what's called
26:05a squeeze.
26:07A squeeze
26:08is a paper impression
26:09when the paper is wet,
26:10pressed in the inscription,
26:12and then pulled away,
26:13sort of like
26:14when you rub
26:15a tombstone
26:16to get the inscription
26:16off the front of it.
26:18But before
26:19the impression can set,
26:21rising tensions
26:22between nearby tribes
26:23take a dangerous turn.
26:27Yacoub and the stone
26:28are surrounded
26:29by two Bedouin tribes,
26:31and it seems
26:32that the locals
26:33have understood
26:33that there's something
26:34significant
26:35about this monument,
26:36and they're now
26:37fighting over it.
26:40In the melee,
26:41the paper impression
26:42is torn up,
26:44and then suddenly,
26:45Yacoub gets stabbed
26:49in the leg.
26:51Yacoub narrowly escapes
26:52on horseback
26:53and brings the torn
26:55inscription fragments
26:56to Charles.
26:58Slowly,
26:59one by one,
27:00Charles begins
27:01to piece these pieces
27:02of paper together,
27:03and what he's got
27:05in the end
27:05is something
27:06that astonishes him.
27:08It's 34 lines
27:10written in first person
27:13by somebody
27:14called King Mesha.
27:16According to the Bible,
27:18back in the 9th century B.C.,
27:20Mesha rebelled
27:21against the kingdom
27:22of Israel
27:23and ruled Moab,
27:25an ancient territory
27:26located in modern-day Jordan.
27:29The writing
27:30is mostly
27:31a recounting
27:33of Mesha's
27:34military victories
27:35and other history
27:36of the region.
27:37But what really
27:38gets Charles excited
27:39is that the text
27:41contains historical references
27:43to Israel,
27:44the House of David,
27:46biblical events.
27:47It even gives
27:48the Hebrew name for God.
27:49These are some
27:50of the earliest references
27:51to events in the Bible
27:53in the historical record.
27:55Basically,
27:55this rock
27:56could be evidence
27:57that the events
27:59of the Bible
27:59are based
28:00in real history.
28:03They call it
28:05the Moabite stone.
28:07But as word spreads,
28:09the locals fear
28:10the stone
28:11will be plundered
28:11by Westerners.
28:13So they decide
28:14to destroy it.
28:17So they pour water
28:18on the stone
28:19and then they light
28:21a fire underneath it.
28:23When the water
28:24gets hot,
28:25it turns to steam
28:26and the steam expands.
28:29and effectively
28:31blows the stone
28:32to pieces.
28:34The Moabite stone fragments
28:36are then hidden
28:37among the members
28:39of the local tribe.
28:40And Charles
28:41spends three years
28:43trying to find them.
28:44initially he's able
28:46to find 38 pieces
28:48and then eventually
28:50another 19
28:51are either recovered
28:53or donated.
28:54And then utilizing
28:55the squeeze
28:56as reference,
28:57he begins to painstakingly
28:59reassemble
28:59the shattered stone.
29:03In 1873,
29:05it makes its debut
29:06at the Louvre.
29:07It's an absolute sensation.
29:11People flock
29:12to get a personal look
29:14at this real-world piece
29:16of biblical history.
29:17And the story
29:18of how it was discovered,
29:21destroyed,
29:22and pieced back together again
29:24only adds to the mystique
29:26of this relic.
29:30Over 2,000 miles away,
29:32another hidden box
29:33holds proof
29:35of a different kind
29:36of worshipped figure.
29:40In 1827,
29:42an English soldier
29:43named James Lewis
29:44is posted
29:45with the army
29:46in Agra, India.
29:48He fakes his own death
29:49and deserts
29:50the army.
29:52A crime, by the way,
29:53which is punishable
29:54by death.
29:55He then changes his name
29:56to Charles Masson
29:57and for the next few years
29:58goes adventuring
30:00and seeks fame
30:01and fortune
30:02in places like India
30:03and the Middle East.
30:04Charles, as he's known,
30:06is quite the character.
30:08During his travels,
30:09he assumes
30:10several identities.
