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Explore the mysteries of ancient civilizations with comparisons between the monumental Stonehenge and the advanced knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, including their alleged awareness of the speed of light. Dive into the depths of history and discover the incredible feats of our ancestors in this captivating video.
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00:01Hey, if you think Stonehenge is one of the oldest stone monuments ever,
00:05well, let me introduce you to Gobekli Tepe.
00:09Buckle up, we gotta travel to Turkey to meet this really old guy.
00:13Yeah, he's too old to travel.
00:16Jokes aside, Gobekli Tepe, an archaeological site located in southeastern Turkey
00:22that dates back to the Neolithic period, around 10,000 BCE.
00:27It's considered to be one of the oldest and most significant archaeological discoveries in recent times.
00:34The site consists of a series of circular and rectangular structures made of stone pillars.
00:39Yeah, it does look like its younger brother Stonehenge.
00:43Some of those pillars are decorated with intricate carvings of animals and other symbols.
00:49Now, you may be wondering, hey, why on earth did they make such a fascinating building?
00:53What was its purpose?
00:55Sorry, I got no answer for that.
00:57The purpose of the site is still unknown, but it is believed to have been a ceremonial center for the
01:03ancient people who lived in the area.
01:06The discovery of Gobekli Tepe has challenged long-held beliefs about the development of human civilization,
01:12as it suggests that complex societies may have emerged much earlier than previously thought.
01:20Okay, pack your stuff. Our travels just started.
01:23Next destination, Masada.
01:26It's an ancient fortress located in Israel on a plateau overlooking the Dead Sea.
01:31Hey, look at that view. Spectacular, huh?
01:34It was built by King Herod the Great in the first century BCE, and it was very smartly built.
01:41Within the fortress, there were various facilities such as storehouses, barracks, a palace, and a set of cisterns,
01:48capable of holding approximately 40,000 cubic meters of rainwater.
01:54People living there believed that the collected runoff from a single day's rainfall could provide sustenance for over a thousand
02:01individuals for a period of two to three years.
02:04Access to the fortress was limited to three steep and winding paths leading up to fortified gates.
02:11Still, at one point, the fortress was occupied by people who had fled Jerusalem after the city was captured by
02:18the Romans.
02:19They held out against the invaders for several months, but eventually they were defeated.
02:24But these guys didn't surrender.
02:27The story of Masada has become a symbol of resistance and bravery.
02:31Today, Masada is a popular tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
02:40The next flight is going to be short.
02:42We're popping over to Egypt to see the Karnak Temple Complex.
02:46It's a vast ancient Egyptian temple complex located in the city of Luxor, Egypt.
02:52It was built over a period of 2,000 years and covers an area of more than 200 acres.
02:58The complex is dedicated to the worship of the deity Amun-Roka.
03:03Wait a minute. That should be Amun-Ra.
03:05And it was one of the most important religious centers in ancient Egypt.
03:09The Karnak Temple consists of several temples, chapels and other buildings, including the Great Temple of Amun, the Temple of
03:16Khansu, and the Temple of Ptah.
03:20The Great Temple of Amun is the largest and most impressive temple in the complex, with massive columns, statues, and
03:27other decorations.
03:29One of the most famous features of the Karnak Temple complex is the Avenue of Sphinxes, which is a long
03:35avenue lined with sphinx statues that leads from the entrance of the complex to the Great Temple of Amun.
03:43Another notable feature is the Hypostyle Hall, which is a massive hall with 134 columns that are over 70 feet
03:51high.
03:52The Karnak Temple complex is a popular tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
03:57It's considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt and provides a fascinating glimpse into the religion and
04:05culture of ancient Egypt.
04:09Hey, we can't hop on the next flight and leave Egypt until we see the Pyramid of Dozier.
04:15It has another name, by the way. It's also known as the Step Pyramid.
04:19This ancient Egyptian site is located in Saqqara. It was built during the 27th century BCE for the Pharaoh Dozier
04:28by his architect Imhotep, who is considered one of the most important figures in Egyptian history.
04:35People believe this pyramid is the first monumental structure built entirely of stone and is an important example of early
04:43Egyptian architecture.
04:44The pyramid originally stood at 203 feet tall and was surrounded by a complex of buildings and courtyards.
04:51It was constructed in six layers, each smaller than the one below it, giving it the distinctive step-like appearance.
05:00The pyramid was used as a burial place for Pharaoh Dozier and was surrounded by a vast necropolis that contained
05:07the tombs of many other important officials.
05:10Hmm, the Grateful Dead?
05:11The pyramid of Dozier has several renovations and additions over the centuries, including the addition of a limestone casing that
05:20covered the original steppe structure.
05:22However, much of the pyramid was destroyed over time, and today, only the central core remains.
05:28Despite this, it remains an important archaeological site and a popular tourist attraction in Egypt.
05:36Alrighty, we're ready to move on.
