All language subtitles for m.f.a.s02e07.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: An aerial discovery

that could shed light on
an ancient mystery.

- How were these incredibly
heavy statues moved

to every corner of the island?

NARRATOR: A baffling phenomenon
in the pacific northwest.

- What's behind these crazy bumps?

NARRATOR: A puzzle spanning
the stone age to the space age.

- Now you have NASA on the case,
that's as big as it gets.

NARRATOR: And an incredible
structure frozen in time.

- What's it doing in one of
the most remote places on Earth?

NARRATOR:
Everywhere we look on our planet,

there's evidence of the past.

In nature, in buildings, in relics.

Each holds a mystery that technology
now allows us to see from above.

What new secrets are revealed?

Our world is home to
the most unimaginable structures.

Massive, complex designs
that hold ancient secrets.

Mysterious monuments that can only
be truly understood

with a view from above.

More than 3,000 kilometres
west of Chile,

a dot appears in the vast blue
of the eastern Pacific ocean.

Easter Island, known in
the Polynesian language as Rapa Nui.

And it's here that a view from above
may help solve an ancient mystery.

- Rapa Nui is hands down one of
the most puzzling places on Earth.

It's famous for these mysterious
stone statues known as moai.

- There are approximately 900 of
these statues in various locations

around the island.

And many of them are placed on
these giant platforms

known as "ahu".

- And these moai statues are huge.

Some of them standing 20 metres high
and weighing more than 75 tonnes.

That's heavier than
ten full-grown elephants.

NARRATOR: Experts believe that
the stone material

was likely sourced
from a single location

and that the hundreds of statues
were somehow transported

across the island.

- Historians and archaeologists have
wondered how the makers

of these enormous statues were able
to move them

to the various spots
all over the island.

- Local legend has long held
that the moai statues

actually walked to their various
stations across the island.

- They were believed to be imbued
with a magical-spiritual essence

called mana.

NARRATOR: The island's first
recorded European visitors arrived

in 1722 on what
was Easter Sunday,

so they referred to this place
as Easter Island.

And the island's great mysteries
have fascinated visitors ever since.

How the moai were moved is
a question that many have tried

and failed to answer.

But a brand-new vantage from above
may finally shed light on

the ancient mystery,

after researchers surveyed
the island

with specialised aerial equipment.

- Three... Two... One... Go.

NARRATOR: From the sky,

this extreme wide-angle view reveals
something incredible.

- There's this series of mysterious
lines crisscrossing the island.

What are they?

NARRATOR: The strange lines have
been documented in multiple areas

across the island.

And it's believed that at one time,
there were likely many more.

If placed end to end,

the existing lines would measure
nearly 32 kilometres.

- And that is really substantial
given that the island itself

is less than 23 kilometres long.

NARRATOR: A closer look reveals
that the strange features

are actually linear depressions
in the ground.

- The grooves themselves
are fairly deep.

They're kind of like 20, 30 cm deep,
so what could have caused that?

- Who created them
and for what reason?

NARRATOR: But the view from above
begins to reveal a pattern.

- All these lines seem to be
converging on

one very specific spot.

NARRATOR: A monstrous crater known
as Rano Raraku,

the largest of the island's
three dormant volcanoes.

- What's special about this volcano,

and how might it relate
to the emergence of these lines?

NARRATOR: A closer look may provide
an answer.

Surrounding the throat
of the volcano

are approximately 400 moai statues,

all in various states of completion.

- This is clearly where these
ancient statues were carved,

right out of that volcanic rock.

- This is one massive quarry.

- It's believed that the Rano Raraku
quarry supplied the stone for

95% of the island's statues.

- But what does this quarry have
to do with all these lines?

- Could the lines be somehow
related to the transportation

of the moai statues?

NARRATOR: Another clue may be found
nearly 15,000 kilometres

northeast on the island of Malta.

Where a view from above reveals
the prehistoric site of

Misrah Ghar il-Kbir,
said to date back to 2,000 BC.

And it's the site of
more mysterious lines.

- These crisscrossing lines are
reminiscent of the ones on Rapa Nui.

- Some intersect and others
form these junctions.

It almost looks like
a switching yard

at a railway station.

- These are prehistoric markings, so
obviously nothing to do with trains.

But could they be connected
to another more ancient mode

of transportation?

NARRATOR: It's believed that these
grooves were engraved

into the limestone rock
to accommodate the wheels

of ancient carts.

