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00:00Below the bustling streets of Seoul, South Korea, an incredible discovery is made.
00:06Beneath City Star Mall lies a vast chamber just above the tracks of subway line 2.
00:14How does a space like this get constructed in the middle of the city, then stay hidden from public view
00:19for so long?
00:20What function was it meant to serve?
00:24Excavations beneath a Polish ice cream shop reveal a medieval gravesite.
00:28The first discovery was a limestone slab carved with the image of a man in full chainmail armor.
00:35So, who was he? And what can his burial reveal about the forces that shaped the city at its beginnings?
00:42A remarkable discovery is made under the rubble of a demolished church in England.
00:48Three portrait busts made of stone.
00:51This site was like an archaeological nesting doll, each layer presenting a new mystery.
00:58Who put all these items here? And what was this place?
01:04Below the busy streets of the world's cities exists a hidden realm of wonder.
01:11Sprawling ancient complexes.
01:15Mysterious tombs.
01:16Top secret military bases.
01:20Strange structures.
01:22And lost artifacts.
01:25Buried beneath our feet and long forgotten.
01:29Until now.
01:31Underground marbles are exposed to reveal what lies.
01:36Hidden beneath the cities.
01:39Less than 40 miles from the Yellow Sea, the city of Seoul is located in South Korea, which makes up
01:46the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.
01:48The Korean Peninsula stretches over 600 miles from north to south, bordered by China and Russia, with Japan just across
01:58a narrow strait.
01:59A position that has made Korea both a cultural bridge and a focal point for rival powers.
02:06Today, South Korea covers over 38,000 square miles, with more than 52 million people packed into one of the
02:16world's most densely populated nations.
02:18In 1910, Japan seized control of Korea, erasing its sovereignty for the next 35 years.
02:27After Japan's surrender to Allied forces in 1945, Korea was divided into Soviet and American zones of occupation.
02:35Two rival regimes emerged in 1948.
02:39North Korea with its capital in Pyongyang, and South Korea with its capital in Seoul.
02:44Two years later, the Korean War erupted, leaving at least two and a half million people dead.
02:51The armistice of 1953 ended the fighting, but didn't formally end the war.
02:57And the peninsula remains divided to this day.
03:02Devastated by war, Seoul was rapidly rebuilt as waves of refugees and workers poured in.
03:07In the decades that followed, South Korea's rise as one of Asia's four tigers turned the capital into a metropolis
03:14of roughly 10 million.
03:16Today, it anchors the nation's political power, economic strength, and cultural life.
03:22In September of 2023, a hidden underground space beneath Seoul Plaza opens to the public for the first time in
03:3040 years.
03:33Beneath City Star Mall, Seoul's first underground shopping center, lies a vast chamber.
03:39It's about 43 feet underground, just above the tracks of Subway Line 2, stretching between two stations, City Hall and
03:47Uljiro 1 Gah.
03:49The tunnel measures nearly 1,100 feet long and just over 30 feet wide.
03:55Altogether, it spans over 34,000 square feet.
04:01Above this chamber, there's a drainage system, and for decades, water has dripped from the ceiling.
04:07Over time, those steady drips have built a stalagmite, a mineral column that rises from the floor,
04:13gradually building upward as each drop deposits a thin layer of calcium carbonate.
04:20Despite its massive scale, we don't know exactly why this chamber was built.
04:24So, how does a space like this get constructed in the middle of the city, then stay hidden from public
04:29view for so long?
04:30What function was it meant to serve?
04:32In the 1960s and 70s, Seoul became the engine of South Korea's transformation as mayors pursued urban planning with the
04:42discipline of a wartime campaign.
04:44But this was also a period of escalating tension with North Korea, when even everyday spaces could be shaped by
04:51the logic of defense.
04:52After incidents like the 1976 murders of two U.S. officers and the discovery of secret infiltration tunnels from the
05:01north,
05:02Seoul began building underground shelters and even designing some public spaces with emergency use in mind.
05:10So, could the chamber beneath Seoul Plaza have been part of that strategy?
05:14Maybe it was a place to protect its citizens or government officials in the event of an attack.
05:21Seoul's explosive population growth drove rapid urbanization and industrial expansion.
05:28Ex-military mayors pushed sweeping redevelopment.
05:31They expanded Seoul's boundaries, built expressways and large-scale apartment complexes,
05:36and created new towns in the cities south, considered safer from attack.
05:42In this era, urban planning wasn't just about establishing a global presence.
05:48It was intertwined with national security.
05:52Tensions between North and South were already high when a new threat emerged underground,
05:57roughly 30 miles north of Seoul Plaza.
06:00In 1978, authorities uncovered the so-called Third Tunnel of Aggression,
06:06the third such passage discovered beneath the demilitarized zone since 1974.
06:12It extended over 1,400 feet into South Korea and was believed to stretch nearly 4,000 feet back into
06:19North Korea.
06:21Carved nearly 240 feet below ground and measuring about 6.5 feet high and wide,
06:26it was large enough for military vehicles, field guns, even tanks.
06:32Experts estimated as many as 30,000 troops could have passed through every hour.
06:38Adding to the tension was the fact that the tunnel opened toward the Monsan Corridor.
06:42That's the same route used by North Korean forces to reach Seoul in 1950.
06:47Back then, the U.S. called it an act of aggression.
