All language subtitles for D.b.D.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-BAWD_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: A hurricane
off the coast of Bermuda

uncovers a mysterious shipwreck.

- They found two huge wheels,
what kind of ship uses wheels?

And how did it end up on the ocean
floor off the coast of Bermuda?

NARRATOR:
Iraq's worst drought on record

uncovers the remains
of an ancient civilisation.

- The first urban centres
anywhere on Earth

popped up about 6000 years ago,
right here!

NARRATOR: A massive storm
in northwestern Ireland

unearths a grisly discovery.
WOMAN: Who is this person?

And how did their skeleton wind up
tangled in this tree's roots?

NARRATOR: All over the world
incredible discoveries

are being revealed by devastating
events:

floods, earthquakes,

droughts, hurricanes,
volcanic eruptions,

trails of destruction

expose long lost mysteries.

This is Discovered By Disaster.

In August of 2009, Hurricane Bill
battered the island of Bermuda

with heavy rain, massive waves

and 100-mile-an-hour winds.

The island suffered widespread
power outages and flooding,

but no serious injuries
or fatalities were reported.

- In the days
following the hurricane,

reports began trickling in
of large white plumes

coming from a reef offshore

of the southern end
of Bermuda's main island,

so curious divers
decided to check it out.

They found that the plumes
were huge quantities of sand

from the sea bed that had been
disturbed by the storm.

- As the divers continued to
explore, they discovered something

astonishing: part of an old
shipwreck had emerged

from the ocean floor!

The bow was clearly visible,

and they found parts
of the vessel's rigging.

CANTOR: The rope that's here
is made of hemp

and composed of three strands.

My guess would be that this vessel
is from the era before diesel

powered engines, when they relied on
sails, so it must be pretty old.

The question is: what ship is this

and how did it end up on the ocean
floor off the coast of Bermuda?

NARRATOR: Bermuda
is a British Overseas Territory

made up of an archipelago
of 181 islands

roughly 600 miles from America's
eastern seaboard.

NARDI: It's quite small, covering an
area of only about 21 square miles.

But despite its size,
historically Bermuda was enormously

important to the British Empire.

It served as a place where
merchants could trade,

ships could restock supplies
and conduct repairs,

and it also provided a safe haven
for the British Navy.

- Bermuda is strategically located
between the United Kingdom

and North America, which is why
it remains important

and in British hands today.

But its location in the Atlantic
also places it right smack

dab in the middle
of hurricane alley.

NARRATOR: A few months
following Hurricane Bill,

an archaeologist
was diving the wreck site

when he made a surprising discovery.

NARDI: In what looked like
a secret compartment

at the front of the ship's hull,

he could see a wooden crate
with a corked bottle of wine

lying next to it.

Moving in for a closer look,
he discovered that the crate

had 12 imprints
from 12 different bottles,

meaning that when the ship went down

there was more wine
than what we can see here.

- During the 1920s, alcohol
was illegal in the United States,

so criminal organisations would
often import booze from overseas.

Bermuda's location off the east
coast puts it squarely

within rum-running routes,

so maybe this ship was involved
in bootlegging

during the American prohibition era?

NARRATOR: Further investigation
of the wreck

reveals that the ship
had some unusual features.

- They found two huge wheels.

One was still attached to the hull,

whereas the other had completely
broken off and lay on its side.

What kind of ship uses wheels?

- Before diesel-powered engines,
steam was used.

Some of these vessels were called
sidewheelers: they still had sails,

but big paddles on their sides
helped drive the ship forward.

So this wreck is an old steamship!

But which one is it?

- The steamship era spanned
from the 1830s

until about the second decade
of the 20th century

when the combustion engine
began to take over,

and oil or gasoline became
the main source of energy.

So chances are that this ship
is too old to have been involved

in bootlegging.

NARRATOR: As the archaeologists
begin to investigate

the foremost part of the bow,

they find wooden decking,
panelling and shelves.

NARDI: This area is known
as the forepeak,

and only the ship's boatswain
had access to it.

The boatswain was and remains
an essential crewmember,

as they have the responsibility

for the maintenance of the ship
and all of its equipment.

CANTER: The forepeak was where
the boatswain would typically throw

any or all of his gear,
tools and supplies.

