All language subtitles for Secrets of the Lost Series 3 Part 4 Riddle of the Olmecs 1080p

Narrator: Just before
the outbreak of World War II,

stunning examples of artwork

began emerging
from the Mexican jungle.

Ramirez: Who was the enigmatic
man portrayed here?

And when was it made?

Narrator: These colossal heads
heralded discovery of a lost world.

We are talking a city.

That is enough for a city.

A major city.

Narrator: The treasures found
here would change our understanding

of the origins of human culture
in Mesoamerica.

Nothing like this had ever been
found in the Americas before.

Narrator: These were the
vestiges of an entire civilization that,

today, takes its place
among the very oldest

found anywhere in the world.

♪♪

[ Ramirez speaking Spanish ]

Ramirez: Oh, it's wobbly.

Narrator: In Veracruz, Mexico,
cultural historian Nina Ramirez

is following in the footsteps

of two of America’s greatest
pre-war archeologists,

husband and wife team
Matthew and Marion sterling.

And the Sterlings made
the biggest find imaginable...

An entire ancient civilization
called "the Olmec."

They built the very first
pyramids, palaces,

and planned cities

for which Central America
is now so famous.

♪♪

Over 3,000 years ago,
the Olmec flourished here.

Some consider them the mother
culture of Mesoamerica,

from which the Mayans and Aztecs
later descended.

But when Matthew and Marion
arrived here

at the end of the 1930s,

no one even knew the Olmec
civilization ever existed.

It was all still hidden,
waiting to be revealed.

The Sterlings
were lured to Mexico

by an intriguing story
of a 19th century workman

who'd uncovered
a mysterious giant stone head

buried deep in the jungle.

If the stories were true,

if the colossal head
was still there,

Matthew sterling was convinced
that such an unusual sculpture

had to be part of a much larger
archeological site...

And that it was well worth
investigating further.

Narrator: And if there was a
bigger discovery to be made,

Mathew sterling's credentials
made him the man for the job.

By his late 20s,
he was leading huge expeditions

to study remote tribes
in Papua New Guinea,

rising to become chief of the
Smithsonian bureau of ethnology.

16 years his junior, as a girl,

Marion was outgoing
and adventurous.

When she got the opportunity
to support sterling

in his ethnology work,
she was intrigued.

And eventually, the two married.

The explorers shared numerous
adventures all over the world.

But their trip to the Mexican
village of Tres Zapotes

prove to yield the most
thrilling find of their lives...

The rumored stone head.

The Sterlings undertook
a grueling journey

based on hearsay,

but their gamble paid off,
because what they uncovered

was unlike anything
they'd seen before...

A single colossal stone head
buried deep in the ground.

The Sterlings
didn't know it yet,

but they'd taken the first step

in discovering the lost
civilization of the Olmec.

♪♪

♪♪

Ramirez: And here he is...

A 6-foot high,
8-ton colossal head

carved from a single Boulder
of volcanic basalt rock.

♪♪

Nothing like this had ever been
found in the Americas before.

The nearest equivalent would be

the monumental figures
of ancient Egypt.

But when the Sterlings
excavated the head,

there was no torso attached.

Instead, it was sat on
a foundation of unworked stone,

which suggests that,
from its very inception,

it was intended as an
intimidating, powerful portrait.

[ Thunder crashes ]

♪♪

Narrator: The dig was
incredibly difficult

given Central America's
tropical environment.

The team faced heavy rains, and
flooding at the excavation site.

But their hard work
proved worthwhile

when they saw
what they had unearthed.

Ramirez: You really get a
sense of the individual, here.

He's quite severe-looking.

He has this furrow in his brow,
as if he's contemplating.

You've got this broad nose,

strong lips,
and wide, chiseled jaw,

all framed by this helmet,

with the straps coming round,
suggesting authority.

But who was the enigmatic man
portrayed here?

What does he represent?

Who created this?
And when was it made?