06:50But to South Korea, it was just evidence that the North had never really abandoned its policy of reunification by
06:58war.
06:59The discovery also underscored a sobering reality.
07:03The capital, which lies roughly 25 miles from the demilitarized zone,
07:08was still within easy reach of attack.
07:12In that climate, it made sense for Seoul to look underground for its own defenses.
07:17Perhaps the tunnel under Seoul Plaza was part of that response.
07:24In 2005, construction workers in Uido, just three and a half miles from Seoul Plaza,
07:30were building a new bus station when they uncovered what looked like a hollow void.
07:37Further investigation revealed it was actually a deliberately built bunker,
07:42reportedly with no official records to explain its existence.
07:46The bunker's layout consists of two zones,
07:49a living quarter of over 700 square feet,
07:52complete with a sofa, shower, and bathroom,
07:56and a sprawling machine room covering over 6,000 square feet.
08:01These features suggest that it was intended for a small number of VIPs.
08:06Its construction appears to date to a period of renewed Cold War tension.
08:10Aerial photos from 1977 reveal what seemed to be its doors,
08:15while none were present in images from 1976.
08:19It sits directly beneath the raised platform from which President Park Chung-hee
08:23would watch military parades staged to project South Korea's strength to the north.
08:29And so many believe the bunker was built for him and his bodyguards
08:33as a secure refuge in the event of an attack.
08:36The location and the general vibe of the bunker at Yauido point very clearly to a government function.
08:43But the Seoul Plaza chamber is different.
08:46It's way bigger, it's way less defined, and it's just harder to explain.
08:50There's no evidence to suggest it was built to protect government officials or even civilians.
08:55So maybe we've been barking up the wrong tree altogether.
08:58But if so, what was it built for?
09:02Not all interpretations center on defense.
09:05Some see the chamber as a reflection of South Korea's own political landscape.
09:11The Korean Central Intelligence Agency was once arguably the most powerful institution in South Korea.
09:19Created in 1961 with American support,
09:23one U.S. official described it as a combination of the Gestapo and the Soviet KGB,
09:31reflecting the scale of its authority and methods.
09:35If the agency could dominate politics, intimidate communities abroad,
09:40and operate with such secrecy,
09:42could a hidden chamber in central Seoul have served as part of its operations?
09:49By the early 1970s, the KCIA's reach was absolute.
09:54It was accused of extorting money from businessmen,
09:57abducting dissidents, torturing students on fabricated espionage charges,
10:02and later even engineering the 1987 bombing of a Korean air flight that killed 115 people.
10:10In that climate, the idea that underground facilities might have been built for intelligence use
10:16really isn't far-fetched.
10:18Less than a mile away, at the base of Namsan,
10:22a scenic tree-covered peak in the heart of Seoul,
10:25the KCIA's operations in their own facility's basement
10:28show how subterranean spaces in Seoul have served far darker purposes.
10:34The KCIA headquarters on Namsan opened in 1973,
10:38the same year a Seoul National University law professor died while in the agency's custody.
10:44Officials claimed he had confessed to being a North Korean spy and jumped from a window.
10:49But in the year 2000, South Korea passed a law to honor and in some cases compensate
10:54the people who took part in the country's democracy movement,
10:57creating a commission to review individual claims.
11:00And that commission later concluded that the allegation was fabricated
11:05and that he had most likely been thrown from the building or even tortured to death beforehand,
11:10possibly the first victim inside the new headquarters.
11:15Namsan soon became synonymous with state repression.
11:19In South Korea's post-war authoritarian years,
11:23going to Namsan meant ending up in KCIA custody,
11:28often for involvement in pro-democracy activities where torture was common.
11:34The KCIA's record leaves little doubt about its capacity for secrecy and abuse.
11:40Its power radiated from the Namsan headquarters.
11:43While abroad, its agents operated through embassies, consulates, and front organizations.
11:49But nothing in the public record suggests that it used the vast hidden chamber beneath Seoul Plaza
11:54for its operation, which opens up other possibilities about its true purpose.
11:59The official explanation is the most straightforward and the least sensational.
12:05When Seoul began building its subway in the early 1970s,
12:08construction methods were very different from what we see today.
12:12Could the chamber beneath Seoul Plaza simply be a byproduct of that process?
12:16The evidence does line up.
12:18The chamber lies right between Ujiro-1-Ga and City Hall stations.
12:22And during the construction of Line 2, when it's believed this underground space was created,
12:26crews were digging down from the surface instead of boring a tunnel in from the side,
12:31which is how these things are done today.
12:33So officials believe that when Ujiro-1-Ga station opened in 1983,
12:38this leftover space got sealed off and then just remained hidden for more than four decades.
12:45Over 6,700 miles across the Pacific, in Cincinnati, Ohio,
12:50a similar underground void tells its own story about a subway line that never came to be.
12:57In the early 20th century, Cincinnati set out to build a 16-mile rapid transit loop
13:03to serve its booming population.
13:06By 1923, two miles of the subway tunnels were completed
13:10to a spot just north of the Western Hills Viaduct,
13:13with a short tunnel running beneath Hopple Street
13:16as part of the city's grand plan to modernize its transit system.
13:21But costs spiraled after World War I.
13:24Funds dried up, and planning was scaled back.
13:27By 1929, the project was abandoned.
13:31Tracks were never laid, and crucial links to the system never finished.
