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[insects chirping]
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[suspenseful music playing]
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Ayahuasca is one of
the scientific inventions of the Amazon.
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It's a powerful visionary brew,
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one that's central to Indigenous
spirituality and legal here in Peru.
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I myself have had many experiences
with ayahuasca guided by a shaman.
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And I believe its use dates back
further than anyone thinks,
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especially in the light
of the artwork it inspires.
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There are incredible visions.
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Nine times out of ten,
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those are introduced
with geometric patterns.
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And after these first visions,
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many people report encounters
with fantastical beings.
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Sometimes those entities may be a mixture
of an animal and a human being,
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so-called therianthrope from the Greek
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therion meaning "wild beast"
and anthropos meaning "man."
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These are very common entities
that are encountered.
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What intrigues me
is that evidence of the use of ayahuasca
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and the visions it inspires
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can be found not just in the Amazon,
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but at many other ancient sites
I've explored in South America.
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{an8}In Cusco, the Inca used the brew
during human sacrifices
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to aid the victim's passage
to the afterlife.
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And their patterned, figure-filled artwork
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greatly resembles
contemporary ayahuasca-inspired art.
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{an8}[intriguing music playing]
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{an8}At the pre-Inca site
of Tiwanaku in Bolivia,
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researchers have identified the objects
held by this 1,500-year-old statue
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as snuff trays for hallucinogenic powders,
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while much Tiwanaku pottery
features geometric designs
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and fantastical entities,
likely inspired by psychedelic visions.
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You can see those same visions reflected
in traditional Amazonian art too.
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What comes to mind
is the case of the Tucano,
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who, by and large,
paint on non-permanent media.
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[Dr. Luna] The painting, the malocas,
you know, the communal houses.
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{an8}You see that there is a continuity here.
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[intriguing music subsides]
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Remember the origin myth of the Tucano
that speaks of their great teachers,
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the daughter of the sun
and her companions?
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Interestingly, the story doesn't end
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with the departure
of those mystical, civilizing heroes.
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[intriguing music continues]
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According to lore,
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after ensuring the land
could support the newcomers,
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the divine beings left open
a channel of communication
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for humans to use whenever there was need.
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That channel is the brew
we know today as ayahuasca.
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[birds chirping]
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The word ayahuasca means "vine of souls"
in Quechua, the Inca language.
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But I believe its use
vastly predates the Inca.
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This is where the issue
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of this very ancient rock art
becomes interesting.
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{an8}[Graham] These rock paintings
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{an8}from the part of the Amazon
where the Tucano live today
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explore the same themes we see
in all ayahuasca-inspired art.
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I can't help observing that
there are similar and connected patterns.
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We see therianthropic beings,
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beings that are part animal,
part human in form.
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[Dr. Luna] Like here?
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[Graham] We see geometric patterns.
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We see serpents.
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To me this is an extraordinary mystery
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that... that the same themes keep coming up
again and again and again.
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And yet these images, indisputably,
were created during the last Ice Age.
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[intriguing music fades]
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It suggests that ayahuasca was being used
almost 13,000 years ago.
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It's a logical deduction
from looking at the art.
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Exactly.
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[dramatic music playing]
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If true, the implications are staggering.
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It means those ancient Amazonians
may have already mastered
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the complex chemistry of ayahuasca
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as far back as the Ice Age.
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[tense music builds, fades]
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[theme song playing]
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[theme song ends]
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{an8}- [thunder rumbling]
- [electronic warble]
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{an8}[intriguing music playing]
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[Graham] The geometry,
the spiraling patterns,
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this is one of the most extraordinary
aspects of the psychedelic experience.
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Those geometric visions may explain
another mystery that we encountered
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at the very start
of our exploration of the Americas.
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{an8}[intriguing music intensifies]
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{an8}The immense geoglyphs
emerging from the jungle
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{an8}along the southwestern rim of the Amazon.
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I'm struck by the repetition
of the geometrical idea,
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that we find this again and again,
whether the art is modern,
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whether it's 13,000 years old,
we find it here.
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And I can't help wondering
whether these geometric earthworks
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may also have been influenced
by ayahuasca.
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[Dr. Luna] Can be. By ayahuasca
or other visionary plants.
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- [Graham] Other plants.
- Because there are many plants.
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Behind every, uh, culture you find
some visionary plant of some sort.
