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00:02Archaeologists uncover mysterious remains within a crypt in Israel. Four of the rings
00:07were around the individual's neck and there were others around the arms and the legs. Who was this
00:13person and why were they buried wrapped in metal rings? An astonishing discovery is unearthed in
00:18the sands of the Egyptian desert. They noticed strangely smooth limestone blocks on the cliffs
00:25facade carved right into the landscape but what was it? In the Jordan desert researchers unearth a
00:32strange structure with remarkable carved features. But the most striking thing inside the round rock
00:38formation was two standing vertical stones called steelies 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. As new technology
01:01uncovers remarkable tales hidden beneath the deserts of the world, the secrets in the sand will finally be revealed.
01:22Just a few miles due north of the Jerusalem city center lies the settlement of Ramat Shlomo, Israel.
01:30During the summer months, this area is blisteringly hot with temperatures sometimes reaching almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:37It's also extremely dry, averaging just under two inches of rain per month, most of which falls during the wet
01:44season from October to April.
01:46Ramat Shlomo is part of East Jerusalem. It was once part of Jordan, but came under Israeli control after the
01:52Six-Day War in 1967.
01:56Jerusalem is one of the world's oldest cities with a history going back over 5,000 years. Its origins trace
02:04back to roughly 3,000 BCE with the first settlement near the Gihon Spring.
02:10The oldest mention of Jerusalem is from Egyptian texts dating to around 2,000 BCE where it's referred to as
02:17Rusalimam.
02:19Given this rich history, it's no surprise that the area is of keen interest to archaeologists.
02:24A team of archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority are excavating an ancient complex known as Kirbat al-Masani in
02:33advance of construction work near Ramat Shlomo when they unearth a surprise.
02:39Two burial crypts were uncovered containing the scattered skeletal remains of several individuals, including children, women and men.
02:49But the real shock came when a third tube was found. Inside were skeletal remains that appeared to be wrapped
02:56in metal rings.
02:58Four of the rings were around the individual's neck, and there were others around the arms and the legs.
03:05But unfortunately, the bones were so severely degraded, they were only able to recover fragments of the cranium, a small
03:12finger bone, and parts of a femur.
03:16The poor condition of the remains makes establishing things like the sex of the person or age at death very
03:21difficult.
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
03:34then executed, or possibly an enslaved person.
03:37In 2015, construction workers in the village of Great Casterdon in the East Midlands of England discovered the ancient remains
03:46of 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 Britain.
03:59The man was likely between the ages of 26 and 35 when he died, and the body showed evidence of
04:05a 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
04:13of their agricultural slaves.
04:15So the shackled man was probably a farm laborer.
04:18So is it possible that the individual discovered at Kirbat al-Masani 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
04:37a slope.
04:38This indicates that maybe the man was thrown into a ditch rather than given a proper burial.
04:43On the other hand, the body at Kirbat al-Masani was carefully buried in a grave resting on its back.
04:51So if they likely weren't an enslaved person or a prisoner, there has to be another explanation for why this
04:57individual was buried laden with metal rings.
05:00Maybe it's something a little strange or involving superstition.
05:03In 2022, a team of archaeologists from Nicholas Copernicus University in Turan, Poland, were excavating an ancient castle when they
05:13uncovered something truly bizarre.
05:16On a riverbank adjacent to the castle, they noticed human bones sticking out from the ground.
05:22But here's where it gets really weird.
05:24After an excavation, they found that the individual was buried with a semicircular sickle pinned around their neck.
05:32And that's not all.
05:33The skeleton's big toe on the left foot had a rusted old triangular padlock attached to it.
05:41Analysis of the remains revealed that they belonged to a female between the ages of 17 and 21.
05:46And she had the Kimmerle anomaly, which is a condition where an extra piece of bone forms on the first
05:53cervical vertebra.
05:54This could have led her to fainting regularly or having mental health issues, which could have been seen as evil
06:00behavior.
06:02Reports of vampire sightings and attacks became widespread across medieval Europe.
06:06And 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.
06:17Others were buried face down.
06:20And some, like the woman in Poland, were pinned down with metal objects and secured with locks.
