All language subtitles for Unearthed.(2016).S05E01.Mysteries.in.the.Alien.Desert.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-Cinefeel_track3_[eng]

Narrator: in the parched desert
Of western peru,

Extraordinary images
Emerge from the dust.

Today, technology may be about
To solve an iconic mystery

That has baffled
Across the ages...

...And finally reveal
The true purpose

Of the iconic nazca lines.

Conlee: there's really nothing
Else like the nazca lines

Anywhere on this planet.

Narrator: for over 1,000 years,
These bizarre, ancient symbols

Have been hidden
In plain sight...

...Visible only from the sky.

What are these
Extraordinary structures,

And what happens
To the people who build them?

This was a society that was
Becoming more violent.

Narrator:
Today, investigators use
Pioneering drone technology

And 3-d analysis
To solve the riddle

Of why the lines were built.

Look here, there is another one.

Narrator:
They trace the connection
To these mysterious pyramids.

When we excavated, we found
That he did not have a head.

Narrator: to solve the puzzle of
The purpose of the nazca lines,

We'll deconstruct
These remarkable images.

We'll dive deep into the hearts
Of these mighty pyramids

And pull back the desert sands

To unearth
The astonishing secrets

Of a civilization lost in time.

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Narrator:
The renowned nazca lines --

A timeless mystery that reminds
Unsolved through the centuries.

Formed with beautiful precision,

Their purpose baffles
Archaeologists.

On the ground, the lines
Are hard to make out,

Unintelligible.

Their true form can
Only been seen

From hundreds of feet above.

How do ancient people
Create images

That only make sense
From the air?

There's outlandish theories
About the nazca lines,

Including ancient hot air
Balloons,

Ancient aliens, a racetrack.

And I think the reason why we
Keep having these ideas come up

Is that the lines
Remain an enigma.

Narrator: the nazca lines
Are an enduring mystery.

Hundreds of alien-looking
Drawings

In the peruvian pampa...

...Some over 2,000 years old.

Geometric shapes that stretch
Across entire landscapes...

...Arrow-straight lines

That crisscross through the sand

For hundreds of miles...

...Detailed images --
Dozens of them --

Stretching hundreds
Of feet across.

Who builds these mysterious
Monuments and why?

Archaeologist christy conlee
Has been investigating

This desolate landscape
For two decades.

But in the last two years,

Pioneering, satellite,
And drone technology

Unearth 30 new lines.

Christie's on her way
To examine one of them.

The lines are known
As geoglyphs, or land drawings,

And she's traveling with the man
Who knows them better

Than anyone on the planet --

Archaeologist johny isla.

Whenever a new geoglyph
Is reported,

It's johny's job
To investigate.

Okay, here we are.

The new line
Is a spectacular find.

A monstrous figure
200 feet across

With a mouth
Full of giant teeth,

A massive pile of stones
Forms a huge eye

Popping out
Of the creature's head.

The jagged lines that form
Its shape are fins and a tail.

This is a hunting
Killer whale -- an orca.

Soil analysis shows that this
Glyph is the oldest ever found.

It's been sitting in this
Hillside for over 2,000 years.

♪♪

The discovery of a new line
Allows christy to explore

Exactly how these designs
Are constructed.

This ancient work
Is extremely fragile.

Before exploring the new line,

Christy and johnny must
Wear specialized footwear --

Huge flip-flops to avoid
Damaging the surface.

Across the centuries,

Desert debris hides
Some of the designs.

These surface stones
Have been oxidized

And weathered to a dark brown,
But underneath,

There is a lighter layer
Of sand and white clay.

Conlee: yeah, the contrast

Really brings out the image. Sí.

So it's more of a moving
The stones.

They're not carving
The earth.

They're basically just removing
The stone, yeah.

It's beautiful.

It's really amazing
To see this geoglyph

Up close and personal.

Johny has been cataloging
The geoglyphs for 20 years.