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[intriguing music continues]
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[Graham] Those geoglyphs seem
to be a manifestation
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in three-dimensional form,
on an enormous scale,
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of precisely the kind of visions
that are induced by the consumption
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of a substance like ayahuasca,
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where the very first things that are seen
are geometrical patterns.
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[tense music playing]
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I think we are seeing a manifestation
of the same impulse in different media.
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And if the Amazonian geoglyphs
were inspired by visionary experiences,
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then we have to ask where else
that inspiration might have been felt
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for one compelling reason.
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How similar these earthworks are
to geometrical earthworks
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{an8}in North America, in the state of Ohio.
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{an8}[dramatic music playing]
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They're called
the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks,
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attributed to a civilization
known today as the Hopewell culture
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that thrived in the Great Lakes region
around 2,000 years ago.
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Massive ditches and embankments
in precise geometrical array.
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You could really transpose
the earthworks of the Amazon
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to the earthworks of Ohio or vice versa.
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And yet they appear to have been created
by completely unconnected cultures.
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This is where I simply cannot accept
coincidence as an explanation.
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I think that when we see an idea
cropping up again and again
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in widely-separated
geographical locations,
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{an8}what we're looking at
is an inheritance of ideas
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{an8}that was passed down and that manifests
in different periods of time.
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{an8}But the idea is what is truly ancient,
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not necessarily the structure
that we're looking at.
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[dramatic music subsides]
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Unlike their Amazonian counterparts,
where research is only just beginning...
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[dramatic music intensifies]
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...the earthworks in Ohio have been studied
for more than a century.
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And we know they're more
than just intriguing geometrical shapes.
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Many of Ohio's earthworks,
including the effigy of Serpent Mound,
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feature precise alignments
to specific solstices and equinoxes.
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[birds chirping]
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But remarkably, in some cases,
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they were built to align directly
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with even more
complex lunar cycles as well.
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[intriguing music playing]
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It's one of the curiosities
of the ancient world
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that there was a very intense interest
in what was going on in the heavens.
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[intriguing music intensifies]
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These astounding feats
of astronomical observation
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were made by ancient Americans
some 2,000 years ago,
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perhaps far earlier,
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and can also be found
in other North American mound structures.
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{an8}At sites like the 1,000-year-old Cahokia
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{an8}and 3,000-year-old Poverty Point,
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itself purposefully positioned
due north of another site,
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{an8}Lower Jackson Mound,
which dates back 5,000 years.
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Who knows what astronomy might lie encoded
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waiting to be discovered
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in those recently-revealed
Amazonian geoglyphs?
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We know that human beings were in America
for tens of thousands of years.
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Surely there should be openness
to the possibility that there was time
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to develop a culture, to develop
sophisticated knowledge of the heavens,
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and to express that in monuments.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[Graham] Could this
detailed astronomical knowledge
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be evidence that the lost civilization
of the Ice Age I'm seeking
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left a legacy of ideas
in other parts of North America as well?
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[suspenseful music builds]
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[suspenseful music intensifies]
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1,300 miles from Ohio...
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[suspenseful music continues]
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...in the northwest corner of New Mexico,
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I've arrived at
a high-altitude cold desert
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carved up by towering mesas and buttes.
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[suspenseful music subsides]
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The Badlands
of the southwestern United States
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are a realm of harsh extremes
and breathtaking vistas,
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intersected by ancient canyons
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with near-vertical sandstone cliffs
on both sides.
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[intriguing music playing]
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You might think that the desolate setting
of these Badlands
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would be ill-suited
to any large-scale construction project,
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either now or in ancient times.
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But you'd be wrong.
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This canyon is home to some
of the most important archaeological sites
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in North America.
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[intriguing music intensifies]
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Dozens of ancient man-made structures
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are scattered
for miles across the valley floor,
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from small freestanding chambers
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to massive so-called great houses.
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This is Chaco Canyon.
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[intriguing music builds, fades]
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[Graham] Despite more
than a century of research,
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the ancient structures that we see here
in Chaco Canyon remain enigmatic.
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Their origins and even their function
are still hotly debated.
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[tense music playing]
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At the heart of the mystery
in the center of the canyon...
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is the most imposing great house
of them all.
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[tense music intensifies]
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The name of this place is Pueblo Bonito,
meaning "beautiful town."
