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00:01Join me as I explore a fascinating story right here in America's backyard,
00:06the great earthen pyramids of the Mississippians.
00:10In the 16th century, the Native American empire brutally fought and defeated the powerful Spanish conquistadors.
00:17Who were these people, and how did they do it?
00:21Some archaeologists suggest these mounds hold the key.
00:25Join me as I paddle down the bayous, build my own pyramid,
00:30and dive into the cold, murky waters to solve the mystery of America's pyramids.
00:35We're digging for the truth, and we're going to extremes to do it.
00:40I don't think I'm taking this too far.
00:54In 1539, the Spanish conquistadors landed on the banks of Florida to embark on a conquest of North America.
01:01Led by Hernando de Soto, the conqueror of the Incan Empire,
01:05they intended to find gold and silver and set up the first Spanish colony north of Mexico.
01:12For almost two years traveling in the southeast, the conquistadors wreaked havoc among the natives,
01:18capturing or killing many of them in their path.
01:22But as they moved farther west, the native villages began to resist and fight back.
01:32Then, in 1543, the fighting escalated into an epic battle on the water.
01:38This bayou is just a few miles east of the Mississippi River.
01:41It was in this region where the battle reached its peak.
01:45Hi, I'm Josh Bernstein, and I've come to western Mississippi to explore how the natives in this region
01:51were able to launch a sustained attack against the Spanish
01:54and effectively send them fleeing to the Gulf of Mexico.
01:58We know this happened because a few survivors from de Soto's expedition wrote down their experiences.
02:05They're the only written accounts describing the people who drove them out.
02:10These writings tell of villages built among huge pyramid-style mounds along the banks of the Mississippi.
02:18Who were these people, and how did they stand up to de Soto's army when the natives to the east
02:23did not?
02:25My goal is to learn about the people who built and lived among these pyramids.
02:30My journey begins with the last occupied pyramid site in North America, located in Natchez, Mississippi.
02:38Historians believe the Natchez Mound culture began around 700 A.D. and lasted for over 1,000 years.
02:46To learn more about that history, I'm meeting with Greyhawk, a descendant of the Natchez Indians.
02:51It's possible his ancestors may have encountered de Soto.
02:54I'd like to invite you into the house and maybe have a little smoke.
02:58Okay.
02:59Greyhawk takes me inside a traditional Native American hut to smoke the friendship pipe.
03:05Grass-roof huts like this one have long witnessed ceremonies of welcome and peace.
03:10When you smoke the pipe, it's a pipe of prayer, it's a pipe of peace, and a pipe of friendship.
03:15And when our smoke comes out and it goes up to the Creator, that's our prayer going to the Creator.
03:20We can actually watch it.
03:21And then that means that if we lie to each other, we don't have to face each other.
03:27We have to face the Creator because that's where the prayers and the words are going to.
03:31But if we tell the truth to each other, we just enjoy the ceremony.
03:33We just enjoy the ceremony.
03:34Okay.
03:38Greyhawk explains that the tobacco we're smoking is the same kind the Natives smoked in the 17th century,
03:43and is still considered a very sacred plant.
03:48To a Native American, it's a great sign of respect to share the friendship pipe.
03:55Had De Soto and his men approached the Natchez in peace, they would have been greeted the same way.
04:04So now we can talk to friends.
04:06Yeah.
04:06Why don't we start with you?
04:08Tell me about you and your people.
04:09I'm a home Indian, and we are people of the Mississippi Valley.
04:14Greyhawk tells me his people don't have written accounts, but only oral traditions of their encounter with De Soto.
04:21According to that tradition, his ancestors welcomed the Spanish with open arms and kindness,
04:26completely unaware of the brutality they were to face.
04:30When they finally realized the Spaniards intended to conquer their land and disrupt their way of life,
04:35they fought back.
04:38Greyhawk says to understand how the Natives defeated De Soto,
04:41I'm on the right track exploring the mounds.
04:44Let their beards grow.
04:45What do the mounds mean to you today?
04:47A lot of people want to talk about Columbus and to talk about the Spanish and things like that.
04:51That's where they think history starts.
04:53And these mounds are linked to a history that goes back farther than that
04:57to show people that we were here before and we did have a culture.
05:01So I know that there's a mound right outside.
05:04Can you actually go to it and you can tell me about it while we're standing on it?
05:06Oh, most definitely. I'd like to take you out to the mound so you can see what it looks like.
05:09Let's go.
05:10The mounds were the focal point of the Natchez and other cultures.
05:15They were revered and are still places of ceremony today.
05:19Wow. So here we are.
05:21Yep. This is it. Mounds.
05:23Is it okay to actually go up the mound?
05:24It's okay. We can go up.
05:26Because I'm assuming that this is a sacred area.
05:29It is. It's a very spiritual, very sacred area.
05:32They usually come up here to pray and they say that our elders tell us that we pray in our
05:37own language.
05:38As a creator knows that we're still here.
05:40So I think, you know, it'd be a nice idea for us to pray for the mound culture and take
05:44a minute or so.
