All language subtitles for ancient.top.10.s01e06.internal.hdtv.x264-w4f

male narrator: This week
on "Ancient Top 10,"

evidence of manned flight
in the ancient world.

- Of all the mysterious
ancient artifacts in the world,

these are the ones
that really make you stop

and pause to wonder,

"Did these ancient people
know about aircraft?"

narrator: Could there
have been electricity

thousands of years ago?

- It is really difficult
to imagine

what it could have been

if it wasn't
some sort of device

for making electricity.

narrator: Was there
a power drill more advanced

than anything today?

- This core seems to have been
drilled out of solid granite

using a rapidly rotating drill.

[water splashes]

narrator: And the world's
first computer

from 200 B.C.

- One of the greatest treasures
of the ancient world.

♪ ♪

narrator: Where will
they be ranked

on the only top ten list

thousands of years
in the making?

[whooshing]

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

narrator: The mysteries
of the ancients are boundless.

So much from ancient times
will remain a secret forever.

On this show, we have evidence

of technology
more advanced than today's.

How can this be?

- Some suggest
that this is evidence

for extraterrestrial
communication in ancient times.

narrator: Fact or fiction?

You decide.

This week on "Ancient Top 10,"

it's ancient mysteries...

[exciting music]

The most bewildering
ancient mysteries

ranked according
to how much they tell us

about the secrets
of the ancient world.

And we start where else
but in ancient Egypt?

Astonishing evidence
of ancient flight.

[exciting music]

Soaring in at number ten,

the Saqqara Bird.

- It's a wooden carving
of a bird, and at first glance,

this Saqqara Bird doesn't
appear to be anything special.

It's only when we examine
it more closely

that the real mystery
is revealed.

narrator: Ancient Egypt,

the greatest civilization
of the ancient world.

♪ ♪

The oldest known pyramid
in Egypt here at Saqqara,

20 miles south of Cairo.

Over 100 years ago
an intriguing object

was recovered from this site.

It's a small carving
made of sycamore wood

and over 2,000 years old.

Clearly, it's designed
to look like a bird.

Some experts believe
that this bird

is evidence
the ancient Egyptians

had knowledge of the principles
behind gliding.

♪ ♪

Modern gliders date
from the 19th century,

but the idea of a glider
is nothing new.

♪ ♪

Over 1,000 years ago,
in ninth century Córdoba,

southern Spain,
one brave inventor,

Abbas ibn Firnas,

threw himself off of a tower

in his own self-built
gliding machine.

♪ ♪

[spectators gasp and scream]

- [laughs]

narrator: Accounts say he
glided a considerable distance,

and he's gone down in history
as the first man to fly.

[wind whipping]

[spectators screaming]

But could the Saqqara Bird
really be evidence

of an ancient gliding machine?

- It's just a bird,
a carving of a bird.

So what makes it so mysterious?

Well, first we have to ask,
"Why is it there?"

♪ ♪

narrator: The reason for items
being placed in tombs

is very practical.

They're scale models
of objects from real life

either to help the dead person
in the afterlife

or to help them get there,
a means of transport.

narrator: The Egyptians
believed the dead

lived on in the skies.

To get there, an aircraft
would be ideal.

Could the Saqqara Bird

be a scale model
of an actual aircraft?

- The ancient Egyptians
had throwing sticks

similar to boomerangs
for hunting birds.

It was a royal pastime.

So given that they understood

some basic principles
of aerodynamics,

could it be that
the Saqqara Bird,

with its vertical tail fin
to act as a stabilizer,

was a kind of glider?

♪ ♪

narrator: A vertical tail fin
like this

doesn't occur in nature,

but if this bird
was going to fly,

it would also need
a horizontal fin

in the back
such as modern gliders have.

Without this it would
plummet to the ground.

It's because ibn Firnas

didn't have
a horizontal tail fin

that he couldn't
control his descent.

- [screams]

[spectators screaming]

[all clamor]

narrator: There are, in fact,
marks on the Saqqara Bird

where exactly such a fin
might have been.

This would make it more stable
than ibn Firnas' machine,

which was 1,000 years later.

♪ ♪

Thanks to modern technology,
it's possible to test

how aerodynamic
the model of the bird would be

with a horizontal fin added.

narrator: All the data
can be fed into a computer

and a flight simulator.

Then the bird can be
tested in the air.