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Rising to a height of several stories,
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it's a labyrinth of rooms, corridors,
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and vast, circular,
semi-subterranean enclosures.
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Even today, centuries after
all work here ceased,
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it strikes the eye forcefully.
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[tense music continues]
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Pueblo Bonito is
a huge construction project.
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Hundreds of rooms have been mapped,
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many mysteriously built
with no obvious way in or out.
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Archaeologists have worked here
for decades
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and made many significant discoveries.
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Yet it still confounds interpretation.
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[tense music fades]
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But one thing we can be fairly certain of
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is how Pueblo Bonito
would have looked in its prime.
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[intriguing music playing]
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The compound was a huge semicircle
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with straight walls
facing the canyon floor.
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Rectangular buildings were stacked
around the curve, four stories tall,
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creating as many as 800 rooms,
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all surrounding a plaza
divided by a central wall
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with multiple circular,
semi-subterranean structures on each side.
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[music fades]
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So who were its builders?
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And why did they go
to such immense lengths
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to create this extraordinary edifice?
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- [suspenseful music playing]
- [eagle screeching]
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[Graham] Nathan Hatfield,
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{an8}officially designated as
Chaco Canyon's Chief of Interpretation,
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has spent nearly a decade
studying the structures here.
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Tell us about the place
that we're standing in.
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This structure was the largest building
in North America
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up until the mid-19th century.
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[Graham] Archaeologists couldn't
carbon date the stone itself.
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But using the highly accurate
tree-ring method of dating
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on its wooden beams,
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they were able to determine
various phases of construction.
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[suspenseful music continues]
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This was not built in a single moment.
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This was built over a period
of a couple of centuries.
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So if we look at that oldest part
of Pueblo Bonito,
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what sort of numbers are we talking about?
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It was built starting around 850.
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- That's 850 AD?
- [Nathan] 850 AD.
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[Graham] Yeah.
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[Nathan] And construction was ongoing for
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at least 200 years,
maybe a little bit longer.
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[Graham] This was before
the area was settled
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by the modern-day Pueblo peoples...
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like the Hopi, the Zuni, and the Acoma.
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[intriguing music playing]
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[Nathan] Pueblo Bonito was built by
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00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,040
what we call the ancestral Pueblo people.
243
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:06,936
- For reasons unknown to us...
- [Graham] Yeah.
244
00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:12,040
[Nathan]...they selected Chaco Canyon
to be the center of their culture.
245
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:17,520
And Pueblo Bonito would become
the largest building
246
00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,520
in this cultural center.
247
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:20,720
[dramatic music plays]
248
00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,600
[Graham] A cultural center that,
as well as Pueblo Bonito,
249
00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,360
featured more
than a dozen other great houses.
250
00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:34,080
Why did they build all these structures
here in Chaco Canyon?
251
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,640
[Graham] Was there a permanent
established residential population here?
252
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,560
[Nathan] No. Archaeologists did not see
253
00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,920
the evidence to support a huge population.
254
00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:49,000
[intriguing music continues]
255
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:54,080
[Graham] So if these great houses
weren't actually built to house people,
256
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,080
what was their purpose?
257
00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,520
[intriguing music builds]
258
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:04,440
Within the ruins, archaeologists found
more than a hundred ritual burials...
259
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,680
along with pottery
featuring spectacular geometric patterns
260
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:19,000
{an8}and artifacts known to come from hundreds,
if not thousands, of miles away.
261
00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,960
{an8}We find that enormous efforts
were gone to...
262
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,880
to create it
as a kind of center of the world.
263
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,960
[intriguing music continues]
264
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,760
As the evidence has come in,
it's become clear that
265
00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,680
it seems to have been
a center of pilgrimage,
266
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,720
where people would come
from all directions,
267
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,800
drawn to the magic of the place.
268
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,720
It clearly is a sacred place of some sort.
269
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:48,080
[somber music playing]
270
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,760
In that light,
the circular structures we find
271
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:55,640
within nearly all of Chaco's buildings
make more sense.
272
00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:00,160
The Hopi,
descendants of the ancestral Puebloans,
273
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,720
call such structures kivas.
274
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,240
[Graham] Tell me about the kivas.
275
00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,320
What is your understanding
of what they were and are?
276
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,800
It's generally agreed upon
that a kiva was a ceremonial space.
277
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,200
There are features that are pretty common.