Narrator: The Sterlings were
determined to make their Mark

by solving these mysteries,
but there was little to go on

because the colossal stone head
bore little resemblance

to the monuments of any known
Mesoamerican cultures.

When the Spanish conquistadors
first landed

on the coast of Mexico in 1519,
they overthrew the Aztec empire

that had dominated the region
for 200 years.

And before the Aztecs
were the Mayans,

who reigned supreme
from around 250 to 900 A.D.

But before the Tres Zapotes dig
proved otherwise,

the archeological consensus
in the 1930s

was that the Mayans were
the oldest major civilization

to exist in Mesoamerica.

But what the Sterlings found
next would change everything.

Matthew had realized

that the colossal head
they had found

was in fact surrounded
by a series

of mysterious mounds.

And so, the Sterlings
quickly assembled

a large crew of local workers,
and began to excavate.

Narrator: In the small Mexican
village of Tres Zapotes,

Matthew and Marion sterling
led an archeological expedition

that would change
our understanding

of early Mesoamerican culture.

Their initial unearthing
of the stone head was exciting,

but what they found next
was a game-changer.

Ramirez: The discovery of this
monument, Stela C, was,

I think, probably,
the point at which the Sterlings

felt they had hit the jackpot.

This was so significant
because it gave a date.

♪♪

What you can see in this
central band, here,

are lines and dots that relate
to the Mayan calendar,

known as the
long-count calendar.

Each line and each dot creating
a date, working backwards.

Now, Marion worked out that it
gave a date of around 478 A.D.

This was significant.

It put it at the height
of what was then thought

to be the earliest civilization
in the Americas... the Mayans.

Narrator: To their dismay, the top
half of the monument was broken off,

frustrating
the sterling's attempts

to calculate an accurate date.

Matthew was convinced
that he could make out

one more circle
right here at the crack.

He went back, interrogated it
again and again.

Is it there? Is it not?

It's really hard to make out.

And Marion had another go
at calculating the date

with that circle
taken into account.

The date she came up with?

31 B.C.

That made this stone
the oldest dateable artwork

ever found in the Americas.

Narrator: The finding met this
culture predated the Mayans,

and yet, it was sophisticated
enough to use calendars.

It was evidence that
a previously unknown

advanced culture existed here

at the same time that ancient
Rome was becoming a superpower.

Time will tell that the date
this Stela suggests...

31 B.C...
Was, in fact, conservative.

The Olmec culture
that this stone came out of

was significantly older.

Narrator: The Sterlings
had opened a new chapter

in the story of the Americas.

Matthew: Tres Zapotes, our
source of supplies and of labor

during the first two seasons
of archeological work

here in the southern part
of the state of Veracruz.

Discoveries made a year
before have enticed us

to return to Tres Zapotes.

Narrator: Once Matthew realized

Tres Zapotes was
a full settlement,

the project was scaled up.

Matthew: Here is
the cross-section trench

that we make through
one of the large mounds.

We dig down as deep as traces of
human habitation can be found.

Our excavations are really
cross-sections of history.

Narrator:
Archeologists were desperate

to find further evidence
of the people

who carved the head...
And they were not disappointed.

[ Indistinct talking ]

Recovered pottery
suggested that this culture

was clearly distinct,

not just an earlier iteration
of the Mayans.

Matthew: A cache of pottery
is our first find.

Let's try to get it out
without injuring it,

and see what we have.

♪♪

Note the tubes on which
the little jaguars stand.

They were evidently for axles,

which makes the little Jaguar
archeologically thrilling,

for it has always been supposed
that the use of the wheel

was unknown
in aboriginal America.

Another fine example
of free-hand modeling.

In fact,
it's one of the best pieces

of early American ceramic art
ever found.

Narrator:
Even today, these artifacts

the Sterlings help dig out
of the ground 80 years ago

engenders a sense of discovery.

Yet there were still
many more questions

to be had than answers.

Taken together,
the colossal head,

the early date
on the stone calendar,

the very first evidence
for the wheel in the Americas,

and much more,

what the Sterlings had uncovered
so far was beginning to paint

a tantalizing picture
of a full-blown civilization.

