All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S02E06.1080p.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.

Narrator: a moving island
Appears in the south pacific.

Brittany:
This thing is really big.

It's the size
Of a small country.

Narrator: a city
Lost beneath the waves.

If this were atlantis,

Then it would be the greatest
Archeological discovery

In history.

Narrator: and could this
Be the tomb of genghis khan?

Mark: we just
Couldn't believe our eyes.

It was just extraordinary.

Narrator: baffling phenomena,
Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

February 2013.

An atlas v rocket
Carries

Nasa's state-of-the-art
Landsat 8 observation satellite

Into earth orbit.

11 months
After its deployment,

The orbiter captures
This weird image

High above the waters
Around an island

Off the coast
Of south korea,

Called sisan-ri.

This is strange.

You don't expect to look
At the ocean

And see a giant barcode
Staring back at you.

Roland:
When I first saw this image,
I was really confused.

I wondered, "What on earth
Could cause this pattern?"

Narrator: the peculiar patterns
Cover a vast area

Comparable to the size
Of san francisco.

When you realize the scale,

It's really hard to think
Of what it could be.

Is it something natural?
Is it something man-made?

Narrator:
There are few natural phenomena

That are capable
Of visibly affecting

Such large areas of sea.

Rob: I think the first thing
That you have to consider

Because it's in the ocean is,
Could it be marine life?

Now, we know
That you can see

Large groups of animals
In the ocean

From a satellite image.

Narrator: every year,
Billions of sardines

Spawn off the coast
Of south africa

Creating giant patterns

Which are visible
From high altitude.

The seas
Around south korea

Are home to much larger,
Stranger life forms.

This area is known to attract
The nomura jellyfish,

Which is
A giant jellyfish --

Six feet long,
Can way hundreds of pounds.

Narrator:
Nomura jellyfish can grown
To the size of a small car.

They gather
In such large numbers

That they've been known
To capsize 10-ton fishing boats.

Could the mystery pattern

Be a swarm of these
Giant gelatinous monsters?

Rob: we're used to looking
For patterns in nature.

And usually,
In the ocean,

They're swirling,
They're more fluid.

But this
Is not like that.

Seth: now, the problem
With this theory

Is marine life
Doesn't play along

With these
Neat geometric shapes

That we're seeing
In front of us.

Only leaves
One possibility --

It's man-made.

Narrator: if these mystery
Patterns are man-made,

Then what could they be?

Perhaps the volatile history
Of the region

Could provide a clue.

There's a lot of animosity

Between north korea
And south korea.

So they're still
In a state of war,

And they have
Border incidents.

Given the location,

Right there
Next to north and south korea,

You have to wonder,

Is this some sort
Of military operation?

Narrator: four years
Before the image was taken,

North korean forces allegedly
Torpedoed a south korean warship

And shelled
An inhabited island.

Could
The mysterious pattern

Be part of some kind
Of south korean defense system?

Mark: I would say
That this image

Is some sort
Of a shallow-water sonar array.

Normally,
They put those in deeper water.

But a passive sonar array
Might be used

Against diesel submarines
In shallow waters.

Narrator:
Sonar arrays use the fact

That sounds can travel
Vast distances through water

To identify
Possible threats.

They can be laid
In vast networks

Stretching for miles
Below the surface

Or towed in long lines.

Mark:
A passive listening array

Simply listens for all sorts
Of sounds in the ocean.

And it can pick up
Submarines, ships,

Even type torpedo
Being fired by the sound.

Narrator: defense analysts
Believe that south korea

Has acquired a new generation
Of sonar arrays.

But the shallow coastal waters
In the image

Would be
A highly unusual location

To deploy them.

Seth: the problem
With the listening device theory

Is you're dealing
With shallow waters

With lots of noise
And fishing boats.

The signal-to-noise ratio
Would be off,

And it wouldn't make
Much sense

To put surveillance
Equipment here.

Narrator:
The mystery pattern

Is not, it seems, an array
Of underwater listening posts.

But continuing tensions
In the region

Could still hold the key to
Identifying the mystery shapes.

A good thing to do
Is a look to the past, and say,

"What images from history

Have we seen
That look like this?"

And the first thing
That comes up --

Underwater mines.

Narrator:
During the korean war,

Sea mines accounted
For every single ship

Lost by the u.S. Navy.