278
00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:17,200
There's the bench.
279
00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,760
Within the larger great kivas,
you see floor vaults.
280
00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:24,880
Most of them have
some kind of wood-burning fireplace.
281
00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:28,880
[Graham] For the Hopi
and Pueblo peoples today,
282
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,760
the kiva is a spiritual
and political space
283
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,800
in which they gather
to perform sacred rituals.
284
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:37,800
[Graham] So it's
an ongoing cultural tradition?
285
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,200
- And they're used for ceremony?
- Yes. Yes.
286
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,720
[Graham] Ceremonies that, then and now,
287
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,920
feature the consumption
of a special form of tobacco.
288
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:50,960
{an8}North of Chaco in Utah,
289
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,960
archaeologists studying
an ancient man-made hearth
290
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,560
found seeds
from the hallucinogenic species
291
00:17:58,280 --> 00:17:59,520
coyote tobacco.
292
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,320
The seeds were carbon-dated
to 12,300 years ago,
293
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,120
suggesting humans were using tobacco here
294
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,080
as far back as the Ice Age.
295
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:12,680
It's likely that
such hallucinogenic plants
296
00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:17,040
were still in use thousands of years later
in ceremonies here at Chaco...
297
00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,320
just as shamans
of the Amazon use ayahuasca.
298
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,400
[fire crackling]
299
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:25,920
[tense music playing]
300
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,000
Is it possible
that these shamanistic traditions,
301
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,080
thousands of miles apart,
302
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,920
are the legacy of a single,
more ancient belief system
303
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,760
that left traces of itself
across the Americas?
304
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,640
To explore the mysteries
of these kivas further,
305
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:47,800
I'm headed to the canyon rim,
about half a mile south of Pueblo Bonito,
306
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:50,920
to the grandest kiva of them all...
307
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,760
[tense music builds]
308
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:54,080
...Casa Rinconada.
309
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,000
[uptempo tense music playing]
310
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,480
Unlike the vast majority of Chaco's kivas,
311
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,880
Casa Rinconada stands apart
from any other extensive building.
312
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,040
Inside the sunken enclosure,
313
00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:11,160
T-shaped doorways
are positioned in the walls,
314
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,280
openings that face
almost perfectly north and south.
315
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,760
As time-lapse photos show,
directly above the doorway,
316
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,600
the night sky revolves around
the north star Polaris.
317
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:27,840
[uptempo tense music builds]
318
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,400
There's something strangely familiar
about Casa Rinconada.
319
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,120
{an8}It reminds me of the Ice Age
megalithic site of Göbekli Tepe
320
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:38,440
{an8}in far-off Turkey.
321
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,360
There, similarly sunken,
circular, kiva-like chambers
322
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:46,720
feature T-shaped pillars,
323
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:50,600
which too are aligned
to specific points in the heavens.
324
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,320
But how could these ancient structures,
325
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,880
so widely separated by geography and time,
326
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:00,680
have any connection?
327
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,360
It's tempting to speculate.
328
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,960
And the origin myth of the Hopi
offers a possible clue.
329
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,320
The Hopi believe
that we're living in the fourth world,
330
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,560
that there have been
three previous emergences
331
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,080
from some sort of underground realm.
332
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:20,160
[suspenseful music playing]
333
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,880
According to Hopi legend,
after creating the first living creatures,
334
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,840
the sun spirit ordered his messenger,
Spider Grandmother,
335
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,760
to guide these ever-evolving life forms
through the first two worlds.
336
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,160
[creatures howling]
337
00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:39,920
In the third world,
338
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,080
she showed early humans
how to weave and make pottery
339
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:45,800
and taught them good from evil.
340
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:47,880
[indistinct chatter]
341
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,000
[Graham] Still, some turned
to wicked ways.
342
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,760
[arguing indistinctly]
343
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,000
[Graham] Displeased,
the sun spirit ordered
344
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,120
those of good heart to move on.
345
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,280
They ascended a great reed
to an opening in the sky.
346
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,040
There, Spider Grandmother
helped them emerge into their new home,
347
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,320
the fourth world,
where their descendants still live today.
348
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,280
The Hopi hold sacred
an unusual geological feature
349
00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:21,640
in the Grand Canyon,
350
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,360
believing it to be
the literal emergence point of myth.
351
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,320
They call it Sipapu.