- Over several millennia,

the wheels of these carts would have
made these initial grooves

deeper and deeper,

until you're left with what we see
here today on Malta.

- It's absolutely incredible
what the passage of time

can leave behind. I mean,

this is like a massive impression of
how people were travelling here

over a thousand years ago.

NARRATOR: Could the linear pathways
on Rapa Nui

have been created by similar means?

And could this hint at how
the moai statues were transported

from the volcanic quarry
to the rest of the island?

- When you look at the tracks
on Easter Island,

in many ways they're different from
those at Misrah Ghar il-Kbir.

First of all, they're singular,
and not made up of parallel tracks.

They're also not as deep,
and much wider.

NARRATOR: And there's another
crucial difference.

- Research on the history of
Rapa Nui tells us

that the people who lived here

did not have access to one really
useful piece of technology.

The wheel.

So with no wheels, we know
that these lines certainly could not

have been made
by the passage of carts.

- What if these are just dirt roads

that people used to link them
to other villages?

NARRATOR: But the paths don't seem
to connect with any known areas

of habitation.

- What we know of the Rapi Nui
people is that they were farmers

and they lived mostly in and around
the most fertile area

on the eastern-most section
of the island.

- A lot of these lines lead to areas
kilometres away

from where these people lived,
which is quite puzzling.

NARRATOR: But once again,

the view from above reveals
additional pieces to this puzzle.

- When you look at all the paths
around the island,

you start to notice that there are
quite a few statues located

at various places along
the perimeter.

- The paths are littered with
all these fallen moai statues.

NARRATOR: Researchers have
documented scores of moai,

which for some reason, have all
fallen along the ancient roads.

- Did they topple over with time?
Were they impacted by the elements?

NARRATOR: Or is there another
more extraordinary reason?

One that might hold the key to
how these mysterious monuments

made their way across the island.

- Researchers believe that all
these statues likely fell

during transportation
around the island

and that these paths were indeed
used to move the moai

from the volcanic quarry to various
locations around the island.

NARRATOR: With no knowledge of
wheeled transport,

how were these ancient roads used to
move hundreds of the heavy statues?

- They've got to be somehow
connected, but in what way?

- For decades, experts believed that
the moai were placed on logs

and then rolled
to their destinations.

But that theory is being questioned.

NARRATOR:
Because the dozens of fallen moai,

scattered around Rapa Nui,
seem to tell a different story.

- The way these statues are lying
is very interesting,

because it looks like they've fallen
in a very specific way.

They're either lying face up
or face down.

- If you look at where the statues
would have been travelling downhill,

they almost always fell
on their faces.

And when the roads were
going uphill,

the statues tended to fall
on their backs.

- So this suggests that the statues
weren't transported

in a horizontal position,
lying down,

but rather in a standing,
forward-facing position.

NARRATOR: And researchers noticed
something else

about the ancient roads.

- Rapa Nui is really quite hilly,

but the roads have been built to
create a relatively level surface.

Now that is presumably to keep
the statues from falling over.

- As the old Rapa Nui myth recounts,

once the statues were carved
at Rano Raraku,

the priests began chanting,

which induced the moai
to "walk" from the quarry.

- OK, let's get real, these stone
statues can't actually "walk"

these ancient roads by themselves.

So the big question is,
how were they actually moved?

NARRATOR: In 2011,

a team of researchers used
a replica statue to test

whether there may in fact be truth
to the ancient island myth.

Is it possible that the statues were
transported upright

and that they did in fact walk?

- This is incredible.

Using ropes,

they're actually able to tilt
and turn the figure into motion.

- They're rocking this massive
statue from side to side,

just like you would if you were
moving a refrigerator.

- It appears that the bottoms of
these statues

were specifically shaped
to accommodate

this forward rocking movement.

- Also, the Rapa Nui people could
have easily made ropes

from plant materials available
on the island.

NARRATOR: The team of 18 people
successfully walk the replica moai

100 metres in just 40 minutes.

- Past theories have suggested that
it may have taken

hundreds of people to move
these enormous statues.

But transporting them this way,
it's possible that the work could

have been done by much
smaller groups.

NARRATOR: Moving at this rate

would have taken the statue builders
working around the clock

five days to transport
a single statue

to the farther point on the island.

- So the ancient legends were right.

The moai did walk
to their destination.

They just needed
a little help to get there.

