All language subtitles for Unearthed Series 8 Part 9 Sumerian Pyramid of Death 1080p

NARRATOR:
Deep in the Iraqi desert,

a huge structure rises
from the sands,

the Great Ziggurat of Ur.

NARRATOR:
It towers over the remains

of the first civilization
ever known,

the Sumerians of Mesopotamia,

rulers of what the Bible calls
the Garden of Eden.

The ziggurat symbolizes
the dawn of civilization.

NARRATOR: Long off limits
in a violent war zone,

now our cameras have exclusive

access to explore
this extraordinary structure

and follow experts as they
solve the great ziggurat's

4,000-year-old mysteries.

Incredibly exciting...
There's a lot more to discover.

NARRATOR: Where is
the lost city that ancient

writings say once surrounds
the Great Ziggurat?

What does it take to forge
a civilization here?

In a quest for answers,
we digitally rebuild

the city at the height of
its glory.

We unearth the treasure of
lost kings

and reveal the real marvels of
engineering that made this

one of the first and greatest
cities on the planet.

Nasiriyah, Iraq,

200 miles south of Baghdad,

a huge ancient pyramid-like

structure looms over
the barren desert.

This is a ziggurat,

a massive 210-foot-wide
brick monument,

constructed centuries before
the ancient Egyptians

build their greatest temples
and tombs.

Today, it lies abandoned.

But 4,000 years ago, this is

the heart of the world's
first civilization,

the Sumerians of Mesopotamia.

In 2100 B.C.,
the Great Ziggurat towers over

a complex of temples
and grand palaces.

Ancient writings say this
inner sanctum is surrounded

by a sprawling maze of
workshops and houses,

all ringed
by a defensive city wall.

This is Ur,
a place believed to be

one of the world's first
great cities.

Is Ur a pioneering metropolis,
a vast city,

as the legends say?

How do the Sumerians create
a blueprint for urban life here?

For over 40 years,
the dangers of war have

restricted the hunt
for the truth

about this legendary city.

But today, our cameras have
been granted exclusive

access to follow
Abdulameer Hamdani and his team

as they explore
this remarkable complex.

Abdulameer thinks
this ziggurat is

the epicenter of one of
the world's oldest cities.

At the base of the ziggurat,

the team discovers traces of
ancient pottery

that can be used to date
the site.

NARRATOR:
If the legends are true,

traces of a vast metropolis
should surround the ziggurat.

Abdulameer has been given
exclusive permission to fly

a drone to investigate
the desert landscape

encircling the great monument.

NARRATOR: As the drone flies
further from the ziggurat,

an incredible lost urban
landscape comes into view.

Destroyed temples and palaces
are exposed on the surface.

A huge cemetery lurks
beneath the desert sands,

and at the edges of the city,

the remains of grand public
buildings stand near

a sprawling labyrinth of
workers' quarters

and private houses,

stretching for thousands of
square feet.

This is a true city,
buried in the dirt.

Beyond, the ruins of
the city wall,

the team spots a crater
in the ground,

evidence of catastrophic
damage caused by explosive

fighting here back when
Saddam Hussein rules Iraq.

NARRATOR: The crater exposes
archaeological evidence almost

a mile away from the ziggurat,

revealing the true scale of
the ancient city.

NARRATOR: The rare finds here
support the legend.

By 2100 B.C., the ziggurat is

the epicenter of the world's
largest city.

Why are the Sumerians the first

to build an urban landscape
like this?

Abdulameer thinks
they are pioneers of

ancient construction.

To prove it,
he wants to explore how

the night sky could be used to
orient their buildings.

He returns to the ziggurat
at dusk

to plot its position
within the landscape.

NARRATOR:
When the Sumerians rule Ur,

the moon rises to its highest
and fullest

at 56 degrees north.

This is what's known as
a major lunar standstill.

At this moment, after 18 years

of rising higher
in the night sky,

the moon appears to stand still

before it begins a cycle of
lower orbits.

Abdulameer uses a compass to
investigate if

this phenomenon inspires
the construction

of the Great Ziggurat.

