All language subtitles for Lost.Pyramids.Of.The.Aztecs.S01E02.720p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta_Subtitles01_Unnamed

The magnificent Aztec Empire,

one of the most
powerful civilisations

the world has ever seen.

The Aztecs were fearsome,

they were clever, they were

a force to be reckoned with.

700 years ago,

the Aztecs dominated Mexico.

They were ruthless warriors

and ingenious engineers.

But after just 200 years,

their vast empire was wiped out

by Spanish invaders.

They would never have seen
metal weapons, they'd never seen

guns before. It was like wielding
lightning or thunder.

For centuries, archaeologists

have been trying to understand

who the Aztecs were, and how

they built their remarkable empire.

Can a series of new investigations,

and a ground-breaking experiment,

help solve these mysteries?

Our cameras have been granted

unique access
to follow investigators,

as they venture inside

rarely-seen ancient sites.

From brand-new excavations

that reveal astonishing secrets

about how the Aztecs lived,

and died...

..to spectacular drawings that may

explain the truth

about their origins.

Will these extraordinary clues,

and a pioneering attempt

to build a real Aztec pyramid...

What I'm learning so far about this

is how much labour it really takes

to build some of these structures.

..shine a light on the incredible

secrets of the Aztecs, and reveal

what life was like
inside one of the greatest

empires in history?

In the 15th century, the Aztecs

built the most formidable empire

in the Americas
and ruled over one of the largest

cities in the entire world.

At its heart, they built astonishing

pyramids to worship their gods,

and drew on resources from all over

their sprawling empire to do so.

Today, archaeologists
investigate how they controlled

such a vast territory.

A clue lies here, in Metepec,

55km west of Mexico City.

On this hillside, archaeologists

made a gruesome discovery -

the skeletons of 118 men and women.

Some were buried in shallow graves.

Others, nearly two metres deep.

Many skeletons were
buried lying down,

but a few had their knees bent.

Some were buried with pottery.

Others, without.

All these skeletons date from

the 15th century -

the height of Aztec rule.

What can these burials tell us about

the might of the Aztec Empire?

Archaeologist

Carmen Carbajal examines one of

the extraordinary skeletons
found in the cemetery.

The size of the bones and the skull

suggest this was a man,

around 35 years old.

Beside his jaw, a dark stone

gives Carmen a clue about his life.

The body was found with
offerings, to help him

into the afterlife.

Can they tell Carmen

where he came from?

The offerings prove

this is an Aztec skeleton.

But many of the dead

found here were not buried
with the same offerings.

Carmen believes that

some of the skeletons aren't Aztec.

They were from the local
Matlatzinca tribe.

Why bury the Aztecs

next to the Matlatzinca?

After defeating the Matlatzinca,

the Aztecs absorbed them
into the empire.

The Matlatzinca started
to fight in Aztec

armies, and the two tribes
lived side by side.

The Aztecs co-existed
with their former enemies.

Carmen wants to find out more
about how they established control.

In nearby Calixtlahuaca,

archaeologists have
discovered a clue.

Unlike most Aztec monuments,
this structure is round.

Can these circular walls tell Carmen
more about how the Aztecs ruled?

Temples honouring the Aztec Wind God
don't have a specific orientation

They're built to be easy for the
wind to flow around

and to reflect that the wind
comes from all directions.

Carmen goes inside to investigate.

She discovers a fascinating secret.

This is not just an Aztec temple,

there are older stone structures
hidden inside the building's walls.

The remarkable round temple has
another temple inside it.

When the Aztecs took
control of the region,

they didn't destroy
the old structures.

They simply built
theirs over the top.

The temple is a potent example of
how the Aztecs imposed their rule.

The Aztecs didn't
just conquer the Matlatzinca,

they took over the entire region.

What was daily life like
in the cities they ruled?

This is Tlatelolco.

600 years ago, this was

the second most important city

in the whole of the Americas.

Located 2km from

Templo Mayor, Tlatelolco was

the trade capital of the Aztecs.

At its heart was
a grand ceremonial complex,

with a magnificent pyramid

at the centre.

Its market was the largest

and most important in the empire.

Visited by 25,000 people every day.