Even things that weren't being used

but may have come in handy
one day were thrown in here!

NARRATOR: The team initially
finds what they expected:

ropes, tin cans,
and a chip log reel,

an instrument used to measure speed.

But then, wedged
against a wooden bulkhead,

they find yet another
bottle of wine.

ELLIS: The bottle is sealed
and corked,

its precious contents still inside.

This is a bit strange,
if the crew wasn't bootlegging,

why is all this wine in a part
of the ship that only one man

would have access to?

NARRATOR: Next to the bottle of wine
is a smaller, greenish glass bottle.

The archaeologists bring
both bottles up to the surface.

- The smaller bottle has a narrower
neck than the wine bottle,

and in fact is made of clear glass,

so the greenish colour is actually
the liquid inside!

And after brushing off the sand,
you can see that it's embossed

with the text "Murray & Lanman,
No 69 Water Street, New York,

Florida Water".

ELLIS: Florida water?
That's essentially perfume.

What was the boatswain doing with
both perfume and wine in his locker?

if he was shipping it, why not
put it in the cargo hold,

or somewhere that was less
cluttered and more protected?

- Perhaps the whole point was that
he didn't want these goods

to be found, and that
he was smuggling them.

But they seem pretty harmless
or even pointless things to smuggle.

NARRATOR: In the forepeak,
the archaeologists also find

several pieces of coal, and discover
more scattered around the ship.

NARDI: The coal
seems a little different

from what you would expect.

It has an interesting colour
and texture,

breaks easily into sharp fragments
and almost appears to radiate,

as if it were a precious metal.

Also, when you handle it,
your hands aren't stained black.

It's quite "clean" actually!

ELLIS: This is really intriguing!

This ship was burning
anthracite coal,

which is another term
for smokeless coal!

You might think this is an oxymoron,
how can coal be smokeless?

Well this stuff basically is,
it burns very clean!

- Smokeless coal is the least
plentiful form of coal

on the planet.

So whoever was captaining this ship
must have had an especially

good reason for wanting to use it:

likely, they didn't want to draw
too much attention to the ship

by belching out plumes of smoke.

NARRATOR: In the forepeak,
archaeologists also find

a pair of leather shoes,
as well as a wooden shoe last.

LEONARD: A shoe last is what
shoemakers used to make shoes

back in the day.

They would stretch the leather
over the last and get to work!

NARDI: Given the smokeless coal,
as well as the perfume and wine

squirrelled away in the forepeak,

it seems pretty certain
they were smuggling.

But then why would they also smuggle
an instrument used to make shoes?

Surely shoes weren't such
a valuable commodity?

- The only time shoes
were a scarce commodity

and valuable in this region
was during the American Civil War.

By 1860, the year
before the war began,

the production of shoes
had become industrialised,

with most of production
located in the country's north.

NARRATOR:
On the eve of the Civil War,

about 95% of shoes in America
were produced in the north,

and the south had to have them
shipped in from various factories.

- Obviously once the Union
was at war with the Confederates,

they weren't about to keep
providing shoes to southern states

in open rebellion!

In fact, the Battle of Gettysburg,

which we now consider
the turning point of the War,

was kicked off
when a Confederate infantry division

supposedly went looking
for a warehouse

that they heard
was full of shoes.

Instead, they came face-to-face
with an entire union division.

NARRATOR: Whatever supplies
the Confederates

couldn't make themselves

had to be brought in
by boat from abroad.

As a result, the north
employed their Navy to impose

a blockade that stretched
from Virginia to Texas.

ELLIS: So the south responded
by using blockade runners!

Slick, quick steamships that could
evade the Union's bigger,

slower ships and bring in much
needed goods to the south.

Like shoes!

LEONARD: But if this vessel
is a blockade runner,

why also bring in luxury goods
like perfume and wine?

Surely an army doesn't fight better

when it's half drunk
and smells good?

CANTER: It's likely the boatswain,
or someone on the ship,

was trying to do a little business
on the sly.

In times of war, there are always
people willing to pay top dollar

for scarce products.

ELLIS: The smuggling of luxury items
got so bad that in early 1864,

the Confederate government passed
a bill

intended to regulate
blockade runners.

