All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S02E05.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator: eyes in the sky
Watching us from space,

Hundreds of satellites
Showing us the world

Like we've never seen it before,

Objects and phenomena
Which defy explanation...

I can't believe this.
This can't be.

[ beeping ]

Narrator: an underwater kingdom
Emerging from the waves...

Well, I've never seen anything
Quite like this.

Doesn't make any sense.

Narrator: ...A miraculous
Apparition manifesting

On the plains
Of central europe...

People all over the world
Go nuts for this thing.

Narrator:
...And an ancient city

Appears to have teleported
Across the nile delta.

Dr. Cerveny: if you're
Going to move an entire city,

Then you don't get
Much better reason

Than the great egyptian plagues.

Narrator:
Baffling phenomena...

Mysteries from space...

What on earth are they?

[ beeping ]

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

**

July 17, 2014,

Malaysian airlines flight mh17
Takes off from amsterdam

Bound for kuala lumpur.

At 12:01 gmt,

It enters contested airspace
Above war-torn eastern ukraine.

On the ground,

Ukrainian forces battle
For their country's survival

Against hard-line separatists.

The government claims

The rebels are backed
By the russian military.

Russia has consistently denied

That it's actively fighting
A military campaign

Inside of eastern ukraine.

Narrator: any evidence of
Russian involvement in ukraine

Would be highly embarrassing
To moscow.

[ engine roars ]

Above the battlefield,
The skies are a no-fly zone.

Most civilian planes are totally
Avoiding the area...

But not mh17.

Yes, the plane was flying
Over a military zone,

But it was 1,000 feet
Above the no-fly zone.

So the pilot
And the passengers --

They probably thought
They were safe.

Narrator:
At 1:20 p.M. Gmt,

The plane explodes somewhere
North of the city of donetsk,

Scattering debris
Over a 19-square-mile area.

The blast and subsequent crash
Kill all 298 people on board.

Porges:
This is truly tragic.

When you look
At a case like this,

You want to know what happened,
Who did it, and why they did it.

Narrator:
The ukrainian government claims

That pro-russian separatists
Shot down the plane

With a ground-based
Russian missile.

Moscow counters that

A ukrainian fighter jet fired
The fatal shots.

The russians turn
To high-tech satellite imagery

To back up their claim.

[ beeping ]

They release
A satellite photograph

Apparently showing
The malaysian airliner

Alongside a ukrainian fighter,

Which they say shot it down.

So to clear their name, the
Russians release this image,

Which they say clears them
Of any wrongdoing.

Russia's our top suspect,
For sure, in the shoot-down.

But what's the best way
For them to deny it?

Provide another suspect.

If russia could find a way

To pin the shoot-down
On someone else,

It's gonna grab it
With both hands.

Narrator: and this is exactly
What the photo appears to show.

Russia claims that

This image shows mh17 flying
Over the ukraine,

Being attacked
By the ukrainian air force

Firing an air-to-air missile
At the aircraft.

Narrator: on the face of it,

The image appears to be
Conclusive proof

That the russian version
Of events is true.

When you first see the image,
It looks compelling.

It looks to have captured
An actual missile

Being fired by a fighter
Against an airliner.

Narrator:
If the image really is proof

That a ukrainian fighter
Attacked the plane,

It absolves russia of blame.

But there are questions about
The photograph's authenticity.

Forensic analysts
Take a closer look,

Starting with the smaller plane,

Which russian state media
Reports

Is a fighter called an su-25.

There's something wrong
With that picture.

That's not an su-25
In the picture.

this is an su-27.

Narrator: the su-25 and su-27
Look very different.

[ engine roars ]

Both are russian designs,

So the mistake is a strange one
For russian state media to make.

Veteran u.S. Naval aviator
James houston

Points out another discrepancy
In the russian image.

The fighter is shooting
At the airliner from the side,

Something a well-trained pilot
Would be unlikely to do.

The perfect angle
For an air-to-air shot

Is directly behind the target.

If you're directly behind it,

You can use both a heat-seeking
And a radar-guided missile

Without any problem.

So I don't know why
You wouldn't just go over

And take the perfect shot.

It makes me skeptical.

Narrator:
Analysts are also not convinced

The airliner depicted
In the photograph is genuine.

Here's a close-up of that plane.

If you notice, right here,
We can see a logo.

There's a problem with that.

