Original subtitles

A team of geologists conducting an aerial survey

over the vast Libyan desert

make a surprising discovery.

[Teddy] It's an airplane from World War II,

an American B-24D Liberator bomber.

[Dr. Amma] So what plane is this,

and how did it end up

in the middle of the Libyan desert?

A team of archaeologists conducting a survey in Turkey

reveal intricate carvings and symbols

at the Göbekli Tepe Pillars.

[Anthea] In addition to images of wild birds,

snakes, and scorpions,

there are several rows of a V shape

carved into one of the pillars of the largest enclosure.

What does that mean?

And how does that connect

with the megalith's intended purpose?

Archaeologists are excavating a site

near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

when they uncover a strange structure.

[Dr. Amma] They unearthed a walled complex

carved right into the rock face

that spanned an area of over 2,000 square feet.

[Teddy] What exactly was this place?

And how is it connected to the Temple Mount?

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.

Dominated by actively shifting sand dunes

that reach heights of 350 feet,

the Calanshio Sand Sea covers over 23,000 square miles

of desert in eastern Libya.

A sand sea, or erg, as it's known in Arabic,

is an area consisting of, at least, 20% windblown sand

and receiving no more than six inches of annual precipitation.

So the resulting climate in active ergs,

like the Calanshio, is dry, hot, and windy,

making this part of eastern Libya

particularly treacherous and inhospitable.

[Dr. Dan] While the intense sandstorms

create significant challenges for settlement,

underneath all that sand,

Libya holds massive oil reserves.

Drilling for oil was first authorized in 1955,

and in recent years, that country has been producing

over a million barrels per day,

creating billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Geologists prospecting for an oil company

are flying over eastern Libya,

when they spy something unusual on the ground below.

[Anthea] They were conducting a survey of an area

that included the Calanshio Sand Sea,

and they spotted something that, from the plane,

looked like a huge damaged vehicle of some kind,

half-buried in the sand.

The geologists alert the authorities,

and a ground crew is dispatched to investigate.

What they find astounds them.

[Teddy] It's an airplane from World War II.

An American B-24D Liberator bomber.

These planes measured roughly 65 feet long and 18 feet high,

had a high cruise speed, long range,

and the ability to carry a heavy payload.

But in comparison with its contemporaries,

the B-24 was difficult to fly

and had poor low-speed performance.

Despite this, at around 18,500 units,

it held the record for the world's

most produced bomber.

[Dr. Amma] On first inspection, it was clear

the plane had not been shot down.

It appears to have made a controlled descent,

then skidded across a flat stretch of sand and gravel

for over 2,000 feet when it landed.

The stress of the crash broke the main body of the plane

just behind the wings.

But aside from that, it was largely intact,

including the propellers.

How did it end up

in the middle of the Libyan desert?

Searching for answers,

the team examines the bomber's wreckage.

[Teddy] Eerily, the plane's interior contained the crew's belongings,

rations, even flasks of water and coffee.

The dry desert conditions

had preserved almost everything

from the aircraft's last mission.

[Dr. Dan] All of the plane's 50 caliber machine guns

and ammo were still there.

One of the machine guns was even still working.

The bomber's radio, also working.

But although the airplane's engines did not work anymore,

it was clear from analysis that the engine was running

when the plane crashed.

The rear escape hatch doors were open,

and all of the plane's parachutes

and life preservers were missing.

All these findings support a mostly functional airplane

abandoned by its crew,

rather than a terrible crash with all on board.

[Dr. Amma] We know that during World War II,

there was an Allied base in Suluq, Libya.

So it's reasonable to assume

that this plane originated there.

But that still doesn't tell us

the identity of the mystery wreck.

Military records show that on April 4th, 1943,

25 American Air Force bomber planes

took off from the base at Suluq.

Their mission was a high-altitude attack

on the Axis-held port of Naples, Italy.

By 1943, the fate of North Africa

had become critical to the outcome of the war,

as control of the region meant access

to Mediterranean Sea routes

and a launch pad for invasions into Southern Europe.