Today, america takes
The ongoing danger of mines

So seriously that it conducts
Exercises of the korean coast

Specifically
To combat the threat.

To be effective,
Sea mines are often placed

In large formations

That make it really hard for
Ships to navigate through them.

And than kind comes to mind
When you look at these pictures.

Narrator: if the shapes
In the image are mine fields,

They're part of a network
Built on a scale

Unprecedented in
The history of human conflict.

But closer analysis
Does not support the idea.

Amanda: in my opinion,
These are not naval mines.

Naval mines
Would be far too small

To see
From a satellite image.

Narrator: due to the intense
Military interest in the region,

Analysts
Are able to call upon

A huge number of
Historical images of the area.

They reveal a clue to the riddle
Of the mysterious pattern.

The date of this image is key
To unlocking this mystery

Because when you look
At the same image in november

As opposed
To february or may,

You see a dramatic difference
In the pattern.

That's very common within
Agricultural environments.

Narrator: it turns out
That the shapes in these images

Have less to do with armageddon
And more to do with agriculture.

Seth: we spoke to people
Who visited the region.

They told us what it was --
It's seaweed farms.

When you think about it,

Of course
That makes perfect sense.

It's an orderly formation,
It's seasonal.

It answers
All of our questions.

Roland: farmers
Plant the seaweed in the water

Just like they would
Plant crops on land.

And they come back later
And harvest

It to sell to restaurants
And stores around the world.

Narrator: edible seaweed
Is a huge industry in asia.

It's a viable,
Innocent explanation

For the mystery pattern.

But is everything
As it seems?

There are various ways
Of camouflaging mines.

You can camouflage sea mines
To look like seaweed.

You can camouflage
Almost anything.

Narrator:
One thing is certain --

This will not be
The last mystery

In the waters
Around korea.

Satellites
Detect an usual pattern

In the remote
Mongolian steppes.

Nick: I've never seen
Anything on that scale

Anywhere in mongolia
That I've been.

Someone went to a lot
Of effort of make these things.

What for?

Narrator: the strange structure
Lies in the birthplace

Of world's
Most ruthless warlord --

Genghis khan.

Narrator: 2014 --

The worldview-2 satellite

Captures high-resolution images
Of the vast mongolian plains.

For archeologists like
Mark horton, they're gold dust.

Every time a new set of imagery
Becomes available

We scour it
For archeological information.

Narrator:
His inspection

Reveals
Something totally unexpected.

Mark: we just couldn't
Believe our eyes.

It was just extraordinary.

Narrator: at the end
Of an area of eastern mongolia

Known as the kherlen valley
Lies a strange array of shapes.

Nick: I've never seen
Anything on that scale

Anywhere in mongolia
That I've been.

Narrator: a central structure,
50 feet wide,

Appears surrounded by
Nearly 100 uniform pock marks.

Nick: I don't know whether
They're mounds or depressions.

Whatever they may be,
It doesn't look natural.

Someone went to a lot
Of effort of make these things.

What for?

Narrator:
The satellite image

Shows some kind of facility
Near the structure,

Which could offer a clue
To who might have created it.

Mongolia is riddled with mines.
Further down the valley,

There is one of the largest
Coal mines in the world.

Narrator:
Could the unusual marks

Be the spoil heaps
Of mining complex?

Upwards of $50 billion worth
Of resources

Are believed to exist
With mongolia.

We should call it
Mine-golia.

Narrator: but
The kherlen valley structures

Don't match the size and shape
Of modern mining works.

Alan:
They're not big enough.

They're not
In the right orientation.

It just doesn't make sense.

Clearly it's not
A modern mine.

Narrator: the location
Of the site in deepest mongolia

Provides the biggest clue
To the people

Who might have
Constructed it.

The kherlen valley
Is what they refer to

As the hearth
Of the mongols.

So this is very much
Their homeland.

Narrator: the mongol empire
Exploded into history

800 years ago

Led by merciless warlord
Genghis khan.

Nick: genghis khan

Was the greatest mongolian
Who ever lived.

It's as simple as that.

He was a superb warrior,
A great tactician,

And he put together
The largest land empire

The world has ever known.

Narrator:
The khan conquered

Over 12 million square miles
Of land,

Sweeping across
The russian steppes

At the head of
An unstoppable army of horsemen.

The key asset that
The mongols had was the horse.

The horse was the most
Extraordinary war machine.