Malaysian airlines flight 17

Doesn't have a logo
In that place.

[ beeping ]

Narrator:
The logo in the image

Is too far forward
On the fuselage

For a malaysian airlines plane.

If the lettering
Is in the wrong place

For a malaysian airlines jet,

You got to ask yourself,
What are we even looking at?

Narrator:
The investigation next focuses

On the terrain
Beneath the two planes.

D'antonio: there are rumors

That the entire landscape
And the aircraft themselves

Are just fake

And that the landscape
Was painted

Onto an existing
Google earth image.

Narrator: investigative
Journalists discover

That the terrain in the inset
Showing the fighter

And the terrain
In the main image

Come from different sources
On different dates.

The main image
Comes from google earth.

And the inset is taken from
A russian site called yandex.

Taking
All these factors into account,

Looking at the evidence,
Analyzing the picture,

It is incredibly evident that
Something is not right here.

This thing has been doctored.
This thing is a fake.

O'connor: forensic examination
Of satellite imagery

In a case like this
Is obviously important.

It helps us to prove that
The ukrainians are, in fact,

Being framed
By the russian government.

[ camera shutters clicking ]

Narrator:
11 months after the russians
Release the satellite image,

Dutch investigators reconstruct
The wreckage of the plane

And publish a detailed report
Into the mh17 catastrophe.

They conclude a ground-based
Russian-made buk missile

Hit the cockpit
And brought the plane down.

They find no evidence
Of an air-to-air attack.

I think
This aircraft being shot down,

Probably by a russian
Surface-to-air missile,

Is something of a smoking gun

Of russia's presence
In the ukraine.

Narrator: to date,

President vladimir putin
Still denies

That russian troops
Are operating on the ground

In the ukraine.

[ choir vocalizes ]

The hunt for who fired
The missile

That blew flight mh17
Out of the skies continues.

[ beeping ]

Satellites capture
Baffling evidence

That an ancient city has been
Relocated within the nile delta.

Why and how
Would a whole city even move?

Narrator: could the answer
Be found in the bible?

If you're going to move
An entire city,

You don't get much better reason
Than the great egyptian plagues.

Narrator: or could science
Solve the mystery?

**

Narrator: satellites
Have become vital tools

For today's archaeologists.

[ camera whirs ]

Dr. Dodson: the importance
Of satellite photography

Is it allows us to cover
Vastly greater areas

Than was ever possible before.

Narrator: now new techniques,
Like infrared satellite imaging,

Are enabling analysts
All over the world

To discover structures hidden
For millennia.

Baugh:
When we switch to infrared,

Which is a type of light
That we cannot see,

Suddenly, a pattern pops out.

Narrator: one of the most
Exciting infrared discoveries

In recent years

Is the street plan of the
Ancient egyptian city of tanis

On the nile delta.

The infrared sees beneath
The dirt and dust of centuries

To reveal buried buildings
To archaeologists.

Tanis was the capital
Of the egyptian pharaohs

From about 1000 b.C.
Down to about 700 b.C.

Narrator: in the 1920s,
A frenchman, pierre montet,

Came to tanis searching for
A lost city called pi-ramesses.

While excavating a plateau
Next to the modern city,

He hits the mother lode.

The site is littered
With statues of ramesses ii,

The pharaoh who built the city
He's hunting.

You're looking for the lost city
Of the pharaoh.

And you find a city with
His name stamped all over it.

What other conclusion
Would you draw?

Narrator:
But there's a problem.

Dating tests
On some of the remains

Taken from the site near tanis

Reveal that it cannot be
The pharaoh's lost city.

Dr. Dodson:
Although all this stonework
Is inscribed for ramesses ii,

All the actual
Archaeological material,

Actually stuff which is from
People living and dying there,

Is all
From some centuries later.

Narrator: if this city was built
In the time of ramesses,

There should be evidence
From his time

Buried
In the archaeological layers.

So the problem is this --

The city is literally stamped
With the name "Ramesses,"

But there is nothing that dates
Remotely from his era.

How can that be?

Narrator: the answer comes
40 years later,

When another team
Of archaeologists

Discovers the remains
Of the pharaoh's lost city

At the modern-day town
Of qantir.

The footings of his statues
Are still in place

Where they were ripped
From the ground and moved.

There can only be
One conclusion.

At some point in history,

The lost city of ramesses
Was abandoned, dismantled,

And then rebuilt at tanis,
12 miles away.

