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NARRATOR: The apocalypse...
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..when an entire people...
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..are destroyed.
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Or destroy themselves.
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The end of civilisation.
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For us today, as we go about our daily lives,
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it's barely something we consider.
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We're so sure it couldn't happen to us.
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But for some civilisations...
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..it already has.
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Since the dawn of human history...
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..we have told each other stories about the sea.
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About its power over life...
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..and death.
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In the 'Torah',
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the 'Qur'an',
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and the 'Bible'
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is the story of the great flood.
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When Noah built an ark,
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as the sea flooded the land, killing everything in it's path.
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Societies all across the world are replete with examples of stories
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of lands that have been lost and covered over.
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People have done something wrong, and this is God's punishment.
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Or the story of the lost city of Atlantis
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told by the great Greek philosopher, Plato.
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The utopian island that people have devoted their lives to finding
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beneath the waves.
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Right across the world in almost every culture
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there is a flood story.
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A story where water can both cleanse and destroy.
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Across our planet are myths and legends
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of the sea rising up and wiping out civilisations.
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But what if these stories aren't just stories?
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Scientists now claim to found a lost world
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at the bottom of the sea...
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..called Doggerland.
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It existed about 10,000 years ago,
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and was a place that was almost perfect
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for its stone age inhabitants.
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It's a rich place, it has wetlands.
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Where you had wild fowl in abundance,
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where fish in the rivers were migrating,
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where you had all the animals and plants that you'd want,
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and also all the resources.
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Flints, and wood, and everything else was out there.
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Doggerland's temperate climate
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would have made this a beautiful and abundant region
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for its hunter-gatherer population.
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Plants and animals that we recognise today.
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Hazel, ash, pine, large game.
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Horse, bison, deer, antelope and elk.
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Doggerland sounds like paradise.
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But this world no longer exists, so we must as the question,
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what exactly happened to Doggerland?
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Our search begins in the north sea.
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This sea was created at the end of the ice age,
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about 15,000 years ago.
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As the ice melted and receded,
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it created the North Sea between Scandinavia,
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northern Europe, and the UK.
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Its power and hidden depths have captured the human imagination...
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..and it has also, for thousands of years,
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provided humans with a staple food.
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Fish.
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From the east coast of Great Britain,
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the British have for generations sailed from the ports of Norfolk,
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100 miles north east of London, to fish the North Sea.
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And in September 1931,
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a vessel was trawling...
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..near the Leeman & Ower Banks.
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It was captained by pilgrim, E Lockwood.
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About 25 miles out he lowers his nets,
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and he trawls the ocean for fish.
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As he lifted them up into the boat,
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among the sort of shining fish
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is a massive what they call peat log.
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It's a big like, boulder,
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not of rock, but of mud.
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He and his men start breaking it up with shovels.
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As he puts his shovel in it goes dink,
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and he's like, "That's really weird, that sounds a bit like metal."
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So he digs through it, he uncovers a sort of black shape,
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and on it is a load of ridges cut into it,
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so it's sort of almost like a barb,
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and it's got little grooves at this end.
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So presumably this is some sort of like, you know, harpoon,
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or hook or something.
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He prised away and found a lovely bone antler harpoon point.
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Intrigued, you don't find these everyday in the North Sea,
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he brought it home.
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Lockwood had found an implement
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made out of the bone from a deer's antler.
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About 15cm in length,
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and with a serrated side
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so it could be used to harpoon prey.
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But how on earth did it get there?
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Because it's in a load of mud which has been under the ocean.
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What was the harpoon doing in the middle of the North Sea?
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Who made it and when?
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Our story now moves to Cambridge University.
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Here, in 1932, works a young, ambitious archaeologist
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called Grahame Clark.
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Clark would go on to become one of Europe's
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greatest archaeologists,
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seen here winning the Erasmus prize in 1990.
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Grahame Clark who's a very tenacious scholar,
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he wants to make a name for himself
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and he's decided to study a whole new area
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that hasn't really been looked in to before,
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which is the Mesolithic, the middle stone age.
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Clark was fascinated by the period
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from about 10,000 to 4,000 years from today.
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Clark believed the harpoon from Lockwood
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was similar to those used by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers
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in Scandinavia known as the Maglemose.
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But this creates a greater mystery.
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Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were known to be able to fish,
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and had fishing boats.
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But what were they doing harpooning fish so far out to sea?
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The first step for Clark
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was to identify that the harpoon was indeed Mesolithic.
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Today, scientists rely on a process called radiocarbon dating.
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This involves measuring the decay of the isotope carbon-14...
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..and comparing that to levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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But without this complex, modern technique...
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..how would Clark date the harpoon?
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To try and solve this,
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Clark turned to his friends and botanists,
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Harry and Margaret Godwin.
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The Godwins were a husband and wife couple,
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and they were from the University of Cambridge,
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same time as Grahame Clark, and they specialised in palynology,
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the study of plants and their remains,
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things like pollen.
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Harry and Margaret Godwin were working on a technique
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that relied not on the decay of carbon isotopes to date objects,
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but instead used ancient pollen.
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The Godwins might not be able to date the harpoon itself...
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..but they could date the peat it was found in
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through pollen analysis.
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They specifically went out
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and trawled up another block of peat,
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very, very close to where they'd found the harpoon,
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and actually analysed it.
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What the Godwins found
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would change the way the seabed of the North Sea is seen forever.
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It was showing things that we have today.
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Pine trees, alder, as well as things like oak.
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You know, this wasn't a block of mushy mess
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that had come from an estuary,
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this was a part of a landscape that was living and breathing
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with all the things that we would expect on dry land today.
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These were plants which were nowhere near the sea,
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so what on earth are they doing underneath the North Sea?
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What the Godwins now had to do was work out what time period
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these types of tree and pollen were from.
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Working with other scientists in Scandinavia and Germany,
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they had built up a list of timezones, or chronozones...
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..based on pollen found in prehistoric peat.
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The results are as Clark predicted.
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The pollen in the peat near where the harpoon was found
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dates to the Mesolithic age.
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This proves the harpoon is most likely from that period.
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But what Clark still can't answer
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is how did the harpoon get to the middle of the North Sea?
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Could the peat, pollen and harpoon
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really have been washed out that far into the North Sea?
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Clark created a map showing pollen discoveries across northern Europe.
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And he wondered if there wasn't a landmass...
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..now hidden under the North Sea...
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..that had once linked all of northern Europe.
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A land that could have been inhabited...
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..by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
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As it turned out...
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..Clark wasn't the first to come up with this unusual idea.
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In the early years of the 20th century...
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..the botanist Clement Reid,
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used to walk the beaches and sand dunes of Norfolk,
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in England.
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As a botanist, he was fascinated by the plants and trees of today,
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and where they had originally come from.
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Clement Reid became obsessed with a thing called Noah's Woods.
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What it is, is when the tide goes out in some locations,
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you can see tree stumps, which is a bit odd.
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Loads of people at the time called this phenomena Noah's Woods,
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'cause they thought they were leftovers,
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remnants of Noah's flood.
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But Clement Reid didn't think that was possible,
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so Clement Reid got the bit between his teeth
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and decided to investigate.
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Reid dug beneath the coastlines, and into the depths of the sea,
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to see what he could find.
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He asked the question, "Were there forests and animals
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"living in these areas thousands of years ago?"
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From his finds, Reid came up with a theory
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he published in a book called 'Submerged Forests'.
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It suggested that somewhere under the North Sea was a landmass.
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A landmass that could support forests and animals.
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Reid suggested there was an alluvial plane
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connecting all of northern Europe,
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with its heart at somewhere called Dogger Bank.
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Clement Reid writes this amazing book
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called 'Submerged Forest',
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where he theorises a massive landmass
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linking the UK to the rest of Europe.
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He had so little evidence for it though,
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nevertheless, this was a book that was really groundbreaking.
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His main issue was that nobody really cared,
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nobody was really obsessed with this subject as much as he was.
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Reid's was a pretty unusual idea,
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without much evidence to support it at the time
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and his work was derided by the scientific community.
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Reid's work was seen as nothing more than science fiction,
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and was all but forgotten until 80 years later.
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In the 1990s, pioneering British archaeologist,
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professor Bryony Coles became intrigued about Reid's work.
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At the time of Professor Coles' work,
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oil exploration in the North Sea was developing rapidly,
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allowing unexpected avenues of research.
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There was the geological surveys
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coming from things like the North Sea oil explorations
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of that period.
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I began to draw together the geological
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and the archaeological evidence
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that this was a terrain that had its contours, its river systems,
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that these were things that we were totally unaware of.
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Professor Coles used numerous maps,
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including the ones made by Grahame Clark in the 1930s,
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to estimate how the ice caps melted after the ice age,
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and what land masses that might have created.
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I realised quite soon that we needed to have maps
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showing the changes at intervals,
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because things were changing
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and it might take thousands of years to change.
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Coles work suggested that in the region where the harpoon was found
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there might actually have been dry land.
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But would anyone accept Professor Coles' idea?
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When I was doing the mapping
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I realised that it would be much easier not to have to say
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the land that used to be under the North Sea every time,
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but to give it a name of its own.
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To get across the idea that it had been not just a drowned landscape,
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but a living, live, dry land landscape.
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Based on the name of the fishing area, Dogger Bank,
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Coles called this new land mass Doggerland.
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And that's really important,
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because as soon as somewhere has a name,
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it becomes a place
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not just in reality,
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but also in the imagination.
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And Coles went on.
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She posited the theory that not only was Reid correct
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about the existence of a lost land mass in the North Sea,
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but it meant something even more unexpected.
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It was a huge area with rivers, with bays and inlets,
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with areas of high ground, hills if you will,
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and low lying areas that are now entirely submerged,
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but then would have been absolutely
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00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,000
at the heart of the post-glacial landscape of northern Europe.
260
00:17:32,039 --> 00:17:34,240
So if this was a landscape,
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00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:39,279
was there evidence to suggest that it had one day supported human life?
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00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:55,000
Across the North Sea, in present day Holland,
263
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a few hundred miles for Norfolk, is the beach of Zandmotor.
264
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,279
There, beach combers hunt for hidden treasure.
265
00:18:07,279 --> 00:18:11,240
Coins, bones, a message in a bottle...
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00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,240
..anything unusual gifted by the sea.
267
00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,000
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
268
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,480
The beach combers coordinate their finds with Dr Luc Amkreutz...
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00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,000
..a specialist archaeologist from the nearby University of Leiden.
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00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,000
They work with Dr Amkreutz
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00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,519
because Zandmotor beach isn't like any other beach.
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00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,960
I'm sitting here on Zandmotor beach, but it's not an ordinary beach,
273
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000
it's a beach created by man in 2011,
274
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,279
by spraying a whole lot of sand from the North Sea
275
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:47,960
on this beach plane.
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00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,039
It as constructed out of materials dredged up from the sea floor,
277
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11km off shore, and dumped on the existing beach.
278
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,480
Material dredged from an area of the sea
279
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,720
close to where Lockwood found the harpoon.
280
00:19:04,759 --> 00:19:06,759
What was so special when they created this beach,
281
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,720
is that all kinds of objects came to the surface.
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Wow.
283
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:15,519
They would eat bones of animals living in,
284
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:17,279
for instance, the ice ages.
285
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,000
Like woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.
286
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,039
Most astonishing of all is that it wasn't just the animal remains,
287
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,000
but amongst these there were also
288
00:19:27,039 --> 00:19:29,480
hundreds of artefacts made by humans,
289
00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,720
and even by neanderthals, which is of course really strange,
290
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,480
given that they come from the North Sea.
291
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:40,480
Over the years,
292
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,720
beach combers have found more than 500 ancient artefacts,
293
00:19:44,759 --> 00:19:48,480
including tools, bone fish hooks...
294
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:54,240
..and even human remains that they say are thousands of years old.
295
00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:57,720
Zandmotor, and certain other areas,
296
00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:03,720
really brought home the enormity of this huge archaeological archive
297
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:05,720
in front of our coast.
298
00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,519
We have this whole range of organic artefacts that is preserved,
299
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,240
and is actually basically as if you're looking at a complete
300
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,240
carpenter's tool set.
301
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,759
And it really brought home the idea of this is a whole world,
302
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,000
a whole people landscape that was there, which is now lost.
303
00:20:21,039 --> 00:20:22,720
The more touching finds from Doggerland
304
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,720
are not just the artefacts, but the human remains themselves.
305
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,720
And one story I find particularly moving, is this lower mandible,
306
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:35,759
this person was about 40 years when he or she died.
307
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,480
You're not just looking at the objects,
308
00:20:37,519 --> 00:20:39,240
or you're not just looking at the foot remains,
309
00:20:39,279 --> 00:20:42,720
but you're looking at the actual people themselves.
310
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,759
And Luc's group are not the only ones finding things on the beach.
311
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,000
Since the 1970s, hundreds of amateur archaeologists
312
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,240
have made findings on the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany,
313
00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,480
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the UK.
314
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,720
Under the North Sea there are signs of an entire living world...
315
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:12,720
..of not just animals, but also people.
316
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,720
But the question remains...
317
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,240
..who were they and what happened to them?
318
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,000
In 2005, a European team of scientists
319
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,720
centred at the University of Bradford in the UK...
320
00:21:34,279 --> 00:21:38,240
..wanted to see exactly what Doggerland might have looked like.
321
00:21:39,279 --> 00:21:42,240
But they knew it wasn't going to be easy.
322
00:21:42,759 --> 00:21:45,039
The area obviously was very inaccessible.
323
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,240
It's obviously underwater between,
324
00:21:47,279 --> 00:21:49,759
you know, five and 30m in some places,
325
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,240
down to 60, 80 in others.
326
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,240
Obviously that water is very cold, so you can't go diving easily in it.
327
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,960
It's very powerful currents in some places.
328
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:00,000
The other thing, of course,
329
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,720
was the technologies, and the techniques that were used
330
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,480
hadn't been developed in some cases, or were in their early infancy.
331
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:11,720
There was no way that archaeologists could excavate under the sea bed
332
00:22:11,759 --> 00:22:14,000
in these dangerous waters.
333
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,720
It was beyond their technical abilities
334
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:20,480
and would have cost hundreds of millions of Euros.
335
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:22,240
It looked like Doggerland
336
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,480
would remain forever a subject of speculation and mystery,
337
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,720
unproven by scientific fact.
338
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:39,240
But at a yearly symposium, one of the PhD students at the time,
339
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,480
Simon Fitch, had an unusual idea.
340
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,000
As I was sitting there in the lecture hall,
341
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,480
I realised that actually I'd worked on material,
342
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,960
you know, seismic data which came from that area,
343
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,720
and that data possibly could be re-tasked,
344
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:57,240
it could actually be used to look under the water,
345
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,240
to see the landscape.
346
00:22:59,759 --> 00:23:01,480
In the early 2000s,
347
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,000
the North Sea was going through a renewed oil and gas boom.
348
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,000
Billions of Euros' worth of oil and gas were being discovered
349
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,000
using new technology.
350
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,480
If the Bradford team could access the data from that technology,
351
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,519
then maybe they could see under the seabed,
352
00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:25,240
and whether there was evidence that Doggerland did once exist.
353
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,240
The Bradford team approached oil and gas exploration companies
354
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,000
to access their specialist mapping data.
355
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,720
Surveyors for oil and gas exploration were going up and down,
356
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,759
surveying the North Sea with a fine-toothed comb,
357
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:58,000
to pull together a series of contour maps of the sea floor.
358
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,240
This was a huge swathe of land,
359
00:24:01,279 --> 00:24:04,000
tens of thousands of square kilometres.
360
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:09,720
What the Bradford team wanted in particular
361
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,720
was the data for 3D seismic maps.
362
00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:17,240
These are created by specialist ships
363
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,240
dragging thousands of listening devices
364
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,000
called hydrophones along the surface of the sea.
365
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,240
They listen to sound waves
366
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,519
bouncing off whatever lies beneath the seabed.
367
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,000
The resulting data shows where, hidden under the seabed,
368
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,720
there may be deposits of oil or gas to drill for.
369
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:45,720
Seismic mapping is a really good way to do a quick analysis
370
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,240
of a large amount of submerged landscape.
371
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:53,720
Mapping the sea bed in the same way as we see inside a stomach
372
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,720
when we're doing sonograms, for instance,
373
00:24:56,759 --> 00:25:01,000
and you use the sonar pulses, and you get a little echo back,
374
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,000
and you get the shape appearing on the screen.
375
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,480
But would this help the Bradford team?
376
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,240
Could the data help build a picture of a land
377
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:13,480
now hidden under the sea bed?
378
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,480
Having waited some months
379
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,720
the team finally got the data for the Doggerland area.
380
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,279
They inputted it into a computer...
381
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,240
..they waited for the first seismic maps.
382
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,240
So we plugged that in, and then put it into the computer,
383
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,000
and up popped this remarkable image.
384
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,519
We could actually see a river which was alive and vibrant
385
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,279
when the Mesolithic people were wandering round
386
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,000
on top of Dogger Bank.
387
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,519
It was a phenomenal almost like lunar landing type of moment.
388
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,240
You know, you felt you were seeing something
389
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:57,720
which no one had ever seen before.
390
00:25:57,759 --> 00:25:59,480
I think that was when all the jaws dropped,
391
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,000
and we realised the implications of what we were looking at,
392
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,279
and was providing a doorway into a lost world,
393
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,720
it was just a phenomenal realisation
394
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,480
that all those questions the people had had before us
395
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,240
could be answered.
396
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,279
It was just as Bryony Coles and Clement Reid had suggested.
397
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:24,519
A hidden world of rivers, lagoons, and wetlands.
398
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,720
We could map features in the landscape.
399
00:26:27,759 --> 00:26:32,720
We've seen rivers, we've seen lakes, we've seen little hills,
400
00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:36,480
we've seen everything in a landscape you'd expect in a normal country,
401
00:26:36,519 --> 00:26:39,000
except this is under the sea and it's preserved,
402
00:26:39,039 --> 00:26:42,000
and it's caches of material and archaeology sitting out there
403
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,720
waiting for us to go and find it.
404
00:26:45,759 --> 00:26:50,240
The Bradford team had seen Doggerland for the first time...
405
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,720
..but the mapping still didn't answer the biggest question.
406
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,480
What happened to the peoples who lived there?
407
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,960
To understand that scientists had to investigate
408
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,480
how the people might have lived.
409
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,039
Human evolution is heavily influenced
410
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,480
by geography and climate.
411
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,480
So the first thing to establish
412
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,519
is roughly what kind of climate Doggerland would have had.
413
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,519
This is done by looking at the position of Doggerland
414
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,240
geographically at the time.
415
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:38,000
We know that immediately after the end of the last ice age
416
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,000
it was frozen, it was like the Siberian tundra,
417
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,720
but then very rapidly started to warm, to thaw out,
418
00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:50,000
and that enabled new species to start to colonise this land.
419
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,240
Doggerland would have grown into a landscape
420
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,279
that we would recognise now.
421
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,720
The winters were shorter and less harsh,
422
00:27:59,759 --> 00:28:02,000
and the summers were longer and warmer.
423
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:07,240
And plants start to colonise this land, trees start to grow.
424
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,720
A lot of the species that we're familiar with now,
425
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,480
so hazel, ash, oak, willow.
426
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,720
Animals start to colonise, because they're following the food.
427
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,720
So you get herds of horse, and bison, and elk.
428
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,240
But the question remained,
429
00:28:25,279 --> 00:28:28,039
could Doggerland support human populations?
430
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,000
And if so, what would those people have been like?
431
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,720
A clue comes from Yorkshire in northern England.
432
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,480
In 1948, Grahame Clark,
433
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,720
the archaeologist who had dated the harpoon
434
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:52,000
from the North Sea,
435
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,519
was told of a discovery of flint and bone
436
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,759
at a place called Star Carr.
437
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,720
10,000 years ago it was on the edge of a massive paleolake.
438
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,759
Because of the nature of this landscape,
439
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,720
and the waterlogging in the modern farm land,
440
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:14,240
it means that there's been an incredible level of preservation
441
00:29:14,279 --> 00:29:15,519
at Star Carr.
442
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,720
For the next three years, Clark led the dig at Star Carr,
443
00:29:20,759 --> 00:29:22,720
and his team uncovered one of the best
444
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,480
Mesolithic settlements in Europe.
445
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,000
So we have organic remains, animal bones.
446
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:34,720
There are harpoon points
447
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,240
beautifully crafted from deer antlers.
448
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,000
By looking at Star Carr today we can build a picture
449
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,039
of what lives the people of Doggerland might have led.
450
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:53,240
The site has been further excavated by Professor Nicky Milner.
451
00:29:54,279 --> 00:29:56,279
I think it's very easy to sometimes look at the past
452
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,480
and think back 11,000 years,
453
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,240
and that people must have lived very basic lives.