30:12He poses as a monk,
30:13as a Frenchman,
30:15as a Haji,
30:16as a healer,
30:17all the while
30:17developing a keen eye
30:19for ancient artifacts.
30:21In 1833,
30:23the British East India Company
30:25hires him
30:27to explore
30:28and document
30:29ancient sites
30:30in what's now
30:31Afghanistan.
30:32Charles arrives
30:34in the Gandhara Valley
30:35and he sees there
30:37a series of
30:38ruined,
30:39domed buildings.
30:41And he goes
30:41to explore them.
30:43He is hoping
30:45to find
30:45some ancient coins
30:47that might have
30:48some value,
30:49but instead,
30:50he finds
30:50a round,
30:53soapstone box
30:54with a lid.
30:55Charles opens
30:56the container
30:56and discovers
30:57pearls
30:58and coral
30:59and sapphire beads,
31:01all burnt.
31:02And at the center
31:03of the container,
31:04he finds
31:05an intricate
31:06gold cylinder
31:07adorned with
31:08carvings and rubies.
31:10The gold cylinder
31:11is a reliquary
31:12or casket,
31:14which would
31:14traditionally
31:15hold sacred
31:16offerings
31:17and physical
31:18remains
31:19of a holy
31:19person.
31:21This reliquary
31:22doesn't contain
31:23any human remains.
31:25Instead,
31:25it's carved
31:26with a series
31:26of eight
31:27human figures
31:28and Charles
31:30recognizes
31:30one of them
31:31as the Buddha.
31:33We typically
31:34associate
31:34Afghanistan
31:35with Islam,
31:37but early
31:37trade routes
31:38actually brought
31:39Buddhism to the area
31:40around the 4th century
31:41BC,
31:42about a thousand
31:43years before
31:44the arrival
31:44of Islam.
31:46While Charles
31:46thinks he's uncovered
31:47a treasure
31:48nearly 2,000 years old,
31:50it takes another
31:5150 years
31:52before the true
31:53significance
31:53of his discovery
31:55is fully understood.
31:57In the late
31:5819th century,
31:59Western scholars
31:59start to take
32:00more of an interest
32:01in Buddhism
32:02and its teachings
32:03in Gandhara.
32:04They soon realized
32:05that the image
32:06of Buddha
32:07that Charles saw
32:07on the casket
32:08was the earliest
32:10depiction of Buddha
32:11ever found.
32:13Today,
32:14statues and images
32:15of the human figure
32:17of the Buddha
32:17are common.
32:19But before
32:19the 1st century AD,
32:21the Buddha
32:22was typically depicted
32:23with symbolic images
32:24like footprints,
32:26the lotus flower,
32:27or an empty throne.
32:29On this reliquary,
32:30the Buddha
32:31is clothed
32:32in a robe
32:32and holds up
32:34his hand
32:34in a mudra position.
32:37The amazing find
32:39becomes known
32:40as the Bimmeran casket,
32:42and it goes on display
32:43at the British Museum
32:45in 1900.
32:47Yet the story behind it
32:48and the man
32:49who brought it to light
32:50is almost as extraordinary
32:52as the relic itself.
32:54While there's no doubt
32:55that Charles was
32:57a colorful character
32:58and a skillful liar,
33:00it's undeniable
33:01that he's also responsible
33:02for one of the most
33:03important Buddhist discoveries
33:04of all time.
33:05The Old City of Jerusalem
33:10is known
33:11for its rich religious history.
33:13One small stone box
33:15found there
33:15contains a stunning link
33:17to the past,
33:19one dating back
33:20to the time of Jesus.
33:22It's early 1976
33:24in the Old City of Jerusalem.
33:27A 25-year-old engineer
33:29named Oded Gola
33:30is looking through items
33:32in an antiquities market.
33:34when his eye
33:35is drawn
33:36to a limestone box.
33:38The dealer tells him
33:40that it comes
33:41from a nearby neighborhood
33:41called Silouat,
33:42but he doesn't know
33:43anything else about it
33:45other than the fact
33:46that it is an ossuary
33:47or a bone box.