The extraordinary images
Of plants and animals

Make up only a minority
Of the nazca lines.

A maze of arrow-straight lines
And geometric shapes

Form the vast majority
Of the design.

They are complex and baffling.

It's just like some
Kind of chaotic map.

I want to see a pattern
And understand what they mean.

The purpose of these lines

Is one of archaeology's
Enduring mysteries.

Could the answer lie in the sky?

When an american researcher

Comes across the nazca lines
In 1939,

People think
They might be canals

To irrigate the dry pampas.

But one day, he stands on a line
Just after the winter solstice,

And he sees that it points
Directly at the setting sun.

Later, a straight line is found

Running from the beak
Of the hummingbird

Right into the sunrise
On the summer solstice.

The lines seem to have links
To the seasons and the heavens.

Could they be the world's
Largest astronomical calendar?

Johny and christy examine
A 3-d model

Of the lines in the landscape.

It's a model that helps
Archaeologists and astronomers

Put the celestial
Calendar theory to the test.

Most of the lines bear
Little relationship

To the position of the stars.

So, if they're not
Astronomical,

There must be
Another explanation.

Perhaps the clearest clue
To the purpose of the geoglyphs

Lies not in the stars,

But in the images themselves.

They depict monkeys, birds,
And even plants.

So, where do they come from?

Could the answer lie with these
Mysterious pyramids

In the valley below?

Narrator: the nazca lines --

Giant drawings in the landscape
From over 1,000 years ago.

Who are the people that create
Images of animals and plants

In the world's driest desert?

Italian archaeologist
Giuseppe orefici

Works in a valley
Just 30 miles from the lines.

Here, he uncovers
An architectural wonder.

The lost pyramids of cahuachi.

♪♪

In its day, cahuachi is bigger
Than rome with temples, plazas,

And a huge central pyramid.

Hidden deep
In the abandoned ruins

Are clues to the people
Who come here.

Blowing away the walls
Reveals hidden cavities.

Inside them, archaeologists
Find rich offerings,

Giant seeds stuffed
With rodent-head sacrifices...

...A human skull cradling
A guinea pig carcass,

And mummified
Human trophy heads.

The ultimate gift to the gods.

Scattered around them,
Shards of pottery.

They, too, depict animals
And the natural world.

Do the same people
Who draw the lines

Also create these pyramids?

♪♪

Could pottery and textiles
Reveal who creates the lines

On the peruvian desert?

Items at
The regional museum of ica

Match those found
At the pyramids of cahuachi.

Mm, oh, wow.

Christy conlee examines
The pieces.

This is really
A fantastic textile.

Narrator: the fabric survives
For more than 1,500 years.

We're here in the desert,

And there's no water,
There's no rain,

And so these organic materials
Do not rot.

Narrator: some of the themes
Are instantly recognizable.

What you have here are a series
Of hummingbirds.

You have these beaks
Of the hummingbirds

That are going into these, like,
Amazingly constructed flowers,

And just one after another.

The symbolism is so reminiscent
Of the hummingbird geoglyph.

Narrator: just as revealing
As the textiles

Are the ceramics.

Conlee: so we have a monkey,
The spiral pot,

And this is an amazing example
Of an orca, of a killer whale.

There's actually blood
Being represented

Here in its mouth -- its tail.

Narrator:
The orca has curious motifs

Of heads that it has swallowed.

Conlee:
For me, there's absolutely
No doubt that the same culture

That made this pottery

Also made the geoglyphs.

Narrator:
The same images from the desert

Appear again and again.

The similarity of the spiral
Of the bowl

And the spiral geoglyph.

The monkey with its
Curling tail, its jug ears,

And the hands that reach around
And clasp together.

The orca with its jaws,
Its round eyes,

And its distinctive tail.

Even down to the symbolism

Of the swallowed head.

Radio carbon dating confirms

That the pottery
And most of the lines

Are made by a people who lived
Here 2,000 years ago --

The nazca.

