All language subtitles for D.b.D.S01E06.1080p.WEB.h264-BAWD_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: A dozen mysterious vessels
appear on a Japanese shore

after volcanic activity in the area.

- None of them have
propellers. Or engines.

So they look like normal ships,

but they have no means of
propulsion.

- A dozen of them, strewn along the
coastline, as though some

gigantic toddler got bored of
playing with them, and tossed them.

But how did they really get there?

NARRATOR: A fierce storm on the
North Sea unearths a

mysterious discovery from the
cliffs of England's coastline.

- It's an area of about 130 square
feet, with many dozens of

oblong 'hollows,' or what look like
impressions,

distributed over its surface.

- They're short, pronounced
depressions oriented in

different directions.

So could these be paw prints from
some ancient creatures?

NARRATOR: A hurricane in Guatemala
reveals ancient hieroglyphics

that could rewrite history.

- So could these newly discovered
hieroglyphics provide new

information, or more insight into
the life and times of the

ancient Maya?

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 October of 2021, a
burst of heightened seismic

activity rocked the

Japanese-governed Volcano Islands,
in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The event caused significant
tectonic shifts and undersea

ruptures of molten rock.

- The three islands are sparsely
populated - and with good reason.

This area lies right along what's
known as the 'Ring of Fire.'

- an unstable geologic zone where
there's a great deal of

volcanic activity.

- Mount Suribachi, on the central
island here, is the dormant

vent of an active volcano -
recognized as one of Japan's

most dangerous.

NARRATOR: Experts are dispatched to
conduct aerial surveys of the

islands to assess whether or not
evacuations are necessary,

and find no immediate danger.

But they do discover something
alarming on one of Io-to's

western beaches,

- A string of hulking ships!

A dozen of them, strewn along the
coastline, as though some gigantic

toddler got bored of playing with
them, and tossed them there.

But how did they really get there?

NARRATOR: Images of the ships are
splashed all over Japan's

news media, who breathlessly report
them as 'ghost ships' that

have 'risen from the seabed.'

- Now, I don't know how many people
believed they were actually

'ghost ships', but the dramatic
emotional reaction to these

sudden experiences was
understandable.

- Io-to has only officially been
called that since 2007.

Up 'till then, it went by a
better-known name - the one it

had during World War II: 'Iwo-Jima.'

- Until the war, Iwo Jima was just
this tiny, barren island -

only about three miles wide, five
miles long - way off in the ocean.

It's almost 700 miles away from
the closest part of any of

Japan's main islands.

But during the war, Iwo Jima's
location suddenly made it a

great strategic advantage for Japan.

NARRATOR: The United States'
operational base for its B-29

bombers was at Tinian - in the
Mariana Islands, fourteen hundred

miles from Japan's main islands.

The B-29 could fly four thousand
miles, fully loaded,

so the distance alone was not a
problem. Something else was.

- Iwo-Jima was right in the middle
of that 1400-mile distance.

Japan had built two airfields on the
island - and they were actively

constructing a third.

And they were very successful at
intercepting American B29s

that were on their way to bomb
Japan's main islands.

It was deadly.

The United States realized that
they had to take Iwo Jima.

- American forces bombarded Iwo Jima
relentlessly from the air and

from the water for nine months,
before making a beach

landing - which resulted in the
hellish and bloody

36-day-long battle:
The Battle of Iwo Jima.

So could these ships be casualties
of the United States'

bombarding Iwo Jima,
before that battle?

I think that's unlikely, they
don't show any evidence of

lethal damage - none of the sort of
damage you would expect to

find if they'd been
destroyed in battle.

NARRATOR: Oddly, eight of the 12
vessels don't seem to have names.

The names of the other
four can be made out:

The Chetvertyi Krabalov; the Gilyak;
and the Caliche; and one with a

Japanese name: the IJN Toyotu Maru.

- The Krabalov was a
British-built ship that had

at one time been lent to Russia
which is why it has a Russian name.

The Caliche was an old
American-built cargo ship,

while the Gilyak is a bit
of a mystery.

- But what's strange is that records
indicate the Toyotu Maru was

bombed and sunk by the United States
on February 1st, 1942 -

long before the naval
bombardment of Iwo Jima.