352
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:31,400
No one is allowed near it,
353
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,920
but symbolically, it's replicated
throughout the Hopi world.
354
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,000
[suspenseful music fades]
355
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:43,880
In Puebloan culture, a hole in the floor
of the kiva is also known as a sipapu,
356
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:49,000
and this is seen as the place from which
the ancients emerged from a previous world
357
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,120
that had been destroyed
into the world that we live in today.
358
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,040
And this is where
I want to make a comparison
359
00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,440
that might seem very extreme.
360
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:04,080
I'm just wondering
whether it all goes back to a time
361
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,000
when it was necessary
for people to take shelter underground.
362
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:13,360
And we know that there was such a time
around 12,800 years ago
363
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,400
at the beginning of the Younger Dryas.
364
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,320
Although still debated,
365
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,560
many scientists believe
that the Earth-shaking cataclysms
366
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:28,400
and floods of that time were caused
by cosmic impacts and airbursts
367
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,600
as the Earth passed through
the debris trail
368
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:32,680
of a disintegrating comet.
369
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,600
[intriguing music playing]
370
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,440
If the enemy was danger from the sky,
371
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:42,040
if we're looking at impacts
from a fragmenting giant comet,
372
00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:45,000
uh, then underground structures
make a great deal of sense.
373
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,840
That deep ancient connection
is not a direct connection.
374
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,640
It's a stored memory in oral tradition
375
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,760
that there was a time
when our ancestors had to emerge
376
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,760
from beneath the ground
to come out into a new world
377
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:03,160
that had been swept clean in a cataclysm
and to repopulate that new world.
378
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,040
[intriguing music fades]
379
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,360
Let me be clear.
380
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:12,000
I don't doubt that this spectacular kiva
dates from around 1,000 years ago,
381
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,960
but I suspect
that its builders incorporated within it
382
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,200
a legacy of knowledge and ideas
that are far, far older.
383
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,200
Much like another idea
we see demonstrated again and again
384
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,520
at all these ancient American sites,
385
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,920
the importance of astronomical
and geometrical knowledge.
386
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,000
[suspenseful music playing]
387
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:38,680
At Pueblo Bonito,
the whole structure is perfectly aligned
388
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,840
to the cardinal directions,
north, south, east, and west,
389
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,200
showing its builders understood
their place on the planet.
390
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,640
What's more, on the equinox,
something magical happens.
391
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:58,240
The sun rises and sets perfectly in line
with the west side of the southern wall.
392
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,800
[Nathan] It wasn't
just some random accident.
393
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,080
It was so well-thought-out.
394
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,920
And what's, I think,
appealing to people about that
395
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,680
is that it's the same sky
that we can see today.
396
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:13,680
- Yes.
- We can still see the alignments.
397
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,080
[suspenseful music continues]
398
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,320
I've heard that there were functionaries
called sun priests here in the past.
399
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:21,400
Is that right?
400
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,880
They were the sun watchers,
the sun priests.
401
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,640
They were people dedicated
to the architecture.
402
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,760
There were people dedicated
to watching the sky.
403
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:31,840
Yeah.
404
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:37,040
What were the main celestial events
that they were tracking?
405
00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:41,400
Summer solstice, winter solstice,
equinoxes, when the sun rises due east?
406
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,920
That ties back to the agriculture.
407
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:45,000
[Graham] Right.
408
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:50,720
Having that calendar on the landscape
is critical for survival.
409
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,640
And the fact
that they were able to do that
410
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,360
with these monumental structures,
411
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:01,800
I think it all goes back to their ability
to find success with farming.
412
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,920
[Graham] It's an argument
I've heard before,
413
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,600
but there's a problem with assuming
414
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,560
all this effort
had to do only with farming.
415
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,560
[suspenseful music continues]
416
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:18,600
Around 90 miles north of Chaco Canyon
stands a distinctive sandstone ridge
417
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:24,240
topped by two pinnacles known as
Chimney Rock and Companion Rock.
418
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:30,640
Near them, we find a Chacoan great house
complete with two kivas.
419
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:37,120
It turns out
that that whole structure was placed there
420
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,280
in a very precise alignment
421
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:45,880
to allow observation of a lunar event
that only occurs once every 18.6 years,
422
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,920
and that is the extreme
northern standstill of the moon.
