Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:09,300
A massive army, swallowed by a sea of
sand.
2
00:00:10,100 --> 00:00:14,980
A lost city, believed to be buried by
the hand of God.
3
00:00:15,580 --> 00:00:21,480
And a sunken man-made structure, older
than civilization itself.
4
00:00:22,580 --> 00:00:28,280
It was not that long ago that the ruins
of the world's oldest known
5
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,900
civilizations lay hidden beneath vast
deserts.
6
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:37,520
Over thousands of years, the sands of
time blanketed an ancient land
7
00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:43,620
stretching from Egypt to Mesopotamia,
entombing the world's first cities,
8
00:00:43,620 --> 00:00:46,600
empires, and complex communities.
9
00:00:47,540 --> 00:00:50,240
What's been discovered so far is
extraordinary.
10
00:00:50,780 --> 00:00:57,000
It only begs the question, what secrets
will be uncovered as we dig deeper into
11
00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,620
our buried distant past?
12
00:00:58,980 --> 00:01:01,620
Well, that is what we'll try and find
out.
13
00:01:16,300 --> 00:01:21,080
Today, more than 8 billion people live
in nearly 200 countries around the
14
00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:22,080
globe.
15
00:01:22,380 --> 00:01:28,100
But what are the origins of our
organized and complex modern world?
16
00:01:30,740 --> 00:01:35,940
According to archaeologists, the answers
lie buried in the mysterious deserts of
17
00:01:35,940 --> 00:01:38,200
North Africa and the Near East.
18
00:01:39,020 --> 00:01:45,240
where thousands of years ago, ancient
societies laid the foundations of human
19
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:46,240
civilization.
20
00:01:47,100 --> 00:01:52,800
Africa, Arabia, and ancient Mesopotamia
gave us some of the earliest cultures
21
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:53,940
that we have.
22
00:01:54,140 --> 00:01:59,340
And so we'll see monumental
architecture, or we'll see evidence of
23
00:01:59,340 --> 00:02:04,740
an organized religion, or diversified
trade or jobs among people.
24
00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:07,980
Sometimes we'll see a single language.
25
00:02:08,970 --> 00:02:14,910
These are what we begin to call the
markers of a civilization, as opposed to
26
00:02:14,910 --> 00:02:16,410
just a bunch of people living together.
27
00:02:16,790 --> 00:02:22,410
And all subsequent civilizations
basically rose from these earliest
28
00:02:22,410 --> 00:02:23,890
cultures in the region.
29
00:02:25,230 --> 00:02:29,890
There's a rich history of buried cities
under the sands.
30
00:02:30,130 --> 00:02:36,750
So you have all these great temples,
forts, buildings, empires that are there
31
00:02:36,750 --> 00:02:37,930
in the deserts.
32
00:02:38,250 --> 00:02:40,450
It's a place of mystery.
33
00:02:41,510 --> 00:02:47,050
We've uncovered many of these
civilizations, but there's so many other
34
00:02:47,050 --> 00:02:51,450
places that are hidden, so many other
sites that are yet to be uncovered.
35
00:02:52,810 --> 00:02:57,770
It's hard to imagine the devastation and
loss faced by communities who are no
36
00:02:57,770 --> 00:03:00,430
match to powerful desert winds.
37
00:03:01,270 --> 00:03:05,270
Some storms are said to be so strong a
massive army could be swallowed.
38
00:03:06,060 --> 00:03:07,840
by a sea of sand.
39
00:03:11,380 --> 00:03:12,920
Pelusium, Egypt.
40
00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:19,880
This fortified border city once
protected ancient Egypt from invaders.
41
00:03:20,660 --> 00:03:27,220
According to the famed Greek historian
Herodotus, in 525 BC, it was the site of
42
00:03:27,220 --> 00:03:28,420
the Battle of Pelusium.
43
00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:35,720
When the Persian Empire, led by King
Cambyses II, became the first, foreign
44
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,860
power to conquer ancient Egypt.
45
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:45,340
The Persian Empire has taken over most
of Egypt at this point in history, but
46
00:03:45,340 --> 00:03:49,720
there are some holdouts. So one of the
holdouts is that this oasis city of
47
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:54,900
Siwas that refused to bend the knee to
the Persian king, this is in the very
48
00:03:54,900 --> 00:04:00,540
western desert of Egypt, where there is
an oracle to the Egyptian god Amun.
49
00:04:01,420 --> 00:04:03,040
The Oracle of Amun.
50
00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:09,140
was a famous temple, renowned as a
center for prophecy, where priests would
51
00:04:09,140 --> 00:04:15,140
interpret the divine will of Amon, the
most powerful deity in ancient Egypt.
52
00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:22,460
And for a conquering king, a blessing
from this all-powerful god would justify
53
00:04:22,460 --> 00:04:25,520
his rule over Egypt.
54
00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:32,620
And so the great Persian ruler, Cambyses
II, He wants the oracle to confirm
55
00:04:32,620 --> 00:04:39,180
his divine kingship. The oracle refuses
to do that. So we get this story from
56
00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:46,100
the Greek historian Herodotus. Somewhere
around 525 BC, Cambyses II
57
00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:52,420
sends his army out to say, oh, you're
not going to affirm me as divine king.
58
00:04:53,050 --> 00:04:58,550
I'm going to destroy this oracle. I'm
going to send out 50,000 of my best
59
00:04:58,550 --> 00:05:04,370
soldiers to go through, cross the desert
to the Oracle of Siwa and lay waste to
60
00:05:04,370 --> 00:05:05,370
it.
61
00:05:05,710 --> 00:05:11,870
According to Herodotus, 50,000 Persian
soldiers set out from the city of
62
00:05:11,870 --> 00:05:18,270
Thebes, the former capital of Upper
Egypt, to defy the gods and destroy
63
00:05:18,270 --> 00:05:20,290
the Oracle of Amman.
64
00:05:20,810 --> 00:05:22,070
But first...
65
00:05:22,390 --> 00:05:28,570
They would brave at 10 to 14 day march
across a vast wasteland known as
66
00:05:28,570 --> 00:05:31,530
the Great Sand Sea.
67
00:05:32,010 --> 00:05:35,070
The Great Sand Sea is a huge area.