- This walking theory makes
a lot of sense,

and it shows that the Rapa Nuians
likely had a grasp

of complex engineering principles.

It also explains the mysterious
lines found across Rapa Nui.

- It's an incredible theory that
challenges our concepts of the past.

And the discovery that led to it
could only have been made

with a view from above.

NARRATOR: From a series of ancient
monuments on a remote island

in the South Pacific

to a mystery nestled in the forests
of the Pacific northwest.

In Washington State,

less than 30 kilometres from
the capital city of Olympia,

a bird's-eye view reveals
an incredible sight.

The Mima mounds.

- You've got this beautiful
landscape of rolling hills

and then this geographic anomaly.

What's behind these crazy bumps?

- This field is covered in thousands
of circular patterns

as far as the eye can see.

- They have depth to them.

It's like a landscape covered
in green bubble wrap.

- I mean, what is this place?

It kinda looks a bit like
the surface of the moon -

if the moon was green
and all the craters were inverted.

NARRATOR: The monumental formations
cover an area spanning

13 square kilometres.

Some of the mounds reach
2 metres high and 12 metres wide.

- How did they get here?
Who or what created them?

Is it something natural or
the work of some ancient culture?

NARRATOR: A potential key
to understanding

this puzzling formation
can be found more than

15,000 kilometres away in the
southern African country of Namibia.

- This area looks like it's been hit
hard by a huge mass meteor shower.

- They're almost like footprints
left behind

by some unimaginable creature.

NARRATOR: These geological
formations are known as

fairy circles,

and they vary in size from
2 to 15 metres in diameter.

- Like the Mima mounds,

fairy circles have
long puzzled scientists

as far as how they've been created.

- One theory is that it's an example
of nature adapting

to the lack of water
in a desert landscape.

- So to maximize access
to that scarce resource,

the bald area of the circle
captures water,

which then flows to the outer edges
of the ring.

- According to the theory,

this is what creates the strange
wreath pattern of vegetation.

- Fairy circles are typically known
to occur in Southern Africa

and Western Australia,
locations that are quite arid.

However,
we're in the Pacific Northwest,

where rain is abundant.

- So if they're not fairy circles,
what are they?

NARRATOR: Could the answer lie with
the region's ancient civilization,

the Upper Chehalis tribe?

- They describe a great flood
washing over this land,

bringing with it creatures
from the sea.

And once the waters receded,

it left behind the bodies
of whales and porpoises.

And that's what we see today.

The belief is that these humps
are the preserved bodies

of these creatures.

NARRATOR: While, to some, the story
might be just a fanciful legend,

whale bones have reportedly been
discovered along the banks

of the Chehalis River,

less than 5 kilometres
from the Mima mounds.

- So in keeping with the idea of
Indigenous people,

is it possible that this is
a large-scale burial site?

NARRATOR: Like the one located on
the small island nation of Bahrain

in the Arabian Gulf.

Home to one of the world's
largest ancient cemeteries,

the Dilmun Burial Mounds.

- This is incredible, because these
mounds look a lot like

the Mima mounds.

- Like those in Washington state,

the Dilmun Burial Mounds
are massive,

some standing as high as 15 metres.

NARRATOR: As seen from the air,

the earthen burial mounds occupy
a 30-square-kilometre area,

roughly 5% of Bahrain's
total land mass.

- Recent studies have shown
that they were built over a period

of 450 years by the Dilmun People,

one of the oldest trading
civilizations in the eastern part of

the Arabian Peninsula.

NARRATOR: Could the Mima mounds
of Washington State

be a similar collection
of ancient burial monuments?

- Back in 1841, you've got
a Commander Charles Wilkes.

He's an American naval officer,
captain of a ship,

he's an explorer,
and he visited the Mima mounds.

And he gets the idea that these were
in fact Indigenous burial piles.

- What he found, after digging up
three of the mounds,

was a combination of stones,
silt, sand, and pebbles.

Nothing else.

- No bones, no teeth,
no articles of clothing,

no sign of any
human burial whatsoever.

- So clearly,
these aren't burial mounds,

so then what are they?

- And who or what made these mounds?

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that seismic waves,

caused by powerful earthquakes,

rippled through the ground,
creating these monumental mounds?

- We all know how shockwaves created
by earthquakes can damage

large human-made structures.

But where there are no structures,

they can also cause dramatic changes
to the ground,

displacing earth and rocks, and
basically, re-shaping the landscape.

