All language subtitles for Finding.Atlantis-The.New.Evidence.2019.720p

Narrator:
Within the mediterranean,

lies a mystery.

Not a puzzle to be
solved on land,

but under the water.

For centuries,

legends of lost civilizations,
like atlantis,

have fueled our imagination.

And off the cost of greece,

archeologists have found
hard evidence that

now-sunken cities
once thrived with life.

By exploring the secrets
of pavlopetri,

a city drowned
beneath the sea...

...And by using
cutting-edge technology

to uncover new clues,

science may bring us
close than ever before

to discovering
the lost city of atlantis.

The survivors must have though,
"what have we done wrong?"

♪

-- captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

narrator: Off the southern coast
of greece

lie the ruins of a city founded
over 5,000 years ago...

Dr. Henderson:
There seems to be an incredibly
advanced culture here.

They had flushing toilets.
They had drainage systems.

They had
the beginnings of writing.

Narrator: The city of pavlopetri
thrived for over 2,000 years,

then vanished,
consumed by the water.

♪

scientists are here
to find out what force

wiped it off the map

and reveal, for the first time,

the secrets of pavlopetri,

the city beneath the waves.

For nottingham university
archeologist jon henderson,

the sunken city of pavlopetri

provides a unique glimpse
into a lost world.

Dr. Henderson:
In a way, this is like
an underwater pompeii.

It's a settlement
frozen in time.

♪

narrator: The city dates
to the bronze age,

over 5,000 years ago.

This was the time of troy,

king agamemnon,
and homer's "odyssey."

♪

♪

this is one
of pavlopetri's main streets.

On one side, there was a wall,

on the other, a row of houses.

The bronze age was
a time of great change,

when people started living
in towns for the first time

in legendary places like
athens, sparta, and babylon --

places that saw the birth

of western civilization
as we know it today.

But unlike
other ancient cities,

no mention has been found
of pavlopetri.

It lay forgotten under the waves
for over 3,000 years

until it was discovered
purely by chance.

In 1967,
oceanographer nic flemming

was searching
for ancient harbors

when he stumbled upon the ruins.

Dr. Flemming: I looked
at these rows of stones,

and I just had no idea
what it was.

But I realized immediately
that it was manmade,

that we were looking
at a large part of a town,

and, I mean, I just went crazy.

Narrator: Dr. Flemming
and his team created

the very first
rough survey map of pavlopetri.

The town appeared to consist

of 15 buildings
located off two main streets,

covering an area roughly the
size of four football fields.

Dr. Flemming: Here you've got
rows of houses on a street.

The preservation is incredible.

There is absolutely
nothing like it.

Narrator: But since the 1960s,

no one has done
any further exploration

of this important site...
Until now.

Dr. Henderson:
I want to know what happened
to the city of pavlopetri.

I want to know
who was living here.

I want to know
what they were doing.

I want to know why they left.

I want to know
why it's underwater now.

Narrator: Pavlopetri is
the oldest submerged city

in the world.

Whatever happened here,

it wasn't the last time
a city wound up underwater,

but it may have been the first.

The city lies just off the coast

of the laconia region
of southern greece,

an area prone to violent
earthquakes and tsunamis.

Did a natural disaster
strike pavlopetri,

sending it
to the bottom of the sea?

To answer these questions

and to learn about the origins
of our own way of life,

jon wants to recreate the city
in every detail.

He's brought in a team
from sydney university

led by oscar pizarro
and matt johnson-roberson.

They'll use two
state-of-the-art mapping devices

to create a three-dimensional
survey of the site.

This idea of using
3-d reconstruction,

I think, is a very new thing
for archaeology.

And from that perspective,
it's really exciting for us.

Narrator: Working alongside
the scientists,

jon has also invited

movie visual-effects expert
simon clarke.

So, this is
not too far off, then.

He hopes simon can digitally
recreate pavlopetri

using
actual archaeological data.

Clarke: Our role is basically
to try and recreate the finds,

to be able
to recreate buildings,

and then, hopefully, to be able
to give a fantastic impression

of what the city
would have once looked like.

Narrator: To get an idea
of the full extent of the ruins

and the area where the city
once stood,

jon is taking to the sky.

This is the first time he's seen
pavlopetri from the air.

Whoa.
[ laughs ]

narrator:
Many of the buildings

that nic surveyed in the '60s
can be made out.

But beyond
the original mapped area,

something catches jon's eye.

I think I can see new buildings
just off pavlopetri island.

And I can see lines

of what I think are buildings --
square lines.

That makes the site
much, much bigger.

It's bigger now to the north
and bigger to the south,

so that's
a pretty major discovery.

Coming straight,

you'll see this whole range
of buildings there.

Narrator:
The first step is to make

a new, detailed map
of the ruined city.

The team from sydney university
has been researching ways

to produce a 3-d photo map.

They've built a prototype
called a diver rig.

Dr. Johnson-roberson: Diver rig
is basically just a surfboard

with a pair of cameras
mounted on it.

So, the same way you can use
your left and your right eye

to figure out the distance
to things,

the diver rig has two cameras,
and we use that to figure out

the distance to rocks
on the sea floor.

So, from that,
we can build up a 3-d model

of all the stones on the site
just using those two pictures.

It allows you to feel

like you're actually there,
sitting on the bottom.

Narrator: Pushed back and forth
over the survey area,

the rig takes thousands of
digital photos of the sea floor.

The first results
are very promising.

Dr. Johnson-roberson:
If you look here, you can see

we can count
the individual rocks

which build up the foundation
of this building.

Basically, it's the equivalent
of draining the ocean,

taking pictures,
and filling it back up.

Narrator: The diver rig isn't
the only tool at their disposal.

This may look like a torpedo,

but it's actually the latest
in underwater robotics.

It has a much better suite
of navigation instruments

that allow us to build
a better map more easily,

cover more ground,

and avoids the tedious aspect

of having to swim around
with a camera

when you're trying
to cover a large area.

Narrator: The mapping torpedo

stands at the cutting edge
of underwater archaeology.

But as the robot
has never been used before,

it still needs further testing

before they let it loose
on the site.

They hope to survey
the entire city,

completing the job
in a matter of days.

