All language subtitles for Explorer Discovering Peru Part 2 720p

>> In Peru, there are
ancient buildings,

which define modern technology.

How could inhabitants
of ancient Peru

build these wonders without
having any modern know-how?

They did provide an answer.

They believe the gods
transmitted their knowledge.

The heritage of an
evolved civilization

with an extraordinary
technology, today forgotten.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

More than a century has passed
since the first finding,

but the gusty winds of
the Paracas Peninsula,

about 250 kilometers
south of Lima,

have not removed traces of
the giant drawing carved

in the sand.

It is called the Paracas
Trident, or Candelabra.

It seems that it was created
by the Paracas culture, who

inhabited this region
between 300 BC and 280 AD,

but this is just conjecture.

In fact, the few
stories which do

mention it don't
reveal the authors,

and neither do they indicate
its date of creation.

No analyses are available
to date a simple excavation

in the sand, and no
organic finds nearby

were unearthed like clothing,
tools, or other finds

crucial for carbon-14
dating, which are normally

associated with a place
to define a, more or less,

accurate date.

Even its significance
is uncertain.

It was conjectured that it
could be a sign pointing

towards areas of the
ancient empire like Cuzco,

Machu Picchu, or Nazca.

But when checked, it appeared
that its central axis

extends and ends directly
in the Pacific Ocean.

Others have conjectured
that it could

be a religious symbol,
perhaps the tree of life,

or the representation on Earth
of a constellation, perhaps

the Southern Cross.

In any case, the
almost 200 meters

of the central vertical
axis, the nearly 120 meters

of the horizontal axis, and
the 40 degree inclination

seem devised to make it
visible from a great distance--

a signal, therefore,
a sort of lighthouse.

Arriving from the
sea, in fact, it

starts to be seen even
more than 15 kilometers

from the coastline.

But arriving from the sky,
it can be seen even sooner.

According to research by
Professor Zecharia Sitchin,

one of the world's
greatest scholars

on Sumerian cuneiform
writing and an expert

on ancient
civilizations, the symbol

represents Viracocha
and marks the point

where the areas visited
by the ancient god start.

A higher entity, the
head of a population who

could glide over water and fly,
worshiped with different names

throughout Central
and South America,

who had restored civilization
after the Great Flood.

Viracocha, however,
did not resemble

the people who inhabited
the continent at the time.

He did not have dark skin
and wasn't clean-shaven,

but was rather white-skinned
and had a beard.

Could he have been
the survivor of

an ancient, evolved
civilization today forgotten,

who had escaped a world-wide
catastrophe, the head

of a small group with a
technology not understood

by those ancient populations?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The ancient Paracas population
lived around the Candelabrum

area and was simple
and peaceful people.

They survived on fishing
and rudimentary agriculture.

They were skilled weavers and
created beautiful, painted

ceramic wear.

This lifestyle, however,
is in sharp contrast

to the practice they
are mostly known for,

drilling and deforming skulls.

Deforming was achieved by
wrapping the head of newborns

with bandages or
wooden boards, which

compressed the
bones of the skull

to make them grow abnormally.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

This custom must have
caused much pain.

Nevertheless, it was practiced
for an extremely long time,

and it also spread
to more distant lands

like Egypt, Malta,
and Central America.

Ancient, deformed skulls dating
back more than 6,000 years

were found in these areas.

Today, the true reason
behind this custom

has yet to be discovered.

Aesthetic reasons do not seem
to justify its use, and the fact

that its spread to civilizations
which had no direct contact

renders its expansion
even more unfathomable.

Other populations, too,
practice deformities

which, today, are considered
abhorrent like the Mayan custom

to induce strabismus or the
Chinese to deform women's feet.

But these habits have remained
confined to those cultures

without spreading
to other populations

like skull deformation has.

This deformity was also
considered a distinctive sign

and performed only
within the highest ranks.

The Viracocha representations,
which have come down to us,

depict a being with a
stocky bust, short legs,

and especially big head.

Could it be that
deforming skulls

was a way to resemble the gods?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Ica is a town south of Lima.

