All language subtitles for Expedition Files S04E06 Fact or Fiction 720p AMZN WEB-DL DDP2 0 H 264-RAWR[EZTVx.to]

On this episode of "expedition files"...

Dracula is said to be
inspired by the real-life terrors

of a bloodthirsty 15th-century warlord,

vlad the impaler.

He's believed to have killed thousands.

But the circumstances of vlad's death

and the location of his burial
remained a mystery until now.

Then, as the cold war burns hot,

a top-secret U.S. government program

attempts to spy on the enemy
using the power of the mind.

But were the abilities of
these so-called "psychic spies"

real or just science fiction?

We declassify the jaw-dropping truth.

And, in ancient Rome,
Spartacus is a legendary

slave-turned-gladiator
who sparks a rebellion,

bringing the nation to its knees.

One!

But did he really exist?

Two!

New archaeological findings

shed light on the man behind the myth.

In the corridors of time,

Now, I'm traveling through history itself.

New evidence.

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh gates.

And these...

Are my "expedition files."

I've been lucky enough
to travel to 117 countries,

but some of the best
places I've ever been

aren't out there. They're up here.

Arrakis, the shire, diagon alley,

all completely fictitious,

all made real by a brilliant book

plus our own brilliant imaginations.

But the thing is, powerful fiction is still

inspired by powerful facts,
whether it was tolkien's time

in the trenches for "lord of the rings,"

or frank Herbert hitting
those magic mushrooms

to create "dune."

And tonight, we search for
the facts behind some other

equally epic fiction,
investigating three iconic stories

to find the truth behind the tale.

In time, this will be part of Romania.

But in this century, it's
known as transylvania.

And here's the man in charge
around here, prince vlad III,

also known as vlad
tepes and vlad the impaler.

The invading ottoman empire,
which has resulted in thousands

of his enemies dead
by, well, you get the idea.

This very real man is said to
go on to become the inspiration

for one of fiction's
most infamous vampires,

because his other name is vlad Dracula.

But while the monster becomes iconic,

curiously, we know very
little about the man himself.

We don't know how he
died or where he was buried.

But 600 years from now, new
discoveries may allow us to.

Vlad III is born in the
winter of 1431 in sighisoara,

in the region of transylvania,

then part of the kingdom of Hungary.

Vlad belongs to a ruling
family of wallachia, a brutal

15th century borderland
caught between Hungary

and the expanding ottoman empire.

Vlad's father is the ruler
of wallachia and member of

the order of the dragon, a
Christian brotherhood sworn

to keep the ottomans at bay.

His membership perk? A
fearsome new title, "dracul,"

which makes vlad III "Dracula,"

quite literally, "the son of the dragon."

And the rest of vlad's
childhood appropriately reads

like the origin story of a monster.

As a boy, vlad is hauled off as a hostage

by his father's enemy,
the ottoman Turks.

But while vlad is a
prisoner of the ottomans,

wallachia's other great
enemy, the Hungarians,

decide to strike, assassinating
vlad's father and brother.

With his dad gone, vlad
assumes the throne of wallachia

in 1448.

But that only lasts for two
months before he's forced out

in a coup led by rival nobles.

Vlad then spends the
next eight years in exile,

sharpening his grudges against
the ottomans, the Hungarians,

the wallachians, frankly, anyone

who will stand in his way.

By 1456, vlad is done waiting.

He returns to wallachia with
an army to retake his throne

by any means necessary.
He's brutally successful.

Vlad's first order of business
is settling scores with those

who he feels had betrayed his family.

Accounts say he invites
hundreds of local aristocrats

to a grand feast,

then he has them arrested.

The lucky are sent to
toil as forced laborers.

The unlucky are executed

in what becomes vlad's
signature style, impalement.

A sharpened stake
driven through the body,

leaving victims to die slowly.

Their corpses are left
skewered, a forest of warnings

to anyone who dares defy him.

The fearsome nickname
"vlad the impaler"

spreads throughout the land.

Meanwhile, vlad's enemies,
the ottoman empire, push west

towards his territory,
spreading their islamic regime.

In response, the pope calls
for a new crusade to protect

Christian territory that includes vlad's.

Eager for revenge
against his former captors,

the impaler seizes the moment.

When the ottomans march
into wallachia, vlad strikes back

with scorched-earth fury,
raiding camps, poisoning Wells,

and, yes, impaling thousands.

The savagery works.

The ottomans pull back,
and Europe hails vlad

as a defender of the Christian faith,

a hero to some, a nightmare to others.