Forensic anthropologist
Elsa tomasto

Investigates skeletons
Buried in the region.

She thinks they hold
Hidden clues

To the mysterious nazca people.

Elsa starts by looking
At their teeth.

Tomasto: when you have some
Health problem,

And your teeth are growing,

And the enamel is forming,
The enamel can stop growing,

And a kind of scar forms.

Narrator: how often these
Telltale lines appear

Can indicate
The relative health of a people.

We found that the nazcas had
Lower frequency of these scars

Compared to other populations.

Narrator:
It's not just the teeth

That reveal
The good health of the nazca.

Longer-than-average femurs
Show they're well-built.

The nazca have to survive
In the atacama desert.

It's one of the most
Extreme environments on earth --

Less than an inch of rainfall
A year.

But the evidence
From the skeletons

Reveals that the nazca
Not only survive,

They thrive.

The nazcas were healthier than
Their ancestors or descendants.

Narrator:
At cahuachi, there is evidence

That the nazca build
A complex civilization.

♪♪

Outside cahuachi,

Archaeologists
Find ancient settlements

Stretching for many miles
Across the desert plain.

They unearth shards
Of intricate ceramics

In many of the villages,

Remarkably similar to
The pottery at cahuachi itself.

Analysis of the clay reveals it
Is all created at the same site.

The crafting, painting,

And firing may all happen
At the temples of cahuachi.

The nazca gather at the temples
And pyramids

For their rituals...

And take home the pottery
As tokens of their pilgrimage.

Giuseppe orefici is now
Convinced that cahuachi

Is one of the most important
Ceremonial centers

In the americas.

The sheer scale reveals
The might of the nazca culture.

As notable in its day as
The maya, the inca, the aztecs.

Like these civilizations,
They build pyramids.

But why do the nazca stamp their
Artworks onto the desert hills?

And how do they create them
When they have no way

Of seeing them from the air?

Narrator: the nazca lines --

An unparalleled set of geometric
Shapes and giant images

Preserved for over 1,000 years
In the peruvian desert.

But how are they made?

It's an enduring puzzle

How the nazca create huge images

That only make sense
From the air.

Some believe that they used
Ancient hot air balloons,

Or even more extraordinarily,

Have help from
Extraterrestrial visitors.

But any explanation must account

For some curious
Inconsistencies in the designs.

The spider is pure symmetry.

Its abdomen is a near perfect
Circle,

And its limbs are precisely
Mirrored parallel lines.

Right next to it is the condor.

It's just as complex with
Razor-sharp connecting lines,

But it contains
Curious mistakes.

The wings aren't the same size.

One claw is bigger
Than the other.

Could these errors...

Be a clue to how the nazca
Build the lines?

♪♪

Archaeologists christy conlee
And johny isla

Investigate
How the lines are made.

They've come to the edge
Of the desert,

Just outside the protected zone,
To experiment.

Many of the nazca lines
Are incredibly long.

Some stretch for miles --
Arrow straight.

Pace out about 10 meters.Okay.

The first thing christy
And johny want to work out

Is how the nazca make straight
Lines with basic equipment.

First, they put two stakes
In the ground

At a distance from each other.

Yeah, that looks good.

The next task is to put in
A third stake

That lines up
With the first two.

It's done by eye,
Creating a sight line.

A little bit to the left.
Perfect.

This can be repeated any number
Of times

To create as long a line
As you need.

Okay, next.

Rope can be used to create
A precise line guide

Between the stakes.

They could've done this in the
Past with materials they had --

Cotton or llama fiber,

Yarn or cordage,

And they could've used rocks
As an hammer and wooden stakes.

But many of the nazca lines
Are more complex

Than a simple straight line.

How were these made?

One theory is that they use
An ingenious technique

To upscale the images.

You start with a small drawing
On a piece of cloth,

Then you divide it with a grid.

♪♪

You draw a huge grid
On the desert floor,

Copying each cell, carving
The design into the earth.