13:35The tunnels were sealed off and ultimately sidelined by the Mill Creek Expressway,
13:40today's I-75.
13:42Over the years, the abandoned subway was reimagined for everything from fallout shelters
13:47to underground wineries.
13:49But in the end, it remained what it had always been,
13:52a relic of unfinished planning.
13:56The official explanation in Seoul points to leftover subway construction,
13:59and it makes sense.
14:00With more than 65% of the land covered by mountains,
14:04tunneling has become unavoidable for railroads, freeways, subways,
14:07and the utility networks buried beneath South Korea's cities.
14:11The chamber under Seoul Plaza may simply be one of them,
14:14an ordinary remnant of extraordinary infrastructure.
14:17Hidden for decades, the chamber beneath Seoul Plaza is now in plain view,
14:22a reminder that even the most familiar urban landscapes can contain histories
14:27we're only just beginning to uncover.
14:33175 miles northwest of Warsaw, where the Vistula River meets the Baltic Sea,
14:39Gdansk has endured for centuries as a city defined by commerce, conquest, and resilience.
14:46In 1260, Gdansk secured municipal autonomy,
14:50granting merchants the freedom to expand their trade.
14:53Its position at the mouth of the Vistula made it Poland's main outlet for grain and timber,
15:00tying the city directly into Northern Europe's trade routes.
15:04In 1308, the Teutonic Knights seized Gdansk.
15:07Invited east decades earlier,
15:09the German Catholic military order had already carved out a state in Prussia
15:12with papal and imperial backing.
15:15Their conquest of the city shifted the balance of power across the Baltic.
15:19From Gdansk, they ruled more than a century
15:21until King Casimir IV reclaimed it in 1466, after a 13-year war.
15:27Casimir restored broad civic privileges, fueling prosperity.
15:32By the 18th century, Gdansk could become the Baltic's leading port,
15:36home to 77,000 people,
15:38and exporting over 200,000 tons of grain each year.
15:44But even in modern times, the fortunes of Gdansk rose and fell with conflict.
15:50It was remade as the free city of Danzig after World War I,
15:54absorbed into Nazi Germany in 1939,
15:57reduced to ruins in 1945,
16:00and later rebuilt.
16:02In July of 2025, excavations beneath the site of a former ice cream shop
16:08in the center of Gdansk
16:09uncovered traces of a medieval past long hidden beneath the city.
16:14The first discovery was a limestone slab,
16:17thought to be a tombstone about 60 inches long,
16:21carved with the image of a man in full chainmail armor.
16:25He's gripping a sword in his right hand,
16:28a shield in his left hand,
16:30with boots and leggings encasing his legs.
16:35Monuments of this kind are exceptionally rare from medieval Poland,
16:39where tombstones almost never depicted the deceased in such vivid detail.
16:47The slab was lifted,
16:49and after two more days of excavation,
16:51they found a coffin below.
16:56Inside lay the skeleton of a man,
16:58surrounded by 23 fieldstones carefully arranged in a rectangle.
17:05Preliminary analysis showed that he was about 40 years old at death,
17:09and stood between 5'6 and 5'9,
17:12close to the average stature for men in medieval Gdansk.
17:16The grave lies within a larger excavation zone,
17:19spanning nearly 11,000 square feet,
17:21which has uncovered traces of the city's earliest history,
17:24wooden cottages,
17:25a 12th century timber street,
17:26and Gdansk's first church,
17:29built around 1140 in the form of a Greek cross.
17:32The slab dates to the late 13th or early 14th century,
17:36and even after centuries underground,
17:39the outlines of the armor,
17:40sword,
17:41and shield
17:42remain strikingly well preserved,
17:45a monument to a man of clear status
17:47whose identity is lost.
17:49So, who was he?
17:51Why was he buried here?
17:52And what can his burial reveal about the forces
17:55that shaped the city at its beginnings?
18:00In a city where wealth once flowed through merchant hands,
18:04the tomb may reflect the ambitions of a man
18:07who blurred the line between commerce and chivalry.
18:10After the mid-15th century,
18:13Gdansk was dominated by a merchant patriciate,
18:16families who controlled trade,
18:18held civic office,
18:20and displayed symbols of elite status.
18:23They worked to secure shipping routes,
18:26guard against pirates,
18:28and manage commerce,
18:30competing directly with English and Dutch rivals.
18:33Could this burial belong to one of them?
18:36The slab itself is a major clue.
18:40It was carved from Gotland limestone,
18:43an expensive material that was imported
18:45from the Swedish island
18:46at the heart of Baltic exchange.
18:49That kind of stone would have reached Gdansk
18:51through trade routes,
18:53suggesting that the man in this grave
18:55had direct access to the networks
18:57of the ruling merchant class.
19:00Over 800 miles northwest,
19:02on the Scottish island of Unst,
19:03another site shows how merchants
19:05marked their presence far from home.
19:08In the chapel ruins at Lundervick,
19:10a weathered imported slab
19:11still honors a German merchant
19:13who traded there for more than half a century.
19:16Its inscription lists his name,
19:18city, and profession,
19:19a grave that doubles as a statement
19:21of mercantile identity.
19:23In Gdansk, the pattern is different.
19:25The night's effigy bears no merchant seal,
19:28no inscription, no mark of trade,
19:30only the imagery of sword, shield, and armor.