68
00:05:35,750 --> 00:05:39,430
It's about 400 kilometers long and
probably as many kilometers wide.
69
00:05:40,230 --> 00:05:46,370
And it really looks like a sea. You can
hardly see any gaps between the dunes.
70
00:05:46,390 --> 00:05:48,490
It's just row after row after row.
71
00:05:48,870 --> 00:05:51,330
It's just very difficult to travel in.
72
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:57,980
because the dunes are extremely steep
and quite high, but the real difficulty
73
00:05:57,980 --> 00:06:01,520
is sufficient supplies of water, and
there are no wells.
74
00:06:01,740 --> 00:06:05,100
But you might also stumble into
quicksand.
75
00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:11,000
You could be caught in a sandstorm. You
could be bitten by a scorpion or poison
76
00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:16,260
a snake. So the whole environment is
really against you.
77
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,080
This is called the Great Sand Sea, and
sandstorms are real, and they are
78
00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:23,140
something to be reckoned with.
79
00:06:23,540 --> 00:06:27,500
At Siwa, they're obviously notably
nervous, because they know this army is
80
00:06:27,500 --> 00:06:28,500
coming.
81
00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:34,020
50,000 men, and according to Herodotus,
after several days marching in the
82
00:06:34,020 --> 00:06:38,580
desert, they simply disappear without a
trace.
83
00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:40,620
They're never heard from again.
84
00:06:41,980 --> 00:06:45,980
And Herodotus assumes they are buried in
the sand.
85
00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:52,460
and that somewhere under the dunes of
the Great Pantheon lies the lost army of
86
00:06:52,460 --> 00:06:53,460
Cambyses.
87
00:06:53,980 --> 00:06:57,560
Could 50,000 soldiers simply disappear?
88
00:06:58,660 --> 00:07:04,720
For more than 2,500 years, historians
have debated the unknown fate of the
89
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:10,540
lost army of Cambyses, and whether it
even happened in the first place.
90
00:07:10,980 --> 00:07:13,980
After all, Herodotus wrote about these
events.
91
00:07:14,490 --> 00:07:17,930
nearly a century after they allegedly
took place.
92
00:07:19,430 --> 00:07:24,090
Now this story comes to us from
Herodotus and his histories. It was
93
00:07:24,090 --> 00:07:25,950
talked about this story already
existing.
94
00:07:26,890 --> 00:07:30,990
Herodotus is known as the father of
histories, but he's also been called the
95
00:07:30,990 --> 00:07:31,949
father of lies.
96
00:07:31,950 --> 00:07:35,750
So how much can we trust Herodotus on
this? We don't have a lot of other
97
00:07:35,750 --> 00:07:36,750
corroborating information.
98
00:07:38,490 --> 00:07:43,790
Did 50,000 Persian soldiers succumb to
the great sand sea?
99
00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,980
Or is the legend nothing more than myth?
100
00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:54,280
Some believe the ancient desert is
slowly revealing the army's fate.
101
00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,140
Bahrain, Egypt, 2009.
102
00:08:00,060 --> 00:08:06,400
After excavating the area around a tiny
oasis deep in the Sahara, southeast of
103
00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:12,500
the ancient ruins of Siwa, Italian
archaeologists Alfredo and Angelo
104
00:08:12,500 --> 00:08:13,500
Castiglione
105
00:08:14,110 --> 00:08:15,550
Make a remarkable discovery.
106
00:08:16,650 --> 00:08:23,370
The Castiglione brothers went in search
of the missing army of Cambyses.
107
00:08:23,550 --> 00:08:29,210
What they did was follow the caravan
routes through the western desert of
108
00:08:29,210 --> 00:08:34,270
Egypt, and eventually they did actually
come across a large number of artifacts.
109
00:08:35,230 --> 00:08:40,809
They came across bronze weapons, they
came across human bones,
110
00:08:41,740 --> 00:08:46,440
They came across various water jugs that
had actually been planted into the
111
00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:50,580
ground. And they also came across a
large amount of jewelry. And they were
112
00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:56,440
able to analyze these and come to the
conclusion that they did indeed date to
113
00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,360
the Persian period of occupation in
Egypt.
114
00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:05,360
And it could well be that these Italian
researchers did actually find evidence
115
00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:06,860
of this missing army.
116
00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:09,800
There's a lot of people who are
skeptical.
117
00:09:10,589 --> 00:09:13,770
Essentially, the argument is to say
those could have been by anybody. It
118
00:09:13,770 --> 00:09:17,270
could have been by any visitor. And so
it's really not clear if what they found
119
00:09:17,270 --> 00:09:19,430
was actually evidence of the lost army.
120
00:09:20,450 --> 00:09:25,450
But whether that was the lost army or
not, the artifacts they found in the
121
00:09:25,450 --> 00:09:31,390
sand tell us that there is stuff buried
in the desert still to find that can
122
00:09:31,390 --> 00:09:32,490
tell us something about the past.
123
00:09:35,190 --> 00:09:36,330
It's hard to imagine.
124
00:09:36,990 --> 00:09:42,230
what it must have been like to lose
50,000 Persian soldiers in the
125
00:09:42,230 --> 00:09:43,230
unforgiving desert.
126
00:09:44,170 --> 00:09:49,530
But forgiveness might have played a
different role for a lost city uncovered
127
00:09:49,530 --> 00:09:55,410
in southern Iraq, where some believe the
ancient ruins may be linked to the
128
00:09:55,410 --> 00:09:56,770
Garden of Eden.
129
00:10:01,770 --> 00:10:04,530
Southern Iraq, February 1854.
130
00:10:06,220 --> 00:10:11,700
A British team, led by archaeologist
John George Taylor, excavates what
131
00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:14,940
appears to be a series of barren desert
mounds.
132
00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:22,220
But incredibly, they soon uncover an
extensive network of brick walls and a
133
00:10:22,220 --> 00:10:23,420
massive ziggurat.
134
00:10:24,620 --> 00:10:30,100
They later determine these structures
are the remains of a remarkable ancient
135
00:10:30,100 --> 00:10:34,000
city buried by the sands of time.
136
00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:42,500
John George Taylor, who also crucially
found bricks that actually were
137
00:10:42,500 --> 00:10:47,460
stamped with the name of the city, and
that was Eridu.