Once you dig the lines into the
Ground, you wipe away the grid

And have a perfect nazca line.

But in this technique, errors
Mainly show up in single boxes,

Which does not explain
The asymmetry in the condor.

Christy believes she can explain
The asymmetry in the lines...

...But it involves a coordinate
System rather than a grid.

Okay, well,
Let's do an experiment.

Let's try to make
Our own geoglyph.

So I sketched out
A somewhat simple one, a star,

And we can try.

You can do one side,
And I'll do the other

And see if we can make
A symmetrical images.

Narrator:
A coordinate system involves
Working out the distance

Of key points on the design

From the central dissecting
Line,

And then scaling up
These distances.

And we'll pace down 5 1/2
Paces to here,

And then over 2 for our
First points of the star,

And we'll continue
From there.

Let's give it a try.

Johnny and christy do not
Have identical strides.

Will this introduce some
Asymmetry into their star?

They move onto higher ground
To see their work from above.

Conlee: so from up here, it
Doesn't look really distorted.

I mean, I can see a little bit
On my side to the right

Is maybe smaller,
But I think it looks good.

The star is not bad,
But it's not perfect.

The differences in pacing
Warp its shape

And explains the apparent errors
In some of the nazca lines.

Do the nazca themselves see
The mistakes

In their huge designs?

No mountains surround
The desert plateau.

They have no clear way to
Viewing their lines from above.

Some archaeologists question
Whether the lines

Are even
Meant to be viewed at all.

It's a new and radical idea.

Maybe they aren't
Giant artworks after all.

And could new,
Grisly discoveries reveal

Why the lines
Are ultimately abandoned?

Narrator: the nazca lines.

They lie neglected
For more than 1,000 years

And aren't rediscovered
Until the era of the airplane.

They look like giant artworks,

But are they?

Why do the nazca construct
300-foot-wide images

And mile-long lines that
They have no way of viewing?

There are clues scattered around
The geometrical shapes.

Protruding from the ends
Of the trapezoids,

There are mysterious
Mounds of rocks.

Hidden inside are slabs
That look like altars.

Wrapped around them
Are stone walls

Littered with crayfish claws,
Crab skeletons,

And fragments
Of mollusk shells.

What are all these
Dead sea creatures doing

Cemented onto altars nearly
4,000 feet above sea level

In a dry, barren desert?

[ blowing ]

These mollusks symbolize
Life-giving water.

Johny believes that they're
Brought to the glyphs

As an offering for rain.

And there's another clue
To the rituals conducted here.

The concentration of shards
Of nazca pottery suggest

That they are smashed
On purpose.

Desert weathering could not
Have caused this fragmentation.

Johny's excavations suggest
The nazca lines are sacred sites

Where people smash pots
And make offerings for rain.

He believes the way
To understand their purpose

Is not to view them from above,

But to look at them as the nazca
Would have seen them --

At ground level.

Johny has spent countless months
Up on the plateau,

Documenting and restoring
Newly discovered nazca lines.

It's given him a unique insight.

Many are made up of
A single unbroken line,

Like a maze with a way in
And a way out.

Johny believes that these lines
Are pathways.

If he's right, the nazca lines
Are not to be viewed

As giant pieces of art,

But pathways to be walked.

Johny's exciting insight
Puts the nazca lines

In a radical new light.

Different communities walking
The lines

Would bring the designs to life.

Could we finally be discovering
The true purpose

Of the nazca lines?

♪♪

Each nazca community
In the valley

Has their own line
Which they build and look after.

It's part of their
Social identity.

On key dates, they gather
On the plateau

To walk and dance
Along their lines.

Each community visible
To the others across many miles.

A shaman leads the ceremony,

Surrounded by music.

He may even drink
A hallucinogenic brew

To connect with the gods.

Finally, the precious pottery
Is smashed onto the line.

An offering to the gods
In return for rain

And fertile land.