423
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,480
It's when the rising and setting moon
424
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,480
reaches its most northerly point
in the night sky
425
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,960
before appearing to rise
and set further south
426
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,760
as part of a recurring cycle.
427
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,000
The moon rises between Chimney Rock
and Companion Rock
428
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,720
only at that time and at no other time.
429
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,520
This is the kind of knowledge
that has to be handed down
430
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,120
generation to generation.
431
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:18,760
You don't just notice it once
432
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,200
and then build a structure
to memorialize it.
433
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,280
[suspenseful music fades]
434
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,080
It speaks to
an ancient intellectual endeavor
435
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,280
to understand the cosmos
that surrounds us,
436
00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:34,960
and that cosmos is full
of motion and changes,
437
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,720
and the long-term observation
of those motions and changes
438
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,360
requires a really dedicated effort,
439
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,520
in many cases over thousands of years.
440
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,160
[wind howling]
441
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,200
Once researchers started looking
for lunar alignments
442
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,440
in the buildings in Chaco Canyon,
443
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,080
all sorts of remarkable examples
were found.
444
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,560
[intriguing music playing]
445
00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,960
When the moon reaches
its extreme southern standstill in winter,
446
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,800
again once every 18.6 years,
447
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,640
{an8}it rises in a line
through three great houses six miles apart
448
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,160
{an8}with Pueblo Bonito at its middle.
449
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,960
{an8}And 9.3 years later,
at the halfway point in this cycle,
450
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,000
the summer moon rises in a line
across a large structure
451
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:25,080
{an8}just east of Pueblo Bonito
to another one 11 miles to the southwest...
452
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,760
while that same setting moon
shines across one great house,
453
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,880
again through Pueblo Bonito,
454
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,560
more than 17 miles beyond the canyon
to yet another great house.
455
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:41,800
And one thing is certain.
456
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:47,000
The 18.6-year lunar cycle
has no influence whatsoever
457
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,240
on the growing of crops.
458
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:51,840
Why, therefore, did the ancient Puebloans
459
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,120
go to such lengths
to mark it in their architecture?
460
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:56,880
[intriguing music fades]
461
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:01,000
That speaks eloquently to the fact
that no economic purpose was involved,
462
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,160
that this was about the celebration
463
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,200
of the connection
between heaven and earth.
464
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:07,320
[wind howling]
465
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,520
What's now clear is
that all these Chacoan structures combine
466
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,880
to form a ritual calendar
laid out upon the Earth...
467
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:16,640
[intriguing music playing]
468
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,920
...in a canyon that may have been chosen
for this very purpose
469
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,120
as a terrestrial counterpart
to the Milky Way.
470
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,680
[intriguing music subsides]
471
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:32,480
But the connections with the cosmos,
sky and ground, as above, so below,
472
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,320
that were so important to Chaco culture
473
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,520
aren't limited
to its vast building complexes.
474
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,880
About five miles southeast
of central Chaco...
475
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,320
I'm heading up from the canyon floor
476
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,800
in search of something intriguing
that adorns these rugged canyon walls.
477
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:04,240
Ancient works of art
carved into the living rock.
478
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,600
[intriguing music continues]
479
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,000
These are precious records,
stories in stone
480
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:16,480
that have been continually revised,
altered, and added to
481
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,440
over who knows
how many thousands of years.
482
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,480
There are human figures
that appear to be dancing
483
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,560
and playing musical instruments.
484
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,000
[intriguing music intensifies]
485
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,800
Spirals and serpents coil
along the canyon walls,
486
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,640
which also feature
strange creatures and geometric forms,
487
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,400
much like those that appear
in artwork of the Amazon,
488
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:42,920
possibly inspired by psychedelics.
489
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,320
Whichever part of the world you're in
and whichever period of history it is,
490
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,920
once you come to the cave art
and the petroglyphs and the rock art,
491
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,200
you find again and again
exactly the same visuals
492
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,600
that you find
with the ayahuasca experience
493
00:29:57,680 --> 00:29:59,440
and other psychedelics being repeated.
494
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,520
[uptempo tense music playing]
495
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,200
As well as these visionary elements,
496
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:10,360
Chacoan rock art reflects the same focus
on astronomy found in its architecture.
497
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,480
This image has been interpreted
as an eclipse,
498
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,320
the sun darkened by the moon,
while its corona flares outwards.