- The million-dollar question
is if a scaled-up version

of this carved bird
would actually fly.

narrator: This high-tech
analysis

provides an unbelievable
result.

- Amazingly, modern scientific
analysis shows

that the Saqqara Bird conforms

to our understanding
of aerodynamics.

♪ ♪

narrator: It glides perfectly.

♪ ♪

- Modern plans for gliders,

the technological know-how
for gliders

didn't appear
until the 19th century.

And those ancient plans
actually work better

than some of
the earlier versions

of modern gliders.

narrator: Could the ancient
Egyptians really have flown?

It can't be proved.

It's still up in the air.

- But why have that capability
and not use it?

narrator: If they could have,

then they would be
more advanced

than we ever imagined.

♪ ♪

As amazing as an ancient
glider would be,

our next ancient mystery
is even more illuminating--

possible evidence
of ancient electricity.

At number nine...

[exciting music]

The Dendera Light.

- It's the classic
out-of-place artifact

which does look
bizarrely similar

to a big electric lightbulb.

♪ ♪

narrator: The Dendera Temple
Complex near Luxor,

one of the best
preserved in Egypt,

and it's here
at the Temple of Hathor

that we find a set
of mysterious carvings.

They are 4 1/2
thousand years old.

Could some bright spark
back then

really have invented
electricity?

Amazingly, this image
is evidence

for some that they may have.

_ There's a wire connected
to a socket at the bottom.

♪ ♪

There's a filament inside

what looks like
a giant electric bulb,

and there's even a pillar
with features

resembling modern pylons.

narrator: The ancient Egyptians
did have primitive glass

which could have been used
to make the casing of a bulb.

- Of course
the ancient Egyptians

didn't have electric lighting,

but it can't be denied
that the Dendera Light

does resemble
a large lightbulb.

narrator: Some experts believe

that Dendera was
not actually a temple,

but that it served
another purpose,

possibly as a scientific
research lab of some kind

or even an ancient
power station.

♪ ♪

It's generally thought
that the ancient Egyptians

lit their temples
by burning torches.

Surprisingly, there is
little evidence of this.

- Supporting this theory that
the Dendera Light is electrical

is how there's supposedly
very little smoke damage

in ancient Egyptian tombs.

So if they weren't using
torches

to light their tombs,

what were they using?

narrator: Electricity
in ancient Egypt:

this may be a truly
illuminating mystery.

♪ ♪

But there's more,
even greater evidence

of modern technology
in the ancient world.

We're back to flight,

But this time, powered flight.

It could even be
evidence of spacecraft.

[rockets thundering]

At number eight...

[exciting music]

The mysterious
golden planes of South America.

- It looks like we have
another airplane on our hands,

only this time not a glider
like the Saqqara Bird.

No, this is ultra-modern.

This looks like
a supercharged aircraft.

narrator: These remarkable
golden objects

were found in an ancient tomb

deep within
the Colombian rainforest

at the end of the 19th century.

They were made by
the Quimbaya people

over 1,000 years ago.

They look like small
pieces of jewelry

made to commemorate
a particular aircraft,

but these golden planes
are ancient.

- This must be an accurate
representation of something,

but the question
is of what?

The shape of the wings,

to me, that says
modern aircraft,

but not just aircraft.

It sort of screams
space shuttle.

[wheels screeching]

narrator: They do
look like aircraft.

♪ ♪

Could they actually
be models of something

from the natural world?

But like the Saqqara Bird,
it has a vertical tail fin.

- No flying insect,
or bird even,

has vertical fins

or wings attached
to the bottom.

This simply doesn't
happen in nature.

These are characteristics
of an aircraft.

narrator: So did these
ancient people in South America

truly have the knowledge
of powered flight?

Groundbreaking scientific
testing of a recreation

may prove that
these golden planes

could actually fly.

It's coming up along with more
incredible ancient mysteries

on "Ancient Top 10."

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

narrator: Welcome back
to "Ancient Top 10's"

top ten ancient mysteries
ranked by experts

according to
how much they tell us

about the secrets
of the ancients.

We've reached number eight...

♪ ♪

And we're in the jungles
of South America,

where these remarkable
golden objects were found.

They look like miniature
space shuttles,

but they were made
over 1,000 years ago.

Could they be models
of alien spacecraft?

- There are many people
who believe

that aliens visited Earth
a long time ago.