The earthquake hypothesis suggests
that shock waves displaced

the earth.

And where seismic waves may
have intersected,

they created something called
an interference pattern,

which formed the mounds.

- For an earthquake to have created
the Mima mounds,

it would have to be
an extremely powerful one.

NARRATOR: Powerful earthquakes have
been known to hit Washington State.

Because it and the entire
American west coast is part of

the Circum-pacific belt, an area
known for intense seismic activity

and some of the strongest
earthquakes in the world.

- So a recent one happened in
November 2002, in Central Alaska.

It measured
7.9 on the Richter scale.

That's a very strong earthquake.

- Closer to home, you had
a 6.8-magnitude quake rocking

the Puget Sound back in 2001.

NARRATOR:
Under the right conditions,

could a massive quake have created
these mounds hundreds

or even thousands of years ago?

Some believe it's a plausible
theory, but it's not the only one.

- So if it wasn't an earthquake,
could the mounds have been created

by some other really
powerful force of nature?

- The State of Washington is home
to more than 3,000 alpine glaciers.

And it's believed that,
some 16,000 years ago,

massive continental glaciers covered
the whole of Puget Sound.

- The theory goes that, over time,

the sun melted holes
in the glaciers,

which allowed sediment
from the water to fill those holes.

NARRATOR: And when the ice and
snow melted away,

it left behind the piles of sediment
that we can see today.

- Fact is, we know how erosion
caused by glaciers can have

a tremendous impact on shaping
and forming our environment.

- Glacial erosion certainly leaves
its mark in all sorts of ways,

like elongated shapes of riverbeds,
canyons, and fjords.

But it's a lot harder to believe

that it would have created
the Mima mounds.

NARRATOR: Even so,

many still wonder whether some form
of erosion could have played a part

in creating the Mima mounds.

As was the case for another
series of mysterious formations

found in Burnt Cape,
Newfoundland, Canada.

- The theory behind these strange
and fantastic formations

is that they were created by
a different type of erosion

called the Frost Polygon hypothesis.

NARRATOR: The theory suggests that
in northern areas of permafrost,

intense cycles of underground
freezing and thawing

will disrupt and displace
the rocks and soil above,

resulting
in these patterned formations.

But these geometric landforms differ
from the Mima mounds

in a few distinct ways.

- For one thing, the Frost Polygon
patterns aren't exactly like

the Mima mounds
in that they lack height.

- For another,
they're called polygons.

- Whereas, clearly, the Mima mounds
are totally circular.

- So the Frost Polygon theory,
it's a good one,

but it doesn't quite fit.

- If the Mima mounds weren't created
by humans

or by a powerful force of nature,

what could have possibly
created them?

NARRATOR: A clue might be found
10,000 kilometres south

in the Caatinga forests of
northeast Brazil

and the Campos de Murundus.

- These are the closest things
I've seen so far

that truly look like
the Mima mounds.

- You really start to see that
they're circular,

they've got height,
and they cover a large area.

NARRATOR: Some of the mounds
measure as high as 4 metres

and are spread out
at roughly 18-metre intervals.

- So what can all these things tell
us about how the Mima mounds

may have been formed?

Who or what built
the Campos de Murundus?

NARRATOR: The answer is one of
our most bothersome pests,

and nature's greatest architects,
the termite.

- More specifically, a species of
termite called Syntermes dirus,

whose workers are not
even half an inch long.

- When scientists collected samples
from the centre of 11 of the mounds

here in Brazil,

they determined that the oldest one
was about 3800 years old.

- Termites are known to have
created mounds older than

the Egyptian pyramids.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that
termites also built the Mima mounds?

- While there are about 50 different
kinds of termite species

in North America,

the Syntermes dirus termite that
built the Campos de Murundus

is found in Northeastern Brazil.

NARRATOR: And mound-building
termites are not known to live

this far north in the Americas.

- Also, the Mima mounds were found
to contain rather big rocks

that most scientists agree

would be far too large
for any termite to carry.

NARRATOR: But there is one local
creature big enough

to move heavier rocks.

One also known to create
large landscape structures.

The Thomomys mazama, more commonly
known as pocket gophers.

- Several biologists think that
after the glaciers retreated,

the vegetation grew
on the thin soil,

and then you get all these little
pocket gophers beginning to excavate

this site and building their nests.