But they needed more proof.

Matthew: Off again, now, bound
on the journey to the next site.

Narrator: The Sterlings
decided to follow up on rumors

of other stone heads found west
of their Tres Zapotes dig,

in a place called "la Venta."

It was an arduous trek that
took them through dense jungle

and along rivers,
under a scorching Mexican sun.

And it was a journey made
on nothing more than hearsay.

Over a decade before
the Sterlings' expeditions,

rumors of another giant stone
head were reported at la Venta,

in the very heart of Mexico's
swampy lowland jungles.

Matthew: They la Venta
archeological site

is curiously located
on a Sandy island

in the great coastal
mangrove swamps,

footing it for two hours
over swamp land

is the last stage of our trip
to the spot

where we hope to find
the big stone heads

of which we have heard
exciting rumors.

Narrator: In fact, what the
Sterlings would find at la Venta

would far exceed
their expectations.

Narrator: During the
archeological dig at la Venta,

Matthew and Marion sterling
unearthed relics

beyond their wildest
expectations.

And they provided
an interesting clue

about the ancient civilization
that once flourished here.

The Aztecs referred
to the people

who lived in this region
as "the Olmec."

The Sterlings' first forays
into la Venta's dense jungle

revealed not just one,

but a staggering four,
colossal heads.

Matthew: You never know, when
you start one of these excavations,

what's going to be revealed,

and we begin to feel sure that,
here at la Venta,

we have come upon the hiding
place of a unique group

of early American
heroic sculpture.

La Venta played a major role
in characterizing the Olmec.

Narrator: But what the Sterlings
found at la Venta

was just the beginning
of something much, much bigger.

Dr. Rebecca Gonzalez Lauck
was the first archeologist

to fully map the la Venta site,

picking up
where the Sterlings left off.

This was full of education.
It was virgin jungle.

At that time,
the site was thought to be

just a little ceremonial site.

And they did not really think
that it was... it was a city,

and that there were outlying
sites all around it.

As we see it now,
the estimates are

around 10,000 people
that lived in this area.

So, we are talking a city.
That is enough for a city.

A major city
for that time period, yes.

♪♪

Narrator: A major city
with monumental art.

Matthew: This head... it's the
finest of the five colossal heads

we have unearthed.

The monument found
at Tres Zapotes

was a colossal head.

But this one, from la Venta...

One of the first things they
uncovered... is a work of art.

This is the iconography
of power.

There's a quality to this
sculpture that is timeless.

It has the proportions of
an identifiable, realistic face.

Indeed, just its very nature...

A great big,
monumental stone carving...

That in itself is a way
of proving that the wildness,

the barbaric wilderness
around the city, is kept at bay.

It's nature held at bay,
nature under the control of man.

And when we look in this face,

we see someone
who is in control.

Narrator:
But in control of what, exactly?

When the Sterlings arrived here,

they would have had little
or no idea.

Rebecca, what would this site
have looked like

when it was at its heyday...
Its height?

That is amazing.

Oh. So, both those ones we see
in reproduction here

would have been in the Plaza?

Wow.

Narrator: La Venta can be seen
as a blueprint

for the later
Mesoamerican cities

of the Mayans and the Aztecs,

whose spectacular
geometric pyramids

and vast plazas
still survive today.

But many of these designs were
first realized here, in Clay,

at la Venta... evidence that
the lost Olmec civilization

was perhaps the mother culture
of all Mesoamerica.

People thought,
before the Mayan,

it was sort of, like,
people lived in villages.

There were no cities.
There was no hierarchy.

And so, when Matthew and Marion
started finding huge sculptures,

there was a different
perspective.

We now have proof that a vast,
influential Olmec power center

was thriving here
from around 900 to 400 B.C...

Hundreds of years earlier than
even the Sterlings imagined.

For context,
this was the same period

that saw ancient Greek
civilization

taking shape in Europe.

Like the Greeks,

the Olmecs used art
to project power.