454
00:30:01,279 --> 00:30:04,000
But the evidence that we've got from Star Carr
455
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,480
is that they were very good at making things,
456
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,240
at crafting things.
457
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,480
Star Carr shows many tools made from animals,
458
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,480
and made to kill animals,
459
00:30:14,519 --> 00:30:17,720
similar to the harpoon Lockwood found in 1931.
460
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:22,519
We have all sorts of animal remains, and plant remains from the site,
461
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:27,480
which shows us the types of animals they're hunting,
462
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:32,720
and their expertise in gathering and living off the land.
463
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,240
They're hunter-gatherers, and these are bushcraft experts,
464
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:44,000
they're armed with a whole range of skills and expertise
465
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,759
that means that they can thrive in this landscape.
466
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:52,720
At Star Carr is also what's known as the oldest house in Britain,
467
00:30:52,759 --> 00:30:56,480
dating from about 9,000 years ago.
468
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,720
So we found a number of houses
469
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,000
which are the earliest known houses in this country,
470
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:03,519
so that told us that people
471
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,240
were able to build structures out of wood.
472
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,720
We understand more about their woodworking skills,
473
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,480
and how sophisticated those must have been,
474
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,480
and that they could make structures, and that involves team work.
475
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,720
Mesolithic people, it appears, were hunter-gatherers,
476
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:21,720
they were highly mobile,
477
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:26,240
but they were also living together and growing together as a community.
478
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,240
If we're now thinking about people
479
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:34,039
who have places that they regularly spend long periods of time at,
480
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,480
that they invest their resources in to build houses,
481
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:42,000
no longer could we write these people off as simple,
482
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:47,240
knuckle-dragging, cave dwellers clad in simple animal skins,
483
00:31:47,279 --> 00:31:51,000
eking away a living at the edges of the ice age.
484
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,960
These were people who shaped their landscape.
485
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,039
One of the most unusual finds at Star Carr
486
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,720
was shaped from the skulls of killed deer.
487
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:08,000
One of the most iconic and remarkable discoveries
488
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,480
from Star Carr are the antler headdresses,
489
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,240
and they've been shaped by human hands over hours,
490
00:32:15,279 --> 00:32:17,240
and hours, and hours of labour.
491
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,039
The head dresses are really mysterious.
492
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:21,960
There are none others known in this country,
493
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,000
and only a few in the rest of Europe.
494
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,759
They're made of red deer skulls with the antler coming out of them.
495
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,480
There are two main theories,
496
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,039
one is that they might have been used as disguises
497
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:33,480
in hunting practices,
498
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,240
and the other is that they might have been used by shamans
499
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:38,519
in some kind of ritual practices.
500
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:43,480
The headdresses offer clear incontrovertible evidence
501
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,720
that these people had a sophisticated culture
502
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:52,240
to create these artefacts that have no functional purpose,
503
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,480
but clearly have a very important spiritual purpose.
504
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,000
Star Carr helps build a picture
505
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,720
of how sophisticated people might have lived on Doggerland.
506
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,240
But who were these people?
507
00:33:08,279 --> 00:33:10,240
What did they look like?
508
00:33:15,039 --> 00:33:18,960
To see what a Mesolithic person might have looked like
509
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,039
we must travel to the south of England...
510
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:23,480
..and the Cheddar Gorge.
511
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,000
It was here that one of Europe's oldest Mesolithic men,
512
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,039
Cheddar Man, was found.
513
00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:33,240
Cheddar Man is one of the really important discoveries
514
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:34,720
in this country.
515
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,480
Cheddar Man was found over 100 years ago in Somerset,
516
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,720
and has been studied a lot ever since
517
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:44,279
because human remains are incredibly rare,
518
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,480
particularly in this country for the Mesolithic.
519
00:33:48,519 --> 00:33:51,480
Cheddar Man is the oldest British,
520
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,000
most complete human skeleton that we have.
521
00:33:55,039 --> 00:33:58,000
It dates to around 10,000 years old.
522
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:00,960
And in 2018,
523
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:05,000
a groundbreaking analysis was made of Cheddar Man's DNA
524
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:10,000
in an attempt for us to meet our ancestors face to face.
525
00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:16,480
It gives us an insight into what people looked like,
526
00:34:16,519 --> 00:34:20,480
and what we know from Cheddar Man is he was about five-foot-five,
527
00:34:20,519 --> 00:34:25,360
from the DNA we know he had dark, curly hair, blue eyes,
528
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,159
and darker skin than we imagined,
529
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,480
certainly darker than European skin tends to be today.
530
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,159
So although he looks quite striking to us,
531
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,840
he would have looked quite normal then.
532
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:42,000
Now we could finally see the faces of the sort of people
533
00:34:42,079 --> 00:34:45,639
that would have lived at Star Carr and Doggerland.
534
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:48,599
Despite living thousands of years ago,
535
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,079
it helps us understand who lived here...
536
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,000
..but it still doesn't answer the big question,
537
00:34:55,039 --> 00:34:59,480
how did people who made Doggerland their home come to disappear?
538
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,400
To understand better what might have happened,
539
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:16,480
the Bradford team decided to actually dig into Doggerland.
540
00:35:17,599 --> 00:35:21,000
They did this by taking core samples.
541
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:25,480
If you take a giant pipe, you ram it into the seabed,
542
00:35:25,519 --> 00:35:27,960
and then you pull it out,
543
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:33,920
the column of mud that you pull out, that's a core.
544
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,039
So when you look at a core,
545
00:35:36,119 --> 00:35:39,639
what you're effectively looking at are slices of time,
546
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,880
it's like a diary of the deep past.
547
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,119
They are hugely important for our understanding
548
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,000
of how our climate has changed,
549
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,360
and environmental conditions have changed,
550
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,480
and they're also crucial to our understanding of the archaeology
551
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,440
of Doggerland and what happened to the people.
552
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,039
What the Bradford team saw is how.
553
00:36:00,119 --> 00:36:01,480
With the end of the Ice Age
554
00:36:01,519 --> 00:36:06,519
the sea level was rising at over a metre every 100 years.
555
00:36:07,639 --> 00:36:14,480
Those sediments preserve in them a record of how sea level changes.
556
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,599
So at one particular site
557
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:18,600
it will show the history of going from dry land
558
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:20,920
through to the era becoming waterlogged,
559
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:22,559
and eventually being submerged.
560
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,440
But the team noticed that in one particular time period
561
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,960
the sea levels seemed to rise significantly.
562
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,480
If you look at the cores taken from Doggerland,
563
00:36:34,519 --> 00:36:38,639
when you get to 8,000 years ago there's a huge change.
564
00:36:40,039 --> 00:36:42,559
But what caused this huge change?
565
00:36:42,639 --> 00:36:46,079
And what effect did it have on Doggerland?
566
00:36:50,559 --> 00:36:55,840
Around 8,000 years ago there is what is called the 8.2-kilo year event,
567
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,880
meaning 8,200 years from today,
568
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,920
or roughly 6,250 BCE...
569
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,000
..scientists noticed that the planet's sea levels
570
00:37:08,079 --> 00:37:10,000
rose dramatically.
571
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,480
One explanation for this change is with the warming of the planet
572
00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:15,840
after the ice age...
573
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,480
..came the collapse of a colossal ice sheet into the Atlantic Ocean.
574
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:23,639
The Laurentide Ice Sheet,
575
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:26,559
in what is present day North America.
576
00:37:26,639 --> 00:37:30,559
At its peak, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of Canada,
577
00:37:30,639 --> 00:37:34,119
and a fair proportion of the top of the United States.
578
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:39,120
Ice was over what is now New York, and Chicago, and St Louie.
579
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,480
This was millions, and millions, and millions of tons of water,
580
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,440
locked up in ice.
581
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,400
This was the biggest release of fresh water
582
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,039
into the North Atlantic for 100,000 years.
583
00:37:52,119 --> 00:37:56,000
So profound was this change that it dropped the sea temperatures
584
00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:01,519
by a degree almost overnight, and that changed the gulf stream,
585
00:38:01,599 --> 00:38:03,920
which changed the air temperatures
586
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,480
by up to 1.5 degrees centigrade in a generation.
587
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,400
As the melt water filled the oceans,
588
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:18,480
global sea levels rose by as much as half a meter in a few months,
589
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,639
threatening lowlands like Doggerland.
590
00:38:23,079 --> 00:38:25,480
All the reasons that made Doggerland
591
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,159
a fantastic place to live as a hunter-gatherer
592
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,559
also made it particularly vulnerable to sea level change.
593
00:38:32,639 --> 00:38:37,000
It was low lying, it was cut through with rivers, and streams,
594
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,599
and marshy areas, which was fantastic for fishing,
595
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:43,640
and fowling, and gathering those wild resources,
596
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,480
but it also meant that if the sea levels rose,
597
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:51,440
it would be inundated, and inundated very rapidly.
598
00:38:53,559 --> 00:38:55,840
The sea level rise was so pronounced
599
00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,000
that it turned Doggerland into islands.
600
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,000
Doggerland would now have been cut off
601
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,360
from continental Europe and the UK.
602
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,639
So what did this mean for the people on Doggerland?
603
00:39:10,519 --> 00:39:14,480
After the 8.2 event the sea levels rose so significantly
604
00:39:14,519 --> 00:39:17,159
that it was easily within generations,
605
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:19,639
easily within peoples' lifetimes.
606
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,079
They could easily see the effects of sea level rise.
607
00:39:23,159 --> 00:39:24,599
These people had an intimate knowledge
608
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,480
of the landscape around them,
609
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,559
and for that to start changing
610
00:39:29,639 --> 00:39:34,839
must have been extraordinarily disorientating and confusing.
611
00:39:35,519 --> 00:39:37,880
What would have been fertile river valleys
612
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:40,920
suddenly became flood valleys.
613
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:42,480
Huge swathes of low lying land
614
00:39:42,559 --> 00:39:45,000
would have been lost almost immediately,
615
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,559
and that destroys the animals you're relying on,
616
00:39:47,639 --> 00:39:50,000
that destroys the plants you're relying on.
617
00:39:50,559 --> 00:39:52,000
And so when all this changes,
618
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,159
this puts huge pressure on the people living there,
619
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:57,519
and it would have been scary for them.
620
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:00,920
The hunter-gatherer paradise of Doggerland
621
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,639
was slowly sinking beneath the waves.
622
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,559
So what could Mesolithic people do?
623
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:10,480
If you're a Mesolithic person
624
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,519
and your land gets flooded where do you go?
625
00:40:12,599 --> 00:40:15,000
Well you obviously, you know, follow the animals,
626
00:40:15,079 --> 00:40:17,960
follow the herds, that's you know, where you food source goes,
627
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:18,960
so you're going to do that.
628
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:20,599
'Cause some of them would have gone to Britain,
629
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:23,400
and what is now mainland Europe.
630
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:24,599
Some of the people would have relocated
631
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,000
into other parts of today's Europe,
632
00:40:27,039 --> 00:40:31,480
like Germany and Netherlands, and others to Great Britain.
633
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:33,920
From the archaeological evidence
634
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,840
we have a number of Mesolithic boats.
635
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:40,079
It's exactly at this point, as the sea levels are rising,
636
00:40:40,159 --> 00:40:42,480
that we start to get this really good evidence
637
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:47,079
for the use of dug out canoes in Britain and northwest Europe.
638
00:40:47,159 --> 00:40:50,399
Hunter-gatherers are fantastic at being flexible,
639
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:53,119
and maybe even people started adapting
640
00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:56,400
to being much more sea dwelling.
641
00:40:57,519 --> 00:40:59,039
But the question remained...
642
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:04,920
..what happened to the people who stayed on Doggerland?
643
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:15,840
As the Bradford team looked further into the core samples
644
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,480
they found something that would have been terrifying.
645
00:41:20,159 --> 00:41:24,480
They found what might be the key to the apocalypse of Doggerland.
646
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,000
In a time period around 6000 BCE
647
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:34,000
the core samples looked more mixed up than expected.
648
00:41:35,119 --> 00:41:37,480
It was a series of sand, shell,
649
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:42,079
jumbled up with sequences within which looked so unusual,
650
00:41:42,159 --> 00:41:44,559
so different to everything else we'd seen in our careers,
651
00:41:44,639 --> 00:41:48,159
except for the few samples we've seen published in literature,
652
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:50,000
which were tsunami samples.
653
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:55,639
This mixing up of sediment suggested huge force.
654
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:57,840
A great wave of power...
655
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,400
..a tsunami.
656
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,039
But what could have caused such a wave?
657
00:42:06,559 --> 00:42:09,000
The team connects the unusual core samples
658
00:42:09,079 --> 00:42:12,119
to an event called the Storegga Slide,
659
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:17,880
when vast areas of the Norwegian continental shelf slid into the sea.
660
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,000
The Storegga Slide was a huge submarine landslide
661
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,639
that occurred off the coast of Norway.
662
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:25,440
The slide itself is made up of sediments
663
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:27,880
deposited from the glacial era,
664
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,000
so it's a lot of fine muds and sands,
665
00:42:30,039 --> 00:42:32,480
and within it there are lots of weak layers,
666
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,000
this are layers that can't really hold all that sediment together,
667
00:42:35,039 --> 00:42:37,000
so they're very prone to slipping.
668
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,440
So any trigger, like an earthquake,
669
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:43,599
is enough to set this sediment in motion and move down the slope.
670
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:45,600
And as it does so, it will generate a wave,
671
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:48,480
'cause it will disturb the surface of the water.
672
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,159
A tsunami would have been terrifying,
673
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:56,840
and is something that our modern society has witnessed
674
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,400
in both 2011 in Japan...
675
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,039
..and across Asia in 2004.
676
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:11,360
You can see here how the 2004 tsunami spread across
677
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,079
almost the entire globe.
678
00:43:14,159 --> 00:43:17,480
So what effect would the Storegga Slide tsunami
679
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,480
have had on Doggerland?
680
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:25,920
Dr Jon Hill of the University of York
681
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:28,639
recreated how the tsunami might have hit northern Europe
682
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:32,000
in a series of computer simulations.
683
00:43:33,119 --> 00:43:37,000
The Storegga Slide involved 3,000 cubic kilometres of sediment,
684
00:43:37,039 --> 00:43:39,880
and it probably moved in one go very quickly.
685
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,000
So this huge slide,
686
00:43:41,079 --> 00:43:43,559
which is probably one of the biggest landslides
687
00:43:43,639 --> 00:43:44,839
in the history of the Earth,
688
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:47,079
generated a huge tsunami
689
00:43:47,159 --> 00:43:49,559
which then travelled across the North Atlantic to Greenland,
690
00:43:49,639 --> 00:43:54,559
and then down the North Sea with a tsunami of ten to six metres
691
00:43:54,639 --> 00:43:57,440
impacting the coast of the UK.
692
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:00,159
In this scientifically accurate simulation,
693
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,000
the remaining islands of Doggerland
694
00:44:03,039 --> 00:44:07,519
are repeatedly washed over by the elevated red waves.
695
00:44:10,559 --> 00:44:14,000
The core samples also suggested that the timing of the wave
696
00:44:14,079 --> 00:44:17,440
was critical for people on Doggerland.
697
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:19,480
So one of the things I find surprising
698
00:44:19,519 --> 00:44:23,360
is our ability to pinpoint the time of year that Storegga occurred.
699
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:25,039
So we do this by looking at the sediments
700
00:44:25,119 --> 00:44:26,079
that have been deposited,
701
00:44:26,159 --> 00:44:28,000
and in them we find bits of vegetation
702
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,920
like mosses and cherry stones,
703
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,119
where we know that they would have occurred in the autumn,
704
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:34,000
and hence we can find out
705
00:44:34,079 --> 00:44:36,960
that the Storegga Slide actually happened in the autumn.
706
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,480
It is believed that Mesolithic people in the summer
707
00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,480
went inland to hunt deer,
708
00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:45,960
but in the autumn, with fewer deer to eat,
709
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,440
they returned to the shoreline.
710
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,360
The tsunami from the Storegga Slide would have hit the Mesolithic people
711
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,000
when they were at their most vulnerable.
712
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:02,840
Doggerland would have been particularly effected by this
713
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:04,000
because it is so low lying.
714
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,119
Even though it was about 130km across,
715
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,360
and perhaps 80km north to south,
716
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,440
the average height was probably on the order of metres
717
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:13,920
rather than tens of metres.
718
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:16,639
So if you have a wave that is 5m high,
719
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:20,599
it is obviously going to inundate a large proportion of that land.
720
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:24,360
And if we look to modern events like the Japanese 2011 tsunami,
721
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,639
the average height there is around 5m.
722
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,440
The wave inundated up to 4km in land,
723
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,360
so if you think of that kind of scale,
724
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:37,000
you would have seen something similar happening at Doggerland.
725
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:42,960
The coastline is exactly where we would have seen
726
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:45,360
the majority of people.
727
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:51,880
The tsunami would have laid waste to homes, fish traps going,
728
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:54,480
hunting grounds disappearing.
729
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,400
Whole societies were perhaps wiped out
730
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:00,159
in the space of a few hours.
731
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,480
For Doggerland, it could have been cataclysmic,
732
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:07,559
covering most of the land in its fast moving water.
733
00:46:09,159 --> 00:46:11,480
Many of those Doggerland people could have been washed away
734
00:46:11,559 --> 00:46:14,079
along with their homes.
735
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:20,039
From the archaeological record, we do get a sense that actually
736
00:46:20,119 --> 00:46:23,000
the tsunami is the beginning of the end,
737
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,159
if not the end of Doggerland.
738
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:27,360
And large swathes of it already underwater,
739
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,039
and what remains would have been quite significantly devastated
740
00:46:31,119 --> 00:46:32,920
for some time.
741
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:38,559
Death as a great wave swept through Doggerland.
742
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,599
Doggerland still occasionally gives up its human evidence
743
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:53,519
from beneath the sea bed.
744
00:46:55,639 --> 00:46:59,039
In 2019, a hammer stone was dredged up
745
00:46:59,119 --> 00:47:01,000
from the drowned land.
746
00:47:02,039 --> 00:47:05,360
But the Bradford team concluded that with rising sea levels,
747
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:09,559
Doggerland, the land that connected all of northern Europe,
748
00:47:09,639 --> 00:47:11,480
would have sunk under the sea...
749
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:15,000
..ending all human life.
750
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,480
The Storegga tsunami was a difficult period for the Mesolithic people,
751
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:22,480
but the land did recover.
752
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,880
However, after that period, sea level continues to rise,
753
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,519
the landscape continued to shrink and break up into different islands,
754
00:47:29,599 --> 00:47:31,480
so the challenges increased for people.
755
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:35,000
And so really it's part of the beginning of the end.
756
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:36,559
Eventually people would have found it
757
00:47:36,639 --> 00:47:39,480
perhaps too difficult to live in certain places and moved.
758
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:40,920
As of today,
759
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:43,480
scientists are yet to find any artefact
760
00:47:43,559 --> 00:47:47,519
from the Doggerland area that dates after the tsunami.
761
00:47:47,599 --> 00:47:52,480
We don't find any human artefacts after this wave,
762
00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:54,000
so there is absolutely nothing
763
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,599
that dates from younger than 6,100 BC,
764
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:02,000
which just shows the devastation this wave probably caused.
765
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:06,000
The tsunami's devastation seems total.
766
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:15,480
Doggerland...
767
00:48:16,639 --> 00:48:21,119
..a Mesolithic paradise that supported human populations,
768
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,640
animals, forests,
769
00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:25,480
and wetlands.
770
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:28,440
A land that at one point
771
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:31,920
is estimated to have stretched from what today is northern Europe,
772
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:33,480
to Scandinavia
773
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:34,880
and the UK,
774
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:38,079
covering almost 50,000 square kilometres.
775
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:41,519
Hunter-gatherers of the time
776
00:48:41,599 --> 00:48:44,039
could have walked from present day Berlin...
777
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:46,000
..to Oslo...
778
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:48,160
..to London...
779
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:50,639
..to Paris.
780
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:59,480
A region that in the space of possible only a few hundred years
781
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:02,159
was completely swallowed by the sea,
782
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:05,160
drowning everything that lived on it.
783
00:49:10,519 --> 00:49:15,480
An ancient apocalypse which echoes through human history,
784
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:18,440
through the myths and legends of great floods...
785
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,440
..and still touches us today.
786
00:49:29,599 --> 00:49:31,279
The Bible.
787
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:36,280
It's one of the most influential texts ever written.
788
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:41,240
For millennia, it's shaped the lives of billions of people.
789
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,880
It holds stories of great civilisations.
790
00:49:46,079 --> 00:49:48,599
Miraculous events.
791
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:51,159
The word of God.
792
00:49:53,079 --> 00:49:57,159
Many people see them as parables for how to live their lives.
793
00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:01,799
But for some, these stories are historical truth.
794
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:04,440
Of all the events the Bible details,
795
00:50:04,519 --> 00:50:07,440
one remains shocking even today
796
00:50:07,519 --> 00:50:10,519
- the destruction of Sodom.