Tlatelolco was
the Aztec seat of commerce.

But now, new excavations reveal

dark secrets hidden in
the centre of the city.

Archaeologist Salvador Guilliem

is excavating an incredible
new site in Tlatelolco.

It's called The Great Basement.

He hopes it will shed light on
how the Aztecs used

ceremonial buildings

in cities across the empire.

The black stone on the floor,

and the red stone
decorating the walls,

mean this building could have been

dedicated to the God of War.

In this ceremonial building,

Salvador's team
has found a series of rooms

arranged around a central altar.

They are unearthing pottery,

and incense burners.

But they've just discovered
something shocking.

Human bones.

Here, people were sacrificed,

to honour the gods.

Ceremonial monuments like this

were key to Aztec society...

..but the secrets of
how they were built

have been hidden for centuries.

At a construction site outside

Mexico City,
archaeologist David Walton

and architect Lucas Cantu

continue their ground-breaking

experiment to build

a replica Aztec pyramid.

David and Lucas have finished

the first tier of their pyramid.

Now, they need to build high.

So, right now, we're starting

with the second layer,

and all the strings are marking

the proper angles and the levels,

and we're just building
and building according to that.

While adding extra weight to

the top of the pyramid,

the team must figure out how
the Aztecs would have stopped

their pyramid walls from caving in.

With sloping walls,
if there's nothing to help kind of

hold them up, they will collapse

in on themselves.

They pack ground tezontle -

a volcanic rock - into the pyramid,

to make the structure strong.

Egyptian pyramids

had tombs hidden inside them...

..but the tezontle proves

Aztec pyramids were solid.

Any offerings, or deposits,

made to honour the gods
here at the pyramids

are actually going to be done,
sort of, on the corners,

out in front of the staircase.

Or really, we would have
put the offerings in

underneath the
foundation of the pyramid

before we even started building it.

David and Lucas

must make sure their carefully-cut

stones will stick together

as the structure grows.

They experiment with

the Aztec method of making mortar.

All right, so, the first thing
we have to do is

pulverise some tezontle.

Yep. How do we do that?

So, I have here some rocks

I already started

and then you sort of smash it all

together and do this. Ah.

OK. Now, David,

we'll try to sieve it.

So, now, we'll get some of
the lime powder. Mm-hmm.

They mix the finely-ground tezontle

with powdered lime, which

the Aztecs made from limestone.

When you cook the limestones
in high temperatures,

then you get,
like, a reaction.

When you put
water into them,

you get this
chalky powder.

Can you please put
some water in? Yeah.

So, this is what we'll use
to stick our pyramid together?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is what's
going to hold the pyramid up.

This mortar is crucial.

It's the only thing holding

the walls in place.

The entire experiment forces David

to rethink his ideas about how

the Aztecs built these monuments.

What I'm learning so far about this

is how much labour it really takes.

We're not talking about
a process that happens

over the course of a week, a month,

we're talking years to build

some of these major structures.

Thanks to labour gathered
from across the empire,

the Aztecs had the materials

and manpower they needed to build

their incredible pyramids.

But how did they maintain control

of people and resources?

In Tenochtitlan, David examines
the ruins of the city investigate

how military might fuelled
this Empire.

A clue might be in one of the
buildings next to Templo Mayor.

As archaeologists were
working on the Templo Mayor,

they discovered a new
structure to the north.

Outside, a staircase is
flanked by sculptures of eagles

and a carved wall of skulls
stands nearby.

Inside are benches decorated with
processions of warriors.

Two statues of Mictlantecuhtli,
the God of Death,

were found at one
of the entranceways.

His ribcage is exposed,
and his liver is hanging out.

We might look at the sculpture and
think of it as terrifying, gruesome,

something not pleasant to look at,
but the Aztec really connected the

ideas of life and death and actually
want to move from life to death.

All these links to war and death
mean this building must have been

one of the most important structures
in the Sacred Precinct of the city.

The House of the Eagle Warriors.

The Eagle Warriors were the elite
class of Aztec warrior.

Here in the House of the Eagles
they meditated, prayed,

held ceremonies and organised
their troops together in this spot.

Sons of noble families received
extensive military training

to turn them into Eagle Warriors.