06:26So could this explain the body found at Kirbat el-Masani that was chained with metal rings?
06:32It'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-Masani that the bodies there
06:49are likely from the 5th century CE.
06:52Almost a thousand years before the vampire scare in Europe.
06:55So there has to be another reason for the rings on the body.
06:58The team at Kirbat el-Masani 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 cumbersome.
07:23It 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
07:29legs.
07:31Plus, if this person was going to get a warrior's burial, you would expect to find things like swords or
07:36arrows or spears with them.
07:38At least a helmet.
07:39There's nothing like that here.
07:42As the excavation nears completion, the scope of the complex at Kirbat el-Masani comes into view.
07:48This place is huge.
07:50They unearthed three apses assumed to be part of a church or monastery, built with finely cut limestone blocks.
07:57There are also rooms believed to have been an inn, which makes sense given that the site is near the
08:03main road that led from Jaffa and Lydda to Jerusalem.
08:07The complex is believed to have been built between 350 and 650 CE, when Christianity was becoming the dominant religion
08:15in the region and Jerusalem was a spiritual center, attracting pilgrims from far and wide.
08:21This period also saw the spread of monasticism, a devout way of life where people detached from the world to
08:28focus on spiritual concerns and lived in monasteries like Kirbat el-Masani.
08:33This 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 practiced self-inflicted pain and voluntary suffering, and one of these practices was to limit mobility
09:02by wrapping themselves in heavy metal chains, like the ones found with the remains at Kirbat el-Masani.
09:08So given this, the grave likely belonged to an ascetic who also happened to be a monk and probably lived
09:14in isolation at the monastery.
09:15But who was he?
09:27Searching for answers at Kirbat el-Masani, the team salvages what little remains of the skeleton and turns it into
09:34the lab for analysis.
09:35The results are startling.
09:37They recovered a single tooth, and analysis of the enamel showed the presence of amylex, which is a protein encoded
09:44on the X chromosome.
09:46Also notable was the absence of amyly, which is present only in males, meaning this was a woman.
09:54While the use of chains by male ascetics from this era is widely known, this is the first archeological evidence
10:01that women engaged in self-torture during the Byzantine period.
10:05An amazing discovery.
10:08Females tended to practice less extreme forms of asceticism by fasting, meditating, and praying.
10:14So just who was this woman that took her beliefs to such lengths?
10:18Historical records indicate that women in the Roman Empire began practicing asceticism as early as the 4th century CE, as
10:27a spiritual pursuit that likely began with the nobility.
10:31Many churches and monasteries were founded in Jerusalem by wealthy women from the Roman aristocracy looking for a spiritual connection
10:39as a way of atoning for their lavish lifestyles.
10:43But some of them took it a step further.
10:45Two well-known ascetics were Melania the Elder, a Christian saint from a noble family, and her granddaughter Melania the
10:53Younger, who founded convents in the Kidron Valley and on the Mount of Olives located near Jerusalem's old city.
11:00Melania the Younger was known for her extreme practices, which included confining herself in a wooden box that restricted all
11:08movement.
11:09Some female ascetics from the time even went so far as to disguise themselves as men.
11:15Pelagia the Penitent, recognized as a saint by several churches, was a former sex worker who turned to Christianity and
11:22led a life of self-denial, fasting, and prayer disguised as a man.
11:26This at least suggests that monastic life was sometimes simply not available for women.
11:32As for who the chained woman founded Kirbat el-Masani was, that is still a mystery.
11:38And there may be more forgotten female ascetics hidden beneath ancient monasteries.
11:44The discovery of the female remains at Kirbat el-Masani challenges traditional historical narratives by showing that women engaged in
11:54extreme religious practices in the Byzantine era, and hints that female asceticism may have been much more widespread than previously
12:03believed.
12:11Just over four miles from the modern city of Sohraj on the western bank of the Nile, the cliffs of
12:17Athrabus rise up from the desert floor.
12:20When you think of Egypt, you think of the desert. And that's because 96% of that country is exactly
12:25that.
12:26But, if you know where to look, you can also find huge swaths of fertile land there.
12:31And one of those places is an area surrounding Athrabus.
12:35This is because the Nile River carries sediment thousands of miles northwards, through Egypt, towards the Mediterranean.