138
00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:53,620
Eridu is considered the oldest city of
the world. It dates back to about 5400
139
00:10:53,620 --> 00:11:00,400
BC, and was actually constructed by the
ancient Sumerian culture.
140
00:11:01,420 --> 00:11:06,920
The Sumerians themselves said that Eridu
was the most ancient city.
141
00:11:08,020 --> 00:11:12,220
The Sumerians are an important
civilization for many different reasons.
142
00:11:12,260 --> 00:11:17,440
First and foremost, that they invent
writing in a system known as cuneiform,
143
00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:21,780
which is just the wedge-shaped
impressions that a reed stylus would
144
00:11:21,780 --> 00:11:23,220
make into clay tablets.
145
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:29,460
Another important contribution that the
Sumerians give to us is the development
146
00:11:29,460 --> 00:11:30,940
of urban lifestyle.
147
00:11:31,420 --> 00:11:32,420
So the first cities.
148
00:11:32,740 --> 00:11:38,100
In these cities, we begin to find the
emergence of political elites, religious
149
00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:43,660
elites. Eridu is the first political
center of this region. And couple that
150
00:11:43,660 --> 00:11:47,820
with writing, and we start to get a real
picture of a society, really the
151
00:11:47,820 --> 00:11:49,880
beginnings of our knowledge of history.
152
00:11:51,820 --> 00:11:56,980
Soon after the discovery of Eridu, the
ancient city drew the attention of
153
00:11:56,980 --> 00:12:00,260
British Assyriologist Theopolis Pinchas.
154
00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:07,660
And his 1908 book was responsible for
inspiring a provocative yet long
155
00:12:07,660 --> 00:12:12,940
-standing theory that Eridu may have
actually been the most famous paradise
156
00:12:12,940 --> 00:12:19,640
in human history, as described in the
Bible, the Garden of
157
00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:20,640
Eden.
158
00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:27,900
The Garden of Eden in the book of
Genesis first appears in chapter 2, and
159
00:12:27,900 --> 00:12:30,280
it's placed right there at the
beginning.
160
00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:31,750
of creation.
161
00:12:32,230 --> 00:12:39,190
It's set up as a place where God creates
the human
162
00:12:39,190 --> 00:12:41,630
and puts him in this garden.
163
00:12:42,050 --> 00:12:45,170
And his job is to till it, to take care
of it.
164
00:12:45,630 --> 00:12:51,730
And soon Adam and Eve are in this
garden, living together in this idyllic
165
00:12:51,730 --> 00:12:58,230
life. The big question is, is the Garden
of Eden a real place, or is it a
166
00:12:58,230 --> 00:12:59,450
mythological place?
167
00:13:00,190 --> 00:13:02,350
Or is it a metaphor for humanity?
168
00:13:03,370 --> 00:13:06,750
Was the Garden of Eden a real location?
169
00:13:07,050 --> 00:13:11,370
A lush paradise where the first human
beings are said to have lived?
170
00:13:11,650 --> 00:13:18,550
And if so, could Eden have been located
in Eridu, the oldest human settlement
171
00:13:18,550 --> 00:13:20,250
ever discovered?
172
00:13:20,870 --> 00:13:26,470
In 2025, researchers did this amazing
study where they discovered that...
173
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:33,620
200 irrigation canals and 4,000 branch
canals were situated in and
174
00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:37,740
around the city of Eridu to bring water
to where they wanted.
175
00:13:38,460 --> 00:13:43,300
And so what this tells us about the
environment is that it was much wetter,
176
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,500
much more productive than it is now.
177
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:53,140
The result of the irrigation engineering
was the abundance of fabulous, very,
178
00:13:53,220 --> 00:13:54,520
very well-managed gardens.
179
00:13:55,370 --> 00:14:00,810
very well-ordered, beautiful, lush,
manicured little paradises that
180
00:14:00,810 --> 00:14:03,010
proliferated in Eridu.
181
00:14:05,270 --> 00:14:10,210
It's incredible to think that this
desert wasteland was once home to
182
00:14:10,210 --> 00:14:12,890
bountiful and vibrant life of all kinds.
183
00:14:13,830 --> 00:14:19,450
But why would Eridu even be considered a
possible location for the Garden of
184
00:14:19,450 --> 00:14:25,240
Eden? Well, some point to clues
mentioned in the Bible's Book of
185
00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:31,420
Genesis. In Genesis, we're told that the
Garden of Eden has four rivers.
186
00:14:31,780 --> 00:14:37,600
They are the Tigris, the Euphrates, the
Gihon, and the Pishon. We know what the
187
00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,860
Tigris and Euphrates are. These are two
very famous rivers that essentially run
188
00:14:41,860 --> 00:14:45,020
all the way down through Iraq and into
the Persian Gulf.
189
00:14:45,740 --> 00:14:50,980
While many scholars think that the
Garden of Eden is a metaphor for a
190
00:14:50,980 --> 00:14:51,980
utopian paradise,
191
00:14:52,970 --> 00:14:56,350
Many people actually think it's in
ancient Mesopotamia.
192
00:14:58,050 --> 00:15:02,690
I do think the Bible gives us a real
place when it's describing Eden. The
193
00:15:02,690 --> 00:15:03,730
clues are the rivers.
194
00:15:04,230 --> 00:15:08,470
We know where the Tigris and Euphrates
are. The more challenging ones are the
195
00:15:08,470 --> 00:15:11,650
ones that have since disappeared, the
Pisan and the Gihon.
196
00:15:11,990 --> 00:15:16,190
And so we start with what do we know?
Well, we know where the Euphrates River
197
00:15:16,190 --> 00:15:18,330
is, and we know where the Tigris River
is.
198
00:15:18,650 --> 00:15:22,680
And so if we're taking the text of the
Bible at face value, then... That's
199
00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:23,680
where the Garden of Eden is.
200
00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:29,480
And this is very interesting because
Eridu is right on one of these major
201
00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,440
rivers that we're talking about. In this
case, it's the Euphrates River.
202
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,280
That's then very consistent with the
Eden story.