Dr. Henderson:
Well, this is our base level

that we use on the site.

This is just...

Narrator:
But even with the torpedo,

creating a 3-d map of the city
will take time.

To help speed things along,

jon has a line-drawn plan

to give the visual-effects team
an overview of the site.

The red lines there
are picking out the street.

So, we have
five or six main streets

that we've recognized so far.

We have a main street going up
here, street up there,

a street running along
this reef here.

The blue lines are actually
marking out building complexes.

These are
the domestic structures.

These are the houses.

Then we have yellow, which is
actually marking out courtyards.

There's a lot of open space
in this city.

We can tell the courtyards
because they have less stone.

There's less rubble.
They have lower walls.

And is there
any evidence...

Narrator: It seems like
a pleasant place to have lived.

But even though pavlopetri's
foundations have been preserved,

rebuilding the city will require
some interpretation.

Fortunately,
there are rare yet vital clues

from other bronze age sites.

This fresco from
the ancient city of akrotiri

on the greek island of thera

is one of the only depictions
of a bronze age town.

It dates to 1550 b.C.

And shows neighborhoods of neat,
brick-work buildings --

even roof terraces.

Is this what pavlopetri
looked like?

To find out and to accurately
rebuild the city,

they'll need to know more.

Who were these people,
and why were they here?

Narrator:
The team's map of pavlopetri

has revealed the foundations
of a complex city

with at least five major streets
and large buildings

clustered
around open courtyards.

But they'll need more than
foundations to rebuild the city.

They'll need details.

It turns out the site

is littered
with these loom weights,

suggesting
a thriving textile industry.

And with that industry,
there would have been wealth.

Dr. Henderson:
Your average house

would have had
a flat timber roof,

but once we've got roofs
with roof tiles on it,

it makes you think there's
somebody important living there.

The building's saying something
about the inhabitants.

It's saying, you know,
it's more monumental.

So, it's raising the status
of this town.

♪

narrator:
To try to get a sense

of what pavlopetri's buildings
might have looked like,

jon is taking simon to an old
farmhouse in a nearby village.

Some of the similarities
are striking.

Dr. Henderson: Almost
everything you've got here

that's a general layout
of a 100-year-old farmstead

up to the modern day
we can see at pavlopetri.

And that shows you
how advanced pavlopetri was.

Perhaps the only difference

is the building complexes
in pavlopetri --

they're a range of rooms
built around a courtyard

rather than an isolated building
like this.

House design here

has changed very little
in the last 3,000 years.

So, the stones here

would be like the stone
foundations in pavlopetri.

And then on top of that,

you'd have
the clay-and-timber framework.

Dr. Henderson: We think that
the design of the buildings

has something to do
with resistance to earthquakes.

We're in a very, very active
tectonic zone,

probably one of the most active
earthquake areas in the world.

And as a result, we think that
the foundations of the buildings

were made out of stone,
supporting a timber framework,

and plastered with clay
or with mud bricks,

because that would move
in an earthquake.

It would be less likely
to collapse.

Narrator:
Back at the site,

jon is convinced that two
of the large buildings

just off the main street

are prime examples
of domestic dwellings.

If so, this could be one of the
first residential neighborhoods

on mainland europe.

These are the remains

of a 4,000-year-old
bronze-age house.

All that remains on the site
itself is the foundation.

On top of them, there would have
been a timber framework

and then either mud-brick
or clay-and-plaster walls.

Jon believes the people
living here

would have had
bedrooms upstairs.

These villas were made up of
as many as 7 to 10 rooms.

The ground floor
may have been used

as storage
or for keeping animals.

Wooden staircases
would have led

up to living quarters
on the second floor

with windows
and possibly a terrace.

This was prehistoric suburbia.

Just down the main street
from the houses,

one of the other
prominent buildings

has caught jon's attention.

The building
appears to have had

several narrow, oblong rooms
located at the back.

In one of these are the remains

of a large ceramic jar
called a pithos.

Finding the pithos
is one thing.

Getting it out
is quite another.

Narrator: As jon and the team
continue to explore,

one large building
yields tantalizing clues

about the mysterious
sunken city.

Jon thinks it might have
been a commercial building,

a theory supported
by what appears to be

a large storage vessel,
or pithos,

buried in one corner
of the site.

But to be certain,
they need to dig the pithos out,

and that won't be easy.

But the basic underwater
technique of excavation

is not a trowel,
it's not a spade.

It's just your hands, okay,
with a water dredge.

Narrator: A water dredge works

like an underwater
vacuum cleaner,

sucking up the sand and silt
around an artifact.

The sediment is then deposited
several feet from the dig.

Throughout the next few days,
the divers work in shifts.

It's a delicate operation,

the first-ever excavation
at pavlopetri.

In the corner of the excavation,

a second pithos
starts to emerge,

adding weight to jon's theory

that the building was some kind
of warehouse or storage depot.

If he's right, it could explain
how this city fit

into the wider bronze age
mediterranean world

and our own ancient history.

The design and build
of this pithos jar

suggests it was made
between 1700 and 1500 b.C.

It is similar to hundreds
that have been found

within the ancient
palace of knossos

on the island of crete.

Crete is the largest
of the greek islands

and lies about 90 miles

southeast of pavlopetri.

It was home
to the minoan civilization,

dating back over 5,000 years.

The minoans
were palace builders,

and knossos was the most lavish
of those palaces,

boasting over 1,500 rooms,

running water,
and even flushing toilets.

The minoans
had their own religion,

a strict social hierarchy,

and a primitive
written language.

But their palaces
weren't fortified.

This civilization thrived

without any great
military strength.

This was a trading empire.

And through that trade,

minoan cultural influence
spread way beyond crete

to all corners
of the mediterranean.

Just north of crete,

minoan traders had a colony
on the island of kythera,

and from this stepping stone,

the trade routes would
have extended north

to the mainland,
right through pavlopetri.

Based on the evidence
his team has discovered,

jon believes the city

was an active and probably
important trading hub

for imports and exports to and
from all over bronze age greece.

Dr. Henderson:
The key to understanding
pavlopetri is the location.

It's basically at the gateway
of mainland peloponnese.