05:45Okay.
05:48This mound holds special meaning for Greyhawk.
05:52The natives who lived here were the last in the region to fall to the Europeans, collapsing in the 1730s
05:58at the hands of the French.
06:01To learn more of the history of the mound people, I need to explore the roots and learn how it
06:06all began.
06:08If this was the last remaining pyramid village, I'm curious to learn which one was the first.
06:15I'm heading north, following the course of the Mississippi River to a small town called Lake Mills, Wisconsin.
06:22The town claims to have stone pyramids supposedly 5,000 years old.
06:28If that's really the case, then these would definitely be the first pyramids anywhere in the Americas.
06:34This is Lake Mills, Wisconsin, a town which very much embraces their pyramids.
06:40The local motel, the liquor store, even the memorial in the town center all reference pyramids.
06:47Looks like I came to the right place.
06:50Local legends claim 5,000 years ago this body of water, called Rock Lake, was dry.
06:57Standing here, I could have seen the pyramids.
07:00I've been told that the rock structures are now in the lake, and the only way to see them is
07:06to get in the water.
07:07To find the pyramid, I'm meeting Archie Eschborn.
07:11He has written a book on the Rock Lake pyramids.
07:14We'll be using his boat to explore the lake.
07:18Archie says the largest pyramid is only 120 feet long, so we'll be using modern computer technology to help us
07:25find it.
07:26The computer will display images that should clearly show the shape and size of the mound.
07:31Without it, we might never know exactly where to look.
07:34We've got the coordinates locked into GPS, but in the meantime, we are going to employ some new size-against
07:40-owner technology in a small package.
07:42It just came out. It allows just about anyone to be able to have high-tech equipment when they're doing
07:47some kind of search.
07:48So we're going to have a pretty good high success rate in finding it.
07:51Oh, absolutely. I guarantee it today.
07:53As we approach the general area, we try to match the sonar with the GPS coordinates, but there's a problem.
08:00I think we've got a transducer problem. We probably want to just use this one sonar for now.
08:06The computers seem to be giving us contradictory readings.
08:09Here a minute, honey.
08:10Quick trip to the site. Not going to happen.
08:12Right, right. It's not as planned, but when you have electronics, weathering people, it never works out the way you
08:18do.
08:18So maybe kick back, enjoy the scenery, relax a little, get some sun.
08:24So we're having electronic challenges.
08:27Our side-scan sonar was just installed this morning, and it isn't quite working the way we hoped it would.
08:34We're using another sonar in the front, as well as the GPS unit, and hoping that with the right coordinates
08:41and a little bit of luck, we'll get to where we need to be.
08:44We'll see how it goes.
08:47I'm on a mission to learn how the Native Americans of the Mississippi River Valley in the 16th century ran
08:53off the Spanish conquistadors.
08:55In Mississippi, I met with Greyhawk, a Natchez Native American descendant.
09:00He told me the mounds were the focal point of their culture, and are still viewed as sacred spaces today.
09:07Now, I'm on the hunt for the oldest pyramid in North America.
09:11I'm in Lake Mills, Wisconsin with Archie Eschborn.
09:15I'm investigating a century-old legend which claims pyramids were constructed here 5,000 years ago.
09:21Today, the pyramids supposedly sit below the lake.
09:25We've been searching by boat, and are having a tough time finding it.
09:30But after several hours, Archie spots a formation which he says looks promising.
09:34So that bump is what we were looking for?
09:37Absolutely.
09:38You can see that it's approximately the size that we've dove on before, so we think we nailed it this
09:42time, Josh.
09:43Now, I was expecting a pyramid like the Egyptian pyramids, which is this big pointy thing, and that looks more
09:48round to me.
09:49Well, the imagery will fool you, but you're not going to get an Egyptian pyramid down here.
09:54What you're going to get is a longer truncated one.
09:56You go to the south end, it'll look like a pyramid, and there'll be like a tent shape.
10:01To investigate whether what we see on the sonar is really a pyramid or just a natural pile of rocks,
10:06I decide to go down for a closer look.
10:09Archie, you don't want to come with us?
10:11No, no way I'm going in that stuff.
10:13No?
10:14That's why we've got an expert like Steve to take you down.
10:16What do you know that I don't know?
10:17It's just cold and dark, and I don't like it.
10:20Cold and dark.
10:21Cold and dark isn't a problem for me or my gear, but visibility could be a challenge.
10:28In the summer, this lake is notoriously murky.
10:38Down below, visibility quickly drops to a frustrating 5 to 10 feet.
10:44I descend 25 feet and see a huge pile of stones.
10:50What Archie calls a pyramid.
10:55Some rocks suggest organization, like they were placed here by human hands.
11:03But just looking at them, I can't really say if this formation was created by people or by Mother Nature.
11:12I decide to search for artifacts or any markings which might indicate human creation.
11:21But I find nothing.
11:23Since this is regarded by local natives to be sacred, I won't bring the rocks to the surface for closer
11:28inspection.
