All language subtitles for Secrets.in.the.Sand.S02E05.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

[narrator]
In Chile's Atacama Desert,

researchers uncover
a grisly scene.

[Anthea]
The man's skull
showed evidence

of blunt-force trauma.

Is it possible he was
the victim of a brutal attack.

In Luxor, Egypt,

a team of archaeologists
discover ancient ruins.

[Anthony]
As the excavation continued,

it became increasingly obvious

that this wasn't
just a settlement,

it was an entire city.

So what was this place,
and who built it?

In China's Taklamakan Desert,

explorers come across
an extraordinary sight.

[Alison]
They began finding vast areas

filled with carved
wooden vessels

that looked a lot like
modern-day canoes.

It wasn't until they looked
more closely that they realized

these vessels weren't empty.

They were coffins.

Ancient lost cities.

Forgotten treasures.

Mysterious structures.

As new technology
uncovers remarkable tales

hidden beneath
the deserts of the world,

the secrets in the sand
will finally be revealed.

The arid Atacama Desert

lines the coasts
of northwestern Chile,

stretching north to south
for over 600 miles.

It's the driest non-polar
desert in the world.

The average rainfall is less
than one inch per year,

and except
for a few small springs,

there are no complete
bodies of water

from the lower
river in the north,

to the town
of Chañaral in the south,

a distance
of over 300 miles.

[Dan]
The dry conditions of the desert

are exacerbated
by a long history

of geological disasters.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods,

making this Pacific coastal area

one of the harshest
environments on Earth.

But despite the brutal
climate and conditions,

there's evidence of human
settlement in the area

going back as far
as 12,000 years.

They were mostly
hunter-gatherers

who managed
to adapt and survive

on the rich marine life
the ocean provided,

such as fish, mollusks, birds,

and whatever mammals
they were able to catch.

Over the millennia,

they developed tools
to help the cause,

such as fish hooks
and harpoons made from shells.

A team of researchers

funded by the Chilean
government

is surveying a section
of northwestern coastal Chile

when they make
a startling discovery.

[Alison]
It was a burial site

with a grave
containing four skeletons

from roughly 3000 BCE,

dating to the Stone Age.

The desert conditions had kept
the remains well-preserved,

so it was possible to identify
them as two adult males,

one adult female,
and one child.

[Dan]
One of the adult male skeletons

was almost completely intact,

but it was positioned weirdly.

Both arms were pointing outwards

in different directions,

and one leg was extended away

from the rest of the body.

[Anthea]
But it was the man's skull
that really piqued curiosity

and offered a potential clue
as to the cause of death.

The back of his skull showed
evidence of blunt-force trauma.

Is it possible he was
the victim of a brutal attack?

And if so,
then who was the aggressor?

The Atacama Desert is filled

with the remains of those

who have suffered
a violent death.

By roughly 1000 BCE,

a form of desert farming

had emerged in northern Chile

that frequently
led to bloodshed.

There's evidence of farmers
coming to severe blows

with gruesome results,

likely because
the different communities

were all competing
for the same limited resources

of water and fertile land.

[Alison]
In one section of the Atacama,

the graves of 194 farmers

who lived roughly
3,000 years ago,

were excavated and examined

for markers
of interpersonal violence.

Many of the skeletons
had snapped ribs,

broken collarbones,

multiple facial fractures,

and, more telling,
puncture wounds

in the groin, lung, and spine.

[Dan]
The sheer brutality
of these deaths

is an accurate reflection

of the kinds of conflicts
we see around the world

whenever a society shifts

from hunter-gatherer
to agrarian.

With that shift
comes ownership of the land.

You get these classes,

you get wealth and disparity,

you have haves and have-nots.

You combine those social factors

with that environment,

with severe food
and water scarcity,

and you've got a tinderbox

for deadly confrontation.

[Anthea]
So it's certainly possible

that the traumatic injury found

on the adult male's skull
in the Atacama

was the result
of interpersonal violence

or a larger-scale conflict
with a rival group.

It's not uncommon
to find evidence

of such events in the region.