33:51Ossuaries were very common
33:53in the first century AD.
33:55People would be buried
33:56for about a year
33:58and then their bodies
33:59would be exhumed
34:00and their bones
34:00would be placed
34:01in a limestone box.
34:03It was a way
34:03of dealing with
34:04space issues
34:05if you didn't have
34:06enough room for burials.
34:08They were often
34:09elaborately decorated.
34:11Sometimes the name
34:12of the person
34:12or a phrase
34:13was inscribed
34:14on the side.
34:15The box that
34:17Golan discovers
34:17is relatively
34:19unremarkable,
34:20but on the front of it
34:21there is some script
34:22in a language
34:23that he doesn't recognize.
34:24He likes collecting antiques.
34:26The dealer
34:26isn't asking very much,
34:28so he buys the box
34:29for about $200
34:30and puts it
34:31on a shelf
34:31in his parents' house.
34:33The box sits
34:34untouched
34:35for 26 years.
34:37Then,
34:37in 2001,
34:39Golan meets
34:40an ancient language
34:41expert
34:42named Andre Lemaire
34:43at a dinner party
34:45and asks for help
34:46deciphering
34:47the inscription
34:48on the box.
34:50Lemaire's amazed.
34:51It's written
34:52in Aramaic,
34:54and it says
34:54on it,
34:56James,
34:57son of Joseph,
34:58brother of Jesus.
35:02Names like
35:03Jesus and Joseph
35:05were common
35:06at the time,
35:07as was James.
35:08On the other hand,
35:08ossuaries
35:09don't normally
35:10list the names
35:11of siblings
35:12of the deceased,
35:13so it may be
35:14that this Jesus
35:15had to have been
35:16pretty important
35:17to be name-checked
35:18on his brother's
35:19bone box.
35:20That name-drop
35:21raises eyebrows,
35:22along with questions
35:23about Jesus's
35:25family ties.
35:26In the Bible,
35:27we do know
35:28there was a figure
35:29named James the Just
35:30who was said
35:32to be Jesus's brother,
35:33and he was a leader
35:34after Jesus's death
35:35of the first generation
35:37of Jesus's followers.
35:39We also know
35:40James the Just
35:41was martyred.
35:42He was stoned
35:43to death very violently
35:44around the year 62 A.D.
35:46If authentic,
35:47this would make
35:48the James ossuary
35:49the earliest
35:51written reference
35:52and very first
35:53physical piece
35:54of evidence
35:54connected to Jesus
35:56ever found
35:57in Jerusalem.
35:59Golan allows
36:01Lemaire
36:01to borrow the box
36:03to check its authenticity.
36:05Lemaire first
36:06examines the style
36:07of the script,
36:08which he dates
36:09to around 60
36:11or 70 A.D.
36:12This just happens
36:13to correlate
36:14historically
36:15with when James
36:16actually died.
36:18Then he takes
36:19bits of limestone flecks
36:21from the surface
36:22of the box
36:22and he has them
36:24sent away
36:25to the Geological Survey
36:26of Israel
36:26in order to get tested.
36:30They determine
36:31that the script
36:32could not have been
36:34carved with modern tools
36:35and they also say
36:36that the aged patina
36:38of the stone
36:39could not have been forged.
36:41Lemaire publishes
36:42his findings
36:42and then begins
36:43a press tour
36:44to publicize
36:45this amazing discovery.
36:46Even with all
36:48the evidence,
36:49there's no definitive
36:50proof of whose remains
36:52the box once held,
36:53leading the Israel
36:54Antiquities Authority
36:56and others
36:56to question
36:57its authenticity.
37:00Today,
37:01Golan loans it
37:03to museums
37:03around the world
37:04where visitors
37:05can get an up-close look
37:06at what might be
37:08an artifact
37:09of Jesus' life.
37:11They say history
37:15can be stranger
37:16than fiction,
37:17which is the case
37:18with what one young
37:19fisherman
37:20pulls from the sea
37:21in 2013.
37:24August 16, 2013,
37:27a young Palestinian fisherman
37:29named Judah Gorab
37:30takes his small boat
37:31out into the waters
37:32off the coast of Gaza.