This new way of looking
At the lines reveals

That they're not giant artworks,

But huge outdoor cathedrals.

But there's a mystery.

Around 400 to 450 a.D.,

There's a sudden increase
In ritual offerings

And pottery smashing.

What terrible event has made
The people

So desperate
To appease their gods?

And is this connected to the
Ultimate disappearance

Of the nazca people?

Narrator:
The iconic lines of the nazca --

Huge outdoor cathedrals
Where ancient communities

Gather to perform rituals
And pray for rain.

People walk these lines and
Smash pottery as an offering,

But there's a puzzle.

Why do these ceremonies
Dramatically increase

Around 450 a.D.?

Could this be linked
To the fate of the nazca?

In the ceremonial heart
Of cahuachi,

Clues to a dark chapter
In the nazca story

Lie hidden in its grand
Central pyramid.

The mud plaster conceals
Evidence from an earthquake

That rips through cahuachi
Around 1,600 years ago.

Stuffed inside the crack
Are 27 pottery pan pipes,

Smashed as ritual offerings.

The ruined ceremonial enclosure
Holds the bones of llamas --

64 of them lined up
Like soldiers.

And two mummified human heads,

Suspended from rope
Drilled into the bone.

These are sacrifices to placate
The angry gods, a plea for help.

♪♪

Giuseppe's team radiocarbon
Dates the reeds

In the repair plaster
Of the walls.

They find that the quake
Strikes cahuachi

Around 400 a.D...

...Just when ceremonial
Activity out on the desert hills

Is increasing.

Are the nazca trying to appease
The anger of their gods?

Forensic anthropologist
Elsa tomasto

Examines nazca skeletons.

She finds evidence
That it's not just cahuachi,

But nazca society itself
That is beginning to crumble.

This person suffers several
Injuries in their lifetime.

It's just one of many cases.

Tomasto:
The frequency increases.

Society was becoming
More violent.

And also, we found a couple
Of cases of child abuse.

Narrator: elsa discovers other
Injuries in the bones of a child

Less than a year old.

Tomasto: it's very hard to break
The bones of children so young

Because they are flexible.

Narrator: she finds
That these tiny bones

Healed more than once.

This reveals that the child
Has repeated fractures.

This case reveals
A wider problem.

And it's not frequent
To find child abuse

In archaeological context,

So it tells that probably
The society was breaking.

Narrator:
What causes the gradual
Breakdown of nazca society?

There's evidence
Of a prolonged drought,

And that their success
As farmers

Is the very reason
For their undoing.

The nazca decimate

The 1,000-year-old forest
In the valley

When they cultivate the land
With maize and cotton.

Instead of powerful huarango
Tree roots

Reaching over 100 feet
Deep into the soil,

There are now only shallow roots
Just a few feet down.

If those crops wither and die
In a drought,

There is nothing
To hold the soil in place

When the rains finally return.[ thunder rumbling ]

Instead of giving life,

The rain rips away
The fertile earth

And turns it into
A deadly mudslide.

Giuseppe finds evidence
That cahuachi is hit

By a double hammer blow.

First the earthquake,

And then
Two devastating flash floods.

It isn't just a river of water.

It's a deluge of mud.

Even the temples are buried.

The nazca mastery of farming

Allows them to flourish
In the arid landscape.

But as their lands dry up

And flash floods strip
The valleys of soil,

This extraordinary civilization
Begins to disintegrate.

In a desperate attempt
To appease their gods,

The people increase
Their offerings at the lines.

Yet a mere 200 years later,
The lines are abandoned.

Is this the end
For the nazca people?

Narrator:
The iconic nazca lines.

About 1,600 years ago,
A series of natural disasters

Devastates the nazca
Civilization that creates them.

The people increase
Their offerings at the lines

In an attempt
To placate their gods.

What happens to them?

Archaeologist christy conlee
Scours the ancient nazca sites.

She's at latesa,
Just 20 miles upriver

From the old nazca
Pyramids of cahuachi.