NARRATOR: 4,000 years ago,

a structure coated in glistening

white lime plaster crowns
the summit.

At 100 feet, this is the highest
point for hundreds of miles.

Archaeologists believe it is
a sacred shrine room

where priests worship
the night sky.

And every 18 years,
the great staircase leading

to its entrance aligns

perfectly with the moon
as it reaches

its highest point in the sky.

Why do the Sumerians build
this monumental

ziggurat temple

around the movement of the moon?

Abdulameer searches
for clues among layers of

ancient bricks used to build
the great staircase.

Inscribed on the bricks is
the first writing system

ever known.

NARRATOR: Cuneiform is a script
invented by the Sumerians.

For the first time,
humans can record the world

as they see it.

Abdulameer thinks
it can reveal why

the people of Ur build
this gigantic monument.

NARRATOR: Unlike the ancient
Egyptians who worship the sun,

for the people of Ur,
the moon god,

Nanna, is one of the most
powerful deities.

The Great Ziggurat is
constructed in his honor.

At the shrine room on top of
the Great Ziggurat,

priests observe
the moon and stars.

They predict
their movements and read

them as signs from the gods.

A lunar eclipse
is a sinister omen

spelling disaster for the king,

forcing him into hiding.

A substitute king takes
his place,

dressing and behaving like
the real king

to fool the moon god.

When the danger has passed,
the substitute king

is sacrificed
to placate the moon god.

NARRATOR: 4,000 years ago,
the Great Ziggurat is built as

a giant temple to worship
the almighty moon god.

With it at Ur, the Sumerians
change civilization forever.

They build a great metropolis,

develop astronomy,
and invent the first writing.

But shocking evidence
could reveal how

all this comes
at a gruesome cost.

Who are the rulers of Ur,

and what does it take to keep
them in power?

NARRATOR: 4,000 years ago,
the world's first civilization,

the Sumerians,
build a city called Ur.

It's the largest,
most important city in

the world.

At its core,
the Great Ziggurat is

a pyramid-like structure,

the sacred nucleus of
power built

to honor the almighty moon god.

Who are the rulers of Ur?

What does it take to sustain
their growing civilization?

Buried 20 feet beneath the sand,

archaeologists unearth
a gigantic graveyard.

Inside the mud tombs,

they find royal burials
with golden treasure,

hoards of silverware,

and elaborate headdresses.

Surrounding these regal
burial chambers,

they discover hundreds
of other skeletons

neatly lined up
with damage to their skulls.

Who are these people?

Why are they buried here?

Abdulameer thinks identifying

the mysterious bodies
discovered here

can reveal how Sumerian royalty

builds and sustains
this great city.

He hunts for clues inside
the tomb of King Shulgi,

the man responsible for
completing the Great Ziggurat.

NARRATOR:
These chambers would have been

as lavish as the tombs of
Egypt's great pharaohs,

built around the same time.

But opposite the king's tomb is

a structure unlike anything
found in Egypt,

another monumental brick
chamber that, when discovered,

is packed with mysterious
human skeletons.

Abdulameer thinks
he can shed light on

the mystery of their identities

by figuring out how they died.

He's convinced they are
brutally murdered in

the same way as the bodies
in the death pits.

NARRATOR: Holes puncturing
the victims' skulls are gruesome

evidence of fatal blows
to their heads.

This is shocking proof of
human sacrifice.

Abdulameer thinks
these skeletons could

be the remains of
important people.

He searches for clues
on excavation maps

that show the location of
royal treasure

and each of the 2,000 bodies
in the death pits.

NARRATOR:
Intricately-designed instruments

suggest the king's
entertainers are entombed here,

together with soldiers,

weaponry, and even
a warrior's chariot.

These are high-ranking members
of Sumerian society.

Why are they all murdered
and buried here?

Abdulameer searches
for clues on the walls

inside the cemetery.

NARRATOR:
Royal inscriptions cover

the walls of this structure.

These clues lead Abdulameer to
believe this building is

a funerary chapel where
the victims are sacrificed

during a mysterious
ritual ceremony.