A team of scientists studying
ancient Peruvian cultures

were surveying a section
of the Atico River Valley

when they came upon
an undiscovered burial site.

The grave held 24 people,

men, women, and children.

Analysis of the remains

found a number
of physical injuries

to those bodies,

any of which
could have resulted in death.

[Anthea]
But the skeletons
weren't alone in the grave.

They were buried along
with elaborate grave goods,

such as ceramics, bones,

stone, and textiles,

dating to the early
formative period

between 1800 and 1000 BCE.

This meant that the bodies
had been buried

to a ritualistic standard

and with a significant amount
of care and attention.

[Teddy]
The combination
of gruesome deaths

followed by careful burials

suggests their group
was victorious

in some kind of conflict.

A win for their community
would mean the victors

could bury their dead
according to their traditions.

Is that what happened
to the people discovered

in the Atacama?

But here's the thing.

Of the four individuals found
at the Atacama site,

one of the skeletons
exhibited injuries

associated with trauma.

And there were
no grave goods found.

So it's unlikely that these
people all died in a conflict

and were given a heroic burial.

An examination of the entire
adult male skeleton

reveals another potentially
violent cause of death.

[Teddy] A closer look
at the blunt-force trauma
inflicted on the skull

confirmed that whatever
struck him,

did not kill him.

The wound had partially
healed after the blow.

That doesn't rule out
the possibility

of an interpersonal attack,

which he may have survived,

but there are
additional injuries

to his body that point
in another direction.

[Alison]
The man has a broken rib cage

and is missing
his cervical vertebrae

and both shoulder joints.

So he definitely suffered
some kind of full-body trauma,

whether or not it killed him.

But if it wasn't
the result of violence,

is it possible he was the victim
of a natural disaster?

Chile is one
of the most seismically

active places on Earth.

[Dan]
In May of 1960,

the country suffered
the most powerful earthquake

in recorded history,

registering somewhere between
a magnitude 9.4 and 9.6.

The Valdivia earthquake shook
southern Chile for 10 minutes,

killing over 1,600 people.

It also triggered a series
of deadly tsunamis

that devastated
several Pacific islands,

including Hawaii.

[Anthea]
And it's not just
a modern phenomenon.

The geological record
of coastal Chile

contains evidence
of powerful tsunamis

going back
as far as 5,000 years.

So there's proof
that natural disasters

were as much a threat
to human life in prehistory

as they are today.

[Teddy]
The Chilean coastline
was also a casualty

of repeated deadly storms,

thanks to naturally
occurring phenomena

called El Niño and La Niña.

They're the opposing extreme
warm and cold weather patterns

that have a direct impact

on the surface waters
of the Pacific

and can result in flooding,

wildfires, and vicious storms.

It's a pattern
that has struck Chile

every two to seven years.

[Alison]
The fact that
the Atacama burial site

contains several bodies,

certainly supports
the possibility

of a natural disaster.

Multiple burials have often
been used in South America

to reconcile the sheer
number of dead

after a single event
casualty like an earthquake.

Samples from
all four skeletons

are taken
for comparison and diagnosis

by a joint team of Chilean
and British researchers,

which leads to a breakthrough.

Samples from
all four skeletons

are taken
for comparison and diagnosis

by a joint team of Chilean
and British researchers,

which leads to a breakthrough.

The bone marrow
of the individual

with the skull injury

was filled
with the preserved remains

of ocean life,

including tiny algae
called diatoms.

The diatom test is used
by forensic teams to determine

if an individual
has died from drowning.

When someone drowns,

inhaled water filled
with microscopic algae

can enter the bloodstream
and travel throughout the body.

So even after
the lungs collapse,

it can be transported
into closed systems

such as bone marrow.

[Teddy]
The fact that this one
individual had diatom traces

of marine life
in his bone marrow

confirmed he had indeed
died from drowning.

Even more telling,

the other three skeletons'
bone marrow

showed no traces of diatoms,

so death by drowning
was ruled out for them.

[Alison]
It was also determined

that he met his fate
in shallow salt water.