19:34Nearly 115 miles south of Gdansk,
19:38in the Kujawia region of north-central Poland,
19:41archaeologists uncovered a cemetery
19:43of several dozen chamber graves
19:45dating to the late 10th and early 11th centuries.
19:48Four rows of graves contained the remains of 14 men,
19:5321 women, and 14 children.
19:56Each lay within a wooden box reinforced by iron fittings
20:00and lined with fabric,
20:02with some graves marked by larger rectangular enclosures
20:06that may have been fences or houses of the dead.
20:11Alongside them, richly furnished cenotaphs
20:15added further evidence of high status.
20:18These burials were filled with remarkable items,
20:22weapons, jewelry, coins, and ornaments of high quality.
20:26Women were laid to rest with necklaces of glass beads,
20:29gold foil beads, precious stones, and silver.
20:32Two silver amulet containers,
20:35one engraved with a bird,
20:36stand out as truly spectacular finds.
20:39The discovery of silk fragments,
20:42likely brought from as far away as China,
20:45shows just how far the community's trade connections reached.
20:50Weapons in the men's graves,
20:52Viking swords, a pickaxe,
20:53and single-edged Langsax blades,
20:55which were long, straight-edged knives
20:57used in battle and as markers of status,
20:59reveal a warrior elite
21:00whose funeral rites and equipment
21:02marked them as high-status settlers.
21:06The most striking case
21:08is a young man buried
21:09with a silver inlaid ceremonial sword
21:11bearing a rurikid tamga,
21:13a symbol of the noble lineage
21:14that ruled the land of the Rus,
21:16which is evidence of far-reaching ties.
21:18At this site, we see evidence of trade connections,
21:22where wealth was displayed
21:23through weapons, ornaments, and foreign imports.
21:26But in Gdansk, there are no weapons,
21:28no jewelry, no silks,
21:30only the carved image of a knight.
21:32That absence makes it less likely
21:35he was a wealthy merchant
21:36and instead opens the possibility
21:38that his identity was defined in other ways.
21:42Long before merchants and crusaders
21:45left their mark on Gdansk,
21:46power rested in the hands of a native dynasty.
21:49The Sobiswa dynasty emerged in Gdansk
21:52in the 12th and 13th century,
21:55ruling for nearly a century.
21:57Its founder began as a governor,
22:00but from 1227,
22:02his heirs styled themselves as dukes,
22:05princes in their own right.
22:07Could this have been a duke of their dynasty?
22:12Excavations around the slab
22:14uncovered layers of early settlement,
22:17timber cottages,
22:18a street built from 18 successive layers of wood,
22:22and nearly 300 burials.
22:24Only eight of those graves had stone markers,
22:26and the knights was by far the most elaborate.
22:29That distinction suggests an elite rank
22:32in a modest cemetery,
22:34consistent with a dynastic identity.
22:37Most members of the Sobiswa dynasty
22:39were buried in a monastery they found at Oliva,
22:43but their original graves were destroyed
22:45several times by fire and war.
22:47That loss makes the Gdansk effigy
22:49all the more significant.
22:51If it belonged to one of their princes,
22:53it could be the earliest authentic ducal monument
22:57still tied to the dynasty.
22:59In 2018, a burial chest was discovered
23:02hidden in a storeroom,
23:04walled up inside St. Stephen's Church
23:06at the Czech city of Olomuz Herodisko Monastery,
23:10around 330 miles southwest of Gdansk.
23:13Decorated with elaborate artwork,
23:16it held the skeletal remains
23:17of seven members of the Shemishlib dynasty.
23:19These were princes and princesses
23:22who ruled Bohemia and Moravia
23:23from the 9th to 14th centuries.
23:26Their identities were confirmed
23:27only after DNA and radiocarbon testing.
23:31The Sobiswa princes of Gdansk
23:34belonged to the same medieval world,
23:36and both groups' original tombs
23:39had been destroyed over time
23:40by disaster or conflict.
23:43But in Gdansk, the difficulty is twofold.
23:46The effigy bears no name or inscription,
23:50and it lies outside the dynasty's
23:53known necropolis of Oliva.
23:56Its stark military imagery may instead
24:00hint at another power that would soon
24:02dominate the city.
24:03The tombstone may reflect status,
24:06but its stark simplicity could connect
24:08to Gdansk's most infamous occupiers.
24:12After a campaign of expansion,
24:15the Teutonic Order carved out
24:16a militarized state in Prussia.
24:18In 1308, the Teutonic Knights seized Gdansk
24:21in a brutal massacre,
24:23placing the city under their rule.
24:25Could the man in this grave
24:26have once belonged to their ranks?
24:29The conquest of 1308 gave the order
24:31direct control over eastern Pomerania.
24:34From Gdansk, they expanded deeper into Prussia,
24:36building castles, churches, and monasteries.
24:39A high-status burial from this moment of transition
24:41would fit within the order's
24:43sudden, violent presence in the city.
24:46In the early 14th century,
24:47Teutonic Knights in Gdansk
24:49swore vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
24:52A lone stone tool marked with martial symbolism
24:56but devoid of goods
24:57is exactly what we might expect of their burials.
25:02The order also drew guest crusaders
25:05from across Europe.
25:06Nobles would join seasonal crusading campaigns
25:09known as racing against Poland and Lithuania.
25:14Many would have died on campaign
25:16far from their homelands.