Its small museum holds an
unsolved archaeological

mystery.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Dr. Javier Cabrera
Darquea was a doctor

in the small town of Ica.

Loved and respected by the
people all the more because he

was a descendant of
the city founders,

he progressively transformed his
doctors surgery into a museum.

Today, the three rooms
hosting the museum

hold about 11,000 stones,
which weigh from a few grams

to 500 kilos.

These are carbonized andesites
of volcanic origin and date

back to the Mesozoic Era.

There are several
incisions on their surface.

The story starts in 1966,
when a friend gave Cabrera

a stone with the drawing of a
prehistoric animal engraved.

He discovered that it
had been found next

to the Ocucaje Desert and
that there were many more.

The stones had also
generated some trading.

In fact, the farmers
would collect the stones

and sell them to
tourists as souvenirs.

They told him that the stones
had been brought to light

in 1960 after the
flooding of the Río Ica.

Cabrera was thunderstruck.

Thereafter, the Peruvian doctor
started to collect and study

these stones with passion,
a mission he pursued

until his death in 2001.

As he continued in his
research, the doctor

was increasingly convinced
that the drawings carved

on the stones were not just
simple, artistic creations,

but some sort of
ideographic writing.

The images, in fact, were
subdivided by Cabrera

into subjects and illustrate
the complex knowledge

of, more or less, familiar
subjects like astronomy

and geography, but also
more unusual like surgery.

The stones can, therefore,
be rightfully considered

as pages of a vast library.

Their surfaces depict
representations

of body parts, heart
transplants, maps

of the entire planet which
reveal how continents were

millions of years
ago, astronomers

who study the passage of
heavenly bodies, wagons

drawn by horses, kangaroos,
men with dinosaurs.

But if dinosaurs became
extinct 65 million years ago,

and it is thought that
man's appearance on Earth

only dates back a few
million years ago,

how can it be that they
are depicted together

on these stones?

It is difficult to imagine that
this civilization had reached

the degree of knowledge
represented in these scenes

during such a distant era.

Anatomy, in fact, was
only born in the 1400s,

while the first heart transplant
only dates back to 1967.

The knowledge that
the Earth is round

only goes back a
few centuries BC,

and the use of the telescope
for astronomic studies

is owed to Galileo
Galilei in the 1600s.

Horses became extinct
thousands of years

before they were reintroduced
by the Spanish to the Americas

in the 1500s.

And the ancient
inhabitants of Peru

never used the wheel, while
the pre-Columbian populations

certainly did not know
what kangaroos were.

Are we faced with the greatest
archaeological discovery

of our times or with
a resounding fraud?

Various archaeologists
believe these are counterfeits

mainly created by a
couple of campesinos

to sell them to
tourists, and this theory

needs to take into account
the following data.

It is estimated that,
between the Cabrera finds,

those owned by
Peruvian collectors,

and those taken abroad,
the amount of carved stones

amounts to over 50,000 pieces.

Now, that's an enormous amount,
even for a tireless couple

of forgers.

In addition, many stones weigh
several hundred kilograms.

Why create such cumbersome
souvenirs so hard to sell?

And it is really hard to believe
that two campesinos barely

able to read and
write could ever

have acquired the scientific
knowledge carved on the stones.

The reporter Juan de Santa
Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui,

in an article of
the 1500s, reports

that the Incas would call them
[? Manco ?] stones, meaning

power stones, and
these were part

of the funerary vestiges
of noble families based

on an ancient tradition.

This is confirmed by the
fact that, in August 1966,

several samples were
found in pre-Inca tombs

by the president of Lima's
Polytechnic Institute, Mr.

Santiago Agurto Calvo, and by
the archaeologist Alejandro

Pezzia of the National
Institute of Archeology in Peru.

The news appeared in
December of the same year

in the scientific supplement
of a Lima daily newspaper,

but the most sensational
scientific fact

derives from the lab
analysis on the stones.

Cabrera had them
analyzed by the mining

engineering company
Mauricio Hochschild.