The Aztecs most feared fighters.

They had a headdress shaped like an
eagle, shields decorated with

feathers, and spears with razor
sharp obsidian blades.

But many Aztec weapons,
like the atlatl spear catapult,

were not designed to kill,
but to stun.

The main job of an eagle warrior
was to take prisoners

so they could be used as human
sacrifices to please the gods.

The Aztec elite warrior
ranks like the Eagle Warriors were

really the driving force,
the secret weapon for how the Aztecs

were able to conquer and subjugate
people around Mesoamerica.

The Eagle Warriors at Tenochtitlan
were at the heart

of an impressive military alliance.

To help control their Empire,

the Aztecs joined forces with
Texcoco to the east..

..and Tlacopan in the west.

The alliance rapidly grew,

conquering an area
of around 220,000 sq km.

Stretching all the way to
both coasts

and down to Guatemala in the south.

Despite their skill
and sophistication,

the Aztec military still remains
shrouded in mystery.

What did it take to become
part of this elite army?

80km southwest of Templo Mayor,
at Malinalco,

archaeologist Beatriz Zuniga -
hunts for a temple,

that could reveal
more about the elite Aztec warriors.

To find it, she must climb 427
steps to the top of a hill,

120 metres above the valley.

At the top, Beatriz discovers
unusual animal statues

flanking the steps
leading to the temple.

The jaguar statues reveal that this
temple was used by another

elite division of Aztec soldiers...

..the Jaguar Warriors.

Beatriz investigates the temple.

Inside she finds three seats.

Two are eagles
with their wings spread,

and one is sculpted in the shape
of a jaguar skin.

The seats reveal that Jaguar

and Eagle Warriors met here to
perform rituals.

She finds something even more
intriguing.

In the centre of the room there is
an altar,

and behind it,
a circular hole in the floor.

Aztecs who wanted to become Eagle or
Jaguar Warriors would come

here to sacrifice their blood to the
gods in initiation rituals.

They'd become part of a fearsome
warrior class, ready to fight

and kill for the Empire.

What happened to the people
they conquered?

At Sheffield University...

..historian Caroline Dodds Pennock

turns to the Florentine Codex
to find out what happened to the

people defeated by the Eagle
and Jaguar warriors.

This picture, although it's
obviously not to scale,

is a really excellent representation
of how human sacrifice was

practised in a sort of everyday
way in Aztec culture.

You would have five priests,
one holding each limb,

and the person would be stretched
back over a sacrificial stone.

And in the middle, you can

see another priest is taking
the heart out.

During a sacrificial ceremony
the victim, usually a prisoner

of war or a criminal, would be
led up the steps to the temple.

Aztec priests would slice open
the victim's chest,

cut out their still beating heart
and offer it to the gods.

It's estimated the Aztecs may have
sacrificed over 20,000 men,

women and children every year.

What seems gruesome now was a divine
necessity for the Aztecs.

To them,
sacrifice kept the gods happy

and made sure the sun rose each day.

Offering human life to the gods
was crucial for the Aztecs.

And death was just the start
of the victim's role in the ritual.

In Calixtlahuaca,
experts look for evidence of what

happened to the bodies of people
who were sacrificed.

Archaeologist Carmen
Carbajal finds a clue,

small circular stones sticking
out of a curved wall.

These stone skulls reveal the gory
truth of what happened to the

victims after they died.

The skulls were displayed to
show off the Aztecs' power

and terrify their enemies.

The pyramids were important

because the location of a sacrifice
was critical to its success.

David and Lucas now face
their biggest challenge as they try

to discover exactly how the
Aztecs built them.

At the construction site,

the second tier of the Aztec
pyramid is complete.

Now work begins on the third,
and final, tier.

As the pyramid gets bigger,
the team faces the most difficult

challenge the Aztec workers
had to overcome.

One of the challenges we want to
think about, in terms of the height

of our pyramid, is how do we get
those blocks up to the next layers?

And especially
when we think about the Aztecs,

they had a much greater difference,

in terms of the height of their
different tiers of their pyramids.

You can imagine blocks falling down,

maybe hitting people on the head,
causing injury, you know,

it was another sort of peril of this
Aztec pyramid building process.