If you're trading anything,

if you're sailing
from the eastern mediterranean

and you're coming
into mainland greece,

you've got to pass by pavlopetri
to get up towards sparta.

♪

narrator: Back at camp,

the visual-effects team
continues to work

to digitally rebuild the city.

They've started reconstructing
the storeroom building

containing the excavated pithos.

I think it looks fantastic.
I'm really excited by it.

There's a few things
I would change straightaway.

This part here, I think,
probably wasn't roofed.

Now, I know
why you've done that.

I think
that's courtyard,

and there may have been
some sort of entranceway.

There may have been
something demarcing that.

With his knowledge of other
greek bronze age settlements,

jon can use the reconstruction
to piece together

what may have happened
inside the building.

Dr. Henderson: Seeing it like
this is really making me think

about how this building
actually worked.

Maybe you had carts coming in
here filled with goods,

and they're unloading them
and taking them into here.

Well, if you imagine it

almost like a public council
building or something,

and you go
into the first room,

and it's probably a waiting room
with a bureaucrat

waiting to record
what you've just brought in.

Narrator:
So, the front of the building

probably housed offices

where the imports and exports
were checked in and out.

It would have been
a bustling place.

Towards the back,
in the long, narrow warehouses,

the large pithos jars
would have been stacked.

In them, stored items
like olive oil, wine, and grains

sat ready for dispersal

to other mediterranean
or inland destinations.

We had people here

capable
of complex administration,

complex buildings,

and sort of an almost modern
way of life.

We can identify
with this.

This evidence of organized trade

significantly raises
pavlopetri's profile.

More than
just a primitive harbor,

the city appears to have been
an active trading partner

with the minoans on crete.

And as those peoples mingled,

a unique and probably
somewhat worldly culture

began to emerge here.

So, what was life really like
in pavlopetri?

Narrator:
Jon henderson and his team

have found that pavlopetri was

a key trading city
on the mediterranean,

linking the minoan civilization
on crete with mainland greece.

Now they're searching for
anything that might tell them

what daily life was like
in the ancient city.

Along with the storage vessels
already uncovered,

they're finding domestic wares

that also reveal
a strong minoan influence.

This is a cretan amphora --

a jug.

It dates from around 1600 b.C.

The cretan-influenced finds
are starting to show pavlopetri

as a cultural melting pot.

Dr. Henderson:
We're beginning to get things

that are putting us directly
in touch with the people.

You can imagine, you know,
somebody 4,000 years ago

was using this little pot lid,
and it's still complete.

The same with this,
you know, little bottle

for pouring
some sort of liquid.

We have this situation where we
have the people of pavlopetri

copying cretan styles.

We've got this change

from people using
indigenous pottery forms --

pottery forms you'd find
in the mainland --

but they're making them
in cretan shapes.

But they're still making it
out of local pottery.

So, it's like they're
adopting the fashion.

Narrator: This ceramic jug is
thought to be an exact copy

of a bronze metal amphora
found in crete.

The detail in the spout
and the line around the neck

are identical.

But the metal versions
of the jug

would have been much more
expensive to produce.

The people of pavlopetri
are copying

the lifestyles of the rich
and famous in some ways.

It's a bit like, you know,

buying a cheap copy
of a rich fashion label

or something like that.

Narrator: The sea itself
helps the team in their search.

The shifting underwater currents
naturally excavate the site,

constantly bringing
new artifacts to the surface

as they wash
across the sea bed.

Every object the team finds
is photographed

before it is labeled
and bagged.

With their knowledge
of artifacts from other sites,

the archaeologists
immediately have an idea

of what the objects might be

and even how they were used.

And the finds
are beginning to reveal

another strong
cultural influence.

Many of the pieces found
on the site

are coming from what is known
as the mycenaean period,

dating from 1600 to 1100 b.C.

Unlike the minoans,
the mycenaeans were warriors,

led by wealthy
and powerful rulers,

like the legendary king
agamemnon.

At the heart
of their civilization

was a network
of hilltop fortresses.

The most famous was mycenae.

Legend has it that
these walls so huge,

they were built
by the one-eyed giants,

the cyclops,

since no mere mortal could have
built anything so huge.

From their network
of fortresses,

the mycenaeans used
their military might

to dominate the region.

Sometime around 1400 b.C.,
they conquered the minoans,

also seizing control
of the trade

that passed through
harbor cities like pavlopetri.

Mycenaean-era shards

provide a crucial style guide
for simon clarke

as he attempts
to digitally rebuild

some of the key finds
from the site.

Using a laser scanner,
he can capture

the exact structure and surface
textures of the shards.

Clarke: We got something
which is totally real.

So, we're making our pot,
when we reconstruct it,

as scientifically accurate
as we possibly can.

Narrator:
By rebuilding the finds,

the team can start peering
into the everyday lives

of pavlopetri's inhabitants --

the simple cooking wares
used for soups...

The fine crockery that was
brought out for guests.

These were fired
at high temperatures

to give a resounding clink
when struck together.

And for very special occasions,
including funeral rites,

they used a large, two-handled
goblet called a kylix.

Dr. Henderson: The site

is actually just strewn
with pottery.

This is the tablewares
they used.

It's the high-status vessels
they used

when they had guests
'round for tea.

It's the vessels they used to
make offerings towards the gods.

So, we can directly touch
the people that passed through,

touching their pottery.

Narrator: The wide range
of artifacts found here

is a reminder that pavlopetri
had its haves and its have-nots,

a reality
that would have been reflected

in both life and death.

Narrator: Clues to the culture
at pavlopetri

aren't just coming
from artifacts.

Evidence of the inhabitants'
belief systems

and even social structure

can be seen in the way

people here
took care of their dead.

Some of these tombs
are nearly 5,000 years old.

Dr. Henderson: This is probably
one of the only indications

that there's an archaeological
site here from the shore.

We've got
about 60 rock-cut tombs

just following
a line of bedrock

which would have overlooked
the city.

For the first time, really,
in the bronze age,

we're beginning to see attitudes
towards death

and disposing of the dead
in some ways,

or sending them on
to the next life.

We're beginning to see attitudes
towards the dead

which we can recognize
in our own society.

Narrator: The people here
appear to have had

a close relationship with,
and respect for, their dead.

