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[insects and birds chirping]
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[dramatic music playing]
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[Graham] Today marks
a special moment in the Mayan calendar.
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It's the spring equinox
when the sunrise ushers in
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not just a new day
but a new cycle of life.
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As the sun clears the tree line,
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its rays illuminate
one of Palenque's most majestic temples.
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[music intensifies]
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This is the Temple of the Sun,
a most appropriate name.
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Just to be here,
bathed in light, is a privilege,
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a connection that merges spirituality
with science in a way
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long forgotten by the modern world.
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At certain key moments of the year,
and this is one of them,
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the rising sun does more than illuminate
the steps of the temple.
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Maya architecture is a repository
for ancient knowledge,
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linking sky and ground, heaven and earth.
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[music continues]
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In the process,
it often brought the light of the sun
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through certain specific alignments
into interior spaces,
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purposefully designed to receive it.
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At the winter solstice,
the sun rises over a mountaintop ruin,
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shining into the temple through a doorway,
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where we might imagine a priest
waiting to be bathed in light.
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Six months later, on the summer solstice,
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and only on that day,
the dawn sunlight grazes another pyramid,
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before a needle of light
strikes an interior corner,
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while at both equinoxes,
the sun rises above a man-made depression
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in the eastern horizon,
again shining rays through a doorway
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at such a precise angle,
that for around 40 minutes,
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it dramatically illuminates
another inner alcove.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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For the Maya, such dazzling displays
must have evoked a sense of awe
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in all who observed them.
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[suspenseful music ends]
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And it's not just a special moment
for the ancient Maya.
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[Indigenous people chanting]
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[in Spanish] Palenque is
an extremely symbolic site.
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{an8}Ancestral worship in Palenque
was depicted in its architecture
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{an8}and in its modified landscape.
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It connects with
the modern-day population.
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Mayan culture in Palenque
is very much alive.
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[applauding]
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{an8}[Graham in English]
Maya priest Nicolás López Vázquez
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{an8}has been performing ceremonies here
for decades.
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[drum playing]
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[in Spanish] The ritual going on right now
represents the spring equinox.
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The equinox was very important.
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That's why they made the temples.
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It is like a connection
with the whole planet.
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[Indigenous people ululating]
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[Graham in English] Indeed,
this complex seems to have been designed
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as an instrument to detect and manifest
the wondrous harmony of the universe.
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[blowing conch]
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[drumming ends]
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[intriguing music playing]
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So what was the motive
for their intense focus on the heavens?
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And how did they acquire
their advanced astronomical know-how?
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[intriguing music intensifies]
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Could we be witnessing a legacy
handed down by a far older civilization,
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one that left traces
of its advanced knowledge
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throughout the Americas?
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[intriguing music builds, ends]
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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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[intriguing music playing]
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[Graham] Dominating the center of Palenque
is its most impressive edifice
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known as the palace.
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And above it looms
this intriguing structure,
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unique in the Maya world,
a multi-storied tower.
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[intriguing music builds]
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Scholars are divided
on the purpose of this tower.
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The puzzling thing is the roof.
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The roof we see today is
an entirely modern
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and possibly inaccurate reconstruction.
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Earlier excavation photographs show
the tower in ruins without a roof.
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So was it roofed in antiquity?
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Indeed, the original tower may have been
topped by an observation platform,
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which would explain what was found within.
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It's significant
that there's a room with glyphs
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representing perhaps the most important
of all planets to the Maya, Venus.
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Scholars have confirmed
through Mayan texts
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that this symbol does indeed represent
the brightest planet in the night sky.
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Could it be that this tower was built
specifically for use by astronomers?
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Intuitively, it feels like it was intended
for observations of the heavens.
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One would not expect a tower
designed to observe the skies
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to be roofed.
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And those Venus glyphs inside the tower
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strongly suggest that
that's what it was used for.
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But of all the celestial bodies
in the sky, why Venus?
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It may have something to do with one of
the Maya's greatest mythological figures.
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[intriguing music continues]
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The gods and goddesses of Maya cosmology
often had eerily human characteristics,
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sometimes endearing, sometimes terrifying,
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sometimes deeply mysterious.
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The deity named Kukulkan,
who was at one time a man,
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not only combined
all of these characteristics,
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but was also identified
with the brightest planet in the heavens.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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The tradition says that Kukulkan arrived
after a great cataclysm,
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accompanied by attendants.
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He was a wise teacher
who gave instruction in the rule of law
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and how to organize a civilization,
to cultivate corn,
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and how to build great monuments in stone.