And the really odd thing
is the Toyotu Maru was sunk at

Tanapag Harbour, in Saipan - over
700 miles from where it is now!

- So how does a ship that was sunk
700 miles away, end up washed

up on a beach here,
three-quarters of a century later?

NARRATOR: A closer look at the
unnamed vessels reveals one

remarkable thing that
they have in common,

- None of them have propellers.

Or engines, so they look like
normal ships from that era,

but they have no means of
propulsion.

- The other odd thing is that the
hulls of all those eight

aren't steel; they're concrete!

It's like they're giant ship
decoys or something!

NARRATOR: A search of declassified
navy documents reveals

information about one of the
ships - the Gilliak.

- A document dated June 1st,
1945 says, 'Gilliak sunk in

modified position Nan, south
breakwater line, Iwo Jima.'

So it seems the United States was
building a breakwater at the beach.

- A breakwater is a coastal
structure - usually a rock

or rubble mound that runs
parallel to the coast.

They reduce incoming wave energy,
protect beaches, and shelter

vessels from waves and currents.

But what does the construction of a
breakwater have to do with

these ships?

- After the battle of Iwo Jima was
over, the United States

turned the island into a base for
its own aerial operations.

And to build that base, they'd have
to get a constant flow of

personnel, supplies, and building
materials onto the island.

- The best way to do that was by
using a vehicle that was

capable of beach landings -
including the 'D-U-K-W,' or 'Duck.'

NARRATOR: The DUKW was a low-draft,
amphibious truck with six

drive wheels.

They were virtually disposable,
built to last just long

enough to get personnel and
gear into battle.

But the military wanted to put them
into extended use at Iwo Jima.

- This presented a problem because
'Ducks' were very heavy even

when empty so they had trouble in
rough waters, which were a

regular occurrence at Iwo Jima.

They were pretty much useless,
so the decision was made to use

a dozen ships to build a protective
breakwater on the beach.

So all these ships were placed here
intentionally by the US military!

- Eight of them were actually
concrete 'barges,' originally

built to carry material
and supplies.

They weren't the flat-platform kind
of 'barge' many of us think

of today; they had hulls shaped like
regular seagoing ships,

but no power of their own.

They had to be towed, which explains
the lack of propellers and engines.

- And during the war, steel was a
precious commodity,

so Americans made the barges' hulls
out of reinforced concrete.

And being barges, they weren't
christened like ships would be;

they were only identified by
letters and numbers:

so 'Concrete 11; Concrete 29;
Concrete 30'.

No names.

- But none of this explains the
mysterious reappearance of the

Toyotu Maru - 700 miles away from
where it had been bombed and sunk.

NARRATOR: Further analysis of the
naval documents reveals more

details about the doomed ship,

- During the war, materials were
especially valuable, so the US

navy actually refloated the
Toyotu Maru at Saipan, in 1944.

And then in March of 1945,
the decision was made to tow it

to Iwo Jima, intentionally sink it
there, and use it

as part of the breakwater.
Mystery solved.

NARRATOR: Records show that on June
13th, 1945, 'Concrete 30' was

sunk, completing the third and final
'leg' of the breakwater at Iwo Jima.

But disaster struck,

- Late that same month, two typhoons
swept close by Iwo Jima, one after

the other - breaking the ships free
and sweeping them into the waves.

The improvised 'harbour' was
destroyed, even before it

could be put into full use.

- By that point, it was decided that
Naha Port in Okinawa was more

strategically important, and the
breakwater at Iwo Jima was

never rebuilt.

The ships stayed where the typhoons
had scattered them in the

waters offshore.

So, how did they make this
reappearance, eight decades later?

NARRATOR: According to research,
Io-to is known to rise

between about 10 and 30 inches per
year because of volcanic pressure.

The strip of beach where American
troops made their landing in that

1945 battle is now more than 50 feet
above sea level, and still rising.

- So along with the seabed,
the ships have slowly been rising

up all this time.

The big spike in seismic activity in
2021 simply accelerated the

ships' reappearance.

NARRATOR: The United States returned
Io-to to Japan in 1968 and the only

people living on it now are a small
company of Japan's Armed Forces.