- They moved soil and pebbles
upward, forming a mound.

NARRATOR:
But why build them so high?

- Gophers usually live underground,

so they tend to build their mounds
high so that they have a dry place

to go when rain soaks the soil.

- It speaks to the resilience of
nature to find a way to survive

under even the harshest
of conditions.

- But this site is massive.

I mean, it would have taken a
Herculean effort to build all them.

NARRATOR: If the theory is correct,

it's estimated that each Mima mound
could have taken 500 to 700 years

to build.

- Meaning at least 200 generations
of gophers would have contributed

to this amazing formation.

NARRATOR: As scientists work to
solve the mystery

of the Mima mounds,

the pocket gopher explanation
is a leading hypothesis.

But whether these mounds are
the work of animals

or the result of some powerful
natural force, one thing is certain.

- The Mima mounds are
a marvel of nature.

It's a sight that can only be truly
appreciated when you get up

in the air and view it from above.

NARRATOR: From the new world to one
of the most ancient places

on the planet, a view from above
uncovers mysterious monuments

that could reshape our understanding
of human history.

The Eurasian Steppe, the world's
largest temperate grassy plain,

spanning from Hungary to China.

- This is a massive area that
stretches some 8,000 kilometres.

NARRATOR: Predating the famous
Silk Road,

the Eurasian Steppe has been a
superhighway for human migration,

dating back to the stone age.

- It's along this ancient route
that civilizations developed

and dispersed knowledge in the form
of language, culture, and commerce.

When it comes to the development
of human civilizations,

you can't overstate the role
the Eurasian Steppe played.

NARRATOR: But a view from above
leads to a baffling discovery.

Along the Steppe,
in northern Kazakhstan,

lies an ancient mystery.

- What in the world is that?

- There's this big X
and this huge square.

- What could this strange shape be?

NARRATOR: The structure is enormous,

each side measuring nearly
275 metres.

With a surface area equal
to fourteen football fields.

The strange shape was first
discovered on Google maps,

by amateur archaeologist
Dmitriy Dey.

(via translator) I got goose bumps,

because I wasn't expecting to
actually find something like this.

I found the phone number of
archaeologists

in the Kostanay Region where I live,
and I called up one of them.

The archaeologist said that
he hadn't seen this object before

and had never heard of it.

NARRATOR: Having just made
a monumental discovery,

Dmitriy expands his Google-earth
search across northern Kazakhstan.

(via translator) Perhaps about
a hundred kilometres to the south

from that spot, I suddenly
discovered another object,

about 100 metres in diameter.

NARRATOR: Two never-before-seen
artifacts of unknown age and origin,

made visible,
thanks to modern satellite imagery.

- How long have these giant symbols
been sitting here

waiting to be found?

- What exactly happened in
the Eurasian Steppe to prompt this?

- Who created them?
And for what reason?

NARRATOR:
When these images went public,

various hypotheses began to emerge

with many people drawing comparisons
to so-called crop circles,

a phenomenon that some believers
claim has

an extraterrestrial origin.

- Over the years, so much has been
made about crop circles being

left behind by visitors
from another planet.

Of course, they all turned out
to be hoaxes.

- (via translator) We, of course,
relied on research,

data, assumptions and hypotheses
that were more scientific in nature.

NARRATOR:
To learn more about its origin,

Dmitriy and a team of researchers
make the 5-hour journey

to the mysterious square formation.

- (via translator) We were very
interested in conducting actual

archaeological excavations.

So we set up an expedition and
conducted archaeological digs

on the site.

- For an explorer,
this is like hitting the jackpot.

You're the first person to actually
see a mysterious phenomenon

up close.

NARRATOR: For a better look,
the team sends up a drone,

giving them a new
and unique vantage,

one that no other human in history
has seen before.

- Looking at something with
Google Earth is great,

but nothing beats the immediate
feedback you get with your own eyes

in the sky.

- When you look at lines like this,

you imagine the people
who made them,

who would never have been
able to see them from above.

So I wonder what they would think
if they could see these images.

I wonder if they ever dreamed
that someday humans would be able

to fly and look down on
what they made.

NARRATOR: This new and unique
perspective reveals

that the structures are composed
of large earth mounds.

- (via translator) The size of each
mound is about 10-12 metres.

We could see that all those mounds
were created exclusively from dirt;

there were no stones inside,
no stone structures,

there was no other soil
brought from afar.