[Dr. Dan] At 2:50 PM, the bomb group took off for Italy.

Unfortunately, sandstorms created poor visibility,

so all the planes aborted the mission

and returned safely to the base at Suluq that night.

That is, all of them but one.

The lone exception was the Lady Be Good.

[Anthea] The Lady Be Good carried on

until she was almost at her target,

at which point, she turned around

and headed home alone.

And that was the last known detail

about the plane's movements.

But the assumption was that it went down

somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea.

[Dr. Dan] For several years following the war,

neither the plane nor its crew had been located,

making it one of the most famous lost airplanes

of World War II.

So the big question is,

is the aircraft in the desert, the wreck of the Lady Be Good?

A full inspection of the crash site

reveals the plane's identity.

But the mystery of its fate only deepens.

They found the flight logs

and two notebooks containing the names

of each of the nine crew members.

And the interior of the plane

also contained identifying marks of the Lady Be Good.

So without a doubt, this was the famous missing airplane.

Discovered, recovered,

and parts of it in remarkably good working condition.

[Anthea] We know that the rear escape hatch doors were open

and all of the life preservers and parachutes were gone.

So it's safe to assume that the crew bailed out

of the Lady Be Good at some point

before the crash.

But where?

And where are their bodies?

An international search team is assembled and dispatched.

During the initial search,

several items were found in the sand,

confirming the crew had survived

their jump from the plane.

Improvised arrowheads had been created

from used parachutes all pointing north.

A pair of servicemen's rubber boots were also discovered

almost 20 miles north of the crash site.

It was believed the crew placed these items

as directional markers

to lead air and sea rescue teams

to their location.

But despite months of searching,

no remains were found.

A year later,

oil surveyors discovered the first five bodies

of the Lady Be Good crew.

They were on a plateau under the Sand Sea,

along with equipment, canteens, flashlights,

pieces of parachute, and flight jackets.

They had trekked 85 miles

before finally succumbing to the brutal desert heat.

[Anthea] Three more bodies were eventually recovered

at various distances from the first five,

indicating they had the strength to continue,

but ultimately, they too collapsed

from dehydration and exposure.

The remains of the ninth crew member

have still not been found.

Tragically, if the airmen had walked south

instead of north after their parachute escape,

they would have arrived at the plane wreck

with a working radio and plenty of rations.

[Teddy] The Lady Be Good crashed hundreds of miles

from its intended flight path

and over 400 miles from the Mediterranean Sea,

where it was believed to have disappeared.

So, what went so horribly wrong?

Is it possible the rookie crew couldn't handle a bomber

with a reputation for being challenging to fly?

A reexamination of the Lady Be Good's missing-in-action report

sheds light on a possible explanation.

The official version

essentially places the blame on the navigator

who was serving as a navigator for the first time.

In the report,

it states he misinterpreted a directional reading

sent from an Allied airbase in Benina,

resulting in the plane going off course.

[Dr. Dan] A more recent study points to failure

by an airbase operator in Benghazi

to respond to the Lady Be Good's radio calls for help

because he mistakenly believed that the airplane was German.

[Anthea] Both scenarios highlight the possibility

that human error was a factor.

And while it was the maiden mission for all nine on board,

they were highly-trained expert servicemen.

And it's almost impossible to state definitively

if their rookie status

played a role in the plane's disappearance.

So is it possible that poor flying conditions

contributed to the crash?

The last known contact between the Lady Be Good

and the home base in Suluq

provides a critical clue.

All 25 bombers from the mission

turned back towards the base,

because of high winds and poor visibility.

The Lady Be Good was the last to do so,

and as she was making her way back,

the crew radioed the base for navigational assistance.

The base responded by firing flares into the night sky,

but they were likely unseen by the pilot,

who kept flying and overshot the base.

They continued south for two hours, deep into the desert,

until the Lady Be Good ran out of fuel.

At this point, the crew decided to bail

and let the empty plane glide for another 16 miles

until it skidded to a relatively gentle crash in the sand.

[Dr. Amma] It's likely the crew believed

they were over the Mediterranean Sea

when they jumped,

because they took their life preservers with them.