203
00:15:38,340 --> 00:15:43,720
While Eridu appears to be in the same
region that Scripture describes as the
204
00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:49,040
Garden of Eden, some believe another
clue can be found in ancient
205
00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,520
Mesopotamian tales.
206
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,960
surrounding the Sumerian creator god
known as Enki.
207
00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:02,440
One of the prominent figures associated
with this idea that Eridu was a biblical
208
00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,420
Eden is Enki, patron deity of the city,
the god of wisdom, and the god of
209
00:16:07,420 --> 00:16:09,400
underwater aquifers and fresh water.
210
00:16:10,730 --> 00:16:16,650
Enki is a major figure in most of the
Sumerian creation myths. He has a very
211
00:16:16,650 --> 00:16:22,410
important role to play in the emergence
of not just humanity, but really life
212
00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:25,410
itself. He opts to create humanity.
213
00:16:25,710 --> 00:16:31,610
And so what we find is early
associations of Eridu with a site of
214
00:16:31,610 --> 00:16:34,310
creation, a paradise, a Mesopotamian
Eden.
215
00:16:37,550 --> 00:16:42,410
The Garden of Eden story, it has to be
sort of thought of as this origin story,
216
00:16:42,530 --> 00:16:43,590
as where we come from.
217
00:16:43,930 --> 00:16:49,370
So maybe Eridu was one of the sources,
or maybe the main source for the Garden
218
00:16:49,370 --> 00:16:50,249
of Eden.
219
00:16:50,250 --> 00:16:56,150
We know Eridu was remembered fondly as
the birthplace of civilization, but the
220
00:16:56,150 --> 00:17:01,030
Sumerian and Mesopotamian civilizations,
could this have been sort of what we
221
00:17:01,030 --> 00:17:02,850
remember through the Garden of Eden
story?
222
00:17:03,430 --> 00:17:04,429
It's possible.
223
00:17:06,060 --> 00:17:10,500
It would be a remarkable discovery if
Eridu was indeed linked to the mythical
224
00:17:10,500 --> 00:17:11,500
Garden of Eden.
225
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:17,500
The same can be said for another
legendary location, a place so decadent
226
00:17:17,500 --> 00:17:22,079
it was said to be swallowed up by the
desert at God's command.
227
00:17:26,740 --> 00:17:28,240
The Arabian Peninsula.
228
00:17:29,180 --> 00:17:34,640
It's home to seven sovereign nations and
some of the wealthiest cities on Earth.
229
00:17:35,660 --> 00:17:42,520
Dubai is a mecca of business and luxury
trade, and home to over 86,000
230
00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:48,100
millionaires. And Abu Dhabi is
considered one of the richest centers
231
00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:49,880
for global finance in the world.
232
00:17:50,820 --> 00:17:57,820
Yet, surrounding these opulent,
money-soaked metropolises lies nearly
233
00:17:57,820 --> 00:18:01,520
one million square miles of empty
desert.
234
00:18:02,700 --> 00:18:08,880
And beneath this vast and scorched
landscape lies countless ancient secrets
235
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,140
lost to time.
236
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:18,720
One of the interesting things about the
desert in Arabia is that structures that
237
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:24,200
were once built get buried in sand,
meaning they're preserved from the
238
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:29,240
elements. They didn't rot. They didn't
get knocked down. They're still there
239
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:30,240
for us to discover.
240
00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,020
There's thousands of years of things
being buried underneath those sands. And
241
00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:40,280
there are a number of accounts of lost
cities in Arabia.
242
00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:46,960
So if you go later in the Islamic world,
the Arabian Nights, they talk about
243
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,140
lost cities, buried cities.
244
00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:55,660
But then we also know that Arab culture
is an oral culture. It's an oral
245
00:18:55,660 --> 00:18:59,780
tradition. So for hundreds, thousands of
years, you have these stories.
246
00:19:00,380 --> 00:19:04,080
of the cities buried underneath the
sands.
247
00:19:05,380 --> 00:19:09,600
Of all the tales of ancient cities said
to be buried in the deserts of Arabia,
248
00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:16,300
the most famous is the story of a
legendary lost realm known as
249
00:19:16,300 --> 00:19:17,300
Ubar.
250
00:19:18,940 --> 00:19:24,180
There are persistent legends among the
Arabic people in the Arabian Peninsula
251
00:19:24,180 --> 00:19:26,180
of a great city.
252
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,980
That became incredibly rich from
frankincense.
253
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,860
Frankincense is a hard substance that
was used in funeral rites and all sorts
254
00:19:35,860 --> 00:19:37,680
of things. It was incredibly valuable.
255
00:19:38,260 --> 00:19:41,940
It would have made someone incredibly
rich to control that, and that's what
256
00:19:41,940 --> 00:19:43,720
the city of Ubar supposedly did.
257
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,860
But no one knows if it's real or not,
just that it's a great, important city
258
00:19:48,860 --> 00:19:51,760
that is lost in the sands of Arabia.
259
00:19:53,460 --> 00:19:56,420
You have these stories of this ancient
city.
260
00:19:56,780 --> 00:20:02,980
Uba, capital city of the frankincense
trade that grows rich and wealthy, and
261
00:20:02,980 --> 00:20:04,640
that this wealth leads to corruption.
262
00:20:05,380 --> 00:20:07,320
There's all sorts of immoral behavior.
263
00:20:08,700 --> 00:20:15,380
If you look at the oral traditions, this
great wind from God literally buries
264
00:20:15,380 --> 00:20:17,080
this city under the sands.
265
00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:23,340
And the idea there is that even the
wealthiest, most powerful cities aren't
266
00:20:23,340 --> 00:20:24,780
immune to divine retribution.
267
00:20:26,270 --> 00:20:32,150
It has been passed down through oral
lore and legends by Bedouin tribes and
268
00:20:32,150 --> 00:20:35,950
nomads in the Arabian Peninsula for
we're not quite sure how long.
269
00:20:36,170 --> 00:20:41,290
And this image of a civilization sinking
beneath the sands really caught on in
270
00:20:41,290 --> 00:20:42,290
popular imagination.
271
00:20:42,330 --> 00:20:47,810
And so in the 1930s, Bertram Thomas
picked this up and dubbed this the
272
00:20:47,810 --> 00:20:49,730
Atlantis of the Sands.