797
00:50:10,639 --> 00:50:11,799
According to the Bible,
798
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:14,240
Sodom was one of the five cities of the plain.
799
00:50:14,239 --> 00:50:18,079
It was remarkable for its wickedness.
800
00:50:18,159 --> 00:50:22,519
The tradition is that the sin of Sodom
801
00:50:22,639 --> 00:50:26,359
was what the Bible described to be sexual perversity.
802
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:29,240
Specifically homosexuality.
803
00:50:29,239 --> 00:50:32,159
But is this really true?
804
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:35,639
In the Bible story, God appeared before Abraham
805
00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:39,000
and told him his plan to destroy Sodom
806
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:40,519
and the cities of the plain.
807
00:50:40,639 --> 00:50:44,759
For Abraham, it's a shocking revelation.
808
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:48,039
His nephew Lot lived in Sodom.
809
00:50:48,079 --> 00:50:49,799
According to the Bible,
810
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:53,960
Lot and his family were different than the other people
811
00:50:54,079 --> 00:50:55,360
living in Sodom.
812
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:57,800
They would be considered righteous people.
813
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:02,519
Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy
814
00:51:02,639 --> 00:51:06,079
the innocent and guilty without distinction.
815
00:51:06,079 --> 00:51:09,079
God assured Abraham that he would spare the city
816
00:51:09,079 --> 00:51:12,239
if just 10 decent people could be found there.
817
00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:17,079
And devised a test of Sodom's hospitality to strangers.
818
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:20,519
The Bible says specifically
819
00:51:20,519 --> 00:51:26,079
that the sin of Sodom was arrogance, gluttony and apathy.
820
00:51:26,079 --> 00:51:29,639
And specifically that they were not kind
821
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:31,800
to the poor and the needy.
822
00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:34,240
That it was inhospitality,
823
00:51:34,360 --> 00:51:38,800
this general unkindness towards other people
824
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:42,240
that made Sodom an evil city.
825
00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:47,960
God sends two angels disguised as travellers to meet with Lot
826
00:51:48,079 --> 00:51:50,639
who takes them in and treats them well.
827
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:54,360
Lot passes God's hospitality test.
828
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:56,960
But when the news of the foreigners arrival
829
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:58,079
spreads through Sodom,
830
00:51:58,079 --> 00:52:00,360
the city descends on Lot's house
831
00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:02,640
and demands he hands them over.
832
00:52:04,079 --> 00:52:07,079
Immediately all the neighbours are banging on the door
833
00:52:07,079 --> 00:52:09,960
saying, "Send out these two men so that we may know them."
834
00:52:10,079 --> 00:52:12,239
And in biblical terms,
835
00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:14,519
that usually means to sleep with them.
836
00:52:14,519 --> 00:52:17,079
Lot says, "Absolutely not, you can have my daughters instead.
837
00:52:17,079 --> 00:52:19,360
"They're virgins, you can do whatever you want with them.
838
00:52:19,519 --> 00:52:21,360
"But you cannot have my guests."
839
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:22,960
At that point, God steps in
840
00:52:23,079 --> 00:52:25,079
and says, "No, the test has failed."
841
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:26,799
It's damning.
842
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:30,639
The angels allow Lot and his family to leave,
843
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:31,800
but when they are gone,
844
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:37,079
God levels the city with the remaining inhabitants inside.
845
00:52:37,079 --> 00:52:39,519
It would've been positively terrifying.
846
00:52:40,519 --> 00:52:43,800
WOMAN: God destroyed them in a shower of fire and brimstone
847
00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:48,800
so terrible that no man could live in this land.
848
00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:51,320
The destruction was so complete
849
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,760
that the city was abandoned for 700 years.
850
00:52:54,880 --> 00:53:00,559
It's a profound punishment for the city's perceived sins.
851
00:53:00,559 --> 00:53:03,320
God sends these two angels down
852
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:05,760
to Sodom and the cities of the plain
853
00:53:05,760 --> 00:53:07,200
to test their hospitality,
854
00:53:07,199 --> 00:53:08,879
to see 'would they be welcomed?'
855
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:10,679
and they failed that test.
856
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:13,000
So it's less a story about sexuality
857
00:53:13,119 --> 00:53:15,759
and it's more a story about hospitality.
858
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:19,320
Hospitality was so important in the ancient world.
859
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:22,119
Only after the rise of Christianity
860
00:53:22,199 --> 00:53:24,759
in the first few centuries CE,
861
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:27,559
did its interpretation change.
862
00:53:27,559 --> 00:53:30,440
Early Christian theologians
863
00:53:30,559 --> 00:53:34,559
shifted the story's focus away from offering hospitality
864
00:53:34,679 --> 00:53:39,199
to create a morality tale condemning homosexuality.
865
00:53:39,199 --> 00:53:44,319
But does the story of destruction hold any truth?
866
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:47,679
We ask the question did the city of Sodom actually exist
867
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:53,000
and could it be possible to locate its ruins?
868
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:03,680
According to the ancient writings of the Bible,
869
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:06,120
the Koran, and the Torah,
870
00:54:06,119 --> 00:54:07,880
Sodom was supposedly part
871
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:11,320
of what's known as the five cities of the plain.
872
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:14,760
They were situated in southern Canaan
873
00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:18,200
a large region covering modern-day Jordan,
874
00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:20,559
Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
875
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:24,000
Of the five cities, Sodom was the largest
876
00:54:24,119 --> 00:54:27,000
and thus, the epicentre of the plain.
877
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:31,559
For centuries, archaeologists have tried to locate it.
878
00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:36,200
I think everybody loves a good lost city story,
879
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:38,559
whether it's Atlantis or Sodom,
880
00:54:38,679 --> 00:54:41,759
there's this treasure-hunter aspect to it.
881
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:44,200
There's a confirming mythology,
882
00:54:44,199 --> 00:54:48,319
a way of confirming the historicity of oral tradition.
883
00:54:49,559 --> 00:54:52,759
But if the story of Sodom is more than just a myth
884
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,200
like some believe,
885
00:54:54,199 --> 00:54:56,119
where did it take place?
886
00:54:56,119 --> 00:54:59,440
And how could archaeologists locate it?
887
00:55:05,119 --> 00:55:07,319
Renowned biblical archaeologists
888
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:09,559
Dr Thomas Schaub and Walter Rast
889
00:55:09,559 --> 00:55:13,119
carry out surveys of Bab edh-Dra.
890
00:55:13,199 --> 00:55:17,759
It is an ancient site south-east of the Dead Sea.
891
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:21,320
Thomas Schaub and Walter Rast
892
00:55:21,320 --> 00:55:24,680
were actually very well-respected archaeologists
893
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:27,000
and academics in the field.
894
00:55:27,119 --> 00:55:30,000
Both had a keen interest in biblical archaeology,
895
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,199
and historical geography.
896
00:55:32,199 --> 00:55:34,199
Schaub was actually a priest
897
00:55:34,199 --> 00:55:39,119
and Walter Rast led many expeditions to the Dead Sea.
898
00:55:39,199 --> 00:55:42,319
As the two break ground, they discover
899
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:44,680
four more sites nearby.
900
00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:49,200
Numeira, Safi, Feihfeh, and Khanazir.
901
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,440
For Schaub and Rast, the number of sites
902
00:55:52,559 --> 00:55:57,440
could be a crucial indicator for whether Bab edh-Dra is Sodom.
903
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:01,000
The Bible says that Sodom
904
00:56:01,119 --> 00:56:04,119
was one of five cities of the plain.
905
00:56:04,559 --> 00:56:09,000
And if four other cities were discovered near Bab edh-Dra
906
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:12,320
it increases the likelihood that Bab edh-Dra
907
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:14,679
is the city of Sodom.
908
00:56:14,760 --> 00:56:17,880
The discovery of these five ancient sites
909
00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:21,679
in close proximity to each other is key.
910
00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:25,560
And through excavations of Bab edh-Dra,
911
00:56:25,679 --> 00:56:31,199
the archaeologists date the site to around 3300 BCE.
912
00:56:31,320 --> 00:56:34,680
This is significant because some people think
913
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:37,120
this is when the city of Sodom existed too.
914
00:56:37,119 --> 00:56:41,119
And during excavations, the team unearth evidence
915
00:56:41,119 --> 00:56:45,440
that not only was Bab edh-Dra the largest of the five sites,
916
00:56:45,559 --> 00:56:47,119
but it was also once
917
00:56:47,199 --> 00:56:50,439
the location of a thriving community.
918
00:56:50,559 --> 00:56:53,320
There were fortification walls around the town.
919
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:56,320
Archaeologists were able to identify people's houses.
920
00:56:56,440 --> 00:57:01,200
Workshops. It would've been a place of some significance.
921
00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:05,200
For Schaub and Rast, it's looking more and more likely
922
00:57:05,199 --> 00:57:08,159
that Bab edh-Dra is Sodom.
923
00:57:08,199 --> 00:57:12,039
And when the archaeologists examine the site more closely,
924
00:57:12,159 --> 00:57:14,799
they make a crucial discovery.
925
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:18,800
There is evidence of widespread destruction.
926
00:57:20,199 --> 00:57:24,199
The archaeologists discovered piles of collapsed mud bricks
927
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:27,200
and also large piles of ash and charcoal.
928
00:57:27,199 --> 00:57:30,559
And the town walls had been destroyed by fire.
929
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:35,440
At the second site, Numeira,
930
00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:37,679
Schaub and Rast make similar findings.
931
00:57:37,679 --> 00:57:39,679
But most astonishingly,
932
00:57:39,800 --> 00:57:44,080
archaeologists find the skeletons several people.
933
00:57:44,199 --> 00:57:49,319
The bodies were buried under all of this burnt debris.
934
00:57:49,440 --> 00:57:51,559
So these were people who had died and been crushed
935
00:57:51,679 --> 00:57:54,559
while they were still either fresh corpses
936
00:57:54,679 --> 00:57:56,799
or while they were still alive.
937
00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:00,960
Some experts believe that Schaub and Rast's findings
938
00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:04,559
match the biblical description of the destruction of Sodom.
939
00:58:04,679 --> 00:58:07,679
Through fire and brimstone.
940
00:58:07,679 --> 00:58:11,679
There is one camp who think that Bab edh-Dra and Numeira
941
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:14,960
are evidence of destruction from an earthquake
942
00:58:15,079 --> 00:58:16,679
and catastrophic fires.
943
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:19,200
That we've found our target.
944
00:58:20,199 --> 00:58:23,679
The claim, that the southern site of Bab edh-Dra
945
00:58:23,800 --> 00:58:26,320
could be the former city of Sodom
946
00:58:26,679 --> 00:58:29,679
becomes known as the Southern Theory.
947
00:58:31,559 --> 00:58:36,799
But had biblical Sodom finally been uncovered?
948
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:42,800
Over the years, new evidence has emerged
949
00:58:42,960 --> 00:58:45,559
which casts doubt on the theory.
950
00:58:45,559 --> 00:58:47,679
When excavations were carried out
951
00:58:47,800 --> 00:58:48,960
at the other three sites,
952
00:58:49,079 --> 00:58:50,559
archaeologists found
953
00:58:50,679 --> 00:58:53,799
that there were no occupational structures.
954
00:58:53,960 --> 00:58:57,960
What they had found was a bunch of cemeteries.
955
00:58:58,079 --> 00:59:01,079
This is a place where people buried their dead.
956
00:59:01,199 --> 00:59:05,439
And radiocarbon dating of the two largest sites,
957
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:07,960
Bab edh-Dra and Numeira
958
00:59:08,079 --> 00:59:11,440
Cast further doubt on the Southern Theory.
959
00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:13,679
These two cities were destroyed
960
00:59:13,679 --> 00:59:18,440
2.5 centuries apart from one another.
961
00:59:18,440 --> 00:59:20,679
That's 250 years in between
962
00:59:20,679 --> 00:59:25,440
the destruction of Bab edh-Dra and Numeira.
963
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:28,200
To match the biblical description,
964
00:59:28,320 --> 00:59:32,559
these sites should all have been destroyed at the same time.
965
00:59:32,559 --> 00:59:36,079
They don't fit the time
966
00:59:36,199 --> 00:59:38,319
so yeah, to me, it's two strikes and you're out.
967
00:59:38,440 --> 00:59:39,960
You don't need a third strike.
968
00:59:41,440 --> 00:59:44,679
The Southern Theory just does not hold water.
969
00:59:45,559 --> 00:59:47,960
Did Sodom ever exist?
970
00:59:48,079 --> 00:59:52,440
If so, was it at all possible to find?
971
00:59:57,440 --> 01:00:00,440
In 1996, archaeologist Dr Steven Collins
972
01:00:00,559 --> 01:00:03,079
takes up the challenge.
973
01:00:03,559 --> 01:00:05,799
Having grown up in a Christian household,
974
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:08,320
he has long been fascinated with the relationship
975
01:00:08,679 --> 01:00:11,799
between the Bible and scientific evidence.
976
01:00:11,960 --> 01:00:16,800
I had sort of worlds in collision going on in my head.
977
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:18,960
And it was hard to justify
978
01:00:19,079 --> 01:00:22,679
science and faith and belief together.
979
01:00:22,679 --> 01:00:25,799
Joining Dr Collins in the search for Sodom
980
01:00:25,960 --> 01:00:28,199
is Dr Philip Silvia.
981
01:00:28,199 --> 01:00:30,199
An electrical engineer by trade,
982
01:00:30,199 --> 01:00:31,439
in more recent years,
983
01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:36,440
he's turned his focus to the Bible and archaeology.
984
01:00:36,559 --> 01:00:39,799
I think Sodom is the epitome in Scripture
985
01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:43,440
of God's judgment against sin in the world.
986
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:45,960
It's the engineer in me.
987
01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:48,199
And the theologian in me
988
01:00:48,440 --> 01:00:51,559
understands there must be a discoverable trail
989
01:00:51,559 --> 01:00:56,199
of physical evidence showing us what he did and how he did it,
990
01:00:56,199 --> 01:00:58,439
and that's what drives me.
991
01:00:58,559 --> 01:01:02,440
The more Dr Collins studied, the more convinced he became
992
01:01:02,559 --> 01:01:06,440
that the Bible could provide clues to the location of Sodom.
993
01:01:09,559 --> 01:01:11,320
And so when I look at the historical record,
994
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:13,440
when I look at the biblical record,
995
01:01:13,440 --> 01:01:16,079
and it squares with reality, it's worse with science,
996
01:01:16,199 --> 01:01:17,679
it squares with archaeology,
997
01:01:17,800 --> 01:01:20,320
and I can't find any way to overturn it,
998
01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:22,200
then what are supposed to do?
999
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:24,800
For Dr Collins, the realisation that Sodom
1000
01:01:24,800 --> 01:01:26,320
and the cities of the plain
1001
01:01:26,440 --> 01:01:28,679
may not be south of the Dead Sea
1002
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:32,800
came about by accident in 1996.
1003
01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:37,559
That summer, he is leading a tour of the holy land sites.
1004
01:01:37,679 --> 01:01:39,679
While planning an expedition to Bab edh-Dra
1005
01:01:39,679 --> 01:01:44,079
and Numeira, he rereads the story of Sodom -
1006
01:01:44,199 --> 01:01:45,960
something is amiss.
1007
01:01:46,079 --> 01:01:49,679
In the Bible, before Lot moves to Sodom,
1008
01:01:49,800 --> 01:01:54,200
he and his uncle Abraham bid farewell to each other.
1009
01:01:54,320 --> 01:01:58,320
At this time, the Bible places them somewhere between
1010
01:01:58,440 --> 01:02:00,960
the settlements of Bethel and Ai.
1011
01:02:01,079 --> 01:02:03,440
North-west of the Dead Sea.
1012
01:02:03,559 --> 01:02:07,320
From there, they can see the whole plain of Jordan.
1013
01:02:07,440 --> 01:02:10,079
The Bible says, "Lot looked over,
1014
01:02:10,199 --> 01:02:12,799
"saw the well water play into the Jordan
1015
01:02:12,800 --> 01:02:15,200
"and went eastward and pitched his tent as far as Sodom."
1016
01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:18,440
According to the Southern Theory,
1017
01:02:18,559 --> 01:02:20,799
Sodom is south-east of the Dead Sea.
1018
01:02:20,960 --> 01:02:23,800
80km from Bethel and Ai.
1019
01:02:24,440 --> 01:02:26,800
But if Abraham and Lot were in the North
1020
01:02:26,960 --> 01:02:31,440
at Bethel and Ai, they wouldn't have been able to see that far.
1021
01:02:31,440 --> 01:02:34,679
I got to the end of it and I thought to myself,
1022
01:02:34,800 --> 01:02:36,440
"I don't see anything in there
1023
01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:38,800
"that would locate Sodom towards the south
1024
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:40,320
"but everything would locate it
1025
01:02:40,440 --> 01:02:41,800
"north and east of the Dead Sea."
1026
01:02:41,800 --> 01:02:45,560
How in the world could serious scholars
1027
01:02:45,679 --> 01:02:48,559
be putting Sodom towards the south end of the Dead Sea
1028
01:02:48,559 --> 01:02:51,679
because if they're reading the same text I'm reading,
1029
01:02:51,679 --> 01:02:54,440
what aren't we seeing the same things?
1030
01:02:57,440 --> 01:03:01,079
Collins digs deeper into the ancient text.
1031
01:03:01,199 --> 01:03:03,079
His focus turns to identifying
1032
01:03:03,199 --> 01:03:06,960
the correct location for the plain of Jordan.
1033
01:03:07,079 --> 01:03:10,079
Genesis 13:10 says that
1034
01:03:10,199 --> 01:03:14,079
Lot saw the plain of Jordan
1035
01:03:14,199 --> 01:03:18,439
and that it was well watered like the garden of the Lord.
1036
01:03:19,199 --> 01:03:24,199
So if you can find the plain of Jordan, you can find Sodom.
1037
01:03:25,320 --> 01:03:29,440
After meticulous study, Collins finds a clue to the whereabouts
1038
01:03:29,559 --> 01:03:31,079
of the plain of Jordan.
1039
01:03:31,199 --> 01:03:35,559
In the Hebrew language, the word for 'plain' is 'kikkar'
1040
01:03:35,679 --> 01:03:37,960
which means 'round'.
1041
01:03:38,679 --> 01:03:42,799
In the case of land, it would be a round, flat area
1042
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:44,679
of arable land.
1043
01:03:44,800 --> 01:03:46,960
That is where we should be looking
1044
01:03:46,960 --> 01:03:49,320
for Sodom and the cities of the plain.
1045
01:03:51,079 --> 01:03:54,440
Some archaeologists believe that the only area in Jordan
1046
01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:56,800
that has a flat, circular plain
1047
01:03:56,800 --> 01:03:59,960
and is well watered is north of the Dead Sea.
1048
01:04:00,079 --> 01:04:03,679
If you are looking at a very good topographical map,
1049
01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:07,440
you'll see a circular area, a kikkar,
1050
01:04:07,559 --> 01:04:09,799
north of the Dead Sea.
1051
01:04:10,960 --> 01:04:12,960
But for some, using the Bible
1052
01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:16,960
as a geographical source should be approached with caution.
1053
01:04:17,079 --> 01:04:20,440
We need to be cautious with how we use the Bible texts.
1054
01:04:20,440 --> 01:04:23,679
We have to keep in mind that if this event happened,
1055
01:04:23,800 --> 01:04:27,800
it was another thousand years before it was written down.
1056
01:04:27,960 --> 01:04:29,800
And then since being written down,
1057
01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:33,200
it's passed through five, six, seven different languages
1058
01:04:33,320 --> 01:04:34,440
before it comes to us.
1059
01:04:34,559 --> 01:04:39,559
So to put too much weight on one word is a bit hazardous.
1060
01:04:39,679 --> 01:04:42,559
If we treat Sodom and the cities of the plain
1061
01:04:42,559 --> 01:04:45,960
as a crime scene, then the Bible is one source.
1062
01:04:46,079 --> 01:04:49,319
We also have archaeological evidence, we have ancient maps,
1063
01:04:49,440 --> 01:04:52,079
so we have to actually look at the whole thing like a puzzle.
1064
01:04:52,079 --> 01:04:54,199
And each piece has to be put together
1065
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:56,960
to really grasp what happened there.
1066
01:04:57,079 --> 01:05:00,319
Proponents of this new northern theory
1067
01:05:00,440 --> 01:05:03,320
are convinced somewhere in this circular plain
1068
01:05:03,320 --> 01:05:06,440
could lie the biblical city of Sodom.
1069
01:05:11,800 --> 01:05:13,560
Further evidence may lie
1070
01:05:13,679 --> 01:05:17,199
in the oldest surviving map of biblical sites,
1071
01:05:17,199 --> 01:05:18,960
the Madaba Map.