But not everyone was entombed
in such grand structures.

They found more than 40
cyst graves across the city,

all located inside buildings.

Each would have had a stone slab
to seal the tomb.

Jon has a theory why they
buried their children at home.

The team is finding

that death rites
also reflected social standing.

Cut into the ridge of rock

running along the eastern edge
of the city

are two huge chamber tombs.

These tombs date
to the mycenaean era,

between 1600 and 1100 b.C.

And are like today's
large family crypts.

They could be reopened

to add additional bodies
or conduct rituals.

These impressive structures

were for the elite leaders or
ruling families of pavlopetri.

They offered
the best resting place,

overlooking the city.

It appears
the city's inhabitants

had a complex and multilayered

social hierarchy.

Dr. Henderson:
We've got some evidence
that people are beginning

to have defined roles within
that society, even professions.

You know, they're being
craftsmen or merchants

or even soldiers.

And you're beginning to see
some level of status in society.

♪

narrator:
The people of pavlopetri

lived in a vibrant city
with a structured society

that practiced organized trade.

So, how did a culture
so advanced

disappear under the waves?

Its fate has been puzzling
oceanographer nic flemming

since he first discovered
the site over 40 years ago.

Dr. Flemming: When you find
an underwater city,

the problem always is,

did the land go down,
or did the sea come up?

Here at pavlopetri, there's
a lot of explaining to do.

Narrator:
Pavlopetri stood at a time

when global sea levels
were on the rise,

still fed by water melting
from the last great ice age.

But nic believes that alone

wouldn't have been enough
to drown the city.

Greece is one of the most
geologically active places

in the world.

Throughout history,
there are records

of huge earthquakes,

giant tsunamis,

and massive volcanic eruptions.

Could it be that pavlopetri was
sent to its watery grave

in a single, cataclysmic event?

Narrator: For 5,000 years,

the city
of pavlopetri thrived --

a trading city
in the perfect location,

a gateway from the sea
to mainland greece.

So, why did it disappear?

Clues to the answer lie

in a set of strange
underwater rock formations,

which are actually
ancient, fossilized beaches.

Dr. Flemming: You find strips
of what looked like concrete

laid almost like a paving strip
along the beach,

which is actually
a natural cement formed

by the action of sunlight
on the sand with the saltwater,

and that can give you
exactly where the sea level was

at past dates.

Narrator:
These ancient strips

are made up
of what's called beachrock.

They are all parallel
to today's coastline.

Beachrock only forms
at the water's edge,

so these parallel strips
show where the shoreline

would have been
at different times in history.

Jon wants to get a sample

from the individual lines
of beachrock

to date the age
of the coastline stripes.

They already know
from the beachrock

that it didn't happen
all at once.

Dr. Flemming: The idea
of a massive subsidence

and a sort of huge tidal wave

and molten lava and ash
coming down out of the sky

is very attractive,

and, of course,
it does sometimes happen.

But, unfortunately
for the hollywood movie people,

it doesn't seem
to have happened here.

Narrator:
It happened in stages,

but each one probably had
a seismic trigger.

Radiocarbon dating suggests
that pavlopetri sank

in at least three
earthquake events,

the first coming
soon after 1000 b.C.

Each time the land dropped,

more of the remaining buildings
were claimed by the sea.

Dr. Flemming:
You've got a grand city,

which has seen better days,

but slowly, as the edge
of the town become waterlogged,

winter storm takes away
some of the key buildings,

and then finally,
you're left with, you know,

just a few houses sticking
out of the water.

Narrator: As the archaeological
expedition nears an end,

the mapping team is
finally ready to deploy

the robotic surveying torpedo,

but the clock is ticking.

Bright sunlight interferes
with the cameras,

so they can only operate
the robot at night.

Dr. Henderson:
I think this is the first time

this has been done in a
submerged archaeological site.

It's quite an important moment.

Just seeing it go in the water
was fantastic.

Narrator: The plan is to survey
the entire site

in just three or four nights,

a job that would
normally take months.

The stakes are high.

It's always a bit disconcerting,
I guess, to put

a machine that costs several
hundred thousands of dollars

into the ocean

without a way of knowing
what it's gonna do exactly.

Narrator:
Following a programmed route,

the torpedo moves
across the site

at around two miles an hour.

Its twin cameras photograph the
sea floor three times a second.

After just a few nights' work,

the team has
some impressive results,

successfully producing
a stone-by-stone photo map

of the entire city.

This is
fundamentally gonna change

the way we do
underwater archaeology.

I mean, this is -- you can't get
any better than this

in terms of underwater survey.

Narrator:
Using the millimeter-accurate
3-d photo map of the city,

the visual-effects team

can now finish
building pavlopetri

and raise it digitally
from the sea floor.

We've had the very detailed
archaeological survey,

but then we've enhanced that
with the visual-effects team

to reconstruct,
bring the city back to life.

Narrator: The city reappears
stone by stone,

giving us a first glimpse
of pavlopetri

through the eyes
of its inhabitants.

Dr. Johnson-roberson: I'm
really blown away by the fact

that they can actually
reconstruct whole buildings

from just the really basic
kind of robotic models

that we generate.

Narrator:
Some parts of pavlopetri

are missing from the sea floor,
washed away by the waves.

But jon, guided by the spread
of pottery shards

and isolated foundation stones,

plus clues
from other bronze age towns,

believes this is
what the complete city

might have looked like.

Based on the age of artifacts
found across the site,

this is an impression
of pavlopetri

at its peak,

around 1600 b.C.

It was a city
with a planned layout.

People lived alongside
each other in neighborhoods.

They had large houses
with courtyards,

upstairs bedrooms,
and views of the sea.

Dr. Henderson: So, we get people
such as merchants.

We get craftsmen, scribes,
administrators,

the kind of thing
we would expect

in a busy, mixed port town...

...Starting as a small,
presumably fishing, village,

and developing
into a very busy port

with connections throughout
the aegean sea, initially,

then with crete,

and then with the whole
of the eastern mediterranean.

And the kind of complexity
and development

that that would have had
for the city itself --

for me, that's the big story
of pavlopetri.

Narrator:
Pavlopetri is a link

between our prehistoric past
and our modern present,

a trading town where
goods, ideas, and cultures

were exchanged.