Once they landed,

they began to walk north,

perhaps heading into the wind,

believing once again

they were close to the Mediterranean

and possibly safety.

Unfortunately, they were over 400 miles from the sea.

Now, recovered parts of the Lady Be Good

have been sent to various military museums

for commemoration.

And while the story has a tragic ending

for those involved,

it is also a story of courage,

perseverance,

and the human will to survive

the harshest conditions on Earth.

60 Miles north of the Syrian border,

Turkey's Harran Plain

spreads for 580 square miles

between the upper reaches

of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Like most of southeastern Turkey

and what used to be called Mesopotamia,

the Harran Plain is characterized by dry conditions

with large fluctuations

between the hot days and the cool nights.

The region rarely gets

more than 15 inches of rain per year.

The terrain is mostly made up of limestone plateaus

with occasional patches of grassland steps.

Evidence of human activity in the area

dates to the pre-pottery Neolithic period,

roughly 9,500 to 8,000 BCE,

a time when tribes of hunter-gatherers

were beginning to transition towards settled communities.

By the third millennium BCE,

the plain emerged as an important trade hub,

connecting the Tigris River to the Mediterranean Sea.

[Teddy] The region is best known for an archaeological site

called the Göbekli Tepe,

which means "Potbelly Hill" in Turkish.

Built roughly 12,000 years ago,

the Göbekli Tepe features

four massive circular stone monuments

that sit at the crest of a hill

overlooking the plain.

The pillars of the site are among

the earliest known examples

of megalithic structures,

and their circular shape

has led Göbekli Tepe

to being called the World's First Temple.

A team of archaeologists is surveying a section

of the Göbekli Tepe Pillars

containing intricate carvings and strange symbols

when they make a curious discovery.

[Anthea] In addition to images of wild birds,

snakes, and scorpions,

which were interpreted

to be mythological representations,

there are several rows of a V-shape

carved into one of the pillars of the largest enclosure,

which is known as Enclosure D.

Elsewhere, that same V symbol

appears to be worn around the neck

of a large bird-like beast.

On other pillars, there are circles, or discs,

carved right below the placement

of the horizontal slab of the rock,

kind of like where the two lines of the T intersect.

Now, inside the disc,

at its center, is a second, smaller circle,

so it sort of looks like a donut.

What does that mean?

And how does that

connect with the megalith's intended purpose?

A survey of the world's notable megalithic structures

offers a critical clue.

One of the most famous examples of a man-made megalith

is Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza,

the largest and oldest of the Giza pyramid complex.

Constructed for the pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty,

it was completed around the early 25th century BCE,

as a mortuary temple to honor the king.

[Anthea] The Great Pyramids were central

to the Egyptians' many elaborate funerary rituals,

all intended to prepare the king for the afterlife.

But they were also created to honor their various gods

that held the highest position in divine society,

including the solar deity Ra,

who was usually credited with the creation of the world

and was connected with the life-giving power

of the sun.

[Dr. Alison] In northeast Scotland,

many stone circles and other megalithic remains

from the Bronze Age

have been discovered near Aberdeenshire.

They often featured recumbent stone circles

with one large stone on its side flanked by upright stones,

and are believed to be monuments

created to honor astronomical phenomena,

such as the solstice and the equinox.

So given these megaliths' associations

with the power and pathway of the sun and moon,

is it possible the markings on the pillars

of Göbekli Tepe were also connected

to the solar and lunar calendars?

A team of archaeologists is surveying

a section of the Gobekli Tepe pillars

containing intricate carvings and strange symbols

when they make a curious discovery.

A deeper exploration of the pillars' circular shapes

points to a potential answer.

Solar disks and lunar crescents

are frequently depicted in ancient cultures

all around the world, because the sun and moon

are often viewed as religious deities.

Maybe the Göbekli Tepe disk shapes

represent the sun and moon

with one circle inside the other.

One of the most significant archaeological finds

in the past century

was the Nebra Sky Disk,

discovered buried in Mittelberg Hill

near the German town of Nebra.