1072
01:05:19,079 --> 01:05:21,799
It dates from the sixth century CE
1073
01:05:21,800 --> 01:05:25,560
and is located in the Byzantine church of St. George
1074
01:05:25,679 --> 01:05:27,440
and Madaba, Jordan.
1075
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:31,200
We have to understand that the Byzantine period
1076
01:05:31,199 --> 01:05:34,199
was the biggest holy land tourist industry
1077
01:05:34,320 --> 01:05:35,320
ever in history
1078
01:05:35,320 --> 01:05:38,320
and so this map was on the floor of this church
1079
01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:42,440
for the singular purpose of showing people where to go.
1080
01:05:42,440 --> 01:05:44,960
The map is incomplete
1081
01:05:44,960 --> 01:05:49,960
but crucially, it features a key name, Zoar.
1082
01:05:49,960 --> 01:05:51,960
Along with Sodom, the Bible
1083
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:55,720
lists it as one of the five cities of the plain.
1084
01:05:55,960 --> 01:05:58,960
Zoar is significant because it was
1085
01:05:58,960 --> 01:06:02,960
the only city of the plain that wasn't destroyed
1086
01:06:03,000 --> 01:06:06,440
and it wasn't destroyed according to the Bible
1087
01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:08,440
because it was the city
1088
01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:12,480
to where Lot and his family escaped.
1089
01:06:13,440 --> 01:06:15,960
The map doesn't feature Sodom
1090
01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:20,000
but it does feature something else north of the Dead Sea.
1091
01:06:20,199 --> 01:06:24,439
Partially intact depictions of two cities.
1092
01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:28,679
For Dr Collins, they're key geographical markers.
1093
01:06:28,719 --> 01:06:31,439
I have a sneaking suspicion
1094
01:06:31,440 --> 01:06:34,240
that those two representations of cities
1095
01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:38,440
on the north end of the Dead Sea are Sodom and Gomorrah.
1096
01:06:39,679 --> 01:06:42,199
But if the missing piece of the map is Sodom,
1097
01:06:42,199 --> 01:06:44,480
where exactly is it?
1098
01:06:44,679 --> 01:06:49,440
In 2005, Collins and his colleagues head Jordan
1099
01:06:49,440 --> 01:06:51,679
in search of hard evidence.
1100
01:06:54,960 --> 01:06:57,440
And that was a little bit scary at first
1101
01:06:57,480 --> 01:07:01,440
because I couldn't find any map of archaeological sites
1102
01:07:01,440 --> 01:07:04,240
done by anyone in America or Europe or Israel
1103
01:07:04,440 --> 01:07:06,440
and it really bothered me.
1104
01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:08,720
I said, "What I might gonna find when I get over there?"
1105
01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:13,199
But then, at the American Center of Oriental Research,
1106
01:07:13,199 --> 01:07:15,439
a breakthrough.
1107
01:07:15,679 --> 01:07:18,679
As the team pore over maps and surveys,
1108
01:07:18,920 --> 01:07:20,480
they come across a book,
1109
01:07:20,679 --> 01:07:23,919
'The Antiquities of the Jordan Rift Valley'.
1110
01:07:23,960 --> 01:07:27,440
In it is a map showing ancient sites
1111
01:07:27,440 --> 01:07:29,679
in the Kikaar region of Jordan
1112
01:07:29,679 --> 01:07:32,199
north-east of the Dead Sea.
1113
01:07:33,199 --> 01:07:35,000
The team put boots on the ground
1114
01:07:35,199 --> 01:07:37,439
and begin a process of elimination,
1115
01:07:37,679 --> 01:07:42,000
hoping to identify the most likely site for Sodom.
1116
01:07:44,199 --> 01:07:47,480
And what did we find? 14 major archaeological sites.
1117
01:07:47,679 --> 01:07:48,960
Well, here was the problem.
1118
01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:53,679
I was only looking for four or five sites. Now I had 14.
1119
01:07:55,719 --> 01:07:58,199
Some seem to be too small, too insignificant
1120
01:07:58,679 --> 01:07:59,960
or the wrong period.
1121
01:07:59,960 --> 01:08:02,000
So we eliminated them.
1122
01:08:02,199 --> 01:08:07,199
After a week of surveying, only one candidate remained.
1123
01:08:07,199 --> 01:08:08,719
Tall el-Hammam.
1124
01:08:08,960 --> 01:08:12,960
It's situated 13km northeast of the Dead Sea.
1125
01:08:12,960 --> 01:08:15,480
The Bible had told me that Sodom should be
1126
01:08:15,679 --> 01:08:17,439
the biggest Bronze Age city
1127
01:08:17,439 --> 01:08:19,960
on the north-east side of the Dead Sea.
1128
01:08:20,199 --> 01:08:23,439
Guess what? It was just absolutely huge.
1129
01:08:23,439 --> 01:08:26,199
How in the world had people not put this on their radar?
1130
01:08:26,199 --> 01:08:27,479
Why was it not on any map?
1131
01:08:27,680 --> 01:08:32,240
After almost a decade of research, Tall el-Hammam
1132
01:08:32,439 --> 01:08:35,960
is Collins' prime suspect for Sodom.
1133
01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:39,439
I was walking down on the top of Tall el-Hammam
1134
01:08:39,439 --> 01:08:41,960
and I grabbed a handful of that sand
1135
01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:45,439
and sort of let it run down through my fingers.
1136
01:08:45,479 --> 01:08:50,959
And I said, "Someday you're gonna tell me what you know."
1137
01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:55,199
But to reveal the truth behind this ancient site,
1138
01:08:55,199 --> 01:08:57,439
he needs to start digging.
1139
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:07,440
On December 27, 2005, the team begin the excavation.
1140
01:09:07,439 --> 01:09:10,960
Initial findings reveal a colossal site
1141
01:09:11,199 --> 01:09:16,199
spanning an area of approximately 150 acres.
1142
01:09:16,199 --> 01:09:21,239
It's much larger than any other Bronze Age site in the region.
1143
01:09:22,439 --> 01:09:24,199
I was surprised -
1144
01:09:24,199 --> 01:09:28,439
I think mostly the sheer size of the site.
1145
01:09:28,439 --> 01:09:32,439
To me it was just an 'oh, wow' moment.
1146
01:09:33,000 --> 01:09:36,199
With the site larger than anyone had anticipated,
1147
01:09:36,199 --> 01:09:40,479
Collins recruits world-renowned archaeological architect
1148
01:09:40,680 --> 01:09:43,000
Dr Leen Ritmeyer to map the site.
1149
01:09:44,960 --> 01:09:47,480
I got a phone call from Dr Steve Collins
1150
01:09:47,680 --> 01:09:50,720
and he said, "Would you like to come to Jordan
1151
01:09:50,960 --> 01:09:53,680
"and see my new excavation site?
1152
01:09:53,680 --> 01:09:54,960
"I believe I found Sodom."
1153
01:09:54,960 --> 01:09:58,680
I said, "Sodom? You must be daft. It's quite impossible."
1154
01:09:58,720 --> 01:10:03,199
He said, "Just come and have a look." I said, "OK, I'll come."
1155
01:10:03,199 --> 01:10:05,439
This is site and the architecture
1156
01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:07,200
impressed me very much.
1157
01:10:07,199 --> 01:10:09,199
And so I was really interested
1158
01:10:09,239 --> 01:10:11,679
in the site from an archaeological point of view.
1159
01:10:11,680 --> 01:10:15,680
During the first few seasons of the excavations,
1160
01:10:15,680 --> 01:10:19,440
the team unearth fortified walls 5m thick.
1161
01:10:19,439 --> 01:10:22,199
And up to 12m high.
1162
01:10:22,199 --> 01:10:24,960
They also found a palace, a temple,
1163
01:10:24,960 --> 01:10:29,680
and at least two plazas and dozens of houses and streets.
1164
01:10:29,720 --> 01:10:32,680
All dating to the middle Bronze Age period
1165
01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:36,199
when Sodom is believed to have existed.
1166
01:10:36,199 --> 01:10:37,679
The middle Bronze Age
1167
01:10:37,680 --> 01:10:39,440
fortifications were stunning to me.
1168
01:10:39,439 --> 01:10:42,439
We estimate the rampart system itself
1169
01:10:42,439 --> 01:10:45,960
took somewhere between 40 and 60 million mud bricks to make.
1170
01:10:45,960 --> 01:10:49,960
It was obviously a highly centralised government
1171
01:10:49,960 --> 01:10:53,680
who could put such a project together and complete it.
1172
01:10:53,720 --> 01:10:58,199
I've worked on many archaeological excavations.
1173
01:10:58,199 --> 01:10:59,960
To have never seen
1174
01:10:59,960 --> 01:11:03,680
such a huge site as Tall el-Hammam...
1175
01:11:03,680 --> 01:11:07,200
About six times as big as the old city of Jerusalem.
1176
01:11:07,199 --> 01:11:12,199
Crucially, the team discover layers of ash throughout.
1177
01:11:12,199 --> 01:11:16,439
Ranging from half a metre to 2m thick.
1178
01:11:16,439 --> 01:11:20,239
Evidence that Tall el-Hammam was destroyed.
1179
01:11:20,439 --> 01:11:23,679
And they're convinced it was destroyed
1180
01:11:23,680 --> 01:11:25,680
in the middle Bronze Age.
1181
01:11:25,920 --> 01:11:29,440
Mixed in with that ash are pieces of pottery
1182
01:11:29,439 --> 01:11:33,239
that we can identify with that middle Bronze Age date.
1183
01:11:34,439 --> 01:11:40,239
The evidence indicates the site was burned in 1700 BCE.
1184
01:11:41,239 --> 01:11:43,960
And as Dr Silvia sifts through the ash layer,
1185
01:11:44,439 --> 01:11:47,919
a picture of a great destructive event emerges.
1186
01:11:49,199 --> 01:11:54,439
Among the ruins, they felt find a large 180kg saddle quern
1187
01:11:54,479 --> 01:11:57,679
that workers used to grind grain.
1188
01:11:57,680 --> 01:11:58,960
It's called a saddle quern
1189
01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:01,199
because you would basically would straddle it
1190
01:12:01,199 --> 01:12:03,199
like you were riding a horse and then you would
1191
01:12:03,199 --> 01:12:06,439
run your grinder back and forth like this to grind the grain.
1192
01:12:07,680 --> 01:12:10,960
But for Dr Silvia, the position of the saddle quern
1193
01:12:11,199 --> 01:12:12,439
doesn't make any sense.
1194
01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:16,200
It was literally blown off of its dirt pedestal
1195
01:12:16,199 --> 01:12:18,439
onto its side on the ground
1196
01:12:18,439 --> 01:12:21,199
in a north-easterly direction.
1197
01:12:21,439 --> 01:12:25,439
The team are intrigued by how such a large, heavy object
1198
01:12:25,439 --> 01:12:28,000
could have been blown over.
1199
01:12:28,199 --> 01:12:30,439
And it's not the only object.
1200
01:12:30,479 --> 01:12:33,679
Across the site they uncover artifacts and structures
1201
01:12:33,920 --> 01:12:36,199
that landed in the same direction,
1202
01:12:36,439 --> 01:12:40,679
seemingly pushed by some catastrophic force.
1203
01:12:40,920 --> 01:12:42,960
You find bits and pieces of pottery.
1204
01:12:42,960 --> 01:12:44,439
Everything you can imagine
1205
01:12:44,439 --> 01:12:46,199
strewn for six, seven, eight metres
1206
01:12:46,239 --> 01:12:49,439
across the floor to the northeast.
1207
01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:53,200
So everything has this directionality to it.
1208
01:12:53,239 --> 01:12:57,679
Everything inside there is churned up and full of ash
1209
01:12:57,680 --> 01:13:00,440
and pottery and broken mud bricks.
1210
01:13:00,680 --> 01:13:06,480
And everything about it is catastrophic.
1211
01:13:07,960 --> 01:13:11,680
The team has uncovered evidence of a great destructive event
1212
01:13:11,680 --> 01:13:14,440
hitting Tall el-Hammam.
1213
01:13:14,680 --> 01:13:20,200
Dr Collins calls it the Middle Bronze Destruction Event.
1214
01:13:20,199 --> 01:13:22,960
What could've caused it?
1215
01:13:27,199 --> 01:13:31,479
In 2011, the team make a chilling find.
1216
01:13:31,680 --> 01:13:33,440
We start finding human bones,
1217
01:13:33,439 --> 01:13:36,439
piece of a pelvis, piece of a kneebone.
1218
01:13:36,439 --> 01:13:37,439
Piece of a femur.
1219
01:13:37,439 --> 01:13:42,199
One of them was only existing from the mid-femur down.
1220
01:13:42,199 --> 01:13:43,679
Everything else is missing.
1221
01:13:43,680 --> 01:13:47,680
And the place where the separation occurred
1222
01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:49,440
is severely burned,
1223
01:13:49,680 --> 01:13:51,480
it's almost like they were burned off.
1224
01:13:52,960 --> 01:13:56,199
They appear to have been bodily slammed up against
1225
01:13:56,199 --> 01:13:57,960
one of the very thick walls
1226
01:13:57,960 --> 01:14:00,199
and then fell to the ground
1227
01:14:00,239 --> 01:14:03,199
and were covered in ash and in material there.
1228
01:14:04,680 --> 01:14:07,480
These were not lovingly placed burials.
1229
01:14:07,680 --> 01:14:10,920
These were people who wound up in these positions
1230
01:14:10,960 --> 01:14:16,439
by some sort of violent event.
1231
01:14:16,439 --> 01:14:20,679
In another section, they find further evidence
1232
01:14:20,680 --> 01:14:24,960
that the inhabitants were killed by an intense force.
1233
01:14:25,199 --> 01:14:28,199
In the Middle Bronze Palace area, two skulls emerged.
1234
01:14:28,439 --> 01:14:32,199
We have no lower jaw bones on either one.
1235
01:14:32,199 --> 01:14:36,679
One we have the entire skull and it is smashed down.
1236
01:14:38,199 --> 01:14:40,439
One has a piece of pelvis right here
1237
01:14:40,479 --> 01:14:43,199
next to the fragments of the skull.
1238
01:14:44,960 --> 01:14:48,439
They are literally blown to bits.
1239
01:14:49,439 --> 01:14:54,960
For Collins, the location of the skulls is key.
1240
01:14:54,960 --> 01:14:57,680
We are 8m down and a meter deep
1241
01:14:57,720 --> 01:14:59,680
in the destruction matrix.
1242
01:14:59,720 --> 01:15:01,680
There is no doubt, zero doubt
1243
01:15:01,920 --> 01:15:03,680
that these two individuals,
1244
01:15:03,720 --> 01:15:05,680
these two skulls' fragments
1245
01:15:05,680 --> 01:15:09,440
belong to the Middle Bronze Destruction Event itself.
1246
01:15:11,479 --> 01:15:13,679
The body is just not designed
1247
01:15:13,680 --> 01:15:15,200
to stand up to that kind of force
1248
01:15:15,199 --> 01:15:18,920
and it's both shocking, it's both traumatising
1249
01:15:18,960 --> 01:15:21,439
but on the other hand, as an engineer,
1250
01:15:21,680 --> 01:15:25,680
as a scientist, it's absolutely fascinating.
1251
01:15:28,680 --> 01:15:31,240
The team believes they are getting closer to discovering
1252
01:15:31,439 --> 01:15:32,679
what destroyed this city.
1253
01:15:32,680 --> 01:15:35,480
But so far, nothing conclusive
1254
01:15:35,680 --> 01:15:38,680
which tells them this might be biblical Sodom.
1255
01:15:40,199 --> 01:15:43,000
But the more they excavate, the clearer it becomes
1256
01:15:43,199 --> 01:15:46,960
that they are dealing with a monumental site.
1257
01:15:47,000 --> 01:15:48,960
Along the outside of the city,
1258
01:15:48,960 --> 01:15:52,439
they uncover the foundations of a much larger structure.
1259
01:15:52,479 --> 01:15:55,439
A 3m-thick wall.
1260
01:15:56,960 --> 01:16:00,960
We asked them to dig a bit to the further to the east
1261
01:16:00,960 --> 01:16:05,680
and I found the beginning of another wall coming out,
1262
01:16:05,680 --> 01:16:07,440
same type of bricks.
1263
01:16:07,439 --> 01:16:11,199
And as the other one was 3m wide, I kind of paced it out.
1264
01:16:11,199 --> 01:16:15,199
But then it clicked to me, we've got here a massive tower
1265
01:16:15,199 --> 01:16:17,960
extending out from the city wall.
1266
01:16:18,199 --> 01:16:22,199
Dr Ritmeyer and the team have just come across the ruins
1267
01:16:22,239 --> 01:16:25,199
of a colossal gateway complex.
1268
01:16:25,439 --> 01:16:29,199
21m wide, and 14m high
1269
01:16:29,199 --> 01:16:33,439
with towers on either side and up to six chambers.
1270
01:16:33,680 --> 01:16:36,680
The Tall el-Hammam Team
1271
01:16:36,720 --> 01:16:40,440
are gradually unearthing the secrets of a vast metropolis
1272
01:16:40,439 --> 01:16:44,919
spanning an area approximately 150 acres
1273
01:16:44,960 --> 01:16:50,480
with an estimated population of up to 65,000 inhabitants.
1274
01:16:53,199 --> 01:16:57,199
It had all the features of a major, major city centre.
1275
01:16:57,199 --> 01:17:03,199
With its palaces, its temples, its residential areas,
1276
01:17:03,239 --> 01:17:08,199
its streets, its massive fortifications,
1277
01:17:08,199 --> 01:17:12,679
its satellite towns, its massive agricultural areas
1278
01:17:12,920 --> 01:17:14,960
that it could take advantage of.
1279
01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:19,680
It had everything to make it great.
1280
01:17:19,680 --> 01:17:21,960
And this is what the Bible describes
1281
01:17:21,960 --> 01:17:24,199
and this is what the archaeology confirms.
1282
01:17:26,199 --> 01:17:29,960
If fits the geographical clues in terms of location,
1283
01:17:30,000 --> 01:17:34,439
it fits the timeframe in terms of its occupation history.
1284
01:17:34,439 --> 01:17:38,719
To me, I don't see what other conclusion you can come to.
1285
01:17:38,960 --> 01:17:41,680
But if they want to convince the wider community
1286
01:17:41,720 --> 01:17:44,960
that Tall el-Hammam is biblical Sodom,
1287
01:17:45,000 --> 01:17:48,000
then their work is far from over.
1288
01:17:48,199 --> 01:17:51,439
I have to say the site is really interesting.
1289
01:17:51,479 --> 01:17:55,679
It's the interpretation of the site that I find problematic.
1290
01:17:55,680 --> 01:17:57,440
So much more work needs to be done
1291
01:17:57,439 --> 01:17:59,960
before we can understand the site.
1292
01:18:00,199 --> 01:18:02,439
The site in context and its importance.
1293
01:18:02,479 --> 01:18:05,199
But also, what destroyed it.
1294
01:18:07,680 --> 01:18:12,720
Whether or not Tall el-Hammam is Sodom remains to be seen
1295
01:18:12,960 --> 01:18:15,439
but what's clear from the team's findings
1296
01:18:15,439 --> 01:18:18,439
is there once existed a large and thriving civilisation
1297
01:18:18,439 --> 01:18:20,199
in this area.
1298
01:18:20,199 --> 01:18:21,199
In Tall el-Hammam,
1299
01:18:21,239 --> 01:18:23,960
we got a very definite layout of the city.
1300
01:18:24,000 --> 01:18:26,680
Then you got the lower city and upper city.
1301
01:18:26,920 --> 01:18:28,440
The lower city where the common people,
1302
01:18:28,479 --> 01:18:29,959
and you had the upper city
1303
01:18:29,960 --> 01:18:32,439
which had its own separate defence system.
1304
01:18:32,439 --> 01:18:34,679
It was a totally secluded area
1305
01:18:34,680 --> 01:18:38,200
used by the King to have his palace and his royal officials.
1306
01:18:38,199 --> 01:18:42,199
Artifacts found throughout Tall el-Hammam have
1307
01:18:42,199 --> 01:18:46,679
helped the team decipher how people lived during this time.
1308
01:18:46,680 --> 01:18:49,440
Most of the houses are mudbrick houses.
1309
01:18:49,439 --> 01:18:54,679
And the houses themselves are often multigenerational houses.
1310
01:18:54,680 --> 01:18:55,960
You've got quite a few rooms
1311
01:18:56,199 --> 01:18:57,439
built around a central courtyard.
1312
01:18:59,439 --> 01:19:05,199
They had an awning overhead and that's where they baked bread,
1313
01:19:05,199 --> 01:19:07,720
where they roasted or chickens or whatever they were eating,
1314
01:19:07,960 --> 01:19:11,199
and the women used to grind the flour.
1315
01:19:11,199 --> 01:19:13,239
All that took place in the courtyard.