Why and how
Would a whole city even move?

It's just a crazy idea.

Narrator:
For some observers, a clue

To why the people of pi-ramesses
Deserted their magnificent city

May come from the bible.

In the book of exodus,

God unleashes a series
Of terrible plagues on egypt

To persuade the pharaoh

To release the israelites
From slavery.

If you're going to move
An entire city,

You need a really good reason
To do that.

And you don't get
Much better reason

Than the great egyptian plagues.

Narrator:
Plagues can have

A sudden, devastating effect
On cities.

[ flies buzzing ]

History is filled
With outbreaks of disease,

Forcing thousands of people
To flee their homes.

Gough:
This is not unusual at all.

There's many examples,
Especially in the mediterranean.

Horton:
In croatia, the town of dvigrad,

Which was once
A prosperous medieval city,

But was so weakened by probably
Both plague and malaria

That, by the 1650s,

There was just a handful
Of families still living there,

And by the end
Of the 17th century,

Had been abandoned
And was just a ruined city.

Narrator: the plagues
In the book of exodus

Tell of hailstorms,
Day turning to night,

Water turning to blood,
And terrifying infestations.

[ insects buzzing ]

Could they have forced
The people of pi-ramesses

To move their entire city
To a safer location?

Dr. Cerveny: the stories
Of the 10 great egyptian plagues

Are some of the most terrifying
And dramatic

In the entire bible.

But what if they're more
Than just stories?

Over the last couple of decades,

There have been scientists
And historians

That have come up
With scientific explanations

Of how this series of plagues
Could have occurred.

Narrator:
Some suggest satellite images

Of an island in the
Mediterranean called santorini

Could offer a clue

To the origin of the most
Devastating biblical plagues.

The ancient greeks
Called the island thera,

And it was the site

Of one of the biggest volcanic
Eruptions in known history.

[ choir vocalizes ]

[ rumbling ]

Thera was four times larger

Than the infamous eruption
Of krakatau.

[ rumbling ]

Pumice from thera was found
At the site of pi-ramesses.

Narrator:
The presence of volcanic ash

Leads some to believe

That this mega eruption
May have triggered

Some of the plagues described
In the bible.

[ rumbling ]

The eruption of this volcano

Could produce ashfalls and rocks

That could literally fall
Out of the sky,

Creating that plague of hail
That is mentioned in the bible.

The cover of ash
Over the entire mediterranean

Would have led to darkness.

Narrator: as the massive plumes
Of ash covered egypt,

It could have created
The conditions

For the most devastating plague
Of all --

The death of the firstborn.

Dr. Cerveny:
The volcanic ash

Could actually cause the food
Supply to be contaminated.

Since the firstborn

Were the ones that got the best
And the first of the food,

They would have eaten
That contaminated food

And may have led to the plague
The death of the firstborn.

Narrator: on the face of it,
The theory

That the mega eruption
Could have triggered events

That led to pi-ramesses being
Abandoned seems compelling.

But archaeologists discover

That the dates
Of the eruption at thera

And the uprooting of pi-ramesses
Simply don't match.

The eruption of thera
Was roughly 3,600 years ago.

It's happening centuries
Before ramesses,

And therefore can have
Nothing to do with his time.

Gough: even if
The plagues of egypt were real,

They couldn't have triggered
The move.

So the question is, what did?

[ beeping ]

Narrator: the archaeologists
Who first discovered pi-ramesses

Thought they'd found the reason

When they discovered traces
Of an old river

Near the city
That had somehow disappeared.

In the 1960s,

The only way to prove
A river had once flowed there

Was by painstaking field work
And surveys.

Today, scientists need

Only to look at infrared
Satellite images of the area.

Old riverbeds contain
Mineral deposits,

Which help plants grow.

And because plants reflect light
In the infrared spectrum,

Satellites can pick out
These ancient waterways

Long after the water
Has disappeared.

You can spot old river channels

By the pattern
That the vegetation is making

On the ground.

The electromagnetic spectrum
Give us the ability

To look beyond
What the human eye can see.

Narrator: when observers apply
An infrared filter

To the nile delta,

Its ancient channels
Should miraculously appear.

And one of those used to run
Through pi-ramesses.

But over time, it changed course
To run through tanis,

Leaving the pharaoh's city
With no water supply.