Visitors are allowed only once a
year and that privilege is

reserved for servicemen
and their families.

- Seismologists say there is the
possibility

of another large eruption.

But even in the meantime, as the
island slowly rises,

these 'ghost ships' will continue to
work their way up the beach,

and they'll eventually be
completely out of the water.

- Many of the more than 21,000
'Ducks' that were

manufactured, are still being
used - for tourism!

NARRATOR: Some World War II era
concrete barges -

built at the same shipyard as
those at Io-to - have had a more

positive, hopeful end to
their story,

- One concrete barge - 'YOGN 82' -
ended up as part of a breakwater in

British Columbia, for decades.

And when that breakwater had
served its purpose,

YOGN 82 was the first ship to be
scuttled, to become an

artificial reef, and a
home for sea life.

NARRATOR: While the twelve ships
at Io-to may be necessary

reminders of the tolls of war,
it's good to know that decades

after a tragic and bloody battle,
life can find its way back again.

For centuries, the medieval English
cliffside town of Happisburgh

has been waging a precarious
battle against an adversary it

cannot beat: The North Sea.

In May of 2013, the Sea unleashed a
fierce windstorm that tore

huge swaths of earth from
the town's cliffs.

- These storms are getting worse.

Sometimes, many tons of coastline
are eaten up by the waves overnight.

Houses that seemed safe the day
before are hanging over the

beach by morning.

- The Happisburgh cliffs are made up
of glacial sands, silts, and

clay; they're soft, and have been
eroding steadily for centuries.

Between the years 1600 and 1850,
the cliff edge was known to

recede over a yard every year.

- But with climate change,
erosion has accelerated.

It's more than three yards per
year now, which is triple the

previous rate.

And it's even more than
that in some places.

So the math is not complicated,
if things keep going at this rate,

the entire town should be
gone in about 30 years.

NARRATOR: The day after the storm,
two people brave enough to

venture out onto the beach below
Happisburgh spot something,

- It's a large rock slab, lying flat
on the beach, where the sand

was washed away the night before.

It's an area of about 130 square
feet, with many dozens of

oblong 'hollows,' or what look like
impressions, distributed over

its surface.

It's very strange - what on
earth is going on here?

- The cliffs are the product of
glaciation that occurred

about 450,000 years ago.

But the layers below the cliffs -
at sea level, where the slab

is - were built up well before that,
of silt that was deposited in

an estuary, where an ancient
river met the sea.

- What you can get, in some
instances, is a preserved

ancient riverbed with evidence of
patterns forged over the

course of thousands of years.

Ripples form in the silt at the
bottom of the water and if

the river's water level drops,
the exposed silt dries and

hardens in the sun.

Then other sediments are
deposited on top,

and over millennia, as the silt
turns to rock, the wavy

pattern in that original
layer may be preserved.

So is that what we're seeing here?

- But the pattern that a stream's
currents might produce, would

be a gently undulating series of
mostly-parallel ripples,

not like the oblong imprints
found at Happisburgh.

NARRATOR: A team of archaeologists
is called to the site to

investigate, and they will
have to work quickly.

The storm swept vast amounts of sand
off the beach but they know

that in subsequent days, wave
action will deposit fresh sand

overtop of the rock slab.

Their initial examination of the
imprints reveals surprising details.

- They're short pronounced
depressions oriented in

different directions, so they're not
all lined up together,

but they're not random either.

So could these be paw prints from
some ancient creatures that

are preserved in the silt?

- Maybe - but these don't really
look like paw prints.

They're elongated, whereas many paw
prints tend to be about as

wide as they are long - unless the
animal drags its foot forward

after each step.

In which case the impression will
be deep where the paw was

placed, and then slope upward,
as the foot is pulled forward.

The impressions on the beach at
Happisburgh are relatively

equal in depth, at both ends -
and, if anything,

shallower in the middle.

NARRATOR: As the team continues to
examine the depressions,

they make a startling discovery.

- At the end of one of them, there's
this little row of indentations.

They're toes. These are
human footprints.

But to be preserved in rock like
this, they would have to be

very, very old.

But it's unclear how old, and whose
footprints might these be?

- Skeletal remains of giant elk
have been found near here,

at about the same depth.