And by the Mineralogy
and Petrology Institute

of Bonn University in Germany.

Based on the oxidation layer,
which covers the engravings,

it seems that the
stones were engraved

at least 12,000 years ago.

The Lima Aeronautic Museum,
which owns about 60 samples,

had the analysis repeated,
and the data were confirmed.

The engravings are at
least 12,000 years old.

Obviously, these
are not the millions

of years which can be
surmised from the scenes

with men and dinosaurs
living together.

Yet even 12,000 years ago,
dinosaurs were already extinct,

and we know of no
civilizations of the time which

had such advanced knowledge.

According to Cabrera,
this culture,

which he called
gliptolihic civilization,

disappeared due to
a planet catastrophe

caused by the wrong use
of their own technology.

Could they perhaps be survivors
who created their engravings

to hand down their knowledge and
history to generations to come?

It is also true that farmers
can realize imitations--

and there are many--

but these are easy
to unmask with tests.

That's why the Ica stones
remain an archaeological mystery

with their fantastic
representations.

Brain transplants,
pyramid systems

to transform solar
energy and distributed

for use, flying
machines resembling

strange mechanical birds.

But human flight is one of
the greatest breakthroughs

of the modern age.

Only some time ago, it was
believed an impossible feat.

And the use of the sun
as a source of energy

is also a recent victory.

Who is this unknown
population which

emerges from the
chasm of time with

this sophisticated knowledge?

The aspect of gliptolihic
men incredibly

resembles the
Viracocha depictions,

especially the one found
on the Door of the Sun

in Tiahuanaco on the shores of
the Titicaca Lake in Bolivia.

In fact, there's a man with
stumpy legs, large belly,

and large head out of
proportion to his body,

the same physical makeup
of the gliptolihic men.

After all, Ica is next
to the Candelabrum area

inhabited by the
Paracas, and in order

to best underline
their affiliation

to the noble classes,
they would deform skulls.

Perhaps to resemble
the ancient Viracochas?

The Paracas also
perforated skulls.

And on the Ica stones,
the gliptolihic men

are depicted performing
brain surgery.

And yet on the
Paracas Peninsula,

there's the Candelabrum, which,
according to Zecharia Sitchin,

indicates the beginning of
the areas where Viracocha

had lived with his group.

And Ica is also next
to the Nazca Plain,

where there are large
drawings only visible

from the sky,
drawings which we find

engraved in the Ica stones.

Is this only a
casual coincidence?

Perhaps the Nazca Plain
could add other elements

to this research.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The Pan-American sur cuts
through the vast Nazca Desert

Plain with its drawings, which
having engaged researches

from around the
world in the attempt

to explain the mystery
like a dark gash.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The stretch between
kilometer 419 and 465

passes right in the middle
of the mysterious drawings,

but from land, it is
impossible to understand

their true aspect.

At first, only stones
are visible, furrows,

which are not that
deep, and clear spaces

with different colors
and undefined shapes.

From the tower, 14
meters high, visibility

improves only a little,
yet over 200 drawings

and almost 13,000
geometric figures

are spread over its
entire expansion.

Only from above is it
possible to realize

the true essence of the
shapes traced on the ground.

The Nazca Plain is one
of the planet's driest

and most inhospitable.

In fact, rainfall only amounts
to 1 cubic centimeter per year,

more or less a quarter
of an hour of rain

over a 12 month span.

A real hellish,
barren, and stony land,

but at the same
time, the ideal place

to trace images which
can remain unchanged

throughout the centuries.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> These lands are quite unique.

After penetrating the path
with some walking over them,

you realize that, even
in 100 years time,

the same tracks will still be
here, because they are formed

by a layer of
[? ferra ?] stones,

which reflect the
heat during the day,

forming a vortex of hot air,
which does not allow sand

to deposit, but
moves it to the side.

These stones are superficial,
brown, and if trodden upon,

you find the white earth
emerges, thus remaining

permanently exposed.

That's why these lines have kept
visible all these centuries.