05:38There's one more pretty recent discovery we gotta see today.
05:42The Tower of Jericho was only discovered during excavations in the 1950s and 60s.
05:49It's an ancient stone tower located in the city of Jericho in the West Bank.
05:54Just like Gobekli Tepe, this one is believed to be one of the oldest stone structures in the world, dating
06:01back to approximately 8,000 BCE.
06:04The tower stands at over 28 feet tall.
06:07It's made up of two main sections, an inner tower and an outer tower, which are connected by a series
06:13of stairs.
06:15The purpose of the Tower of Jericho is not entirely clear, but it is believed to have served as a
06:21defensive structure or a watchtower.
06:23It may have also had religious significance, as it was located near a sacred spring.
06:29The Tower of Jericho is a significant archaeological site and has provided valuable insights into the early history of human
06:37civilization.
06:38It's open to visitors and is a popular destination for tourists interested in ancient history.
06:44Now this ancient site even got attention from Netflix, and they made a movie where the action takes place in
06:51Mohenjo-daro.
06:52This site was a major center of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan.
06:58Mohenjo-daro was one of the largest cities of the ancient world, with a population estimated to have been around
07:0540,000 in its peak.
07:07Trust me, that must have been a crazy megalopolis back then.
07:10The city was notable for its advanced urban planning, with sophisticated drainage and sanitation systems,
07:17and its impressive architecture, including the Great Bath and the granary.
07:22Mohenjo-daro was abandoned around 1900 BCE, and its ruins were only rediscovered in the 1920s.
07:29Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an important archaeological site for the study of ancient South Asian
07:37civilization.
07:40We're heading to a teeny-tiny country that has quite an impressive history.
07:45Welcome to Malta.
07:47The Zigantia temples are a Neolithic site located on the Mediterranean island of Gozo.
07:53They're probably one of the oldest freestanding structures in the world, dating back to around 3600 to 3200 BCE.
08:02The temples consist of two megalithic structures, each with multiple rooms and altars.
08:07The name Zigantia means giant tower in Maltese, as people believe that only giants could have built such massive structures.
08:16The temples are believed to have been used for religious purposes and are considered to be an important example of
08:22prehistoric architecture.
08:24They were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980.
08:29Well, you must be pretty tired, but there's one more place we gotta visit today.
08:34Our plane is already landing in Armenia, and we're here to see the Temple of Garni.
08:40Look, this one is well-preserved.
08:42This temple dates back to the 1st century CE.
08:44It was built by King Pterodotus I as a dedication to the sun deity Mir.
08:50Sadly, the temple was destroyed in the 17th century during an earthquake, which is quite a common thing for this
08:56area,
08:57but it was later reconstructed in the 20th century.
09:00Today, it's a popular tourist attraction and is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
09:09We know that the ancient Egyptians were talented enough to build something as grand as the pyramids,
09:14but were they also smart enough to measure the speed of light?
09:18There's a theory circulating online that says exactly that.
09:22If you look at these two numbers, you'll see that they match completely.
09:26The first one is the speed of light in a vacuum measured in meters,
09:30and the second one is the latitude of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
09:34So, was it done on purpose, or is it just a coincidence?
09:39Well, happily, we can tell you that it's actually just a coincidence, not another conspiracy thingy.
09:45The Great Pyramid is just one of the many places in the world that share the same latitude.
09:50And more importantly, even if the ancient Egyptians had somehow measured the speed of light
09:55and chosen to keep it a secret from the rest of the world,
09:58they wouldn't have used meters to put it down.
10:00Meters were only defined at the end of the 18th century.
10:04The builders of the pyramids used a different unit of measure called cubits.
10:09One cubit is equal to one and a half feet.
10:11Cubit was based on the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger,
10:16and it became popular in the ancient world.
10:18So, if they wanted to impress the rest of the world
10:21and set the pyramids at a point that matched the speed of light in cubits,
10:25they would have to build their iconic constructions somewhere in Europe.
10:29And then the Danish astronomer who first measured the speed of light in 1676
10:34would have been really upset to know that someone had done it centuries before him.
10:39So, although they were ahead of their time in many aspects,
10:42the ancient Egyptians never measured the speed of light
10:45or used longitude and latitude to map their locations.
10:48The base of the Great Pyramid of Giza might seem like a perfect square,
10:53but it's actually an eight-sided structure, not four-sided.
10:56Each of its four sides has a subtle concave indentation
11:00that splits it evenly from base to tip.
11:03The official version is that a British pilot was the first to notice it in 1940
11:08while flying over the pyramid.
11:10He took a photograph that showed shadows highlighting these indentations.
11:14Some people think these lines are only visible from above
11:17and can best be seen at dawn and dusk during the spring and autumn equinoxes.
11:22This has led to a freaky theory that the ancient Egyptians might have designed the pyramids
11:27to communicate with something looking at them from above.
11:31Uh-huh.