Vlad's brutal tactics
become the stuff of legend.

One commonly repeated
tale claims he dined among

the impaled, dipping
his bread in their blood.

Now, we should be clear,
much of what we know about

these stories comes
from enemy propaganda,

pamphlets from the late 1400s.

In Romania itself,
vlad is today considered

a national hero, a brave
leader who defended his country

from foreign invaders.

So the line between fact
and fear-mongering is blurry.

The story of vlad's death
is similarly debatable.

Even the year, 1476, or maybe 1477.

Some say he fell in battle.

Others claim he was
betrayed by his own men.

Another tale says his
severed head was sent

to the ottoman sultan as a trophy.

As for his body, his final resting place

has never been found.

But just as the man
becomes lost in the shadows,

the monster takes center stage.

In 1897, Irish author bram
stoker writes the novel.

"Dracula," inspired, at least
in part, by vlad the impaler.

While writing the novel, stoker dives

into eastern European lore.

In an 1820 history book,

he finds mention of vlad III as.

"Dracula, son of the dragon."

The name is exotic,
mysterious, terrifying.

Stoker scraps his original
villain, "count wampyr,"

and instead christens
him "count Dracula."

From there, stoker pulls
details from vlad III's life

to shape count Dracula's
backstory, his role as

a ruthless warlord, the
transylvanian setting,

and his battles with the ottoman Turks.

Meanwhile, the mythical
side of stoker's tale

comes from his deep
dive into centuries-old

vampire folklore in Eastern Europe.

In the middle ages, long before
science could explain disease

and decay, villagers
sometimes exhumed the dead,

fearing those who lived evil lives died

with unfinished business
and might rise again.

When the graves were opened,

some bodies showed bloated
faces, darkened skin and blood

at the mouth, natural signs
of decomposition that villagers

misinterpreted as proof
the dead had returned

to feed on the living.

To stop them, communities
resorted to brutal measures.

Archaeologists have since
uncovered anti-vampire burials

throughout Europe,
skeletons nailed to the ground

with stakes, others with
bricks or metal forced into

their mouths to prevent biting.

Several years ago, I explored
these practices myself,

working alongside archaeologists

at a dig site in Bulgaria.

Amazing. So this is the metal.

And what is it exactly?

It's a plowshare, the tool
that local people use to

plow the ground.

So this is something that was
done after the person died?

This was then driven into them?

Definitely happened after
death, and it shows evidence

that this is a ritual

preventing this person
from becoming a vampire.

These real-world horror stories gave

stoker's Dracula its fangs.

But not all Dracula legends
are rooted in medieval folklore.

One of the most iconic,
the bat, is a later invention.

Drawing on reports of
blood-sucking bats in

the Americas first
documented in the 16th century,

bram stoker fused this image
with vlad's fiercer reputation

to create his infamous monster.

Since the late 1800s,
Dracula has sunk his teeth

into popular culture like
almost no other character.

The count has starred
in stage plays, silent films,

blockbuster movies and
TV shows, comic books,

even breakfast cereal.

But behind the legend
lies an unsettling mystery,

the fate of the real man who inspired it,

vlad the impaler.

For centuries, historians
have disagreed on how he died

and where he's buried.

Now, a modern-day search
has uncovered new evidence

that may finally lead to
vlad's long-lost remains

and the secrets buried with them.

For centuries, the final
resting place of vlad the impaler,

the ruthless ruler whose
reign of terror helped

inspire the legend of
Dracula, has been a mystery.

Now, Dr. Anne delong,
professor of British and gothic

literature and editor of the
"journal of Dracula studies,"

follows the trail of clues
that may finally lead

to vlad's lost grave.

The fact that there is no
clear trail to vlad's death

or to his burial site is a bit strange,

particularly considering his status today

as a hero of Romanian history.

For many years, popular
tradition believed that

vlad the impaler was buried
in a monastery in Romania.

One of those is the snagov
monastery, a site that was

connected to vlad's family.

Long been linked to
vlad the impaler's fate.

16th century accounts
claim he died in battle nearby,

and was buried there.

For generations, locals pointed
to a plain stone slab inside

the church as his hidden
grave, a humble marker for a man

with a monster-sized legend.

The monastery at snagov was
excavated in 1933 in order to

search for remains of vlad.

The tomb turned out
to be completely empty,

except for animal bones.

That's led some historians
to look elsewhere,

like comana monastery,
a fortress-like church

vlad founded during his reign.