And when you think about it,

it's just as likely that

they would have
visited South America,

say, 1,000 years ago,

as it would be for them
to visit us today.

In 1997,

German aviation experts
made a 16-to-1 scale model,

painstakingly constructing it

to mirror exactly
a golden plane,

[engine purring]

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

And it flies just like
a modern plane.

[engine purring]

The aerodynamics are perfect.

- Of all the mysterious
ancient artifacts in the world,

these golden planes
are the ones

that really make you stop
and be forced to wonder

"Did these ancient
people know about aircraft?"

And you can't escape the feeling
that in three dimensions,

they look like modern aircraft.

narrator: But the mysteries
of ancient aircraft

don't end there.

Coming in at number seven,

an ancient mystery
that may show

even more compelling evidence

for high-tech ancient
flying machines...

[exciting music]

The extraordinary
Abydos hieroglyphs.

♪ ♪

These mysterious hieroglyphs

are on a temple wall
in central Egypt.

They're from
the 13th century B.C.,

and some experts believe

that they reveal more
about the ancients

than any other carving.

- The Abydos hieroglyphs
are probably

the most famous Egyptian
hieroglyphs in the world.

There's one that
looks like a helicopter.

♪ ♪

[helicopter rotors thrumming]

There's one right next to it
that looks like a tank.

♪ ♪

[tank chugging]

And there's yet another one
that looks like

a modern fighter jet
meets a flying saucer.

♪ ♪

[UFO whirring]

- Helicopters, tanks,
flying saucers.

Now, what's really amazing
about this

is that these things aren't
just in the same tomb.

They're all next to each other,

which is an incredible
coincidence.

♪ ♪

narrator: The temple complex
is dedicated to Osiris,

the Egyptian god
of the afterlife.

Could these be craft
designed to transport the dead

to their place in the heavens?

Some have even theorized that
perhaps these are the craft

of visiting aliens
commemorated in stone.

♪ ♪

The stuff of science fiction
maybe,

or were these futuristic craft

imagined by some brilliant
engineer ahead of his time...

♪ ♪

An ancient da Vinci?

♪ ♪

- It took another 3,000 years

before someone thought
of the idea of a helicopter,

and that was Leonardo da Vinci,

and we consider him a genius.

And of course, it was many
hundreds of years later

when we actually
invented the helicopter,

so where does this leave us?

Were the artists
at Abydos time travelers?

♪ ♪

- It all sounds
rather far-fetched,

and yet
there the hieroglyphs are

for all to see.

narrator: The notion of flight
in the ancient world

is truly astonishing,

but even more shocking

is evidence
of ancient electricity.

And this time,
it's not a carving.

It's an actual artifact.

[electricity sizzling]

At number six...

[exciting music]

The Baghdad Battery.

♪ ♪

- Looking at this object, it is
really difficult to imagine

what it could have been

if it wasn't
some sort of device

for making electricity.

♪ ♪

narrator: This is a photograph
of the Baghdad Battery.

It's now lost.

But back in the 1930s,

it was in the National Museum
of Iraq,

and it's been the cause
of huge controversy ever since.

♪ ♪

It was a terra-cotta pot

dating from around
2,000 years ago.

♪ ♪

And inside was a cylinder
made of a rolled copper sheet

with an iron rod
precisely held in place

in the middle of it.

Tests on the interior
of the jar

have provided a clue

as to what it
may have been used for.

- Looking inside
the Baghdad Battery,

we can see that it contained

some sort of acidic solution,

perhaps lemon juice,
wine, or vinegar.

Now, this easily
could have been used

to pass an electrical current
from the iron to the copper.

narrator: If it wasn't
an ancient object,

it would be obvious
what it is,

a battery.

- I mean, just look at it.

All its components fit

so precisely together.

So if this is true, I mean,

once again the implications
are astounding.

narrator: Would a model
of the battery actually work?

How would ancient people
put this power to use?

It's coming up next
on "Ancient Top 10."

[electricity sizzling]

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

narrator: Welcome back
to our countdown

of the top ten
greatest ancient mysteries,

amazing wonders
of the ancient world

that continue to baffle
to this day.

We're at number six,

and it's the Baghdad Battery
found in the desert of Iraq.

[exciting music]

This is a replica
of the battery.

With a copper tube,
a steel or iron rod,

and vinegar as
an electrolyte solution,

we can put the mystery
surrounding this object

to the test.