Dr. Henderson: It's making us
realize that the people

were very much like you and I,

and they were living lives
which were not far distant

from the lives we live today.

We're actually seeing

the dawning of the west,
in some way.

We can begin to trace that back
to sites like pavlopetri.

♪

narrator: Some think
it will be found one day,

at the bottom of the sea.

Because of this, lifetimes have
been spent looking for it

as scholars debate
its existence --

the island of atlantis,

a land of unparalleled
wealth and splendor,

mysteriously swallowed up
by the sea.

[ screaming ]

it's a tragedy that's
beyond any imagination.

Because this is
a natural disaster

which they could not
either predict or prevent.

Narrator: It is the greatest
legend of all time.

Now one of the most
extraordinary archaeological

discoveries of our time

will finally reveal the truth.

Man: This would have been
an event of such magnitude

that it would have had
to trigger a myth

such as the atlantis myth.

Narrator:
This is the legend of atlantis.

♪

the oldest written account
of atlantis originates

in athens
almost 2,500 years ago,

its author, plato,

is the father
of western philosophy.

His writings tell a tale

that could lead us
to the real atlantis.

At its core, plato's
account of atlantis

is a morality tale
of wealth and power.

So long as the atlanteans
remain virtuous,

they enjoyed the favor
of the gods.

But when they turn
arrogant and aggressive,

they suffer divine punishment.

Plato's atlantis was a warning
to his fellow athenians

that wealth and power lead

to devastating destruction
by earthquakes and floods

if they're not
grounded in virtue.

Plato's atlantis legend deals

with one very fundamental
pitfall of human nature --

the fact that we can be great,

that we can strive to succeed,

but that we are
destined to fall.

And this is what
his atlantis story talks about.

It's a political allegory.
It's a moral fable, if you like.

Narrator: Though experts believe

there is much more
to plato's tale.

Rich in specific details,

could it be based on a place
that once existed?

I think it's very likely that
plato has heard some stories

of past civilizations
which have come crashing down,

that he's got half-remembered
bits of oral history

which he weaves in.

He's picking up on the stories

that he hears
around him in athens,

stories which were true,

which he knew to be true,

and he's using elements of those

in creating his atlantis story.

Narrator:
Plato offers tantalizing clues

to the real atlantis,

from atlantean
society and culture

to the shape of the island.

But the most significant clue

is in the destruction
of atlantis

by a cataclysmic
natural disaster.

Scientists
think they've found evidence

to support their theory.

Haraldur sigurdsson was
the first volcanologist

to reveal what really destroyed

the ancient roman city
of pompeii.

He even unearthed
a lost kingdom

in southeast asia.

Now he has discovered
what could be the key

to finding the real atlantis.

In 2006, haraldur
led an expedition

to the seafloor around
the greek island of thera,

today better known as santorini,

where he searched
for underwater deposits

from a volcanic eruption

that ravaged the island
back in the bronze age,

3,600 years ago.

Sigurdsson: I've been working
on it for several decades,

working on this eruption,

working on the land deposit.

And all is frustrated.

I could never tear away
this veil

that was hiding the evidence.

I knew the evidence
was on the seafloor.

Narrator: Haraldur was looking
for a specific

type of volcanic deposit,

rock from what experts call
pyroclastic flows,

deadly hot currents of gas
and volcanic material.

Sigurdsson:
Pyroclastic flows are created

when the eruption intensifies,

and then you have a collapse
of the eruption column

cascading down like avalanches.

Pyroclastic flows have
a very distinctive

rock type composed of pumice

and ash and big stones
all mixed together.

If the eruption really
had had a big impact,

we would expect to find
pyroclastic flows

on the seafloor.

Narrator:
Haraldur's team studied both

the thickness
and the distribution

of the pyroclastic flow
deposits through sonar

and a remote-control sub
equipped with nine cameras

and robotic sampling devices.

Sigurdsson: You feel, basically,
you're on the seafloor.

You can reach out
and sample the deposits,

and you can do
all sorts of tests.

Narrator: What his team
discovers is astounding.

The pyroclastic flow deposits

are between 70
and 260 feet thick

and extend as far as 20 miles
around santorini.

The total volume
of erupted material

is at least twice as large
as previously thought.

Well, let's compare it
to some other eruptions,

and one convenient
one is the very famous

eruption of vesuvius
in 79 a.D. In Italy,

which destroyed
pompeii and hurculaneum.

We know that
the vesuvius eruption

was about 6 kilometers only,
compared to 60 here.

Another very famous eruption
is the eruption

of mount st. Helens in
the united states in 1980.

But it was only half a cubic
kilometer compared to 60 here.

So this is a very,
very special event.

Narrator: The new figures
make the thera eruption

one of the greatest volcanic
disasters in human history.

An event so cataclysmic
would have been remembered

hundreds of years later,

even in plato's time.

Sigurdsson: This would have been
an event of such magnitude

that it would have had
to trigger a myth

such as the atlantis myth.

And I think we must take
very seriously the possibility

that the eruption

and the atlantis myth
are one and the same thing.

Narrator: But are there any
other clues

that support a connection

between thera
and the legend of atlantis?

There is an obvious one,
and it's visible from above.

The island's shape
is remarkably similar

to plato's description

of circular belts
of sea and land.

Yet there is an even
stronger parallel

between thera and atlantis.

Plato describes atlantis
as a highly advanced society.

And amazingly,
archaeologists make

an incredible
discovery on thera.

Beneath more than 100 feet
of pumice and ash,

they find a lost world
entombed by the eruption,

a world as wealthy
and sophisticated

as plato's atlantis.

Narrator: Beneath more
than 100 feet of pumice

and ash on the greek island
of thera,

a lost world is discovered,

a world as wealthy

and sophisticated
as plato's atlantis.

♪

the city is known
as the pompeii of the aegean.

It is 3,600 years old

and belonged to europe's first

great civilization,
the minoans,

predating plato's
classical greece

by more than 1,000 years.

Archaeologists
have excavated an area

roughly the size
of a baseball field.

But they estimate
that the city

was 30 times larger than that.

Frozen in time by
the volcanic eruption,

the city is incredibly
well preserved.