Dodson:
As its river branch dried up,

Pi-ramesses became less and less
Viable as a capital city.

And therefore, the pharaohs
Moved their residents to tanis.

Put yourself in their shoes.

Their city is dying.
What would you do?

Rather than quarrying new stone
Hundreds of miles away,

They simply used the ruins
Of the now-derelict pi-ramesses

As their quarry.

And therefore,
Over a period of --

A period
Of a number of centuries,

Blocks, obelisks,
Colossal statues

Were all shipped
Across to tanis,

Where they form part
Of the new city.

Narrator:
Satellites have shed new light

On the mysteries of tanis.

And these discoveries
Are only the beginning

Of a new era in the exploration
Of the ancient world.

Dr. Dodson: what this kind of
Remote sensing allows us to do

Is to check sites,

See what may be there
Under the ground,

And then target
The expensive stuff,

Which is boots-on-the-ground
Actual excavation.

So in many ways,

Satellite photography is perhaps
The savior of egyptology.

[ beeping ]

Narrator: high above
The northern hemisphere,

An orbiting satellite
Photographs a haunting face

In the hungarian countryside.

It looks like the portrait
Of jesus christ himself.

Narrator:
Just who or what created

This giant image
Of the son of god?

Is this a natural phenomenon,

Or is this something that might
Have been created on purpose?

This really should be explained
Before things get out of hand.

Narrator: april 2009.

A new google earth image
Appears to show

A giant face
Staring up at the heavens

From a farmer's field
In hungary.

You can almost see the outline
Of some hair and some eyes,

Maybe a nose and mouth.

The image almost looks like

The traditional image
Of jesus christ.

Narrator:
The sensational photograph
Immediately goes viral.

Some suggest
That it's evidence of a miracle

Or even a portent
Of the second coming of christ.

People all over the world
Go nuts for this thing.

It looks just like the face
On the turin shroud.

Visser: these phenomena
Need to be understood

Because, if they're not,
People will actually think

This was the result
Of divine intervention.

Narrator:
The image comes to the attention

Of satellite analyst
Amanda marchetti.

I do see a pattern emerging
Within the image

That does resemble a human face.

The question would be,
Is this a natural phenomenon,

Or is this something that might
Have been created on purpose?

Narrator:
Some of the fields in the image

Appear to have been
Recently plowed.

Could this be the cause
Of the strange shapes?

Marchetti: did somebody
Manipulate the crop residue

To actually form a human figure,

To form a piece of art using
The earth as their canvas?

Narrator:
Artists all over the world

Have used the landscape
To create giant images,

Fully visible only from the air.

I think an image like this
Is most likely the result

Of a farmer having
Some fun in his own field

By cutting
One half of the field first,

Then leaving
The other half to grow,

Causing the color effect
To change.

Narrator:
But the hungarian face of christ

Is not as well-defined as known
Examples of landscape art.

Marchetti develops
An alternative theory.

Marchetti:
Digging a little deeper,

I can definitely see areas
That are slightly elevated.

I do see areas
Of shadowing and relief.

Narrator: the shadows
In satellite images

Can be evidence of mounds
Or small hills.

But what could've created mounds

On the vast,
Flat hungarian plains?

Today, some of the few remnants

Of the ancient peoples
Who lived here

Are elevated structures
Called kurgans,

Which dot
The hungarian countryside.

Kurgans were enormous,
Great, big mounds

In which they're burying
Their dead.

Some have survived.

But unfortunately,
Most have been plowed flat.

So you could only really see
Them from the air.

Narrator: whatever
The dark patches come from,

The most popular explanation
For the appearance of the face

Is that it's an example of
A phenomenon called pareidolia.

Pareidolia is what we call it

When the brain sees a pattern
Where none exists.

Narrator:
Psychologists believe

That pareidolia is the reason
Why people see patterns

In things like ink blot tests,
Clouds, and rock formations.

Most often,
That pattern is a human face.

There's a reason for that.

We're hardwired
To recognize people, faces,

Ever since we were in the caves.

Narrator: the miracle
Of the hungarian plain

Is nothing more
Than a trick of light,

A chance arrangement
Of natural features

Shaped to resemble a face

Through the power
Of the human mind.

If you look at almost any
Assortment of random shapes,

You might be able
To pick out something

That looks like two eyes,
A nose, and a mouth.

I think this is just another
Example of that phenomenon.