12:42And when the river floods, these sediments are dispersed across the valley, turning the sand into rich soil.
12:49Today, 95% of Egyptians live within a few miles of the Nile's banks, a pattern that stretches back thousands
12:58of years to ancient Egyptians who built their largest cities along the river.
13:04A group of archaeologists is investigating the cliff's base as part of an ongoing excavation when they spot something strange.
13:12They noticed strangely smooth limestone blocks on the cliff's façade.
13:18On closer inspection, they realized they were actually looking at the remains of a structure carved right into the landscape.
13:26As 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. One 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. But they're actually beings known as deacons.
13:51In ancient Egypt, deacons represented 36 small constellations of stars.
13:58Each deacon corresponded to about 10 degrees of sky.
14:02So with 36 sections of 10 degrees each, you got a full 360 degree panorama.
14:07And by tracking the deacons as they moved through the sky, Egyptians were able to keep track of what the
14:13date was.
14:16Each of the 36 deacons was associated with a particular deity.
14:20In the case of the deacons of Athrabas, the falcon-headed god may have been linked to the sky god
14:24Horus.
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?
14:33320 miles from Athrabas, in the northern reaches of the Nile Delta,
14:39a team of archaeologists working in the ruins of the ancient city of Kafr al-Sheikh,
14:44come across the work of some of Egypt's earliest astronomers.
14:48They found a vast complex built from mud bricks 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.
15:16One of them was a merket, which was essentially a weight attached to a wooden handle
15:21that helped ancient astronomers track the alignment of the deacons 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 Athrabas have been built around the same time
15:38as part of that society's curiosity about the stars?
15:42The deacons aren't the only figures carved into the limestone.
15:45The team also spotted the silhouette 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.
15:59He 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,
16:12and 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,
16:22a move that sparked a full-blown civil war.
16:27Ptolemy hung onto his position by the skin of his teeth,
16:31often relying on diplomatic support from Rome to keep him in power.
16:35Experts date the structure at Athrabas to the 2nd century BCE,
16:39during the reign of Ptolemy VIII,
16:41hundreds of years after the observatory at Kafr el-Sheikh was built.
16:45So why did the pharaoh leave his mark on this particular structure?
16:49As work continues on the ruins from Athrabas,
16:53the archaeologists realize for the first time the true extent of what they have uncovered.
16:59This structure is enormous.
17:01It's over 150 feet wide.
17:03And 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.
17:14But it's believed that they once towered up to 60 feet above.
17:20We know that ancient Egyptian pharaohs frequently commissioned grand architectural projects
17:25to showcase their power and demonstrate their devotion to the gods.
17:28Massive structures that took decades to complete
17:31and were often initiated at the very start of a pharaoh's reign.
17:35Could the site of Athrabas represent a continuation of this tradition?
17:39Is it possible that this was intended to serve as the tomb of Ptolemy VIII himself?
17:52A short distance from Athrabas, 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 archaeological 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 rites depicted on every single wall.
18:24In the burial room, there are two limestone sarcophagi, each containing a mummy.
18:29These 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.
18:45And they had hundreds of fragments of pottery.
18:48And 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
19:02Ptolemaic period.
19:02The graves are evidence that high-profile Ptolemaic burials took place extremely close to Atherbus.
19:09Based on this, it's even more likely that the structure buried in the cliff face is another impressive tomb.
19:14But there are problems with this theory.
19:17For one, many believe that Ptolemy VIII is likely buried closer to Alexandria,
19:23which was the capital at the end of his reign, and the resting place for many of his relatives.
19:29Another theory suggests that Ptolemy was buried in Cyrene, a Libyan colony that he once ruled.
19:35In the ancient city of Ptolemaeus, a grand tomb was discovered that some believe may have been intended as his
19:42final resting place.
19:44Ultimately, we still don't know where Ptolemy is buried.
19:48So, if the structure at Atherbus probably isn't Ptolemy's tomb, what else could it be?
19:55As researchers finally unearthed the full facade buried in the cliff side,
20:00the building's striking silhouette points to fresh possibilities.
20:05The two towers, joined by a shorter building, is an iconic staple of ancient Egyptian architecture known as a pylon.