This was exhausting, dangerous work.

David believes the Aztecs persevered

because it was crucial
to their world.

Building temples like this really
tells us that this

was a labour of love.

This was something the entire
community cared about.

This wasn't one person at the top
just saying,

"Ah, go and build me a pyramid."

You know, this is an entire
civilisation saying,

"We need this, let's put our labour
into this, our blood, sweat and

"our tears and let's make a pyramid
for all of us to benefit from."

David needs to add the red
tezontle stone

he chiselled earlier to the pyramid.

The team fit it into the wall.

To have carved this by hand
out of the quarry, brought it here

and see it in the pyramid, that is
just awesome, it feels really great.

Building these pyramids would have
involved almost everyone in society.

What was their life like under
Aztec rule?

Today, in Tenayuca,

researchers are learning
more about the lives of the Aztecs.

Archaeologist Beatriz Zuniga
investigates

the remains of an ancient suburb.

The Aztecs had a rigid class system,
which dictated how they lived.

Beatriz searches the ruins of a
house to find out who lived here.

This wealthy family added rooms
to their house over time.

Houses became
larger as families grew.

In the Aztec Empire, parents,
grandparents,

and children all lived
under one roof.

A fast-growing population meant
the Aztecs had a large

pool of labour with which to
build the pyramids.

Feeding a workforce of this size was
another Herculean challenge.

At its height, the Aztec capital,
Tenochtitlan,

was home to up to 200,000 people.

But it was isolated,
built in the centre of a lake.

How did the Aztecs get their food?

Xochimilco,
a site 25km south of Templo Mayor,

could hold clues to help
solve this mystery.

Here, agricultural expert Ricardo
Rodriguez investigates how the

Aztecs farmed.

Today, Xochimilco is a thriving
farming district,

but 1,000 years ago there was no
land here at all.

It was all water.

Where did the land come from?

These fields are called chinampas.

The Aztecs who lived in Tenochtitlan
didn't have land for growing

food or raising animals.

So they built these
fields from scratch.

Each chinampa is about 30m long
and 3m wide.

At the height of the Empire,
they covered almost 90 square km.

Ricardo steps ashore to take
a closer look.

Ricardo meets Chucho,
who farms the chinampas here today.

They use the tools and techniques
of the ancients

to build a model chinampa, to
investigate how the Aztecs did it.

Chucho's team must make sure
they secure the stakes

firmly in the lakebed.

If they're loose,
the entire structure could collapse.

Next they use branches and reeds to
bind the stakes together

and fill the centre with grass to
create an island.

The team then add layers of mud to
bind the chinampa together.

Finally, it's time to test if it's
strong enough for people to farm on.

Chucho takes his first step
onto the new chinampa.

Great job!

The experiment is a success.

The team plant willow trees
around the edges of the chinampa to

hold it together.

Man-made islands like this one
helped sustain the growing

Aztec Empire.

The chinampas fed the large
population at Tenochtitlan.

But there was another problem
facing the Aztecs.

If the lake water is salty...

..how did the Aztecs living
in Tenochtitlan get drinking water?

In Texcotzingo,

30km east of Templo Mayor,

archaeologist Martha Hernandez
hunts for evidence that could help

solve this mystery.

Texcotzingo was
built in the 15th century by an ally

of the Aztecs, King Nezahualcoyotl.

This was his royal retreat.

Martha searches the site for clues.

She finds a curious stone ruin.

To help channel water around
Texcotzingo,

King Nezahuacoyotl built
an aqueduct 8km long,

60m above the valley floor.

It transported water from springs
high on nearby Mount Tlaloc

through a system of channels, with
pools to regulate the flow of water.

This aqueduct reveals that the
Aztecs were advanced

hydraulic engineers and they put
this skill to use at Tenochtitlan.

They floated beds of reeds
onto Lake Texcoco,

and anchored them
down with wooden stakes.

Then they loaded earth, mud and
stones on top until the mats sank to

the lake floor, creating artificial
islands just a few metres apart.

On top they built
troughs from packed clay which they

connected with hollowed
out wooden logs.

This way they created a 4km
pipeline to channel

water from the hills
across the salty lake, and right

into the heart of the city where it
was delivered into people's homes.