It banned the import
of certain luxury items

and promised to punish those
who attempted to smuggle goods

like perfume or alcohol.

NARRATOR: Historical records
indicate that only one ship was lost

in Bermuda during the Civil War:

the Mary Celestia, which ran aground

in September 1864

while carrying an official cargo
of bacon and "other merchandise".

- So when the Mary Celestia went
down, the shipping of luxury items

on blockade runners
was definitely illegal,

so someone here really was trying to
score a little extra on the voyage.

NARRATOR: Newspaper accounts later
revealed that as the Mary Celestia

was sinking,
the cook ran back into the ship

to retrieve something
and was never seen again.

He was the only casualty of the
incident, so whether or not

he was the smuggler is a secret
he took to a watery grave.

In 2018, Iraq endured
its driest year on record.

The rice and wheat fields lay barren

and farmers were rendered destitute
as the waterways dried up.

- The Tigris is one of the region's
great, historic rivers.

When it floods it allows farmers
to pump water across their fields

and irrigate the land.

But this drought forced them
to use wells

which then became salty

due to the severely low
water levels.

- When an area is below sea level
it makes rivers run dry like that,

the groundwater often
gets infiltrated by sea water.

So the groundwater is salinated.

That means there's nothing but
salt water to irrigate your crops

and that's not gonna work.

Iraqi farmers really had no choice
but to abandon their land

and seek other opportunities
in the cities.

- Not just that, but in some
provinces, 90% of the population

lost access to clean drinking water.

So this meant waterborne diseases
were spreading at the same time

many had to flee their homes.

It was a disaster in the true
sense of the word.

ELLIS: In the north of the country
is Mosul Lake, a body of water

created in the 1980s when Saddam
Hussein built a dam on the Tigris.

The dam is an essential piece
of infrastructure

as it provides hydroelectric power
for Iraq.

But in order to build it, he had
to flood an enormous area,

which included farms and villages.

NARRATOR:
During this horrible drought,

the water levels of the lake
were critically reduced.

The shoreline retreated,

exposing terrain that hadn't seen
the light of day for decades.

On the eastern side of the lake,

an elevated terrace emerged
from the retreating waters.

Pottery shards were now visible
on the parched land,

lying scattered along the shore.

- These pottery shards date
from around 3000 BCE

until the arrival of Islam
in the 7th century CE,

which translates to roughly
4,000 years of history!

But this shouldn't be a surprise,

the Tigris is known as the cradle
of civilisation.

we refer to this region as
Mesopotamia,

and it's where humans first began
developing agriculture

some 12,000 years ago.

RISKIN: Along with cultivating crops
and domesticating animals,

people were eventually able
to settle down

and form permanent residences,

which of course eventually
led to the creation of cities.

Now the best evidence we have
suggests that the first

urban centres anywhere on Earth
popped up about 6000 years ago,

right here, along and around the
Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.

NARRATOR: Curious about the newly
exposed area, archaeologists use

aerial imagery to get a better
perspective on the site

and are shocked at what
the pictures reveal.

ELLIS: The images show large
structures located high on a mound,

overlooking the river Tigris!
Because of their colour,

they kind of blend into the rest
of the landscape.

There are several rectangular spaces
built out of mudbrick

that are lined up in a row,
separated by thick walls.

They're obviously quite old,
but what are these things?

NARRATOR: The archaeologists
begin to assess the discovery.

To better understand the
architecture of the structure

as well as what deposits
could be lying under the surface,

they start by digging 12 trenches
in the rectangular areas.

- Just beneath the surface
are more mudbricks.

They're laid out in relatively
narrow, rectangular shapes

and are lined with stone slabs.

- They're all oriented in the same
direction of north-south.

My guess here is that we're looking
at several graves

that make up a cemetery!

But this is a little strange,
because no other cemeteries

in this area look like this,
with these big rectangular holes

dug deep into the earth!

- The mudbricks that cover some
of the burials

measure about 14 inches long
by about 4 inches high,

which is interesting because many of
the other bricks that have been used

to build this surrounding structure
are the same size!

- It looks like people used the
bricks to cover the graves

of their loved ones,

so it's likely that this structure
predates those graves

and that people in more modern times
just repurposed the bricks

that were already there
for those burials.