Even so,
it's difficult to imagine

what it must have looked like
in its former glory...

Until now.

Architect clairy palyvou

has created
a 3d vector of the city

in its heyday
before the eruption,

when the buildings
were intact.

Palyvou: It is a very
sophisticated architecture.

It's not just about meeting
everyday physical requirements

like shelter or protection.

It's much more.

There are so many things
that one can stop and admire

and so many things
that are there

for the first time in the world.

Narrator: The minoans build
multistory houses

in a region prone
to earthquakes.

To provide the buildings
with the required strength,

they develop a sophisticated
construction technique.

They have been using
a lot of timber,

to such an extent

that one could speak
of a half-timber technique.

Narrator: The timber beams
are connected to each other,

forming a supporting structure
that prevents a building

from collapsing even
if part of it

was damaged by an earthquake.

Minoan houses feature
a sanitation system

that won't be seen
in modern europe

until the 19th century.

Toilet and sewage systems
existed in mesopotamian egypt.

But the kind of toilet
we find on the upper story

of an ordinary house at akrotiri

is something unique
and, I believe,

for the first time in history.

Narrator: Clay pipes are built
into the walls of minoan houses

to connect the toilet
with a public sewage system.

Palyvou:
This is the architecture

of an affluent society.

This prosperity is shared by

a large number of the community.

That is what
makes a difference.

It's not something that's
kept only for the elite.

Narrator: The minoans'
advanced sophistication

is evident in their art.

Theran houses are decorated

with extraordinary
wall paintings.

Hughes: The wall paintings that
are being discovered at thera

are in a league of their own.

♪

they're very vivacious.

They're very unsuppressed.

They're very individualistic.

You can almost kind of smell

the humanity
that comes off them.

Now, compare that with
the other art of the period,

the beautiful art of egypt,
for example,

and there you're
looking at something

which is much more monumental,

much more formulaic,

much more controlled...

...Whereas the theran wall
paintings have their own life

and their own story.

Narrator:
The wall paintings provide us

with a unique insight
into minoan life

and society,
especially the role of women.

Hughes: Certainly from how
they're portrayed,

women seem to have
a special status.

And you can tell that because
of the clothes they wear,

because of the jewelry
that they have,

because of the fact that they
are clearly in charge of rituals

which were essential to society.

[ cheering ]

by plato's time,
in the 5th century b.C.,

1,000 years later,

women have a terrible time
in athens, where he lived.

They're often only
allowed out after dark.

They're given half rations.

They're not encouraged
to speak out in public.

And so, for me,
the world of thera,

the bronze age world
where women were important,

is the lost world
that plato describes.

Narrator: In many wall
paintings on thera,

women are closely linked

to a sought-after spice,
saffron,

the stigma of an
autumn-flowering type of crocus.

Saffron was a very special crop
in the bronze age.

It was worth more
than its weight in gold.

It's very, very difficult
to harvest.

But it can do
all kinds of things.

Narrator: Even today,
a pound of saffron

can cost up to $5,000 u.S.,

and saffron may well
have contributed

to the wealth of therans.

Yet the primary source
for theran prosperity

was not on the island.

Dr. Doumos:
The great factor is the sea.

The sea is not a barrier.

It is a means
of communication.

It is only a barrier
for the mainlander.

The islander,

especially in the small islands,

can not survive on his rock

without being able to navigate

the sea to acquire
commodities he needs.

Here, we have a stage

where the sail
has been invented.

The size of the boats,
it's quite considerable.

It's about more
than 50 meters long.

And if you'll remember

how the first europeans
crossed the atlantic,

you can imagine
that they could do it.

Narrator: This provides yet
another intriguing link

to atlantis.

Plato describes the atlanteans
as a seafaring people.

Just like atlantis,

thera is an international
trading hub

with as many
as a dozen languages.

It's the central linchpin
in a trading network

that stretches between
three continents --

europe, africa, and asia.

Thera's main trading partner

was its much bigger
neighbor, crete.

Crete and thera share
the same language and culture.

And while thera is
the commercial hub

of the minoan world,

crete was its
political headquarters.

Could it be that, hidden
amongst its remains,

is further evidence
for the real atlantis?

Narrator: Located on crete
is the ceremonial

and political center
of minoan civilization,

knossos palace.

This vast complex the size

of four football fields
boasting 1,500 rooms.

Many of them were
used for storage.

But knossos palace
is also used

for religious ceremonies
and public events.

The central courtyard
is the scene of a spectacle

that offers yet
another striking parallel

to plato's atlantis --

it involved an animal worshipped
by minoans.

[ bull bellowing ]

[ bellowing continues ]

well, the bull occurs
on wall paintings

and in relief on vases,
this sort of thing.

And it's a symbol of power.

Narrator: Minoan art reveals
that bulls are at the heart

of what seems to have been
a central public event.

[ crowd cheers ]

bull leaping, which was likely
practiced all over crete,

as well as other parts
of the minoan world,

including the island of thera.

Crete and thera straddle

the south aegean volcanic arc,
where the african

and the aegean
tectonic plates collide.

The friction of the plates
can generate earthquakes,

and it can open fissures
in the earth's crust

that allow magma
to rise and burst

into volcanic eruptions.

Around 1620 bc, this fragile

tectonic setting causes

the worst natural disaster
of the ancient world.

Geologist floyd mccoy
has spent more than 20 years

studying the thera eruption

and how it unfolded.

To the untrained eye,
this quarry on thera

might be no more
than a pile of rocks.

But for an expert
like floyd mccoy,

the layers of volcanic deposits

tell the entire story
of the eruption

stage by stage,

a story that might hold the key
to the atlantis legend.

It starts with this,
the minoan level.

Men walked this surface.

Men lived on this surface.

Preceding the eruption probably
were months of earthquakes,

lots of small earthquakes,

new gases coming out,
like sulfur.

Springs would suddenly stop,

reappear somewhere else,

cracks in the ground.

And the ground
does not stop moving.

That would scare you.

Narrator: The impending
eruption culminates

in one big earthquake

measuring around 7
on the richter scale,

rendering the town
uninhabitable.

[ screaming ]

after the earthquake,
people started working

in order to rescue things
which were needed.