♪ ♪

Incredibly,
electricity is produced,

about one volt.

This is astonishing.

But if it was a battery,

the mystery is what it
would have been used for.

- Now, even though
the Baghdad Batteries

weren't powerful enough
to produce electric lighting,

experiments with
replicas of them connected up

have found that they could
produce enough current

to electroplate
small objects.

narrator: Electroplating
is when an electric current

is passed through
a liquid solution

like this gold solution,

making its metal atoms
deposit themselves

on something acting
as an electrode.

By electroplating,
a piece of jewelry or a coin

could be coated
with gold or silver.

- Imagine that.

How incredible would it be

for someone in ancient times

to be able to
electroplate metals?

♪ ♪

If this is a battery,

then the biggest question
of all

is where did
that knowledge come from?

You know, this is evidence

for many
that there was

a great ancient civilization,
perhaps many of them,

whose knowledge
we have now forgotten.

- Electricity
in the ancient world,

even the concept
sounds ridiculous.

You would have thought
we'd have had some

sort of a written record of it.

Yet the Baghdad Battery
exists.

narrator: Technology
thousands of years

ahead of its time.

If true, the implications
are beyond belief.

♪ ♪

But for our next mystery,

the evidence is rock-solid.

It's there for us all to see.

Coming in at number five,

impossible engineering

from the ancient
Roman Empire...

[exciting music]

The Baalbek Blocks.

♪ ♪

Baalbek, Lebanon,

the Temple of Jupiter here
was the largest temple

in the whole
of the Roman Empire,

standing at 300 feet high

and completed about 60 A.D.

It covers the same area
as nearly nine football fields.

♪ ♪

It's intimidating and imposing,

and that's just how it
was meant to be.

- Baalbek is a massive temple,

and the Romans
built places like this

in part to show the locals
what they could do.

Not only did they
want to prove that

they had mastery
over the natural world,

they also wanted to
intimidate their enemies.

It's a demonstration
of absolute power.

♪ ♪

narrator: But the most
incredible thing

about this temple
isn't its overall size.

♪ ♪

It's these three
massive blocks of stone

at the base of the temple.

Each one is 12 feet high
and 65 feet long.

That's bigger than
the biggest Egyptian obelisk.

Amazingly,
these three stone blocks

are the largest
building blocks

ever used by any human beings
anywhere in the world,

weighing in at around
800 tons each.

- And they're lined up
absolutely perfectly.

Now, we know that the Romans
had technology

which allowed them
to raise 100 tons or so,

so how on earth did
these things get up there?

They're one of those
ancient mysteries

that at the moment
are just leaving us

with a great big
question mark.

narrator: There are
no marks on the stone

to give us any clue
as to how they were moved,

but we do know that they came
from a quarry nearby,

hacked out of the hillside
in single giant pieces,

because there is
one left in place.

♪ ♪

Today, to lift
anything so heavy

we would use
a mega crane like this.

It's the Liebherr 11200,
one of the most advanced,

most powerful cranes around.

But the Romans
had nothing like this.

Their cranes relied
on muscle power.

They were super advanced
for their time,

and this example,
called polyspastos,

could lift 6 tons.

- This crane allowed
each person

using it to shift 60 times

as much as they would
otherwise.

narrator: With these cranes,

the Romans could build
enormous structures

such as six-story
apartment buildings,

huge temples,

and the Colosseum,

but they were built
using small blocks.

These blocks at Baalbek
were 800 tons,

and even once lifted,

somehow they would
need transporting.

- We know that
the ancients used barges

to float huge stones

down to certain
building sites...

♪ ♪

But Baalbek is nowhere
near a river.

So we might have
some good guesses,

but to be honest,
we don't really know

how they moved
those huge stones.

It is and will probably
forever remain a mystery.

narrator: Why use such big
blocks in the first place?

Nobody knows.

The answer is lost to history.

♪ ♪

Coming up, an entire landscape
shrouded in mystery.

It's the best-kept secret
of the Americas.

Could there have been power
tools thousands of years ago

more advanced than today?

And what will be
the number one ancient mystery?

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

narrator: This is
the "Ancient Top 10" list

of ancient mysteries
ranked according to

how much they tell us
about the secrets

of the ancient world.

Flying high at number ten

was the intriguing
Saqqara Bird.