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Even after his time with them was over,
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Kukulkan continued to be worshiped
in the heavens,
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where he manifested in the form
of the planet that we know today as Venus.
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[suspenseful music ends]
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- [intriguing music playing]
- [insects chirping]
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Across the Maya world,
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there are other representations
of Kukulkan.
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{an8}And at one iconic site,
his memory is also connected
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{an8}to that highly significant moment
of the spring equinox.
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At Chichén Itzáin the Yucatán,
at the temple of Kukulkan,
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if we look at that pyramid,
what we see normally
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is the northern stairway of the pyramid
with the large head of a serpent
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at the base of the stairway
and a kind of blank balustrade
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running up the side of it
with nothing on it,
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but on the spring equinox,
as the sun is beginning to set,
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the pyramid is so perfectly positioned
that shadows cast by its corner
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onto that stairway create
the form of the body of the serpent,
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so the head of the serpent
is suddenly completed with
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an undulating, waving shadow body
of the serpent,
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and this is a manifestation of Kukulkan.
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[intriguing music intensifies]
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In different parts of Mexico,
he was known not only as Kukulkan
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but perhaps most famously as Quetzalcoatl.
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All of these names mean
"plumed or feathered serpent."
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One might almost imagine
that Kukulkan was a traveler
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who used a locally-appropriate name
wherever he went.
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We've met a similar figure in Peru
where he was called Viracocha.
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In Mesopotamia, he was known as Oannes,
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and in Egypt, he was Osiris.
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But the stories remain the same.
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Powerful figures who appeared
after a global cataclysm
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and bestowed upon ancient peoples
the gifts of civilization.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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The identification of their civilizing
hero with the planet Venus
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might explain one
of the Maya's unique obsessions,
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tracking that planet's movements
in the night sky.
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Their studies of Venus
are really, really striking.
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It is the case
that once every roughly 584 days,
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Venus will be seen to rise
in the same place.
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The Maya had an absolutely precise,
spot-on estimate
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of the... what's called
the synodical return of Venus.
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And they were able to make the calculation
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thanks to one of the Maya's
most extraordinary achievements,
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one that, like the incredible stonework
of ancient Peru
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and the ingenious pharmacology
of ancient Amazonia,
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might be part of a legacy of knowledge
handed down from a remote prehistory
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by a mysterious predecessor civilization.
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[suspenseful music builds, ends]
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[intriguing music playing]
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{an8}[Graham] Dr. Edwin Barnhart has been
mapping and studying Palenque
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for over 25 years,
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and he's one of very few people
in the world
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who can read the script
of the ancient Maya.
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We read these glyphs
from top to bottom in double columns.
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You read right left, right left
to the bottom of the first two,
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and then you go to the third and fourth
and read down so that's the reading order.
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How does the system of numbers
that the Maya use
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compare with the system of numbers
that we use today?
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[Dr. Barnhart]
Our system is quite similar.
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We have a base-ten system.
We call it decimal.
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You and I, we can write any number
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- into almost infinity using ten digits.
- Mm-hmm.
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We've got a zero,
and then one through nine.
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- Yeah.
- And when we get to ten,
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we put a zero in the ones place
and a one in the tens place.
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They use base 20.
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[mysterious music playing]
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[Graham] It's a Morse code-like system
of dashes and dots
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including a shell glyph representing zero.
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[Dr. Barnhart] A dot means one.
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- A bar means five.
- [Graham] Right.
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And so when you get
three bars and four dots,
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- that's 19.
- Mm-hmm.
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How they'd write 20
is putting a zero there
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- and then putting a dot in the 20 place.
- Okay.
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So it's a positional system of enumeration
that allowed them
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to do math on a... on a different level.
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You know, our system's great.
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We can calculate into infinity,
but it takes ten symbols.
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The Maya pulled the same thing off
with only three symbols.
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So in that regard,
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their system is
way more elegant than ours.
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Wow.
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[Graham] The Maya not only used zero,
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but were acquainted with place numerations
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at a time when
the Ancient Greeks and Romans,
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despite their many achievements,
understood neither.
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Their system was great.
The Romans, they did great things,
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but their number system stunk.
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- That's why they had to make the abacus.
- Yeah.
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[intriguing music playing]
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[Graham] The Maya's
advanced numbering system
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wasn't just an elegant way to count.
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For their astronomers,
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this was the key to calculating
and predicting the movements
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of heavenly bodies like Venus,
the sun, and the moon,
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with astounding accuracy.