He had swallowed
a significant amount of sediment

in his final moments.

And sediment tends not
to float in high concentrations

in deeper waters.

So the picture that emerged

was that of
an accidental drowning,

as opposed
to a natural disaster.

Further examination
of the man's skeleton

provides another clue.

[Anthea]
The wear-and-tear
on his bones,

including marks
on his arms and legs,

where the muscles
had once attached,

showed the hallmarks
of a repetitive activity

akin to a fisherman's tasks,

like rowing, harpooning,

and even squatting to retrieve
a harvest of shellfish.

[Teddy]
Based on this, it was believed

the individual died
from accidentally drowning

in turbulent coastal waters
while on a fishing venture.

The trauma
to his rib cage and vertebrae

may have been caused
by being thrown against
the rocks along the shore.

And as for the mass grave,

there are a number
of potential explanations,

including the possibility
that the man was simply buried

along with other deceased
family members.

The Stone Age Fisherman

is just one of
Chile's many hidden stories

brought to life
through a combination

of modern forensics

and good-old-fashioned
deductive reasoning.

With the mystery now solved,

we have a greater
understanding and appreciation

of the dangers
of prehistoric marine life.

The city of Luxor stands

on the east bank
of the River Nile,

surrounded by some
of the most famous

archaeological sites
in the world.

The region around Luxor
could be considered

the world's greatest
open-air museum.

The modern city is exactly
where the ancient

Egyptian capital city
of Thebes once stood.

Thebes was huge,

spanning about 36 square miles.

By 1500 BCE,

around 75,000 people
lived here,

making it the biggest city
in the world at the time.

Thebes was split
into two halves,

a city for the living
and a city for the dead.

The main part of the city

lay along the east bank
of the river,

where administrative
buildings, homes, and markets

were all built in clusters
around huge temples.

The Theban necropolis
lay on the west bank,

where royal tombs
and mortuary complexes

covered more
than three square miles.

The Theban Necropolis

is home to both
the Valley of Kings

and the Valley of Queens.

This is where some
of the most famous

archaeological discoveries of
all time have been made.

One of these was in 1922,

when Howard Carter and his team

uncovered the tomb
of Tutankhamun,

filled with extraordinary
solid-gold grave offerings.

A team of archaeologists

searching an area near
the Valley of the Kings

stumble upon
an unexpected discovery.

The team had hoped to find
an ancient mortuary complex

dedicated to Tutankhamun,

where his subjects would
have placed funerary offerings

when he died.

But instead,
they began to uncover

layers and layers of mud bricks.

It wasn't long before
they realized they were walls,

spreading out in all directions.

[Amma]
These walls were
incredibly well-preserved,

sometimes standing
up to nine feet high.

Behind them, they discovered
various other structures

filled with objects
of daily life.

There were homes,

what looked
like administrative buildings,

and even a large bakery.

[Anthony]
As the excavation continued,

it became increasingly obvious

that this wasn't
just a settlement.

It was an entire city.

So what was this place,

and who built it?

The lost city stands beside
another set of ancient ruins,

which may offer clues
about its construction.

This adjacent site is huge,

spanning around 30,000 acres.

More than 3,000 years ago,

an enormous
royal residence stood here,

built by the pharaoh
Amenhotep III

as a show of royal
and economic strength.

It was known
as the Palace of Joy

and included huge living
quarters for the elite,

as well as a temple
dedicated to the god Amun,

and even a massive
artificial harbor.

[Teddy]
When Amenhotep III took
the throne around 1386 BCE,

his empire stretched
from the Euphrates to the Sudan

and enjoyed lucrative
trade relations

with Asia and other territories
in the Middle East.

As a result, he commissioned
colossal building works

in and around Thebes,

including the palace
and his own tomb complex,

parts of which
still stand to this day.

So, could the lost city
be one of Amenhotep's

massive construction projects?

Historical records
from ancient Egypt

tell of a city
called Dazzling Aten,

named after
the Egyptian sun god,

and founded during
Amenhotep III's reign.

Archaeologists had searched
for this place for years

without any luck.