Narrator: these warrior horsemen
Built only one true city --

Karakorum, the ritual capital
Of the mongol empire.

In general the mongols
Didn't really build cities.

They were a nomadic people

That relied
Upon horse and stock.

They lived in tents.

Altaweel: so that's
Why it's probably difficult

To find mongol settlements

Because nomadic populations tend
To leave few remains behind.

Narrator: if the weird pattern
Is not a mongol settlement,

Then what is it?

Archeologist
Erdene myagmar

Investigates the site
On the ground.

She discovers
That the central feature

In the satellite image
Is a vast collection of rocks.

Erdene:
This is amazing.

This is much bigger
Than we thought.

Narrator: ground level
Inspection reveals

The gory purpose of the
Surrounding formation of shapes.

We have bits of horse
Buried in these pits...

...Which almost certainly had
Been for sacrificial purposes.

Narrator: if horse bones
Really have been placed

In the pits
Around the mound,

They could only serve
One purpose.

Archeologist mark horton

Has seen this pattern
Many times before.

So we know there's
This huge central mound.

It's a burial site.

Narrator: the satellite has
Photographed an ancient tomb.

And the scale
Of the scared site

Suggests that a very
Powerful person is buried there.

The bigger mound,
The more important the person.

Mark: whoever
Was buried there

Would have been subject
To the most enormous ritual,

Most enormous expense.

Narrator: the location
Of such an enormous mound

In the center
Of the mongolian heartland

Raises the staggering
Possibility

That satellite images
Might have revealed

The hidden tomb
Of genghis khan.

Mark: finding the tomb
Of genghis khan

Would be the greatest
Archeological discoveries

Of our generation.

Nick: the potential for riches
In genghis khan's tomb

Are extraordinary.

You think of it -- it's
The world's largest land empire.

The riches
That must have been plundered

And the riches
That might be inside this tomb

Boggle the mind.

Narrator: but the very size
Of the mound

Contradicts
Khan's dying wish.

We know that genghis khan,
When he died,

He did not what his grave
To be known.

So most likely, his grave
Would have been a simple grave.

Narrator:
Khan went to great lengths

To ensure his burial site
Would not be found.

Nick: the people
Who build his tomb,

So the story goes,
Were all murdered.

And then just to make sure,
The soldiers who murdered them

Were also murdered

Because they didn't
Want any word to escape

Of the location
Of genghis khan's tomb.

So it's very, very unlikely
That you're going to find it.

It's an area half
The size of western europe.

You're literally
Looking for a pin.

Narrator: the idea that
This could be the tomb of khan

Takes another blow
When excavations in the region

Unearth bronze artifacts.

They suggest that the site
Was originally built

2,000 years
Before khan's time.

Mark: we think
That this particular monument

Belongs to
The late bronze age,

Which is maybe
About 1,000 to 1,500 b.C.

Narrator: but genghis khan
Was master of deception.

Could the burial mound
Be part of an elaborate ploy

To fool his enemies?

Altaweel:
It doesn't mean genghis khan
Is not buried there.

He could have repurposed,
Essentially,

These mounds
For his burial site.

It may have been
A way to trick people.

Narrator: until
The tomb is excavated,

No one can be sure
Who is buried there.

A satellite captures an image
Of a massive object

In the middle
Of an open ocean.

Whatever it is they found,
It wasn't there before.

It just appeared
Out of nowhere.

Narrator: the thing is
More than 200 miles long,

And it's moving.

This thing is really big.

It's the size
Of a small country.

We really need to know
What is going on here.

Narrator: august 1, 2012.

As a passenger jet travels
Above the pacific ocean

Almost 500 miles from
The new zealand coast,

The pilot spots something
In the water below him.

The pilot
Looks out the window

And sees what looks
Like a giant island

In the south pacific.

Narrator: the pacific
Holds around 25,000 islands.

The plane is nowhere
Near any of them.

This is supposed
To be open ocean.

There shouldn't be anything
Visible other than water

For hundreds of miles.

Narrator: investigators

Immediately consult scans
Of the area

Taken by
Nasa's terra satellite.

Recent images confirm
There suspicion.

Something has materialized
In the middle of nowhere.

Whatever it is they found
Was not there before.

It just appeared
Out of nowhere.

Where would it
Have come from?

What actually
Are we looking at?