1316
01:19:13,439 --> 01:19:16,719
That was the kind of the life of the house.
1317
01:19:17,439 --> 01:19:22,679
We have a city that lasts for 3000 years without a hiccup.
1318
01:19:22,680 --> 01:19:24,200
Things are pretty much operating
1319
01:19:24,199 --> 01:19:25,439
like a well-oiled machine.
1320
01:19:27,199 --> 01:19:30,000
But then, according to the evidence,
1321
01:19:30,199 --> 01:19:32,199
somewhere around 1700 BCE,
1322
01:19:32,239 --> 01:19:34,679
during the Middle Bronze Age,
1323
01:19:34,680 --> 01:19:38,920
the city of Tall el-Hammam was violently destroyed.
1324
01:19:38,960 --> 01:19:44,199
What was behind its catastrophic demise?
1325
01:19:44,199 --> 01:19:46,679
Could the answer provide a clue
1326
01:19:46,680 --> 01:19:50,200
as to whether this is the original city of sin?
1327
01:19:54,439 --> 01:19:57,000
At the site, archaeologists have found evidence
1328
01:19:57,199 --> 01:20:01,679
of scorched walls and floors buried beneath piles of ash.
1329
01:20:01,920 --> 01:20:05,440
Burned pottery shards, as well as charred human remains
1330
01:20:05,439 --> 01:20:09,199
they believe were blown around by some concussive force.
1331
01:20:10,680 --> 01:20:14,440
For them, the evidence matches the biblical account
1332
01:20:14,439 --> 01:20:17,439
of fire and brimstone destroying Sodom.
1333
01:20:17,479 --> 01:20:20,199
But what could cause this?
1334
01:20:20,239 --> 01:20:23,439
If you're looking at evidence from Tall el-Hammam
1335
01:20:23,680 --> 01:20:25,200
it's reasonable to wonder
1336
01:20:25,239 --> 01:20:29,439
whether this is a consequence of a huge volcanic event.
1337
01:20:29,680 --> 01:20:34,960
Was Tall el-Hammam destroyed by a volcano?
1338
01:20:35,199 --> 01:20:37,439
In recent decades, experts have found evidence
1339
01:20:37,439 --> 01:20:40,919
of a volcanic flow of ancient lava
1340
01:20:40,960 --> 01:20:43,920
in the hills northeast of the Dead Sea.
1341
01:20:43,960 --> 01:20:48,439
Whilst 1/6th of Jordan is covered in hardened lava,
1342
01:20:48,439 --> 01:20:49,960
known as basalt.
1343
01:20:50,680 --> 01:20:52,960
MAN: There's lots and lots of basalt rock
1344
01:20:52,960 --> 01:20:54,439
in that part of the Dead Sea.
1345
01:20:54,479 --> 01:20:57,439
That's because that area is very geologically active.
1346
01:20:57,439 --> 01:20:59,960
Its had volcanism throughout much of its history.
1347
01:21:00,199 --> 01:21:03,199
But there is a problem with the theory.
1348
01:21:03,199 --> 01:21:07,439
There's no volcano close to the site of Tall el-Hammam.
1349
01:21:08,479 --> 01:21:11,199
To get volcanic activity, you don't need to have
1350
01:21:11,199 --> 01:21:14,439
a triangular volcanic mountain spewing out lots of lava
1351
01:21:14,439 --> 01:21:15,919
or even a dormant volcano,
1352
01:21:15,960 --> 01:21:19,680
what you need is a heat source underneath the surface
1353
01:21:19,920 --> 01:21:20,960
with molten rock
1354
01:21:21,199 --> 01:21:22,960
and you need pathways to the surface
1355
01:21:22,960 --> 01:21:24,680
by which that heat can get out,
1356
01:21:24,720 --> 01:21:26,960
and that's what we call a volcanic system.
1357
01:21:27,199 --> 01:21:29,960
So you can have a volcanic systems that are not invisible
1358
01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:31,960
but they're pretty hard to detect.
1359
01:21:31,960 --> 01:21:36,439
Despite evidence of ancient lava-flow in this region,
1360
01:21:36,680 --> 01:21:39,200
many reject the idea that this is responsible
1361
01:21:39,439 --> 01:21:41,960
for the destruction of the site.
1362
01:21:43,680 --> 01:21:46,680
There's just not enough of the material, you know?
1363
01:21:46,720 --> 01:21:49,960
You'd need a really significant amount of ash
1364
01:21:50,199 --> 01:21:53,199
to really cause the abandonment of a city.
1365
01:21:54,960 --> 01:21:58,199
And from what we can see, there doesn't seem to be enough.
1366
01:21:58,199 --> 01:22:02,720
But there is another natural event that could be to blame.
1367
01:22:02,960 --> 01:22:04,480
Now, if somebody told me
1368
01:22:04,680 --> 01:22:05,960
"OK, I've got the city ruins
1369
01:22:06,439 --> 01:22:07,919
"and they've been collapsed,
1370
01:22:07,960 --> 01:22:09,960
"obviously the buildings have toppled down
1371
01:22:09,960 --> 01:22:12,680
"and there's lots of evidence of fire happening."
1372
01:22:12,920 --> 01:22:13,960
I'd have probably gone,
1373
01:22:13,960 --> 01:22:17,199
"That sounds to me like it's probably an earthquake."
1374
01:22:18,199 --> 01:22:20,720
So what happens to tectonic plates during an earthquake
1375
01:22:20,960 --> 01:22:23,680
is that you got these two plates and they're moving
1376
01:22:23,680 --> 01:22:25,680
but at the boundary between the two of them,
1377
01:22:25,680 --> 01:22:27,200
they're stuck, they're snagged,
1378
01:22:27,199 --> 01:22:29,239
there's friction and the stress builds up.
1379
01:22:29,439 --> 01:22:30,960
It builds up and builds up
1380
01:22:30,960 --> 01:22:32,920
until at some point, it can't take it any longer,
1381
01:22:32,960 --> 01:22:35,199
and it just moves, it displaces.
1382
01:22:35,439 --> 01:22:37,199
And that generates a whole lot of energy,
1383
01:22:37,439 --> 01:22:39,199
a whole lot of friction or heat and noise.
1384
01:22:39,239 --> 01:22:41,960
That's the seismic waves that grow
1385
01:22:41,960 --> 01:22:45,239
and that essentially is the earthquake.
1386
01:22:45,239 --> 01:22:49,239
Could an earthquake have made the ground drastically shift
1387
01:22:49,239 --> 01:22:52,000
and caused the collapse of Tall el-Hammam?
1388
01:22:53,960 --> 01:22:56,520
So when the fault line moves, it can move vertically
1389
01:22:56,600 --> 01:22:57,880
or it can move horizontally,
1390
01:22:57,960 --> 01:22:59,439
or it can move a combination of the two.
1391
01:22:59,439 --> 01:23:01,439
And in the Dead Sea rift zone,
1392
01:23:01,439 --> 01:23:03,479
it tends to be a combination of the two.
1393
01:23:03,560 --> 01:23:05,440
That's what shook the buildings,
1394
01:23:05,439 --> 01:23:06,799
caused them to collapse
1395
01:23:06,880 --> 01:23:08,800
and maybe set off a chain reaction of fire,
1396
01:23:08,880 --> 01:23:09,960
maybe a kiln was on,
1397
01:23:09,960 --> 01:23:11,800
the rest of the roofs in the city burned,
1398
01:23:11,880 --> 01:23:13,400
and that's what had happened.
1399
01:23:13,439 --> 01:23:15,960
But for the Tall el-Hammam team,
1400
01:23:16,000 --> 01:23:18,840
the evidence they found at the site
1401
01:23:18,920 --> 01:23:21,880
suggests an earthquake can't be to blame.
1402
01:23:21,960 --> 01:23:26,439
When you got earthquake, the ground moves back and forth.
1403
01:23:26,439 --> 01:23:29,439
We are in a north/south strike slip zone
1404
01:23:29,479 --> 01:23:31,959
in the region around Tall el-Hammam
1405
01:23:32,039 --> 01:23:34,439
so when you have earthquakes there,
1406
01:23:34,439 --> 01:23:36,839
things tend to move north and south.
1407
01:23:36,920 --> 01:23:39,840
And so walls tend to fall in both directions
1408
01:23:39,920 --> 01:23:42,520
but all of the material evidence we're finding
1409
01:23:42,600 --> 01:23:44,560
is pushed to the north-east.
1410
01:23:44,800 --> 01:23:46,440
And only to the north-east.
1411
01:23:46,439 --> 01:23:48,439
It's very mono-directional.
1412
01:23:48,439 --> 01:23:51,479
Crucially, the team make another discovery
1413
01:23:51,560 --> 01:23:56,039
which suggests that the site remained unoccupied
1414
01:23:56,119 --> 01:23:58,960
for approximately 700 years
1415
01:23:58,960 --> 01:24:01,039
during the late Bronze Age period.
1416
01:24:01,119 --> 01:24:04,439
In that region, one of our primary means of telling time
1417
01:24:04,439 --> 01:24:05,960
is through pottery evidence.
1418
01:24:06,000 --> 01:24:09,319
We just do not have pottery in the region
1419
01:24:09,399 --> 01:24:12,920
that covers the entire late Bronze period.
1420
01:24:12,960 --> 01:24:14,000
There's virtually none.
1421
01:24:14,079 --> 01:24:17,439
And the second thing that you would look for is
1422
01:24:17,479 --> 01:24:19,439
is there any architecture?
1423
01:24:19,479 --> 01:24:23,559
There was a brief single building that we believe
1424
01:24:24,039 --> 01:24:27,319
was a toll house or a waystation
1425
01:24:27,399 --> 01:24:28,519
during that period
1426
01:24:28,600 --> 01:24:30,960
that lasted maybe a decade or two.
1427
01:24:31,000 --> 01:24:33,439
So between the pottery, between the architecture,
1428
01:24:33,520 --> 01:24:34,440
nobody was home.
1429
01:24:34,520 --> 01:24:37,480
They just migrated through.
1430
01:24:37,560 --> 01:24:39,880
The team have uncovered evidence
1431
01:24:39,960 --> 01:24:42,399
of a thriving middle Bronze Age city,
1432
01:24:42,439 --> 01:24:44,879
destroyed by a violent event,
1433
01:24:44,960 --> 01:24:47,439
followed by a 700-year period
1434
01:24:47,439 --> 01:24:50,439
where the site remained largely abandoned.
1435
01:24:50,520 --> 01:24:54,120
For them, the location of Tall el-Hammam
1436
01:24:54,359 --> 01:24:58,039
and its scale indicates it could be Sodom.
1437
01:24:58,119 --> 01:25:00,479
But they are no closer to explaining
1438
01:25:00,560 --> 01:25:03,520
the cause for its catastrophic demise.
1439
01:25:05,479 --> 01:25:08,439
Then, in 2011
1440
01:25:08,439 --> 01:25:11,879
whilst excavating a section of the upper city,
1441
01:25:11,960 --> 01:25:16,960
Dr Collins' team make an extraordinary discovery.
1442
01:25:17,000 --> 01:25:19,560
When the excavators of that square called me over,
1443
01:25:19,800 --> 01:25:21,920
they said, "You have to come and look at this."
1444
01:25:21,960 --> 01:25:26,600
They found a piece of pottery in the middle Bronze Age layer.
1445
01:25:26,840 --> 01:25:30,840
Thousands are scattered throughout the site.
1446
01:25:30,920 --> 01:25:33,319
But this piece is different.
1447
01:25:33,800 --> 01:25:38,560
On one side, the fragment looks like regular Bronze Age pottery,
1448
01:25:38,800 --> 01:25:43,079
but on the other, the surface is green and glasslike.
1449
01:25:43,319 --> 01:25:48,599
It looks like one side of it is superficially melted,
1450
01:25:48,840 --> 01:25:50,960
it's just lapping over the edge ever so slightly.
1451
01:25:51,039 --> 01:25:56,840
For Dr Collins, it looks like a piece of glazed Islamic pottery.
1452
01:25:56,920 --> 01:25:59,520
But this form of pottery wasn't produced until
1453
01:25:59,600 --> 01:26:04,039
thousands of years after the destruction of Tall el-Hammam.
1454
01:26:04,119 --> 01:26:07,399
Collins is intrigued by the find.
1455
01:26:07,439 --> 01:26:09,599
The fragment looks as though
1456
01:26:09,840 --> 01:26:12,039
it's time-travelled from a later era.
1457
01:26:12,119 --> 01:26:16,519
What in the world is a piece of glazed pottery
1458
01:26:16,600 --> 01:26:19,440
doing down here this deep?
1459
01:26:19,520 --> 01:26:21,440
Could it offer any clues
1460
01:26:21,479 --> 01:26:25,879
for the cause of Tall el-Hammam's destruction?
1461
01:26:28,960 --> 01:26:32,319
Collins takes the strange-looking piece of pottery
1462
01:26:32,399 --> 01:26:36,359
for analysis at the US Geological Survey Laboratory
1463
01:26:36,439 --> 01:26:38,039
in New Mexico.
1464
01:26:38,119 --> 01:26:40,519
When the results come back,
1465
01:26:40,600 --> 01:26:44,440
they are quite literally out of this world.
1466
01:26:44,479 --> 01:26:46,959
We know that now from the tests
1467
01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:51,960
everything about this melted surface of pottery shard
1468
01:26:52,000 --> 01:26:55,920
is physically identical to trinitite.
1469
01:26:55,960 --> 01:27:00,039
The word 'trinitite' comes from the codename
1470
01:27:00,119 --> 01:27:03,840
'Trinity' using the first ever detonation of a nuclear bomb.
1471
01:27:05,079 --> 01:27:07,559
The test took place on 16 July, 1945
1472
01:27:07,800 --> 01:27:12,440
in the Jornada del Muerto Desert, New Mexico.
1473
01:27:13,319 --> 01:27:15,119
When the Trinity bomb was detonated,
1474
01:27:15,359 --> 01:27:20,599
it released the equivalent of 21,000 tonnes of TNT.
1475
01:27:20,840 --> 01:27:22,960
That's actually slightly more than
1476
01:27:22,960 --> 01:27:26,600
the nuclear bomb they dropped in Hiroshima in WWII.
1477
01:27:28,960 --> 01:27:31,359
In the aftermath of the explosion,
1478
01:27:31,439 --> 01:27:33,599
scientists noticed a strange substance
1479
01:27:33,840 --> 01:27:35,960
all across the surface of the desert.
1480
01:27:36,960 --> 01:27:41,600
When the bomb exploded, it sent out a big fireball
1481
01:27:41,840 --> 01:27:43,400
and that creates a huge mushroom cloud,
1482
01:27:43,439 --> 01:27:44,960
a big up-rush
1483
01:27:44,960 --> 01:27:47,439
and it took a whole load of the sand up in there
1484
01:27:47,479 --> 01:27:48,959
and that basically melted
1485
01:27:49,000 --> 01:27:50,920
because of the immense heat,
1486
01:27:50,960 --> 01:27:54,439
and then rained back down onto the desert
1487
01:27:54,439 --> 01:27:56,319
which cooled really quickly
1488
01:27:56,399 --> 01:27:58,960
and then formed this glassy trinitite.
1489
01:28:00,399 --> 01:28:02,479
The melted glasslike surface of the sand
1490
01:28:02,560 --> 01:28:07,440
is similar to that found on the pottery shard at Tall el-Hammam.
1491
01:28:07,479 --> 01:28:12,439
When it's analyzed further, experts discover something else.
1492
01:28:12,520 --> 01:28:14,920
Zircon.
1493
01:28:15,840 --> 01:28:17,960
Zircon is a naturally occurring mineral
1494
01:28:18,000 --> 01:28:20,880
that you can find in rocks pretty much all over the world.
1495
01:28:20,960 --> 01:28:23,319
Looking at zircon under a microscope,
1496
01:28:23,399 --> 01:28:26,439
what you'll see is a crystal-like structure
1497
01:28:26,439 --> 01:28:31,439
and very regular with very sharp, jagged edges, basically.
1498
01:28:31,439 --> 01:28:36,439
But the zircon inside this piece of pottery is different.
1499
01:28:36,479 --> 01:28:41,439
This zircon was actually a lot smoother, more like a teardrop.
1500
01:28:41,520 --> 01:28:45,000
Experts conclude that the zircon in this fragment
1501
01:28:45,079 --> 01:28:47,920
must've undergone an extreme process
1502
01:28:47,960 --> 01:28:50,920
to create such a strange shape.
1503
01:28:50,960 --> 01:28:53,319
It suggests that this zircon
1504
01:28:53,399 --> 01:28:55,599
had been heated up to a really high temperature
1505
01:28:55,840 --> 01:29:00,440
such that it even melted and then it cooled very quickly,
1506
01:29:00,439 --> 01:29:05,000
because otherwise you get the more regular-looking zircon
1507
01:29:05,079 --> 01:29:08,600
that usually takes thousands of years to cool down.
1508
01:29:08,840 --> 01:29:12,960
The fragment must have been subjected to extreme heat
1509
01:29:12,960 --> 01:29:15,439
for it to have melted this way.
1510
01:29:15,439 --> 01:29:20,439
A normal fire will burn at somewhere between 602,000°C.
1511
01:29:20,439 --> 01:29:22,319
For zircon to melt, though,
1512
01:29:22,399 --> 01:29:25,960
you're talking at least 4000°C there.
1513
01:29:26,000 --> 01:29:29,960
That's over double the hottest fires.
1514
01:29:30,000 --> 01:29:34,439
Now, the surface of the sun is about 4000°.
1515
01:29:34,439 --> 01:29:37,319
So you're talking about temperatures
1516
01:29:37,399 --> 01:29:39,559
equal to the surface of the sun.
1517
01:29:39,800 --> 01:29:42,360
And as the excavation continues,
1518
01:29:42,439 --> 01:29:45,039
the team unearth more and more pieces
1519
01:29:45,119 --> 01:29:47,039
of extreme heat-blasted pottery.
1520
01:29:47,119 --> 01:29:50,800
Every place we've excavated across the site,
1521
01:29:50,880 --> 01:29:52,920
we have found indicators of these high-heat events.
1522
01:29:53,479 --> 01:29:56,000
Every place we find bits and pieces.
1523
01:29:56,079 --> 01:29:58,439
What kind of thing could do that?
1524
01:30:01,399 --> 01:30:03,000
From the evidence at this ancient site,
1525
01:30:03,079 --> 01:30:05,479
we know there must have been incredible temperatures,
1526
01:30:05,560 --> 01:30:07,360
much hotter than a regular fire.
1527
01:30:07,439 --> 01:30:11,039
And it created a substance very similar to trinitite,
1528
01:30:11,119 --> 01:30:14,079
but of course there weren't nuclear bombs back then
1529
01:30:14,319 --> 01:30:15,840
so what could've caused this?
1530
01:30:15,920 --> 01:30:19,440
Well, one possible option is a meteor.
1531
01:30:19,439 --> 01:30:23,519
Now, at our site, there is no crater on the ground
1532
01:30:23,600 --> 01:30:25,960
for us to point to and look at and say. "Ah-ha!
1533
01:30:26,039 --> 01:30:28,439
"Here's the conclusive evidence that we had
1534
01:30:28,479 --> 01:30:31,959
"some kind of astral body coming in and hitting us."
1535
01:30:31,960 --> 01:30:33,000
We don't have that.
1536
01:30:33,079 --> 01:30:35,880
But meteors don't need to make impact
1537
01:30:35,960 --> 01:30:39,079
to unleash their destructive power on earth.
1538
01:30:39,319 --> 01:30:42,559
An incredible concussive force
1539
01:30:42,800 --> 01:30:44,960
and a blast of high-intensity heat
1540
01:30:44,960 --> 01:30:47,359
can result from a rare cosmic phenomenon
1541
01:30:47,439 --> 01:30:50,000
known as a meteor airburst.
1542
01:30:50,079 --> 01:30:52,079
An airburst can be
1543
01:30:52,319 --> 01:30:56,880
when a meteor in the Earth's atmosphere
1544
01:30:56,960 --> 01:30:59,960
explodes in the air before it's hit the ground.
1545
01:31:00,800 --> 01:31:03,920
The damage on the ground from the explosion
1546
01:31:03,960 --> 01:31:05,439
can be devastating.
1547
01:31:05,439 --> 01:31:07,960
Firstly, you've got this really hot rock,
1548
01:31:07,960 --> 01:31:09,399
the meteor, in the air,
1549
01:31:09,439 --> 01:31:10,960
that's radiating heat
1550
01:31:10,960 --> 01:31:12,960
that can set things ablaze.
1551
01:31:13,439 --> 01:31:15,479
Now, when it explodes, you've got the big shockwave,
1552
01:31:15,560 --> 01:31:17,920
and that can also take temperature with it,
1553
01:31:17,960 --> 01:31:19,439
so you can feel a heat rush.