NARRATOR:
When the king or queen dies,

the royal household
honors the death

with days of feasting
and revelry.

But then the killing starts.

The entire royal household
staff is sacrificed.

Their bodies are doused with
mercury to slow them rotting.

Then they are dressed for
their roles in the underworld.

Musicians are buried with lyres,

charioteers with mummified oxen,

and fully armed soldiers
guard the entrance.

Why does the king order
the deaths

of so many of
his closest subjects?

To hunt for clues,
Sumerian specialist

George Heath-Whyte examines
an ancient cylindrical stamp

that contains an image
of Sumerian royalty.

They would be used
to seal or authenticate

a document, just like
a signature might be today.

NARRATOR:
He rolls out the image,

pressing it into wet clay,

just as
the Sumerians would have done,

to reveal
a 4,000-year-old scene.

HEATH-WHYTE: We see two
goddesses leading the owner

of the seal towards this
seated person, and this seated

figure is the king,
Ur-Nammu, and here,

Ur-Nammu has put himself
there with the moon god

next to him, saying,

"I am a god, worship me,"
and that's exactly what

the goddesses are shown doing
in this scene.

NARRATOR: Ur-Nammu is one of

the most powerful Mesopotamian
kings ever known.

Behind him are symbols,

ancient cuneiform writing
that helps George

unlock the hidden messages
in the scene.

The text reads, "Ur-Nammu...
[speaks foreign language]"

And that translates as,
"Ur-Nammu,

powerful man, king of Ur,

the governor of Ishkun-Sin,
your servant."

NARRATOR: This ancient writing
reveals the king's desire

to project an image of power
and dominance.

George thinks these texts
serve the same function

as the mass sacrifices
discovered in the royal tombs.

HEATH-WHYTE: Both could
have been a way of

controlling the population.

It's an immense display
of power.

When the king dies,
you may well die, as well,

as a sacrifice,
so you better obey the king.

NARRATOR:
Through sinister rituals,

the god kings of Ur
rule thousands

of obedient citizens without
fear of rebellion.

But in order to survive here,

they need to build a city

without access to stone or wood.

How do the Sumerians
construct a huge metropolis in

the middle of what today
is a barren desert?

NARRATOR: In the deserts
of southern Iraq,

archaeologists reveal
a lost world...

The city of Ur,
unlike anything seen before.

A dominant royal regime rules
a growing civilization,

but without access to stone,
timber, or metal,

how do the Sumerians
construct a bustling

metropolis here?

The secrets of
the Sumerian engineers could

lie within the greatest
structure they ever build,

the towering ziggurat.

The first temple on this site

is a much smaller
mud brick structure.

Exposed to the elements,

within decades, it crumbles.

But the sacred ruins
are used as foundations

for a new temple,

slightly bigger and taller
than the last.

Over centuries,
the mound of ruins grows

until it's a 100-foot colossus

made from hundreds of
thousands of bricks.

How does this massive
mud brick monument survive

for millennia?

To investigate,

Abdulameer examines
the 4,000-year-old

bricks used to build
the original ziggurat.

NARRATOR: Kiln-fired
mud bricks encase

the ancient ziggurat to give
it a tough exterior.

But mud bricks alone can't
keep a structure this size

standing for thousands of years.

Abdulameer thinks
the Sumerians developed new ways

to hold the giant banks
of mud in place.

NARRATOR: Bitumen is
a tar-like substance

that wells up naturally
from the ground.

The Sumerians import tons of
it from hundreds of miles away

and use it as
an ancient form of cement

to lock the fired mud brick
walls in place.

But Abdulameer is convinced
the ziggurat engineers

develop a final innovation to
keep the structure standing.

He searches among the ziggurat's
ancient brick work for

traces of a material put down
in between the layers.

NARRATOR: The organic material
decomposed long ago,

but Abdulameer finds
evidence of reeds

on ancient pieces of bitumen.

NARRATOR: This innovative use
of plant life is key

to how the ziggurat
stands the test of time.

Without the reed mats,
the walls would

strain under their own weight
and collapse.