273
00:20:50,810 --> 00:20:54,070
Famed British diplomat and explorer
Bertram Thomas.
274
00:20:54,890 --> 00:21:00,330
had been travelling through the Arabian
desert in the early 1930s when he set
275
00:21:00,330 --> 00:21:05,890
out to solve the great mystery of this
legendary lost city.
276
00:21:07,510 --> 00:21:14,250
Bertram Thomas went in search of Ubar
and he spent time
277
00:21:14,250 --> 00:21:15,990
with the Bedouin.
278
00:21:16,610 --> 00:21:20,850
The Bedouin have been there for many,
many thousands of years. It's obviously
279
00:21:20,850 --> 00:21:21,850
their home.
280
00:21:22,140 --> 00:21:25,880
And they fully believed in the existence
of this city.
281
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:32,020
And Thomas crossed the desert, and he
got to a certain point, and they
282
00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:36,800
basically said, that is the path that
will eventually lead you to it.
283
00:21:37,180 --> 00:21:42,440
But unfortunately, due to the provisions
that he had, he couldn't deviate from
284
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,740
the actual course that he was on.
285
00:21:45,340 --> 00:21:49,140
All he was able to do was record all the
stories and the folklore.
286
00:21:49,870 --> 00:21:53,090
that the Bedouin gave him and continued
his journey.
287
00:21:53,430 --> 00:21:56,150
So that was the end of that particular
third.
288
00:21:57,770 --> 00:21:59,530
February 5th, 1992.
289
00:22:00,070 --> 00:22:05,690
A bombshell article published on the
front page of the New York Times makes a
290
00:22:05,690 --> 00:22:11,390
shocking claim that the fabled lost city
of Ubar may have finally been found.
291
00:22:12,090 --> 00:22:15,810
An American explorer by the name of
Nicholas Clatt.
292
00:22:16,250 --> 00:22:22,470
working with the British explorer Ranulf
Fiennes decided to use
293
00:22:22,470 --> 00:22:29,290
satellite images to follow the different
Bedouin routes and see if they
294
00:22:29,290 --> 00:22:32,550
could trace the actual location of this
lost city.
295
00:22:33,350 --> 00:22:39,770
They used satellite technology and
declassified images from NASA to have a
296
00:22:39,770 --> 00:22:46,460
look over that broad area and what they
found was that a number of roots
297
00:22:46,460 --> 00:22:49,900
converged around the site of Shiza in
Oman.
298
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:55,180
The conclusion that they came to was
that this was ancient Ubar. They had
299
00:22:55,180 --> 00:22:58,080
found the center of the frankincense
trade.
300
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,900
But a number of archaeologists aren't
quite sure about this conclusion.
301
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:09,760
Was the Atlantis of the Sands really
discovered in the southeastern corner of
302
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:14,180
the Arabian Peninsula and in a village
now known as Shiza?
303
00:23:14,670 --> 00:23:20,750
While it remains a controversial claim,
local investigations have yielded even
304
00:23:20,750 --> 00:23:23,090
more intriguing discoveries.
305
00:23:24,170 --> 00:23:28,810
With Klatt's expedition, they were the
ones to discover that there's clearly
306
00:23:28,810 --> 00:23:33,910
something quite extensive that was there
before at what we now call the village
307
00:23:33,910 --> 00:23:34,910
of Schitter.
308
00:23:35,550 --> 00:23:41,410
There's some rock walls, there's a well
that was accessible, so it did...
309
00:23:41,770 --> 00:23:46,310
fulfill a lot of the criteria for a
settlement in the desert. And it wasn't
310
00:23:46,310 --> 00:23:47,650
insignificant by any means.
311
00:23:48,510 --> 00:23:55,410
They found evidence of a eight-sided
fortress that had collapsed in
312
00:23:55,410 --> 00:23:56,410
on itself.
313
00:23:56,510 --> 00:24:02,690
And this, of course, fitted very well
with the lost city of Ubar. The idea
314
00:24:02,690 --> 00:24:06,690
that it had been quite literally
swallowed up by the sands itself.
315
00:24:08,930 --> 00:24:13,660
Most of us think... that there are so
many of these cities that are buried
316
00:24:13,660 --> 00:24:18,320
underneath the sands and waiting to be
rediscovered. It's possible that what
317
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:20,260
Nicholas Clapp found was Uba.
318
00:24:20,580 --> 00:24:24,160
It's also possible that this was another
fort.
319
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,300
We don't know what happened for sure.
320
00:24:28,380 --> 00:24:34,640
If a legendary lost city truly vanished
beneath the Arabian sands, perhaps it's
321
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:36,540
not the only mystery hidden there.
322
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:43,180
Because beyond the ruins of Ubar lies
the empty quarter of the largest sand
323
00:24:43,180 --> 00:24:49,140
desert on Earth, where it is said that
powerful, supernatural beings known as
324
00:24:49,140 --> 00:24:53,040
jinn haunt the shifting sands.
325
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:03,460
In southern Arabia, a giant ocean of
sand stretches across more than 250,000
326
00:25:03,460 --> 00:25:06,920
square miles, an area about the size of
Texas.
327
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:12,540
This massive desert covers a quarter of
the Arabian Peninsula and is populated
328
00:25:12,540 --> 00:25:16,520
only by nomadic Bedouin tribes and oil
field workers.
329
00:25:17,420 --> 00:25:23,160
The region is almost completely
uninhabited, which is why it has come to
330
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,760
be known as the Empty Quarter.
331
00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:31,460
The Empty Quarter Desert is a really
unique place. There's lots of deserts
332
00:25:31,460 --> 00:25:34,800
all over the world, and many of them
feel vast.
333
00:25:35,150 --> 00:25:39,810
and uninhabited and remote, but none of
them can match the empty quarter.
334
00:25:40,450 --> 00:25:44,750
Humans have still been unable to tame
the wilderness of the empty quarter
335
00:25:44,750 --> 00:25:48,330
desert. They can travel through, but
even that's a challenge.
336
00:25:48,650 --> 00:25:53,350
There's nothing that matches the
intensity of that solitude and that
337
00:25:53,350 --> 00:25:55,170
disconnection from the rest of the
world.