1554
01:31:19,439 --> 01:31:21,799
The amount of devastation you're going to see
1555
01:31:21,880 --> 01:31:25,000
really depends on the size of the rock.
1556
01:31:25,079 --> 01:31:28,000
Bigger meteor, more destruction.
1557
01:31:29,800 --> 01:31:31,920
Meteor airbursts are rare
1558
01:31:31,960 --> 01:31:35,359
but they have occurred in recent history.
1559
01:31:35,439 --> 01:31:40,439
In 1908, in a remote, uninhabited region of Siberia,
1560
01:31:40,520 --> 01:31:44,440
and airburst is believed to have wiped out an area
1561
01:31:44,479 --> 01:31:46,359
larger than Los Angeles.
1562
01:31:46,439 --> 01:31:51,000
An eyewitness described the sky appearing to split into,
1563
01:31:51,079 --> 01:31:53,439
and being covered with fire.
1564
01:31:53,439 --> 01:31:57,960
It destroyed about 80 million trees.
1565
01:31:59,119 --> 01:32:01,359
In the nearest town, about 60km away
1566
01:32:01,439 --> 01:32:04,319
residents could feel the heat of the blast,
1567
01:32:04,399 --> 01:32:06,119
windows smashed and the buildings
1568
01:32:06,359 --> 01:32:08,960
and some people were even knocked off their feet
1569
01:32:08,960 --> 01:32:11,439
because of the force of the airburst strike.
1570
01:32:11,439 --> 01:32:14,479
It would have felt like the end of days.
1571
01:32:14,560 --> 01:32:19,920
More recently, in 2013, cameras caught the moment an airburst
1572
01:32:19,960 --> 01:32:23,960
exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk in southern Russia.
1573
01:32:23,960 --> 01:32:27,960
1500 people suffered injuries
1574
01:32:27,960 --> 01:32:30,439
and thousands of buildings were damaged.
1575
01:32:30,439 --> 01:32:32,000
The team at Tall el-Hammam
1576
01:32:32,079 --> 01:32:36,119
believe that the evidence they found points to an airburst
1577
01:32:36,359 --> 01:32:40,039
which left a path of destruction in its wake.
1578
01:32:40,119 --> 01:32:44,079
What we're looking at is a very large site
1579
01:32:44,319 --> 01:32:45,439
that was literally
1580
01:32:45,479 --> 01:32:50,359
the buildings blown off of their foundations.
1581
01:32:50,439 --> 01:32:55,359
Artefacts, the pottery, the tools that they were using
1582
01:32:55,439 --> 01:32:58,439
are shattered and this basically
1583
01:32:58,439 --> 01:33:01,960
vaporises and incinerates everything in its path.
1584
01:33:02,000 --> 01:33:05,359
And what we see is that all of that ash
1585
01:33:05,439 --> 01:33:06,839
and all of that material is blown
1586
01:33:06,920 --> 01:33:08,440
into a north-easterly direction.
1587
01:33:08,479 --> 01:33:12,959
The only known source of the kind of concussive profile
1588
01:33:13,000 --> 01:33:14,840
that we're seen in the evidence
1589
01:33:14,920 --> 01:33:16,119
of the kind of thermal profile
1590
01:33:16,359 --> 01:33:20,439
that we're seeing is a meteoritic airburst.
1591
01:33:37,800 --> 01:33:42,520
As for the 700-year gap in habitation at Tall el-Hammam,
1592
01:33:42,600 --> 01:33:46,880
Dr Silvia leaves this is the direct result of the airburst
1593
01:33:46,960 --> 01:33:51,840
as it explodes over the Dead Sea, just 13km away.
1594
01:33:51,920 --> 01:33:54,800
If you have an airburst event over water,
1595
01:33:54,880 --> 01:33:58,440
it will actually produce a tsunami effect
1596
01:33:58,439 --> 01:34:01,079
where a wave will be pushed across the landscape.
1597
01:34:01,319 --> 01:34:05,799
You have a very high volume of now superheated brine spray
1598
01:34:05,880 --> 01:34:06,960
of Dead Sea water
1599
01:34:07,000 --> 01:34:09,960
that's travelling with the blast front,
1600
01:34:10,359 --> 01:34:15,319
well, that 700-year gap I believe is best explained
1601
01:34:15,399 --> 01:34:17,960
by the poisoning of the soil with Dead Sea water
1602
01:34:17,960 --> 01:34:20,600
that left behind a very high salt concentration.
1603
01:34:20,840 --> 01:34:24,440
It's possible the high salt content of the Dead Sea water
1604
01:34:24,439 --> 01:34:26,919
would've rendered the land infertile
1605
01:34:26,960 --> 01:34:28,119
for a number of centuries.
1606
01:34:29,479 --> 01:34:34,039
It was impossible to grow any cereal grains,
1607
01:34:34,119 --> 01:34:35,960
and if you can't grow cereal grains,
1608
01:34:35,960 --> 01:34:39,039
you can't support cattle, you can't support people,
1609
01:34:39,119 --> 01:34:41,439
you just cannot support a civilisation
1610
01:34:41,439 --> 01:34:43,479
moving back into the area.
1611
01:34:44,840 --> 01:34:48,079
The science is clear, the analysis is clear.
1612
01:34:48,319 --> 01:34:51,359
And the evidence is mounting.
1613
01:34:51,439 --> 01:34:52,359
I'm not saying
1614
01:34:52,439 --> 01:34:53,960
that we absolutely have it nailed down yet,
1615
01:34:54,000 --> 01:34:58,960
but we know that all the indicators that we have
1616
01:34:58,960 --> 01:35:02,439
are consistent with and airburst.
1617
01:35:02,479 --> 01:35:05,439
For the archaeologists, the destruction of Tall el-Hammam
1618
01:35:05,479 --> 01:35:07,399
by meteor airburst
1619
01:35:07,439 --> 01:35:09,319
provides a striking match
1620
01:35:09,399 --> 01:35:11,960
to the biblical destruction of Sodom.
1621
01:35:11,960 --> 01:35:15,520
Fire and brimstone rained from above,
1622
01:35:15,600 --> 01:35:17,480
destroying the city and its people,
1623
01:35:17,560 --> 01:35:20,560
leaving the surrounding region uninhabitable.
1624
01:35:20,800 --> 01:35:24,520
But not everyone is convinced.
1625
01:35:24,600 --> 01:35:28,800
A meteoritic event is very rare.
1626
01:35:28,880 --> 01:35:30,440
They do happen but they're very rare.
1627
01:35:30,439 --> 01:35:33,359
I think before you can jump to conclusions
1628
01:35:33,439 --> 01:35:36,119
and people can start suggesting that,
1629
01:35:36,359 --> 01:35:38,399
you need more evidence,
1630
01:35:38,439 --> 01:35:40,839
and I think, actually, an event like that would
1631
01:35:40,920 --> 01:35:44,840
have a signature much wider and in the environmental record,
1632
01:35:44,920 --> 01:35:46,440
so we need to look there.
1633
01:35:50,840 --> 01:35:53,840
Since 2005, Dr Collins and his team
1634
01:35:53,920 --> 01:35:56,920
have excavated at Tall el-Hammam.
1635
01:35:56,960 --> 01:35:59,880
They've made a truly astonishing find,
1636
01:35:59,960 --> 01:36:03,039
the remains of a thriving, vast metropolis
1637
01:36:03,119 --> 01:36:05,399
north-east of the Dead Sea,
1638
01:36:05,439 --> 01:36:10,479
which they believe matches the biblical description of Sodom.
1639
01:36:10,560 --> 01:36:14,400
Crucially, for Collins, the discovery and analysis
1640
01:36:14,439 --> 01:36:16,799
of Tall el-Hammam's destruction
1641
01:36:16,880 --> 01:36:19,079
provides a close match to the biblical account
1642
01:36:19,319 --> 01:36:21,960
of the destruction of Sodom.
1643
01:36:22,039 --> 01:36:23,800
People often ask me how certain I am
1644
01:36:23,880 --> 01:36:25,960
that Tall el-Hamman is Sodom.
1645
01:36:25,960 --> 01:36:28,319
It's become very certain to me
1646
01:36:28,399 --> 01:36:29,879
that there is no other possibility.
1647
01:36:29,960 --> 01:36:33,960
It's in the right place, it is in exactly the right timeframe,
1648
01:36:33,960 --> 01:36:37,119
it has the right stuff, it has the right destruction event.
1649
01:36:37,359 --> 01:36:40,960
When Steve Collins first asked me to come to the dig
1650
01:36:40,960 --> 01:36:45,439
and he said that he thought that this may be Sodom,
1651
01:36:45,439 --> 01:36:47,319
I was very sceptical.
1652
01:36:47,399 --> 01:36:50,439
I believe the Bible, I think that that's serious.
1653
01:36:50,520 --> 01:36:55,000
But I don't dig with the Bible in my hand, as it were.
1654
01:36:55,079 --> 01:36:58,960
The size, the location, the way Sodom was destroyed,
1655
01:36:58,960 --> 01:37:02,560
and my own reading again, the original text,
1656
01:37:02,800 --> 01:37:08,480
made me now convinced that Tall el-Hammam is Sodom.
1657
01:37:09,560 --> 01:37:12,440
But the team still face scrutiny
1658
01:37:12,439 --> 01:37:15,519
from the wider archaeological community.
1659
01:37:15,600 --> 01:37:18,480
We know that meteorites strike the earth
1660
01:37:18,560 --> 01:37:21,960
so is this possible? Sure.
1661
01:37:22,039 --> 01:37:28,039
Is this is also a pretty speculative reaching
1662
01:37:28,439 --> 01:37:30,519
for a possible explanation
1663
01:37:30,600 --> 01:37:34,000
that kind of matches the story in the Bible
1664
01:37:34,079 --> 01:37:38,039
to explain the destruction of what you want to be Sodom?
1665
01:37:38,119 --> 01:37:40,840
Yeah, it looks like that as well.
1666
01:37:41,359 --> 01:37:44,000
Cynics want to suggest that the airburst theory
1667
01:37:44,079 --> 01:37:46,439
for the destruction of Tall el-Hammam
1668
01:37:46,479 --> 01:37:50,439
is just too spectacular, too kind of space-age.
1669
01:37:50,520 --> 01:37:52,960
But just because it's a one-in-a-million chance
1670
01:37:52,960 --> 01:37:55,439
doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
1671
01:37:56,439 --> 01:38:00,319
The team continues to dig for evidence.
1672
01:38:00,399 --> 01:38:03,119
To answer the question beyond doubt,
1673
01:38:03,359 --> 01:38:07,839
of whether Tall el-Hammam
1674
01:38:07,920 --> 01:38:12,600
really is the city of Sodom.
1675
01:38:18,960 --> 01:38:20,359
Ancient Greece.
1676
01:38:21,600 --> 01:38:22,920
From the 8th century,
1677
01:38:22,960 --> 01:38:25,039
until the 4th century BCE,
1678
01:38:25,279 --> 01:38:28,359
ancient Greek civilisation flourished.
1679
01:38:30,960 --> 01:38:33,079
It gave the world democracy,
1680
01:38:34,359 --> 01:38:35,439
philosophy,
1681
01:38:35,600 --> 01:38:37,520
and art and architecture
1682
01:38:37,600 --> 01:38:40,000
that still dominate our lives today.
1683
01:38:41,359 --> 01:38:42,639
At its height,
1684
01:38:42,720 --> 01:38:44,520
the ancient Greek colonies
1685
01:38:44,640 --> 01:38:46,800
reached from modern day Spain in the west,
1686
01:38:46,880 --> 01:38:52,000
through to Russia in the north and Egypt in the south.
1687
01:38:54,359 --> 01:38:57,359
It was made up of many competing city states,
1688
01:38:57,439 --> 01:39:01,359
with their own systems of rule and patron gods.
1689
01:39:03,000 --> 01:39:05,239
In the heartland of this civilisation,
1690
01:39:06,159 --> 01:39:08,639
lay the thriving city of Helike.
1691
01:39:11,239 --> 01:39:14,359
Helike was a prominent trading pulpit.
1692
01:39:14,439 --> 01:39:16,359
But the ancient city was best known
1693
01:39:16,439 --> 01:39:19,359
for the role it played in the worship,
1694
01:39:19,439 --> 01:39:21,239
of the almighty Poseidon,
1695
01:39:22,239 --> 01:39:24,639
the god of the Sea.
1696
01:39:28,079 --> 01:39:30,239
Poseidon's moody, he is miserable.
1697
01:39:30,359 --> 01:39:32,079
He's grumpy.
1698
01:39:32,199 --> 01:39:33,800
And I find that really interesting
1699
01:39:33,920 --> 01:39:35,239
because he is the god of the Sea.
1700
01:39:35,359 --> 01:39:37,519
And the sea is obviously important for trade,
1701
01:39:37,640 --> 01:39:39,039
important for transportation,
1702
01:39:39,079 --> 01:39:41,800
but it can turn on you like that.
1703
01:39:41,800 --> 01:39:43,239
And can take lives.
1704
01:39:44,960 --> 01:39:47,960
It's something Helike would discover all too well.
1705
01:39:48,960 --> 01:39:51,359
In 373 BCE,
1706
01:39:51,520 --> 01:39:53,080
the city vanishes.
1707
01:39:55,239 --> 01:39:57,519
According to writers across the ancient world,
1708
01:39:57,640 --> 01:40:00,800
the entire city disappears beneath the waves.
1709
01:40:00,960 --> 01:40:05,640
Its location is lost to the passage of time.
1710
01:40:05,640 --> 01:40:08,240
The location of Helike is a complete mystery.
1711
01:40:08,239 --> 01:40:12,239
And it's one of the resounding mysteries of classical archaeology.
1712
01:40:12,359 --> 01:40:15,519
It's hauntingly similar to the myth
1713
01:40:15,520 --> 01:40:19,080
of another ancient civilisation lost beneath the waves -
1714
01:40:20,079 --> 01:40:21,239
Atlantis.
1715
01:40:21,800 --> 01:40:23,360
We asked the question,
1716
01:40:23,520 --> 01:40:27,240
what could cause the total destruction of Helike?
1717
01:40:28,239 --> 01:40:30,800
And is Helike, Atlantis?
1718
01:40:37,079 --> 01:40:39,519
The Lost City of Atlantis.
1719
01:40:39,640 --> 01:40:42,640
It's a myth that has enthralled us for millennia.
1720
01:40:44,079 --> 01:40:46,079
We all know the famous story of Atlantis.
1721
01:40:46,239 --> 01:40:48,519
But it goes all the way back to Plato,
1722
01:40:48,640 --> 01:40:51,520
who tells us about Atlantis
1723
01:40:51,520 --> 01:40:53,960
as a great city with an advanced civilisation,
1724
01:40:54,079 --> 01:40:57,640
which ruled over an empire that spanned continents.
1725
01:40:59,079 --> 01:41:00,800
According to Plato's myth,
1726
01:41:00,960 --> 01:41:05,079
the Atlanteans created a civilisation to rival the mighty Greeks.
1727
01:41:05,079 --> 01:41:07,800
But they did not use their power wisely,
1728
01:41:07,800 --> 01:41:09,960
and this angered the gods.
1729
01:41:12,359 --> 01:41:14,519
The Atlanteans grew cruel, they grew harsh,
1730
01:41:14,520 --> 01:41:15,800
they grew hubristic.
1731
01:41:15,800 --> 01:41:18,640
And for this, they were punished by the gods.
1732
01:41:18,640 --> 01:41:21,360
The city was destroyed and submerged,
1733
01:41:21,520 --> 01:41:22,960
and lost beneath the waves.
1734
01:41:24,359 --> 01:41:27,639
For centuries, it's driven explorers to search the seafloor.
1735
01:41:29,239 --> 01:41:32,359
Uncovering shipwrecks, lost treasure.
1736
01:41:33,079 --> 01:41:36,519
But none have found the fabled lost city.
1737
01:41:37,640 --> 01:41:41,200
It's even eluded famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau,
1738
01:41:41,319 --> 01:41:46,759
who led underwater expeditions in search of Atlantis in 1975.
1739
01:41:47,680 --> 01:41:49,560
But there is another lost city
1740
01:41:49,680 --> 01:41:52,119
mentioned by classical Greek historians
1741
01:41:52,199 --> 01:41:55,679
that may offer clues - Helike.
1742
01:41:57,560 --> 01:41:59,200
Just like Plato's myth of Atlantis,
1743
01:41:59,319 --> 01:42:03,559
these authors record how Helike was submerged beneath the waves.
1744
01:42:04,680 --> 01:42:06,119
If we look at the story,
1745
01:42:06,199 --> 01:42:07,760
Helike and Atlantis,
1746
01:42:07,880 --> 01:42:09,319
both were disappeared
1747
01:42:09,319 --> 01:42:11,759
from the face of the Earth.
1748
01:42:13,439 --> 01:42:16,559
They both disappeared into waters.
1749
01:42:17,560 --> 01:42:20,120
Helike and Atlantis also share
1750
01:42:20,199 --> 01:42:24,119
the same patron god, Poseidon.
1751
01:42:25,560 --> 01:42:29,880
And Plato wrote the story of Atlantis around 360 BCE,
1752
01:42:31,319 --> 01:42:33,199
just after Helike was destroyed.
1753
01:42:35,119 --> 01:42:37,319
Could Helike actually be Atlantis?
1754
01:42:38,760 --> 01:42:40,760
The only way to know for certain,
1755
01:42:40,760 --> 01:42:43,000
is for archaeologists to locate
1756
01:42:43,119 --> 01:42:45,319
the lost city of Helike.
1757
01:42:49,680 --> 01:42:51,440
In the 4th century BCE,
1758
01:42:51,560 --> 01:42:54,560
a period of time known as The Classical Period,
1759
01:42:54,680 --> 01:42:57,200
the ancient Greek city state of Helike
1760
01:42:57,199 --> 01:43:00,679
thrived on the shores of the Corinthian Gulf.
1761
01:43:01,760 --> 01:43:04,000
It's a city with a rich history.
1762
01:43:04,760 --> 01:43:07,119
The first time we ever hear about Helike,
1763
01:43:07,119 --> 01:43:09,319
it's in Homer's 'Iliad'.
1764
01:43:10,199 --> 01:43:12,559
The classic Greek myth, 'The Iliad',
1765
01:43:12,560 --> 01:43:14,440
tells how Helen, the Queen of Sparta,
1766
01:43:14,560 --> 01:43:16,560
was abducted by Paris of Troy.
1767
01:43:17,680 --> 01:43:20,320
Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae,
1768
01:43:20,439 --> 01:43:23,439
commanded the united Greek armed forces
1769
01:43:23,560 --> 01:43:26,200
and set sail to bring Helen home.
1770
01:43:27,760 --> 01:43:30,320
Helike's listed amongst the many cities
1771
01:43:30,439 --> 01:43:31,879
of the Peloponnese
1772
01:43:32,000 --> 01:43:33,439
which send troops
1773
01:43:33,560 --> 01:43:36,000
for Agamemnon's army to campaign in the Trojan War.
1774
01:43:37,680 --> 01:43:41,200
Agamemnon's forces besieged Troy for ten long years.
1775
01:43:41,319 --> 01:43:42,559
When this failed,
1776
01:43:42,680 --> 01:43:45,680
they unleashed their secret weapon, the Trojan Horse.
1777
01:43:49,000 --> 01:43:51,680
This giant wooden horse was left as a gift for Troy.
1778
01:43:51,680 --> 01:43:53,119
They accepted it
1779
01:43:53,199 --> 01:43:55,199
and brought it inside the city walls.
1780
01:43:56,000 --> 01:43:57,760
With the people of Troy asleep,
1781
01:43:57,760 --> 01:44:00,119
Greece's finest soldiers
1782
01:44:00,199 --> 01:44:04,000
emerged from inside the horse and opened their gates.
1783
01:44:05,760 --> 01:44:08,680
Agamemnon's forces could finally breach the city's walls,
1784
01:44:08,760 --> 01:44:10,320
and Troy fell.
1785
01:44:11,319 --> 01:44:13,439
Homer's 'Iliad', is a myth.
1786
01:44:13,560 --> 01:44:16,200
But Helike's role in ancient Greek history
1787
01:44:16,199 --> 01:44:17,760
is well documented.
1788
01:44:19,680 --> 01:44:22,680
Helike was the leader of the Archaean League,
1789
01:44:22,760 --> 01:44:25,000
a democratic confederation of 12 city states
1790
01:44:25,000 --> 01:44:28,119
in the Archaea region of Greece.
1791
01:44:29,119 --> 01:44:32,680
Helike established colonies at Priene in Asia Minor,
1792
01:44:32,760 --> 01:44:35,119
and Sybaris in southern Italy.
1793
01:44:36,000 --> 01:44:40,119
Trade from these created a period of great prosperity.