And Mammuthus meridionalis have also
been discovered - an early form

of mammoth that's known to have gone
extinct around 800,000 years ago.

So could these prints be that old?

- No early-human skeletal remains
anywhere near that old have

been found anywhere in the UK.

So how do you estimate the age of
these footprints when no

evidence of the people who
made them are present?

NARRATOR: Palynology is the
study of microorganisms - and

microscopic fragments of
organisms - that might be found

in sediments, or sedimentary rocks.

- Basically, if you can find pollen
in a layer of prehistoric mud

or dirt and you can figure out what
kind of flower it came from,

you can tell exactly when
that layer was formed.

NARRATOR: Locked in the same
layer as the footprints,

the researchers discover a rich
variety of flora and fauna - pollen,

wood fibres, even insect parts,
including the remains of beetles.

An analysis of the samples
yields stunning results.

- They date back to between 850 and
950 thousand years ago, so

the Happisburgh footprints
must be just as old!

This is the first evidence of people
- in this case, some species

of earlier hominin - living at the
most northerly edge of

habitation in Europe.

Not only that, but these are the
oldest-known hominin

footprints anywhere
outside of Africa!

- So now that we know the age of
the prints, we can zero in on

what species of hominin made them.

NARRATOR: The constant influx of new
sand being swept in by the

waves makes it impossible for the
archaeologists to take

measurements of the footprints,
which may provide vital clues

as to what species of early
man created them.

So they turn to a computer-assisted
process known as 'Multi-Image

Photogrammetry.'

- Multi-Image Photogrammetry, or
'MIP' involves taking

pictures of a subject from
multiple positions - in this case,

around and above the stone slab.

The images are then digitally
processed and combined into

one three-dimensional virtual model.

- The MIP scan shows a total of 152
usable footprints that vary

in size between 5 ½ and 10 inches
long, and 2 ½ and 4 inches wide.

These dimensions are consistent
with the sizes and shapes of

prints we'd expect from a species
called 'Homo antecessor,' or

'Pioneer Man,' whose skeletal
remains were found in Spain.

That is what we know of the
dimensions of Homo

antecessor's feet, based on those
skeletal remains from Spain.

It matches these Happisburgh
prints perfectly.

- Homo antecessor looked pretty
similar to a modern human,

but a little different.

It had a low forehead and a
marked double brow ridge.

They are the first known human
population on the European

continent, having existed there
between 800,000

and 1.2 million years ago.

And they've been found in
what is now Spain.

So it's totally plausible that the
footprints at Happisburgh

belong to Homo antecessor.

NARRATOR: Fossil skeletal
evidence of middle Pleistocene

hominins found elsewhere in the
world have all conformed to a

'foot-length to stature
ratio' of 0.15.

- This means that if you know an
individual's foot length,

you can multiply that by 6.67 to
calculate their height.

Using that formula, the various
individuals within our

Happisburgh hominin group had
heights that ranged between

just over three feet tall,
to about five-foot-eight.

- The Homo antecessor skeletons
found in Spain tell us that

adult males had an average stature
of around 5'8' and adult

females were around 5'4'.

That suggests that the tallest
individuals in our

Happisburgh group was probably adult
male - and that there are smaller

prints that could have belonged to
adult females, and you've also got

smaller prints that could have been
younger individuals of both sexes.

- An obvious interpretation would be
that this was a family group.

But where were they going, and
what were they doing, on this

ancient stretch of mud, about
900,000 years ago?

- When you look at the orientation
of the footprints, there's a

general movement toward the south.

But many of the prints seem to
wander about, changing directions.

And this makes perfect sense:
there were children in this group.

Roaming around, playing, following
their curiosity, exploring,

and learning.

- This group - this family - may
have been out collecting shellfish

and seaweed for food.
And the kids were roaming about.

NARRATOR: By the end of May
2013 - within a couple of weeks of

the storm - the Happisburgh
footprints had been

taken back by the sea.

- They were destroyed by the same
tides and waves that had

revealed them to us.

A family had wandered along a
riverbed, their footprints

hidden and preserved for the better
part of a million years, and

now, they are truly gone.

NARRATOR: Homo antecessor eventually
became extinct in Europe, and

was believed to have been replaced
by another early human,

Homo heidelbergensis.