25:18With so many foreign knights
25:20passing through Gdansk,
25:21it is possible that one was buried here.
25:25Less than 30 miles southeast of Gdansk,
25:29in Malbork,
25:30the Teutonic Order built its greatest fortress,
25:33Malbork Castle.
25:34Beneath it, the Chapel of St. Anne
25:36shows how they buried their most powerful men.
25:39The Chapel of St. Anne
25:41was likely built in the 14th century
25:43as the burial place
25:44for the grandmasters of the Teutonic Order.
25:47Dietrich von Adenburg
25:49was the first grandmaster
25:50to be interred beneath its floor in 1341.
25:53Ten of his successors were buried here too,
25:56making it the order's symbolic necropolis.
26:00Ordinary knight burials were very different.
26:03The Teutonic rule banned personal seals,
26:05coats of arms,
26:06and ostentatious monuments.
26:08Even clothing and equipment
26:09were tightly regulated.
26:11Against that discipline,
26:12a solitary effigy
26:13with only military imagery fits.
26:15Not a grandmaster celebrated in ritual,
26:18but perhaps a single knight
26:20remembered in the simplest way.
26:22Researchers are scanning the effigy in 3D
26:25and testing the bones
26:26through chemical and genetic analysis,
26:29aiming to uncover
26:30who this knight was
26:31and how he lived.
26:33They even plan a facial reconstruction
26:36from the skull,
26:37so the so-called Gdansk Lancelot
26:39may soon be seen
26:40as he once appeared in life.
26:43Beneath the streets of Gdansk,
26:46the carved tomb of the knight
26:47carries the weight of a city's beginnings,
26:50a trace of power preserved,
26:51but never fully explained.
26:57In southern England,
26:59just outside Greater London,
27:01is the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire.
27:05This part of Britain
27:06has seen centuries of human history.
27:09People have found evidence
27:09of Neolithic and Bronze Age occupation
27:12across Buckinghamshire.
27:16A hill fort at Ivinghoe Beacon
27:18was likely occupied
27:20long before the Romans ever invaded.
27:23But after that invasion,
27:25Rome began construction
27:26on Watling Road,
27:28which would ultimately connect
27:29this whole region
27:30to what would later become London.
27:33Buckinghamshire's more recent history
27:35highlights British determination
27:36and perseverance.
27:38In World War II,
27:39it was here that the Allied codebreakers
27:42managed to crack
27:42the German Enigma Codes,
27:44which helped bring the war
27:45to a close much sooner.
27:48But it hasn't always been easy
27:50for Buckinghamshire
27:51to hang on to its physical history.
27:53One building lost to the past
27:55is St. Mary's Church
27:56in the village of Stoke Mandeville.
27:59Demolished in 1966,
28:00St. Mary's Rubble
28:02sits undisturbed until 2021,
28:05when the city must make room
28:06for a new national high-speed railway.
28:09But prior to its removal,
28:11researchers conducting
28:12a routine archaeological survey
28:14of the site
28:15discover much more
28:16than they bargained for.
28:18Beneath the foundation of the church,
28:20another structure emerged
28:22from the earth and rock.
28:23There were the foundations
28:25of a smaller, square-shaped building,
28:27possibly a tower of some kind.
28:31When the surrounding ditch
28:32was excavated,
28:34some incredible artifacts
28:35were unearthed.
28:37Three portrait busts
28:39made of stone.
28:41This site was like
28:43an archaeological nesting doll,
28:45each layer presenting
28:46a new mystery.
28:48The busts depict
28:49an adult male,
28:50an adult female,
28:52and an additional head
28:53that seems to be
28:54that of a young child.
28:55But what's weird
28:57is that the adult busts
28:59appear to have been
28:59decapitated
29:00before they were buried.
29:03There are clean breaks
29:04at the necks.
29:06And there's something else.
29:07The remnants of a hexagonal jug
29:10made of glass.
29:12Who put all these items here
29:15and what was this place?
29:18The St. Mary's site
29:20is a multi-layered discovery
29:22with each stratum
29:23offering its own piece
29:24of British history.
29:26We know that St. Mary's
29:28was built in 1080 CE,
29:30shortly after the Norman conquest.
29:33But the style of the busts
29:35are indicative
29:35of early Roman sculpture,
29:37dating them sometime
29:38between the 1st and 5th century.
29:41During this time,
29:42the region was dotted
29:43with large Roman farming estates.
29:46Agriculture was a major driver
29:48of the economy.
29:49The nearby Roman town
29:51of Maggiovinium
29:52may have been the location
29:53of a garrison
29:54and a Roman fort.
29:56Maggiovinium also shows evidence
29:57of multiple cemeteries.
29:59People likely came here
30:01to bury their dead.
30:02But the shards
30:03of the hexagonal glass jug
30:04complicate the historical picture.
30:07Jugs like this
30:07were often used
30:08as funerary vessels
30:09for flasks of holy oil.
30:12So, what's it doing here?
30:14Why was this vessel
30:15buried in a ditch
30:16alongside these Roman sculptures?
30:20Approximately 50 miles
30:21from the St. Mary's site
30:22in Kent,
30:23near the town of Einsford,
30:25is the Lullingstone Villa residence,
30:27where similar high-quality
30:29portrait sculptures
30:30were discovered in 1949
30:32by G.W. Meads and others.