>> An ideal land to preserve
the geometric figures in time,

but it doesn't explain how
the ancient inhabitants

of the area, the Nazca, could
draw them and trace kilometric

lines, most of which are
only visible from the sky.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> Many drawings can easily
be observed from the hilltops

or mountains which
surround the desert.

Others, definitely big,
cannot be seen these heights.

It is extremely hard.

And since they can be observed
as a whole only from above,

the question is how
have they been created.

We don't know.

It's a mystery.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> Hence, as Professor
Azabache claims,

in order to have an overview of
the larger drawings and direct

the creative work, an overview
was necessary and achievable

only from the height of
a sufficiently high hill.

But on the plane,
there aren't any.

Therefore, that
only leaves flight.

But who had the capacity to fly
over this plane centuries ago?

The oral tradition of the
Nazca speaks clearly--

the Viracochas.

The figures have been drawn
with an accuracy which

has baffled researchers
who have examined them.

The zoomorphic
drawings have been

traced with one,
continuous line,

meaning with a technique which
is even more difficult in terms

of lines and geometries.

One would think these
are more recent as they

are more sophisticated,
but on the contrary,

they are more ancient.

Therefore, the
logic which states

that human progress
grows in time

fails with the regression
of technical capacity.

How can this be explained?

Perhaps the inhabitants
of the plain

ran out of crucial
technical support.

Oral tradition
helps by reporting

that, suddenly,
the Viracochas left

for an unknown destination.

Could this be the
right explanation?

When they left,
the Nazca found it

impossible to trace
other zoomorphic figures,

so they were limited to
continue drawing easier

lines and geometric figures.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Only in modern times
did man understand

what had been drawn in the
Nazca Plain, an era when

man had realized his
ancient dream, to fly.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The first to discover
the true nature

of the inexplicable farrows
traced on the ground

was the American geographer
Paul Kosok in 1939.

While he flew over the area
with the night aircraft,

he tried to discover
the mystery,

guessing it was an
astronomic calendar.

But the most famous
researcher who

tried to unveil the
mystery behind these lines

was Maria Reiche, a German.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The scholar, affectionately
called the Lady of the Pampas,

also fought hard to safeguard
this extraordinary site,

managing to have it proclaimed
patrimony of humanity

by UNESCO.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In the city of Nazca, an
association and a museum

have been named after her.

Her grave is in the
garden of the museum.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> It was an order by Mary
to bury her body in a tomb,

which we keep in this museum.

She wants to be
part of this area,

feel surrounded and safeguarded
by these lines and drawings.

>> Reiche dedicated her life
to studying the drawings

of the plain starting in 1949,
a passion which kept her going

till the very end in
1998, the year she died.

Her conjecture is amongst
those most highly esteemed.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> There are many conjectures,
but the most widely embraced is

that by German
doctor Maria Reiche,

who claims it is a large,
astronomic calendar used

for agriculture.

>> Viktoria Nikitzki lives
in the town of Nazca and knew

Reiche during the last
years of her life,

when the scholar had become
blind and paralyzed in her bed.

She writes promotional material
on the drawings in the Nazca

Plain and illustrates
to tourists

the wonderful work carried
out by Maria Reiche

by means of a simple,
plastic model.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> The spider and the monkey
are directly linked to the Big

Dipper constellation, in
the case of the monkey,

and to the Orion constellation,
in the case of the spider.

Both are connected to
the summer solstice.

This was how it was possible
to forecast rainfalls.

>> A huge, astronomic calendar.

Is this the answer?

But was such complexity
really necessary only

to achieve an astronomic
calendar which,

amongst other things,
could be realized in a less

colossal and laborious size?

An astronomic calendar
for agricultural use

also, surely, had to be
completed quickly for survival,

but archaeologists speak of
1,500 years for its creation.

In addition, why realize such
a mammoth work which could only

be seen from the sky in flight?

Without this capacity,
the great majority

of signs traced on the
ground becomes inexplicable

and therefore useless.

Finally, many
drawings, if subjected

to computer inspections, find
no astronomical reference

whatsoever.

Therefore, Reiche's
studies only partially

unveil the Pampa's mystery.