ELLIS: The region wasn't flooded
until the 1980s,

and thanks to old maps

we know that in this area
there was a village called Kemune.

So the villagers used this site
as a burial ground!

But if a village was here, why put a
cemetery inside this old structure?

NARRATOR: The archaeologists
eventually excavate a total

of eight different spaces,
as well as the structure's walls.

AGBEDOR: These walls are
pretty huge: 23 feet high!

And these eight spaces
have to be separate rooms.

Given the height of the walls,

this was no ordinary building,

and it probably wasn't
a place to bury

and pay respects to the dead.

NARRATOR: On the western side
of the excavated rooms,

there is a wall that extends
for over 80 feet

in a north-south direction.

The archaeologists
decide to investigate.

- Yet again, we're dealing with
quite impressive dimensions here.

This wall is not just long,
it's 40 feet thick!

NARDI: It could be a fortification,
but this wall is terraced,

which usually isn't how you'd build
one if you want to keep enemies out.

So this building probably
wasn't a fortress.

NARRATOR:
Continuing the investigation,

archaeologists discover
more mud bricks

scattered across the floor
of several rooms.

- These bricks used to make up
the room's walls.

But the walls
are completely destroyed

and that suggests that
they probably collapsed

in some kind of catastrophic event.

ELLIS: There's no ash or other burnt
debris under the collapsed walls.

So whatever disaster
befell this place

it wasn't because of a fire.
Maybe it was an earthquake?

AGBEDOR: It's definitely possible.

This part of Iraq sits right next
to the convergence of the Eurasian

and Arabian tectonic plates,

meaning it gets an intense amount
of earthquake activity.

So this place was probably abandoned

after an earthquake
destroyed a large part of it!

NARRATOR: After dusting off
and fully assessing

the collapsed mud bricks,

the archaeologists discover
that they are all covered

in a variety of brilliant colours.

- The bricks have been painted
in blue, red, black and white.

So you can imagine that
before the earthquake,

some of these walls
were beautifully decorated.

- I think it's so funny
how we see these old ruins

and we look at their drab clay
colours and we think,

"Oh, in the past everything looked
so boring," but it didn't!

They had paint but the paints
have all faded since then.

So if you consider the colourful
walls here,

maybe someone really important
lived here,

or this was a significant
common area

that a bunch of people would have
used at the same time.

But when was it occupied?

Surely we're talking
thousands of years ago!

NARRATOR: In one of the largest
rooms of the building,

archaeologists find
two clay tablets.

One is perfectly intact, whereas
the other is partially destroyed.

Etched into their surface
are many little lines and wedges.

- This is a cuneiform tablet!

Cuneiform is a system of writing
that emerged towards the end

of the 4th millennium BCE

and remained in use
for the next 3,000 years.

- You wrote by pressing
a sharp tool into wet clay

to create these beautiful symbols.

Cuneiform, like Chinese for example,
is logographic,

meaning that it uses characters,
and not letters,

to communicate a word.

NARDI: And these specific cuneiform
tablets are written in Akkadian,

one of the main languages
spoken in Mesopotamia

between the third
and first millennia BCE.

In fact, it was the lingua franca
of its time,

meaning that it was used by many
different people and cultures

to communicate with each other.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists decipher
the cuneiform, and it translates to:

- So this was a palace!

That makes total sense
considering how big it is

and how high the ceilings are!

And what we also know now is the
name of this ancient place, Zakhiku.

But then, considering that cuneiform
and Akkadian were both used

for thousands of years, doesn't
really tell us who lived here

or when exactly.

- One of Zakhiku's rooms has walls
that are covered in a layer

of black paint on what would have
been their lower half.

On their upper half, they seem
to have been covered in a motif

consisting of red triangles
on a blue background,

with parallel bands in red and grey.

AGBEDOR: So on the walls
you'd have these multicoloured

geometric paintings
on top of a layer of black.

It's similar to what we see
in the palace at Nuzi,

which is south of here.

NARRATOR: Nuzi was
an ancient Mesopotamian city

that lay to the south of Zakhiku,

near the eastern banks
of the Tigris River.

It is famous for being
a Mitanni city.

- We don't know a lot about them,
but Mitanni refers to an ancient

Mesopotamian kingdom that stretched
across parts of modern-day Iraq,

Syria and Turkey.