Maybe this legendary lost city
has finally been found.

[Anthony]
Many of Amenhotep III's
construction projects

were stamped
with his royal seal.

And we see this same seal
on many of the bricks

used to build the curving walls
of the lost city.

They also found
colorful pottery, jewelry,

scarab amulets,
and other artifacts

all marked in honor
of Amenhotep III.

Given all of this,

we can assume that
this lost city is in fact Aten,

finally uncovered after years
of fruitless searching.

As excavations
continue at the Aten site,

one object in particular
stands out to the team.

[Teddy]
Inside one
of the ancient buildings,

they found a vessel

filled with 22 pounds
of boiled meat

preserved
for thousands of years.

The clay was
stamped with the year 37,

which is roughly 1353 BCE.

This is right around the time

Amenhotep III passed on
the throne to his son,

Amenhotep IV.

[Anthony]
We know the two ruled together

as father and son
for a short time,

because several
structures inside Aten

show both of their names.

But then things
suddenly changed.

[Amma]
Many of the homes and workshops

look as though they were
sealed up and left in a hurry.

This suggests that Amenhotep IV

left Thebes after taking power,

taking many
of the residents with him.

But why would
a young pharaoh leave a city

that had stood
as the ancient Egyptian capital

for 150 years?

Clues to the pharaoh's
sudden disappearance

lie in another
archaeological site,

over 150 miles north of Aten.

Here on the outskirts
of a large desert bay,

archaeologists have
long studied intriguing
hieroglyphics

carved into the surrounding
limestone cliffs.

European travelers
first noticed these carvings

in the early 1700s,

but it took over 100 years

before they were
finally translated.

When we were able
to read them, it became clear

that they were boundary stelae,

monuments built
by the ancient Egyptians

to mark the edges
of towns and cities.

There are 16
boundary stelae here,

with the largest
measuring over 25 feet high.

They tell the story of a pharaoh
on an unusual mission,

to build a city dedicated
to one god only, Aten.

According to the stelae,

this city once held temples,

mansions, and tomb complexes

all dedicated to Aten.

who is most often
depicted as a solar disk.

[Anthony]
The dates on the stele line up
with Amenhotep IV's reign,

but his name
is nowhere to be seen.

Instead, they address
the pharaoh as Akhenaten.

Could there have been
two rulers overseeing Egypt

at the same time?

The answer lies in the beliefs

of a surprisingly radical
and progressive ruler.

[Alison]
Amenhotep IV was
a cultural revolutionary.

During his reign, he developed

an entirely new
artistic movement,

where the stiff,
two-dimensional silhouettes

we commonly associate
with ancient Egypt

gave way to more
naturalistic portraits

with elongated features.

But his main concern
was with religion.

[Teddy]
For over 3,000 years,

ancient Egyptian rulers
and their subjects

worshipped
a whole pantheon of gods.

They had over 2,000 deities.

Amenhotep IV decided
he wanted to do away with

all but one of these gods,

the solar disk, Aten.

[Amma]
He was so devoted
that he even changed his name

from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten,

which roughly translates
to "In Service of Aten."

Part of his mission
to revolutionize

ancient Egyptian religion

meant discarding
his father's legacy

and moving the capital city
away from Thebes

to a new city,

and he succeeded.

[Anthony]
The new city marked
by the boundary stelae

was named Akhetaten,
or Horizon of Aten,

and was built around two huge
temples dedicated to Aten,

as well as
the king's royal residences.

The names of all other deities
were erased from temple walls,

and household altars
were built for residents

that showed the royal family
worshiping Aten.

It would have
taken a lot of effort

to actually change
deeply held Egyptian beliefs

this radically.

So the crucial question is,

did it work?

Despite the pharaoh's
best efforts,

a series
of archaeological discoveries

point to a growing
sense of dissatisfaction

among his people.

Akhenaten's father
was a master of diplomacy,

but his son was anything but.

In 1887,

a local woman discovered
a cache of 300 clay tablets

engraved with cuneiform writing.