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And that same knowledge of mathematics
was also fundamental
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to what was arguably
their most impressive invention.
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By far the most perplexing achievement
of the ancient Maya
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was their own amazingly precise system
for measuring time,
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which they incorporated
into one of the most complex calendars
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in human history.
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[intriguing music intensifies]
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The calendar, which of course
is incredibly complicated.
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Could you help to uncomplicate it for me?
What is the Mayan calendar all about?
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The calendar, its...
You know, its solar year is 365 days.
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[Graham] Right. Okay.
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[Dr. Barnhart] The calendar
they really care about is 260 days,
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but then they have a long count calendar,
which is kind of a linear count of time.
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[dramatic music plays]
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[Graham] The Maya tracked key dates
using a combination of three calendars,
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each with its own individual purpose.
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{an8}[intriguing music playing]
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{an8}Their sacred calendar was
a repeating cycle of 20 groups
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{an8}consisting of 13 days apiece,
totaling 260 days.
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{an8}[rock rumbling]
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{an8}A second calendar tracked the solar year,
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{an8}but was composed of 18 groups,
each of 20 days,
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{an8}with another five to complete
a 365-day year, just like ours.
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[rock rumbling]
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{an8}When used in tandem,
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these two calendars gave a unique name
to every single day
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across a 52-year period
before then starting over.
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But what made the Mayan system
truly unique was their third calendar,
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the so-called long count,
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which tracked
much greater periods of time.
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[intriguing music continues]
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[Graham] Tell me more
about the long count calendar.
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What is it? How does it work?
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What's it intended to achieve?
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It's certainly the most interesting one
because the Maya are very cyclical,
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but it's the only calendar they have
that's a linear calendar.
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It can go backwards and forwards in time
in a straight line into, towards infinity.
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[Graham] The symbols of the long count
measure the passage
240
00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:19,920
not just of years, decades,
or centuries, but entire millennia,
241
00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,880
reaching deep into
both the past and the future.
242
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:28,600
Is it the case that most of what we can
now read in the... in the Maya script
243
00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:29,960
has to do with the calendar?
244
00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,840
[Dr. Barnhart] Here's a perfect example
that when we look at this page,
245
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,080
everything that you see
with bars and dots and these,
246
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,480
this is all calendrical information.
247
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:42,120
On the whole,
248
00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:47,280
two-thirds of the entire Maya corpus
of writing are calendar glyphs.
249
00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:49,240
[intriguing music playing]
250
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:51,480
[Graham] One explanation
for this obsession
251
00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:55,320
is that the ancient Maya believed
the world went through recurring cycles
252
00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,400
of creation and destruction...
253
00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,240
[dramatic music plays]
254
00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,520
[waves crashing]
255
00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:05,480
...and that they were living
in the fourth such cycle,
256
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,560
quite similar to the ancient Hopi
257
00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,200
who believed they too
were living in the fourth world.
258
00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:15,080
But unlike them,
259
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,520
the Maya were able to put
specific dates to their cycles,
260
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,680
all tracked using the long count.
261
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:23,560
[suspenseful music continues]
262
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:26,000
[Graham] What's this one about here?
263
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:28,640
[Dr. Barnhart] That's a beautiful image,
264
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,240
one of the few
that very specifically tells us
265
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,600
what the date was
at the start of the fourth creation.
266
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:41,200
- It says 13-0-0-0-0.
- [Graham] Right.
267
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:47,760
And then the very next day, this resets.
And this would be 0-0-0-0-1.
268
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,520
Right. So putting that
into our dating system today?
269
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:56,600
- 3114 B.C., August 13th.
- Right.
270
00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,760
And that's the beginning of the age
of the world in which we now live.
271
00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,000
Right. And the idea, like,
272
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:08,360
- why did it start at 3114 B.C.?
- Yeah.
273
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,080
[Dr. Barnhart] That's one
that the best minds, for a century now...
274
00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,560
- Yeah.
- ...have failed to sufficiently answer.
275
00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:19,000
Yeah. I... I have to say, I find that date
quite fascinating in itself,
276
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:24,120
um, since many ancient civilizations,
if we follow the archaeological record,
277
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,360
had an extraordinary beginning
at around that time.
278
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,680
{an8}In Ancient Egypt around 3000 B.C.
279
00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,520
{an8}- Sumer, similar sort of period.
- [Dr. Barnhart] Right. Asia as well.
280
00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:37,640
{an8}[Graham] It's like
the world was waking up at that time,
281
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,440
and the Maya picked that date.
282
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:40,560
It is very interesting.