And the enigmatic figure traced
on the side of a small hill

seems to look and salute
someone in flight.

But who flew in
the distant past?

A plot which thickens even
more over the past few years

with the discovery of other
drawings and geometric

figures in the close
by Palpa Plain.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The style is similar
to the Nazca,

but these date
further back in time

and are still only
comprehensible

from above in flight.

Finally, the Nazca
and Palpa drawings

cover a total area of nearly
600 square kilometers,

and to be created, thousands
of tons of stones were shifted.

Only a very important
reason could justify

any activity of this magnitude.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The Antonini Educational
Museum is in the town of Nazca,

where many archaeological
finds of the Nazca culture

are kept, the last
to have inhabited

this land before the Incas,
who incorporated them

into their empire, canceling
out all their customs

and traditions.

The Nazca had reached an
incredible artistic and

cultural level witnessed
by the exquisitely painted

ceramic wear and by the
sophisticated and efficient

underground aqueduct
system they had built.

There are no elements
in these finds which

help clarify the
mystery of the origins

and the significance
of the drawings

of the plain except
for one engraved

stone found in the Nazca Tomb.

The workmanship is not as
accurate as that of the Ica

stones, and the
drawings depict elements

ascribable to the
daily Nazca world.

But why would the
Nazca engrave stones

when they were perfectly
capable of painting exquisitely

colorful ceramic
wear and weaving

finely embroidered blankets?

Perhaps it was a
way of responding

to what they had
seen in finds they

believed to be of great
importance like the Ica stones.

Once again, the
engraved stones, which

were considered stones
of power, reappear.

Or were they, perhaps,
even stones of knowledge?

Is there a true connection
between the Ica and the Nazca?

A 1586 report written by a
magistrate, Luis de Monzón,

explained what the plains
natives said about the origins

of the drawings.

During extremely ancient
times, a small group of people

called Viracochas, who
differed from the Indios,

reached this land,
and the Indios

obeyed them, followed
them, and realized roads

which can still be seen today.

The Viracochas suddenly
left, but promised

to return, a memory and a
promise which was kept so alive

in those people to deceive
the Incas and Aztecs when

they met the conquistadores
for the first time.

The Spanish were exchanged
for the gods who had returned,

thus allowing a handful of men
to defeat well-trained and much

more powerful armies.

But truthfully, who were the
Viracochas, a myth, a legend,

or a historical truth?

Were they the true inspirers
of the great civilizations

of the past?

Could the gods be
the survivors of

a remote and forgotten
civilization which

had reached a level of progress
equal to, or higher than,

the current one?

The Monzón chronicle and
the engraved stone exhibited

at the Antonini
Museum add a new,

important detail
to the other clues,

and the ancient oral traditions
seem increasingly less

of a myth, of a legend,
to become history.

The Marcahuasi
Meseta lies on top

of a 4,200 meter mountain 80
kilometers northeast of Lima.

It is little known still
today, also because in order

to reach it, one has to organize
a true expedition rather

than a small trip.

In fact, the final
section of the road

to reach San Pedro de Casta,
the last inhabited center

of the Meseta Valley,
is a mule track,

which clambers up the sides
of the mountain for about

30 kilometers, large
enough for a car to pass.

Driving along the road
at night without a guide

who knows the place is an
even more difficult task.

In fact, a five hour
trip is required

to reach the small
pueblo 3,200 meters up.

Mass tourism with
its comforts has not

yet spoiled the
primitive territory

surrounding the plateau.

Marcahuasi was discovered by the
Peruvian archaeologist Daniel

Ruzo de los Heros in the '50s.

His research convinced
him that there

were some entrances to
the mythical network

of underground
tunnels which cross

South America and the
ruins of sculptures

realized in a distant era by an
unknown and extremely evolved

population, which
he called Masma.

Could it be another trace of
the passage of the mythical

Viracochas?

In the small San
Pedro de Casta museum,

there are many meseta
finds discovered by Ruzo.

They come from a
settlement of Incas,

who lived in Marcahuasi long
before the disappearance

of the mysterious Masma culture.