11:37Oh, that was great.
11:40Oh.
11:41Oh.
11:43The, uh, the surface, about the top, say 15 feet, warm.
11:48Maybe 80 degrees.
11:50But once we got below, it got cold.
11:54And it got dark.
11:55And then, as I approached the rocks, I don't really have a good sense of what I actually saw.
12:00I saw a lot of rocks.
12:01I saw some cool fish.
12:03But I didn't get a sense of the shape.
12:05But here I am, in the middle of a lake, and there are rock mounds below.
12:09Go figure.
12:10Now the question is, what do they mean?
12:15How do we know that what is down below the water is actually man-made and not nature-made?
12:20Well, first we want to go to the Indian native legends and stories about what lays at the bottom of
12:26this lake.
12:26So certainly what we found cooperates these legends.
12:29The second is the geological evidence certainly points to the fact that they're not glacial in nature, but they are
12:36indeed man-made.
12:37And the third thing that we can point to, we found similar type structures throughout the Midwest.
12:42They're on dry land.
12:43This is underwater.
12:44But the structures are fairly identical.
12:47Archie makes some interesting points, but I feel I need another opinion.
12:52So I called the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association and set up a meeting with their director, Dr. Dick Boyd.
12:58I wanted to talk because I heard some compelling but not convincing evidence.
13:02Yes.
13:02About these formations in the bottom of the lake being man-made.
13:07And I've heard there's a lot of controversy and there's another side to the story and you represent the other
13:12side.
13:12That's correct.
13:13I believe that these are glacial structures.
13:15We are in an area where the glacier 13,000 years ago deposited all kinds of strange rock structures and
13:25formations around the shores as well as in the lake.
13:29How is it though that a glacier can make that kind of structure?
13:32It would usually be produced within the glacier itself.
13:36Dick explains that when a glacier has a crack in the ice, water runs down and carves a bell-shaped
13:42cavity inside the glacier.
13:44Over time, rocks, sand and debris fall inside and get trapped.
13:49When the glacier melts and moves away, what's left behind is a rock pile that resembles a pyramid.
13:57Dick shows me the kind of rocks I was touching during my dive.
14:02He says they're the same rocks produced by the glacier that covers Wisconsin's landscape.
14:07Both Dick and Archie make interesting points to support their theories, but neither has solid evidence.
14:13It sounds like this mystery of whether or not the pyramids of Rock Lake were man-made or glacially made
14:19is going to remain.
14:20Yes.
14:21And it probably adds to the allure of this lake.
14:23But I'm looking for an uncontested, undisputed, man-made, oldest pyramid.
14:29Where would I go to find the oldest pyramid?
14:31Well, in order to do that, you're going to have to take a trip to the deep south into Louisiana
14:35and go to a place called Poverty Point.
14:38I decide to take Dick's advice.
14:40I head back south following the Mississippi to investigate another pyramid, this one in Louisiana.
14:48For the final approach, I decide to arrive the same way many Native Americans would have, by canoe.
14:55For thousands of years, the pyramid builders used rivers and streams like this one as their principal mode of transportation.
15:02Paddling their canoes, they traveled up and down the Mississippi River, trading along the way with other Native cultures.
15:13I've asked archaeologist T.R. Kidder of Washington University in St. Louis to meet me at the water's edge.
15:20He says he can show me America's oldest pyramid.
15:24There you go.
15:26Nice to meet you.
15:27Welcome to Poverty Point.
15:29I'll take that.
15:31So, would this place have looked like this when the Natives were trading here?
15:34Yes, it really probably would have looked a lot like this.
15:36I think most of this dead vegetation would have probably been gone, used for wood, firewood, things like that.
15:41Sure.
15:41But basically, yeah, it looks pretty much the same, I think.
15:44Nice.
15:44It's thick.
15:45It is.
15:45It's very thick.
15:46And that means that you're going to have to use the machete to get up.
15:49Oh, we're bushwhacking, huh?
15:50There we go.
15:51We're on our way.
15:52Okay.
15:53If you're ready, we'll head on that way.
15:54Cool.
15:59Poverty Point was built above the flood plain on a natural 50-foot embankment above a tributary of the Mississippi
16:05River.
16:07I'm following in the same footsteps a trader would have, trying to avoid the alligators, cottonmouth snakes, and other potentially
16:14deadly creatures.
16:15Oh, watch out.
16:17Right here, there's a whole mess of fire ants.
16:22Yeah, you want to move quickly through that spot.
16:24It's going to get easier, I promise.
16:26I don't doubt it.
16:29Fire ants, poison ivy, rambles.
16:32It's fun.
16:33Tiny fire ants typically are not one of my worries.
16:36But just 30 seconds after I'm stung, I have a severe allergic reaction.
16:43An intense rash covers my body.
16:47My face swells.
16:49I give myself a shot of adrenaline to help relieve the symptoms.
16:54Instead, my condition worsens.
16:57I'm now wheezing.
16:59I have chest pains.