D'antonio: there
Might be miracles out there.

But this isn't one of them.

[ beeping ]

Narrator: an aerial photographer
Spots a strange shape

Off the coast of wales.

This discovery
Really knocked us off our feet.

It's fantastic.

Narrator: a giant underwater
Structure rises from the waves.

Man:
Imagine if we're seeing

The traces of an ancient sunken
Civilization on these images.

That would be
A discovery of a lifetime.

Narrator:
August 1, 2007.

-lovely day for it.
-it's glorious, isn't it?

Not much wind.
Nice to see you again.

Okay. Let's get up.

Narrator:
Archaeologist toby driver

Is working
As an aerial investigator

For the british government.

[ radio chatter ]

His job is to find
Lost archaeological sites

In the southwestern region
Of the country.

Being up in the air

Is a really powerful way
To see the landscape.

It's the best way, really,
To look down

And spot things that you
Just can't see at ground level.

Narrator:
As he makes a final pass

Over a beach
Near cardigan in north wales,

He spots something unusual
And grabs for his camera.

Dr. Driver: we're about
To go back to the airport,

And then, bang --
Straight below the plane

Are these lines heading
From the beach under the sea.

Astonishing.

**

[ camera shutter clicks ]

[ camera whirs ]

Nelson: this image --
It really is pretty strange.

Basically, what you have

Is this big black "V"
In the middle of the ocean.

Well, I've never seen anything
Quite like this.

Doesn't make any sense.

Narrator: on its own,

The aerial image can't provide
All the answers.

The aerial photograph gives us
The first way in,

But to really understand it,

We need to get down on the beach
And to study it in more detail.

Narrator: driver heads
To the site to investigate.

Dr. Driver:
From the position it should be

On the aerial photograph,

This looks like
We're actually at the structure.

Incredible. Look at it.

Narrator: driver finds
A row of rocks about 2 feet high

That looks man-made.

From right here on,
What looks like a tumbled wall,

Covered in seaweed now --

This is all hard stone here.

Big boulders --
Smaller stones are jammed in,

But a very clear, distinct width
To it going up the beach here.

So we've got
Two huge stone-built walls,

And that's
What we're looking at.

Why would you build
Two large walls on a beach?

Narrator:
This is just a small section

Of a much bigger formation that
Stretches out under the sea.

Dr. Driver: it goes out to
The "V" point of the structure,

Just where
The waves are breaking,

And then back swinging
Under the sand.

And I think we're picking it up
With this very, very low tide --

That line of rocks
In the distance.

It's just -- it's
An enormous structure, huge.

Narrator:
The giant "V" covers an area

Three times the size
Of an american football field.

Dr. Driver: so we see
This is a huge building project.

Who has the resources
And the power

To put together
A structure this size?

Narrator:
There are few written records

Of the people who lived here
In the distant past,

But there are many stories.

The imposing scale
Of the structure

Leads some investigators
To suggest

That the walls
Could be the traces

Of a legendary lost kingdom
Known as the lowland hundred.

The story of the lowland hundred

Is about a kingdom that existed
On the welsh coast

In ancient times below the sea.

Narrator:
According to legend,

Large areas of today's seabed
Were once a fertile land

Ruled over
By a king called gwyddno.

His domain was protected by a
Series of giant walls and gates

That stopped the sea
From flooding in,

But there was a weak link
In the sea defenses.

As the story goes, there's
A chap by the name of seithenyn

Whose job it is to look
After the gate to the dike.

One night,
He has too much to drink

And doesn't close the gate.
[ rumbling ]

And by morning,
The entire kingdom is submerged

And will remain so forever.

Narrator:
Most commentators think

The lowland hundred is a myth.

But winter storms
Along the coast

Have exposed tantalizing signs
That it may contain some truth.

Hughes: the evidence here --
It's quite stunning.

We have footprints
That have been found,

Fossilized footprints
That the archaeologists said

Was of a young girl --

I think
4,000 or 5,000 years old.

So we know people were here.

Narrator: comparison
Of the wall's stonework

With other structures
In the area

Seems to indicate
It's around 1,000 years old --

Not old enough for it to be part
Of the ancient legends.

All available evidence
For a land beneath the waves

Dates to the prehistoric era.

If the dates don't match up,

The mystery of who built
The giant "V" remains.

Who has that sort of power here
1,000 years ago

To build a structure this big?