11:31Now, the Great Pyramid is one of only three pyramids that used to have a swivel door.
11:36It weighed around 20 tons, but they could still easily open it from the inside.
11:41Its precise fit made it nearly invisible from the outside, with no visible latch or handle.
11:47There were only slight variations in the exterior stone that gave out an opening.
11:52The other two pyramids with similar doors belonged to Khufu's father and grandfather.
11:56The Great Pyramid also has a hidden void at least 100 feet long that was only found in 2017.
12:03We still don't know what lies within the space, what purpose it served, or if it is the only space
12:09of its kind.
12:10Researchers use the same tech to see through cathedral walls, Mayan pyramids, and even volcanoes.
12:16It depends on a natural shower of subatomic particles called muons.
12:20They pass more easily through empty space than through solid materials.
12:24So, if they arrange multiple muon detectors around a structure, scientists can map out its solid and empty areas.
12:31A team of scientists placed muon detectors inside the Great Pyramid and allowed them to gather data for months.
12:39Scientists have analyzed samples of the mortar used to build the pyramid many times.
12:43Although we know its composition, modern technology still can't replicate it.
12:48The mortar is mostly made from processed gypsum, but it wasn't used like the cement we use for bricks today.
12:55Instead, they used it to support the joints between the massive stones as they were set in place.
13:00The estimated amount they needed to construct the Great Pyramid was around half a million tons of mortar.
13:06The gypsum mortar is stronger than the stones themselves and has held up for thousands of years.
13:12Now, all four sides of the Great Pyramid are aligned with the cardinal points – north, south, east, and west.
13:20According to geologist and engineer Glenn Dash, the alignment is accurate to within four minutes of arc, or one-fifteenth
13:28of a degree.
13:29The architects managed to achieve this without modern tools, like drones, blueprints, or computers.
13:35Many researchers tried to explain this construction miracle.
13:38Maybe they used the pole star or the sun's shadow.
13:42Dash recently proposed a new simpler idea.
13:45The Egyptians might have used the autumnal equinox to align the pyramids.
13:49It happens twice a year when the Earth's equator passes through the center of the sun's disk,
13:54making day and night nearly equal in length.
13:57To test his theory, Dash conducted an experiment on the 22nd of September 2016, the first day of the fall
14:04equinox.
14:05He used a special rod the Egyptians had to cast a shadow and tracked its tip at regular intervals, forming
14:12a smooth curve.
14:13By connecting two points of the curve with a taut string, he created an almost perfect east-west line.
14:20Dash noted that on the equinox, the shadow's tip runs in a straight line, nearly perfectly east-west, and with
14:27a slight counterclockwise error.
14:29There's a similar error in the pyramids.
14:32Although his experiment was conducted in Connecticut, Dash believes that the same method would work in Egypt.
14:38All the ancient Egyptians needed was a clear sunny day.
14:42They could determine the fall equinox by counting 91 days from the summer solstice.
14:47But they left us few clues, and no engineering documents or architectural plans have been found that explain their methods.
14:55So they might have mapped shadows, but it's not definite.
14:59Now scientists have long wondered how heavy stone blocks were carried to the pyramid sites, and they might finally have
15:06an answer.
15:06A research team from the University of North Carolina Wilmington has discovered that 31 pyramids are likely to have been
15:14built along a long-lost ancient branch of the River Nile.
15:18It's now hidden under desert and farmland.
15:20For many years, archaeologists have thought that ancient Egyptians must have used a nearby waterway to transport materials, equipment, people,
15:29and whatever else they needed to build the pyramids on the river.
15:32But up until now, they weren't certain of the location, shape, size, or proximity of this waterway to the site
15:39of the pyramids.
15:41The group of researchers used radar satellite imagery, historical maps, geophysical surveys, and sediment coring to map the river branch.
15:49They believe it was buried by a major drought and sandstorms thousands of years ago.
15:54The team managed to go below the sand surface and get images of some hidden features thanks to radar technology.
16:01They found hidden rivers and ancient structures running at the foothills of where most of the ancient Egyptian pyramids lie.
16:08The discovery of this extinct river branch helps explain the high pyramid density between Giza and Lish, in what is
16:16now an inhospitable area of the Sahara Desert.
16:18Now, Egypt isn't the only country with the most pyramids in the world.
16:23The champion's title here goes to its southern neighbor, Sudan.
16:27It has between 200 and 255 pyramids, compared to Egypt's measly 138.
16:33They were built by members of the Kingdom of Kush, an ancient civilization that ruled the lands along the Nile
16:40River many years ago.
16:41They started erecting pyramids around 500 years after the Egyptians had stopped doing it.
16:47Their pyramids are much smaller than the Egyptian ones, but were built for the same purposes.
16:53Archaeologists are still working to find out how the pyramids in the Sudan were built, how long it took to
16:58complete them, and what happened to their society.
17:00Pre-zeal ì•Œê³
17:00Take one!
17:00Take two!
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