499
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,840
And this, a supernova,
500
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,880
now known to have been visible
in the daytime sky
501
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,680
during the ancestral Puebloan period
in AD 1054.
502
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,600
Why create such imagery
in such a hard-to-reach location
503
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,680
unless there was
a compelling reason to do so?
504
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,200
[dramatic music playing]
505
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:48,640
In the absence of any apparent economic,
strategic, or political motive,
506
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,280
it follows that some higher purpose
must have been involved.
507
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,000
It seems to me more and more obvious
508
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,440
that Chaco Canyon
is a ritualized landscape
509
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,880
and that its origins can't be limited
to a mere thousand or so years ago,
510
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,880
but must go back much further,
511
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,360
perhaps even as far back
as the last Ice Age.
512
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,920
[music intensifies, fades]
513
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,600
To your knowledge,
how far back in the past can we trace
514
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,280
any kind of human presence
here in Chaco Canyon?
515
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:25,880
You've probably heard very recently
in White Sands National Monument...
516
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,280
23,000-year-old footprints in White Sands.
517
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,840
- [Nathan] And that's not that far away.
- [Graham] No.
518
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:35,120
So it's quite likely that people
would have been in Chaco Canyon
519
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:37,160
maybe even...
520
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,680
maybe even 10,000 years before
any building was constructed.
521
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,040
[intriguing music playing]
522
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,080
I think they were
523
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:50,280
observing the landscape
and the sky for generations
524
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,880
- before they decided to build.
- [Graham] Yeah.
525
00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,480
Chaco Canyon bears the fingerprints
526
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,840
of a culture
of highly-sophisticated astronomers.
527
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:09,000
Their intense focus on
the regular cycles of sun, moon, and stars
528
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,360
and on the wider majesty of the cosmos
529
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,320
wasn't just an idiosyncratic quirk
of their own.
530
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,480
It was shared in the same way,
531
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:22,440
using eerily similar symbolism,
art, and architectural alignments
532
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,560
by many other ancient cultures
all around the world.
533
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:27,600
{an8}[intriguing music continues]
534
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,840
{an8}The way Malta's megalithic
Temple of Mnajdra is precisely aligned
535
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,360
{an8}to capture the equinoxes
and the solstices.
536
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,560
{an8}Or how the axis
of the great Temple of Karnak in Egypt
537
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,880
{an8}targets the winter solstice sunrise.
538
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,480
{an8}Or the precision
with which the central tower
539
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,560
{an8}of Angkor Wat in Cambodia
540
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,160
aligns to the rising sun on the equinoxes.
541
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,000
There seems to have been
a worldwide architectural project
542
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,400
to reproduce the harmony
and directions of the heavens
543
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,280
in monuments on the ground
to bring heaven down to earth.
544
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,360
[intriguing music subsides]
545
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,680
But how far back does
this seemingly global human project go?
546
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:16,560
[intriguing music intensifies]
547
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,400
There are clues
548
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,880
in one of ancient America's
most accomplished civilizations
549
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,040
that once dominated what is now
southern Mexico and Central America.
550
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:32,560
The Maya.
551
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,080
The Maya to me are one
of the most fascinating cultures
552
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:40,480
of the ancient world
553
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,360
and a culture filled with
mystery and contradiction.
554
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,640
Many descendants of the Maya
still live here today
555
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:56,280
in the spectacular landscapes
of Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula.
556
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,480
[intriguing music continues]
557
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,600
Here, long before the Incas
and the Pueblo culture of Chaco,
558
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,400
the Maya civilization thrived.
559
00:34:09,240 --> 00:34:12,760
It was a culture
that expressed its genius in many ways,
560
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,960
notably through magnificent feats
of architecture.
561
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,560
[intriguing music intensifies]
562
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,520
Surrounded by dense lowland rainforest,
563
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,400
this is the Mayan sacred realm
of Palenque.
564
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,560
[intriguing music builds, fades]
565
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:34,560
[suspenseful music playing]
566
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,400
[Graham] Palenque is
an absolutely breathtaking place.
567
00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:46,560
With its awe-inspiring architecture
and engineering,
568
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,360
it has all the hallmarks
of a classic Mayan site.
569
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:53,560
Soaring pyramids,
570
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,040
a ceremonial ball court,
571
00:34:58,240 --> 00:34:59,440
a looming palace,
572
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,240
and temples filled
with intriguing imagery.