Number nine
was the lightbulb carving

at the Dendera Temple.

Number eight:

the enigmatic
golden planes of South America.

At number seven, the mysterious
hieroglyphs at Abydos.

Number six: the shocking
Baghdad Battery.

And number five
was the mystery

of the massive stones
at Baalbek.

Next in our countdown
is, for some,

the most convincing evidence
yet of extraterrestrials.

At number four...

[exciting music]

The Nazca Lines.

♪ ♪

- The Nazca Lines are a mystery

that make the complete works
of Agatha Christie

look like the puzzle
on the back of a cereal box.

narrator: These mysterious
lines and shapes

are in the desert
in southern Peru:

a giant hummingbird,

a spider,

mysterious diagrams,

shapes,

and straight lines.

- The Nazca Lines
are astonishing,

intricate geometrical designs
and mathematical figures.

I mean, the longest
one is 1,000 feet.

That's over
three football fields.

♪ ♪

narrator: These mysterious
lines

are between 4
and 12 inches deep.

They're made just
by pushing away

the surface stones and earth

and exposing the lighter
ground underneath,

and because the area
is so dry and windless,

they've lasted.

Some of these lines
date back to 500 B.C.

- There are over
800 straight lines,

300 geometric patterns,

and over 70
animal/plant figures

over an incredible
200 square miles.

♪ ♪

- There are a lot of theories
about the Nazca Lines.

One of the central groups
of theories

has to do with the possibility

that they can be
studied using astronomy

so that these things
might be calendars,

or they might
represent constellations

or be mapping
the movement of the Sun.

♪ ♪

Another theory that
I happen to agree with

is that these animals
represented by the Nazca Lines

were actually parts
of ritual circuits

that you could actually walk,

like in a procession,

through the actual body
and being of these creatures

as if you were experiencing
the divine essence viscerally.

I think that overall
we have to conclude

that the Nazca Lines
are still a great mystery.

♪ ♪

narrator: And then
there's this.

He's known as the space man.

Is he a depiction of an
extraterrestrial waving to us?

Or is he a human
waving hello

or good-bye to something
in the heavens?

- There are many who believe
that the lines

are commemorative,
that is,

they represent a past visit
of extraterrestrials,

and it's a message
to them to say,

"Hey, we're still here.

Come back."

♪ ♪

- The Nazca Lines
have become world-famous

with a whole host of mysteries
to explain what they mean,

from rituals
to produce more rain

in the desert to messages

for alien visitors
coming down from outer space.

One thing is certain, though.

This is a mystery
that will remain.

♪ ♪

narrator: But next
in our countdown,

evidence of something
seemingly impossible,

ancient technology
way more advanced

than even our own.

At number three...

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

It's Core 7.

♪ ♪

- It's a bit of rubble,
but it might just be

the most mysterious bit
of rubble in all of history.

narrator: This strange,
4,500-year-old piece of rock

known as Core 7
is ancient Egyptian.

It was found near
the Great Pyramids

at the end of the 19th century
by this man,

the British archaeologist
Flinders Petrie.

It's kept here in London
in the Petrie Museum.

[traffic whooshes]

It's an exact cylinder

and has strange lines
scored into it

which are perfectly spaced.

In fact,
it's one continuous line

like the grooves of a record.

What is it?

It's the core that
would be thrown away

when a hole is drilled,

in this case the hole
of a door pivot,

but this rock is granite.

How could the ancient Egyptians
drill into solid granite?

- The strongest metal tools
the Egyptians had were copper,

and copper is quite soft.

So it's mind-boggling
to think that that

is what they used
to penetrate granite.

The only material
really strong enough

to penetrate granite,

well, that's diamond.

And if the ancient Egyptians

had diamond cutting technology,

well, then history
would have to be rewritten.

♪ ♪

narrator: The shape of
the groove is further evidence

of impossibly
advanced technology.

- It's the grooves
in Petrie's Core 7

that are the real mystery.

As far as we know,
the ancient Egyptians

only had bow drills,

which move back and forth.

♪ ♪

narrator: This is
a reconstruction

of an ancient
Egyptian bow drill.

It makes a very distinctive
back-and-forth line

as it drills.

One continuous line
such as that of Core 7

is the mark
of a modern power drill.

- This core seems to have been
drilled out of solid granite

using a rapidly rotating drill.

narrator: Can this
possibly be true?