Narrator: whatever the thing is,
However it appeared,

It's more
Than 200 miles long.

The scale of this
Is enormous.

This is the size
Of small country.

Narrator: when analysts
Compare the coordinates

Of the pilot's sighting
With the latest satellite image,

They discover
Something disturbing.

This object
Appears to be moving,

And islands don't move.

Narrator:
Investigators' calculations

Show the thing now spans
An area bigger than israel.

And the massive anomaly seems to
Be heading towards australasia.

Worst-case scenario

Is that this giant floating mass
Actually makes landfall.

And who knows what damage
It could cause if that happens.

We need to know where it
Came from and how it got there.

Narrator: all
The world's great oceans

Merge with the seas
Around antarctica.

Each year,
This frozen continent

Sheds more
Than 150 billion tons of ice,

Much of it floating north
Towards the pacific ocean.

We have learned that ice does
Indeed break off in huge chunks

Off of antarctica.

Back in march in 2002,
For example,

A chunk of ice
The size of rhode island

Broke off and actually
Floated out into the ocean.

Narrator:
Giant collapsed ice shelves

Have been spotted off
The coast of new zealand before.

But never one this big
Or this far north.

George: the water in that part
Of the south pacific,

Even though it might feel cold
To you and I,

Ice is not gonna survive
Very long there.

Narrator: sea temperature data
Of the area

Confirms
That the pacific enigma

Cannot be some kind
Of supersized iceberg.

There's just now way
That an ice island

Is gonna make it
That far north.

Narrator: further nasa images
Of the enigma

Reveal that not only
Is it moving,

It also appears
To be changing shape.

This discovery prompts another
Theory about its true nature.

One thing that it might be
Is an island of garbage.

In the pacific,
There's something known

As the great
Pacific garbage patch.

And it's a collection
Of our waste.

Narrator:
The great pacific garbage patch

Is actually
Two gigantic areas of debris

That cover thousands
Of square miles of ocean.

These godzilla-sized
Drifting refuse dumps are fed

By a giant rotating current
Called the north pacific gyre.

Rob: because of the way
The gyre works,

It's spinning

And basically pulling all
Of the trash into the middle.

So whenever you get
Into one of these gyres,

Nothing will get out.

Narrator: could the anomaly be
A massive morphing trash vortex?

Like the
Pacific garbage patch,

It constantly changes shape
And location.

But scientists
Are not convinced.

Rob: I've actually been
To investigate

The great
Pacific garbage patch.

Most of it
Are little pieces of plastic,

Little pieces of trash,
Floating under the ocean.

So it doesn't really match
What we're seeing in this image,

It's probably not that.

George: the pieces
Of the garbage in the patch --

They're way too small.

They wouldn't show up
On a satellite image.

Narrator: the anomaly moves
Relentlessly towards land.

The pressure to work out
What it is

And where it came from
Builds.

Like all geologic
Investigations,

It really comes down
To getting a sample to analyze.

Someone really needs to get
A piece of this material.

Narrator:
On august 9th,

A full week
After the initial sighting,

The new zealand navy
Dispatches a ship

To study
The strange phenomenon.

The ship goes
To investigate,

And what they find is something
That's 300 miles long

And 30 miles wide.

And the captain
Reports that it's

The strangest thing
He's ever seen.

It's a unique
And bizarre thing to witness,

And it looks like mud
Or some kind of dirt.

This skin,
This mass of rock,

Just floating on the surface
Of the water.

Narrator:
The concept of a giant mass
Of rocks moving across the ocean

Seems to defy
The laws of physics.

But the navy's examination
Of the sample

Proves that's
Exactly what it is.

The weird stones
Are pumice,

Type of
Light-weight rock formed

When undersea volcanos
Eject lava into the water.

When pumice is formed,
The volcanic eruption

Injects a lot of gas bubbles
Into the lava.

And they get trapped
Inside the rock.

It becomes buoyant
And floats to the surface.

Narrator:
The giant anomaly is, in fact,

Billions and billions
Of individual pumice stones

Floating across the ocean
Like a country-sized raft.

If there's enough pumice
All gathered in one spot,

It can look
Like a solid island.

But it's not.

Narrator: the final challenge
For investigators

Is identifying the source
Of the pumice island.

Turning again
To satellite data,

They come across this image
Taken above an undersea volcano

Known as
The havre seamount.

It clearly shows a plume of
Smoke moving to the northwest.