17:00I decide to stop my journey and race to the hospital.
17:10I need more serious medical attention to stop the toxins from ending my journey.
17:16Permanently.
17:22I'm in a hospital in Louisiana being treated for a severe reaction to a massive fire antithale.
17:28Eight years.
17:29In the field, I had difficulty breathing, nausea, and a full body rash.
17:34Chest pain.
17:35Chest pain's coming back again.
17:36Luckily, I had my emergency med kit with me and gave myself epinephrine and antihistamines
17:42within minutes.
17:43What are you going to do?
17:43It was much worse before.
17:46But it wasn't enough to reverse the reaction, so I rushed to the hospital.
17:51Four hours after the bite, my symptoms have calmed and I'm feeling much better.
17:55How are you feeling?
17:57According to Dr. Tucker, my quick treatment in the field saved my life.
18:01Your reaction was really serious.
18:03It was a severe reaction.
18:04And if you hadn't taken the epinephrine in the field, you could have died from it.
18:09Die?
18:09Uh-huh.
18:10Wow.
18:10An anaphylactic shock like mine can kill in just minutes.
18:14The meds I took in the field gave me the time I needed to get to the hospital.
18:18Most people don't make it.
18:20That night, I have to stay in the hospital for observation.
18:25By morning, I'm feeling better, ready to continue my journey.
18:28Well, I've got a clean bill of health and I'm good to go back.
18:31So now it's just a matter of finding TR and picking things up where we left off.
18:36Thanks again, everyone.
18:42Where we left off, I was searching for when the Native Americans began building large earthen
18:47structures along the Mississippi.
18:51I traveled to Wisconsin to investigate what some claim is the oldest pyramid in America,
18:56but I found no decisive evidence.
18:59I'm now in Louisiana meeting with archaeologist TR Kidder, who says he can show me America's
19:04undisputed oldest and largest pyramid.
19:07Maybe this is kind of a mecca.
19:09He tells me Poverty Point was constructed by Native Americans in 1700 BC.
19:14How many people lived here?
19:16We don't know exactly, but probably 1,000 to 3,000 permanent residents.
19:20That's pretty big.
19:21Yeah.
19:21At that time, it was the biggest site in all of North America and possibly the biggest site
19:25in all of the Americas.
19:26Wow.
19:27That's impressive.
19:28I think so.
19:28I think it's probably the first American civilization when you think about it.
19:32These people had monumental architecture.
19:34They had trade and exchange, complex political organization.
19:38All the kinds of things that we think of with sort of civilized society except for writing.
19:42Do they create objects or artifacts that archaeologists have found here?
19:46Yeah, there are lots of them, and I've got some that I can show you in a little while
19:49when we get up to the mound.
19:50That'd be great.
19:51TR takes me to the largest mound, reaching over 70 feet high.
19:56It's a big mound.
19:56Yes, it is.
19:57It's probably the second or third largest mound in all of North America.
20:01At the top, TR shows me artifacts they've found at the site.
20:06Many different arrow points and shards of pottery from places as far north as Wisconsin.
20:11So how far did this travel?
20:12I'm going to say about 200, 250 miles.
20:15Long ways.
20:16This one is from either Illinois or possibly Indiana, so maybe about 300, 350 miles.
20:22Wow.
20:23Evidence like this proves this was the hub of a major trade network.
20:28TR tells me this was the first large Native American mound-building community.
20:34Having now seen two earthen mounds, I asked TR how the natives actually built these massive structures.
20:40Well, we think that they're probably doing it in several different ways.
20:43One is they're using things like digging sticks.
20:46They didn't have a lot of stone, remember, so that they're probably using wooden tools to dig the earth out.
20:51And then what they're doing is they're probably piling it together in baskets like this and hide containers.
20:57And so what you do is you carry it in, you dump it over.
21:01TR estimates the natives built this pyramid with 20 million 50-pound baskets of dirt, carried and dumped by hand.
21:09Wow.
21:10That's a lot of work.
21:11It's an incredible amount of work.
21:12So you haven't actually tried to build a mound from scratch.
21:14No, I've never done that.
21:15Well, I got an idea.
21:16I'm going to use a little modern technology to see what it would be like to make a mound.
21:22To give me a sense of what moving tons of dirt actually involves, I decide to build my own earthen
21:28pyramid.
21:29But instead of one basket at a time, I'm going to use today's technology.
21:35The man in charge of these machines is Charles Poole, and he's happy to help me on my quest.
21:40So if I want to build a mound right here in the middle, that's the machine I want to use?
21:45That's the machine you'd use modern days, yes.
21:48And it's okay with you if I do it?
21:49Yes.
21:50And I can drive?
21:51Yes.
21:51Okay.
21:52Want you to load me up?
21:53All right, here's your hard ass.
21:55Okay.
21:55Your safety vest.
21:57Okay.
21:58And a little communication.
22:01Great.
22:03Damn.
22:04That thing is huge.
22:06Let me see.
22:07Get this thing on.
22:13Look at this wheel.