The bronze disk,

12 inches in diameter and weighing nearly five pounds,

is a beautiful depiction of the sun, crescent moon,

and a cluster of seven stars, believed to be

the constellation Pleiades.

Radiocarbon dating puts the item's origin

as being from 1500 to 1700 BCE,

consistent with the early European Bronze Age,

making the disk the oldest depiction

of astronomical phenomenon

known from anywhere in the world.

[Dr. Dan] The enclosed area surrounding Mittelberg Hill

was originally settled in the Neolithic era.

If you're standing in the enclosure's entrance,

the sun set perfectly every summer solstice

right behind the highest peak of the Harz Mountains,

50 miles to the northwest.

It's believed that the Nebra disk

was created to record and commemorate

that specific event.

So, is it possible

that the Göbekli Tepe

also contained information about a single event

in the astronomical calendar,

coded and carved into those stone pillars?

A re-examination of the V-shaped carvings

leads to a breakthrough.

[Dr. Alison] One of the marked pillars was found to have 365

of the V-shapes carved into it.

And from this, it was interpreted as each V

representing one day.

It was then possible to count a solar calendar of 365 days,

consisting of 12 lunar months

and 11 extra epagomenal days,

the days added to a calendar to make it synchronize

with the solar year,

like our leap year day of February 29th.

[Anthea] A separate day appeared as a V

worn around the neck of a bird-like beast

in the shape of the solstice constellation.

It was believed the isolated V

was a representation of the actual solstice recorded

right onto the Göbekli Tepe pillar.

[Dr. Dan] If this were the case, the implications would be huge.

Up to this point, the Nebra Sky Disk

was considered the oldest known depiction

of solar and lunar phenomena.

But the Göbekli Tepe was created

thousands of years before that.

Based on the analysis of the double circle disk

and the V-shape,

it seems entirely possible that those who built

the Göbekli Tepe

had astronomical knowledge

that included a clear observation

of the course of the sun,

including the single event solstice.

So why was this information so important to them?

And what did they do with this knowledge?

A deeper dive into the known history of Göbekli Tepe

reveals a critical clue.

[Teddy] Until the site's discovery in 1994,

archaeologists generally believed

that humans only began building

organized societies and complex structures

after the emergence of agriculture.

And it was only after those events

that complex religions emerged.

And while this fertile crescent region of Mesopotamia

was considered one of the birthplaces

of organized farming,

Göbekli Tepe was built by a pre-agricultural society.

This pushes back the origins

of the first megalithic structure

to the late Paleolithic era of the hunter-gatherer.

Amazingly, the builders of Göbekli Tepe

were organized and settled enough

to accomplish its temple-like creation

without the use of pack animals

or specialized tools.

They also had a spiritual life that likely included rituals

to celebrate the summer or winter solstice.

But there was another practical explanation

for the significance of the solstice.

As Mesopotamian societies transitioned

from hunter-gatherers to early Neolithic farmers,

it became far more important to pay close attention

to the seasons.

For societies dependent on agriculture for their food,

knowing when to plant and when to harvest

becomes a matter of life and death.

[Dr. Alison] So the picture that emerges

is of a community coming together

to celebrate and honor the changing of the seasons,

whether that's an abundance of food,

a drought, or colder temperatures.

Over 30 years after its discovery,

the Göbekli Tepe continues to fascinate and educate,

and it no doubt still contains

a multitude of secrets waiting to be revealed.

Stretching across the vast rock plateau

between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean,

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world.

Jerusalem sits in the foothills of the Judean Mountains

at an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet.

Its Mediterranean climate is characterized by hot,

dry summers and mild, wet winters.

The three major Abrahamic religions,

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,

all consider Jerusalem a holy city.

So throughout its long history,

it's been a popular pilgrimage destination.

But Jerusalem has also been a center

for religious and political conflict.

Governed by multiple dynasties over the years,

the city has been attacked, besieged, and conquered

over 100 times.

[Dr. Anthony] According to the Hebrew Bible,

King David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites

and established it as the capital

of the Kingdom of Israel.