Now, we have --
Just up the river here

Are the monks of st. Dogmaels.

They established their abbey
In 1115 a.D.

And I think we have to look
To the monks nearby

To be the people who built
This structure 1,000 years ago.

Narrator: it seems both
The abbey and the undersea walls

Were at least built
In the same era.

But why would
A medieval religious order

Build a giant, v-shaped
Structure under the waves?

Investigators come across
A surprising answer

In satellite images
Of distant seas.

You can see things
Like this in the persian gulf --

Dark, walled structures
That protrude out of the water.

They're fish traps.

And I think that's what
We're looking at here.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: a fish trap is a kind
Of man-made rock pool,

Which catches fish
Using the power of the tides.

As the water comes in,

All the fish come
Into the large part of the "V."

And then, as the water goes out,

They're funneled
Into the small part of the "V,"

And the water can get out,
But the fish cannot.

It reaches a point
Just out there beyond me.

And that's where,
If this is a fish trap,

The fish would've been caught
As the tide ran out.

Narrator: if the giant "V"
Is a supersized fish trap,

Then the lost kingdom
Of the lowland hundred

Remains undiscovered.

[ beeping ]

A reconnaissance satellite
Captures a strange black slash

In the remote mountains
Of afghanistan.

Gough: it doesn't look
Like anything natural.

I wonder
If it's hiding something.

Nelson:
It doesn't make any sense.

What could the satellite
Have found?

Narrator: is this dark scar
The mark of a heinous war crime?

[ choir vocalizing ]

Their society was completely
Razed to the ground,

Killing millions of people
In the process.

[ beeps ]

Narrator:
Satellites are changing the face

Of global conflicts.

[ camera whirs ]

Now even
The most inaccessible war zones

Can be viewed
In astonishing detail.

[ beeps ]

July 17, 2004.

The quickbird ii
Reconnaissance satellite

Orbits 250 miles
Above war-torn afghanistan.

It beams back a weird image
From the hari rud valley.

There's this weird black,
Cigar-shaped object

Concealed in the mountains.

And it looks very strange.

Narrator: the thick slash
Is more than 200 feet long

And jet-black.

This is one
Of the remotest areas

In a country full
Of death and secrets.

What could the satellite
Have found?

[ beeps ]

Narrator: the first theory
Analysts explore

Is that this could be
A case of censorship.

The u.S. Military, the nsa,

The cia,
And the state department

Will sometimes redact data

For purposes of operational
Secrecy or national security.

Ever since wikileaks,
We've seen many occasions

Where the u.S. Government
Has had to redact images

In order to conceal
Their true activities.

Narrator: but when it comes
To satellite images...

[ camera whirs ]

...The security services
Are more sophisticated.

If they want
To redact something,

They copy pixels
Or blur entire areas.

D'antonio: if you didn't want
To show somebody something,

You must remove it
And create a situation

Where you can't tell
There was ever anything there.

But this image
Shows no evidence of redaction.

Narrator: so what could
The black slash be?

Almost 8 years later, in 2012,

A new satellite image
Offers a clue.

A picture taken
At a different time of day

Shows the black slash
Has changed shape.

D'antonio: you see the lit side
Of a tall object.

And then, you see its shadow
Cast across this river.

It is the shadow
Of a tall building.

Narrator:
The dark anomaly in the image

Is a 200-foot-high tower.

Archaeologists identify it
As a legendary monument...

...The minaret of jam.

Horton: the minaret of jam
Is one of the great monuments

Of medieval islam.

It was a myth
That this great tower existed.

Narrator: a minaret
Is the tower above a mosque,

From which muslim worshipers
Are called to prayer.

But this one appears to be
Standing in a barren wilderness

With no possible worshipers
In sight.

This minaret is out
In the middle of nowhere.

There's no city around.
Where has the city gone?

Narrator: with the afghan war
Still raging,

It's too dangerous
To visit the ancient site

And look for the remains
Of a city.

[ camera whirs ]

But the lone minaret
Reminds some analysts

Of another site on the other
Side of the gobi desert

With similarly isolated
Structures.

Gough: when we look
At the gobi desert

Via satellite images,

What we find

Is that they show traces
Of an ancient vanished kingdom.

And when we
Examine this up close,

What we realize
Is that we're looking

At these peculiar
Beehive structures.

Why are they the only things
That have survived?