22:16Huge.
22:18There's this thing.
22:20Let's see how it goes.
22:22Charles has given me the keys to a 32-ton, 485-horsepower Tonka toy, one huge earth-moving machine.
22:35Within seconds, I'm learning how to fill the pan in back.
22:39He's filling it up.
22:40The machine literally scrapes dirt off the ground, which I trap using the pan's lift.
22:44Open your lip all the way up so the dirt can come out.
22:47To dump the dirt, I push the back of the pan forward.
22:49This is called crowding.
22:51That's good.
22:52Now hit your crowd, Josh.
22:53Crowd it out.
22:54Crowd the dirt out, man.
22:56Come on.
22:56Dropping my lube.
22:58One pan load drops over 31 cubic yards of earth.
23:04To a mound builder, that would be close to 1,800 50-pound baskets of dirt.
23:15It takes a while, but gradually, the mound begins to take shape.
23:22So I'm taking a break and letting the pros do it.
23:25But let me tell you what it feels like when you're in there.
23:27You've got this huge machine, this massive machine, and this tremendous load of dirt.
23:31While you're trying to empty it, you've got to be careful of, like, how that load is managed.
23:35If you push it out too fast, it gets stuck.
23:37Too slow, and it drags out too long.
23:40It's a lot.
23:40It's a lot to do.
23:41These guys impressed me.
23:43What also impressed me is just how quickly this works.
23:45The mound builders had nothing going on like this.
23:48It was one basket at a time.
23:49But my goal here is to see how quickly we can move massive amounts of earth to make our own
23:54mound.
23:56We don't finish until after dark.
23:59It's amazing to think, after all this work, using today's largest machinery, we didn't even come close to the achievements
24:06of the mound builders.
24:12Well, you weren't kidding.
24:13We ran out of light.
24:14But that was great.
24:15Yes.
24:15That was incredible.
24:17Yeah.
24:17Man, this thing moves a lot of earth.
24:19Yes.
24:20Now I guess we can appreciate what the Indians did back years ago trying to build their mounds, huh?
24:24Just how hard it is.
24:25I mean, how big is this mound?
24:26How tall is it, do you think?
24:27Ten foot tall and probably a hundred foot long.
24:29For the natives to have built a mound this large, it would have taken over 85,000 baskets of dirt.
24:36To build a 70-foot-tall mound like Poverty Point with these machines, Charles estimates it would have taken almost
24:42a month.
24:43This definitely gives me a sense of just how much work went into building these mounds.
24:46Yeah.
24:47That's impressive.
24:50In 1539, the Spanish conquistadors' attempt to colonize America failed.
24:56I'm on a quest to find out why.
24:59I've been told the answers lie in the Native American mounds near the Mississippi River.
25:04During my investigation, I found the Native American mound-building culture began 3,000 years before the arrival of the
25:12Spanish.
25:12Eventually, they evolved into a large and powerful empire archaeologists today call the Mississippians.
25:20My goal now is to learn why the mounds were built and how they relate to the Spanish.
25:25The answer may be at the capital of the Mississippian Empire, Cahokia, near St. Louis, Missouri.
25:32This is Cahokia.
25:34It was the New York City of its time, the very center of the Mississippian Empire.
25:40And the best way to see it all is from the sky.
25:46To get there, I called my good friends Bubba Peters and Eric DeFour.
25:50Good morning, guys.
25:51Good morning, Josh.
25:51Bubba.
25:52Good to see you again.
25:53Eric.
25:53Good morning.
25:53Great to see you.
25:54I'm going to fly a powered paraglider, basically a parachute with an 80-pound engine and propeller strapped to my
26:01back.
26:02Radio check.
26:02Can you hear me?
26:04Not better.
26:05Yeah.
26:05Can you hear yourself also?
26:06I got it.
26:07Perfect.
26:07The weather conditions need to be absolutely perfect to fly.
26:12Today, conditions are almost too nice.
26:15Warming up solidly.
26:16We have no wind, which can make it difficult to take off.
26:21Okay, step back now.
26:22Step back, you're good.
26:23Yes.
26:24Power.
26:25Power.
26:25Power, power, power, power, power, power.
26:27Go now, go, go.
26:29Break him in.
26:29Break him in.
26:31Break him in.
26:32Break him in.
26:33Stop.
26:34Stop, stop, stop, stop.
26:36I didn't keep running.
26:38Too much rain, not enough running.
26:40That's okay.
26:41There's no wind, which means I have to run.
26:44A little bit on that one, I just, I stopped running.
26:49I'm going to give it another shot.
26:50And this time, I'm not going to stop running until the parachute pulls me from the ground.
26:55Bring it up.
26:56Use your power.
26:57Power, power, power, power, power, power, power, power.
26:59Go, go, go, go.
26:59Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
27:05Run, run, run, run, run, run, run.
27:07Left, left, slowly.
27:10Full power, full power, full power, full power.
27:12Left, Josh.
27:13Left, hold it.
27:14Slowly.