Analysis found that
these were actually letters

written during Akhenaten's rule

and exchanged
between Egypt's royal court

and the neighboring states.

These are filled
with complaints about Akhenaten,

from foreign rulers complaining
about the quality of his gifts

to his lax attitude
towards his military.

Even Akhenaten's own subjects
pushed back against him.

Members of the religious elite
were incredibly upset

with the erasure
of many of their gods,

and ordinary citizens
secretly defied the orders

to worship just one god.

One especially
shocking discovery

brings Akhenaten's unpopularity
into even sharper focus.

[Alison]
Akhenaten had left specific
instructions for his burial

in a set of royal tombs
carved into the rock,

surrounding Akhetaten.

The walls were decorated

with reliefs of his family
worshipping Aten,

rewriting typical
Egyptian funeral rituals.

The tombs were forgotten
for thousands of years,

but when archaeologists
finally began excavating,

they found
that the illustrations

had been defaced

and the pharaoh's sarcophagus

had been smashed.

To this day, we can't be sure
who was responsible

for the destruction
of Akhenaten's tomb,

but there is a suspect.

Akhenaten's son
was none other than Tutankhamun,

who inherited the throne
at only nine years old.

Throughout his 10-year reign,
he went to extreme lengths,

to cut his father out
of Egyptian history.

He relocated the capital
back to Thebes

and reinstated the old gods.

[Amma]
Tutankhamun's efforts
were incredibly successful,

and only when the ruins
of Akhenaten were discovered

did we learn the true extent
of his father's troubled legacy.

While we don't know for sure,

it seems that smashing
Akhenaten's tomb

was part of this erasure.

To this day,
the whereabouts of his mummy

are still unknown.

The lost city of Aten

and the ruins of Akhenaten

stand as powerful
time capsules,

allowing archaeologists
to reconstruct

the tumultuous power dynamics
between three generations

of infamous ancient
Egyptian kings.

In the southern part

of the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region

lies a vast depression

known as the Tarim Basin.

The Tarim Basin

is one of the most
landlocked places in the world.

It's almost as far
from the ocean as you can get

anywhere on Earth.

And right in the center
of that basin

lies the Taklamakan Desert,

which stretches
130,000 square miles.

That is bigger than
the entire state of New Mexico.

Huge mountain ranges

block almost all rain
from the desert,

making it one of the driest
places in the country.

In the central region,

an average of only
ten millimeters of rain

falls each year.

European explorers
making their way through
the unforgiving Taklamakan

come across
an extraordinary sight.

[Alison]
They began finding vast areas

filled with carved
wooden vessels

that looked a lot
like modern-day canoes,

the last thing you'd expect
to find in the desert.

Stranger still,

the vessels were
often accompanied

by what looked like oars,
stuck into the earth

so they pointed
straight up to the sky.

It wasn't until
they looked more closely

that they realized
these vessels weren't empty.

They were coffins.

[Anthony]
These sites are actually
massive graveyards,

some containing
hundreds of bodies.

The burials span
over 2,000 years,

with the earliest dating
back to 2100 BCE.

The bodies are
incredibly well-preserved,

so much so
that some mummies were found

with their eyelashes
still intact.

Unlike a lot of other cultures

that mummified
their dead on purpose,

using elaborate rituals
and chemicals,

and all this other stuff,

the mummies here

are just a byproduct
of the environment.

It's so dry in the desert

that, basically, it just stops
the decomposition process

leaving behind
these extraordinary

mummified remains.

[Anthea]
One thing that really stuck out

was that many of the mummies

seemed to have had
blonde or red hair,

blue eyes, and stood
well over six feet tall.

Because these features
are typically found

in populations farther west,

debate immediately sparked

about where these
people came from.

Could they have traveled here?

If they had,

where did they come from?

Intriguing objects

buried alongside
the Taklamakan mummies

provide glimpses
into their lives.

The mummies were buried
with numerous grave offerings,

including grains
such as wheat,

barley, and millet.

Also found were the bones
and horns of herd animals

like cows, sheep, and goats.

Some people were even buried
with pieces of cheese

hung around their necks.