Narrator: 2,000 miles
From war-torn afghanistan,

Historian jin xu
Examines a series

Of unusual beehive structures
Built in northern china

1 1/2 centuries
Before the minaret of jam.

Just the imposing
And the towering structure

Is the remains
Of a huge lost kingdom.

Narrator: the gigantic mounds
Form the royal burial site

Of the tangut empire,

A lost medieval civilization

Whose population was once vast.

We know precious little

About their real
Social structure

Because all they've left
Behind us is ruins.

Narrator: so, does
The disappearance of the tanguts

Shed any light
On the minaret of jam?

This dead kingdom fell victim
To a ferocious warlord

Whose name became synonymous
With terror

Across asia and europe --

Genghis khan.

Xu:
In order to conquer china,

The mongols had first
To conquer tangut kingdom.

Narrator:
In the early 13th century,

Genghis khan's army
Invaded tangut territory.

The tangut emperor chose
To surrender rather than fight.

Horton:
He came to genghis' tent

With tokens of all the wealth
Of his kingdom,

Seven great horses,
Seven great virgins,

Seven great chests of treasure,

To offer his surrender.

The tangut emperor
Waits for three days

In front of khan's tent.

He doesn't know that
The great khan is mortally ill.

Khan's last words
To his sons are chilling.

As genghis was lying
On his deathbed,

He instructed his sons,

"Let everyone
In this kingdom vanish."

The sad thing
Is that the mongols

Took him to his words.

Narrator: the first to be killed
Is the tangut emperor himself,

Executed in front
Of genghis khan's deathbed.

[ man screams ]

Then, the mass killing begins.

Genghis' successor, ogedei,

Destroyed all their cities,

Literally reduced
Their society to ruins,

Killing millions of people
In the process.

This is one of the most
Tragic chapters

In human history,

In which a great civilization
Has disappeared.

Narrator: the destruction
Of the tangut empire

Sets the stage for ogedei khan's
Bloody campaign of conquest.

Gough: so why were
The beehive structures

The only thing remaining?

It's testament.

It's intentionally left in order
To preserve the memory

That this is what will happen

If you deny the mongol kingdom.

Narrator:
And this isn't the only place

Where ogedei left his mark.

He was also at the head
Of an army

That marched into afghanistan.

Horton: so ogedei did
Not just destroy the tanguts.

He destroyed the city

That was located
Around the minaret of jam,

Just leaving the minaret of jam

Standing as a sole monument
To their past.

Narrator: the afghans
Who lived here are long dead.

The minaret which once echoed
With a call to prayer

For thousands still stands,

Now a silent memorial
To a once-great civilization.

[ camera whirs ]

[ rumbling ]

A fearsome earthquake rips

Down the west coast
Of north america.

This was
An extremely large earthquake.

There was a lot of damage.
It was devastating.

Narrator:
Investigators turn to satellites

To find out what caused
The epic quake.

Something big has happened here,
And we don't know what.

Dr. Capps: we're certain
That this isn't caused

By any of the faults
We know about,

Which means exactly one thing --

It's caused by something
We don't know about.

[ beeps ]

Narrator:
Easter sunday 2010.

A massive earthquake
Devastates towns and cities

In baja california, mexico.

This was the largest earthquake
In the last 20 years

In this region.

It caused extensive damage
Locally...

[ rumbling ]

...And was felt as far
As san diego, 100 miles away.

Dr. Weston:
Buildings were damaged, as well,

So it did have an effect
On tens of thousands of people.

[ beeps ]

Narrator: to save lives,

Geologists have to find out
Where the earthquake originated.

[ camera whirring ]

[ siren wailing, horn honks ]

We need to guide
First responders

To the right places
To help people right away.

To do that, we need to know --
Where was the rupture,

Where did it begin,
And where did it end?

Narrator: earthquakes occur
When huge fractures

In the planet's crust,
Called fault lines, rupture.

It's important
To track fault lines

Because fault lines
Are the source of earthquakes.

So what fault has ruptured
In this earthquake?

[ rumbling ]

[ beeps ]

Narrator: to find the fault,
Geologists turn to the sky.

Dr. Briggs:
We can use spaceborne sensors

To figure out
Where the fault rupture was.

Narrator: high-resolution images
Of the landscape show

How the quake has caused
The ground to shift.

We use a "Before" image
And an "After" image.

You match the two.