Amongst the various types
of finds the mummies

with their facial
expressions paralyzed

in a moment of eternal terror.

Perhaps they are the
vestiges of Inca prisoners

tortured during the
Spanish conquest.

But this is not a certainty.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The unpaved, small
square of San Pedro

is from where visitors to
the plateau usually depart.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The path leading to Marcahuasi
is even more difficult

than the one departing
from the valley.

It can only be covered by foot
or with pack animals, which

become even more indispensable
when heavy, cumbersome luggage

needs to be transported
to the meseta

at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

From one of the highest
points, the first ruins

of the ancient
Inca settlement can

be seen, while further
on, there are even more.

The meseta, in
fact, takes its name

from these ruins, one of
the few Inca constructions

to be built on two
inhabitable floors.

And the name "Marcahuasi" means
exactly "home with two floors."

Daniel Ruzo de los Heros
has studied the ruins

of the meseta for
eight years in a row,

stationing at the plateau
for six months a year.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The small heart where the
archaeologist would camp

is still in an excellent
state and an obliged stopover

for anyone visiting Marcahuasi.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Manuel Olivares is
an expert guide who

knows the meseta inside out.

He accompanied [? Ruzo ?]
during the last years, when

the archaeologists studied
the Marcahuasi sculptures

and cavities.

Even today, Don
Manuel acts as a guide

to the very few
tourists and researchers

who adventure to the meseta.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> In 1952, Daniel Ruzo came
here for the very first time,

and we climbed to Marcahuasi.

I worked with him for eight
years, six months a year.

He would work a week in Lima and
the other week in Marcahuasi.

This was his job
during those years.

>> Don Manuel still accompanies
visitors to the meseta

to settle into their campsite,
a natural amphitheater sheltered

from the winds which
blow over the plateau.

From here, in order to reach
a canal, which Ruzo believed

communicated with the mythical
network of underground tunnels

connecting places hundreds
of kilometers afar, at least

an hour's walk is needed.

The place is called Infiernillo,
meaning "little hell,"

and the name exactly
sums up what the natives

think of this tunnel.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The entrance to the canal is
about seven meters underground,

and it can be reached by
crossing a cleft between two

gigantic rocks.

When Ruzo used to work here,
Manuel did lower himself

down various meters,
but the archaeologist

feared for his safety
and prevented him

from continuing the descent.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

To reach the entrance,
it is important to have

mountain gear.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Unfortunately, the
heavy rainfalls

which have hit the meseta
have brought mud and silt,

which now block the entrance.

To open it, suitable
excavation equipment

would be required with
long working days.

But the tunnels are not
the only Marcahuasi enigma.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The plateau is also
the showcase of dozens

of mysterious drawings found
and catalogued buy Ruzo.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The archaeologist claimed that
the technique used by the Masma

to carve the Marcahuasi
rocks differs

from any known to mankind.

He defined it organic
sculpture and believed

it derived from extremely
advanced knowledge

from a different way of viewing
reality and representing

shapes, a world where magical
power and the earth and sky

bond were of
fundamental importance.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> About 32 drawings can
be found in Marcahuasi,

and each one of these only peaks
the curiosity to discover how

it was possible to realize them.

In my personal opinion,
it seems obvious

that these were extremely
well-prepared people

with another type of mentality,
a very special civilization

with great knowledge.

>> Ruzo discovered that, in
order to recognize the drawings

carved in the rock, they
should be viewed from the right

distance and angle, and
the precise light and shade

conditions at the
right time of day,

and even right
season of the year.

Lacking these prerequisites, the
sculptures are indecipherable.

This rock was called the
African Lion by the scholar,

and one can guess
the profile only

when looking from a
certain perspective,

exactly as explained by Ruzo.

If viewed from other angles, it
shows no comprehensible shape.

Identifying the sculptures
is made even more difficult

by natural erosion due to
the enormous amount of time

passed since their creation.

