Original subtitles

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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