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Ancient mega-cities and forgotten civilizations once thrived with advanced knowledge beyond their era. Discover the secrets of these incredible societies buried by time!
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00:00A thousand years ago, near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri, there was a vibrant, bustling city called Cahokia.
00:07It was a Native American city, the largest and most influential one in Mississippian culture.
00:14At its peak around 1050 BCE, Cahokia was home to as many as 30,000 people, making it larger than
00:24Paris at the time.
00:25But what's interesting is that Cahokia didn't have any big marketplace.
00:31Usually trade was the backbone of any big city, yet this one stood out for archaeologists.
00:38That's because Cahokia wasn't about commerce.
00:41It was about culture, community, and parties.
00:46The people who lived there threw massive parties that would last for days.
00:53The city's grandest feature was its 50-acre plaza, surrounded by amazing earthen pyramids.
01:00This massive space could hold over 10,000 people.
01:04Imagine them all gathering there for festivities, dancing, drinking coffees and teas, feasting on deer, and betting on sports.
01:13The events were super lively.
01:17Cahokians would wear awesome costumes, style their hair in interesting ways, and decorate their bodies with tattoos.
01:25Athletes were playing a game called Chunky, where they hurled spears at a rolling stone disc, competing to get as
01:33close as possible.
01:35The roar of the crowd filled the air, and performers showed off their skills.
01:40These celebrations were so wild, they left traces in history.
01:45After the parties ended, Cahokians cleaned up by tossing leftovers into pits.
01:52Archaeologists have uncovered these waste pits, and they were filled with food remains and pottery.
01:58One pit alone contained the remains of 2,000 deer, and that's from a single event.
02:04They also found traces of yaopon holly, a caffeinated plant that was traded from hundreds of miles away.
02:12This just shows how much effort and thought Cahokians put in their celebrations.
02:17Would you like to live in a city like this?
02:22But aside from all the fun and games, Cahokia was also deeply complex and spiritual.
02:30The city was built on a landscape that mixed dry land with swampy patches.
02:35Many people believed that this symbolized the connection between the world of the living and the dead.
02:42The people of Cahokia saw their city as a bridge between these two realms.
02:48They built earthen mounds, both for ceremonies and rituals, and as construction support.
02:55These mounds rose from the swampy areas.
02:57Meanwhile, people settled in the drier spots.
03:02Elevated pathways connected these neighborhoods, creating a physical link between life and death.
03:11Isn't it sad that some ancient metropolises that rival modern cities in scale just disappeared?
03:19Cahokia's story came to a quiet end around 1350 CE, when the city was abandoned.
03:25All due to changes in environments and weather, floods, and other problems.
03:32But the influence of Cahokia was so big, it spread to distant places.
03:37Some of their traditions, like Chunky and Yauponti, have survived in native communities to this day.
03:44Today, Cahokia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it's not the only megacity we lost.
03:54About 5,000 years ago, people in the Indus Valley built some of the world's first cities.
04:02Mohenjo-daro was an ancient city in what is now Pakistan.
04:06The city was built around 2500 BCE, and back then, it was a thriving hub of the Indus civilization.
04:14Sure, it was much smaller than modern cities, but it was quite huge at the time, around 40,000 inhabitants.
04:22It looks like the locals were crazily strict and disciplined people.
04:27The city's planning and organization were incredible.
04:30It was laid out in a grid pattern.
04:33Streets and important buildings aligned along the north-south axis,
04:37probably to match the movement of the sun and moon.
04:41They also built one of the most advanced systems for water and waste management of their time.
04:47The city had about 700 wells.
04:50Nearly every house had its own.
04:53Most homes also had private bathrooms with drainages and even underground sewers.
04:59This shows how skilled these people were at staying clean.
05:06And with all this discipline, it looks like there were no kings, queens, or even a central government.
05:12They could still have some authority, like local elites or elected officials,
05:18just not a classic strict monarchy or religion.
05:22Instead, people there cared about simplicity and order.
05:26They basically managed themselves, having standardized ways of doing things,
05:32from the way tools and potteries were made to how they traded.
05:36Which is why, unlike many other cities, Mohenjo-daro didn't have grand palaces, temples, or monuments.
05:44Instead, they had public areas known as citadels.