30:34The Lullingstone residence
30:36had two busts
30:37made of marble,
30:38possibly depicting
30:39a man and his father,
30:40and they were found
30:41in the building's
30:42so-called cult room.
30:44So, maybe the sculptures
30:46under St. Mary's
30:47had a similar
30:47spiritual meaning.
30:49The stone busts
30:50were likely commissioned
30:51by someone
30:52of great wealth
30:53and influence,
30:54which further supports
30:55the notion that
30:56many Roman inhabitants
30:57from this area
30:58were from an affluent class.
31:00These are families
31:01that could afford
31:02a statue
31:03carved by skilled artisans,
31:05like the ones
31:05found under St. Mary's.
31:07But why would
31:09a private residence
31:10be built on top
31:11of this natural mound of dirt?
31:13So far,
31:14nothing has tied
31:15these busts
31:16or the glass vessel
31:17directly to a neighboring villa.
31:19The remnants of plaster
31:20and the roof tiles
31:21suggest that the busts
31:23and the glass
31:23were likely buried
31:24during a demolition.
31:25But a demolition of what?
31:29The building's location
31:30may be the key
31:31to understanding
31:33its purpose.
31:34Natural mounds
31:35were the go-to locations
31:36for ancient peoples
31:38when it came to choosing
31:39a burial site
31:40or ceremonial center.
31:42The circular ditch
31:44surrounding the site
31:45is also a common trait
31:46of an Iron Age temenos,
31:48an enclosure
31:49that was designed
31:50to separate
31:50the outside world
31:51from a sacred location.
31:54It's not hard
31:55to imagine
31:56this site
31:57being repurposed
31:58under Roman authority
31:59as a temple
32:00for pagan rituals.
32:02The busts
32:03in this context
32:04could be deities
32:05or they could be
32:06family portraits
32:07of the temple's
32:09wealthy patrons.
32:10As Christianity spread,
32:11the temple may have been
32:13destroyed along with
32:13the statues
32:14and the glass vessel.
32:15That could explain
32:16the seemingly ritualistic
32:18severing of the stone heads
32:20that may have been
32:21a way to neutralize
32:22a symbol of power.
32:23In 1979,
32:26about 65 miles away
32:27from the dig at St. Mary's,
32:29in the village of Uli
32:30in Gloucester,
32:31a cult statue
32:32from the 2nd century
32:33was pulled
32:34from the ruins
32:35of a temple
32:36built to honor
32:37the Roman god Mercury.
32:39The limestone bust,
32:40which was a portrait
32:41of Mercury,
32:42had its nose
32:43and lips
32:43damaged in antiquity,
32:45but the head itself
32:46was found
32:47deliberately buried,
32:48which could have happened
32:49once the temple
32:50had been shuttered
32:51or demolished.
32:52This ritual burial
32:53of artifacts
32:54is called
32:55a structured deposition.
32:57It was common
32:58for Christian churches
32:59to be built
32:59on top of former temples,
33:01a signal to all
33:02that a new faith
33:03had taken root
33:04in the community
33:05and supplanted
33:06the old one.
33:07In the case
33:07of the St. Mary's site,
33:09the Norman church
33:10was built directly
33:11on top of the Roman rubble
33:12with no intervening
33:14soil in between.
33:15Demolition of the Roman structure
33:17appears to have been
33:18followed almost immediately
33:19by the construction
33:21of the church.
33:22The surrounding ditch
33:23does strongly suggest
33:25this was a sacred site
33:27for the Romans,
33:28but the realistic style
33:29of portraiture
33:30that we see
33:31in these three busts
33:33is more characteristic
33:34of a commemorative statue
33:36than a spiritual idol.
33:38So yes,
33:39this was likely
33:40a sacred space,
33:41but for what?
33:43There was another discovery
33:45within the Roman rubble
33:46that suggests
33:47this mysterious building
33:49had a special purpose.
33:50Within all the dust
33:52and debris,
33:53the excavation unearthed
33:54a bunch of Roman
33:56cremation urns.
33:57Those items suggest
33:59that the Roman church
34:00was built on top
34:01of a Roman mausoleum.
34:04Again,
34:05the severing of the heads
34:06on these busts
34:07is very symbolic.
34:08Within the context
34:09of the mausoleum,
34:10these decapitations
34:12could tell a story
34:13of a family undone
34:14by the fall
34:15of Roman Britain.
34:16While there's no evidence
34:18of any formal
34:19inhumations
34:20present at the site,
34:21the urns suggest
34:23that cremation
34:23was the primary
34:24funerary ritual here,
34:26and the family
34:27depicted in the stone
34:28portraits
34:28were likely
34:29the occupants
34:30of the tomb.
34:32There are still questions.
34:34Who were this man,
34:36woman,
34:36and child?
34:37If they represent
34:38a family,
34:39we can infer a lot
34:40about their wealth
34:41and social status,
34:43but we still don't know
34:44their identities.
34:45Without any inscription,
34:47they remain anonymous.
34:49The incoming
34:50high-speed railway
34:51is but the latest chapter
34:53in the ongoing story
34:55of the multi-layered
34:56historical site
34:57beneath St. Mary's Church,
34:59one that may still contain
35:01hidden secrets
35:02from the past.
35:05In the eastern end
35:06of Los Angeles, California,
35:09about seven miles
35:09southeast of Hollywood,
35:11is the historic neighborhood
35:12of Lincoln Heights.