David's son, King Solomon,

commissioned the building of the First Temple

in the 10th century BCE.

The First Temple is said to have stood

on the Temple Mount,

where the later Second Temple stood,

a sacred area of Old Jerusalem

surrounded by fortified walls.

A team of archaeologists is excavating a site

near Temple Mount,

when they make a surprising discovery.

[Dr. Amma] On the eastern slope of the Mount,

they unearthed a walled complex carved right into the rock face

that spanned an area of over 2,000 square feet.

The complex was uncovered

but divided into a series of chambers

ranging in size from 20 by 10 feet

to 8 by 6 feet.

[Teddy] The first chamber opened onto all the other ones,

which indicated it was the center of the complex.

So what exactly was this place?

And how is it connected to the Temple Mount?

This wasn't the first time that archaeologists

had stumbled on the mysterious chambers.

[Dr. Anthony] In 1909,

a British adventurer named Montagu Parker

embarked on a search

for the elusive Ark of the Covenant,

which was alleged to contain

the original Ten Commandment tablets

along with other treasures.

When word got out

that a team of foreign treasure hunters

was digging into one of the world's most sensitive

and sacred landmarks,

it caused a massive outcry,

and the dig was abandoned.

[Dr. Amma] But during his excavations,

Parker uncovered three of the Temple Mount chambers

and concluded that they were tombs.

According to tradition,

the Jews wouldn't bury their dead

inside the city walls,

so Jerusalem was surrounded by buried tombs,

which were primarily intended for high-ranking officials,

priests, and their families.

So is it possible that Parker was right?

Is the Temple Mount discovery a series of ancient tombs

for powerful priests and rulers of Judea?

As the excavation continues,

each one of the chambers reveals a clue.

[Dr. Anthony] In the center of one of the rooms,

there's a circular depression cut right into the rock floor,

two feet in diameter and two inches deep.

Inside that circle, a second smaller one was carved,

only a foot in diameter and less than a foot deep.

These were the marks of an ancient olive press.

[Dr. Amma] Another room has a single rectangular depression

cut into the rock,

measuring 16 by 18 inches and roughly eight inches deep.

It appears to have been occupied by a wine press.

The surrounding floor was likely used

to tread on the grapes

and the sunken rectangular used as a reservoir

to collect the pre-fermented wine.

The third room contained

the most intriguing installation.

Standing upright in the northwestern corner,

there was a flat, thin slab of limestone,

measuring roughly three feet across,

sitting atop a raised platform

and supported on three sides by small field stones.

Archaeological records and the Bible

offer many examples of stones erected

by the ancient Israelites.

They're called, Matzevah.

and are referred to in the Hebrew Bible

as sacred stones or pillars,

typically associated with religious

or commemorative practices.

Variants of the Matzevah appear in the Bible 34 times

usually in a positive light,

such as when Moses set up 12 Matzevah at Mount Sinai

to ratify the covenant between God and Israel.

[Teddy] So given the presence of the Matzevah at the site

and the wine and olive presses,

which were used by many ancient cultures in ceremonial rituals

to give thanks for the earth's abundance,

all signs point to it

being a place of ceremony and worship,

possibly even a shrine,

not a burial site.

Further excavation of the site

reveals more rooms and more clues.

The complex has eight rooms in total,

each intended for some form of ritualized worship.

One room contains a rock cut rectangular basin

measuring 10 by 16 inches across

and 8 inches deep.

It's connected to a raised platform

and a shallow channel on the floor,

likely used to drain liquids.

It's believed the installation was an altar

possibly used for animal sacrifice.

Another room was filled with a thick layer of earth

containing various artifacts typically associated

with spiritual offerings.

These included shards of pottery and ceramic vessels,

figurines, beads, and animal bones.

It appears to have been a storage space

known as a favissa,

and the various artifacts

had been collected from different sections

of the complex

and put together in one location.

[Teddy] Interestingly, the opening to the favissa

was covered over by a large stone wall,

created after the items were placed in the room,

as if to seal it up.