20:11These pylons 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
20:20set.
20:20They also share a close resemblance to the hieroglyph Akhet, which translates to horizon, and shows a sun setting between
20:27two large hills.
20:29The ancient Egyptians were obsessed with the concept of the horizon, in part because it represented a constant threat to
20:38one 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
20:51to battle a giant serpent known as Apophis.
20:55Only if he won would the sun rise again.
21:00Pylons like the one at Apophis were a literal representation of a boundary, and were positioned at the entrance to
21:06some of Egypt's grandest temples.
21:08Most of these temples were built to house Egyptian gods, who were channeled through sacred sculptures and rituals.
21:14Priests would tend to these temples conducting ceremonies throughout the year to appease the gods in an effort to maintain
21:23peace.
21:23So, if the temple at Apophis 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
21:39stone.
21:40Alongside the pharaoh and the deacons is the figure of a man holding a flail.
21:45This is Min, the god of male fertility, one of the most important deities of ancient Egypt, which relied heavily
21:50on agriculture.
21:52Each year before the harvest season, images of Min would be brought out of the temples and into the fields
21:58to bless the crops.
22:00The cult of Min grew extremely strong in the area surrounding Apophis, and enormous festivals would have been held in
22:08his 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.
22:21One is a woman with the head of a lion, and the other is a young boy.
22:25These are Min's wife and son, Repet and Colanthes.
22:28In fact, it's Repet that appears to be taking center stage, with the pharaoh making offerings to her and her
22:34son rather than to her husband.
22:37It's unclear exactly what kind of role Repet or her son would have played in the local community, but it
22:42likely would have been related somehow to fertility.
22:45What is known is that before the Greeks labeled this place Athrabas, Egyptians called it Hut Repet, or Domain of
22:54Repet.
22:55So, it may well be that this temple once stood at the center of an entire town dedicated to that
23:03lion-headed goddess.
23:05Today, the Athrabas site stretches over 75 acres. Most of the area is still covered by a layer of limestone
23:13rubble.
23:14But researchers are confident that their ongoing efforts will one day uncover the entirety of this stunning, long-forgotten complex.
23:33The unrelenting Syrian desert spans more than 200,000 square miles of West Asia, including parts of Saudi Arabia, Syria,
23:43and 85% of Jordan's land mass.
23:46The Syrian desert is one of the most arid and hottest deserts in the world, with summer temperatures frequently reaching
23:54over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
23:56The dry landscape in southeastern Jordan is made up of sandy plateaus, occasionally broken up by mountain ranges and river
24:05valleys called wadis.
24:07While there's evidence of human activity in Jordan going back to the Paleolithic period,
24:12large sections of the country were first settled by nomadic tribes like the Canaanites and Shasu in the Bronze Age
24:19between 3200 and 1200 BC.
24:22These settlements were consolidated into kingdoms for hundreds of years until the classical period,
24:27when Jordan came under Greek and Roman influence.
24:32Not surprisingly, there's been a wealth of discoveries found beneath the sand of Jordan's deserts.
24:38The 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 Artemis.
24:52A team of archaeologists is busy at work in the southwestern Badia region of Jordan when they come across a
25:00surprising discovery.
25:01They were surveying an area between the Al Jaffer Basin and a nearby mountain range in a fairly open and
25:08flat section of the desert
25:10and discovered a circular enclosure made from rocks and stones with an altar-like formation in its center,
25:19as well as a stone hearth with traces of burnt charcoal.
25:27In addition to the altar and hearth, there were several smaller stones in the shape of animal figurines placed around
25:34the perimeter.
25:35But the most striking thing inside the round rock formation was two standing vertical stones called steelies,
25:42each with a human face carved into them.
25:46The first one stood around two feet, three 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,
25:57along with a number of vertical lines carved beside it in a unique design or pattern.
26:04So what were they for? And how long have they been standing here in the middle of nowhere?
26:17Samples from the structure in the southwestern Badia region of Jordan are taken for radiocarbon dating.
26:24Over 15 samples were collected from the charcoal remains found among the hearth's rocks and stones.