The comana monastery
is closer to the site

where he is believed to have died.

It makes more logical sense
that he would have been moved

to a closer monastery.

But excavations at comana
in the 1970s discovered

no proof of vlad.

In the end, no grave site
for the impaler has ever been

discovered in Romania,
leading some to the theory that

vlad was buried somewhere else.

In 2014, there's a
fascinating new development.

A team of Italian researchers
identified a curious tomb at

the church of Santa
Maria la nova in Naples,

featuring ominous engravings
and what some claim to be

a coded inscription
of letters and symbols.

Some historians believe
that vlad's remains ended up

and some have suggested that
she sent for the body, then was

able to memorialize him where
she lived and presumably be

buried with him also.

Supporters of the theory
point to details carved into

the tomb's facade, an ornate dragon

and a knight's helmet,

symbols that could reference
the order of the dragon

to which vlad's father belonged.

Fully deciphered, but
two translated words,

"vlad" and "Balkans,"

have fueled speculation that it may be

connected to vlad the impaler,
raising the possibility that

this is his long-lost grave,
more than a thousand miles from

the land he once ruled.

Skeptics argue that the tomb
may simply belong to a noble

neapolitan family who adopted
similar symbols to reflect

their status and religious devotion.

But that hasn't stopped
the church from embracing

its newfound celebrity as

the possible resting place of Dracula.

Researchers have asked
for permission to investigate

the tomb to find out for sure.

But legal and ethical obstacles
mean it could be years before

we have a definitive answer.

And vlad's alleged tomb in
Naples isn't the only recent

in August of 2023,
Italian scientists examined

centuries-old letters
attributed to vlad the impaler.

They detected microscopic
protein traces that may have

been left on the paper by his hands.

These proteins are linked
to a rare condition called

hemolacria, which can cause
a person's tear ducts to bleed.

If true, it means the man
who inspired Dracula may have

literally wept blood.

That doesn't make him a vampire,

but it's not gonna help me
sleep any better tonight either.

It's 1979.

That's a Soviet military
base somewhere near

the arctic circle.

American intelligence
suspects they're building

a new aircraft carrier
here, but can't confirm it,

because the CIA has
no agents on the inside.

Or do they?

Nearly 5,000 miles away,
in a windowless room at

is at work, the "psychic spy,"
agents who claim they can see

anywhere on earth at any time
using nothing but their minds.

The U.S. government will pour millions

into project star gate until,

after decades of operation, it's labeled

a failure and shuttered.

But 50 years after its
inception, former members

of this top-secret initiative will speak out,

and declassified documents will emerge.

What they reveal is nothing
short of mind blowing.

The story of project star gate
may sound like science fiction,

but according to Joe
mcmoneagle, it's all too real.

In 1978, he's a 32-year-old officer

in the army's signal intelligence program.

He says he's invited to
interview for a position

with physicist hal puthoff,

head of a new top-secret
military operation.

- You served in Vietnam, correct?
- Yes, sir.

Midway through the meeting,

mcmoneagle gets a
question he never expected.

Have you ever
experienced anything called

a "paranormal event"?

He hesitates, but then
decides to answer truthfully.

Well, actually...

He tells puthoff about a
night at a bar with his wife

and a friend when
he suddenly feels sick.

Stepping outside for air,

he collapses and stops breathing.

They rush him to the hospital,
where he remains unresponsive.

Mcmoneagle is unconscious,
but will later claim he sees

on his body from somewhere above it.

When he finally wakes
after being revived,

he's back in his own body.

Dr. Florence, please dial 1-1-8.

Mcmoneagle figures puthoff
must think he's crazy after hearing

such a wild story.

But instead of being
dragged out of the office

in a straitjacket, he's offered a job

in a top-secret psychic
espionage program.

Mcmoneagle will help
found the program,

tasked with harnessing

his supposed "supersensory abilities"

to see and hear things across the world,

all without ever leaving his office.

He's allegedly even given a code name,

"remote viewer 001."

And in a time of global
tension, his mind may become

one of the government's
most unconventional weapons.

In 1978, army officer Joe
mcmoneagle allegedly joins

a top secret program called
"project star gate" and trains

to become a psychic spy.

Now, if you're wondering how

one trains to become a
psychic, you're not alone.

The project stems from
the work of physicists

Russell targ and star
gate director Harold puthoff

at the Stanford research
institute in the 1970s.