The question is,

why would someone have blocked the entrance?

The artifacts from the storage room

were all dated to the second Iron Age,

roughly 950 to 586 BCE.

The era corresponds with the first temple period,

which includes the emergence, growth, and eventual fall

of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Key events from the period may provide some answers.

One of the most significant changes

in the religious life of ancient Israel

occurred during the reign of the Judahite king Hezekiah

in the late 8th century BCE.

According to the Hebrew Bible,

Hezekiah sought to centralize

all worship at the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

So he abolished many of the ritual sites

scattered across the kingdom,

hoping to put an end to the worship of idols.

In this context, there's a potential explanation

for the favissa of Room 5

having its entrance blocked by a large stone wall.

It's possible that the complex

was one of Israel's ancient ritual sites,

abolished by King Hezekiah as part of his reforms,

and that an effort was made to protect

or hide the evidence of its use.

Samples are taken from the site

for radiocarbon testing.

Sure enough, it was determined

that the complex fell out of use

in the 8th century BCE,

coinciding with Hezekiah's reign.

But beyond that, without proven documented records,

it's difficult to verify

if the king ordered the site to be destroyed or sealed up.

[Anthea] It's also possible the site simply went out of use

after the Babylonian conquest,

which resulted in the fall of the Kingdom of Judah

in 587 BCE.

The discovery of the mysterious shrine near Temple Mount

offers compelling new insight

into the changing beliefs and practices

of the ancient Israelites.

Who knows how many others like it are out there,

lost to the sands of time.

Tucked into the farthest reaches of northwestern Iraq

lies southern Kurdistan.

It is one of four regions

that together form Greater Kurdistan,

a region extending across West Asia.

[Dr. Anthony] Kurdistan is enormous.

Generally defined

as the region traditionally inhabited by the Kurdish people,

it stretches across large parts of modern-day Turkey,

Iran, and Iraq.

In Iraq, the movement for Kurdish independence

has made major strides,

including the establishment of the Kurdish Autonomous Region

with its own parliamentary government.

[Dr. Alison] Most of Iraqi Kurdistan

is dominated by enormous mountains,

like the Zagros.

Because of its high altitude,

the region is generally cooler than the rest of Iraq,

and the network of rivers running through the area

means it's incredibly fertile.

But as you move south,

the landscape changes dramatically.

Just over six miles from the town of Kalar,

at a site called Shakhi Kora in southern Iraqi Kurdistan,

archaeologists uncover a surprise.

They found the remains of a series

of large ancient buildings.

One contained the remains of several rooms

divided by thick mud-brick walls.

And inside the rooms,

they made an even stranger discovery.

On the mud floor were stacks and stacks of upturned bowls

neatly arranged in pairs.

When you look at the bowls, it's clear

that they weren't ornamental or decorative.

They were purely functional,

hastily and roughly made for everyday informal use.

You can think of it like your family's everyday dishware,

not the fine china.

But it raises a question.

Why were so many of them found here?

Just over 200 miles south of Shakhi Kora,

archaeologists digging in the ruins

of the ancient city of Lagash

discovered a seemingly similar structure.

[Dr. Alison] Lagash was founded over 5,000 years ago

and was once one of the most important cities

in ancient Sumer.

Over the years, thousands of artifacts,

including early cuneiform tablets,

have been recovered from the city,

giving us unprecedented insight into life

in ancient Mesopotamia.

[Dr. Dan] Given how well documented the site at Lagash is,

it came as a total shock

when a recent excavation found

that there was this previously undiscovered building.

And it wasn't even that deep underground.

It was just...19 inches below the surface.

[Dr. Amma] Inside the structure, they found dozens of bowls,

and after analyzing them, it was revealed

that they had once been used to hold fish

and other meat dishes.

Other vessels showed evidence that at one point,

they contained beer,

a popular drink among ancient Sumerians.

This evidence tells us

that this wasn't just any building.

These are the remains

of the world's oldest known tavern.

Could the ruins at Shakhi Kora have served a similar purpose?

Is it also an ancient tavern?