We can't be exactly sure

why these grave goods
were left behind.

It could be that they were
offerings to some sort of deity

or that they might accompany
the dead into the afterlife.

Based on the animal remains,

these were probably
successful farmers,

raising flocks
of various animals

they could use
for food and for hides.

In fact, many of the coffins

have animal skins
stretched over them,

possibly to protect the body.

The evidence of livestock
leads experts to wonder

whether the Tarim Basin mummies

may have descended
from ancient nomads.

The Yamnaya people were
an incredibly powerful culture

that mastered animal husbandry
roughly 5,000 years ago.

Over time, they began
migrating east en masse,

sweeping across Europe

and interbreeding
with various other cultures.

In the span of a few centuries,

they made up about half
of the genetic makeup

of Central Europeans.

[Dan]
There were also
the Afanasievo people

who farmed herds
of cattle and sheep and horses

in the Altai Mountains,
and eventually

spread all the way
across Siberia and Mongolia.

They're sometimes considered

an eastern offshoot
of the Yamnaya.

Could another wave of migration

have taken them farther south
into the Tarim Basin?

That scenario seems unlikely

when you look
at funerary practices.

The Yamnaya would typically
inter their dead in pits

that were then covered
by wooden planks

and earthen mounds
called kurgans.

The Afanasievo rituals
also involved

building these
impressive kurgans

on top of the deceased.

These would then be surrounded

by a ring or a square of stones.

There's no evidence to suggest

that the Yamnaya or Afanasievo

ever interred their dead
in boat-shaped coffins,

so it's not likely
that the Tarim Basin mummies

belonged to either culture.

In the search for information
about the mysterious burials,

experts turn to
one of the mummies' most
surprising features,

their clothing.

Thanks to the incredible
preservation,

we can even see how well-dressed

some of these mummies are.

One example of that
that stands out

is the man from Hami.

He was found with a spectacular
collection of hats.

[Anthea]
The man from Hami isn't
the only Tarim Basin mummy

famous for headwear.

In the lost city of Subeshi,

a group of women
were discovered,

all buried wearing
tall, pointed black hats.

Today, they're known
as the Witches of Subeshi.

The textiles from both
of these sites

reveal potential clues

about where these people
may have come from.

Among the fabrics recovered

from the burial
of the man from Hami

were plaids that were made
using a diagonal twill weave.

These fabrics match those found
in Celtic sites around Europe,

dating from approximately
the same period.

[Alison]
The hats found
with the Witches of Subeshi

also echo European fashions,

like the tall-pointed hats
called hennins.

These similarities
beg the question,

how could these trends
have reached the Tarim Basin?

Did Europeans migrate here?

Are the mummies
of European descent?

The answers may lie in one

the world's most
famous trade routes.

[Dan]
People often talk
about the Silk Road

as though it's this one highway

that used to be there,
but it wasn't one road.

It was a vast network of routes
that stretched over 4,000 miles,

and it linked
the powerful civilizations

of Rome and China.

It emerged about 130 BCE,

and for over 1,500 years,

traders used it
to carry silk to the west

while textiles
and precious metals

went to the east.

[Anthea]
The Silk Road cut
through some of the most

imposing landscapes
in the world,

including the Gobi Desert,

the Pamir Mountains,

and, crucially, the Tarim Basin.

Could the Silk Road
be connected to the mummies?

A team of international
researchers comes together,

determined to devise a study

that could reveal
where the mummies came from.

Using tooth and bone samples
from 13 of the Tarim mummies,

they set out to conduct
a thorough genomic analysis,

the first such analysis

of any prehistoric
population in the region.

Genomic studies

look at a person's
entire genetic makeup

rather than individual genes.

These data are then compared
to those from other populations

to understand
how any given sample

fits into the grand scheme
of human history.

The samples taken
from the mummies

were compared
to several sets of ancient DNA,

as well as
to modern populations.

And contrary
to earlier theories,

the genomic study proved

that these people
did not migrate

to the basin
from Russia or Europe.

They were,
without a doubt, local.