- That description fits perfectly
with what we know as geoglyphs,

which are ancient earthworks
that are created by either adding

or removing soil or sediments,

creating a distinct image
in the ground.

NARRATOR: The most famous geoglyphs
in the world are found in Peru.

The Nazca Lines.

- The Nazca Lines are believed to
have been created between 200 BCE

and 600 CE.

- I've flown over the Nazca Lines
in Peru,

and it absolutely blows my mind
how earlier humans,

without the benefit of the
technology that we have today,

are able to create
these incredible structures

that you can't even see
from the ground.

- Over the years, scientists have
tried to determine the purpose

of these lines and, so far,

they've failed to reach
any definite conclusion.

- All they can agree on is that
these geoglyphs have some kind of

religious significance.

- One theory is that the Nazca
people of Peru created them

to be seen by deities up in the sky.

- Is that the case with
these geoglyphs in Kazakhstan?

Were they put here
to connect to the gods?

- (via translator) And so this
prompted me to get serious

and to devote all my free time
to studying these earthworks.

NARRATOR: Which means excavating
the area around the two geoglyphs.

- (via translator)
During the excavations,

it was possible to examine
the stratigraphy of those objects.

- Stratigraphy is a fancy word
for the study of rock layers

for the purpose of establishing
how old they are.

NARRATOR: It turns out that
the Steppe geoglyphs are not only

perplexing and beautiful,
they're also incredibly old.

The findings indicate that
the geoglyphs might be as old as

10,000 years.

- If that's true, that would make
them one of the oldest human-made

structures on Earth.

- This view from above has
the potential to change our

understanding of human history.

- (via translator) Our initial
hypothesis was that

this was a type of a burial site,

because these mounds resemble
burial hills scattered all over

the Turgay Steppe.

- When you dig around an ancient
burial site,

what you expect to find are
human bones and personal belongings

that were buried with the bodies.

- (via translator)
But we didn't find a thing.

No artifacts, no signs of either
burials or any ritual practices,

we found none of this.

And so this raised
even more questions.

Because why build such
a huge structure

if no activities would take place?

NARRATOR: Solving this mystery will
require going beyond drone footage,

beyond Google Earth,

to some of the most powerful and
accurate satellite technologies

in existence,

including those on NASA'S
International Space Station.

- Now you have NASA on the case,
that's as big as it gets.

NARRATOR: But no one could have
expected what the space agency's

powerful satellites revealed.

- This is unbelievable.

More of these geoglyphs, and all
spread out across this huge area.

NARRATOR: In all, NASA uncovers over
250 additional geoglyphs

spread across the Turgay region
of northern Kazakhstan.

DMITRIY: Lines are most common;

second most common are
crisscross figures.

NARRATOR: What began as a casual
search on Google Earth,

has led to one of the largest
historical discoveries in the world,

and one that may upend
our understanding of the past.

- Who put them here, and when?

- There must be a reason
for these things. But what is it?

NARRATOR: One theory is that the
Steppe geoglyphs were designed

to measure the movement of the sun,

like the ancient monumental complex
of Chankillo

in the Peruvian coastal desert.

Chankillo is one of the oldest
solar observatories on earth.

It's believed to have been built
as far back as the 3rd century BCE.

- For centuries,

scientists didn't know what to make
of this strange structure.

- It wasn't until 2007

that it was determined to be
an astronomical site.

- (via translator)
The object in Chankillo

is a near-horizon solar observatory,

which can be used to observe
the sunrise throughout the year.

NARRATOR: Using these markers
along the horizon,

the sun's annual movements could
be charted from the winter solstice

to the summer solstice
and back again.

- For a structure to be deemed
a near-horizon solar observatory

it has to be built on a hill and it
has to be in line with the horizon.

- From the viewpoint
of the observer,

the horizon can't be any higher than
the mounds themselves.

NARRATOR: Could this also be
the case with the Steppe geoglyphs?

Is it possible that they were
built as solar observatories?

- (via translator) This is
our working hypothesis today.

NARRATOR: If Dmitriy is correct,

it would disprove the idea
that these structures were made

as monuments for deities
in the heavens,

but rather for the use of people
on earth, as solar calendars.

- But what would
these calendars be used for?

- And what does it tell us about
the people who built them?

- (via translator) The sunrise marks
various changes in nature.

This means that people are able
to predict certain natural events.