Convinced psychic abilities
can be taught, they spend years

testing the limits of remote
viewing, a kind of mental

teleportation where those
the mind's eye reaches across

time and space to perceive
distant locations and events.

Their experiments
soon catch the attention

of the U.S. army's intelligence command,

especially with reports that

the Soviets are researching
similar techniques.

The unit stays small, just 15
to 20 people working in secrecy

in an old, leaky wooden barracks.

In 1979, mcmoneagle claims

he starts getting real assignments.

A U.S. spy satellite

has captured images of a
massive industrial complex

at a Soviet naval base
650 miles north of Moscow.

Ground operatives can't get close,

leaving American intelligence
completely in the dark

about what's happening inside.

Mcmoneagle says
he isn't told any of this.

Instead, he's given the coordinates.

Meanwhile, a satellite
photograph of the target

is sealed in an envelope.

So what do you make of this?

He's asked to view the contents

not with his eyes, but with his mind.

Mcmoneagle says he begins
to sketch a series of boxes,

like an aerial view of buildings.

Then he reports what
he believes is inside.

I see an object.

I see water.

It's a shark.

Shark is important, but shark fins, no.

It has fins, elongated fins.

It's a submarine.

Mcmoneagle is told that
his sketch eerily matches

an overhead view of
what the photo captures,

a secret Soviet base.

And if mcmoneagle is right,

then that base hides a submarine.

Mcmoneagle says
army intelligence reports

his findings up the chain to
the national security council.

But the council dismisses
it, saying it's not plausible.

Still, mcmoneagle believes
his so-called psychic instincts

were eventually proven correct.

Just four months later,
new satellite photos reveal

a massive submarine docked
at the same Soviet base,

exactly as mcmoneagle described.

To the Americans, this type of
sub becomes known as typhoon,

later made famous by Tom Clancy's

"the hunt for red October."

But it's what the Soviets call the sub

that really gets heads spinning.

They call it "shark," just like
mcmoneagle first declared when

he was attempting to
remotely view the site.

It's a shark.

You'd think a success like
this would cause the military

to double down, but apparently

not everyone's convinced.

The CIA argues that project
star gate is wasteful and its

in real time.

In 1984, a national academy of
sciences report backs them up,

concluding remote viewing
relies on poor methodology

and cherry-picked data.

The U.S. army shuts down
the program as a result.

But just a year later, in late 1985,

the defense intelligence agency steps in

to continue funding the work.

That's too late for Joe
mcmoneagle, who had already

retired in 1984.

By the end of his service,
mcmoneagle says he was involved

in hundreds of remote viewing
missions, though it's worth

noting the results of his
work remain classified,

with no public paper trail
to independently verify them.

Still, mcmoneagle would
not be the last remote viewer

to claim the program
produced real results.

On may 15, 1987,
remote viewer Paul Smith,

a one-time co-worker of
mcmoneagle, claims to see

something terrible during a session.

An American ship under
fire from missiles launched

by an enemy aircraft
from a desert region.

It's the height of the
Iran-Iraq war and tensions

in the Gulf, are at an all-time high.

Smith says his warning is
passed up the chain of command,

but officials see nothing they can act on.

Two days later, news breaks.

The USS stark, a U.S. Navy destroyer,

is struck by two
missiles from an Iraqi jet.

Thirty-seven sailors are killed.

Remote viewing skeptics
chalk it up to coincidence.

The program also
suffers some clear failures.

In 1988, the dia reportedly
turns to project star gate

to help locate William Higgins,

a marine colonel taken
hostage in Lebanon.

A remote viewer supposedly
claimed to vision that he was

alive and being held at
an underground location.

But the information
doesn't lead to his rescue,

and Higgins is eventually found dead.

With a much-disputed record of
success, project star gate comes

to an abrupt end once again in 1995

after a U.S. government
review conducted for the CIA

concludes that remote
viewing fails to produce reliable,

actionable intelligence.

Most of the documents relating
to program operations remained

classified, fueling decades of
rumor and speculation about

what the government
might still be hiding.

For more than 20 years,
those files sit buried

in archives, sealed
away from public view.

But then, in 2017, everything changes.

The CIA quietly uploads millions

of declassified documents
to its online crest archive,

and hidden among them

are the long-lost records
of project star gate,

and what they reveal is staggering.

After years of secrecy,
classified files tied to

the government's experiments
in psychic intelligence

are finally declassified.

For the first time, the public can access

over 12,000 star gate documents

from CIA headquarters in Langley.

Even the former remote
viewers themselves step forward,

eager to prove their incredible stories.