And their artistry
wasn't fully appreciated

until the dig at la Venta.

Matthew: At this point, our excavation
reveals the largest stone head

which we are to find
at Le Venta this season.

Ramirez: When Matthew
sterling excavated his head,

he recorded finding a fragment
right next to it

with a reddish-purple paint
on the surface.

So many sculptures
from the ancient world,

and also from the Olmecs,
were brightly painted,

polychromatic.

Now, we just see the skeleton,
the bones.

Narrator: But in a world
without metal tools,

how did the Olmecs create
these huge stone sculptures

in the first place?

The basalt rock from which
the sculptures were carved

isn't found anywhere near
the swamplands of la Venta.

But 90 miles away,

in the foothills
of the Tuxtla mountains...

Although the Sterlings
never made it here,

Dr. Alfredo Delgado

has identified it
and uncovered the sites

of the long lost
Olmec sculpture workshops.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

So, as they're sculpting
the monuments,

these are the big fragments
chopping off.

Amazing.

Narrator: And Alfredo's
latest discovery

among these sweltering
rocky outcrops

is an archeological first.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Uh-huh.

Ramirez: Wow.

I can't believe it.

It is ahead. It's amazing.

And now, the lost colossal head.

So, it had a natural fracture,
which meant it wasn't suitable.

Narrator: The basalt rock that the
Olmecs used is as hard as granite.

Experiments by modern sculptors
using stone tools

show that each colossal head

could take 5 to 10 years
to carve.

The fact that the Olmec's rulers

could afford
to commission such works,

and found a way to transport
them all the way to la Venta,

is evidence of their
extraordinary wealth and power.

Some of these boulders
are 20 tons.

How did they physically get
the boulders to the cities?

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Ah.

Narrator: So, why go to such
extraordinary lengths?

What made these monuments
so important to the Olmec?

Narrator: In the Olmec
civilization of Mesoamerica,

it appears that art
played a crucial role.

Olmec sculpture was a form
of communication

in a civilization
that has no writing.

And it's a way
of transmitting ideas,

myths, knowledge, history,
through the sculptures.

Narrator: One of Matthew and
Marion's biggest and darkest discoveries

was how the Olmec united
worldly and spiritual power

in their ceremonial monuments,
giving an unsettling insight

into certain Olmec practices.

Matthew:
The finest of our discovery...

Indeed, one of the finest
examples of aboriginal American

sculpture ever found...
Is this alter.

It's been carved as this
three-dimensional sculpture

that you have to move around.

But its function is different,
because this is an altar

for performing
ritual sacrifice of children.

At the front,
you can see a figure...

Possibly some sort
of high priest...

Emerging out of
what could be a cave.

The whole dynamism of this piece
is amazing.

But it's what's in his hands
that's most disturbing,

because he's presenting
a dead baby.

Narrator: The Olmecs likely believed
child sacrifices pleased their gods,

and brought good fortune
to the city.

And the site would soon provide

evidence of other spiritual
practices, too.

The Sterlings returned
to la Venta in 1942,

to explore an enclosure to
the north of the great pyramid.

They soon discovered strange
rows of massive basalt columns

with the stones
fitted closely together,

and deliberately packed
with Clay.

Much to their surprise,

they had unearthed the oldest
tomb ever found in Mesoamerica.

And as they continued to dig,
they found a sarcophagus,

where ancient bones were laid
in brilliant red cinnabar

alongside rare mirrors
and masterpieces in Jade.

This was an extraordinary
discovery,

and it provided a wealth
of new information

about the complexity
of Olmec society.

Ramirez: Buried alongside a host
of precious objects.

She's only 8 centimeters high,
carved out of Jade.

And then, the color
that you can see, there,

that rich red...
That's being produced

by rubbing cinnabar
onto the surface.

But what makes this
really distinctive

is what she's holding
in her hands.

You can just see, there,
a fragment of hematite,

a naturally reflective mineral.

Narrator: In fact, neither
hematite, Jade, nor cinnabar

were found in the Olmec region.