In the search for answers,

the team begins testing ten of the ancient bowls

using several methods,

including gas chromatography

and mass spectrometry.

Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry

are techniques that, in combination,

can isolate and analyze

individual chemicals in various products,

including in food.

In this case, the results show

that the bowls found at Shakhi Kora

were once used to hold a whole range of dishes,

including seed and dairy-based foods,

as well as meat dishes like stew and broth.

Given that piece of evidence,

it's tempting to just jump to the conclusion

that this was a tavern.

But there are a few important differences

between the Lagash and Shakhi Kora site,

and the biggest one is also the most obvious,

the seating.

The Lagash Tavern had tons of seats, indoors and out.

The Shakhi Kora ruins have none at all.

That is a massive clue.

On closer inspection, another key difference emerges.

The complex at Shakhi Kora seems to have been much larger

than the Lagash Tavern.

So the question is,

what need did this ancient settlement have,

for such a large-scale operation?

What was the function of this enormous complex?

The secret of Shakhi Kora

may lie in the engraved inscription

of a single clay tablet dating back millennia.

[Dr. Anthony] This tablet was found in an area

that was one of the world's first cities,

called Uruk,

which would have stood about 200 miles

from the Shakhi Kora settlement.

It's one of the earliest known examples of human writing,

dating back roughly 5,300 years,

and it tells an amazing story.

On it, we can see a human head eating from a bowl,

which is interpreted as meaning ration.

It's followed by the symbol of a vessel,

which signifies beer.

There are also scratches across the cuneiform tablet

that seem to indicate how many beers a person has had,

most likely in return for some kind of payment,

maybe as labor.

So this is pretty incredible.

What we're looking at

is a bar tab.

[Dr. Alison] Mesopotamian officials working in Uruk thousands of years ago

depended on these cuneiform writing systems

to keep track of their administrative duties,

making sure they knew what was traded and to whom.

Knowing that these bartering systems existed

in southern Mesopotamia during the early Bronze Age

casts a whole new light on the complex at Shakhi Kora.

Could this site have been used for a similar purpose?

And if so, who was responsible for running

this enormous operation?

The team builds a chronology of the food hall,

using the ceramic remnants

to retrace the ancient building's development.

The ceramic vessels here span several centuries,

and this is in keeping with the buildings themselves.

They appear to have been rebuilt and remodeled

over and over again,

though their function never changed.

With each rebuild, the complex became more elaborate,

and in its final phase,

even featured monumental pillars

and a sophisticated subterranean drainage system.

When we arrange the pottery from the ruins

in chronological order,

an intriguing pattern emerges.

The earlier pieces are often shaped like large flowerpots

or bowls with beveled rims.

Over time,

we see the quantity of these beveled-rim bowls increase

eventually overtaking the older flowerpot styles.

Other forms of pottery also appear as time goes on,

like rounded jars and vessels with spouts,

which are both commonly associated with Uruk

and southern Mesopotamian culture.

The shift in pottery styles

points to a significant social transformation,

where the local culture

was slowly being replaced by Uruk practices.

If this site really was a food-distribution center,

it was almost certainly overseen by outsiders from the south

where these kinds of bartering systems

had already been established.

And that means that what we're seeing

might be one of the earliest experiments

with centralized government ever found

from ancient Mesopotamia.

This experiment seems to have worked,

at least for a time.

But then things changed dramatically.

Sometime in the late 4th to the early 3rd millennia BCE,

the monumental structures at Shakhi Kora were abandoned.

There were no signs of violence,

no evidence of war.

So what happened?

[Dr. Anthony] We can't be sure why this experiment

with centralized government failed,

but it could be that the people living here

just had enough.

It may have been a question of food, housing, or politics.

But the upshot was

that the institution that fed local workers

for centuries was abandoned.

People returned to smaller, self-sufficient villages

essentially protesting the urbanization of their land

and their way of life.

Today,

the remains of the vast institutional food hall

at Shakhi Kora

stand as a monument

to some of the earliest forms of centralized rule,

a system that, despite centuries of success,

ultimately proved too fragile to last.