35:14Lincoln Heights
35:15is the oldest suburb
35:17of Los Angeles.
35:18In the late 1800s,
35:20one of the city's
35:20first horse-drawn streetcars
35:22ran through its streets.
35:24Due to the neighborhood's
35:25proximity to downtown,
35:27early residents here
35:28were primarily commuters.
35:30But Lincoln Heights
35:31quickly grew
35:32into a community
35:33of its own,
35:33attracting manufacturing companies
35:35and establishing
35:36both a nearby hospital
35:38and a library.
35:39In the early 20th century,
35:41Lincoln Heights
35:41had numerous attractions
35:42that made it a destination
35:44for Angelenos.
35:45Families could visit
35:46Lincoln Park,
35:47one of the oldest parks
35:49in the city,
35:49and other amusements
35:50like a merry-go-round
35:51and miniature railroad.
35:54Animal exhibits
35:55were definitely
35:56a major draw here.
35:57The ceiling zoo
35:58near the park
35:59preceded the Los Angeles Zoo
36:01by 50 years.
36:03Lincoln Heights
36:03also featured
36:04the California alligator farm
36:06and even something called
36:07the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm.
36:09In 1931,
36:12planning is underway
36:12for an orchard
36:14on Lincoln Heights'
36:15flat top hill.
36:16And a plumber at the site
36:17discovers something unusual
36:19while digging a trench
36:21for the irrigation system.
36:22It looked like a vertebra
36:24from some kind of
36:25very big creature.
36:27So,
36:28a team from
36:29the Natural History Museum
36:30was brought in
36:31to investigate.
36:32They found a significant number
36:34of bones buried
36:35under the ground.
36:36The remains included
36:37a large skull
36:38and lower jaw,
36:39a left shoulder blade,
36:41and a series
36:41of 22 vertebrae.
36:43What was this thing?
36:453,000 pounds
36:47of bones and sediment
36:48are removed
36:49from the pit
36:50for further study.
36:51And using a process
36:52called relative dating,
36:54the rock layers
36:55in which the skeleton
36:56was entombed
36:57are used to determine
36:58the age of the fossil.
37:00This area was part
37:01of what's called
37:02the Modelo Formation,
37:03which dates
37:04to the Middle
37:05to Late Miocene Epoch
37:06between 8 and 16 million years ago.
37:10Cross-referencing this data
37:12with other fossils
37:13from California,
37:14it was determined
37:15this animal arrived
37:16at its final resting place
37:18over 10 million years ago.
37:20This era was defined
37:22by cooler global temperatures
37:23after the warmer
37:24early Miocene.
37:26It was a volatile period
37:27in the planet's history
37:29with dramatic geological changes
37:31caused by shifting
37:32tectonic plates.
37:33tropical forests declined
37:35while grasslands expanded.
37:38Geological studies
37:39of the Modelo Formation
37:40show that it was submerged
37:41in the ocean
37:42during this period
37:43at a depth
37:44of about 3,200 feet.
37:47The fossilized remains
37:48are sent for laboratory analysis
37:50and the results
37:52leave researchers stunned.
37:54They're from a previously
37:55undiscovered species of whale.
37:57This incredible specimen
37:59is what's called
37:59a holotype,
38:00meaning it's the only one
38:02of its kind
38:02anywhere in the world.
38:04It was given the name
38:05Myxocesus Elysius,
38:07which was a reference
38:08to the creature's
38:08whale-like features
38:09and the geological layer
38:11it was found in,
38:12the Elysian Park sandstone.
38:13Based on the measurements
38:15of the skull
38:16and vertebrae,
38:17it's estimated
38:17this whale was approximately
38:1932 feet long.
38:21During this period,
38:22it would have been
38:22one of the largest
38:23in the world.
38:24So its discovery
38:25raised a couple
38:25of key questions.
38:27How did an animal
38:28of this size
38:29end up under the slopes
38:30of Flat Top Hill
38:32in Lincoln Heights?
38:33And how did this creature die?
38:36One of the most terrifying
38:37sea monsters
38:38from prehistoric times
38:40was a giant shark
38:41known as Megalodon.
38:42Sometimes 60 feet in length
38:44and weighing as much
38:45as 50 tons,
38:47the Megalodon
38:47was the largest shark
38:49that ever lived.
38:51It dominated the ocean
38:53as the apex predator
38:54of its era.
38:56So,
38:57could the Lincoln whale
38:58have been a victim
38:59of a Megalodon attack?
39:01Other whale fossil discoveries
39:03suggest this could
39:04be a possibility.
39:06In 2022,
39:08fossilized whale vertebrae
39:10recovered along
39:10the Maryland shores
39:11of the Chesapeake Bay
39:13showed evidence
39:14of a massive
39:15compression fracture.
39:16The fossils
39:17were estimated
39:18to be about
39:1915 million years old
39:21and evidence showed
39:23that the whale's backbone
39:24had been forcibly bent
39:26into a tight curve
39:27that caused one
39:28of the vertebrae
39:29to smash
39:30into another one.
39:31That might actually
39:33be a predation injury.
39:35And what might have
39:36caused that?
39:36Well,
39:37helpfully,
39:38the tooth of a Megalodon
39:40was found
39:40with the remains.
39:41In fact,
39:42it was touching
39:42one of the vertebrae.