338
00:25:55,930 --> 00:25:59,330
But according to those who have dared to
venture into this vast and harsh
339
00:25:59,330 --> 00:26:04,880
wilderness, A dark secret haunts the
shifting sands, and the empty quarter
340
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,880
may not be as empty as it seems.
341
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:14,640
There have been lots of stories from the
empty quarter about people's encounters
342
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:16,560
with supernatural beings.
343
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:23,140
There have been people camping out who
have heard footsteps and crowds of
344
00:26:23,140 --> 00:26:24,480
people gathering around their tent.
345
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,700
There have been oil workers who've seen
tracks.
346
00:26:28,010 --> 00:26:31,750
in the deserts that have disappeared the
next day. All sorts of strange things
347
00:26:31,750 --> 00:26:34,410
happen that can't be explained.
348
00:26:35,430 --> 00:26:41,210
I've not had any experience myself, but
friends of mine, for example, have
349
00:26:41,210 --> 00:26:46,770
expressed that lights go on and off,
that they hear voices at a certain time,
350
00:26:46,790 --> 00:26:50,370
particularly at night, and other
phenomena like this.
351
00:26:50,750 --> 00:26:53,730
Perhaps as listeners to these stories,
they might seem a little bit far
352
00:26:53,730 --> 00:26:57,720
-fetched. But when you're actually
experiencing them, they can obviously
353
00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,700
feel very real and very scary.
354
00:27:00,380 --> 00:27:07,160
The only people that really occupy this
area is the Bedouin. And they see
355
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:13,080
the Empty Quarter as a spirit in its own
right. They believe it has supernatural
356
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:14,080
entities.
357
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:19,360
Are the hands of the Empty Quarter
inhabited by some kind of supernatural
358
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:20,360
presence?
359
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,980
And if so, exactly who or what are
people encountering in the desert?
360
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:33,380
The answer may lie in the pages of the
Koran, which describes a type of ghostly
361
00:27:33,380 --> 00:27:36,140
beings known as jinn.
362
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:42,220
The Koran talks about the jinn as being
created from fire without smoke.
363
00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:48,980
They can assume different forms, they
can take different shapes, and so...
364
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,800
You have places that are considered
haunted by the jinn.
365
00:27:53,300 --> 00:27:58,420
One of the names for a person that is
considered insane in Arabic is Majnun.
366
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:05,640
This person is possessed by the jinn. So
you have all sorts of stories of people
367
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:10,780
who encounter these beings that may well
be jinn in the empty quarter.
368
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,160
From the mid-19th to the 20th century,
tales of mystical jinn haunting the
369
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:21,460
empty quarter were introduced to the
Western world in books by British
370
00:28:21,460 --> 00:28:27,840
explorers like Bertram Thomas's Arabia
Felix in 1932 and Wilfred
371
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,360
Thesiger's Arabian Sands in 1959.
372
00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:39,200
Bertram Thomas and Wilfred Thesiger
spent many years investigating
373
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:44,740
the folklore and traditions of the
Bedouin of the Empty Quarter.
374
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:46,840
The Bedouin would be...
375
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:52,540
highly respectful of locations where
they felt that the jinn were located.
376
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,920
They would make offerings, they would
appease them, they would know that this
377
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:02,060
was a place that was haunted by the
jinn, and they would not go anywhere
378
00:29:02,060 --> 00:29:03,060
near.
379
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,720
Let the juror describe in his book,
Arabian Sands, where one of his
380
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:13,180
companions seems to be inhabited by a
spirit, and is...
381
00:29:13,420 --> 00:29:16,320
acting very oddly all the way through
the night and goes through a process
382
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,020
that's almost like an exorcism. And the
next day is returned to normal.
383
00:29:20,700 --> 00:29:26,140
And Fissinger writes about it quite
objectively almost, from a distance. But
384
00:29:26,140 --> 00:29:29,720
for his companions, this seems
relatively normal. It's very much part
385
00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:31,520
of the life that he's observing.
386
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,360
The thought of jinn possessing people in
the empty quarters is terrifying.
387
00:29:37,100 --> 00:29:40,260
But in modern times, experts have
theorized that these...
388
00:29:40,540 --> 00:29:46,760
Strange experiences are caused not by
supernatural beings, but rather
389
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:48,680
the desert itself.
390
00:29:49,420 --> 00:29:55,980
A lot of the stories about djinns in the
desert might have their origin in
391
00:29:55,980 --> 00:29:57,300
natural phenomena.
392
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:03,700
You get phenomena called the singing
sands, a sort of low-pitched...
393
00:30:03,980 --> 00:30:09,120
groaning sound, coming from sound,
moving on sound, creating a really
394
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:10,440
strange noise.
395
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:16,080
You also get mirages that are very
unlike what you get in everyday
396
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:20,800
travelling. You get things that look
like mountains, which are usually
397
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:25,000
reflections of really small boulders
that have been reflected upwards, and in
398
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,000
fact is imaginary.
399
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:31,580
All of that taken together, that's
almost certainly partly the source of
400
00:30:31,580 --> 00:30:32,580
some of those stories.
401
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:38,200
A number of these incidents can be
explained by extreme heat, dehydration,
402
00:30:38,260 --> 00:30:43,020
feeling of disorientation that the
desert produces across the empty
403
00:30:43,020 --> 00:30:47,700
quarter. But nevertheless, these can be
very powerful experiences.
404
00:30:48,340 --> 00:30:51,860
And for a lot of people, it's something
much more complex than that.
405
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:58,920
I believe that the empty quarter is
alive because the Bedouin people tell us
406
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,880
so. And they've been there for thousands
of years.
407
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,180
They've seen it in every aspect.
408
00:31:05,620 --> 00:31:11,440
They know every part of it. So if they
tell us that jinn exist, we should
409
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,940
adhere to their words.
410
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:19,120
Whether the strange experiences that
take place in the empty quarter are the
411
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:24,480
result of supernatural entities or
natural phenomena remains a fascinating
412
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:25,480
mystery.
413
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:32,040
But another intriguing enigma lies in an
ancient tomb.
414
00:31:32,540 --> 00:31:37,900
buried in the sands of northern Africa,
which some believe was the final resting
415
00:31:37,900 --> 00:31:42,520
place of ancient Egypt's most
controversial pharaoh.