And you see where
The earth's surface is deformed.

Narrator: it shades
The landscape different colors

To reveal which direction
The rock has moved.

It is very good at showing

How the fault ruptured
Right at the fault.

Narrator: what they find
Is completely unexpected.

None of the known fault lines
Have ruptured.

Dr. Weston: we thought it was
Another famous fault

In that region called
The laguna salada fault.

But the actual location
Of the earthquake

Was 60 miles away.

Dr. Wei:
We can see the fault rupture

Is not on any of
These known active faults.

Narrator:
Instead, the contrasting colors

Of the satellite image

Trace a previously unknown fault
In the cucapah mountains.

Dr. Wei: it's a surprise.

So we know, "Okay.
We saw something new."

[ rumbling ]

Narrator: but the scale
Of the quake doesn't make sense.

The new fault line
Is just 30 miles long.

It's too small to be responsible
For all the damage.

It's very confusing
For seismologists.

Something big has happened here,
And we don't know what.

Narrator: it appears
As if this mystery earthquake

Has come out of nowhere.

We're certain
That this isn't caused

By any of the faults
We know about,

Which means exactly one thing --

It's caused by something
We don't know about.

Narrator:
Modern-day scientists struggle

To find a fault line
Big enough to explain the quake.

But it would've been no mystery

To the ancient peoples
Of this region.

Legends
From central american cultures,

Like the aztec,

Speak of apocalyptic earthquakes
That end the world.

The aztec believed
That the world

Was constantly being destroyed
And reborn and reshaped.

Narrator: the aztec held
That life on earth

Was tied to the progress
Of five cycles, called sols.

Dr. Von grisjeghen: we live
Today during the fifth sol --

That according
To aztec mythology,

Would be -- destroy --

Would suffer destruction
Through cataclysmic earthquakes.

Narrator:
Today's geologists don't believe

In supernatural earthquakes.

But conventional science
Struggles to prove the existence

Of a rupture big enough
To have caused so much damage.

It turns out that looking
At the surface of the earth

To understand what happens deep
Is a very tricky problem.

Narrator: to solve the puzzle,
Geologists switch

To an advanced satellite
Technology called insar.

So insar means "Interferometric
Synthetic aperture radar."

So it's a radar.

Narrator: insar measures

How the height of the ground
Has changed,

Creating colored patterns
Called fringes.

Dr. Weston:
It's like contours on a map.

When they're really
Close together,

That means that the fault
Is gonna be nearby.

Narrator: the results of
The radar analysis are a shock.

The colored fringes
Trace the position

Of a hidden fault line
Running all the way from baja

To the gulf of california.

Dr. Weston: part of the rupture
Wasn't visible.

It was actually a lot larger.

It ruptured a length
Of over 75 miles.

Narrator:
This massive fault line,

Which started
In the cucapah mountains

And then extended
Much farther south,

Unleashed the equivalent energy

Of 40 atomic bombs
On the region.

But how could scientists
Have not spotted the full length

Of the fault?

You can't map
What you can't see.

Narrator: so,
What concealed the fault line?

The answer lies in
The vast colorado mud flats,

Where the fault lies.

This fault rupture
Occurred beneath a big pile

Of fine-grained, wet sediment

Along a large area
Of the colorado river delta.

Narrator: the intense shaking
From the powerful quake

Caused the soil
To act like a liquid,

Filling up cracks in the ground.

Once the shaking
Has stopped,

Then everything kind of settles
Down into a new place.

And it looks
Like solid ground again.

Narrator: the same process
Happened during the earthquake

That devastated christchurch,
New zealand, in 2011.

Dr. Weston: cars got buried
In what was once solid ground.

And they end up
Sticking out at 45 degrees.

Narrator:
In mexico, the river sediment

Concealed a massive
5-meter-wide rip in the earth,

The source of the violent quake.

And unlike the san andreas,

This fault won't be visible
Anytime soon.

Dr. Briggs: it can take
Hundreds of thousands

To millions of years

For cumulative earthquakes
To create something

That we can see
In the landscape that persists.

Narrator:
The easter sunday quake

Will not be
The last devastating disaster

To hit this region.

The day may yet come

When the aztec predictions
Of apocalypse come true.

So many have predicted
The date of the apocalypse,

Where it's nostradamus,
The aztecs, or the mayans.

But thank goodness
They've all been wrong.