Everything seen here had to
be sourced from elsewhere.

So, they're trading to get
hold of the luxury items

that allow them to gaze
upon their own face.

The mirror is symbolic.

In a spiritual sense,

mirrors can be seen
as a sort of portal

between the earthly
and the spiritual realms.

The fact that this has been
interred in a burial

suggests that it is, perhaps,
acting as some way

of transporting the individual
onto the afterlife.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Compared to
the enormous basalt monuments,

small-scale Jade figures
offer a very different window

into the Olmec world.

Intentionally buried,

they reveal a complex culture
of sacred rites and ceremonies.

This fascinating depiction
of a ritual frozen in time

is displayed
exactly as it was found.

Jade was the most precious
commodity in the Olmec era...

Far more valuable than gold.

And stunning Jade masks

also played a major role
in Olmec ceremonies.

[ Indistinct talking ]

At the Xalapa museum,

expert Dr. Sara Ladron
de Guevara explains.

Sarah, what treasures have
you brought out for me today?

These are the lovely masks
of [indistinct].

Some are kind of eroded.

But this one looks brand-new,
doesn't it?

It does.

It's beautiful.

Jade, or Jade-dyed.

And Mesoamericans
loved green stones.

And that was a very important
thing that Olmecs started.

And it seems like
everything was started

by the Olmecs in Mesoamerica.

You can see that these masks
can fit a face.

There are holes
for the eyes to see.

And there are holes
for the nose to breathe.

They could even speak.

So, it's a useable mask.

Am I allowed to touch it?

- Sure.
- Oh, how wonderful.

I will be extremely careful.

It's heavy.

It's heavy because
it's very hard stone.

And what we have here are,

to me, it looks like
four maize cobs?

- Yes.
- Very lightly carved

on the surface of the Jade.

Maize is a sacred thing.

There's a god of maize
in later times,

but it has the beginning
in Olmec times.

Narrator: Part of the Olmec's
strength depended on

cultivating enough maize
to feed the large population.

So, the importance of rituals
ensuring a good harvest

would have been Paramount.

One thing that is very
interesting about the masks

is that, offering 4
from la Venta,

I noticed at least two of those
figurines are wearing masks.

We have
the archeological evidence

that masks were used
in ceremonies.

Narrator: It's possible
this very mask

was used in some sort
of harvest ritual.

But the Olmec didn't confine
their sculpting skills

to large lumps of rock
and precious stone like Jade.

We now know they were also
accomplished woodcarvers,

thanks to what must be
one of the most unlikely

archeological discoveries
of recent years...

A set of mysterious offerings
made to a sacred mountain.

Narrator: The Olmecs have proven
they were accomplished sculptors

of giant boulders
and precious stone.

Yet a mysterious archeological
find on a sacred mountain

has revealed that they mastered
yet another artistic medium...

Wood.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Preserved wooden objects
are incredibly rare

in Mexican archeology.

Poc Ortiz was part of the team
that first excavated

these momentous wooden heads.

That wood's
over 3,000 years old.

Artifacts that represented an
entirely new era of Olmec art.

Ramirez: These are really old.

What date are they?

Unique conditions at the site
of El Manati,

where the heads were found,

ensured the unlikely survival
of these sculptures.

Constant flooding
from freshwater Springs

prevented bacteria
from destroying the wood.

But they were still
incredibly fragile.

It's interesting, too,
I can see some paint,

some color.

Around it.

What does it tell us
about this really early phase

of Olmec civilization?

These ancient wooden busts
were found over 100 miles

to the west of la Venta,

and just 10 miles
south of the last,

and most important,
discoveries in Mexico

made by Matthew
and Marion sterling.

In 1945, just as the Sterlings

were about to fly out of Mexico
after another season,

Marion received a letter
from a friend.

She mentioned reports
of a hunter

who had ventured deep into
a remote part of the jungle,

and claimed to have
seen stone carvings

similar to the one at la Venta.