And below it, the birth
Of the pacific enigma...

...The biggest raft
In the world.

Brittany:
It's amazing that a volcano

More than 2,000 feet
Under the ocean

Could pump out enough rock
To cover a major american city.

And without
Satellite imagery,

We never
Would have seen it.

Narrator: a scientist
Analyzing satellite images

Of ancient marshlands

Spots signs
Of enormous structures

Buried beneath the mud.

The appear to be man-made,
But what are they?

And who made them?

Narrator: are they evidence
Of a lost biblical city

Or of something
Even bigger?

Is this truly
The site of atlantis?

Andrew:
If this were atlantis,

Then it would be the greatest
Archeological discovery

In history.

Narrator: 2003 --

A german researcher
Is using satellite images

To search for evidence
Of lost civilizations

Around the mediterranean.

As he scans
A wildlife preserve

On the southern
Spanish coast,

He spots what he believes
Are giant rings

Hidden beneath
The sandy marshes.

You have to focus,
But when you do,

You see what appears
To be concentric circles.

Narrator: the image
Comes to the attention

Of physicist and amateur
History rainer kuehne.

As he studies it
In more detail,

He notices what appear to be
Large rectangular structures

Near the center of the circles.

I saw two rectangles.

One was 250 meters
In length.

The other one
Was much larger.

Narrator: to find out
What is in the image,

A team of scientists heads
To the site to investigate.

Geoscientist dr. Philip reeder
Is one of them.

Part of the analysis
Of that image

Is what's called
Ground truthing.

So you actually go to that place
And you see what's there.

Narrator: the wildlife preserve
Is a national park,

Where excavation
Is prohibited.

To solve the problem,

Reeder turns to
A state-of-the-art technique

Called electro-resistivity
Tomography, or e.R.T.,

Shoots
Pulses of electricity

Into the ground
Beneath the earth's surface.

And then the materials
Then reflect

That pulse of electricity
Back up

To paint a picture
Of what's beneath the surface.

Narrator: the e.R.T.

Creates a kind
Of ghost image of the site.

The hard data seems to confirm
Kuehne's hunch.

A series
Of massive circular structures

Appear to be buried just inland
From the spanish coast.

The fact that the analysis
Of the image

Indicated
That there was something

Beneath the surface
Is truly exciting.

And it makes you want
To determine exactly

What is down there.

Narrator:
If circular structures

Are concealed
Under this marshy coastline,

Then who built them?

For some investigators,
The first clue

Comes from the writings
Of the greek philosopher plato.

When we see
The concentric circles,

We're reminded
Of plato's account

Of the lost city
Of atlantis.

For he describes it
As having circular harbors.

Philip: based on
Plato's interpretation,

Could this be the location
Of where atlantis existed?

Narrator: the problem
With the atlantis theory

Is that very few experts

Believe the legendary city
Existed at all.

Rainer: I think
It was not a real place

Because plato
Described atlantis

As larger than africa
And asia together.

Narrator:
Countless researches

Have attempted
To locate atlantis.

Many now believe that plato
May have simply made it up.

The thing about plato
Is you have to realize

He got all his information
Secondhand.

Do we really
Take him seriously?

Philip: I don't know
If atlantis is real

Or just a figment
Of plato's imagination.

But I feel that
There is something there.

Narrator: investigators must
Dig deeper into the past

For clues
To who built the structures.

One comes from the bible.

In it's pages,
They discover references

To a lost city
Famed for it's riches

Called tarshish.

Andrew:
According to the bible,

Tarshish is
A legendary trading center

That provides
Gold and silver, exotic spices

All across
The mediterranean.

Narrator:
Many of the bible's clues

To the location of the city
Of tarshish are vague.

But intriguingly,

At least one ties it to the site
In the satellite image.

According to the scriptures,
Tarshish lay beyond

The pillars of hercules,

Which was an old reference
And common reference

To the rock of gibraltar.

Andrew:
The straits of gibraltar

Connect spain
With north africa,

And it's just beyond gibraltar
That we find our image.

Narrator:
The location of the image
And the fabled city matches up.

Are circular structures
In the image

Just a small section
Of a vanished biblical city?

Dr. Reeder and his team
Search the site

For physical evidence
To back up this theory.

The initial results
Are disappointing.