283
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:44,560
[Graham] When do you think
the system began?
284
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,000
How far back can we trace the origins
of this incredible set of calculations?
285
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,920
You know, it's a difficult question.
I've pondered that a lot.
286
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,400
And I... I like to say that by the time
somebody carved it in stone,
287
00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:58,920
that wasn't their first attempt.
288
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,320
Right. And what's the oldest date
that you... that you've found?
289
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,600
There's a couple of them.
There's one that goes back 33,000 years.
290
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,840
Another leads us to a specific date
291
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,560
that has us go back
very exactly five million years.
292
00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,560
- Five million years into the past.
- Yeah. And... and you can do the math.
293
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,840
I think that its intention
is to make a statement
294
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,280
about the never-ending nature of time.
295
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:28,360
[dramatic music playing]
296
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:30,720
[Graham] Alongside these dates,
297
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,360
one key player
in the drama of the night sky
298
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,320
keeps appearing in the texts, Venus,
299
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:41,080
that same planet associated with
the Mayan deity, Kukulkan.
300
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:44,840
[music ends]
301
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:50,240
So Venus is integrated into
the overall Mayan calendrical system.
302
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:51,760
They track it again and again.
303
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,520
There's actually 104 different groups
304
00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,480
- of five Venus cycles...
- Yeah.
305
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,280
...that they put together
so that you could actually track Venus
306
00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:03,040
- and it would be right.
- Right.
307
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:09,200
The Maya were obsessed with the cosmos,
and the Maya were obsessed with time.
308
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,560
These two issues
are fundamental to... to Mayan culture.
309
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:20,680
These two obsessions reveal
that the Maya had and enumerated
310
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,080
a deep understanding
of our planet's vast antiquity.
311
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:29,960
So they were able to do
what modern computer software is doing.
312
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:31,840
- Yes.
- How could they do that?
313
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:34,840
I think that they were among
314
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,360
the ancient world's
greatest mathematicians.
315
00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:39,680
- They just kept cranking the numbers.
- Yeah.
316
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,480
They're doing calculations
of millions of days.
317
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:43,640
Fascinating.
318
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,120
If they're using dates like that,
you have to ask yourself,
319
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,160
"Why would they need to do that?"
320
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,496
- [Dr. Barnhart] I think...
- [Graham] It's all speculation.
321
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,200
When we archaeologists
take a hard look in the mirror,
322
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,320
- basically it's all speculation. We...
- Yeah.
323
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,240
We are working on theories.
Very few facts in my field.
324
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:02,160
Yeah.
325
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,240
[intriguing music playing]
326
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:11,200
[Graham] I have a theory,
which is also, admittedly, speculative.
327
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,480
The Mayan calendar feels to me
like an out-of-place artifact.
328
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,640
It feels to me like a legacy
that the Maya have received
329
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,040
from a culture that really did need
these enormous numbers...
330
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,840
A lost civilization
that passed on its knowledge
331
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:30,920
of the cyclical nature of time,
332
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,360
encoding it in myths
and spiritual traditions
333
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,000
that would, many thousands of years later,
334
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,720
manifest spectacularly
in the enigmatic machinery
335
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,440
of the Mayan calendar.
336
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,160
But to what end?
337
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,960
I suggest the answer has everything to do
338
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,600
with the Mayan concept
of the impermanence of world ages.
339
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,320
I sometimes think of the Mayan calendar
as a computer for calculating
340
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,800
not the end of the world,
but the end of an age.
341
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,240
[fire crackling]
342
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,680
The Mayan calendar envisages
repeated destructions
343
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,440
and re-makings of the world.
344
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,160
Repeated world ages come and go.
345
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:11,600
[tense music playing]
346
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,160
It was never correct
that the Maya imagined
347
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:18,640
the world would end
on December 21st, A.D. 2012.
348
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:24,560
But they do see
an episode of great turbulence and change,
349
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,720
uh, taking place at around our time.
350
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:29,520
[thunder rumbling]
351
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:35,400
Certainly, the end of an age is predicted
for roughly the 80-year period
352
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,840
from about 2000 to 2080,
somewhere in that period.
353
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,560
And it's curious that actually that is
our experience of the world today.
354
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,080
We're living in a time of chaos,
of unpredictability, of change.
355
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,200
Could the Mayan calendar's timing for
the end of our current age be accurate?
356
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,360
Perhaps we should be gazing up
at the heavens,
357
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,760
tracking the stars and planets
as they did...