Then, when the climate changed
around 400,000 years ago,

they were replaced by the
Neanderthals who were

eventually replaced by us
- Homo sapiens.

How long we'll last,
remains to be seen.

In 2001, an enormous hurricane made
landfall and swept across an

area of Northern Guatemala home to
an ancient Maya city state

known as Dos Pilas.

- Guatemala ranks among the top five
countries in the world most

impacted by natural disasters.

That's sort of mind blowing when you
consider how small it is, and

yet it gets hit by everything
you can imagine floods,

hurricanes, earthquakes.

They even have a few volcanoes.

- At Dos Pilas the hurricane's
extreme winds, of up to

100 mph left some serious wreckage
in their wake, including trees

that were entirely uprooted.

One tree growing at the base of some
temple ruins lay basically

upside down!

NARRATOR: When inspecting the site
after the hurricane had passed,

caretakers working at the ancient
ruins discovered that the toppled

tree had revealed a set of stairs
long since covered up by its roots.

- The uprooted tree had exposed
an ancient staircase!

This is like an open sesame moment.

Imagine if all of sudden a secret
door opened, exposing you to

information about the past, in a way
you never thought possible.

Well this is what seems to
have happened here!

NARRATOR: The staircase was
located next to other steps that

archaeologists had
long been aware of.

However, the hurricane revealed a
total of ten new steps,

all decorated with hieroglyphics
that date to the time of the

ancient Maya.

- The eight other steps next to
this new discovery discuss the

important events of their time,
so could these newly discovered

hieroglyphics provide new
information, or more insight

into the life and times of
the ancient Maya?

- To this day, the Maya still
inhabit the land of their ancestors.

Their culture is thought to have
originated thousands of years ago.

But the peak of ancient Maya
civilization began around the

3rd century CE and continued for
about another 700 years.

- Now, this was a long time ago, but
this civilization was sophisticated.

You can see that in the engineering
of their immense pyramids,

and their well-organized
agricultural practices, and

their social structure, their
sophisticated numbering

system, and a really strong
understanding of astronomy.

- Their territory was largely
concentrated in what is today

Guatemala, Belize and
southern Mexico.

We can still see the magnificent
remains of their cities in

places like Chichen Itza,
Calakmul and Tulum.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists curious
about what they might learn

from the newly discovered
hieroglyphs at Dos Pilas

begin the painstaking work of
excavating the stairs and

deciphering the symbols
inscribed on the stone.

There are 912 different signs on
the steps, one of the longest

Maya texts ever discovered.

- In general, Maya hieroglyphics
cover the dynastic history

and the accomplishments of their
rulers. Not surprisingly these

are often war, alliances forged,
victories won, religious

ceremonies, and important
familial events.

The same kind of things chronicled
by civilizations around the world.

NARRATOR: The newly discovered
stairs are separated into

three sections: east,
central and west.

- On the sixth step of the central
section, they're discussing a

certain ruler named
Balaj Chan K'awiil.

The Maya have a different calendar
from us, but the glyphs say

he was born on the corresponding
date of the 15th of October 625 CE!

- On the fourth and fifth steps,
it's written that he came to

the city of Dos Pilas at the age
of four and ascended to the

throne as its ruler at the
age of 11, in 636.

For the people of Dos Pilas, the 7th
century was defined by a long term

war with the city state of Tikal,
situated 73 miles to the west.

- Tikal was one of the largest Maya
urban centres and a major

power at the time.

At its peak, the city covered
approximately six square miles,

with an outlying population
totalling about 50,000.

- There's no question Tikal is
bigger than Dos Pilas, and

that it was definitely the more
powerful of the two cities.

NARRATOR: The next piece of
text deciphered by the

archaeologists leaves them stunned.

- It says that Dos Pilas was in fact
created by the city state of

Tikal in 629 CE in order to
function as a military outpost.

This means that, in a sense, Dos
Pilas was under the thumb of Tikal.

And it would definitely have to
take orders from its king.

So why would Dos Pilas have gone to
war with its ally and the

very power that created it?

- The rulers of the two warring
cities were actually brothers.