Philip: the pottery
That was found in the area,

Once it was dated,

Indicated that it was
From a much newer time

Than you would expect
For tarshish

As it's mentioned
In the bible.

Narrator: the discovery
Of the newer pottery fragments

Suggest the site isn't as old
As investigators thought.

But the bible offers
A possible explanation

For this discrepancy
In the book of isaiah.

James: "Overflow thy land
As a river,

Oh, daughter of tarshish.

There will be
A girdle no more."

And what that clearly means
Is that a flood is coming,

And there will be nothing
To contain the flood

And that the city
Will destroyed by a flood.

Narrator: did
A giant biblical flood

Cover the site depositing
A layer of new material

On top of the treasures
Of tarshish?

Evidence from the site seems
To lend weight to the theory.

Drilling holes
Into the doñana plain

Indicated that there was
A layer of sand

Beneath the landscape there.

And this layer of sand

Could indicate
That there was a tsunami.

Andrew: what would that do
To any archeological evidence?

It would wipe it out.

Narrator:
Could an underwater volcano
Have created a massive tsunami

That destroyed
The legendary city of tarshish

And buried its riches?

And could tarshish and atlantis
Be one in the same?

What's frustrating for me
Is that there's three things

That tie this site
To atlantis.

It's just beyond
The pillars of hercules,

There's circular harbors,

And it was destroyed
By a cataclysm.

But yet
We can't excavate.

I can't think
Of another site

That more perfectly fits
The description of atlantis.

The problem is
We'll never know.

Narrator:
A huge slash scars the ground

Of the world's
Biggest sand desert.

It looks like something
Has crashed into the ground

At high velocity.

Narrator: just what is hiding
Under the sands of the sahara?

We have something
In the middle of nowhere,

And we don't know
What it is.

Nobody knows what's going on
In this area of the sahara.

Narrator:
January 20, 2005.

A quickbird observation
Satellite

Monitoring the remote saharan
Region of ouargla in algeria

Captures
An intriguing image.

When you look at
Satellite images of the sahara,

It's vast, vast, vast expanses
Of almost nothingness.

Here you see something --
Something different,

Something unusual --
Peeking out of the sand.

It doesn't make
Much sense.

Narrator: investigating
The mystery shape on the ground

Is not an option.

Algeria's long civil war
Official ended in 2002.

But ongoing skirmishes
Make large areas

Of the country's desert interior
A no-go zone.

George: as a country, algeria
Has been in a state of lockdown

For many years.

We don't really know a lot
About what's going on in there.

Because of that,
We rely on satellite imagery

To see and notice
Any changes that happen there.

Narrator: the first clue
To the mystery shape's origin

Comes from the shapes
Of the shadows around it.

But close analysis
Of the image

Suggests this is
No freak of nature.

George:
What is this thing?

The geometry of it

Certainly does not look like
Anything that naturally occurs.

It's certainly man-made.

I mean, you don't see anything
Like that in nature.

I don't know what it is.

Narrator: when investigators
Study the mysterious shape,

They notice lines stretching out
To either side of it.

The prompts some to suggest
That it could be

The wing and fuselage
Of a plane buried in the dunes.

The shape of what's going on
Sort of

Looks like
What you would imagine

If a plane
Were to hit the sand

And then slide
Down a sand dune.

Looks like something
Has crashed into the ground

At high velocity.

Narrator: historical records of
Aviation accidents in the region

Offer some support
For the crash theory.

In 2014, there were two plane
Crashes in this desert,

Giving some plausibility
To the idea that, yes,

Planes do crash here,
And maybe this was one of those.

Narrator: but there are
Crucial differences

Between this image and those
Of known desert crash sites.

Once an object like a plane
Hits the ground,

It shatters
In the forward direction

And opens up like a fan

And goes splattering out
Into all directions forward.

We don't see that here
At all.

Narrator: investigators
Enhance the image

To search for more clues
To the shape's origin.

They discover
That the wing-shaped outline

Is just one side
Of a rectangle

That surrounds
The giant tube.

You can see a faint image
Of a rectangle

Around
This main shape here,

Suggesting
That humans built it.

But what's it for?

It's in the middle
Of the desert.

Narrator: the people who live in
This region of the sahara

Are nomadic tribes
Like the tuareg and bedouin.

They live in tents

Or semi-permanent
Circular dwellings

That look nothing
Like the mystery shape.

But in recent times,

Other peoples have occupied
This remote area of the desert.