[button beeps]

Coming up, we try to re-create

the 4,500-year-old mystery

using state-of-the-art
technology,

and an incredible
underground army

on "Ancient Top 10."

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

narrator: This is
"Ancient Top 10's" list

of the greatest
ancient mysteries.

We've reached number three,

and it's a remarkable
piece of granite

from ancient Egypt
known as Core 7.

♪ ♪

Incredibly, the perfect line
around the cylinder

appears to be the line

made by a super-advanced
power drill.

♪ ♪

[button beeps]

A modern diamond-tipped machine
like this

powered by electricity
makes a core

just like
the ancient Egyptian one.

♪ ♪

This machine turns at
1,600 revolutions per minute.

How on Earth could
the Egyptians drill like this?

Nobody knows.

It's clearly impossible,

and yet they did it.

The evidence
is carved in stone,

but even this isn't
the end of our mystery.

From looking at the space
between each revolution,

it's possible to work out
the force of the drill.

The wider the space
between the groove,

the greater the force.

- Amazingly, research shows
that the core was made

by a drilling process

with greater strength

than our modern
power drill.

What does this tell us?

There are no tools of that
caliber that we know of.

Is this evidence for a even
far greater civilization

that had those tools that we
have no historical record of?

narrator: It remains
an unexplained mystery,

and it's one of the greatest.

♪ ♪

But next in our countdown

of incredible ancient mysteries
is one of the most immense,

extraordinary discoveries
of all time.

At number two,
it's an entire army...

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

The Terra-cotta Army.

♪ ♪

- This was one of
the most amazing

archaeological finds ever.

♪ ♪

narrator: In the 1970s,

Chinese farmers
were digging a well,

and they stumbled
across these giant pits.

The biggest was 750 feet long

and filled with these
amazing figures.

♪ ♪

They became known
as the Terra-cotta Army,

and more just kept coming.

- Terra-cotta figures
2,000 years old,

and not a few;
thousands of them,

and 520 horses,

130 chariots,

musicians, acrobats.

♪ ♪

Each one is unique.

Every single one is different.

It's as if they were sculpted
from real people.

It's as if you were there
2,000 years ago.

It's absolutely eerie.

♪ ♪

narrator: 8,000
individually sculpted pieces.

What were they,

and why were they created?

♪ ♪

A clue is in the location.

It was inside
the huge mausoleum complex

built for the Emperor Qin,

the first emperor of China.

♪ ♪

Spread over 56 square miles,

it took more than
720,000 people

37 years to construct it.

[workers shouting indistinctly]

The tomb itself lies within

one of the largest
burial mounds in the world.

It remains unexcavated.

It is thought to be
booby-trapped

to stop anyone breaking in.

♪ ♪

[arrows thwacking loudly]

And it is said to be surrounded
by a lake of mercury.

But why was
this army of clay

buried with this great emperor?

For the answer, we have
to look to his lifetime.

Qin was responsible
for the deaths of thousands.

[men shouting indistinctly]

- The one problem
with being a violent tyrant

who comes to power
by slaying everybody

who stands in your way
is you make a few enemies.

When you're alive,
it's not a problem.

You've got bodyguards.

You can keep them
out of the way.

But when you're dead,

they're waiting for you
in the afterlife,

and they carry
a serious grudge.

[men grunting]

- 8,000 soldiers, chariots,
and horses

all there for one purpose:

to protect him
in the afterlife.

narrator: As well
as being protected,

Emperor Qin wanted
to hold on to power.

He meant to rule forever.

But the mystery
doesn't stop there.

- After his death, Qin's entire
court was buried with him:

hundreds of slaves, servants,

concubines, wives, musicians,

even his favorite horse
and chariot,

buried alive.

♪ ♪

narrator: So wouldn't
the obvious thing be

to bury his elite troops alive?

In a way, the mystery is why
they are made of clay

rather than being the skeletons
of real troops.

Perhaps forcing
the living troops into the pit

was a step too far
even for the mighty Qin.

And it gives us one of
the greatest archaeological

finds of all time.

♪ ♪

But number one in our countdown
of mysteries

is still to come.

It's ancient technology
beyond belief,

a machine so advanced

it could have changed
the course of human history,

the greatest ancient
mystery ever.

[exciting music]

♪ ♪

narrator: This is
"Ancient Top 10's" list

of the top mysteries
of the ancient world

based on which reveals the most

about the secrets
of the ancients.