358
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,480
[thunder rumbling]
359
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,600
...in case another world-changing apocalypse
is imminent.
360
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,200
[tense music ends]
361
00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:11,360
[gentle music playing]
362
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:17,480
But there was more to the Maya's interest
in the heavens than predicting the future.
363
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:25,200
There's evidence right here at Palenque
that Dr. Barnhart wants to show me.
364
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,880
[Dr. Barnhart] This view out here,
there's a perfect place
365
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:31,520
where you can see the horizon.
366
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,760
[intriguing music playing]
367
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,240
[Graham] On the southwestern edge of
a plaza across from the Temple of the Sun,
368
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,680
Dr. Barnhart is taking me
to another powerful edifice
369
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,960
known as the Temple of the Foliated Cross.
370
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,400
It dates from around A.D. 692.
371
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,600
[majestic music playing]
372
00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:01,320
Inside on the back wall,
a curious carved mural awaits us.
373
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,720
Scholars now believe it addresses
374
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,960
the great central mystery
of Maya religion,
375
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,720
the mystery of
what happens to us after death.
376
00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:18,120
We are standing in front of
an extraordinary mural,
377
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,480
which is quite difficult
for me to interpret.
378
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:22,480
[Dr. Barnhart chuckles]
379
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,960
Tell me what you make of it.
What's it all about?
380
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,840
Well, it's obviously so complex.
381
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,680
The iconography is everywhere on this.
382
00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:32,760
[Graham] Mm-hmm.
383
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,560
[Dr. Barnhart] There's the foliated cross
because of this foliation coming out.
384
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:37,920
[Graham] Mm-hmm.
385
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,360
[Dr. Barnhart] We also have
our two figures on either side.
386
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:41,840
[intriguing music playing]
387
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,880
[Graham] The mural shows
the deceased Lord Pakal on the right,
388
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,600
the original founder
and ruler of Palenque,
389
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,560
his eyes closed
and dressed in burial clothes,
390
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,760
and what's assumed to be his son
and successor, Kan Bahlam, on the left.
391
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,000
[Dr. Barnhart] Here's Kan Bahlam's face.
392
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,080
His portrait is everywhere in the city.
We know exactly that is him.
393
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,136
- [Graham] Yeah.
- [Dr. Barnhart] We recognize him.
394
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:09,480
But he's big and tall.
395
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:10,880
- Kan Bahlam.
- [Graham] Yeah.
396
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,800
[Dr. Barnhart] I always...
I think about him.
397
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,440
We have such a wonderful,
rich history of his life.
398
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:16,360
[Graham] Yeah.
399
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,080
We know that his dad
was the most famous king of this city.
400
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,040
And he was named heir-designate
at age six.
401
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,160
But his dad didn't die until 80.
402
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:34,840
So he spent his entire life,
until 48, to be the king.
403
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:38,160
- Right.
- And I think he was incredibly trained
404
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,240
in mathematics, architecture, astronomy,
405
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,520
- but also religion, mythology.
- Mm-hmm.
406
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,640
This group, the three magnificent temples,
is his showcase.
407
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,800
This guy probably planned this
for 30 years of his life.
408
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,280
- [Graham] Mm-hmm.
- Finally, he got to build it.
409
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:01,240
And it's the height
of Maya scientific achievement.
410
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,360
- Yeah.
- There's numerology.
411
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,200
There's mathematics. There's astronomy.
412
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:11,680
[Graham] The message of the mural is that
the deeds and rituals performed by the son
413
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,000
are essential if the father is to triumph
414
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,680
in the afterlife journey
that now confronts him.
415
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,480
Separating them is an icon
of the greatest significance.
416
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:24,760
[Dr. Barnhart] Here's our world tree.
417
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,160
That's the sun god's face
in the middle of it.
418
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:32,560
But the tree is also the path
between this world and the other world.
419
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,440
In some contexts, it's the Milky Way.
420
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,160
[intriguing music playing]
421
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,240
[Graham] Is the role that the Milky Way
plays a... a kind of path of souls?
422
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:43,960
It's an afterlife journey in some sense?
423
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:48,120
Yes. The things that
these two individuals are interacting with
424
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,000
is the conduit between this world
and the other.
425
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:52,200
Right.
426
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:56,600
The notion of a leap to the heavens
to the Milky Way
427
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,040
and... and a journey
that is made after death
428
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:01,400
is very strong amongst the Maya.
429
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,600
What's remarkable is
how widespread this notion is.
430
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:14,480
This Milky Way symbolism
as a... as a path of souls is found
431
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:16,360
not just amongst the Maya,
432
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,000
but... but amongst many other cultures
in North America.
