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Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo 2024 Season 2 Episode 7 Divine Discoveriesbr br br RealityInsightHub br br Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free as soon as possible Reality Insight Hubbr Official Channel httpswwwdailymotioncomTrailerBoltbr THANK YOU
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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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