1794
01:44:42,000 --> 01:44:44,000
The people of Helike believed their city
1795
01:44:44,000 --> 01:44:47,319
was watched over by their patron god, Poseidon.
1796
01:44:48,880 --> 01:44:50,760
Their temple dedicated to him
1797
01:44:50,760 --> 01:44:54,880
brought pilgrims to the city from across Classical Greece.
1798
01:44:56,560 --> 01:44:57,560
Helike was a power house
1799
01:44:57,680 --> 01:45:00,000
in the ancient Hellenistic Greek world.
1800
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:02,439
It was a major religious hub, a pilgrimage spot.
1801
01:45:02,560 --> 01:45:04,120
It was a political seat.
1802
01:45:05,119 --> 01:45:07,559
It was a pretty significant city state.
1803
01:45:08,760 --> 01:45:12,680
The temple to Poseidon gave Helike influence in the Greek world,
1804
01:45:13,439 --> 01:45:16,199
and they benefited economically from this pilgrimage.
1805
01:45:17,199 --> 01:45:18,880
As war engulfed the region,
1806
01:45:19,000 --> 01:45:21,880
it placed Helike in a unique position.
1807
01:45:22,880 --> 01:45:27,119
Between 492 and 479 BCE,
1808
01:45:27,199 --> 01:45:30,880
the Persian Empire launched a series of invasions,
1809
01:45:31,000 --> 01:45:34,319
with the aim of conquering all of Greece.
1810
01:45:35,319 --> 01:45:39,880
The allied efforts of the Greek city states repulsed the Persians,
1811
01:45:40,000 --> 01:45:43,760
but the Greek world was now on a collision course with itself.
1812
01:45:45,000 --> 01:45:47,439
In 431 BCE,
1813
01:45:47,560 --> 01:45:51,000
Greece erupted in war between Athens and Sparta.
1814
01:45:52,880 --> 01:45:56,159
By 404 BCE, Sparta was victorious.
1815
01:45:57,199 --> 01:46:00,039
But the economic cost across the region was dire.
1816
01:46:01,319 --> 01:46:03,439
Poverty soon became widespread.
1817
01:46:05,319 --> 01:46:06,960
But the people of Helike realised
1818
01:46:06,960 --> 01:46:08,560
just how economically important
1819
01:46:08,680 --> 01:46:12,079
the Temple of Poseidon was to their survival.
1820
01:46:13,680 --> 01:46:16,680
They remained largely uninvolved throughout this period of turmoil,
1821
01:46:16,800 --> 01:46:19,440
for fear of alienating either side.
1822
01:46:20,439 --> 01:46:22,319
This decision served them well.
1823
01:46:23,439 --> 01:46:25,079
As the dust settled,
1824
01:46:25,199 --> 01:46:27,319
Helike and its colonies survived,
1825
01:46:28,560 --> 01:46:30,200
along with the Temple of Poseidon
1826
01:46:30,199 --> 01:46:32,439
and the income this brought them.
1827
01:46:33,199 --> 01:46:36,319
And for a city state that relied heavily on maritime trade,
1828
01:46:36,319 --> 01:46:39,319
it made sense that their patron god,
1829
01:46:39,960 --> 01:46:40,800
was the god of the Sea.
1830
01:46:42,199 --> 01:46:44,559
Poseidon is the god of the trade networks.
1831
01:46:44,560 --> 01:46:45,440
He's the god who the sailors
1832
01:46:46,560 --> 01:46:48,080
would be praying to
1833
01:46:48,079 --> 01:46:49,319
before they set out
1834
01:46:49,439 --> 01:46:51,960
on their long voyages across the Mediterranean.
1835
01:46:52,079 --> 01:46:53,559
He's the god who would guarantee you safe passage
1836
01:46:54,439 --> 01:46:56,679
and bring you back home safely as well.
1837
01:46:58,560 --> 01:47:01,960
But Poseidon didn't keep the people of Helike safe.
1838
01:47:03,199 --> 01:47:04,559
According to the legend,
1839
01:47:04,680 --> 01:47:08,960
the people of Helike closely guarded the temple, venerating Poseidon.
1840
01:47:09,800 --> 01:47:13,320
When they refused to share secret items with other cities,
1841
01:47:13,439 --> 01:47:14,679
he was angered.
1842
01:47:15,800 --> 01:47:18,440
They had treated extremely badly a sacred delegation
1843
01:47:18,560 --> 01:47:20,320
who had come from Ionia
1844
01:47:20,439 --> 01:47:22,079
requesting copies of the Altar
1845
01:47:22,199 --> 01:47:23,679
and some other sacred items.
1846
01:47:23,800 --> 01:47:27,440
They had dragged these sacred ambassadors from the sanctuary,
1847
01:47:27,439 --> 01:47:29,679
and some stories say they actually killed them.
1848
01:47:30,680 --> 01:47:33,079
In 373 BCE,
1849
01:47:33,199 --> 01:47:35,319
Poseidon destroyed the city.
1850
01:47:36,560 --> 01:47:38,320
The destruction was so complete
1851
01:47:38,319 --> 01:47:41,559
that it sent shock waves around the ancient world.
1852
01:47:43,439 --> 01:47:44,960
The story of Helike's demise
1853
01:47:45,079 --> 01:47:47,680
very quickly enters into the popular conscience.
1854
01:47:47,800 --> 01:47:49,960
We first get it in the writings of Ephesus,
1855
01:47:50,079 --> 01:47:52,079
we find it in Strabo, we find it in Ovid,
1856
01:47:52,199 --> 01:47:54,800
we find it in Pausanias and Diodoris and Polybius,
1857
01:47:54,800 --> 01:47:56,079
it's everywhere.
1858
01:47:59,199 --> 01:48:02,559
The story starts in 373 BCE,
1859
01:48:02,680 --> 01:48:04,800
and we hear that Poseidon
1860
01:48:04,960 --> 01:48:08,079
is angry with the inhabitants of Helike.
1861
01:48:09,319 --> 01:48:11,960
And what he does is he uses his trident,
1862
01:48:12,079 --> 01:48:13,800
he causes a terrible earthquake.
1863
01:48:18,800 --> 01:48:20,960
A tidal wave rolls in from the sea
1864
01:48:21,079 --> 01:48:23,439
and completely submerges the city.
1865
01:48:30,439 --> 01:48:33,439
The entire population of Helike was wiped out in this catastrophe
1866
01:48:33,439 --> 01:48:34,679
in one fell swoop.
1867
01:48:34,800 --> 01:48:36,199
And not only that,
1868
01:48:36,199 --> 01:48:39,439
but there were ten Spartan warships which were anchored in the bay,
1869
01:48:39,439 --> 01:48:42,799
and they were also dragged down to the bottom of the sea.
1870
01:48:45,199 --> 01:48:47,439
So this was total wipe out.
1871
01:48:48,960 --> 01:48:50,960
Helike's destruction was so severe
1872
01:48:51,079 --> 01:48:53,079
that the only way the ancient Greek writers
1873
01:48:53,199 --> 01:48:54,679
could come to terms with it,
1874
01:48:55,319 --> 01:48:57,319
was to blame it on the supernatural -
1875
01:48:58,079 --> 01:48:59,199
Poseidon,
1876
01:48:59,319 --> 01:49:00,960
the god of the Sea,
1877
01:49:00,960 --> 01:49:03,800
caused the city to vanish beneath the waves.
1878
01:49:06,960 --> 01:49:08,199
In the years that follow,
1879
01:49:08,319 --> 01:49:09,799
its location is forgotten,
1880
01:49:09,960 --> 01:49:13,439
and the story of Helike becomes Greek legend.
1881
01:49:14,439 --> 01:49:16,439
The parallels between the myth of Atlantis
1882
01:49:17,199 --> 01:49:19,559
and Helike's destruction are striking.
1883
01:49:20,800 --> 01:49:22,560
But what actually happened?
1884
01:49:23,199 --> 01:49:25,079
And could Helike be Atlantis?
1885
01:49:25,960 --> 01:49:28,960
The only way to know is to find Helike.
1886
01:49:31,560 --> 01:49:34,680
For archaeologists to have any hope of locating the lost city
1887
01:49:35,439 --> 01:49:37,559
and determining what caused its destruction,
1888
01:49:38,439 --> 01:49:39,679
they need to discern
1889
01:49:39,800 --> 01:49:42,560
what is fact and what is fiction.
1890
01:49:44,680 --> 01:49:46,440
Was there any physical proof
1891
01:49:46,560 --> 01:49:49,680
that Helike had actually existed?
1892
01:49:56,680 --> 01:49:59,079
Two of Germany's leading archaeologists,
1893
01:49:59,199 --> 01:50:02,319
Adolf Michaelis and Alexander Conze,
1894
01:50:02,319 --> 01:50:05,439
explore the shores surrounding the Gulf of Corinth.
1895
01:50:06,960 --> 01:50:08,439
While resting in the village,
1896
01:50:08,439 --> 01:50:10,799
they are sold an ancient artefact,
1897
01:50:10,960 --> 01:50:12,800
a bronze coin.
1898
01:50:13,680 --> 01:50:15,960
Poseidon is depicted
1899
01:50:16,079 --> 01:50:20,199
in a very fine representation of his head,
1900
01:50:20,319 --> 01:50:23,079
which is a very beautiful, classical actually,
1901
01:50:23,199 --> 01:50:24,559
depiction of Poseidon.
1902
01:50:25,439 --> 01:50:29,199
And on the reverse we have the main attributes of Poseidon,
1903
01:50:29,319 --> 01:50:31,319
that is his trident
1904
01:50:31,439 --> 01:50:34,679
and the two dolphins swimming upwards,
1905
01:50:34,680 --> 01:50:38,200
all included in a wreath, within a wreath.
1906
01:50:39,960 --> 01:50:42,960
But as Michaelis and Conze examine the coin more closely,
1907
01:50:43,079 --> 01:50:45,319
they make a startling discovery.
1908
01:50:46,560 --> 01:50:49,560
The coin bears the letters, 'ELIK',
1909
01:50:49,560 --> 01:50:52,960
which is an abbreviation of, 'Elike', 'Helike'.
1910
01:50:52,960 --> 01:50:55,439
This was the first tangible piece of evidence
1911
01:50:55,439 --> 01:50:57,960
that the city of Helike actually existed.
1912
01:50:57,960 --> 01:50:59,439
Up until this point,
1913
01:50:59,560 --> 01:51:01,560
all we had was the testimony
1914
01:51:01,560 --> 01:51:05,200
of various authors and the story of Helike's destruction,
1915
01:51:05,319 --> 01:51:07,439
but this was an actual piece of evidence.
1916
01:51:08,960 --> 01:51:10,960
Michaelis and Conze have identified
1917
01:51:11,079 --> 01:51:12,439
the first piece of archaeological evidence
1918
01:51:13,439 --> 01:51:16,319
that Helike actually existed.
1919
01:51:18,079 --> 01:51:19,960
It marks an incredible turning point.
1920
01:51:21,079 --> 01:51:24,559
Was the lost city of Helike more than just a legend?
1921
01:51:25,960 --> 01:51:29,319
Could there be some truth behind its destruction?
1922
01:51:29,439 --> 01:51:32,199
And could it help solve the mystery of Atlantis?
1923
01:51:33,439 --> 01:51:35,559
Archaeologists need to re-examine
1924
01:51:35,680 --> 01:51:39,440
the ancient texts describing Helike's destruction.
1925
01:51:40,560 --> 01:51:42,680
Could they find anything else written here
1926
01:51:42,680 --> 01:51:45,680
that might help them sort fact from the legend?
1927
01:51:51,680 --> 01:51:54,320
A key text recounting the disappearance of Helike
1928
01:51:54,319 --> 01:51:56,559
was written in the second century CE
1929
01:51:56,680 --> 01:51:59,680
by the renowned Roman author, Aelian.
1930
01:52:01,439 --> 01:52:02,799
Buried in his account,
1931
01:52:02,960 --> 01:52:05,319
is a detail that may lend voracity
1932
01:52:05,439 --> 01:52:07,439
to the written destruction event,
1933
01:52:07,560 --> 01:52:11,080
a tsunami caused by an earthquake.
1934
01:52:12,319 --> 01:52:13,679
There's a Roman author
1935
01:52:13,680 --> 01:52:15,560
who talks about the destruction of Helike,
1936
01:52:15,680 --> 01:52:18,440
and he mentions that five days before the event,
1937
01:52:18,560 --> 01:52:20,200
all the animals, all the rats,
1938
01:52:20,319 --> 01:52:23,199
all the insects, went scurrying away from the site.
1939
01:52:23,199 --> 01:52:24,960
And the people should have taken that as warning
1940
01:52:25,079 --> 01:52:26,559
something bad was about to happen.
1941
01:52:28,439 --> 01:52:30,319
It's an intriguing detail.
1942
01:52:30,439 --> 01:52:32,960
But is there any truth to the phenomenon?
1943
01:52:34,199 --> 01:52:38,559
Geologist Ian Stewart has heard similar stories before,
1944
01:52:38,560 --> 01:52:42,800
an animal exodus right before a major earthquake.
1945
01:52:44,960 --> 01:52:46,960
In 1995 I was in northern Greece,
1946
01:52:47,079 --> 01:52:48,800
and we were starting to get reports
1947
01:52:48,960 --> 01:52:52,319
that there had been this earthquake down in the Aigion area.
1948
01:52:52,319 --> 01:52:53,679
I spoke to fisherman,
1949
01:52:53,680 --> 01:52:56,200
who talked about catching
1950
01:52:56,319 --> 01:52:59,439
the equivalent of their whole yearly catch
1951
01:52:59,439 --> 01:53:01,960
in the night before the earthquake struck.
1952
01:53:02,079 --> 01:53:03,439
And also in their catch,
1953
01:53:03,439 --> 01:53:05,199
strange fish that they hadn't seen,
1954
01:53:05,199 --> 01:53:08,319
deep water squid and things that were very rare.
1955
01:53:09,439 --> 01:53:10,559
And one of the things that we know
1956
01:53:10,680 --> 01:53:13,560
is the Earth's crust gets prepared for earthquakes.
1957
01:53:13,680 --> 01:53:14,800
The stress gets pent up
1958
01:53:14,960 --> 01:53:17,319
and there's fluids and lots of things change.
1959
01:53:18,319 --> 01:53:20,199
So the only slight thing
1960
01:53:20,199 --> 01:53:21,559
is whether animals,
1961
01:53:21,560 --> 01:53:23,440
particularly ground dwelling animals,
1962
01:53:23,560 --> 01:53:25,560
could be sensitive to that.
1963
01:53:25,560 --> 01:53:28,200
And that seems to be not that far from reality.
1964
01:53:30,079 --> 01:53:31,680
The story of animals fleeing Helike
1965
01:53:31,800 --> 01:53:33,960
in the lead up to its destruction
1966
01:53:34,079 --> 01:53:35,319
might just be true.
1967
01:53:36,560 --> 01:53:38,560
And according to the ancient writers,
1968
01:53:38,680 --> 01:53:41,200
the tsunami that submerged Helike
1969
01:53:42,319 --> 01:53:44,199
was triggered by an earthquake.
1970
01:53:45,560 --> 01:53:49,680
But would a tsunami account for its total eradication?
1971
01:53:50,680 --> 01:53:54,440
To know for certain, archaeologists need to locate Helike.
1972
01:53:55,439 --> 01:53:57,799
Only then, can they begin to understand
1973
01:53:58,680 --> 01:54:00,200
the cause of its destruction.
1974
01:54:00,319 --> 01:54:04,439
The hunt is on for The lost city of Helike.
1975
01:54:07,560 --> 01:54:10,200
They turn again to the ancient texts.
1976
01:54:11,319 --> 01:54:13,679
It's believed that the remains of Helike
1977
01:54:13,680 --> 01:54:15,200
were visible for hundreds of years
1978
01:54:15,319 --> 01:54:17,079
after it was destroyed,
1979
01:54:17,079 --> 01:54:21,079
and many ancient writers give descriptions of its location.
1980
01:54:22,079 --> 01:54:24,559
But over time its ruins disappeared,
1981
01:54:24,680 --> 01:54:28,119
and these descriptions lost their meaning.
1982
01:54:28,960 --> 01:54:31,359
The archaeologists searching for Helike
1983
01:54:31,359 --> 01:54:34,880
are forced to start from scratch, almost.
1984
01:54:35,880 --> 01:54:37,960
Pouring over the ancient texts,
1985
01:54:38,000 --> 01:54:39,680
they find a clue.
1986
01:54:40,680 --> 01:54:43,000
The ancient Greek geographer, Strabo,
1987
01:54:43,199 --> 01:54:45,439
recorded that Helike had been submerged
1988
01:54:45,479 --> 01:54:48,719
in what he describes as a 'poros'.
1989
01:54:48,960 --> 01:54:52,199
But what exactly is a 'poros'?
1990
01:54:53,000 --> 01:54:55,680
'Poros', in ancient Greece,
1991
01:54:55,680 --> 01:54:59,440
means a narrow passage of water.
1992
01:54:59,439 --> 01:55:01,960
Archaeologists interpreted this
1993
01:55:01,960 --> 01:55:03,439
as the Corinthian Gulf.
1994
01:55:03,439 --> 01:55:04,679
It was a solid lead
1995
01:55:04,920 --> 01:55:06,960
for the archaeological investigators.
1996
01:55:08,000 --> 01:55:12,199
The ruins of Helike had to be somewhere in the Corinthian Gulf.
1997
01:55:12,960 --> 01:55:17,239
The problem is, the Gulf encompasses a colossal area,
1998
01:55:17,439 --> 01:55:20,199
2,500 square kilometres.
1999
01:55:21,479 --> 01:55:23,199
And according to the ancient texts,
2000
01:55:23,199 --> 01:55:25,199
just like the myth of Atlantis,
2001
01:55:25,199 --> 01:55:27,720
the ruins should be underwater.
2002
01:55:29,680 --> 01:55:31,720
The expectation was that Helike lay
2003
01:55:31,960 --> 01:55:34,439
somewhere on the sea bed in the Gulf of Corinth.
2004
01:55:35,239 --> 01:55:36,679
And so over the generations,
2005
01:55:36,680 --> 01:55:39,960
it becomes this holy grail of underwater archaeology,
2006
01:55:40,199 --> 01:55:42,679
to find where Helike was.
2007
01:55:44,000 --> 01:55:48,239
Archaeologists now have a rough geographic area for Helike.
2008
01:55:48,439 --> 01:55:50,679
It's clear to them that it must lay submerged
2009
01:55:50,920 --> 01:55:53,199
at the bottom of the Gulf of Corinth.
2010
01:55:54,199 --> 01:55:57,439
But how can you locate a lost city on the seafloor?
2011
01:55:58,439 --> 01:56:02,199
It would require an entirely new form of archaeology,
2012
01:56:02,239 --> 01:56:05,679
and a new breed of archaeologist.
2013
01:56:13,439 --> 01:56:15,439
The hunt for the lost city of Helike
2014
01:56:15,680 --> 01:56:18,960
is taken up by one of Greece's most famous sons,
2015
01:56:19,199 --> 01:56:22,960
celebrity archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos.
2016
01:56:24,479 --> 01:56:26,679
In 1967,
2017
01:56:26,680 --> 01:56:28,960
Marinatos became a Greek national hero
2018
01:56:28,960 --> 01:56:33,439
when he uncovered the prehistoric city of Akrotiri,
2019
01:56:33,479 --> 01:56:35,959
on the island of Santorini.
2020
01:56:37,680 --> 01:56:40,440
For some, the civilisation on Akrotiri
2021
01:56:40,439 --> 01:56:44,199
was a strong contender for the lost city of Atlantis.
2022
01:56:45,439 --> 01:56:47,679
But Marinatos found no evidence
2023
01:56:47,680 --> 01:56:49,440
to back up this theory.
2024
01:56:49,479 --> 01:56:53,199
And his ultimate dream was to find Helike.
2025
01:56:54,960 --> 01:56:57,439
If the lost city could ever be located,
2026
01:56:57,439 --> 01:57:01,439
Marinatos had particularly high hopes
2027
01:57:01,439 --> 01:57:03,439
for what it might contain.
2028
01:57:03,439 --> 01:57:06,679
He believed that Helike
2029
01:57:06,680 --> 01:57:12,200
would be a kind of a Greek classical Pompeii.
2030
01:57:12,199 --> 01:57:15,199
That is, everything you would find
2031
01:57:15,439 --> 01:57:18,439
in Helike would be there,
2032
01:57:18,439 --> 01:57:21,439
exactly as it was
2033
01:57:21,439 --> 01:57:24,439
at the moment it was destroyed.
2034
01:57:26,199 --> 01:57:27,479
If he could find the city,
2035
01:57:27,680 --> 01:57:30,960
maybe he could solve the mystery of its destruction.
2036
01:57:30,960 --> 01:57:34,960
Could he also solve the mystery of Atlantis?