433
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:23,920
{an8}Absolutely. It's one
of those Pan-American ideas.
434
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:25,520
{an8}It really is.
435
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,400
{an8}From the tip of Chile up to Alaska,
436
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:34,360
native thought is
that the Milky Way is the path of souls
437
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,560
from this world to the other one.
438
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,760
The dead follow it,
and the power that shamans have,
439
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,680
- they can walk it.
- [Graham] Right.
440
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,560
But it's... it's fascinating
that it's in every single culture
441
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,760
that we can get information about
about the Milky Way.
442
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,680
{an8}[intriguing music ends]
443
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:58,440
{an8}[Graham] It reminds me of how the Apurinã
of Brazil view the Amazonian geoglyphs
444
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,480
as if they were sacred portals
to the afterlife.
445
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,920
- In the Amazon, it's still very alive.
- [Graham] Yeah.
446
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,400
Here in the Maya world,
it's still very much alive.
447
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,640
Yeah. So it's like there's
a remote common ancestor to this idea.
448
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:13,800
[Dr. Barnhart] I believe so.
449
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:20,800
I think that these core identity ideas
came over with the first people.
450
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,360
And that's why we find them
amongst so many cultures,
451
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,320
even though those cultures,
for example, in southern Chile
452
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,680
and the far north of North America,
are not in contact with one another.
453
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,080
They're still expressing the same ideas
because it's the same inheritance.
454
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,760
Absolutely. And I think
there's more than just the Milky Way.
455
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,200
There's a couple of different things
that are those core principles.
456
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,320
One of them is
that the Maya have a great love
457
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:46,040
of the concepts
of shamanism, transformation.
458
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:46,960
[Graham] Yeah.
459
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,040
[menacing music playing]
460
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,720
There's no doubt that Mayan culture
was a shamanistic culture.
461
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:03,480
I think that the idea
of the journey of the soul after death
462
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,240
results ultimately
from shamanistic experiences.
463
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,320
[menacing music continues]
464
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,880
Is it a coincidence
that many of the other Indigenous cultures
465
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:18,960
of the Americas,
466
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,520
and indeed many ancient cultures
all around the world,
467
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,840
preserved an almost identical vision
of the afterlife journey of the soul?
468
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,880
Or are we confronted here
by some underlying connection,
469
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,520
a powerful, all-pervading belief system
470
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,080
that was inherited
by many later civilizations
471
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,040
from a lost civilization of prehistory?
472
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:43,200
[menacing music builds]
473
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:49,680
[menacing music subsides]
474
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,760
[Keanu] The work that you've shared
has been very exciting.
475
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,560
And when we see
archaeological examples of...
476
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,400
{an8}of the knowledge of the sky and the stars,
477
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,440
as we look back on it,
I feel like it is older than we think.
478
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:06,640
Yeah.
479
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:11,160
And you connect this idea
to a shamanistic point of view.
480
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:12,600
[Graham] Yes, absolutely.
481
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,480
All shamanistic cultures
are very interested in the stars.
482
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:16,640
[mysterious music playing]
483
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,880
But at a certain point, that interest
in the stars can become a religion.
484
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,360
Can you dig a little bit into that for me?
485
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,400
Shamanism is a system
to investigate the mystery of death.
486
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,240
[music continues]
487
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,000
What happens to us when we die?
488
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,200
This notion that the soul leaves the body,
leaps up to the heavens.
489
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,720
It was about the journey
of the soul after death.
490
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,480
[Keanu] It seems like in our stories
and our own journey,
491
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,560
as we grow up, there's this fact of death.
492
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:49,920
There's the end.
493
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,720
Yeah. It's the essence of everything.
494
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,240
[splutters] It's a kind of
morbid subject to discuss,
495
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,520
but it's fundamental for all human beings.
496
00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,320
We're all... we're all facing that moment.
497
00:29:59,920 --> 00:30:04,880
Classically, it's described
as a driving force for our actions.
498
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,360
Yeah. Yeah.
499
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:10,680
I'm going to die, so I will do something.
500
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:15,600
Yeah. And that's... that's exactly what
the shamanistic teachings are saying,
501
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,280
uh, is that we had better use
this opportunity of life well.
502
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:24,480
Yeah. I think that is the challenge
that's before us.
503
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,880
Because that idea
is found all around the world,
504
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,080
very... very specifically
the leap to the Milky Way.
505
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,520
I don't think
that could have happened by accident.