27:16Hold it.
27:17Straight.
27:20Good shot.
27:21We could have used more wind, but the wind is not there.
27:23So that's pretty good for Josh to be able to do that because he's a young pilot.
27:27For an experienced pilot, it's not much of a problem, but it's a very difficult condition
27:30this morning.
27:32Whoo!
27:35Now that I'm up, I can take the time to explore the site from above.
27:42This is great.
27:43I can see all the mounds really well from up here.
27:47Looking at Cahokia from the sky helps me put its size into perspective.
27:56The mounds were built on roughly 4,000 acres of land.
28:00They vary in shape and height.
28:04Flying over the largest, I can't help but wonder how much work went into building it.
28:17The Cahokia Mississippians must have been capable of a tremendous amount of organization
28:23and determination to build a city of this size.
28:31Come back left.
28:32Come back again into the wind.
28:35Very good.
28:36Don't move.
28:42Don't move.
28:43Full break.
28:44Full break.
28:45Ha!
28:48Whoo-hoo!
28:49Go away!
28:54That was a trip, man.
28:55That was a trip.
28:57Not sure where Bubba is, but there's this big mound, which is beautiful from above.
29:01And then there's a bunch.
29:02There's this one here, which we can see, and there's some on the other side.
29:04There's a lot of different heights, a lot of different sizes, right from above.
29:08But from down here, my question now is, what does it all mean?
29:12That's what I've got to find out.
29:15I'm meeting with John Kelly, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis,
29:20to learn if the descendants of the people who lived here could have had the ability to defeat De Soto
29:24in the 16th century.
29:27He tells me Cahokia reached its peak in 1100 A.D., with a population of over 50,000 residents.
29:35It was the largest Native American site in North America.
29:41The site has hundreds of mounds, each reflecting the status of the person who lived on top.
29:48Rank was expressed by the location and the size of the mound.
29:52This is the central plaza, correct?
29:53Correct.
29:54Is there a relationship between the people who had these mounds and their location in the plaza?
29:58Yeah, these are the people that had the highest status within the community,
30:02either in terms of their religious position or their social position.
30:05And the closer they were to this plaza, the more important they were.
30:08Exactly.
30:09You said you had built a mound at Poverty Point with machines?
30:13I had some help, yeah.
30:14You had some help.
30:15Well, we're going to let you try the way they did it in the past,
30:18with this 50-pound basket of earth.
30:20And I'm going to help you load it up, and you're going to go up to the top.
30:24Go up to the tile.
30:25John has chosen three different mounds for me to climb.
30:28He says each mound has a different story.
30:30You'll grab the strap.
30:31Yep.
30:32Pull that over your shoulder, around your shoulders.
30:34The first mound is right on the plaza.
30:36You all set?
30:37Yeah.
30:37I'll see you at the top.
30:38Okay.
30:39John says the basket I'm carrying is almost identical to what was used by the natives.
30:45Even the rope is made from local plants.
30:49Hello.
30:49Hi.
30:50You made it.
30:51I did.
30:52Let me grab that.
30:55How high?
30:55Yeah.
30:56How high is this one?
30:57This is about 20 feet high.
30:5920 feet.
31:00Okay.
31:00And this is one of the smaller mounds that I can see.
31:02Yeah.
31:02This is one of the smaller ones on the Grand Plaza.
31:05And so it represents an individual that had status, but he was a much lower status in
31:10the whole pecking order of the social structure.
31:12So the person who lived here had a lot of status, but not as much as maybe the guy over
31:17there.
31:17Exactly.
31:18I'm going to go climb that one.
31:19Well, let's go do it.
31:20All right.
31:21Here we go.
31:24Number two.
31:25All right, John.
31:27Here I come.
31:28This mound is much bigger than the first one.
31:31The basket feels heavier with every step.
31:34I now appreciate how difficult it must have been to construct a mound of this size.
31:39Almost there.
31:40This one's a little bit bigger.
31:42If size means status, this mound's creator must have been pretty powerful.
31:47Almost there.
31:48Just a few more feet.
31:50Let me grab it.
31:51There you go.
31:52Got it?
31:53Oh!
31:53Yes.
31:55Oh!
31:57So this one's higher, for sure.
31:59Yeah, it's about 40 feet high.
32:01So twice as high as that one.
32:02Exactly.
32:04And huge.
32:05Yeah.
32:05A lot bigger.
32:06Yeah.
32:06You've got a lot of surface space on top, so you can put lots of buildings.
32:10This meant that this person had more status than that person.
32:13Exactly.
32:13And they had a lot more command of labor, you know, in the hundreds of people, maybe in
32:18the thousands.
32:18Who knows?
32:19And the highest ranking person is straight to the northeast.
32:23With the big mound?
32:24The big mound.
32:24So that's 100 feet.
32:25So you ready for that challenge?
32:27That's the one I've got to do next.
32:28Exactly.
32:29Okay, cool.
32:40Halfway up the biggest mound, I now realize the power this person, who lived on top, must
32:46have had.