05:48People gathered at citadels for rituals, meetings, and storage of grain.
05:55And it seems like this way of life worked perfectly.
05:59Scientists found some seals and weights, which means the economy was well-regulated.
06:05Archaeologists found some intricate artifacts, like ivory, lapis lazuli, carnelian beads, and gold jewelry.
06:12Another famous find is the small bronze statue, known as the Dancing Girl, which was discovered in 1926.
06:21Mohenjo-daro wasn't poor at all.
06:24And they also pulled off some awesome buildings.
06:28Staying clean was clearly way more important to them than displays of wealth or power.
06:33So, they created the Great Bath, one of the most famous structures in the city.
06:39It's a large, watertight pool built with baked bricks, perched on a mound of earth,
06:45being almost a religious place, the closest thing they had to a temple.
06:50Meanwhile, the city itself was built on a series of mounds.
06:54They grew taller over the centuries, as people added new houses and structures.
06:59Why did the city fail?
07:01No one really knows.
07:03There's something mysterious about the sculptures archaeologists found.
07:08Many of them seemed intentionally broken.
07:11This means the city's later inhabitants, maybe invaders or something, destroyed them for some reason.
07:19Some scientists think that the Indus River may have shifted course, disrupting agriculture and trade.
07:25But there's no evidence of a flood or any big event like this.
07:30It just seems like, over time, the entire Indus civilization just gradually faded away.
07:38By 1900 BCE, the culture had shifted and didn't leave much behind.
07:46Let me tell you now about the ancient city of Kos, which is located where the modern town of Kos
07:52now stands in Greece.
07:55Imagine arriving by sea, and the first thing that hits you is the sheer grandeur of its agora.
08:01This massive public square, built with stones in different colors, laid out on terraces that rise above you.
08:08It was one of the biggest in the ancient world, and it made a great impression on anyone approaching the
08:14city.
08:16This place has a rich history, dating back to around 2300 to 2200 BCE.
08:22A long time ago, local folk gathered up from different parts of the island to form a new city in
08:28the northeast.
08:30People have lived there since the Bronze Age, and over time, it became a super important center of culture and
08:37trade.
08:38And no wonder, since it's right near a natural harbor.
08:41The harbor was sheltered by two breakwaters, and people built some of the most important religious sites there,
08:48including the sanctuaries of Aphrodite and Hercules.
08:53Kos wasn't just beautiful, though.
08:55It had some brilliant design.
08:57The whole city was laid out in a neat grid, with streets crossing each other at perfect right angles,
09:04literally looking almost like a modern city.
09:07Thanks to this, moving around was super easy,
09:11and the blocks, or insulae, were big enough to fit several large houses.
09:17Kos remained largely unchanged until the 6th century CE.
09:21Over time, it started gradually shrinking in size,
09:25confined within the walls of what is now the Chora neighborhood.
09:32Meanwhile, Palmyra was an ancient city built around a beautiful oasis,
09:37sometime around the 3rd millennium BCE.
09:41Originally known as Tadmor, the city flourished as a major stop on the Silk Road,
09:47linking the Near East with Asia.
09:49It was a thriving center of trade and culture.
09:53They had a marketplace, assembly buildings, grand gates.
09:56In other words, this place was bustling with life.
10:00The city has been through many hands throughout its history,
10:03from the Byzantine to Arab caliphates, which is probably why it had some awesome architecture.
10:11An interesting blend of Greco-Roman, Persian, and Arabic vibes.
10:16The Temple of Bel, the Great Colonnade, and a Roman-style theater.
10:21But, like all the others, it decayed over time.
10:26Palmyra's importance faded, and by the early 1400s, it had been largely destroyed.
10:32But at least its ruins remained.
10:35Right now, they're a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
10:39Now, let's assume that another species, whether humanoid or dolphin-like,
10:44could have existed millions of years ago.
10:47How do we find their traces?
10:49There was a Doctor Who episode about a non-human industrial civilization on Earth
10:54that existed long before us.
10:56These reptiles, called Silurians, were forced deep underground
10:59by a catastrophic rise of temperatures on Earth.
11:02And there, they thrive for centuries.
11:05That inspired scientists to create the so-called Silurian hypothesis.
11:09If there was an advanced civilization before us,
11:12we should find their traces somewhere.