For example,
the migration of the Saiga.

- The saiga is an antelope that,
since prehistoric times,

has been hunted for meat
as well as for its skin and horns.

NARRATOR: Could these mysterious
shapes have been built by hunters

to track cycles in nature
and the migration of prey?

If so, Dmitriy believes the builders
may be an ancient culture

known as the Mahandzhar.

- But not all experts agree
with the theory.

- We know very little about
the Mahandzhar

other than they were nomadic

and herded livestock in this region
from 7000 to 5000 BCE.

Many academics and researchers
don't believe the Mahandzhar were

sophisticated enough or, as nomads,
had the time, organisational skills,

or the simple inclination
to build anything

like these giant stationary
geoglyphs.

After all,
they were always on the move.

- Unlike the Nazca Lines,

there's no historical
or cultural context

by which to infer meaning or purpose
behind these earthen structures.

- But if it wasn't
the Mahandzhar people,

then who built
these incredible structures?

NARRATOR: In order to answer this
question, one thing is clear,

more work needs to be done.

- (via translator) And so we invite
all interested scientists

who have the knowledge and
experience

and perhaps also the technical
resources to join our research.

NARRATOR: If the truth
about these mysterious monuments

is ultimately revealed,

it could radically alter
our view of early civilizations

and reshape our current
understanding of human history.

NARRATOR: From a northern desert to
a frozen wasteland

at the bottom of the planet,

a view from above uncovers what
might be the most improbable

of mysterious monuments.

Antarctica, a barren, icy land mass
as big as the U.S.

and Mexico combined.

- The Antarctic ice sheet is
the largest on Earth.

It's 14 million square kilometres
of thick ice,

punctuated by mountain ranges,
valleys, and plateaus.

- It's hard to believe but that ice
sheet holds roughly 60 to 90%

of the world's fresh water.

- This place is absolutely remote.

When you're standing
at the South Pole,

you're at the very bottom of
the globe.

So it doesn't matter which way
you look,

every direction is north.

- It's completely off the grid.

This is the only place on Earth
that doesn't follow a time zone.

When you get there,
you just set your own time.

- It's also dark and spooky.

In the winter, you get 6 months
of total pitch black.

The only light comes from
Antarctica's version of

the Northern Lights,
Aurora Australis.

NARRATOR: And it's over
this unique environment

that recent satellite images have
revealed something

even more extraordinary.

- In the middle of Antarctica,

you've got what looks like
a giant pyramid.

- Antarctica isn't exactly famous
for its architecture,

so what is this?

- There's no question
it's a pyramidal shape.

It's three-dimensional.

It has a polygonal base,
flat triangular faces,

and is joined at a common point
called the apex.

At its base, this thing measures
two square kilometres.

To put it into perspective,

that's roughly 9 times bigger than
the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Have these satellite images revealed
an undiscovered engineering marvel?

- What's it doing in one of
the most remote places on Earth?

NARRATOR: And yet,

the view from above reveals
that this structure isn't alone.

- This ginormous pyramid is flanked
on both sides

by what looks like two smaller
pyramids buried in the snow.

It almost looks like
a pyramid complex.

In Egypt, you have
the Great Pyramid of Giza.

And it's part of this thing called
the Giza Pyramid complex.

You've got three large pyramids,

grouped with smaller
subsidiary pyramids.

And you see this
in other places as well.

NARRATOR: Located near the Nile,

in what is now Sudan,
another complex of pyramids.

- These are known as
the Nubian Pyramids.

NARRATOR: Built for kings around
3,000 years ago,

there are over 200
of these pyramids in Sudan.

- The Nubian Pyramids were built out
of granite and sandstone.

- Even though these were built many
centuries after the pyramids

in Egypt, you can see how much
the Nubian kings were influenced

by the Egyptians.

NARRATOR: Is what we're seeing
in Antarctica

a similar pyramid complex?

And could it be even older than
those found in Egypt or Sudan?

- As far as we know, humans began
building pyramids roughly

5,000 years ago.

How old is this pyramid structure
in Antarctica?

- Was there an ancient civilization
that lived here

that we don't know about?

That would fly in the face of
everything we know from science.

That Antarctica has been under ice
for millions of years

and totally uninhabitable
for humans.

- We're talking about a place so
cold that hypothermia can take hold

in just 10 minutes,

after which death is
only hours away.

In winter, temperatures can
dip down to around -60°C.