32:46He must have commanded a large, organized labor force to have built something this big.
32:57This is extremely challenging work.
33:00I wonder what could have motivated his men to work so hard.
33:04Almost there.
33:0699.
33:07100.
33:08You made it.
33:08I did.
33:09Excellent.
33:09Turn around.
33:10All right.
33:11Gotta get this off of you.
33:12Okay.
33:13Now you ready to go back down?
33:14No.
33:15Get another basket?
33:15No?
33:16I'm gonna sit and talk for a while.
33:17Okay.
33:19So this is the Grand Poobahs, the chief's place.
33:21Yes.
33:22John tells me the chief had a large house as tall as 30 or 40 feet high from which he
33:28ruled
33:29his domain.
33:30There was a tall pole in the middle of the mound, which symbolized the center of their
33:34world.
33:35The mound was a political and spiritual icon.
33:38The chief was more than just a ruler.
33:41His people believed he was a descendant of the sun.
33:45The mound was a place where the villagers came to worship and to pray.
33:50Cahokia was built in fewer than 150 years.
33:53At its peak in 1100 A.D., Cahokia ruled over a 50 square mile region.
34:00Its influence extended over hundreds of miles more.
34:04Beyond the practical benefits of creating housing platforms, could the chief motivate
34:10these tens of thousands of people to do something else like warfare?
34:14Yes.
34:15Very much so.
34:16Because this was all integrated in their cosmology.
34:19Okay.
34:19He was looked at as a warrior.
34:22Uh-huh.
34:22Chief was able to mobilize a significant number of individuals for warfare.
34:27And we see that with the construction of the palisade that surrounds the core area
34:33of the site at about 1200 A.D.
34:35Can you show me the palisades?
34:37Yes.
34:37Let's look down here.
34:38You can see a reconstruction of the palisade.
34:41Oh, wow.
34:42Okay.
34:42The palisade surrounded the core area of the site.
34:46It stretched for more than two miles around the largest mound and the plaza, defending
34:51the most sacred part of the community.
34:53What about weapons?
34:54Did they find any weapons around the area?
34:56Yes.
34:56At 1200, we see a significant increase in the number of projectiles.
35:01Even though the bow and arrow had been around for several hundred years, the importance
35:05as a weapon both not only for hunting but also for killing people in warfare was a significant
35:11part of what was going on and is very closely linked to the construction of the palisade.
35:17That was for shooting at people from a distance.
35:20However, for close-in warfare, you could take the clubs such as this and use that.
35:26Okay.
35:27Here, I'll trade you.
35:27Okay.
35:28So this was for hand-to-hand combat.
35:31Right.
35:31So what would happen if De Soto and his army, these conquistadors, would actually come
35:37up to the Mississippians who are, looks like, very well fortified and very well armed?
35:43And what happens?
35:44Well, I suspect they would have been doomed.
35:46Doomed?
35:46With the number of people here and their ability to organize and even take on the kind
35:52of armament that the Spaniards had, I think they would have had a tough time of it.
35:55Fortunately for the Spanish, the conquistadors actually arrived 200 years after the decline
36:02of Cahokia.
36:04However, the descendants of Cahokia still possessed a large population, competent chiefs,
36:10and the means to conduct war.
36:12So how was it possible that De Soto lasted so long after he reached the Mississippi Valley?
36:18What gave the Spanish the upper hand, if only temporarily?
36:24I'm traveling through the Mississippi River Valley, exploring the culture of the Mississippian
36:29Empire and how they ran off the Spanish conquistadors in 1543.
36:34On my journey, I've learned that Native Americans have been building pyramids or mounds for thousands
36:39of years.
36:40One of them, Cahokia, lay at the heart of a metropolis of 50,000 residents.
36:45Until its collapse in the 14th century, it was a large empire, as complex as any medieval European
36:53city-state.
36:54But by the time Hernando de Soto and the Spanish conquistadors arrived, the power of the Mississippians
37:00was greatly reduced.
37:02Still, they were a force to be reckoned with.
37:05After seeing their amazing achievements, I'm curious to learn how the Native American weapons
37:10compare to the Spaniard stock of arms.
37:13Was technology the reason the Natives didn't immediately wipe out the Spanish?
37:18I'm now at Parkin' Archeological Site in Arkansas, where Jeff Mitchum has agreed to help me solve
37:24this puzzle.
37:25First, he has me shoot a 16th century Spanish firearm, called an arquebus.
37:33Wow.
37:35I bet that would intimidate the Natives, huh?
37:37It was very effective in scaring the Indians, but the problem was that it took so long to
37:42load that they found that actually they weren't of use in a pitched battle.
37:46The Spanish didn't just bring guns.
37:48They also had many other weapons never seen by the Natives.
37:52completely new to them.
37:53Like steel swords, crossbows, and most importantly, horses.
38:01The horse was the most powerful psychological weapon in the Spanish arsenal.
38:06It was alien to the Natives.
38:09They didn't know how to fight against the large beasts.