Balaj Chan K'awiil ruled Dos Pilas
and his older brother,

Nuun Ujol Chaak ruled Tikal.

Now, why they were
fighting, we have no idea.

But these new clues unearthed by the
hurricane might answer that riddle.

- Dos Pilas sits really close to the
middle section of one of the

only major rivers in the area, the
Rio de la Pasion, so it makes sense

that Tikal would want to establish a
military outpost there from which

they could control all trade between
the Maya highlands and the lowlands.

NARRATOR: On step 5 of the eastern
section of the staircase,

archaeologists interpret the glyphs
to say that when the ruler of

Dos Pilas was in his thirties,
Calakmul, the region's other

major power, attacked and defeated
Dos Pilas before it had gone

to war with Tikal.

- Until now, we never knew Calakmul
was involved in the fighting

with Dos Pilas, never mind
that it had attacked it.

We had assumed that the war
between Dos Pilas and Tikal was

limited to them only, but now it
appears another major power

was pulling the strings too.

- Because Tikal and Calakmul were
rivals, maybe Calakmul

attacked Dos Pilas in order to seize
control over the Rio de la Pasion.

Because if Tikal couldn't control
the trade, political and

economic clout would be
ceded to Calakmul.

NARRATOR: The deciphering of the
entire script on the steps

threatens to rewrite the
history books.

- After Dos Pilas was defeated by
Calakmul the leader of

Dos Pilas Balaj Chan K'awiil
is not killed.

Instead, he gets sent into exile
for five years and then he

returns as ruler of Dos Pilas.

But now as the ally of Calakmul
meaning, these two former

enemies are now allies.

- It's not too surprising that
Balaj Chan K'awiil

accepted this arrangement.

After all, he'd have been
sacrificed to the gods.

But what it did was pit him
against his brother!

So before we assumed that the
rivalry and wars between the

brothers weren't caused by anything
external, but we now know

that it was actually because
Dos Pilas had become a pawn in a

greater geopolitical game.

- This will rewrite the history
books because what we thought

we knew was that Tikal and Calakmul
were two regional Maya powers

that weren't directly rivalling each
other for superpower supremacy.

But in fact, they were!

This new information could help us
understand why ancient Maya

civilization collapsed!

NARRATOR: It's widely believed that
it wasn't just one factor

that led to the demise of
the ancient Maya.

A perfect storm of events,
which included environmental

factors, crop failure and wars,
all led to the eventual

dysfunction and downfall of
the civilization.

- What we thought was that the Maya
city states descended into

warfare, where local or regional
rivals fought each other,

causing a chain reaction of
chaos, leading to collapse.

But what these newfound
hieroglyphics indicate is

that there was competition between
major powers, and that the

little city states were simply
pieces on a chessboard.

- And what a chess move it turned
out to be by Calakmul.

With Dos Pilas on their side,
they went to war against Tikal.

Step 3 on the west section of the
stairway proclaims the

victory of Calakmul and
Dos Pilas over Tikal.

- And because we don't see
Balaj Chan K'awiil's brothers name

mentioned anymore in any texts or
glyphs from this point on,

it is assumed that he met his end,
likely sacrificed to the gods.

He would have been one of many
though - the glyphs on the

stairway read 'blood flowed and the
skulls of the peoples of the

Tikal place were piled up'.

- The glyph doesn't reference the
ruler of Tikal at all by name

and only speaks about the victims
as being from 'the Tikal place'.

One likely interpretation
is that they massacred the

people of the city along with
the entire ruling class.

That would have been a strong way
of ensuring that

Balaj Chan K'awiil was the
uncontested ruler of Tikal.

NARRATOR: But that isn't
the end of the story.

Despite having been
defeated, Tikal rose again.

Within a little over a hundred
years, it had re-built its

forces back up and went to war
against Calakmul, resulting

in a resounding victory.

- It would appear that there was no
true, decisive winner in the

conflict between Calakmul and Tikal.

These tit for tat campaigns
eventually weakened both of

them, meaning that they couldn't
control their allies.

This led to a greater fracturing of
ancient Maya society into

more regional powers, who fought
each other until they were no

longer able.

- We don't know exactly what
happened to it or when.