11:14Well, let's try.
11:17Climatologist Gavin Schmidt and astrophysicist Adam Frank
11:21decided to dive into this themselves.
11:24Like us, any technologically advanced civilization would be hungry for energy.
11:29So, they looked for global effects that would leave a widespread mark.
11:33For example, hints of large-scale industrial processes,
11:37like plants and factories, and their leftovers.
11:40Then comes the question of how long these civilizations would last.
11:44If they existed for a long time, we should look for long-lasting signs,
11:48like residues from burning fossil fuels, mass extinctions,
11:52synthetic chemicals not found in nature, and even traces of nuclear fission.
11:57Basically, we should search for the same kinds of things
12:00that humans are currently leaving behind as evidence of our activities.
12:05Unfortunately, this evidence isn't that easy to find.
12:09Let's imagine an unsettling scenario, if humanity suddenly disappeared.
12:14Even though it seems like we've left a lot of changes on our planet,
12:17the future civilization millions of years from now
12:20would struggle to find any remnants of our existence.
12:23Why?
12:25Well, our planet has existed for 4.5 billion years.
12:29Complex life on Earth has existed for more than 400 million years.
12:33Compared to that, our industrial period only lasted around 300 years,
12:38and we haven't left any significant traces.
12:40Our record of Earth's history is full of gaps,
12:43especially the further back you look.
12:45The fossil record captures only some things,
12:48being very selective and incomplete.
12:50On average, one fossil emerges every 10,000 years,
12:55and dinosaur footprints are even rarer.
12:58Mountains rise, oceans change, and plate tectonics
13:01can easily wipe out evidence of entire civilizations.
13:04After a couple of million years,
13:06chances are any physical signs of a civilization would disappear.
13:10In order to find at least something,
13:13we have to look for things like odd sediment patterns
13:16or unusual isotopic ratios.
13:18Also, fossils mostly form in water,
13:22leaving us in the dark about creatures on land or in the jungles.
13:26So even if there was a technologically advanced society
13:30millions of years in the past,
13:32and even if they were far more advanced than us,
13:35we might struggle to find any clues of its existence.
13:38Frank and Schmidt try to understand
13:40how we could ever hope to spot signs of them.
13:44Discovering actual cities would be the ultimate proof
13:47of a Slurian-style civilization on Earth.
13:50But Adam Frank isn't too optimistic.
13:52Even now, our cities cover less than 3% at the surface,
13:56making it easy to miss ancient city ruins.
14:00Whether a city survives over tens of millions of years
14:03depends on whether the land around it is sinking,
14:06getting locked into a rock,
14:07or rising, getting worn away by rain and wind.
14:11So places like the French Quarter in New Orleans
14:14might have a better shot of making it into the geologic record
14:17than, say, Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
14:20When it comes to finding artifacts,
14:23the odds are pretty slim as well.
14:25No prehistoric iPhone would survive millions of years,
14:28fancy glass or not.
14:30Finding their fossilized remnants
14:32might be a bit more promising,
14:34but it's still tricky.
14:36Considering modern humans have only been around
14:38for about 100,000 years,
14:40it's quite possible that we might overlook
14:42any traces of an earlier advanced species.
14:47There is one thing, though.
14:49We could stumble upon their traces in rocks.
14:52Our current chaotic era
14:53might leave a distinct mark
14:55on the Earth's geological history.
14:57Especially since we're basically experiencing PTM 2.0.
15:02I'll get to that in a moment.
15:03So they try to look at the changes in the carbon cycle.
15:07Humans have been releasing a lot of fossil carbon
15:09since the 18th century.
15:11This leaves a special mark in the carbon isotope ratio,
15:15like a signature that shows the difference
15:17between carbon in living things,
15:19such as seashells,
15:20and carbon in lifeless volcanic rock.
15:23Scientists also look for signs
15:25in the way sediments are arranged.
15:27Large coastal deltas might mean
15:29that there were bigger rivers
15:30made by folks in this hypothetical civilization.
15:33Traces of nitrogen could suggest big-scale farming,
15:37where they used a lot of fertilizer.
15:39Spikes in metal levels in the sediment
15:41could mean runoff from heavy industries.
15:44Of course, a single find like that
15:46wouldn't tell us anything.