The french tested
Their nuclear weapons

In this part of the desert

In the '60s and '70s.

Could their nuclear testing

Be connected to the images
That we see today?

Narrator: in 1960,

France became the fourth
Global nuclear power

When it detonated
A 70-kiloton bomb

In the algerian sahara.

It was the first of a long
Series of massive explosions

That rocked the desert
Over the next six years.

I believe they had
13 or 14 tests

That were underground,

One of which was
A big, big problem

Because
It leaked radiation.

And it was responsible
For radiating a whole area

And hurting
A bunch of people.

Narrator: before conducting
Their tests,

The french built two known
Test bases in the sahara.

But none
Of the acknowledged test sites

Are close to the site
Photographed by quickbird.

The nearest
French nuclear tests

Were miles and miles
And miles away.

And despite the shape
Of this formation,

There's no evidence there's
Actually any buildings there.

Pavelec:
Probably not base of any sort.

And besides that,
Above-ground nuclear testing

Would have obliterated any signs
Of anything in this area.

Narrator:
The nature of the 2005 image

Remains a mystery
For several years.

But in 2011,

New images of the region
Shed light on the mystery.

Fast-forward
A few years,

And we find
Another satellite image

That looks like quite different
From the original.

You can see that there's
Some type of buried pipeline

Or demarcation zone.

Narrator: the new images

Show what appears to be
A rectangular compound

Rising out of the sands.

George: the evidence
In this image suggests

That there is an oil or gas
Exploration site

That is now fully completed
In that exact same spot.

Narrator: the new data makes it
Clear that the 2005 shape

Was the foundation
For a new drilling site

To extract oil
From deep below the sahara.

It's now an oil rig,

And that makes it
Kind of obvious

What we were seeing before.

We were seeing
A piece of a pipeline

Jutting out of the sand
Surrounded by what is probably

A protective fence
Separating the area.

Narrator: today,

This rig is just one
Of dozens that have appeared

In this hostile corner
Of the sahara desert.

George: when you think
Of the sahara desert,

The first thing
That comes to mind

Is an endless expanse of sand
And really nothing else.

But in reality, there are
A lot resources in there

That are buried under that sand
That have a lot of value.

Narrator:
The original image

Was a kind
Of snapshot in time --

The instant when one of the most
Desolate regions on earth

Was about to be conquered
By man.

As a brutal civil war
Tears syria apart,

United nations satellites

Keep watch for signs
Of crimes against humanity.

Isis is taking control
Of the region

With just enormous suffering
By the local population.

Narrator: in the heart
Of the conflict zone,

Isis destroys
An ancient site,

A temple they believe
Is dedicated to the devil.

What is an ancient temple
Dedicated to satan

Doing in the middle
Of the syrian desert?

Narrator: may 2015 --

Across central syria,

Government forces
Are in retreat.

The coalition of terror
Known as islamic state

Seizes the ancient city
Of palmyra.

Katharyn: palmyra has always
Been strategically important.

It has attracted
The roman army.

It attracted mark antony.

It attracted
The assad regime

That encamped there
For a long time.

And now
It's attracted isis.

Narrator: the u.N.
Puts the world heritage site

Under
Satellite surveillance.

Susan: when we first heard
That isis had taken palmyra,

We were very concerned
That we were going to see

The complete destruction
Of the site

Because we had seen
That in other areas

That isis controlled.

Narrator: the focus
Of isis' attention

Is the 2,000-year-old
Temple of baal.

This is a magnificent temple
Set in a huge sanctuary.

It's about twice
The size of vatican square.

Narrator: the very existence
Of the structure

Is an affront
To their beliefs.

With respect to isis, the temple
Of baal presents a real problem,

A double whammy,
If you will.

Firstly, it's a false god
According to islam,

So that's not good.

But even more importantly,

It represents beelzebub,
Who is the devil,

Who is completely the enemy
Of their one true god.

Narrator: centuries ago,
Both muslims and christians

Believed
Baal was a fallen angel,

Expelled from heaven
Along with an army of demons --

Satan personified.

For isis,
A temple to baal

Is like a monument
To the antichrist.

In september 2015,

Satellite imagery confirms
The u.N.'s worst fears...

...Isis has wiped
The temple of baal

Of the face of the earth.

For them, it was
A temple to satan.