So, it looks just like an empty
Hillside right now,

But in the past, it would've
Been teeming with people.

Narrator: traces of the ancient
Nazca can be seen here today.

All over the place,
You find pottery,

Ancient pottery
Very typical of nazca.

Narrator: the pottery confirms
That the nazca are here

Long after they stop using
The lines on the desert hills.

They don't die out.

They just abandon their
Sacred cathedrals in the sands.

But why?

Christy believes that the answer
Lies in their tombs.

They reveal the influence
Of a new people --

The wari.

Conlee: the typical nazca tomb
Is very small,

And oftentimes, it's just
A single individual in a pit.

This tomb is very different.

It's much larger,

And we found several individuals
Buried inside.

We see nothing of this
In the nazca culture.

Instead, we see it
In the wari culture.

Narrator: the wari civilization
Emerges in the andes mountains

To the east of the nazca.

Their impact
On the nazca way of life

Reveals itself in the remains of
Around 40 nazca men, women,

And children
Excavated from the tombs.

Christy's team discovers
Evidence of shocking violence.

Are the nazca at war
With the wari?

So, this man was found

In an unlooted tomb at latesa

In a seated position,

And when we excavated, we found
That he did not have a head.

His head was missing.

Narrator:
Forensic anthropologist
Elsa tomasto

Examines the vertebrae.

There are cut marks.

There are cut marks.

You can see clearly

At least three marks
That go in this direction.

Okay?

So you can see this is one
Around here

And one around here
And one more around here.

So you almost can see

The movement
Of something going this way,

And it's something that happened

At a time very close to death.

Narrator: this man seems
To suffer a grisly death,

But christy doesn't think
That he dies in battle.

So, this decapitated man, he was
Buried so nicely, with care,

And he had this beautiful head
Jar that was buried with him,

Probably as a head
Replacement object.

Maybe to help him
Go into the afterlife.

This all suggests that there was
A real ritual focus

To what happened to him.

Narrator: none of the bodies
From the latesa tombs

Show any battle injuries.

So, if the nazca aren't
Conquered by violence,

Why do they start burying
Their dead like the wari?

One set of remains provides
An intriguing clue.

This a woman,
And this is her skull.

And this is another one
That's more fragmentary pieces

Of the skull
And some of the teeth.

Narrator: christy can tell
Where these people grew up

By analyzing their teeth.

When you're growing up,
And your teeth are forming,

The enamel forms,

And the isotopes that are in the
Soil and in the water

Get absorbed into the teeth

From the food that you eat
And the water that you drink.

Narrator: the chemical markers
In the teeth

Reveal that these women
Are not nazca, but wari.

Conlee: this is the isotopic
Signature of the teeth.

Most people fall within
The middle of this range,

Which is the local range,

But we have two clear
Outliers here and here.

Their signatures come from areas
East of nazca

Up in the highlands
That wari controlled.

Narrator: their presence reveals
The surprising relationship

Between the two peoples.

We have little evidence that
They conquered people by force.

Instead, it appears
As if in many places,

They made alliances
With local people.

And in that case,
These two women may have married

Into that nazca community

In order to establish close
Ties between nazca and wari.

Narrator: confronted by extreme
Weather and natural disasters,

The nazca abandon
Their desert lines.

Their prayers and rituals
Fail them.

A once-thriving civilization
Fragments.

Conlee:
So the nazca didn't disappear.

You could say that they lost
Their faith.

They no longer practiced
Ceremonies out on the geoglyphs,

And those people that remained,

They embraced a new culture
And new beliefs.

Narrator: scientists are finally
Beginning to explain

One of archaeology's
Greatest enigmas.

Not built by aliens
Or with hot air balloons,

Not even meant to be viewed
From above.

The nazca lines
Are open-air cathedrals

Dedicated to ceremony.

The nazca culture may collapse,

But the desert preserves

Their incredible nazca lines.

♪♪

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