The period surmised by Ruzo
dates back much further

than the common accepted time
to extremely ancient eras

over 10,000 years
ago, an age which

would have certainly
transformed tools or handiwork

left by the mysterious
sculptors to dust,

making any test currently
available to date

the drawings
practically useless.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> This is Marcahuasi, and this
is the Monument for Humanity.

We have come here
so that you can

learn about it and the other
drawings which are here.

>> The most famous work at
Marcahuasi is the Monument

for Humanity.

Ruzo had come up with this name,
but its existence was already

known by the indigenous
population for a long time,

and they called it
the Head of the Inca.

It is 25 meters tall
and is very eroded,

but the profile
is clearly human.

Ruzo discovered
that, by glancing

at it from different angles
and light conditions,

other faces of various sizes
belonging to all human races

appeared on its surface.

That's how it gained its current
name, Monumento a la Humanidad.

Other drawings can be
seen from the plateau.

Some are clearly identifiable.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Others are hidden in
the mysterious landscape

of the meseta, awaiting
the ideal conditions

to unveil themselves to
the eyes of observers.

But many archaeologists did not
agree on the artificial origin

of the sculptures.

They claim that they were
created by natural erosion

and weather conditions.

Fully convinced
of his discovery,

Ruzo invited
important researchers

to visit and study
the sculptures

and data he had collected.

The German Albert Giesecke,
the Frenchman Marcel Homet,

the Austrian archaeologist
Hans Schindler Bellamy,

and the Englishman
Peter Allen all

agreed with the theories
supported by Ruzo.

Allen, personally, visited
the Marcahuasi sculptures

and was so impressed
he said, the fact

that they have this peculiarity
implies an uncommon technique.

Once more, the science
world was divided

into two opposite stands.

Who was right?

And once more, the
usual question arose.

Did the people who inhabited
the meseta in ancient times

remember the origin of
the finds in a place

the Incas considered sacred?

Pedro Cieza de León,
Spanish reporter with

the conquistadores, asked them
if they knew who had created

the strange shapes which
were on the plateau.

They replied that
they belong to men

who came from afar,
white-skinned foreigners

with a beard.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The imposing ruins of Chavín de
Huántar are 3,200 meters high,

lying between the
mountains of southern Peru.

They have been attributed
to the Chavín culture,

one of the most important
in ancient Peru,

considered the cultural route
of the subsequent Andean

civilizations.

This culture developed
suddenly in 1200 BC,

and its influence spread to
coastlines far from Peru.

The entire complex
of buildings is

set towards east
west, amongst which

the large temple, which
overlooks the entire site.

It is called El Castillo and is
built with various sized stone

blocks with a more or less
regular weight and shape.

The walls were covered
with large, stone slabs,

sometimes carved in the
characteristic Chavín style.

Similar carvings can be seen
on the columns of the temple

portal.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And on several stones slabs
of the ancient round square.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The walls of the Castillo were
adorned with over 200 stone

heads, called hollow heads.

Currently, only one has
remained fixed in place.

The others have been transferred
to the small Chavín museum.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> Yes.

Here in the exhibition
hall, we have

heads with proud faces,
astonished faces.

Research claims that
these hollow heads

show people who are
in a trance state,

in a hallucinatory state.

These expressions would
terrify the visitor

who came to this area.

The hollow heads were stuck,
fixed to the walls of the main

Chavín temple.

>> The Chavín population
worshiped the jaguar god,

and its religion originated
from the atomic bond between man

and the forest,
a religion which,

as the museum's
director explains,

terrified its believers with
practices which probably

utilized hallucinogenic
substances.

It seems strange, however,
that a population with such

a primitive religion had the
knowledge to build the imposing

Chavín structures.

Could it be, perhaps, that
the Chavín people had simply

occupied preexisting structures
built by a population which had

disappeared and had
more advanced knowledge?

The Castillo is also
called Old Temple,

but by looking carefully at
it, rather than a temple,

it looks like a giant strongbox.

Its massive walls, in fact,
do not have any windows,

and inside, there are
no large worship holes.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Underground, one of the
galleries leads to a small,

cross-shaped room, where the
most valuable and sacred Chavín

work stands out.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

A granite monolith 4
and 1/2 meters high

with a monstrous, carved,
anthropomorphic figure

revealing animal features.