But to the ancient peoples
Who lived in this city,

Baal was no devil.

He was their god of gods,
Possessing many faces,

One of which had power
Over storms and agriculture.

His massive temple complex
In the heart of palmyra

Was a symbol
Of the wealth and power

Of this desert city
Perched on the border

Between the roman
And persian empires.

Palmyra was a trading hub
At the crossroads

Of ancient civilizations,
And it just kept growing.

Narrator: now islamic state's
Act of destruction

Has focused world attention
On the city.

And the wealth
Of satellite images

Offers archeologists
Investigating its history

A new perspective.

Satellite imagery
Gives us a bird's-eye view

Of human settlements

And their broader
Environmental realities.

You can see things
You can only spot from space.

Hendrik:
In the case of palmyra,

It enabled us
To understand better

Its relationship
To the landscape

In ways that would have been
Impossible from the ground.

Narrator: archeologists
Have an opportunity

To answer a fundamental question
About ancient palmyra.

How did a city as large
As palmyra survive in the desert

2,000 years ago?

Narrator: the desert city
Must have faced problems

With water and food.

If you have
A population to feed,

You're going to need
To create that food.

And to support
Your agricultural needs,

You're going to have
To have an irrigation system

That will supply water
To create the crops.

Narrator: palmyra
Was fed by a water source

Called the efqa spring

That was active
Until the 1990s.

The but the spring
Could never have sustained

A population
Of 100,000 people.

We know palmyra
Was a relatively large town

In the middle
Of the desert.

It's hard to imagine
A spring like that

Could actually sustain
Such a large population.

If the efqa spring
Could not supply water

To such a large city,

Where else was
It getting its water?

Narrator: satellite imagery
Can provide a clue

To how the city
Got the water it needed

To grow into the vast metropolis
That built the temple of baal.

Altaweel:
Satellite images often enable
Us to see the larger landscape.

So in the areas of palmyra,
We don't just see pure desert.

We also see arid steppes.

Narrator: arid steppe
Is a kind of rocky grassland --

A halfway house
Between desert and prairie.

Altaweel: these arid steppes
Do have rainfall

At some times
Of the year.

They often have little
River valleys,

These wadis
That we call them.

Narrator: wadis are channels
Resembling riverbeds

Carved into the ground
By rain.

In these deserts,
Rain is rare.

But when it comes,
It's sudden and it's heavy.

The word "Wadi" simply
Means a valley or a stream.

These are quite dramatic
In areas with very high

But very short-term
Concentrations of rainfall.

So rain
Over a week or so

Might strip down
Steep-sided valleys

And then just flow off
Into aquifers

Deep below the landscape.

Narrator: images
From the landsat satellite show

A huge network of wadis to
The north and west of the city.

But for palmyra
To expand to a size

That could have supported
The temple of baal,

It would have needed a system
To bring water in from afar.

Further satellite images
Reveal a complex system

Of water channels and
Underground canals called qanats

Directed toward the city

From almost 20 miles
Across the desert.

What we're seeing
Are access holes

Of features
That are called qanats.

Qanats are
Underground irrigation features

That transport water
From higher elevation

To lower elevation.

Qanats are quite extensive
In the near east.

They are found
In places like turkey, in iran,

Mountainous regions with valleys
That need irrigation.

Narrator: in the years prior
To the temple's destruction,

Archeologists
Digging palmyra

Discovered the remains of
The water distribution system.

There is --
Or at least there was --

A magnificent
Marble water tank

That was connected
To a complex series

Of underground canals.

There's also evidence

Of a sophisticated series
Of water pipes.

Narrator:
This ingenious engineering

Was ultimately enabled
The people of palmyra

To build one
Of the wonders of the world.

The secret
Of palmyra's success

In terms
Of water management

Was long-term engineering,
Development over centuries,

And for that you need
The political will,

The military peace,

And the economic background
That could really exploit this.

Andrew:
If anyone in ancient palmyra
Ever asked the question,

"What did
The romans do for us?"

The answer was
In the water they drank

And the food they ate.

Narrator:
The city reached its peak

In the third century a.D.

When it even challenged
The might of the roman empire

Before the romans
Brought it down.

After that, the golden city
Slowly crumbled into decline.

Today, the temple of baal
Is gone forever.

Any army of killers
Stands guard

Over the site
Of its destruction.

But the evidence
Of their crimes

Can still be seen
From space.