♪ ♪

At number ten was
the high-flying Saqqara Bird.

At number nine,
shining a light on the secrets

of ancient Egypt,
the Dendera Light.

Number eight was
the mysterious golden planes

of South America.

And at number seven,

the intriguing hieroglyphs
at Abydos.

At number six,
the Baghdad Battery,

and at number five
was the mystery

of the massive
stones at Baalbek.

In at number four,

the famous
Nazca Lines of Peru.

Number three was the mysterious
piece of granite

known as Core 7.

♪ ♪

Our number two, the unique,

enigmatic Terra-cotta Army.

♪ ♪

Clearly there was
more to the ancients

than is found
in recorded history.

But now we've reached
the top of our countdown,

and prepare to be astounded.

At number one...

[exciting music]

The Antikythera mechanism,

an ancient computer.

- The most incredible
and mysterious device,

one of the greatest treasures
of the ancient world.

narrator: The story begins
just over 100 years ago

near the Greek island
of Antikythera.

- A group of Greek
sponge divers were underwater

looking for sponges

when actually
what they stumbled across

was a shipwreck
full of treasures.

narrator: There were
beautiful statues

and all kinds
of precious artifacts.

♪ ♪

And then there was this,

a corroded lump of bronze.

What could it be?

- It was taken back

to the National Archaeological
Museum in Athens,

and there
one of the bronzes broke open

to show gear wheels
and inscriptions.

Now, gear wheels were not known
from the classical era,

so this was something
quite extraordinary.

narrator: What was
this mysterious,

seemingly out-of-time artifact?

Debate has raged
in the scientific community

since its discovery,

but it was only when it was
radiographed in the 1970s

that the total number of gears
could be seen

and its complexity
was revealed.

- When it was built,
it undoubtedly had more,

maybe 45 gear wheels,

and then it wasn't
until 2005, 2006,

the application of 3-D
X-ray-computed tomography,

a sort of body scanner

to look at
the structure of the thing,

allowed us to work out

what mechanism
was really inside

and just how
technologically sophisticated

that was.

[gears clicking]

narrator: This is
a reconstruction of what

the highly-advanced mechanism
may have looked like,

but what was it for?

- On the front of
the Antikythera mechanism

was a representation
of the universe,

solar system,
with the Earth in the center,

and around it went
the Moon, the Sun,

and the planets that they
knew about at that time.

♪ ♪

On the back of the mechanism
there was a spiral at the top

that was the cycle of the Moon,

235 months over 19 years,

and at the bottom,

a dial which allowed you
to predict

whether it was likely there
would be an eclipse

of the Sun
or the Moon,

a sort of
wonderful encapsulation

of what they knew
about astronomy at that time.

♪ ♪

- The Antikythera mechanism
allowed you

to input data and get a result.

So you'd find a date,
and then it would show you

where the Sun, the Moon,

and the stars would be
in the sky on that date.

- So what we've got here

is a computing calendar.

Genius.

♪ ♪

narrator: Input data,
get a result:

a computer.

In fact, the technology
is remarkably similar

to what is traditionally
thought of

as the first computer,

invented by Charles Babbage
in the 19th century.

♪ ♪

[file scraping]

Imagine the knowledge
and skill needed

to create such a thing
thousands of years ago.

Where did that
knowledge come from?

That is the biggest
mystery of all.

- This mind-blowing mechanism
represents not just

a phenomenal
technical achievement

but the culmination
of research reaching back

who knows how many centuries?

[gears ticking]

- The mechanical sophistication

of the Antikythera mechanism

reminds us that the Greeks

were just as intelligent
as we are.

The difference
is the much greater

knowledge base
we have these days.

What's changing is
our view of their world.

narrator: The Antikythera
mechanism is our number one,

as it reveals the ancients
were far more advanced

than we ever
previously thought.

We still don't know
who made it or why.

It's our ultimate mystery.

narrator: This remarkable
object tells us more

than any other discovery

that there is so much
about the ancients

that we don't know.

[triumphant music]

♪ ♪

There are mysteries so deep
that it seems

they'll never be solved,

super-advanced technology
thousands of years ago.

One thing we can be sure of,

the ancient world will continue
to surprise and astonish us.

It will always be a world

of the most
extraordinary secrets

and mysteries.