506
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,040
I think it's... I think it's something
that's been passed on
507
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:37,720
from an ancestor culture.
508
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:38,640
Yeah.
509
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,720
[intriguing music playing]
510
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,320
[Graham] But when was it passed on?
511
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:49,440
Just how far back can we trace
this shamanistic tradition
512
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,080
of measuring and tracking objects
in the heavens?
513
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,560
The answers just might lie
at one of the first places I visited
514
00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,400
on my journey through the Americas,
515
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:05,200
deep in the Amazon rainforest
at the ancient site of Serra Do Paituna.
516
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:09,200
[intriguing music builds, ends]
517
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,280
[uptempo intriguing music playing]
518
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,320
The stone was used as a canvas,
uh, for extraordinary art,
519
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,120
and that art itself
needs to be deciphered.
520
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:26,800
It needs to be better understood.
521
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,440
[uptempo intriguing music builds, ends]
522
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,320
[Graham] In an attempt to do just that,
523
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,840
{an8}archaeologist Dr. Christopher Davis
became intrigued by
524
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,800
this prominent grid image full of symbols.
525
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,480
[intriguing music playing]
526
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,200
Now, talk to me about
what we're looking at here
527
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,280
and what you make of it.
What's your analysis of this?
528
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,080
It's the largest single painted image
at this site.
529
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:54,960
- There's 49 total boxes.
- [Graham] Yeah.
530
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,000
[Dr. Davis] One of the first difficulties
was trying to figure out
531
00:31:58,080 --> 00:31:59,640
should we, you know, look at this
532
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,920
from the left to the right
or right to the left.
533
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,640
[Graham] It seems
the ancient painters left a clue.
534
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,480
[Dr. Davis] Here you can see
this snake image here.
535
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,560
That's fascinating.
So there is an image of a snake there.
536
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:14,080
[Dr. Davis] Right here in yellow.
537
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,920
Mmm. So almost having the snake there
is telling us how to read it.
538
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,160
Exactly. The pattern that pops out to me
539
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,800
is when this grid is read
540
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,600
in a sinusoidal pattern
starting at the bottom.
541
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:30,680
[Graham] In a sinusoidal pattern,
542
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,760
the boxes read up one column,
then down the next,
543
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,560
then up again, like that snake.
544
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:39,160
But to what end?
545
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:42,400
When he looked to the west,
546
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,400
Dr. Davis noticed a natural notch
in this rocky pillar nearby.
547
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,880
If you're standing right in front,
in the background to your right
548
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:57,160
there's a rock window that the sun,
as it passes over here and sets,
549
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,560
eventually it intersects that rock window.
550
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:03,720
So I believe that they were
possibly taking a tally of the sun.
551
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:05,920
[somber music playing]
552
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000
[Graham] Dr. Davis calls this tally
a sunset capture tracker,
553
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,200
an ingenious way to record
the sun's movements over time,
554
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:20,720
one created more than 13,000 years ago
during the last Ice Age.
555
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:23,160
But how does it work?
556
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,400
I see X marks,
and I see single lines as well.
557
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,440
- These Xs, these are all together.
- [Graham] Yeah.
558
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,840
[Dr. Davis] And if you read
up and down this way,
559
00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,280
eventually you get
all of these single lines together.
560
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,720
These single vertical lines go together,
and then you go back to the Xs.
561
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,960
These single vertical lines are the boxes
562
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,960
that I think coincide
with the sun capturing.
563
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,280
And that time is sometime around
what would've been the winter solstice.
564
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,200
- How clever can you get? That's amazing.
- [Dr. Davis chuckles]
565
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,360
[somber music builds, ends]
566
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,200
[Graham] It's not just the grid.
567
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:06,200
[intriguing music playing]
568
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:10,840
Dr. Davis believes that nearly all of
the prehistoric art here tracks the sun.
569
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,560
[Dr. Davis] There's a lot
of concentric circles and other images
570
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:16,840
that appear to be the sun.
571
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:20,280
And they specifically are pointed
to the winter solstice,
572
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,000
and they wrap all the way around
to the summer solstice.
573
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,560
[Graham] More art, facing due west,
marks the equinoxes.
574
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:32,280
So again, it shows
this almost obsessive focus
575
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,280
with the key moments of the solar year.
576
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:35,520
Yes, absolutely.
577
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,720
[Graham] What we have here may well be
the earliest evidence yet found
578
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:43,480
anywhere in the Americas
579
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,240
of humans keeping tallies
of celestial events.