And we have found
quite a lot of beds,

tables, et cetera,
outside in the open air,

probably to be
taken away somewhere

or just containing
partly-dried fish perhaps

and other food stuff,

again, in the open air.

So, I suspect that
people had moved out,

living in their camp.

They were working
in their ruins

in order to rescue things,

which were essential
for their survival in the camp.

At pompeii, it happened quickly,
in a few hours,

I think, whereas at akrotiri,

they had time to prepare.

No victims, nothing has been
found within the settlement,

so this was
an organized departure.

Duomos: Of course, they were
familiar with earthquakes.

An earthquake was not
the end of the world.

The end came after.

Narrator:
The troubling earthquake

is just a prelude
to the main event --

an eruption on a scale
the ancient world

had never experienced.

It starts with this --
the initial precursory eruption,

this fine ash.

This was a dusting
of this yellow,

also brown and black, ash.

This said, "something big
is going to happen."

narrator: The island is covered
in up to 6 inches of ash

by the precursory eruption.

Now what comes next,
the pumice layer.

The pumice layer is this volcano
getting really explosive.

Narrator: This is known
as a plinian eruption.

Its key characteristic --
the mushroom shape of its column

and the large amount
of pumice the volcano ejects.

Exploding pumice is piling
up piece by piece.

This accumulates
at a tremendous rate.

Probably about this much
an hour piles up.

But then, suddenly, it changes.

No more pumice, instead ash,

tiny particles of ash.

And that's because
it got super-explosive.

Narrator: This new eruption
phase is characterized

by violent steam explosions,

a phreatomagmatic eruption,

caused by the interaction
of magma and water.

Mccoy: What happened is
the ocean poured into the vent.

When the ocean pours
into the vent,

it's this mixing
with hot magma.

Water and magma do not mix.

They explode,

and that exploded.

That exploded in a series
of pyroclastic flows

that swept across
the landscape one

after another after another
after another, nonstop.

Narrator:
The pyroclastic flows of rock

and gas reach temperatures

of up to 1,300
degrees fahrenheit

and speeds of up
to 180 miles per hour.

Then, at the same time,

whatever's out in the middle
of this volcano,

which was a center island,
is falling in.

The caldera is collapsing
into the magma chamber.

Out come huge, huge rocks --

rocks the size of cars

are being exploded out
as ballistic missiles.

And then, finally, finally,

it's perhaps over,
but not quite,

because this huge eruption plume

that's over our heads here,

that is on top of this volcano,

is developing
electrical charges.

Every little particle of ash

has got an electrical charge.

That charge bounces from one
particle to another to another.

Pretty soon, there are
lightning bolts everywhere.

The sky is lit up
with lightning.

[ electricity crackles ]

narrator:
This was one of the greatest

volcanic eruptions in history.

Its power is equivalent
to 600 megatons of tnt,

about 40,000 times the size
of the hiroshima bomb.

The volcano ejects

150 billion tons of magma,

burying the island in over
300 feet of ash and pumice.

Pumice floats on water,

and it would have covered
not only the island,

but also the sea.

Sigurdsson: We know from many
instances in recent eruptions

that there were thick layers
of pumice on the sea,

maybe a meter thick
or half a meter.

You could walk on them.

And they would look
like an island.

And these were drifting
islands of pumice.

So santorini and a large
part of the aegean

would have been covered
by floating pumice,

even thick enough to walk on.

♪

narrator: Today, we can see this
phenomenon in the pacific ocean

where pumice is ejected
from underwater volcanos.

On the surface,
the pumice forms rafts,

which sailors often find
impossible to navigate.

The rafts from
the theran eruption

would have been
at least 3 feet thick.

What happened to the people
of thera remains a mystery.

In the excavated
parts of the city,

no bodies have
ever been discovered.

Duomos: God knows where
the people have gone.

I believe that they were camping
somewhere near in the vicinity,

and they will be
found there someday.

♪

♪

it's a tragedy that's beyond
any imagination.

♪

♪

narrator: If the therans decided
to stay on the island,

they would have had
no chance of survival.

Pyroclastic flow
would kill you.

First of all, pyroclastic flow
can be proceeded

by a shock wave
that's called a surge,

and that would blow
your ears out.

It would turn you to jelly.

If that didn't happen,
the pyroclastic flow

would just grind you
to little, tiny bits.

And if that didn't happen,
then the fine ash would

get into your lungs,
block it up.

And that same ash,

mixing with the fluids
in your body,

would turn to cement.

There's no way
you're gonna survive this.

Narrator: Since the therans
had a large fleet,

it is likely that
at least some of them

would have boarded ships
when the eruption started.

But that doesn't mean
they were safe.

Sigurdsson:
There would have been a ring

around santorini
of pyroclastic flows

going over water,
10 kilometers or more.

And we know that,
even from vesuvius,

the pompeii eruption in 79 ad,

the pyroclastic flow went over
the bay of naples to misenum.

And so we now accept
that pyroclastic flows

can travel over water
some distance.

Narrator: Researchers at the
university of kiel in germany

have reconstructed
how pyroclastic flows travel

across water.

A container filled
with hot ash is raised

above a chute leading to a tank
filled with cold water.

Using high-speed cameras,

we can see what happens
when the ash hits the water.

The heavy particles sink,

but the lighter ash blasts
across the water

on a bed of steam.

The steam created

by the hot ash hitting the water

not only prevents it
from sinking

but propels it forward.

Haraldur sigurdsson's expedition

to the seabed around santorini
discovers evidence

that the pyroclastic flows
traveled as far as 20 miles.

These flows would've incinerated
anything in their way,

including many of the therans

who had been trying to escape
the eruption by boat.

Even those lucky enough
to escape both the ash

and the pyroclastic flows
are by no means safe.

As they land on crete
or other islands nearby,

they face another danger.

Every pyroclastic flow
has the capability,

as it entered the ocean,
to produce tsunami.

Narrator:
The pyroclastic flows carry

a total of 13 cubic miles
of volcanic debris.

As the debris sinks
in to the sea,

it displaces an equally
large volume of water,

creating huge waves.

The power of these tsunamis is

multiplied
by the simultaneous collapse

of the volcano's magma chamber.