Even in summer, the temperature
never rises above zero.

- The only humans that come here are
scientists and tourists,

and they stay in climate-controlled
research stations.

- The only things that can survive
here are basically Emperor Penguins,

a few species of seals,
some birds, some fish,

some shellfish, and some worms.

It's essentially a polar desert.

It's got very little
or almost no running water.

That means that no vegetation
or crops can survive here.

There's no grass.
There are no trees.

There's basically no plant life
at all.

NARRATOR: Could such a harsh and
frigid environment sustain a culture

capable of building
a structure on this scale?

- The only way an ancient
civilization could have lived here

is if, at some point, a large part
of the continent was ice free.

NARRATOR: Over 14,000 kilometres
away in Istanbul, Turkey,

a historical document suggests that

this may not be such
a farfetched idea.

- In 1929, scholars working in the
archives of Turkey's

Topkapi Palace Museum discovered
something quite remarkable,

a map of Antarctica
dating back to 1513 -

just 21 years after Columbus
discovered America.

NARRATOR: On the map, there's a
caption that roughly translates to:

"..the Portuguese did not land on
these shores,

which are said to be very hot."

- It's like they're describing
a totally different place.

That was just 500 years ago.

Could Antarctica have changed
that much in that little time?

- As much as that sounds
very interesting,

let's not forget that maps back then
were far from accurate.

Yeah, you gotta remember
that Columbus was said to be

looking for India when he in fact
stumbled across the Americas.

NARRATOR: But recent scientific
findings seem to support the claims

made by the
16th-century Ottoman map.

- In 2017, geologists collected core
samples from deep within

the West Antarctic Sea floor,

to analyse what the climate would
have been like

thousands of years ago.

- Researchers were shocked to find
more than 60 different species

of plants, similar to those
we find today in our rainforests.

- So it's possible that thousands of
years ago,

some areas of Antarctica
could have been ice-free?

- Based on that evidence,

Antarctica would have
been habitable,

but whether it was inhabited is
an entirely different question.

NARRATOR: Could the answer lie
8,000 kilometres north

in the myths and stories of
the ancient Polynesian people?

- For millennia, Polynesian oral
tradition has maintained the belief

that Antarctica was the place
of ancestors who ventured forth

on traditional canoes and
encountered a southern sea

filled with big white rocks,

which have been interpreted
as icebergs floating in the waters

around Antarctica.

- Some have even gone as far as
saying that the Polynesian people,

who now live on the scattered
islands across the Pacific Ocean,

actually originated
from the once ice-free Antarctica.

NARRATOR:
But beyond Polynesian folklore,

there's no physical evidence linking
human settlers

to this icy continent,
or its mysterious pyramid.

- As far as ancient human bones or
grave sites,

no one's ever found
a single trace of those.

NARRATOR: If humans didn't create
this geometric wonder, what did?

At the planet's opposite pole,
a possible clue.

This time in Iceland.

- Now this is amazing.

This pyramid is a dead ringer
for the one in Antarctica.

NARRATOR: Over 1000 metres high,
this is Bulandstindur,

and it's believed to be roughly
8 million years old.

It's a structure known
as a nunatak.

- A nunatak is a term coined by
the Indigenous people of Greenland

to describe a pyramidal peak

emerging from
an ice-covered glacier.

- Nunataks are caused by
what's called freeze-thaw erosion.

- Freeze-thaw erosion happens
when snow or water fills up cracks

in a mountain during the day.

When the night falls and
temperatures drop,

the snow freezes and expands,
turning into ice.

The expanding ice causes
the cracks to grow.

- Over time, it leads to
the creation of larger cracks

that can eventually cause entire
rock sections to break off.

- Over millions of years,

the natural cycles of defrost in
the mountain ranges can produce

stunning symmetry and geometric
forms, like this pyramid.

- When you sit back
and look at this thing,

it gives you a whole new
appreciation of the power of nature

and the beauty and symmetry
it can create.

- This formation is so precise
and impressive in its scope

that it stands against anything

our most brilliant engineers
could build.

- It's a sight that most of us will
only ever see

thanks to these sorts of images
from above.

NARRATOR: From the most inhospitable
place on earth

to sprawling landscapes
dramatically transformed,

and island statues
who's walk baffled the ages...

The view from above helps us
understand history's most

mysterious monuments and
the world that helped shape them.

Subtitles by Sky Access Services