Paul Smith, who claims he predicted

the missile attack on the USS stark,

is at the front of the line.

One of the things I found
exciting about the archives

becoming public finally,

was that it allowed me
to get back into them

and find my session against
the ship that was attacked by

the Iraqi jet, the USS stark.

But what was maybe even
more exciting was that I found

the documentation for the
typhoon submarine project

that Joe mcmoneagle is famous for,

with the sketches, the
descriptions, everything,

and it absolutely matched the story

that had been passed down to us.

So this is documentation that
proved that it really happened.

Not only that, the CIA
files reveal that plenty of

government officials
believed the program

was getting results.

For the first time, we can
show mcmoneagle's sketch of

the Soviet base, supposedly attained

through remote viewing.

We can also show that it eerily matches

the actual satellite images of the site.

Some even go so far
as to say that the data

gathered through remote
viewing was generally consistent

with later intelligence and assessments.

We were doing things, of course,

that humans aren't
supposed to be able to do,

and yet here we were doing them.

And if this was
impossible and wasn't real,

we shouldn't get it right ever.

And yet we actually have
the evidence that we have

gotten it right many, many, many times.

While believers like Paul Smith argue

project star gate proved
the mind can reach

beyond the limits of space and time,

it should be noted that a number
of the declassified CIA files

tell a different story,
one of lucky guesses

developed at a later date.

The divide endures, yet the accounts

of these former remote
viewers remain fascinating,

leaving many to wonder,
were they really on the verge

of an extraordinary
breakthrough in mental espionage?

To answer that question,
well, you'd need to be psychic.

The year is 71 bc on the
banks of the silarius river

in southern Italy.

An army has just been
defeated in battle, valiantly led

by this dying man.

Turned-general.

No, it's not Russell
Crowe's fictional character

from the movie "gladiator,"
this is a real person.

Or at least he might be.

His name is Spartacus.

Legend says that for the
last two years, he's led nearly

120,000 slaves in a
rebel uprising against

the Roman republic,
until it ends with his death.

Did this one man really
fight his way out of slavery

and nearly take down
the mighty romans?

Or is all of this just a myth?

For 2000 years, there
will be no definitive proof

but a remarkable archaeological
discovery may change all that.

If you know the name
Spartacus, it's probably thanks

to kirk Douglas' iconic
on-screen portrayal

in Stanley kubrick's 1960 film.

Or perhaps through the
more recent TV series.

But as for the real story
of Spartacus, curiously,

we know almost nothing firsthand.

No written eyewitness accounts,

no definitive archaeological evidence.

Instead, almost everything
we think we know is written

over a century after his death
by the two ancient historians

behind me, plutarch and appian.

They wrote their accounts
separately decades apart,

but the story they tell is quite the tale.

According to ancient
historians, Spartacus was born

around 103 bc in thrace,
then a province of Rome,

but what today is an area of
Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey.

He was likely raised as a
free tribesman before serving in

the Roman army, probably
as an auxiliary soldier,

which means he fought for Rome,

but without the full
protections of a Roman citizen.

But before long, Spartacus
is no longer an ally

of the Roman army.

He ends up on the run
after abandoning his post,

and under Roman law,
desertion is punishable by death.

But because of Spartacus'
size and strength,

instead, he becomes a Roman
slave and sent to become

here, Spartacus has one simple,
brutal job, fight to the death.

While some gladiators were
free men who fought by choice,

most were enslaved men like Spartacus.

They had few rights.

Their only chance to
ever earn their freedom

for Spartacus, if he is to
die, he believes it should be

on his own terms.

At this time, much of Rome's
power depends on slave labor,

with more than a million
people in servitude.

With so many in bondage,
revolts are a huge threat.

And according to appian
and plutarch, in 73 bc,

Spartacus hatches an escape
plan, organizing a band of

about 70 other gladiators,

ready to fight for their freedom.

Under cover of
darkness, they manage to

overthrow the guards.

They then retreat to a
hideout near mount vesuvius.

Twice, the romans send a
small band of soldiers after them,

but Spartacus and the other gladiators

easily beat them back,

even overwhelming their forces to steal

proper military equipment.

The histories record that for months,

Rome treats Spartacus'
revolt like a mosquito bite,

more an annoyance
than a military threat.

This underestimation allows
Spartacus to spend time

gathering more and
more rebels to his cause.

His army is growing fast.

One!

Two!

By the spring of 72 bc,

legend says that Spartacus'
forces swell to 120,000.