416
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,980
The Valley of the Kings, southern Egypt.
417
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:58,100
From the 16th to the 11th century BC,
ancient Egyptians laid their great
418
00:31:58,100 --> 00:32:01,880
pharaohs to rest in this royal cemetery,
including...
419
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,860
the extraordinary burial of King
Tutankhamun.
420
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:11,800
But in 1907, British archaeologist
Edward Ayrton discovered one very
421
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:17,740
mysterious tomb among the rest, and
whoever is buried here has been shrouded
422
00:32:17,740 --> 00:32:20,060
in mystery for well over a century.
423
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:28,200
It is a small, roughly cut tomb with a
single, roughly
424
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,460
square burial chamber.
425
00:32:31,310 --> 00:32:37,170
The problem is that items such as the
coffin and a gilded wooden shrine that
426
00:32:37,170 --> 00:32:41,790
would go around the sarcophagus and the
body have been deliberately damaged and
427
00:32:41,790 --> 00:32:43,870
at a certain point the names removed.
428
00:32:44,490 --> 00:32:50,010
The single most glaring instance of this
is that down a short inscription along
429
00:32:50,010 --> 00:32:55,070
the front of the coffin there is a
section missing. We just see the bare
430
00:32:55,070 --> 00:32:56,070
wood.
431
00:32:56,220 --> 00:32:59,240
This almost certainly was the name of a
king or another member of the royal
432
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,900
family that had been deliberately
removed at some point.
433
00:33:02,700 --> 00:33:05,980
After opening the coffin on which the
royal name was surprisingly stripped
434
00:33:05,980 --> 00:33:12,940
away, Edward Ayrton and his team exhumed
the mummified body inside and discovered
435
00:33:12,940 --> 00:33:14,560
something even more shocking.
436
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:20,560
The right side of its skull appeared to
have been severely damaged.
437
00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:25,180
It's hard to tell if this was a victim
of murder.
438
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:31,060
But what we can see is the tomb doesn't
seem to have had the same care as you'd
439
00:33:31,060 --> 00:33:35,540
expect from a tomb in the Valley of the
Kings. The conclusion we can draw from
440
00:33:35,540 --> 00:33:41,500
that is that this person was not well
loved and that he was supposed to be
441
00:33:41,500 --> 00:33:43,120
erased from the collective memory.
442
00:33:43,780 --> 00:33:49,060
Why did the ancient Egyptians abandon
centuries of sacred tradition and ravage
443
00:33:49,060 --> 00:33:50,340
a royal burial chamber?
444
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,100
And who was the nameless occupant laid
to rest in this...
445
00:33:54,410 --> 00:33:55,410
Bizarre tomb.
446
00:33:56,790 --> 00:34:01,670
It's such a profound mystery that unlike
other tombs dedicated to identifiable
447
00:34:01,670 --> 00:34:07,810
pharaohs, archaeologists can only refer
to this site by its catalogue number,
448
00:34:08,250 --> 00:34:09,670
KV55.
449
00:34:10,850 --> 00:34:17,090
Tomb KV55 is a real anomaly, and that is
because in most other Egyptian burials,
450
00:34:17,090 --> 00:34:20,489
you would have the tomb, the coffin, and
the body.
451
00:34:20,790 --> 00:34:23,330
The name on the coffin is the name of
the body.
452
00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:29,620
So you have a coherent story told to us
by this evidence, in whom KV55, the
453
00:34:29,620 --> 00:34:34,560
challenge for archaeologists is to try
and find out and untangle these pieces
454
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:38,880
of evidence to answer the question, who
is buried in KV55?
455
00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:45,600
What's interesting is that around the
burial are four what they refer to as
456
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:46,620
magic bricks.
457
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:52,340
Now these are supposedly to protect the
person that's interred within the
458
00:34:52,340 --> 00:34:58,900
coffin. And when they were able to read
the hieroglyphs on these bricks, it gave
459
00:34:58,900 --> 00:35:02,300
the throne name of the pharaoh
Akhenaten.
460
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:09,460
Akhenaten was a pharaoh during the 18th
dynasty of Egyptian history in the New
461
00:35:09,460 --> 00:35:14,720
Kingdom. He was extremely important
because one of the most radical things
462
00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:17,540
in Egyptian history happened under his
rule.
463
00:35:18,510 --> 00:35:24,890
What Akhenaten did was essentially take
the pantheon of Egyptian gods and he
464
00:35:24,890 --> 00:35:30,970
shifted it towards a religion in which
the Aten, the Sundis, was the sole god
465
00:35:30,970 --> 00:35:32,090
of ancient Egypt.
466
00:35:32,330 --> 00:35:38,970
This was absolutely radical and unheard
of in Egyptian society until this point.
467
00:35:40,270 --> 00:35:45,990
We also know that a very important part
of Akhenaten's story is that he was
468
00:35:45,990 --> 00:35:46,990
deliberately forgotten.
469
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:48,880
very shortly after his lifetime.
470
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:55,600
Just as Akhenaten himself defaced
monuments devoted to the worship of
471
00:35:55,600 --> 00:36:01,520
these old gods which he wanted to get
rid of, following his own death and the
472
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,760
end of his lifetime, his own name was
erased.
473
00:36:05,540 --> 00:36:10,320
His temples were dismantled in such a
way that his image would be invisible.
474
00:36:11,500 --> 00:36:16,620
For a civilization that is so concerned
with immortality, that is so concerned
475
00:36:16,620 --> 00:36:22,420
with building shrines to these really
important beings, to erase them, to
476
00:36:22,420 --> 00:36:26,360
destroy them, to alter them in any way,
tells you there's a huge turning point
477
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:27,860
there about who this person was.
478
00:36:29,140 --> 00:36:35,220
But then we also know that the son of
Akhenaten is Tutankhamen.
479
00:36:36,180 --> 00:36:40,280
Tutankhamen goes back to the old
Egyptian religions, defacing the kinds
480
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:41,420
of things that his father has done.
481
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:46,980
Does the fact that Akhenaten was erased
from history by the ancient Egyptians,
482
00:36:47,180 --> 00:36:52,760
and even rejected by his own son,
Tutankhamen, suggest that the damaged
483
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:57,340
mummy found in tomb KV35 is, in fact,
Akhenaten himself?