38:13Their natural reaction was to run, giving the Lancer a perfect target.
38:21If the horse was the Spaniard's key weapon, I'm curious to learn, what did the Natives have?
38:27The primary weapon was the bow and arrow.
38:29Many of their bows were made of a type of wood called bow dark.
38:32It's a very strong wood, and it's very good for use in bows.
38:36So that's the bow.
38:38What about the arrows?
38:39The arrows are usually made of cane, and they're tipped with stone tips.
38:44And then they're, of course, fletched with feathers.
38:47And these were very accurate.
38:49They had quite a distance on them and also a lot of power.
38:54What about armor?
38:55If the Spanish had metal to make weapons, couldn't they also have made armor that would withstand the bow and
38:59arrow?
38:59Yes, and a lot of the members of the DeSoto expedition, when they first arrived, they had chain mail.
39:04But they quickly found out that the chain mail had several disadvantages.
39:10Jeff has set up a weapons test so I can see how effective the chain mail was against the native
39:15arrows.
39:19Wow.
39:21But this is interesting that it actually broke through the chain mail. I wasn't expecting that.
39:25That obviously demonstrates that the chain mail would not be effective against the Mississippian arrows.
39:31And why is that? Is that because chain mail was designed for other uses?
39:34Yeah, it was primarily made for protecting against sword blows.
39:40This would actually help absorb a lot of the shock and keep you from getting cut.
39:45But the direct impact of an arrow would just pierce the armor?
39:49Absolutely.
39:49So realizing this, did the Spanish do anything?
39:52Many of them had quilted armor that they'd actually picked up in Mexico and brought with them.
39:57And they knew from experience that that would protect against arrows.
40:00Do you have any quilted armor?
40:02Yes, we do. And we can experiment with some of that as well.
40:04All right. Let's reset and give it a shot.
40:10Got him.
40:10Two good belly shots again.
40:15Wow.
40:16Very interesting.
40:19So your second one made it through a little bit.
40:22Yeah, but it didn't get through this one.
40:24Yeah, and it wouldn't be lethal.
40:25So it would just be like a good hit in the stomach.
40:28That hurts.
40:29It's a lot better than having it go all the way through you.
40:31Yeah.
40:31This test proves that the Mississippian's most powerful weapon wasn't effective against the Spanish armor.
40:37And demonstrates the Spanish had the upper hand in both technology and psychology.
40:43So how did the natives, despite being inferior in almost all aspects of warfare, finally fend off the Spanish?
40:51Jeff takes me to a nearby river.
40:54He explains in the third year of the expedition, the conquistador's leader, Hernando de Soto, died of a fever and
41:01was dumped into the river.
41:06After his death, the members of his expedition, demoralized by three years of constant battle with the natives and never
41:14having found gold or silver, made the decision to leave and head back to Mexico.
41:19They melted down their firearms to use as nails and built boats that could hold as many as 50 men.
41:26They stole dugout canoes to hold the horses, which in turn were pulled behind their boats as they sailed down
41:33the Mississippi.
41:34Once they set out on the river, they had lost any sort of military or tactical advantage that they had.
41:39And also they were really disheartened.
41:42They had given up and their idea was just to get out by that time.
41:46So how did the Mississippians play into this?
41:48When the boats finally set sail down the Mississippi, there were well over a hundred canoes full of warriors out
41:56there, Mississippian warriors.
41:58And some of these canoes were huge. A few of them held as many as 60 to 70 people.
42:03The Spanish Chronicles say it was an impressive spectacle.
42:07The fleet of canoes were a serious threat.
42:11The Indians followed them and were constantly giving them barrages of arrows, 24 hours a day, too.
42:17So the Spaniards couldn't rest.
42:20The natives lined the banks of the river.
42:25If the Spaniards tried to land, they would stop them by firing a slew of arrows.
42:36So it sounds like the conquistadors, who are cutting this swath of destruction from Florida all the way through to
42:41Arkansas, get here and they finally met their match.
42:45Here's this organized society.
42:47They have hierarchies.
42:48They're building these huge mounds.
42:49They understand warfare.
42:50And when the Spanish are at their weakest, the epic journey comes to an end.
42:58Over the course of three years, the conquistadors had lost over half their men, including their leader and national hero,
43:06Hernando de Soto.
43:07It took 19 days for the surviving 300 conquistadors to reach the Gulf of Mexico.
43:14It was considered a monumental victory for the Mississippians.
43:22The mound-building culture of North America lasted for over 3,000 years.
43:29Why Cahokia collapsed is still a mystery.
43:32But theories range from drought to warfare to political instability.
43:38Today, all that remains of this spectacular, complex society are these sedate, grass-covered pyramids.
43:46Silent testaments to a Native American empire that once ruled America's own backyard.
44:02Someone inside a fake community...
44:04its original
44:08It's a it's a radiant commission that for ludicrous Uhh...
44:17Music
44:18Yiffel
44:18Their
44:19It's very
44:20And
44:23Huge
44:24I
44:24We
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