But there are some glyphs on a
stairway in Tamarindito,

a Maya ruin nearby,

that say Dos Pilas was never heard
from after 761.

- This timeline more or less
coincides with the fact that

in the early 9th century, many Maya
cities and towns along the

Rio de la Pasion were abandoned.

But thanks to these glyphs, we know
that it wasn't a result of petty

warfare between small cities, but
rather, the result of a major war

involving two of their most powerful
city states going toe to toe.

NARRATOR: Maya populations residing
in this region eventually

migrated to the northeast and
established themselves in a

place called Cancuen.

Any desired stability didn't last
long, and within about a

hundred years, the final drop of
chaos caused the glass to

spill over, and ancient Maya
civilization came to an end.

On the west coast of the
largest island of the Orkney

archipelago, lies a beautiful,
sandy beach presiding over the

pristine waters of the
Bay of Skaill.

- This Scottish island is relatively
far north and you can tell by

where it's located that living here
would require serious resilience.

The next stop west of here is
Canada,

so the entire North Atlantic

just dumps its tremendous energy
onto this part of the island chain.

For this reason, disastrous erosion
is a pretty significant problem.

NARRATOR: In January of 2021,
horrible winter weather

contributed to a large amount of
erosion along the shoreline,

resulting in its partial collapse.

Shortly after, a beachgoer was out
for a leisurely stroll when

he discovered some curious items at
the north end of the bay.

- There are what looks like
teeth lying in the ground.

They actually kind of look like
house shingles, but they're

quite short, broad and
relatively bulky,

- They're obviously too small to be
house shingles and they're

too square to be some sort of
mollusc. What are these things?

NARRATOR: Closer inspection reveals
a boomerang shaped, leathery

looking piece of material.

The large amount of erosion had
dragged it out of the earth

and deposited it on the beach.

- This house shingle shape indicates
that it's the tooth of a bovine

animal, and based on that shape and
its size, probably came from a cow.

So that boomerang shaped piece is
likely a cow mandible or lower jaw.

- Emerging from the eroded shoreline
is also stone piled on stone,

although it's been pretty damaged,

it must be an ancient wall. Are we
looking at some kind of old pasture?

NARRATOR: As the beachgoer
continues to explore the immediate

vicinity of where the wall and
jawbone were found, he spots

a peculiar stone emerging from
the eroding shoreline.

- The stone is pretty big, 34 in
long and 21 in thick. So it's heavy.

It's hard to see at first, but there
are faint lines running in

seemingly random directions all
over the stone's surface.

- These markings are definitely made
by human hands, there is no

doubt about it.

It actually reminds me of some
ancient art that was

discovered about six miles away
at the Ness of Brodgar.

NARRATOR: The stones from the Ness
of Brodgar date back to the

Neolithic period, which was from
around 7000 to 1700 BCE.

Neolithic is another term for the
Stone Age - a time that saw

the domestication of animals as well
as the adaptation and use of

more and more sophisticated
stone tools.

- But the markings on the stone
found here at the Bay of Skaill,

are nowhere near as precise as the
ones from the Ness of Brodgar.

They're way shallower; they don't
look like they were made

with intent.

Maybe this is the result of a
blade striking a stone, when

somebody is using it as a butcher's
block or something like that

- Maybe, but when you look closely
in good light, you can make

out a pair of triangles and two
rectangular bands running

across the stone.

So someone actually appears to have
decorated it.

But what is it and could it be
related to the cow's jaw?

NARRATOR: At the southern end
of the Bay of Skaill lies

Skara Brae, an ancient Neolithic
village dated to 3100 BCE.

A vast amount of artwork has
been found here.

- Skara Brae is a gem.
Kind of a funny way to refer to a

Stone Age village, but it really is.

It's considered the best preserved
Neolithic village in all of

Western Europe. Since its discovery
in 1850, it has provided a

treasure trove of artifacts
and information.

- The site consists of nine houses
all built of flat stone slabs

that are linked by covered
passageways.

Each house measures about 400 sq
feet and consists of one

single room.

What's also interesting is that some
of the artifacts found at the

Bay of Skaill also have geometric
patterns similar to those

found at Skara Brae.

So could the two locations
be related?