484
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:05,280
In 2021, an Italian team reconstructed
the face of the individual
485
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,420
from KV55.
486
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:14,020
And eventually, this impression revealed
who could be inside.
487
00:37:14,580 --> 00:37:19,040
The announcement was that this could be
the face of Akhenaten.
488
00:37:19,300 --> 00:37:24,200
But of course, whenever a face is
reconstructed, there's always a certain
489
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:25,240
amount of bias.
490
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,780
So when we look upon that face, we can
only but speculate.
491
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:33,980
Beyond that, it's all a mystery.
492
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:41,900
March 2013.
493
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:48,100
A team of researchers exploring the Sea
of Galilee in northern Israel announced
494
00:37:48,100 --> 00:37:49,800
an incredible discovery.
495
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:55,140
They have detected a large, cone-shaped
structure.
496
00:37:55,850 --> 00:37:58,210
Buried on the seafloor.
497
00:37:58,610 --> 00:38:05,130
Israeli scientists discovered this
massive mound of rocks underneath the
498
00:38:05,130 --> 00:38:10,790
Sea of Galilee using sonar. They used
scanning techniques and they found this
499
00:38:10,790 --> 00:38:17,310
230 foot wide, 60,000 ton round pile of
rocks.
500
00:38:18,270 --> 00:38:24,030
Upon further investigation, a dive team
confirmed that this was not a natural
501
00:38:24,030 --> 00:38:25,030
formation.
502
00:38:25,230 --> 00:38:30,990
but a deliberate, man-made construction
of layered basalt stones.
503
00:38:31,730 --> 00:38:37,370
You have this massive stone structure.
It's about 30 feet below the Sea of
504
00:38:37,370 --> 00:38:42,950
Galilee. So it tells us that there's
clearly some kind of man-made monument.
505
00:38:43,730 --> 00:38:48,570
Something was important enough that
people created this enormous mound.
506
00:38:49,190 --> 00:38:51,410
This is a huge mystery.
507
00:38:52,110 --> 00:38:54,550
Is this some kind of temple?
508
00:38:55,130 --> 00:38:57,930
Is it some kind of burial mound?
509
00:38:59,210 --> 00:39:04,230
We don't know what it's doing there or
how it got there. But there it is, lying
510
00:39:04,230 --> 00:39:05,490
beneath the Sea of Galilee.
511
00:39:06,750 --> 00:39:11,890
How did such a massive megalith end up
on the bottom of the Sea of Galilee,
512
00:39:12,010 --> 00:39:14,930
where according to the Bible, Jesus
walked on water?
513
00:39:16,820 --> 00:39:21,020
Archaeologists found an extraordinary
clue when they determined that this
514
00:39:21,020 --> 00:39:27,800
mysterious ruin is more than 6,000 years
old, which means that it dates back
515
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,120
to long before the time of Jesus Christ.
516
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:36,680
It's such an extraordinary story. This
huge mound of stones found underneath
517
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:41,340
the Sea of Galilee, probably placed
there when it was on land, and then the
518
00:39:41,340 --> 00:39:42,500
sea simply moved over it.
519
00:39:43,660 --> 00:39:45,620
And it says a few things to us.
520
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,060
One of them is the stories from the
Bible. We think that's as far back as
521
00:39:49,060 --> 00:39:50,060
you go.
522
00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:54,580
And what we find out in the Holy Land,
history goes back much farther than we
523
00:39:54,580 --> 00:39:56,400
realize. There's stuff still to find.
524
00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:01,920
What's interesting is that there must
have been one hell of a sophisticated
525
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:03,980
society behind this.
526
00:40:04,240 --> 00:40:07,420
And if that's the case, then who created
it? Who made this?
527
00:40:07,740 --> 00:40:11,900
Before it was quite clearly drowned
beneath the waters by some kind of
528
00:40:11,900 --> 00:40:16,960
tectonic... activity that actually
shifted the whole land that we still
529
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:17,960
don't understand.
530
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:24,100
But now the massive structure beneath
the Sea of Galilee remains an enigma.
531
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,660
But what's undeniable is that the Near
East and North Africa are home to
532
00:40:28,660 --> 00:40:34,820
countless buried pieces of human history
that we have only begun to uncover.
533
00:40:35,460 --> 00:40:38,260
This area of the world is really
interesting because
534
00:40:39,050 --> 00:40:45,150
So much of what we have now in terms of
our modern civilizations, the groundwork
535
00:40:45,150 --> 00:40:48,470
of that was laid all these years ago in
these places.
536
00:40:48,950 --> 00:40:53,410
Despite the fact that the sand dunes and
the heat that make it very, very
537
00:40:53,410 --> 00:40:57,330
difficult to work in, there's so much
there still to discover, particularly
538
00:40:57,330 --> 00:41:01,810
because we find out so much about who we
are now from these investigations.
539
00:41:03,030 --> 00:41:04,830
These are the oldest civilizations.
540
00:41:05,690 --> 00:41:10,130
on Earth that have been buried, that
have been lost to time. And we are only
541
00:41:10,130 --> 00:41:13,410
now beginning to rediscover these
ancient worlds.
542
00:41:13,790 --> 00:41:18,870
And yet there are so many mysteries that
we still have not answered.
543
00:41:19,090 --> 00:41:22,810
And the only solution is we have to keep
digging.
544
00:41:24,850 --> 00:41:31,210
Could the mysterious monument beneath
the Sea of Galilee be the last trace of
545
00:41:31,210 --> 00:41:32,270
a forgotten culture?
546
00:41:33,090 --> 00:41:38,180
It's a stunning reminder that In these
cradles of civilization, some of
547
00:41:38,180 --> 00:41:44,860
humanity's oldest mysteries may still be
buried beneath sand, stone, and water.
548
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:52,280
And while we continue to unearth lost
tombs, temples, and ancient cities,
549
00:41:52,340 --> 00:41:58,480
it will take many lifetimes for the
deserts of Mesopotamia and Egypt to
550
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:04,280
reveal their secrets that for now remain
unexplained.
551
00:42:04,330 --> 00:42:08,880
Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0
53079
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.