The reeds act like steel
in reinforced concrete,

strengthening the mud,

allowing the Sumerian
engineers to build tall.

Bitumen waterproofs
the exterior when it rains,

but the mud core sucks up
water from the ground,

expanding like a water balloon.

The Sumerians build hundreds
of holes into their brickwork.

They expose the core to the air

and allow any water inside
to evaporate.

NARRATOR:
The ziggurat is the pinnacle

of Sumerian architecture,

but to build a civilization,

Ur needs more than just
huge temples.

They need homes for the city's
tens of thousands of people.

Abdulameer explores
the remains of the building in

the shadow of the ziggurat

to investigate how
the Sumerians construct

their smaller structures.

NARRATOR:
The arch is revolutionary.

It's used
all over the world to help

create some of the most iconic
structures ever known.

From the gates of Babylon

to Rome's Coliseum, here,

the remains of a temple
preserve one of the first ever

uses of an arch.

But 4,000 years ago,
the Sumerian architects use this

feature across the city

to expand the number of people
that can live and work

within Ur's city limits.

NARRATOR: Groundbreaking
ancient building technology

helps Ur grow huge.

Tens of thousands of people
arrive here in search

of a new way of life
in the city's

pioneering urban landscape.

How do so many people
survive here in what

today is in the middle
of a barren desert?

Could the answers make Ur
the richest city in the world

and inspire the Bible's Garden
of Eden?

NARRATOR: 4,000 years ago,

pioneering technological
innovation helps

the Sumerians build

a vast metropolis here in
the desert of southern Iraq.

Today,
the landscape is dominated

by endless dirt and sand.

When you go to Ur now,
it looks very desolate,

but we know from the size of
Ur that literally tens of

thousands of people lived there.

NARRATOR: How does the city
of Ur thrive here

thousands of years ago?

In its prime,
Ur is a bustling metropolis.

65,000 people live, work,
and worship here.

Legend says he surrounding
landscape is a lush paradise.

The Bible calls it
the Garden of Eden.

Is there any truth
to these stories?

Abdulameer thinks
that long ago, the city

of Ur stands in a radically
different landscape.

To investigate,

he hunts for traces of
how the Sumerians could

have produced food for thousands

in this remote location.

Buried in the dirt, he finds
the evidence he needs.

NARRATOR:
These shells are deposited here

after an ancient waterway
dries up.

It's evidence that the Sumerians

could grow vital
vegetation here.

But how do they produce food
on an industrial scale?

Abdulameer believes
they turned the land

surrounding Ur into
a natural food factory.

He searches for evidence
of a massive ancient

landscaping project at
the edge of the city.

NARRATOR: These are traces
of manmade canals

created in antiquity.

Plants still grow here,

all that remains of
a lush landscape that

could have inspired stories of
the Garden of Eden.

But crops alone can't
fuel the rise of Ur's

powerful metropolis.

At England's Cambridge
University, Sumerian specialist

Augusta McMahon

investigates a tablet
discovered in the landscape

surrounding the ziggurat.

She thinks it can shed light
on how the city's

lost waterways once connect
Ur with other powerful

city states.

It's an incredible
vision of what

the landscape around Ur
was like.

NARRATOR: The lines mark out
a network of ancient canals

dug by Sumerians

that weave for miles
across the region.

There's also some settlements,
and, in some of the other areas,

the names of individual fields
or field owners,

and they're clearly
calculating how much they need

to feed the population.

NARRATOR:
Augusta thinks the sheer scale

of the winding canals could be

a clue that they are used for
more than just irrigation.

McMAHON: The larger ones could
also be used for transportation.

So some of them, you know,
they're almost like a... sort of

a four-lane motorway,

big enough for boats
to pass each other.

You can think of it as,
in fact, a roadmap.

NARRATOR: Like Venice today,

evidence of
a sophisticated system of

marine transport exists in
the land around Ur.

But to make it rich,
Ur needs direct contact

with other cities.

Where do these ancient
waterways lead?

To find out, Augusta examines

a high-resolution
satellite image

of the region surrounding Ur.