[Dan]
Not only were they local
to the Tarim Basin,

the mummies
had links to the land

going back nearly
200 generations.

And the study also found

that these people
were extremely inbred.

Mummies found in cemeteries
almost 250 miles apart

shared DNA as closely
as siblings would.

[Anthea]
Given their location,
it's very possible

that these people
came into contact

with merchants
traveling along the Silk Road,

which meant access to goods

from all over Europe and Asia.

And this would explain
the textiles found

in some of the graves.

And despite not intermarrying
with these travelers,

it seems as though
the Tarim people

were welcome to their ideas

and maybe even
their fashion trends.

The Tarim Basin culture
was a population

that was genetically isolated,

yet still open
to outside influences.

They stand as an extraordinary
example of a people

who seemingly
welcomed cultural exchange

while maintaining
their own unique traditions.

Built atop of series of hills,

the city of Jerusalem stands

between the arid mountains
of Jordan to the east

and the coastal plains

of the Mediterranean
to the west.

During spring and fall,

the city is beset
by a particularly strong wind,

known as the khamsin.

[Anthea]
The khamsin is a hot,
sand-filled windstorm

that usually blows
in from the southeast.

It can reach temperatures
of up to 104 degrees

and blow continuously
for up to four days.

It gets its name
from the Arabic word for 50,

because the winds tend to come

within the same
50-day period each year.

[Amma]
Jerusalem is considered

one of the oldest continuously
inhabited cities in the world.

Around 5,000 years ago,

the first Canaanite settlements
appeared in the area

before it was conquered
and renamed the City of David.

In the early 16th century,

the Ottomans constructed
what we now call the Old City,

a walled enclave
built just north

of the original City of David.

Over time, modern Jerusalem

expanded around
these two ancient centers,

blending thousands of years
of history

into the city we know today.

In the district of Silwan,

among the ruins
of the City of David,

a group of archaeologists

makes a surprising discovery.

[Teddy]
They were working at a site
known as the Givati Parking Lot,

the most extensive
archaeological dig

in all of Jerusalem,

and were hoping to find
the oldest remnants

of the City of David

when they came across
a totally unexpected structure.

[Amma]
There, carved right
into the bedrock,

was an enormous trench.

The cut section was massive,

between 20 and 30 feet deep,

and around 115 feet wide.

The neat, steep sides and even
dimensions made it clear

that this depression
was no natural feature.

It was dug by hand.

But just what was this enormous
cut in the bedrock?

This mysterious trench

isn't the only enormous
structure

dug into the bedrock
beneath Jerusalem.

Along the southern slope
of the City of David

lies an ancient reservoir

known today
as the Pool of Siloam.

[Anthea]
During the Bronze
and Iron Ages,

the City of David was
the core of ancient Jerusalem.

It was built on a narrow,
elongated plateau

leading down
to the Kidron Valley.

For thousands of years,

the residents
depended on this valley,

because it was home
to the Gihon Spring,

the city's primary
water source.

[Teddy]
Around 3,000 years ago,

the city was ruled
by King Hezekiah,

who oversaw a time
of immense political turmoil.

He took part in a series
of revolts in Palestine

that gained support in Egypt
and threatened the rule

of the Assyrian king,
Sennacherib.

He knew the Assyrians
would be out for revenge

and that fortifying
the city would be crucial

in repelling their attacks.

[Amma]
The Gihon Spring
just outside the city walls

was especially important
from a tactical point of view.

If an army did invade,

the water supply
from the stream

would be key to supporting
the attacking soldiers.

To cut off the water supply
from the Assyrians,

Hezekiah cut a tunnel

through nearly 2,000 feet
of bedrock

to redirect water
from the spring

into a large reservoir
behind the city walls

called the Pool of Siloam.

[Anthony]
The original Pool of Siloam
was roughly 53 feet long,

but over the years,
it was expanded to 225 feet.

Could the trench found
in the ruins nearby

have been a part
of this enormous water feature?

Or could it have acted
as another reservoir,

keeping water flowing
to the city's population

even if it came under siege?