15:48Schmidt says the key is
15:50to look for multiple signs together.
15:52Without clear artifacts,
15:54the uniqueness of an event
15:55might show in various clues,
15:57rather than a set of changes
15:59linked to a single cause.
16:02On a quest for Silurian-style clues,
16:05scientists even decided to check the Moon.
16:08Some astronomers find it surprising
16:10that no one has looked into this before.
16:12They even joked about the possibility
16:14of dinosaurs building rockets
16:16and leaving traces on the Moon
16:17or other celestial bodies.
16:19These astronomers think that Earth-like planets
16:22tend to erase signs of civilizations
16:24on their surfaces.
16:25So, they're exploring the wild notion
16:28that these beings
16:29might have been space travelers.
16:31In that case,
16:32remnants of their technology,
16:34known as techno-signatures,
16:35could be lurking,
16:36not only on our Moon,
16:38but also on asteroids,
16:39or even buried on Mars.
16:42There, they might endure for millions
16:44or even billions of years.
16:46Unfortunately, so far,
16:48despite digging into the past
16:49380 million years
16:51and examining all suspicious events,
16:54the researchers haven't found
16:55a clear match
16:56for a technological civilization.
16:58They don't give up, though.
17:00Frank calls for more investigation.
17:02For example,
17:03we could study how modern industrial chemicals
17:06stick around in ocean sediments.
17:08This, he believes,
17:09could help us identify
17:10similar chemical traces
17:12in the Earth's history.
17:14If there are no traces,
17:15why do we even bother
17:17to find something like that?
17:18This research is based
17:20on Schmidt and Frank's recent papers.
17:22They were delving
17:23into the Anthropocene.
17:25It's the proposed epoch
17:26dominated by human activities on Earth.
17:29It's full of these things
17:30called hyperthermals.
17:32They're prehistoric events
17:33when temperatures on Earth
17:35sharply increased
17:36over a relatively short time.
17:38They're like extreme heat waves
17:40from the past.
17:41A great example of this
17:42is the Paleocene-Eocene
17:44Thermomaximum,
17:46or PETM for short.
17:47It happened around
17:4855.5 million years ago
17:51and saw a rapid rise
17:52in global temperatures.
17:54Over 200,000 years,
17:56the average temperature on Earth
17:57jumped from about
17:589 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
18:01We studied these hyperthermals
18:03to understand how they occurred,
18:05from natural causes
18:06or human activities.
18:08So, these hyperthermals
18:09sparked the genesis
18:10of Frank and Schmidt's research.
18:12To study them,
18:14scientists started examining
18:15chemical signals
18:16and tracers left in rocks.
18:19When doing that,
18:21Schmidt and Frank
18:21uncovered some eerie parallels
18:23between all the climate issues
18:25we have today
18:26and past periods
18:27of rapid temperature shifts.
18:29There's a close similarity
18:30between the PETM
18:32and other hyperthermal events.
18:34So, all this work
18:35isn't just about solving
18:36a historical mystery.
18:38Understanding our impact
18:40on the environment
18:40can guide us to finding
18:42better ways to live
18:43in harmony with the planet
18:44and avoid becoming
18:46a forgotten species
18:47in the future.
18:48Our Milky Way is filled
18:50with lots of planets
18:51that could be just right
18:53for life.
18:53But we don't know
18:54if there are other civilizations
18:56out there.
18:57Earth is the only place
18:58we know of
18:59with living beings.
19:01About 200 years ago,
19:03people wondered
19:03if there might be
19:04civilizations on Mars.
19:05Back then,
19:07it was a real question.
19:08But once we got pictures
19:09from space probes,
19:11we decided there wasn't
19:12any evidence for it,
19:13and that idea
19:14got stuck in our minds.
19:16Now,
19:16it's not even considered
19:17a valid topic
19:18for serious science.
19:19It's seen as kind of silly.
19:21But no one has set
19:23clear limits
19:23on what could have happened
19:25on our own planet
19:26a really long time ago.
19:27So,
19:28even if there is no proof,
19:30we shouldn't throw away
19:31the possibility.
19:32Don't forget,
19:33it took humanity a while
19:34to recognize dinosaurs.
19:36Maybe Silurians
19:37are just patiently
19:38waiting for their time.
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