McMAHON:
The dark area that you can see

is really the very,
very densely occupied core.

And if we go out a little bit
further, then

you can see this big gray band
coming quite near the site.

NARRATOR: Viewed from
the air, a faint

band appears etched into
the ground's surface.

Augusta thinks this could be
evidence that Ur

once sits near the banks of
a great river.

McMAHON: In the past,
Ur was essentially

right next to
the Euphrates River.

The river has shifted away,

but you can see the sort of
agent water courses.

So the river and the canals
connected to the rest of

Mesopotamia, also connected
down to the gulf,

which gave it access
to the Indus Valley.

So it's really at the hub
of this huge transport

network to bring in really
unparalleled riches.

NARRATOR:
4,000 years ago, Ur sits on

the banks of the great
Euphrates River.

It brings riches into the city

and sustains acres of
lush vegetation,

a green oasis inspiring stories

about a prosperous
Garden of Eden.

For thousands of years,

the people of Ur enjoy
a bountiful

existence on the banks of
the Euphrates.

But shocking evidence
reveals a sudden,

violent end to the reign
of the Sumerians.

What does it take to wipe out
the world's first civilization?

At the Mesopotamian city of
Ur, the Sumerians master

their natural environment to
unleash a creative explosion

in technology,
astronomy, and literature.

But in 2004 B.C., traces of

their civilization vanish
from the archaeological record.

How does the great city of
Ur fall?

MAN: The fall of Ur is
a huge moment.

NARRATOR: 4,000 years ago,
it's believed looters

break into the tomb
of King Shulgi.

They tunnel down to his lavishly

painted burial chamber
and destroy the decoration.

They steal all the treasure to
leave nothing but

a collection of strange stones
sourced from hundreds of

miles away.

A hand-sized rock with
flecks of gold leaf

sits next to a collection
of pebbles cut in half

and a handmade clay pellet.

What are
these strange stones for?

And why do the robbers
leave them behind?

When the stones are excavated,

archaeologists believe
they are a clue to the end of

the Sumerian civilization.

Augusta uses replicas
to explore their possible

role in the fall of Ur.

You have a hammer stone that
has little flecks of gold,

potentially breaking apart

something that had metal
on it, maybe treasures.

Then there were a lot of
broken half stones

that might have been
used to weigh out

the loot in these tombs.

NARRATOR: The stones date
to the last days

of the Sumerian civilization.

They could be tools left
behind by looters, using

them to break up
and distribute King Shulgi's

stolen treasure.

But the handmade clay
pellet matches

hundreds more found across
the city,

leading excavators
to believe this could

be more than
an ancient crime scene.

The clay pellets could
actually be sling bullets

or sling pellets
used in slingshots

that represent
the remains of a battle.

NARRATOR:
Traces of weaponry could be

evidence of violence.

But is this a looter's skirmish?

Or is the whole city
under siege?

Abdulameer hunts
for clues that could

reveal the true scale of
the onslaught.

NARRATOR:
Charred fragments of pottery

have fallen from
an exposed layer of deposits

that date to the same time as
the stones found in the tomb.

They form part of a layer

of destruction that runs
right through Ur.

NARRATOR: The ash is evidence
of a great fire

that rips through Ur,

an arson attack led by
plunderers who break

into the royal tombs and steal
the king's gold,

leaving only their tools
and weapons.

Who are these
mysterious invaders?

George Heath-Whyte searches
for clues on an ancient

tablet that contains shocking
details of how Ur falls.

Re-inscribing
the ancient symbols

helps him decode
the poetic script.

The painstaking process
gradually reveals the true

horror of the last days of Ur.

So the text reads...

[speaking foreign language]

And that translates as,
"In Ur, weapons

smashed the heads like pottery."

And the next line...

[speaks foreign language]

Fire approached.

NARRATOR:
The archaeological evidence

for fire and destruction at Ur

matches up with
the ancient texts.

As George deciphers
the rest of the writing,

he finds what he's
looking for...

The identity of the invaders.

Final line...

[speaks foreign language]

And it translates as,
"From the south,

the Elamites came up, killing."

It was absolute chaos.