The style is typical of
the Chavín population

and represents the highest
divinity of that ancient

culture, the jaguar god.

The monolith is called
El Lanzón, the Spear,

and neither the passageway
leading to it nor the narrow

hole where it is placed
were suitable to hold large,

worshipping crowds.

But from a religious
point of view,

there is no sense in this.

Usually, a divinity
would be visited

by a large number of people
to be honored and worshiped.

Its life-size reproduction
can be admired in the garden

of the Chavín Museum
and leveled over a wall.

The aspect of the
jaguar god incredibly

resembles the
Viracocha depictions.

Stumpy legs, large belly, and
large head out of proportion

to his body.

Is this only a
casual coincidence?

Could it be another trace of
the passage of the mythical

Viracochas?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It is possible to access an
intricate, underground network

of corridors, holes, narrow
tunnels, air ducts, and a water

canalization from the open
entrances at the top of the Old

Temple and from others
spread in various points.

These are currently
unusable, obstructed

by debris and cave-ins.

But once, they connected the
waters of the two rivers where

Chavín de Huántar
nestles in the middle.

Huanchecsa overlooks
Chavín and Mosna,

which is at a lower height.

The water descended
from Huanchecsa,

and it would fill the
large, sunken square

in front of the Castillo
through its channels

to finally flow in the Mosna.

Could it be that such a
sophisticated water network

only had a ritual purpose, and
could the Chavín underground be

part of the legendary network of
tunnels which connected ancient

sites of a forgotten past?

Mr. Lopez, archaeologist
in charge of Chavín,

states that there truly are
underground tunnels which

depart from Chavín towards
other unexplored settlements

of the surrounding mountains.

>> [SPEAKING SPANISH]

>> The ancient Chavín population
mentioned tunnels which

connected an area
northeast of here,

about 2 kilometers away
in the higher mountains.

The ancient Chavín
people spoke of this,

so it is likely this
connection truly exists.

>> For the first time,
video cameras have entered

the tunnels in Chavín, some
of which are still unexplored.

It's a difficult path,
and the presence of bats

makes it even less accessible.

The network of underground
tunnels is intricate,

and the conjecture that
the whole structure only

had a religious purpose is
increasingly less acceptable.

Did the Chavín population
really build the complex,

or did it simply settle
in buildings it had found,

readapting these to
its requirements,

buildings constructed by
a population which had

disappeared and with
more advanced knowledge?

The American archaeologist
Ephraim George Squier,

in his book "Peru, Incidents
of Travel and Explorations

in the Lands of Incas"
published in 1887,

believed that two, distinct
cultural eras existed

in Peru's history, one extremely
ancient with the most advanced

scientific knowledge, and
the other much more recent

like that of the Incas with
a lower cultural level.

According to Squier, an
extremely hard to calculate

span of time, but
certainly broad,

passed between
these two cultures.

He is also convinced
that the ancient

and sophisticated
Peruvian finds are

evidence of an advanced
technology, heritage

of a forgotten humanity.

The tunnels unwind for
still unknown distances,

also due to the danger
of covering them.

Many are damaged or obstructed,
and in fact, in the end,

it becomes impossible
to continue.

Luckily, there are side
exits, which suddenly emerge

from the large, main square.

The tunnels and the entire
Chavín complex still remain

an unsolved mystery, and the
uncertainty of their real

origins is increasingly
more substantiated.

Who really built these?

Professor Walter Krickeberg, in
his book ""[INAUDIBLE] American

Cultures," sustains the
most ancient and advanced

pre-Columbian civilizations
appear suddenly,

apparently without any roots
and preliminary stages.

This can only be explained
by an external impulse, which

influenced ancient America.

An external impulse,
exactly what has been orally

narrated by the ancient
pre-Columbian populations.

The Viracochas, men
of great knowledge

and with extraordinary
powers, with their white skin

and beards, gave birth
to civilization once more

after the Great Flood.

[MUSIC PLAYING]