In the 1400s and 1300s BCE,

it was a regional superpower
and a direct rival to ancient Egypt.

- Its capital lay at a place
called Wassukkani,

which we think was located
on the upper Khabur River,

in what is now northeastern Syria.

So if you look you can see
that Zakhiku was located

quite far east in the empire.

NARRATOR: As the archaeologists
continue to explore

the palace grounds,
they come across more clay tablets.

ELLIS: This time around
they aren't cuneiform texts,

they depict animals
rather than words.

This is what's called
a seal impression.

In ancient Mesopotamia,
they created these tablets

for two reasons:

to act as stamps that would identify
the person who had authored

specific texts, or they were stamped
on lids of jars or across doorways,

which would protect them
against unauthorised openings.

- There is one that
is absolutely beautiful,

it's a light brown colour
with two horizontal rows of fish,

oriented in opposite directions.

A band, which likely symbolises
water, separates the two rows.

NARRATOR: There is a river crossing
just a few miles away from Zakhiku

at a place called Abu Wagnam.

It's likely that it was used
for the same purpose

even during the Mitanni period,

making it a chokepoint
for people and goods

moving from the east
into the region.

- All things considered,
this building must have been

a big administrative palace
of sorts.

Given its location, Zakhiku
would have played

an important economic role

by overseeing what was moving into
and through the region.

NARRATOR: The Mitanni kingdom
finally came to an end

around 1250 BCE,

when it was attacked and defeated
by a regional rival.

Today, Zakhiku is providing
valuable information

about this little-known
ancient empire.

NARRATOR: In 2015,

a fierce storm with winds
estimated at more than 60 mph

tore across County Sligo
in Northwestern Ireland.

The gales damaged buildings
and tore up trees,

causing misery
for the local population.

- To put this into perspective,
the Beaufort scale is used

to estimate wind strength.

0 on the scale indicates no wind,
12 indicates a full on hurricane.

The storm that hit County Sligo
was categorised as a 10

on the Beaufort Scale.

So you would not want to be out
in that!

NARRATOR: Sometime after the storm,
villagers from nearby Collooney

went out to assess the damage.

Tangled among the roots of an
enormous, uprooted beech tree

they came across a startling sight.

CANTOR: Two-thirds of a human
skeleton was found embedded

in the tree's root system!

You can make out a spine and parts
of other bones poking out

throught the roots and rubble.

The tree's roots must have grown
into the skeleton

because when the storm
uprooted the tree,

it cut the skeleton off
at the thighs.

AGBEDOR: There's no grave marker,
no sign of any kind

that someone was buried here.

So who is this person
and how did their skeleton wind up

tangled in this tree's roots?

NARRATOR: County Sligo was the site
of the historic Battle of Collooney

during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

LEONARD: Inspired by the American
and French Revolutions,

Ireland launched a revolt
against British rule,

but it didn't last long.

In only five months
the rebellion was crushed,

leaving over 30,000 Irish dead.

ELLIS: The Battle of Collooney was
one of only a few Irish victories

during the uprising.

A combined force of French
and Irish troops

defeated British forces,

resulting in over 60 casualties
for the British,

with minimal loss of life
for the rebels.

So maybe the skeleton in the tree

is a fallen soldier
from the Irish Rebellion.

AGBEDOR: It's possible.

Judging by the girth
of the tree's trunk,

it's probably a little over
200 years old.

And seeing as the roots grew
into the skeleton,

it must've been here
before the tree.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists are called
to the scene

and meticulously untangle
the skeleton from the tree's roots

to examine it.

- The pelvis cavity is kind of
heart-shaped,

which means that
this is the body of a male.

Were it female, the cavity
would have a more circular shape.

- And in order to figure out his age
at time of death,

we look at his growth plates.

This is a layer of cartilage
that is present in longer bones,

like the femur, when the body
is still growing.

- So if this layer of cartilage
is present, it means that

the individual is relatively young.

But if the cartilage
has started to disappear,

then we can conclude that
the person is a young adult.

- And that's the case here,
the rate of fusion of cartilage

is at a stage where it's safe to say
that he was around 17-20 years old

at the time of death.