580
00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:52,080
[Graham] So in a way,
this whole thing is kind of a huge machine
581
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,480
for tracking the passage of time?
582
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,160
I believe so.
I believe it's like an almanac
583
00:34:57,240 --> 00:34:58,760
that's written in pictures.
584
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,040
[intriguing music ends]
585
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:07,480
This speaks to a scientific mindset
amongst the artists themselves,
586
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,000
as though they're observing
particular incidents
587
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:11,320
and moments in the sky...
588
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,920
and getting to grips
with the science of time
589
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,960
and thus the ability to predict
what would happen
590
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:22,960
at particular dates in the future.
591
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,040
[intriguing music playing]
592
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,440
So it was a kind of scientific project
for them?
593
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:28,840
[Dr. Davis] Absolutely, yeah.
594
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,080
[Graham] The art itself
looks very shamanistic to me.
595
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:33,920
That's just my personal impression.
596
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,880
Do you think shamans were at work here?
597
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:37,240
[Dr. Davis] It's possible.
598
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:41,480
They carried several occupations,
scientists, doctors, all sorts of things.
599
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:42,400
[Graham] Yeah.
600
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,800
[Dr. Davis] They usually
do carry sacred knowledge,
601
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,040
things like the movement of the stars.
602
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,440
Do you see that spread widely
across the Americas?
603
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:52,400
[Dr. Davis] Yeah.
604
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,160
The knowledge of using astronomy
in this way is found throughout here.
605
00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:57,520
So the Maya...
606
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,240
and other cultures seem to be using this.
607
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,120
In the American Southwest,
we had chiefs who were sun watchers.
608
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,800
So all of this lore
does seem to go back far in time...
609
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,640
- Yeah.
- ...uh, to some deep understanding
610
00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,440
that had spread
throughout much of the Americas.
611
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:25,000
[Graham] This obsession with the heavens
is just one of many recurring themes
612
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,040
I've encountered again and again
all across the Americas...
613
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,520
[intriguing music playing]
614
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,400
...ideas that play a central role
in my 30-year quest
615
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,760
for a forgotten episode in human history.
616
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,280
[uptempo intriguing music playing]
617
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:48,240
The question is,
where did these ideas come from?
618
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:53,640
For me, these are indications
of a remote common source,
619
00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:57,880
that these ideas have filtered down
through many different human cultures,
620
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,640
but the ideas themselves
have remained relatively intact.
621
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:06,160
Unless it's some just extraordinary,
unbelievable coincidence,
622
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,160
we are looking at a legacy
which has been handed down
623
00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:12,080
from the remotest antiquity
and has been preserved
624
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:13,480
and passed on and developed
625
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,560
by multiple different cultures
all around the Americas.
626
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:18,640
[uptempo intriguing music ends]
627
00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:20,040
[dramatic music playing]
628
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,400
[Graham] A legacy perhaps left
by a seafaring people
629
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,480
capable of crossing oceans
as wide as the Pacific
630
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,040
thousands of years before scholars
accept such voyages were possible.
631
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,520
A culture that understood how
to harness the power of plants
632
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,040
to create mind-enhancing visions
633
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,560
of geometric patterns
and encounters with fantastical beings,
634
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,760
visions of such great importance
they would become the basis of their art.
635
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,400
And a culture that shared its knowledge
636
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,160
of how to create
technologically-advanced structures,
637
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,120
whether built in stone
638
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:00,200
or made from the body
of the earth herself,
639
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,480
structures with great spiritual meaning,
640
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,960
designed to bind ground to sky,
641
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,240
celebrating the soul's journey
into the afterlife.
642
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,440
In fact, I would suggest these
common religious
643
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,800
and spiritual motifs
that are found all around the world
644
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,200
are amongst the best evidence
for a lost civilization of prehistory...
645
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:23,760
[music builds]
646
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,640
...that we're ever going to find.
647
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:30,200
Oh my God. We're taking on
every childhood misconception
648
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,800
of the story of... of the world.
649
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,760
[Graham] The story of the peopling
of the Americas is changing,
650
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,680
and I'll give credit to science for that.
651
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,000
It's scientific archaeology that is...
that is unveiling this new information.
652
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,560
What I'm saying is
that old ideas are being pushed aside.
653
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,240
It's very clear
that stuff just keeps on getting older.
654
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,520
What new evidence will come to light next?
655
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,640
[music intensifies]
656
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:02,480
[music ends]
657
00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:05,240
[dramatic sting]
658
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,640
[closing theme playing]
659
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:35,840
[closing theme ends]