39:44So is that
39:44what killed our whale?
39:47Sharks use a variety
39:48of techniques
39:49to disable their prey.
39:50So,
39:51if a Megalodon
39:51had chosen
39:52the Lincoln Heights whale
39:53as its prey,
39:54it could have used
39:54one of several methods,
39:56including ramming it
39:57from below
39:57or biting off
39:58its tail flukes
39:59or pectoral fins,
40:00neither of which
40:01were found
40:02with a fossil.
40:03The skull
40:04of the Lincoln Heights whale
40:05did show some trauma
40:07near the jawbone.
40:08But a 2024 report
40:10from the Natural History Museum
40:12stated there was
40:13no evidence
40:14of any megalodon teeth
40:15in the whale's skull,
40:17vertebrae,
40:18or shoulder bones.
40:19Yes,
40:20a megalodon
40:21could have overcome
40:22the whale
40:22without biting it,
40:23but there's simply
40:24no concrete proof
40:25that the Lincoln Heights whale
40:27encountered
40:27a giant shark.
40:29If the whale
40:30wasn't annihilated
40:31by a vicious predator,
40:33it may have been
40:34the victim
40:34of a silent killer.
40:36Some of the most
40:37insidious
40:37and lethal life forms
40:39on the California coast
40:40are harmful algae blooms,
40:42or HAB.
40:43The single-celled algae,
40:45pseudonychia,
40:46produce a deadly toxin
40:47that can attack
40:48the central nervous system
40:49of marine mammals.
40:50Those who ingest the algae
40:52can experience seizures,
40:54disorientation,
40:55fatigue,
40:56and ultimately death
40:57from neurological damage
40:58or drowning.
41:00The Cerro Balena fossil site
41:01in Chile's Atacama Desert
41:03is a strong point
41:04of comparison.
41:05About 40 fossilized
41:06prehistoric whale skeletons
41:07from the late Miocene
41:09lay among remains
41:10from seals
41:10and other marine vertebrates.
41:12The four distinct layers
41:13of fossils
41:14were attributed
41:15to recurring mass die-offs,
41:17resulting from the presence
41:18of large-scale
41:19harmful algae blooms.
41:21Studying an area
41:22like Cerro Balena
41:23with multiple fossils
41:24deposited over
41:25many millions of years
41:26allows for a much more
41:28robust theory
41:29to develop
41:30around a mass death.
41:31But evidence
41:32of one whale carcass
41:34is much less conclusive.
41:35Ultimately,
41:36it may be next to impossible
41:37to uncover
41:38physical or chemical evidence
41:40on the Lincoln Heights fossil
41:41that proves
41:42it had ingested
41:43toxic algae.
41:45The greatest threat
41:46to the whale
41:47may have been
41:48the volatile habitat
41:49along the California coast.
41:51During the middle
41:52to late Miocene period,
41:54the tectonic plates
41:55under California
41:56were undergoing
41:57an incredible transformation.
41:59The Los Angeles basin
42:00was especially active,
42:02making catastrophic
42:03submarine landslides
42:04a frequent occurrence.
42:07Paleontologists believe
42:08that after the whale perished,
42:09it was buried
42:10in a violent underwater landslide,
42:13which would have immediately
42:14concealed the carcass
42:15from large scavengers
42:16and helped preserve it
42:18for millennia.
42:19In 1976,
42:21a baleen whale fossil
42:23from the Miocene period,
42:24excavated in Poland,
42:26was reported
42:26to have been found
42:27in a similar state
42:28of preservation.
42:30Its death
42:30was attributed
42:31to rapid burial
42:32by quickly accumulating sediment.
42:34This supports the theory
42:35that the Lincoln Heights whale
42:36could have died
42:37from a turbulent
42:38undersea event.
42:39The Modelo formation,
42:40in which the whale fossil
42:41was found,
42:42is largely made up
42:43of sediments deposited
42:43by currents
42:44in the deep-sea environment.
42:47Over the subsequent
42:4811 million years,
42:50great shifts
42:50in tectonic pressure
42:51along the California coast
42:53raised the seabed
42:55by 500 feet,
42:56pushing it 20 miles inland
42:58to form the hills
42:59of Los Angeles,
43:00where the Lincoln Heights whale
43:02would eventually be found.
43:05California's shifting
43:06geological forces
43:07may help explain
43:08the whale's death
43:09and unusual burial,
43:11but many unanswered
43:12questions remain.
43:14While it's possible
43:15the Lincoln Heights whale
43:16was subsumed
43:17by a geological event,
43:19the true cause of death
43:20remains a mystery.
43:23Old age, disease,
43:24or starvation
43:25may have played a factor
43:26in its demise.
43:28More discoveries
43:29of any fossil
43:30from the Modelo formation
43:32is going to help paint
43:33a clearer picture
43:34of what life was like
43:35before this whale ever died.
43:37One of the biggest unknowns
43:39is why this whale fossil
43:40remains the only specimen
43:41of its species
43:42ever discovered.
43:44With future excavations,
43:45additional discoveries
43:46will hopefully help us
43:47better study the animal,
43:48its habitat,
43:49and its history
43:50during the Miocene.
43:51For now,
43:53Myxocetus alisius
43:54is one of one,
43:55a single piece
43:57of a larger historical puzzle
43:58that has yet
43:59to be fully understood.
44:00To be fully understood.
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