26:30The results were uniformly consistent, putting the site at around 7000 BCE, which falls in the early Neolithic period.
26:42The Neolithic era spans more than five millennia, from 10,000 to 4500 BCE.
26:49So 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
26:59to 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 altar-like formation in the center,
27:15suggested 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.
27:28The 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,
27:57a settlement in Mesopotamia in what we now call Turkey.
28:01It was inhabited from roughly 9500 to 8000 BCE, also the Neolithic period.
28:07And it featured a large stone circle with pillars decorated with carvings of human features,
28:13like arms, hands, and clothing.
28:16The carvings provided archaeologists with rare insights into a possible prehistoric religion,
28:21as 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,
28:31it 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,
28:57consistent with other carvings of that period.
29:00But it was the curious pattern edged beside the face of the larger 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?
29:17Well, given that the stone structure was carbon dated to 7000 BCE,
29:22the keyhole shape was ultimately identified as being the same shape as a Neolithic hunting trap called a desert kite.
29:32Desert 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,
29:44and used to trap animals like deer and gazelles.
29:48Hunting parties would drive herds into the open end of the kites and down into the confined space,
29:54where other members of the party corralled the animals for slaughter.
29:57They 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 6000 of these ancient animal traps identified across the Middle East.
30:14But were any of them connected to the southeastern body a rock circle?
30:26A larger survey is conducted to include the surrounding area, and it doesn't take long to find answers.
30:33Sure enough, the surrounding desert landscape showed evidence of multiple desert kites,
30:39shaped 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,
30:46and 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.
30:57The rock circle served as the spiritual center for the hunters,
31:02a 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,
31:21or to bring out an abundance of prey to capture.
31:25This remarkable Neolithic stone altar discovered in the Jordan Desert
31:29represents a critical link between mass hunting and ritual performance,
31:34and may be one of the earliest examples of art as an expression of faith.
31:49Set in the heart of south-central New Mexico,
31:52White Sands National Park extends over 275 square miles,
31:58dazzling hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
32:01Most of the world's desert sand is made of quartz grain,
32:04tiny pieces of rock weathered by years of exposure to the elements.
32:08But here, the sand is almost all composed of pure gypsum,
32:12a bright white mineral that can be almost blinding in the sun.
32:17Gypsum is quite a common mineral, but gypsum's sand is extremely rare,
32:23because it's water-soluble.
32:24Like salt or sugar, it dissolves in water,
32:27and won't solidify again unless the moisture evaporates.
32:31But White Sands National Park lies at the bottom of a basin,
32:35surrounded by the San Andreas and Sacramento Mountains.
32:38These mountains are made up of layers of gypsum.
32:41So when it rains, the minerals wash down into the basin,
32:44and when the water eventually evaporates, the sand is left behind.
32:48A National Park biologist exploring the sands after a rainstorm notices something strange.
32:55He spotted sets of disappearing footprints.
32:58When the ground was wet, he could clearly make out several tracks,
33:02which seemed to belong to a range of different animals.
33:05But then when the earth dried up again, they just vanished.
33:09Today, we know them as ghost tracks.
33:12But they baffled experts for almost a century.
33:14In 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.
33:26But now we know that these tracks actually belonged to a giant ground sloth
33:30that roamed North America tens of thousands of years ago.
33:34Here's where it gets odd.
33:36Inside one of the sloth tracks was what appeared to be a human footprint.
33:41Dozens more of these prints were scattered throughout the desert.
33:43But there are no other clues to tell us who they might have belonged to.
33:47There are no remnants of ancient human settlements anywhere in white sands.
33:52No arrowheads, stone tools, or traces of buildings.
33:57Who were these mysterious people?
33:59As interest in the footprints grows, some experts wonder whether they could have been left
34:04by one of North America's oldest people, known as Clovis Culture.
34:10Clovis Culture was first discovered 300 miles northeast of White Sands National Park
34:15on the outskirts of a village called Folsom.
34:18A local rancher was riding along a gully when he spotted the bones of Ice Age bison and mammoths
34:24buried in the embankment.
34:26Cut marks on the bones suggested that these animals hadn't died of natural causes.
34:31They'd been butchered.