As seawater rushes into
the void left by the magma,

the tsunamis gather momentum

and pulsate away from thera.

One of their destinations...

Crete.

Until very recently,

it was believed
that the tsunamis

from the eruption
were too small

to have had a great impact
on crete.

But, here, near the cretan
town of palaikastro,

archaeologist sandy macgillivray

discovers evidence

which challenges
past assumptions.

Right down by the sea
here at palaikastro,

on a little promontory,
what we have here

is a great mass of stone.

You can see building debris
in here.

You can see lots of pottery.

And the pottery
basically allows us

to date this, stylistically,

to the period
of the theran eruption.

Now, in with the pottery,

you also have marine mollusks.

You have fragments
of seashells,

which really shouldn't be here.

This is not an edible seashell.

It's not the sort of thing
that they would have collected

for lunch, basically.

These seashells then
can be taken together

with microscopic seashells,

which the experts call
foraminifera,

which we got from taking
samples out of here.

When you have foraminifera
in your soil,

it means that it's been
under the sea.

There's no other conclusion.

So it means that this was
actually deposited by the sea.

Put that all together,

and this becomes
a tsunami deposit.

This material was deposited
by the action of water,

a huge wave coming in,

and on its way back out,

left all this material

in what looks like
a narrow alleyway here,

was all jammed
into this alleyway.

[ screaming ]

narrator: Sandy macgillivray
and his colleagues

have found tsunamic deposits

not just at palaikastro
in the east of crete

but all along crete's
northern coast,

including amnisos,

near the minoan
capital, knossos.

Macgillivray: Colleagues
had picked up pieces

of pumice
roughly 20 meters above

the sea level up
on the hill at amnisos,

and this is extraordinary.

So we came to find out

really how this may
have been deposited

if it's the same pumice
from the theran eruption.

We analyzed it,
and, in fact,

it fits with
the theran eruption.

You see, this is
extremely important for us

because this side here
is fairly undisturbed,

which means that we can get
what we call watermarks,

you know, the flotsam,
and the flotsam

is really,
you know, the pumice.

So, by finding where
the pumice gets deposited,

we can figure out
approximately

how far the wave

from thera
penetrated inland.

Narrator:
According to these new findings,

the tsunami rises to at least

60 feet above sea level

and travels up
to 5 miles inland.

For the minoans, it would have
been an apocalyptic event.

[ screaming ]

the cretans were living
along the coast in that period.

They had open harbors.

We have no evidence
for fortifications.

They were happily
living down along the sea.

There's the city
of knossos,

which is inland,
but otherwise,

it's very much open coastline,
unprotected harbors.

And so the death toll

would have been staggering,
phenomenal.

A good analogy
of what happened

is what happened
in sri lanka in 2004.

Because as the tsunami comes in,
it destroys completely

all the buildings,
anything that's inside.

In minoan times,
there would have been

their warehouses,
pottery, vases.

Everything is just
sort of strewn together

like everything being
in a concrete mixer.

And then it just
gets spread around,

and then there's
absolutely nothing left,

the picture of
complete devastation.

♪

♪

30,000 people died in sri lanka
within a few minutes.

Narrator: According
to the latest estimates,

the tsunamis from
the theran eruption

could have killed as many
as 30,000 people.

That is 80% of all minoans

who lived along crete's
northern coastline.

But the impact of
the theran eruption

extends beyond the death toll.

Macgillivray: The minoans
were probably pantheists.

They were in touch
with nature, obviously.

There was no distinction
between man and nature

that we've created now.

And so an event like this is

something that
touched everything.

It touched all aspects
of nature,

human and, you know,
the animal world.

All of creation was effected
by this event.

So the survivors must have
sat down and thought,

"what have we done wrong?

How have we created
this situation?

How can we amend
this situation?"

narrator: At this bronze age
shrine in crete,

archaeologists make
a shocking discovery.

Although dating from
an earlier period,

it shows how the minoans

would have responded
to the theran eruption,

hoping to prevent it
from ever happening again.

The body of a young man was
laid out on this altar.

Experts believe this man
is sacrificed

to try and stop an earthquake.

Yet the sheer scale
of the theran catastrophe

would have exposed
the futility of human sacrifice

and other religious acts.

It would've plunged minoan
society into deep crisis.

Macdonald: It would've
raised huge questions

over the authority
of the religious leaders

because this is
a natural disaster,

which they could not
either predict or prevent.

And the consequences
would have been visible

throughout the island.

And, therefore, I think
that faith in these leaders

would have been
thoroughly shaken.

Narrator: 150 years
after the theran eruption,

the minoan civilization had
all but disappeared.

But the memory
of an advanced society

that was destroyed
in a sudden cataclysmic event

would have lived on.

It would have
to be remembered.

It would have to stick
in the collective memory

of man for generations
and generations.

You just don't forget
an event like this.

And I think this is
what mythology has to be about,

that is, the collective memory

of disastrous events

that are completely
out of the ordinary.

Hughes: If you think
of the massive impact

of the theran eruption,

both physically
and psychologically,

it would be extraordinary
if this was not still remembered

in the oral myth,

in the legend that was passed
down from father to son,

from mother to daughter,
and if thera did not end up

as part of plato's
atlantis myth.

Narrator: Understandably,

plato's account
can not be taken literally.

It's primarily
a philosophical text,

and much of it
is clearly fiction.

No place on earth matches
plato's description

to the last detail.

Still, his story
contains numerous clues

to the real atlantis --

the shape of the island,

the advanced culture
of the atlanteans,

their seafaring skills,

the bull games,
and last but not least,

the destruction of atlantis

by an apocalyptic disaster.

The similarities
with the minoans

and the theran eruption
are striking.

And as new evidence reveals
the true scale of the eruption,

experts agree that there
is only one candidate

for the real atlantis.

Synolakis: I think plato
had in mind

the destruction
of ancient thera.

His description overall
fits what would have happened

during the volcanic
eruption of thera.

The atlantis legend has to have
some sort of a trigger.

Something started the myth.

I'm firmly convinced
a natural disaster,

and there was no disaster
in the ancient world

like the eruption of thera
in the bronze age.

There was nothing like it.

[ thunder crashes ]