Quite young, so how did he die?

NARRATOR: By examining
the entirety of the skeleton,

down to the most minute detail,

archaeologists can learn a lot
about the deceased's life,

and sometimes even death.

LONARD: When all laid out, his bones
show he was around 5 ft 9",

which is fairly tall,
definitely not short.

But what's interesting is that
there are very faint markings

on his left hand.

Specifically, to the bones
that connect the wrist to the index

and the middle finger.

CANTER: The marking on the middle
finger forms a distinct "V" shape

only a fifth of an inch long

and a little more
an eighth of an inch deep.

This shape is the tell-tale sign
of sharp force trauma.

In other words,
we're looking at a stab wound.

NARRATOR: The trauma to the bone
is clean with sharp edges,

indicating that it didn't have
any time to heal,

and must have happened shortly
before or at the time of death.

- These are what we call
defence wounds.

So this poor guy was raising
his left hand to defend himself

against an attacker
armed with a blade of some sort.

LEONARD: Also, one of his uppermost
ribs on the right side shows

an almost half-inch-long injury
to the bone.

It's also a stab wound
and was delivered between the right

shoulder and breastbone,
deep into the chest.

ELLIS: There's a slight nick
on the top edge of another rib

but oriented more toward
the inside of the bone.

This could mean he was kneeling
when the blow came, suggesting

that this was the final
coup de grace.

So this poor fellow was murdered.
But when? And why?

NARRATOR: When the storm
tore the tree from the earth

and lifted its root system,

much of the skeleton's lower half
remained in the ground.

CANTOR: There isn't any
remaining evidence of the grave

but it must have existed.

He was laid to rest in an east-west
orientation,

a fairly normal Christian
and pagan practice.

So this doesn't really help us
nail down the timeline.

AGBEDOR: But the burial does show
that he wasn't a soldier left out

on a battlefield.
He was buried here intentionally.

So chances are he lost his life
somewhere else.

- Since he was quite tall, we can
assume that he was well-fed

and not from an impoverished
background.

So his bones would show
no Harris lines,

which are layers of stunted
bone growth

that appear as a result
of malnourishment.

ELLIS: Towards the middle section
of his spine there are these little

depressions in the vertebrae
that occur as a result of a small

rupture occurring in the
intervertebral discs,

usually a result
of intense pressure.

Basically, lifting heavy loads.

So he wasn't so well off
that he wasn't working!

NARRATOR: Thorough excavation
and a full sifting of all the soil

reveal no artifacts of any sort

that could date the bones
to a specific time.

So they're sent off
for radiocarbon dating.

CANTER: The results show that this
skeleton is over 1,000 years old!

He lived sometime
between 1028 and 1206,

at which time this was
a very different place.

NARRATOR: It wasn't until the
first years of the 11th century CE

that one king ruled all of Ireland.

He was surrounded by several
loyal aristocrats

whose wealth was defined
by their cattle and their property.

ELLIS: While the king and his
consorts probably enjoyed

the finer things in life,

for most people this wasn't
an easy time to be alive.

Violence was part of life in a way
that we would find very hard

to understand or accept.

To give you an idea, about 13% of
excavated cemeteries from this time

contain victims of violence.

- Of course, some of this violence
would have occurred in battle,

but many were the victims
of interpersonal conflict,

or maybe even crime.

- One military graveyard in
County Dublin was found to contain

numerous military-age males,

all showing evidence of sharp
and blunt force trauma.

What's interesting is that
they all were all of similar stature

to the skeleton found in the tree,

leading to speculation that they
all belonged to a warrior class.

LEONARD: The average male
would've only been around 5 ft 5"

at this time, so our skeleton
was probably big and strong

compared to everyone else.

It is possible that he belonged
to a warrior class,

but the safest assumption is that he
was from a local, possibly prominent

Gaelic family and met his match
in an interpersonal conflict.

NARRATOR: The discovery
of the burial near Collooney

tells the story of a young man whose
short life came to a violent end.

It sheds light on his life and times

and the hardship he and his
contemporaries endured.

NARRATOR: In February of 1970,
a violent storm

tore across Washington's
Olympic Peninsula.

Gale force winds tossed the sea
and rain pummelling the coastline.