37:33He's looking
37:33in the shallow waters
37:34for fish.
37:36As he's looking down
37:38from his boat,
37:39he sees a dark fish
37:41figure,
37:42maybe 15 feet down.
37:45It looks like a man.
37:48So he's startled
37:50at first,
37:50but then curiosity
37:52gets the better of him.
37:53And he jumps out
37:55of his boat
37:55and dives down.
37:57And what he finds
37:58is there's
37:59a large statue
38:01down there,
38:02half buried
38:05in the sand.
38:07It's dark metal
38:08with hints
38:10of green and gold,
38:11and Judah wonders
38:12if he's found
38:13something valuable.
38:15But it's too heavy
38:16for him to lift
38:17by himself.
38:19Judah heads
38:20back to land,
38:21gathers up
38:22some friends and family,
38:23and they head back out.
38:25And they try
38:26to bring the statue
38:27to the surface
38:27by tying around it
38:29a clothesline.
38:30For four arduous hours,
38:33they take turns
38:34diving down
38:35to the bottom,
38:37yanking on the clothesline,
38:38dragging the statue
38:41across the seafloor
38:42until they finally
38:44reach the shore.
38:46They're able
38:47to heave the statue
38:49onto a donkey cart
38:50and take it
38:51to Judah's house
38:52for closer inspection.
38:54The statue
38:55is a six-foot-tall,
38:57naked man
38:58with dark curly hair.
39:01Judah thinks
39:01it's made of gold
39:03and that he's hit pay dirt.
39:06And then,
39:07about a month later,
39:08the statue
39:08makes a surprise appearance
39:10on eBay.
39:11It includes
39:13a few blurry photos
39:15of the statue
39:16laying on a bed
39:18in a child's bedroom
39:19with Smurf sheets.
39:22Even by eBay standards,
39:23this is a strange listing.
39:26Bidding opens
39:26at a mere $500,000.
39:29The post
39:30and asking price
39:31gets the attention
39:32of Gaza archaeologist
39:34Fadel Alitol,
39:36who identifies
39:37the statue
39:38as an incredibly
39:39well-preserved bronze
39:40of the Greco-Roman god
39:42Apollo.
39:44One of the 12 Olympians,
39:46Apollo is
39:47a son of Zeus
39:48and he's the god
39:49of archery,
39:50music, truth,
39:52and healing.
39:53He's also considered
39:54to be one of the most
39:54beautiful gods
39:55and this statue
39:57does him justice.
39:59Alitol is amazed
40:01by how beautifully
40:02well-preserved
40:03this statue is.
40:04He estimates
40:05it weighs
40:06more than half a ton.
40:07Given its purported
40:09size,
40:10condition,
40:11and rarity,
40:12this Apollo
40:13of Gaza
40:14could fetch
40:14anywhere between
40:15$20 and $45 million.
40:19Unfortunately,
40:20before Alitol
40:21can examine
40:22the statue
40:23in person,
40:24the Gaza authorities
40:25swoop in.
40:26Immediately,
40:27police arrive
40:28to the statue's
40:29location
40:29and haul it away.
40:33Soon after,
40:34in 2023,
40:37war breaks out
40:38in the region
40:39and news about
40:40the Apollo statue
40:41all but disappears.
40:44Whatever the fate
40:45of this particular statue,
40:47there is still the hope
40:48of other very similar
40:50discoveries
40:50because we know
40:51that this statue
40:53was actually
40:54made from a cast
40:55and so maybe
40:56there were other
40:57copies that were
40:57made at the same
40:58time.
40:59Maybe they're
41:00still out there,
41:01whether under
41:02the water
41:02or on land,
41:04just waiting
41:04to be discovered.
41:08A long-lost
41:09papal palace,
41:11a statue
41:11of a Greek god,
41:13fragments
41:13of a priceless text,
41:15these are just
41:15some of the
41:16divine discoveries
41:17that give us
41:18new insight
41:19into the past.
41:21I'm Danny Trejo.
41:22Thanks for watching
41:24Mysteries Hunter.
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