NARRATOR: In 2004 B.C.,
the Elamites are in emerging

civilization from a region
in what today is Iran.

Knowing they face
a formidable foe,

they strike when Ur
is at its weakest.

In the 21st century B.C.,

the Sumerians are hit by
a severe famine,

leaving Ur's residents
to slowly starve.

Taking advantage of
the weakened city,

the Elamite tribe
lays siege to Ur

and finally conquers it.

They loot the Sumerian treasure

and ransacked the city,
driving away its people.

They capture the king,
taking him

to a distant town to die,

leaving Ur to turn to dust.

The invasion and destruction
of Ur by

the Elamites triggers the end
of the Sumerian civilization.

Gradually, Ur's
mud metropolis crumbles.

Only the ziggurat remains
standing as

a monument to
this once great city.

But now, incredible evidence
could reveal how the Sumerians

live on through legend,

when their city is rebuilt
by a mysterious people.

Thousands of years later,

how does Ur rise from the ashes?

NARRATOR: At Ur, the Sumerians
build a revolutionary city.

But after centuries
of expansion,

it burns to the ground in
a wave of brutal violence.

Their civilization crumbles,

but its legacy
gives rise to legend.

The legend of Ur lives on as
the location of where Abraham

was born, the location where

the first flood
could be identified,

and also where the Garden
of Eden might be located.

NARRATOR: After their city
falls into ruin,

how does
the Sumerian world survive

to forge a lasting legacy?

Evidence in the walls of
the ziggurat itself could

reveal how
this pioneering metropolis

rises from the abyss.

Abdulameer examines
the brickwork of

the outer layers of
the ziggurat.

NARRATOR: These bricks date to
the second Babylonian era,

1,500 years after the end of
the Sumerian civilization.

After the city first falls to
invaders, Ur rises again in

the hands of a new people.

They reclaim the remains of Ur
from squatting tribes

and rebuild the city
and the Great Ziggurat.

The legacy of Sumerian
kings also lives on,

hailed as legendary leaders
centuries after they die.

How does their supremacy
survive the ages?

George hunts for clues
on fragments of a statue

discovered among the remains
of a Babylonian temple at Ur.

You can kind of work out...

We have an arm, a shoulder here,

and it would have originally
looked like a man standing tall

with his hands clasped together
in front of him.

NARRATOR: George thinks
this could be one of

the greatest kings of
the Sumerian civilization.

To investigate, he decodes

a broken piece that
contains Sumerian script.

And the text reads,
this legible bit here,

"Shulgi,

powerful man,

king of Ur,"
so we know that this

is a statute of
the famous King Shulgi of Ur.

NARRATOR: Why is a Sumerian
statue of the great King Shulgi

discovered inside
a Babylonian temple

built 1,500 years later?

George thinks
this is no accident.

This could be evidence of
an astonishing link between

two ancient civilizations that
lived thousands of years apart.

These neo-Babylonians knew
the significance of these

ancient artifacts...
They're ancient for us,

but they were ancient
for them, as well,

so they brought them up out of
the ruins of this temple

and put them in a collection.

The people doing this work were

potentially the world's
first archaeologists.

NARRATOR: The Babylonians
restore the ziggurat

at the heart of Ur,

returning it to what they
believe is its original state,

with seven levels.

They unearth ancient Sumerian
objects from beneath the city,

revealing its rich
2,000-year history.

They put
the artifacts on display,

saving them
from the ravages of time

by curating the world's
first museum.

And clay tablets
found near the temple

contain students'
writing on one side,

revealing how Sumerian stories
also survived the ages.

The Babylonians rebuild
Ur and communicate

its history to the civilizations

that follow them,

turning stories of
this ancient city

into legend...
Across 1,000 years,

the Sumerians at Ur build
a revolutionary metropolis

that transforms the way
humans live forever.

Ruled by powerful priest kings,

the people of Ur build mega
mud monuments

aligned with the moon,

they master their landscape
to inspire stories

of a Garden of Eden,

and forge the largest city
on the planet,

Ur, home of the world's first
great civilization.

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