One!

An almost unbelievable number.

Thrust!

What will become known
as the third servile war

is about to begin.

Rome finally wakes up,
and they send two legions,

about 10,000 soldiers, to fight him.

Initially, they are successful,

cutting down about
30,000 of Spartacus' men.

But despite the Roman
army's superior training,

Spartacus' overwhelming
numbers prevail on the battlefields.

It's a crushing blow
for the mighty republic.

It is an extraordinary
legend that has been told

is the uprising as epic as history claims?

Furthermore, did Spartacus really exist?

Now, a discovery hidden in
the forests of modern-day Italy

may finally offer answers.

In 71 bc, following a humiliating defeat

their leader, Spartacus, once and for all.

Him down in southern Italy,
led by one of its most powerful

and ambitious generals,
Marcus licinius crass us.

He has a single mission... kill Spartacus.

As Roman pressure mounts,
Spartacus and his army are

pushed toward the
narrow toe of southern Italy.

To the south lies the mediterranean sea,

but Spartacus has no
Navy, no escape route,

and nowhere left to run.
Crassus sees his opportunity.

According to plutarch, crass us orders

the rapid construction of a massive wall

nearly 40 miles long,

stretching from sea to
sea across the peninsula,

effectively sealing in
Spartacus and his forces.

The wall will also become a
turning point that will shape

the final chapter of this epic rebellion.

Once construction of
the wall is complete,

crass us then attacks,

knowing that Spartacus
has nowhere to hide.

And asks for a truce.

But crass us wants blood,
denying the request and forcing

Spartacus into a fight for his life.

What is said to follow is a brutal battle,

with both sides losing
tens of thousands of men.

Remarkably, Spartacus breaks
through the romans' barricade,

but it costs him a huge
portion of his army.

It isn't long before crass us'
legions catch what's left of

near the silarius river,

where the slave-turned-rebel-general

is wounded by a spear to the thigh.

Spartacus' forces are decimated.

And with that, the man himself
finally succumbs to the might

of Rome. Or so we're told.

The fact is, archaeologists
have never found

any evidence of Spartacus.

The historians who
recorded his story were writing

hundreds of years after his death.

But that lack of evidence
would seemingly change in 2024,

when paolo visona, a
classical archaeologist at

the university of Kentucky,
was on an expedition

in southern Italy.

In 2024, we were in southern
Italy, and I was accosted by

a group of local environmentalists

who had wanted to show me some

photos on their cell phones.

And this is when I saw
the first images of this wall.

In my 30-plus year career
doing fieldwork, I've never seen

anything like it. So I needed to see it.

When visona and his team
arrived at the site, it became

clear that the small photo
shown to him on that cell phone

their investigation would soon blow
the archaeological community away.

We walked the wall with a GPS
receiver so that we could plot

the route of the wall.

And the wall turned out to be
almost two kilometers in length

from east to west.

What would the wall that long
be doing in such a remote area

on a mountaintop in
the middle of a forest?

And then we deployed
the magnetometer,

and sure enough, we
found presence of the galli

on one side of the wall,
and only on one side,

the southern side of the wall,

all the way to the end.

And they corroborated
plutarch's description of

the fortification consisting
of a ditch and a wall.

So that made it possible
that this could be crass us' wall.

But the metal detector was
a clincher because the metal

detector produced a number
of objects, some of which were

believed to be Roman.

And these objects included
fragments of weapons.

Between 75 and 50 bce,

which is the time period
within which we have

the Spartacus war.

Visona believed he had found
the wall that the romans used

if it's true, this would confirm the legend,

the first physical evidence
of Spartacus' stunning life.

This was a planned operation
that implied military strategy

and also a large labor force,
all of which would tend to

support plutarch's account.

But it is clear that this
system did not extend from sea

to shining sea, like plutarch's description.

In other words, the
archaeology that we have done

both proves and disproves

the veracity of plutarch's account.

It reminds us that we can never
take ancient literary sources

at face value.

But in any case, I
believe with confidence

that this most likely was
the fortification system

built by crass us.

So did Spartacus truly rise
up from nothing to nearly

overthrow the Roman republic?

It seems more possible than
ever, thanks to the evidence

uncovered by Dr. Visona's team.

Investigate the site.

And with any luck, more
evidence will be discovered.

Enough, perhaps, to
finally free Spartacus

the freedom fighter enslaved no more.

I'm Spartacus. No, wait, I'm Josh gates.

And I'll see you on the next expedition.