34:3420 years later, an archaeologist working near the city of Clovis
34:38began to uncover exquisitely crafted stone points.
34:41The points had been carved with grooves along their edges to make them as sharp as possible.
34:46And they became known as Clovis Points.
34:50Over the last century, more than 10,000 Clovis Points have been found scattered across North America.
34:55Dated between roughly 9,500 and 9,000 BCE.
35:00They're often associated with the bones of large animals,
35:04indicating 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,
35:19a 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,
35:38and found dozens of preserved rupia serosa seeds, also known as ditch grass.
35:44By dating the seeds directly above and below the footprints,
35:47they 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,
36:16and 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.
36:26The Clovis first theory suggested that humans reached America by crossing the Bering Strait.
36:32A land bridge that formed between modern-day Russia and Alaska.
36:36They would then have spread southwards, following an ice-free corridor,
36:40as massive ice sheets covering much of modern-day Canada gradually receded.
36:45This theory relies on the idea that this wave of migration to the Americas,
36:50led by Clovis Culture, was the first of its kind.
36:53But these ancient footprints challenged that notion.
36:56So, were there people here already?
36:59Nearly 3,000 miles away, a team of archeologists working along Alaska's Tanana River
37:05make 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
37:16when 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,
37:28who had died around three years old.
37:31Below the hearth, two more infants were uncovered.
37:35This time, they were buried, but not cremated.
37:38Now, these children were much younger than the first,
37:40with the oldest being no more than seven months old.
37:42They had been buried in graves filled with offerings,
37:46including 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
37:56and began a detailed analysis.
37:59The results proved that these infants were buried at the end of the Paleolithic era,
38:03around 11,500 years ago.
38:05This 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
38:15and form a detailed picture of these children's genetic ancestry.
38:19Up until this discovery, two main groups of Native Americans had been identified,
38:24Southern and Northern Native Americans.
38:27But these infants belonged to neither.
38:30Instead, they proved the existence of a third, previously undiscovered group.
38:34Today, this group is known as the Ancient Beringians.
38:38We now believe that the Ancient Beringians began to split from their East Asian ancestors
38:43around 25,000 years ago.
38:45Based on this genetic evidence, it's possible that these ancient Native Americans
38:49formed one of the earliest known waves of migration to North America,
38:53thousands of years before Clovis culture appeared.
39:06The discovery of the Ancient Beringian population presents fascinating possibilities for the researchers
39:13investigating the White Sands footprints.
39:17Finding an entirely new Ancient American group means humans didn't reach North America
39:22in 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
39:33undiscovered.
39:34So now the question becomes, could the people who left their footprints in the desert have been one of these
39:41unidentified 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
39:51.S.?
39:52The truth is, we don't know how these ancient humans reached New Mexico.
39:56It's possible they may have traveled by boat, following the Siberian and Alaskan shoreline south,
40:01before traveling inland on foot.
40:02Or they may have found a different passage, one we still don't know about.
40:08To this day, the White Sands footprints remain shrouded in mystery.
40:12But while they may not be able to tell us who these people were,
40:16they do paint a vivid picture of the environment in which they lived.
40:21Today, White Sands National Park is a true desert, but it wasn't always.
40:26The ditch weed 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
40:40Otero.
40:41Lake Otero 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 drier and the lake receded.
40:56Leaving behind a soft surface covered by gypsum sand and silt.
41:01This was the surface that ended up preserving the White Sands footprints.
41:05We don't just see humans stalking giant sloths here.
41:09Other fossilized tracks proved that there was a whole range of animals passing through the shores of Lake Otero.
41:14You've got mammoths, you've got camels.
41:17I mean, they're traveling in herds as families.
41:19In one spot, there is even footprints that show a baby mammoth spinning around and maybe even playing next to
41:27its parents.
41:28In almost all cases, the interactions between individuals and different species seem to have been peaceful.
41:34It's even possible that humans would have followed animals here, traveling in one large extended community from one lake to
41:43another.
41:43The extraordinary tracks in White Sands National Park serve as a fascinating time capsule.
41:49Bringing a long gone world to life using little more than footprints in the sand.
41:54While possibly rewriting the history of North America's first inhabitants.
42:00Closed Captions byrebs Latins
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