LEONARD: This area gets
104 inches of rain annually,

which is a significant amount

if you compare it to the national
average of 29 inches.

So although a lot of rain
isn't abnormal, this storm was

particularly vicious:

high tides combined
with the heavy rainfall

ate up the shore,

leaving the terrain unstable
and vulnerable to collapse.

NARRATOR: When the weather cleared,
a lone hiker was walking

along the beaches of the Ozette
Indian Reservation

when she came upon a puzzling sight.

- The storm had triggered
this massive landslide

that exposed these strange
planks and timbers

that had been underneath
the mud.

Now that wood was clearly worked
by human hands, but whose?

this area is very remote,
there aren't any know villages

or parks at this location.

- This is the traditional territory
of the Makah,

a people indigenous to the land

who have been living here
since time immemorial.

So the hiker got in touch with them
to inform them of the discovery.

NARRATOR: A team of archaeologists
collaborating with the Makah tribe

began sifting through
a 10-foot thick layer of mud

covering the planks and timbers.

- When you excavate sites like this

you have to be
as careful as possible.

In this case, it means you use large
hoses to spray off the mud or clay

that's covering the objects,
and then a finer, less powerful hose

to clean and remove them
from the earth.

NARRATOR: The archaeologists unearth
some leafy branches

that seemed to have been torn down

during the storm and buried
by the ensuing mudslide.

- The leaves are green, they have
serrated edges and are kinda shaped

like the head of a tennis racket.

which means they're alder leaves

and if they're green,
they can't be very old, right?

- But then something
truly incredible happens.

As more mud is washed away

and the leaves are exposed
to the air, they turn black.

How does that happen?

- So at first glance you're thinking
these leaves are fresh,

they were probably torn down
by the storm.

But what if they're not fresh?

What if those leaves actually
got torn down a long time ago

but they got buried
under the mud right away.

That way they've been in this
environment with no oxygen

and there's been no way
for them to decompose.

Then they get taken out of the mud,

they get exposed to the air,
and boom, they instantly decompose.

that could happen,

but if that is the case,
then how old are they?

NARRATOR: The archaeologists'
initial excavations also reveal

more than just
wooden planks and timbers;

several other large wooden objects
also emerge from the mud.

- The wood is largely western
red cedar

and in some cases has been left
in its round shape,

and in other cases
split into planks.

The rounded wood has notches in it,

which I'm guessing would be
for supporting rafters

that would lie perpendicular

across what would be
these round columns.

The rafters would likely
have supported a roof

and the planks were probably used
as walls,

so what we're looking at here
are the remains of a house.

LEONARD: Western red cedar
is a central resource

to the Makah people,

they make tools, canoes and clothes
out of it, to name but a few things.

So could this have been part
of a Makah hunting camp?

- The Ozette Indian reservation
lies right on the westernmost point

of the contiguous US,

so it is perfectly located
along the route of migrating

fur seals and whales.

So from here, the Makah used to
launch their large cedar canoes

into the ocean for hunting.

CANTER: There are a lot of whale
bones buried amongst the debris

from the landslide.

One piece of vertebra even has
a very deep cut made into it.

This is probably where a hunter's
harpoon struck,

embedding itself
in the whale's back.

NARRATOR: The archaeologists
find the remains

of a mussel shell harpoon,

a weapon both strong and sharp
enough to cut through bone.

LEONARD: There's also
a beautifully ornate piece of wood

that's fashioned into the image
of a seal.

It's big and heavy,
so it's likely a club,

used to kill the seals once they had
been harpooned

and dragged in close enough
to the canoe.

- So hunters were obviously living
here, which shouldn't be

much of a surprise,

considering that the Makah
have been living and hunting here

for thousands of years.

But was this just a hunting camp
or was there more going on here?

NARRATOR: Extracted
from the wet, muddy earth

are six pairs of more or less
identical wooden posts,

and another six pairs of posts
with three holes carved into them.

- When separated from each other,
it's difficult to imagine

what these could be, but when
you connect the dots

and fit them together,

you're left with an instrument
that has been used

by a variety of cultures
for 7000 years!

A loom!

RISKIN: A loom is a tool that's used
for weaving cloth.

Over the years, and around the world
there have been all kinds of

different versions of them,
but they all basically do the same

thing: they make clothes
and they make textiles.