Ambitious engineering projects
like these would have required

colossal amounts of human labour.

They are a testament to the
might of the Empire.

From aqueducts to pyramids,

the Aztecs proved themselves to be
sophisticated builders.

Can a modern-day construction team
decode the engineering

secrets behind their success?

At the build site,

the tiers of the pyramid
are complete.

Now Lucas investigates how the
Aztecs used limestone to

decorate their monuments.

Stucco is basically limestone that
is cooked and then it is grounded.

To get the perfect stucco,

Lucas mixes lime with water to
create a paste.

Getting the right consistency
is a challenge.

Too runny, and the stucco will
drip down the pyramid.

Too thick,
and it may crack as it dries.

We want something like peanut
butter or even guacamole,

which is viscous, but not
runny.

Because it was used to
decorate pyramids,

lime was extremely
valuable to the Aztecs.

They collected it as a tax,
known as 'tribute',

from conquered
regions across the Empire.

Some of the pyramids would be
covered in white plaster,

but many Aztec monuments were
decorated with a mix of colours.

Lucas and David decide to dye the
stucco red with a mineral, hematite.

This is actually one of the most
common minerals in a landscape

that you can find.

Red velvet cupcake batter!

I'm hungry.

With the red stucco ready to go...

Yes, that's going to be perfect for
our pyramid.

..Lucas wants to test it.

The rock is very porous, in a way
we just want to fill the gaps

and get an even surface, and try to
smooth it out as much as possible.

Yeah, the colour looks really good,
it's looking pretty consistent.

Lucas and David have solved
one of the most important mysteries

surrounding Aztec pyramids.

They discovered how they were
viewed by the Aztecs themselves.

Imagine this, it would
have been gleaming, it would

have been bright, it would
have been an amazing sight.

The Aztecs seized materials
from across their empire to

build their pyramids,
proof they were a powerful force.

So how and why did this mighty
civilisation collapse?

Caroline examines the
Florentine codex

to search for clues to their
downfall.

This is a really fascinating

picture of the Spanish landing

on the coast. What we have are

these big European ships, which

the Aztecs would never
have seen before.

They called them towers in the sea.

Hernan Cortes was

a Spanish conquistador.

In 1519, he sailed to Mexico

to conquer the land, with 500 men.

The Aztecs would have been amazed

by some of the things
that the Europeans

brought with them. They would
never have seen metal weapons,

they'd never seen guns before.
The guns created

a huge impression because

it was like they were wielding

lightning or thunder in some way.

They've never seen cattle,

or horses.

These are an amazing demonstration

of the sorts of things that would
transform the Aztec world.

Even with horses and metal weapons,

the Spanish were massively
outnumbered by the Aztecs.

Conquering them should
have been impossible.

Caroline thinks
a clue to Cortes' success

lies in the faces of the soldiers

fighting alongside his men.

This picture shows us

a combination of Spanish warriors

and indigenous soldiers.

So, you have the Spaniards here

on horseback in armour, very clearly

distinguished from
the indigenous warriors,

walking with their shields.

Cortes convinced the Aztecs'

local enemies to join him.

And soon, he was ready
to take the fight to

the Aztec capital itself.

When Cortes and his army
arrived in Tenochtitlan,

they marvelled at its size
and sophistication.

The Aztecs offered Cortes gold,

a gift to convince him

not to wage war on the city.

But the Spanish slaughtered

the nobles and took the Aztec king,

Moctezuma, hostage,

until the Aztecs drove them out.

The Spanish returned with

an even bigger army

and destroyed the city, killing

nearly a quarter of a million

people in their conquest.

This brutal defeat was the end of

the once-mighty
city of Tenochtitlan.

But what about the rest of
the Aztec Empire?

In Tlatelolco,

David Walton investigates

how the conquest ended.

The sign says,
"On August 13th, 1521,

heroically defended by Cuauhtemoc,

Tlatelolco fell to the power of
Hernan Cortez."

Tlatelolco was the last holdout
of the Aztec Empire.

This was their final defence,
after the Spanish defeated

the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan.

This is the site of
their last stand.

The final battle.
The ultimate defeat.