573
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,000
The Maya are probably best known
for their incredible architecture,
574
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,040
for the amazing complexes
of pyramids that they created,
575
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:18,920
typically step pyramids,
and the beautiful elegance of the design
576
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,480
and the high precision of the workmanship.
577
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,880
That immediately tells us that
we're dealing with an advanced culture.
578
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:26,960
[dramatic music playing]
579
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:32,800
{an8}[Graham] Maya expert and guide
Mildred Lucas Garcia
580
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,000
{an8}has devoted more than a decade
581
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,040
to understanding Palenque better.
582
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,080
When did work begin here?
583
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:43,520
How long was this site occupied?
584
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,600
The city's foundation started
in the year 200 BC,
585
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,640
and it was abandoned over the 900s AD.
586
00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:51,560
Right.
587
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:55,080
When I look at this incredible site,
these huge pyramids,
588
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:58,040
beautifully constructed,
beautifully designed,
589
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,360
it's clear that this was the work
of very skillful people,
590
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,600
and that they must have had
some kind of plan from the beginning.
591
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,400
But tell me, how did they do it?
592
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,480
[Mildred] We know
that there were quarries nearby.
593
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,760
That's why they decided to build
the city here
594
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,240
because they had
all the natural resources,
595
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,360
they had all the limestone in this area,
596
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,440
they had the water,
597
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,000
and this was a very strategic area
to build the city.
598
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,720
But how... how they built that,
that's unknown.
599
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:28,720
- We don't know.
- It's still a mystery.
600
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,640
- It's still a mystery. Mm-hmm.
- Yeah. Yeah.
601
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,800
Why did the Maya build pyramids?
602
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,560
Here in Palenque,
we see a lot of... a lot of pyramids.
603
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,720
[Mildred] The pyramids,
not only for the Mayas,
604
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,600
but for the ancient cultures,
605
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:44,680
represented the holy mountains.
606
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,440
Here in Palenque,
they built such big structures
607
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:50,320
to represent these holy mountains.
608
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,400
[suspenseful music playing]
609
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,600
[Graham] Mountains played
an important role
610
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,960
in the belief system of the Maya
as symbols of the source of creation.
611
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,160
But it appears that there may have been
more to the Maya's epic building project,
612
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:09,240
especially here at Palenque.
613
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,760
[Mildred] In Palenque,
some of the buildings were designed
614
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,640
following the astronomical observations.
615
00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:18,720
Wow.
616
00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:22,760
[Mildred] There's three buildings
known as the Group of the Crosses
617
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,600
that were used
as an astronomical observation area.
618
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:27,680
[Graham] Right.
619
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,360
[Mildred] These buildings
were perfectly aligned
620
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:32,920
with the summer solstice...
621
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,360
- Yeah.
- ...and with the spring equinox.
622
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,680
[suspenseful music continues]
623
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,320
Clearly, highly-skilled astronomers
were involved in the creation
624
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:42,440
of the whole complex.
625
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:43,440
Yes, it's true.
626
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:45,520
[intriguing music playing]
627
00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:49,480
[Graham] But why would they go
to so much trouble
628
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,440
to align these massive structures
629
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,040
to solstices and equinoxes?
630
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,360
Given these incredible alignments,
one thing is clear.
631
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,600
If you want to know
what Palenque is really all about,
632
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,040
you have to look
not only at its architecture,
633
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,080
but also at the sky.
634
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,600
[intriguing music intensifies]
635
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:20,640
[intriguing music builds]
636
00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:26,400
I've come to the Temple of the Sun
at a special moment on a special day,
637
00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:29,840
dawn on the spring equinox,
638
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:36,520
when the sun rises precisely due east
and sets precisely due west
639
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,680
in a manifestation of cosmic harmony.
640
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:46,200
Here at the Temple of the Sun,
that sunrise creates a unique spectacle,
641
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,920
one still celebrated today
by the local community.
642
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,080
{an8}[Nicolás in Spanish]
The spring equinox, it is important
643
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,120
{an8}for the spirituality of the Maya.
644
00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:00,560
Right here where we are
is the most important place.
645
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:02,160
[blowing conch]
646
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,240
[Graham in English] And I have
a front row seat for it.
647
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:07,360
[intriguing music ends]
648
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,440
[closing theme playing]
649
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:38,880
[closing theme ends]