- The presence of six looms
indicates that this wasn't a site

reserved only for hunting.

On a hunt you wouldn't drag
such a massive tool with you,

and weaving was traditionally
a woman's job.

So several different activities
were happening here at the same time

and each loom probably belonged
to one household.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists also find
a magnificent carving of a whale fin

made out of red cedar that is inlaid
with around 700 otter teeth.

It's the only one of its kind
ever discovered.

- We don't know exactly
what this was used for.

We have seen it before in an etching
made when Captain Cook

visited Nootka, just north
of Ozette in 1778.

The etching depicts a scene
inside a longhouse,

and in the background you can see

an almost identical carving
of a whale fin.

It likely played an important
ceremonial role related to hunting.

AGBEDOR: So this is the site
of several longhouses

that must have been destroyed
and covered by mud

in a disaster similar to what
eventually uncovered them.

That's pretty ironic, but when
did this disaster happen?

NARRATOR:
To properly excavate the area,

the archaeological team
digs two 230-foot trenches

from the beach
and up into the forest.

- At first, the trenches reveal
some red herrings, things like

rusty rifles or Japanese coins.

But soon the team hit the jackpot.

They find a garbage dump!

LEONARD: The technical term for
these garbage dumps is middens,

a true treasure trove
for archaeologists.

Midden's can reveal a community's
diet, what tools they used,

times of famine or plenty as well as
their general cultural habits.

In the middens found here,
there are mussel and clam shells,

whale bones, charcoal and even rocks
that have been cracked

by the intense heat of a fire.

- Radiocarbon dating reveals
that some of the material dates

from as far back as 4000 years ago,

whereas other refuse/ garbage
is "only" about 800 years old.

So what we're looking at here
is a site that has seen thousands

of years of continuous occupation.

NARRATOR: The oral history
of the Makah tells of a long-ago

"great slide" that ended up

burying part of a village
located near the beach.

- So maybe this site is what
remains of that village.

Today Ozette is uninhabited,

but historically speaking,
it was anything but.

According to historical records,
three shipwrecked Japanese sailors

reported that 16 houses
stood at this site

when they drifted ashore
here in 1834.

- And a little over 50 years later
a sailor said that he had sailed

his ship close to the shore
at Ozette

and observed over 20 longhouses.

Now If you consider the fact that
each longhouse could hold anywhere

from 20 to 40 people, that's a
pretty good-sized community.

However, by the early 1920s, the
US Federal government had begun

mandating that all children
had to attend school.

So families living in Ozette moved
a few miles north, to Neah Bay,

where there was a school and where
many Makah still live today.

NARRATOR: By the late 1700s, both
direct and indirect contact with

Europeans had an enormous impact
on the Makah people.

Epidemics decimated
their communities

and their way of life
was under severe threat.

AGBEDOR: All the artifacts the
archaeologists found here

are of a indigenous origin,

so this village must predate contact
with Europeans.

With sustained contact
first occurring in the late 18th

and early 19th centuries,
it must mean that these artifacts

and longhouses are from before then.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists begin
analysing the sediments

surrounding the disaster site,

paying especially close attention
to the middens.

- It goes without saying
that the deeper you delve into the

trash heap, the further back
in time you go.

But what might not be immediately
obvious is that the middens

may also contain environmental
evidence reflecting the

conditions of the time.

RISKIN: What's neat here is you have
evidence of a bunch

of separate mudslides!

There is a layer of mud
in between the cultural layers.

So if you look at the whole
big picture

you can see there was a mudslide
around the mid-16th century

and then another one
right at the year 1700,

and that's amazing
because we know

from other evidence that there was
a huge earthquake in this place

exactly that year, it's called
the Cascadia earthquake,

and its estimated to have been
a magnitude 9.

- So it appears that one or two
mudslides,

triggered by an earthquake,

devastated this village
and its people,

freezing the moment for hundreds
of years in a flood of mud.

NARRATOR: The excavation at Ozette
has revealed over 55,000

individual artifacts, most of them
so well preserved

that the village has become known
as the American Pompeii.

The discoveries give us profound
insight into the daily lives

of the Makah and other indigenous
groups of the Pacific Northwest.

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