David thinks he's discovered why

so few Aztec pyramids remain today.

Looking at this church, we can see

that's tezontle.
That's the building material

the Aztec used for their temples.

And the Spanish took
all of those temples down

and used that same tezontle stone

for their new constructions.

The Spanish conquerors used the
stones from the Aztec pyramids

to build their on places of
worship on the same site.

It was a symbolic way of
demonstrating their power.

But even with local allies,

metal weapons and horses,

how was it possible for the Spanish

to defeat the Aztecs so completely?

David thinks
they owed their success

to something else.

One of the things that contributed
to the conquest

was the Spanish brought diseases
with them like mumps, measles

and smallpox that really
decimated the local populations.

It's estimated that by 1520,
smallpox had killed

40% of the local people.

The Spanish decimated the Aztecs,

and wiped out their knowledge of

how to build
the extraordinary pyramids.

How will David and Lucas

attempt the final, and most
difficult, part of their pyramid,

without a guide?

Lucas and David must experiment,

as they start on one of
the most challenging

parts of their pyramid, the steps.

Our steps are probably the most
important part of the pyramid.

The whole purpose, or function, of

an Aztec pyramid
was for people to both

be able to climb to the summit

and for priests to conduct
rituals on top.

They use traditional techniques

to mark out the balustrades
and steps,

keeping them level the same way

the Aztecs would have done.

I'm pretty sure they used strings.

They were probably made of some

organic agave fibre,
or something. Mm-hmm.

Building the steps requires

total precision.

The stones must be shaped

on not one, but two sides.

And like the Aztec staircases,

these steps must be
perfectly symmetrical.

With the staircases,
the challenges are really...

making sure that the balustrades,

and the stairs themselves,
look like sculpture.

When we look at it, it's got to be

absolutely perfect.

Once they've finished...

..this ground-breaking pyramid is

finally complete. David

and Lucas have gained
a real understanding

of just how important the pyramids

were to the Aztecs.

I'm at the top of this pyramid

and it feels so awesome!

I can see the surrounding valley.

I really have a sense that

I'm raised up above everyone else,

just like an Aztec priest
would have been

conducting rituals, here on
this spot, say 700 years ago.

The pyramid is almost
two metres high,

with a base five metres across.

Building it took five weeks,

20 tonnes of stone and mortar,

and a team of 12 workers.

Yeah, Lucas, wow, look at this!

This is awesome!
Look at how the mortar

seems to be holding up really well.

Yeah, I mean, everything's

holding up together and, er,

I even like we added
some of the raw stone

with organic matter.
Yeah, organic matter on there.

I really like the cornerstones.
They come to a nice, clean point

and it's all consistent
running down the sides.

Yeah, the geometry is quite good.

Yeah that was
the hardest part, right?

Taking this crude stone and getting
geometric shapes out of it.

Yeah, it's almost like a sculpture
if you think about it.

By building a pyramid from

the foundations up...

..carving the blocks by hand...

..and stacking them layer by layer

to create a masterpiece...

..the team has revealed
the lengths to which symbolism

and ritual informed

every aspect of Aztec life.

I've always admired the Aztecs
but now, by building this,

I admire them even more.

Now, the immense skill

and sophistication of

the Aztec engineers

is uncovered in all its glory.

Having done this,
I just think it really gives me

a better sense of how much skill

the Aztecs had,
how good they were at engineering

and, really, they were

an impressive society,

one we really need to think about
and pay attention towards

when we're thinking about all
the societies in the ancient world.

Every day, archaeologists

learn more about the Aztec Empire.

From magnificent monuments

to stunning ancient manuscripts,

experts are finally
starting to piece together

the unique world of the Aztecs.

The Aztecs turned a small,
marshy island into

one of the greatest
cities of its time.

At its heart, they built
an extraordinary pyramid,

dedicated to their
most important gods.

They provided their huge population

with food and fresh water,

channelled in from kilometres away,

and lived and died alongside

their conquered neighbours.

All this created one of the most

advanced and powerful empires

ever seen in the Americas.

Today, many of the Aztecs' secrets

may still lie hidden

underneath modern Mexico City...

..but piece by piece, archaeologists

are bringing the mysteries

of the past into the light.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media