NARRATOR: The village of Skara Brae
was also discovered as a

result of a powerful storm that
tore at the coast foundations,

revealing the cultural remains of
Scotland's Neolithic past.

- The artifacts and organic remains
here have been dated to a

period ranging from around
3200 to about 2200 BCE.

Which means people lived here
continuously for at least

1000 years!

- It's actually older than
Stonehenge and the

Great Pyramid of Giza, both of
which were built at roughly the

same time in the middle
of the 2000s BCE.

- Boar tusks were also
found at Skara Brae.

And one year prior to the discovery
of the carved stone at the

Bay of Skaill, a boar tusk was
found in the same place.

- It could be that this discovery
site is covering up more than

meets the eye.

If what was found at Skara Brae is
anything to go by, it could

be another archaeological
treasure chest!

NARRATOR: Skara Brae was a
well-built and planned

settlement, with a sewage system
leading out from individual homes.

There were also stone beds of
varying sizes.

The graves of two women were even
discovered beneath one of them.

- The graves appear to have been
there prior to the construction

of the house, so it's possible that
this was some sort of foundation

ritual, but for what specific
purpose we can't really say.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists also found
very intricate pottery,

flat based and decorated with
grooves, incisions and impressions.

- It's thought that this form of
pottery is indigenous to

Orkney, but what's even more
interesting here is that the

pottery is ornamented with similar
shapes and geometric patterns that

we see on the stone discovered at
the north end of the Bay of Skaill.

- If you consider the fact that
the remains of a wall have

emerged from the earth just a
little farther north from

Skara Brae, it's completely
plausible that a settlement

could have existed here,
too, at some point.

- So chances are that these two
sites were contemporaneous to

each other.

Not only would they have existed
around the same time, but the

villages probably even
looked the same.

NARRATOR: Seeds of barley and wheat
grain have also been found on

the grounds of Skara Brae,
indicating that agricultural

activity was taking place.

- So even though this was the
Stone Age, people here were pretty

sophisticated.

Despite living in an unforgiving
part of the world, it seems

they had taken the leap into
agriculture and were no

longer surviving solely on
hunting and gathering.

NARRATOR: A reddish, hard and heavy
mineral has also been found

at Skara Brae, a material not
available anywhere else on

Mainland, the island where
Skara Brae is located.

- Its brownish reddish colour
actually gives it away,

this is haematite, and back in the
day it was used for making fire

and for polishing leather.

- To find it you have to go all the
way to the island of Hoy,

directly south of Mainland.

The discovery of haematite means
that there were local trading

networks operating across the area,
networks that the communities

at the Bay of Skaill and Skara Brae
would have been part of.

- So this little village by the Bay
of Skaill was doing

very nicely for itself, for a long
time, roughly 1000 years.

Which really makes you wonder,
if they could sustain themselves

that well for that long, why was
this place ever abandoned?

NARRATOR: At Skara Brae
archaeologists have also

found ornate jewellery made
of bone and ivory.

- In this case it helps to look at
what is here vs what isn't.

If you plan to leave a place, then
you pack and bring the tools

and valuables that you need to live
and that are important to you.

The fact that there was jewellery
left at the site could mean that

the occupants left this
place in a hurry.

- That's true, but they may just be
offerings left in a form of

closing ceremony.

Meaning that when they decided to
abandon Skara Brae and the

other site, they left objects of
value intentionally.

- Whether it's intentional or not,
it's possible that some

sudden or long drawn out disaster
caused the abandonment.

This part of Orkney is
vulnerable to massive storms

that cause an enormous
build up of sand.

This would have rendered the area
uninhabitable, because it

would have destroyed their crops.

- It's also possible that some
cultural transformation

caused people to leave and seek
opportunities elsewhere.

The fact of the matter is we don't
really know and we have

really no way of knowing
at this point.

The only thing that is certain is
that people did live here for

an impressive length of time.

NARRATOR: With the constant erosion
and storms that are wearing

away the Orkney's coastline, it's
perhaps only a matter of time

before more of its Stone Age
secrets spill out into the open,

giving us insight into
Scotland's Neolithic history.

Maybe one day we will be able to
answer the question as to

whether it was a terrible disaster
or some other cultural shift

that brought this
settlement to an end.

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