A reexamination
of previous digs in the area

leads to a breakthrough.

[Teddy]
It turns out
this latest discovery

was part of a larger pattern.

In the 1960s,
a British archaeologist

working to the east of
the Givati Parking Lot

discovered a similar ditch
carved into the earth.

Several decades later,
in the early 2000s,

a different team
working farther north

discovered yet another area
that had been sliced through.

[Amma]
When we piece these
discoveries together,

it suddenly becomes clear

that this isn't
a series of trenches.

What we're looking at
are different sections

of a single enormous moat.

Based on the existing evidence,
it seems likely

that it once extended
the entire width of the ridge

of the City of David.

Moats have
historically been built

as a defense mechanism.

Could this be
the case here too?

90 miles north of Jerusalem

lies the Tel Hazor
archaeological site,

where a similar structure
provides a possible clue.

During the Bronze Age
and into the Iron Age,

Hazor was one of the largest

and most prosperous
cities in the region.

The city was located on
a crucial trade route

connecting Egypt,
Syria, and Babylon,

which allowed it
to expand quite rapidly.

Estimates suggest
that at its peak,

up to 40,000 people
may have lived here.

[Teddy]
But despite its importance,

Hazor was
lightly fortified and vulnerable

to potential invaders.

To protect themselves,

the ancient Canaanites
built a wall around the city

and fortified it with a deep,
steep-sided moat.

[Amma]
Similar city walls
and defensive moats

have been uncovered in other
ancient cities in the region,

including Samaria and Jezreel.

Together, these discoveries
suggest that defensive moats

were a fairly common feature
of urban fortifications

during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Could Jerusalem's moat
be part of this same tradition?

The keys to unlocking
the mystery

of the Jerusalem moat

may lie in the city's
unique geography and layout.

[Anthony]
Most ancient cities
are built on hills

that rise high above
the surrounding land.

And in part,
this was a military strategy.

If an army were to attack,

defenders of the city would be
able to see the soldiers coming

from as far away as possible.

[Anthea]
Jerusalem's planning and layout
are radically different.

The city is on a narrow ridge

that slopes upwards
from south to north.

Ancient Jerusalem

lay on the southeastern part
of the ridge,

downhill from the highest point.

This was likely because
the city depended so heavily

on the Gihon Spring,

which lay
in the Kidron Valley nearby.

This configuration made
the city vulnerable to armies

coming from the north
who would have the advantage

of attacking from a higher
point of elevation.

[Teddy]
The moat lay on
the northern side of the city,

between the residence
and the highest point
of the ridge.

With a width
of roughly 115 feet,

this single addition
would make the city

significantly harder to invade.

If armies were
to attack from above,

they would find themselves
trapped and helpless,

allowing Jerusalem's military
to pick them off

before they could reach
the city walls.

Despite compelling evidence

painting the moat
as a defensive structure,

doubt still lingers.

While it makes sense
to build a moat here

to protect the ancient core
of Jerusalem,

we can't know for sure

whether or not
this was its true purpose.

Many mysteries still remain

surrounding
this ancient structure,

including when it was built.

While it seems to have been
in use by the 9th century BCE,

there are very few clues
as to when it was first dug.

[Anthony]
And what's more,

the moat might be
part of a much larger

and far more intricate complex
that we have yet to uncover.

Two sets of strange,
smoothly carved rock channels

have also been found
in the Givati Parking Lot.

And based on their location,

they may have once connected

to the royal
administrative quarter

during the Iron Age.

So the moat may have
a connection to these channels,

but their exact purpose
remains a complete mystery.

[Anthea]
What we do know is that

as the city of Jerusalem
expanded across the ridge

and crept northwards,

the need for the moat
eventually disappeared.

When it came time to build
outside the ancient city walls,

residents seemed to have
filled in the huge structure,

burying it
for thousands of years,

only for it to be
now rediscovered.

As work continues
at the Givati Parking Lot,

researchers continue
to piece together

the geography
of ancient Jerusalem,

unearthing ruins that raise
just as many questions

as they answer.