The prospect of one last trek

into uncharted backcountry
was irresistible,

and the Sterlings soon
embarked on their final,

most grueling,
jungle journey to date.

At times, they became lost
and disoriented,

and even when back on track,
were completely unaware

that they were heading
towards the very first

major Olmec settlement...
San Lorenzo.

And this is what,
or rather who, they found.

Let me introduce you
to El Rey... the king.

He's 9 1/2 feet high,
and weighs in at over 30 tons.

♪♪

But El Rey isn't just impressive
for his size.

He's also one of
the most beautifully executed

of the colossal heads,

'cause see these gorgeous
details like the line

that's drawn around the lips,

just giving that extra sense
of dimension and definition.

And then, there's this
wonderfully defined

headdress, as well,
where you can see

the individual plumes
going over the top.

Indeed, the headdress
is interesting

because you can see this
concrete section at the front.

When it was discovered, El Rey
was flat on his back in a ditch,

and that part was broken off.

The starlings' team
reattached it.

But there's other evidence
of damage, too.

So, there are drill holes
above the nose, under the eye,

and there are x marks
on the side.

Matthew speculated that this
damage could have been done

by marauding conquerors

trying to break up this evidence
of an ancient civilization.

♪♪

Narrator: Including El Rey,
Matthew and Marion

helped find five more
colossal heads at San Lorenzo,

and since
the Sterlings' retirement,

another five have
also been unearthed.

The Sterlings' discovery
of this new site of San Lorenzo

pushed the birth of civilization
in Mesoamerica

back yet again,
to over 3,000 years ago.

The scale and riches of the site

left a new generation
of archeologists

with the exciting task

of unraveling the beginnings
of the Olmecs.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

San Lorenzo is before la Venta.

It's the first city.

Narrator: The latest excavations
also revealed

an unprecedented construction...

Mesoamerica's very first palace.

But ongoing excavations
are backfilled to protect them,

so envisioning
what lies below the ground

requires some imagination.

In fact, deeper excavations
suggest the 10 colossal heads

of San Lorenzo

may once have formed two
intimidating processional lines

leading up towards
the red palace.

Understanding the true meaning
of Olmec art and culture

has long been frustrated

by their apparent lack
of a writing system,

but a recently discovered object
may provide the key

to unlocking the secrets
of the Olmec.

The world of the Olmecs
continues to throw up surprises.

I'm lucky to be able to share
with you a recent discovery.

It was only found in 1999.

The reason it's so significant
is, all over this surface,

there are incised symbols.

These symbols are not random.

They seem to be
forming patterns...

Patterns that suggest
a writing system.

And if the date is right,

this is the oldest written
material in the Americas,

and indeed, the oldest
written material

in the western hemisphere.

And the symbols
all relate to things

that were significant
within Olmec culture.

So, the ones we can make out
relate to the maize,

or the pineapple,
or animal skins,

we've even got a symbol
that looks like a perforated,

sort of pointed knife
that could have been used

in rituals,
or indeed, in sacrifices.

The Olmecs are the first
to everything.

And then, it all seems to end.

Why? What happened to them?

So, they don't really die.

They move,
and become something else.

I like that thought.

Narrator: We still know
little about the Olmecs

compared to the Mayans
and Aztecs who came after.

The sites first explored
by the Sterlings

are nowhere near
fully excavated.

But in rediscovering this
extraordinary lost civilization,

Matthew and Marion gave us
an incredible head start.

Matthew: Those long dead artists
are having a new day of glory.

The Sterlings' final excavations
in Mexico

inadvertently brought to life
the birthplace,

the crucible,
of Olmec civilization.

While ancient Egypt
is flourishing,

while cities are going up
in Mesopotamia,

there's now evidence that,
across the ocean,

disconnected from
those cultures,

another civilization
is emerging.

And it's a civilization
of pioneers,

of groundbreakers, of firsts.

I think it's fitting
that the people

who discovered this civilization

were also pioneers...
Pioneers in archeology.

And what they uncovered
has redrawn our understanding

of world civilizations.