2037
01:57:35,680 --> 01:57:39,240
Marinatos needs a way of peering beneath the waves
2038
01:57:39,439 --> 01:57:43,679
to identify any human made structures on the sea bed.
2039
01:57:44,439 --> 01:57:46,679
He turns to a cutting edge piece of technology,
2040
01:57:46,680 --> 01:57:48,440
sonar imaging.
2041
01:57:49,920 --> 01:57:51,440
In 1973,
2042
01:57:51,439 --> 01:57:53,439
oceanographer Paul Kronfield
2043
01:57:53,439 --> 01:57:56,439
was brought on to Marinatos' team.
2044
01:57:56,439 --> 01:57:59,439
He is tasked with scanning the seafloor.
2045
01:58:00,199 --> 01:58:03,199
He remembers his time with Marinatos well.
2046
01:58:03,199 --> 01:58:06,439
Professor Marinatos was very excited about Helike.
2047
01:58:06,439 --> 01:58:10,439
He said 'cause it's a undisturbed, classical city
2048
01:58:10,439 --> 01:58:13,199
that's basically been buried under the ocean
2049
01:58:13,199 --> 01:58:14,439
and undisturbed
2050
01:58:14,439 --> 01:58:15,960
for thousands of years.
2051
01:58:15,960 --> 01:58:18,439
With all the artefacts totally undisturbed.
2052
01:58:19,960 --> 01:58:23,439
For this grand expedition, no expense was spared.
2053
01:58:25,720 --> 01:58:28,199
Marinatos commandeered a Greek Navy landing craft
2054
01:58:28,439 --> 01:58:31,199
and outfitted it with a drilling rig.
2055
01:58:32,479 --> 01:58:35,479
If the sonar scanners identified any structures,
2056
01:58:35,680 --> 01:58:38,680
the team would drill an exploratory core sample
2057
01:58:38,680 --> 01:58:41,680
to see if they held any ancient remains.
2058
01:58:42,960 --> 01:58:45,199
The drilling ship was anchored offshore.
2059
01:58:45,199 --> 01:58:47,679
And it would come in out of the mist
2060
01:58:47,680 --> 01:58:49,240
and drop the ramp on the beach.
2061
01:58:49,439 --> 01:58:51,199
And all the scientists and engineers
2062
01:58:51,199 --> 01:58:53,199
would come charging down the ramp
2063
01:58:53,199 --> 01:58:55,960
like invading the beaches of Normandy or something,
2064
01:58:56,000 --> 01:58:59,960
except we were invading our local tavernas, for lunch.
2065
01:59:01,439 --> 01:59:03,199
At that time of year,
2066
01:59:03,199 --> 01:59:05,960
the night-blooming jasmine is booming,
2067
01:59:05,960 --> 01:59:08,199
and the fragrance is in the air,
2068
01:59:08,239 --> 01:59:10,439
and we'd be sitting there listening to Greek music
2069
01:59:10,439 --> 01:59:11,960
looking up at the stars.
2070
01:59:12,000 --> 01:59:15,680
"You know this is exactly how this was 2,000 years ago
2071
01:59:15,680 --> 01:59:18,480
"when the people of ancient Helike were having their dinner."
2072
01:59:18,680 --> 01:59:20,960
And it was a very magic time.
2073
01:59:22,000 --> 01:59:25,199
Back at sea, Marinatos's team scan the seafloor
2074
01:59:25,199 --> 01:59:26,960
hunting for any anomalies
2075
01:59:26,960 --> 01:59:28,960
or signs of structures.
2076
01:59:29,720 --> 01:59:32,240
It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
2077
01:59:33,239 --> 01:59:36,199
But incredibly, they identified something.
2078
01:59:36,960 --> 01:59:39,680
We picked up pockmarks on the seafloor.
2079
01:59:39,920 --> 01:59:42,440
And they were very intriguing, in straight lines.
2080
01:59:42,479 --> 01:59:44,919
God generally doesn't draw straight lines.
2081
01:59:44,960 --> 01:59:47,680
So, this could mean it might be man made.
2082
01:59:47,680 --> 01:59:49,000
It could be a road
2083
01:59:49,199 --> 01:59:50,720
or, it could be a wall,
2084
01:59:50,960 --> 01:59:52,439
we didn't know.
2085
01:59:54,680 --> 01:59:56,960
With the possibility of ancient Helike
2086
01:59:56,960 --> 01:59:59,000
lying in the depths beneath their ship,
2087
01:59:59,199 --> 02:00:01,479
the team deployed the drilling rig
2088
02:00:01,680 --> 02:00:03,920
to retrieve core sample.
2089
02:00:05,199 --> 02:00:08,199
Had they finally found the lost city?
2090
02:00:13,199 --> 02:00:16,199
There was so much excitement each time we retrieved the core.
2091
02:00:16,439 --> 02:00:18,199
You know, sleep was impossible,
2092
02:00:18,439 --> 02:00:19,439
we had to be there
2093
02:00:19,439 --> 02:00:20,919
'cause everyone expected
2094
02:00:20,960 --> 02:00:23,199
to see some artefacts or something in there,
2095
02:00:23,199 --> 02:00:25,199
that would indicate a discovery.
2096
02:00:25,960 --> 02:00:28,960
It just kept everybody very much electrified.
2097
02:00:30,199 --> 02:00:32,679
But all they found was mud and gravel.
2098
02:00:33,960 --> 02:00:36,199
After having spent all that time drilling
2099
02:00:36,199 --> 02:00:37,960
and sub-bottomprofiling,
2100
02:00:37,960 --> 02:00:40,199
and then to find nothing,
2101
02:00:40,439 --> 02:00:43,679
it was very disappointing.
2102
02:00:44,680 --> 02:00:47,200
Despite working through the night for days on end,
2103
02:00:47,239 --> 02:00:50,199
there was absolutely no sign of Helike.
2104
02:00:51,439 --> 02:00:53,439
And with the excavating season ended,
2105
02:00:53,479 --> 02:00:58,439
another chapter in the hunt for Helike came to a close.
2106
02:00:59,199 --> 02:01:01,439
For Spyridon Marinatos,
2107
02:01:01,439 --> 02:01:03,960
he would never get the chance to search again.
2108
02:01:05,239 --> 02:01:07,679
The following year, in 1974,
2109
02:01:07,920 --> 02:01:11,440
he died of a stroke while excavating on Santorini.
2110
02:01:12,199 --> 02:01:13,960
He is buried at the site.
2111
02:01:14,960 --> 02:01:17,199
The location of the lost city of Helike
2112
02:01:17,199 --> 02:01:20,199
remained a mystery, for now.
2113
02:01:28,960 --> 02:01:31,920
Archaeologist Professor Dora Katsonopoulou
2114
02:01:31,960 --> 02:01:34,439
grew up on the shores of the Corinthian Gulf,
2115
02:01:34,439 --> 02:01:37,679
close to where Helike was said to be located.
2116
02:01:38,479 --> 02:01:40,919
She is well acquainted with the legend
2117
02:01:40,960 --> 02:01:42,960
of the ancient city's destruction.
2118
02:01:43,960 --> 02:01:45,960
People who were raised in the region,
2119
02:01:46,199 --> 02:01:48,679
they all hear about this story
2120
02:01:48,680 --> 02:01:50,680
because Helike was the most
2121
02:01:50,680 --> 02:01:52,440
important city in the region.
2122
02:01:53,439 --> 02:01:54,679
When I was a child,
2123
02:01:54,680 --> 02:01:59,440
I was always dreaming of becoming an archaeologist someday,
2124
02:01:59,439 --> 02:02:04,960
in order to try and find this famous lost site.
2125
02:02:05,960 --> 02:02:08,720
So it was a childhood dream, I would say.
2126
02:02:10,199 --> 02:02:13,679
In 1988, Katsonopoulou assembles a team
2127
02:02:13,680 --> 02:02:17,000
and begins turning her dream into a reality.
2128
02:02:18,239 --> 02:02:20,679
She picks up where Marinatos left off,
2129
02:02:20,680 --> 02:02:22,440
using sonar scanners
2130
02:02:22,439 --> 02:02:25,439
to map the bottom of the Gulf of Corinth.
2131
02:02:26,479 --> 02:02:30,199
Soon, the sonar picks up something intriguing.
2132
02:02:31,439 --> 02:02:33,000
In one location,
2133
02:02:33,199 --> 02:02:37,439
we found remains of something
2134
02:02:37,439 --> 02:02:41,679
that looks like been man made.
2135
02:02:41,680 --> 02:02:43,200
It's something that has to do
2136
02:02:43,199 --> 02:02:45,439
with installations of a port.
2137
02:02:46,680 --> 02:02:48,680
And in another location, in a greater depth,
2138
02:02:48,680 --> 02:02:55,000
we may have remains of some wrecks of ships.
2139
02:02:56,199 --> 02:02:58,199
Analysing the sonar read out
2140
02:02:58,199 --> 02:03:00,679
was a man now familiar with the region,
2141
02:03:00,680 --> 02:03:03,440
oceanographer Paul Kronfield.
2142
02:03:05,439 --> 02:03:06,960
We saw ten of these features,
2143
02:03:07,199 --> 02:03:08,960
ten parabolic type features
2144
02:03:09,000 --> 02:03:10,680
under the sea Paul Kronfield bed.
2145
02:03:10,680 --> 02:03:12,480
It was very exciting.
2146
02:03:13,439 --> 02:03:16,439
According to Aelian, the Roman writer,
2147
02:03:16,439 --> 02:03:18,960
the night that Helike was destroyed,
2148
02:03:18,960 --> 02:03:21,920
there were ten Spartan ships
2149
02:03:21,960 --> 02:03:24,199
at anchor in Helike's port.
2150
02:03:25,439 --> 02:03:26,960
For Katsonopoulou,
2151
02:03:26,960 --> 02:03:28,239
it was starting to look like
2152
02:03:28,439 --> 02:03:30,719
they'd uncovered an ancient port.
2153
02:03:31,680 --> 02:03:33,960
If they could identify the ten shapes
2154
02:03:33,960 --> 02:03:35,680
shown on the sonar scans
2155
02:03:35,920 --> 02:03:38,199
as the ten sunken Spartan warships
2156
02:03:38,239 --> 02:03:40,199
told in the Helike legend,
2157
02:03:40,439 --> 02:03:45,199
then surely they'd have finally located the lost city?
2158
02:03:47,199 --> 02:03:49,679
But sonar scans alone aren't proof.
2159
02:03:49,720 --> 02:03:51,680
To be sure the team needs to dive
2160
02:03:51,680 --> 02:03:53,440
and examine the structures.
2161
02:03:54,920 --> 02:03:57,480
But here, they run into a problem.
2162
02:04:00,720 --> 02:04:03,920
The Corinthian Gulf, particularly in this area,
2163
02:04:03,960 --> 02:04:05,439
is very muddy.
2164
02:04:05,680 --> 02:04:08,440
And when divers go down,
2165
02:04:08,439 --> 02:04:11,960
as soon as they move toward the target,
2166
02:04:12,199 --> 02:04:14,960
it's, you know, a real cloud of mud
2167
02:04:14,960 --> 02:04:17,199
that is raised in front of them,
2168
02:04:17,439 --> 02:04:18,919
so they cannot really see.
2169
02:04:18,960 --> 02:04:20,680
It's a very difficult sea to explore.
2170
02:04:22,680 --> 02:04:24,440
The muddy conditions on the sea bed
2171
02:04:24,680 --> 02:04:27,960
make it impossible to identify these structures for certain.
2172
02:04:28,960 --> 02:04:31,720
Still, Katsonopoulou has a hunch
2173
02:04:31,960 --> 02:04:36,439
these underwater features represent the ancient port of Helike.
2174
02:04:37,000 --> 02:04:38,199
But how to be sure?
2175
02:04:39,000 --> 02:04:42,239
She needs a way of narrowing down the search area.
2176
02:04:42,439 --> 02:04:45,439
Were there any clues that located Helike
2177
02:04:45,680 --> 02:04:47,440
near these sonar hits?
2178
02:04:55,479 --> 02:04:59,199
Katsonopoulou returns to the ancient texts.
2179
02:05:00,439 --> 02:05:04,679
Reading the work of the ancient Greek geographer Pausanius,
2180
02:05:04,680 --> 02:05:06,200
she comes across something -
2181
02:05:06,199 --> 02:05:08,000
a description of Helike
2182
02:05:08,199 --> 02:05:11,960
in relation to the neighbouring town, Aigion.
2183
02:05:12,960 --> 02:05:15,720
Crucially, it mentions the distance.
2184
02:05:16,960 --> 02:05:22,439
One says that Helike is 40 stades,
2185
02:05:22,479 --> 02:05:25,199
that is 7km,
2186
02:05:25,439 --> 02:05:27,719
east of the city of Aigion.
2187
02:05:27,960 --> 02:05:30,199
Going further east,
2188
02:05:30,199 --> 02:05:33,960
he also comes to another monument
2189
02:05:33,960 --> 02:05:36,920
in the area, which is known as
2190
02:05:36,960 --> 02:05:41,199
the Cave of Heracles Vouraikos.
2191
02:05:41,439 --> 02:05:45,000
And he gives us a distance of Helike
2192
02:05:45,199 --> 02:05:49,439
from the cave of about 5.5km.
2193
02:05:50,680 --> 02:05:52,960
It's said that the people of Helike came there
2194
02:05:52,960 --> 02:05:55,920
to leave offerings to the demigod Heracles.
2195
02:05:56,960 --> 02:06:00,199
The location of the cave is still known today.
2196
02:06:01,960 --> 02:06:05,439
It's a key clue for Professor Katsonopoulou.
2197
02:06:05,439 --> 02:06:08,919
If Helike is within 7km of the town of Aigion,
2198
02:06:08,960 --> 02:06:12,960
and 5.5km of the Cave of Heracles,
2199
02:06:13,199 --> 02:06:16,679
then the lost city must lie in the area
2200
02:06:16,680 --> 02:06:19,440
where these measurements cross over.
2201
02:06:20,000 --> 02:06:22,960
The port features that Katsonopoulou uncovered
2202
02:06:23,000 --> 02:06:24,680
are well within this region.
2203
02:06:25,920 --> 02:06:30,000
They match the location of the ancient geographical texts.
2204
02:06:30,960 --> 02:06:33,000
But despite repeated sonar scanning,
2205
02:06:33,199 --> 02:06:34,679
all they could find
2206
02:06:34,680 --> 02:06:37,440
was evidence of a port.
2207
02:06:38,680 --> 02:06:41,960
Why wasn't the rest of the city visible on the sonar scans?
2208
02:06:46,199 --> 02:06:47,960
Katsonopoulou looks again
2209
02:06:47,960 --> 02:06:51,199
to the ancient descriptions of Helike's destruction.
2210
02:06:51,199 --> 02:06:54,960
These texts have been studied again and again
2211
02:06:55,000 --> 02:06:57,439
by archaeologists before her.
2212
02:06:58,439 --> 02:07:00,439
But Katsonopoulou has an advantage,
2213
02:07:00,479 --> 02:07:04,199
she can read these works in ancient Greek,
2214
02:07:04,199 --> 02:07:05,679
as they were written.
2215
02:07:06,720 --> 02:07:10,000
Had any clues been lost in translation?
2216
02:07:11,199 --> 02:07:13,960
As she pores over the ancient writings of Strabo,
2217
02:07:13,960 --> 02:07:17,960
she realises incredibly this might be the case.
2218
02:07:19,199 --> 02:07:22,679
It all hinged on the meaning of the word, 'poros',
2219
02:07:22,680 --> 02:07:24,680
the body of water
2220
02:07:24,680 --> 02:07:27,480
that Helike was said to have been submerged in.
2221
02:07:29,000 --> 02:07:31,199
Poros, in ancient Greek,
2222
02:07:31,239 --> 02:07:35,199
means a narrow passage of water.
2223
02:07:36,199 --> 02:07:38,000
But most archaeologists
2224
02:07:38,199 --> 02:07:41,199
had interpreted this as the Corinthian Gulf.
2225
02:07:41,439 --> 02:07:43,199
Which was absolutely wrong,
2226
02:07:43,199 --> 02:07:45,679
because the ancient sources
2227
02:07:45,920 --> 02:07:48,440
knew the Corinthian Gulf by name.
2228
02:07:48,680 --> 02:07:50,960
So they could mention the Corinthian Gulf,
2229
02:07:51,000 --> 02:07:54,000
they didn't have a reason to say, 'poros'.
2230
02:07:55,680 --> 02:07:57,680
Now what poros would mean
2231
02:07:57,720 --> 02:07:59,680
in my interpretation
2232
02:07:59,680 --> 02:08:03,680
was an inland lagoon or lake.
2233
02:08:05,720 --> 02:08:08,440
According to Professor Katsonopoulou's research,
2234
02:08:08,439 --> 02:08:10,199
the lost city of Helike
2235
02:08:10,199 --> 02:08:13,199
wasn't at the bottom of the Gulf of Corinth after all,
2236
02:08:13,439 --> 02:08:16,960
but had been submerged in an inland lagoon.
2237
02:08:19,960 --> 02:08:22,960
It's a blow for those hoping Helike is Atlantis.
2238
02:08:23,720 --> 02:08:25,199
Plato's mythological city
2239
02:08:25,199 --> 02:08:27,679
had been submerged and lost to the seafloor,
2240
02:08:27,680 --> 02:08:30,000
not a lagoon.
2241
02:08:31,199 --> 02:08:34,199
But still, in the search for Helike,
2242
02:08:34,199 --> 02:08:35,960
it's an incredible breakthrough.
2243
02:08:37,239 --> 02:08:39,199
It was beginning to make sense
2244
02:08:39,199 --> 02:08:42,960
why Katsanopoulou's sonar scans only showed a port,
2245
02:08:42,960 --> 02:08:44,960
not the rest of the city.
2246
02:08:47,720 --> 02:08:49,199
There was only one problem,
2247
02:08:49,199 --> 02:08:50,960
if you're thinking about this as a lagoon,
2248
02:08:50,960 --> 02:08:52,199
there isn't a lagoon there now,
2249
02:08:52,199 --> 02:08:53,679
there's just solid land.
2250
02:08:53,680 --> 02:08:56,200
So, where was the poros?
2251
02:08:59,479 --> 02:09:01,919
OK. Then I thought,
2252
02:09:01,960 --> 02:09:03,960
"Since we have a poros,
2253
02:09:03,960 --> 02:09:05,960
"that is an inland lagoon,
2254
02:09:05,960 --> 02:09:08,000
"then the ruins of the city
2255
02:09:08,199 --> 02:09:10,679
"should lie under this lagoon,
2256
02:09:10,680 --> 02:09:12,200
"because this lagoon
2257
02:09:12,199 --> 02:09:14,199
"covered up
2258
02:09:14,199 --> 02:09:16,960
"actually the destroyed city."
2259
02:09:18,680 --> 02:09:19,960
But at the point where
2260
02:09:19,960 --> 02:09:22,680
the sonar scans had identified a port,
2261
02:09:22,720 --> 02:09:26,199
there was no lagoon, only dry land.
2262
02:09:26,960 --> 02:09:31,199
But all of Katsonopoulou's evidence pointed to Helike being here.
2263
02:09:31,960 --> 02:09:35,439
Was it possible that the lagoon had dried up?
2264
02:09:36,920 --> 02:09:38,440
The fact that you have a feature
2265
02:09:38,479 --> 02:09:41,439
close to the shore that may belong to a port,
2266
02:09:41,479 --> 02:09:43,719
that shows to you that the city is on land.
2267
02:09:43,960 --> 02:09:45,439
So we said,
2268
02:09:45,439 --> 02:09:47,679
"OK, we checked it out, it's nothing in the sea,
2269
02:09:47,680 --> 02:09:49,440
"we have now to prepare
2270
02:09:49,680 --> 02:09:51,000
"for starting on land."
2271
02:09:52,199 --> 02:09:53,679
Katsonopoulou steps ashore.
2272
02:09:53,920 --> 02:09:58,440
Was there any evidence that this area had once been underwater?
2273
02:09:59,680 --> 02:10:00,960
If she could find any,
2274
02:10:01,000 --> 02:10:02,720
then she would be one step closer
2275
02:10:02,960 --> 02:10:05,720
to locating the lost city of Helike.
2276
02:10:09,439 --> 02:10:11,199
Among the trees on a farm,
2277
02:10:11,439 --> 02:10:13,679
just outside the town of Rizomylos,
2278
02:10:13,680 --> 02:10:16,960
Katsonopoulou notices something unusual -
2279
02:10:16,960 --> 02:10:19,439
a bridge but no river.
2280
02:10:20,439 --> 02:10:22,960
Examining the geology of the surrounding area,
2281
02:10:22,960 --> 02:10:27,680
it becomes clear this bridge wasn't always over dry land.
2282
02:10:28,960 --> 02:10:30,199
Over millions of years,
2283
02:10:30,439 --> 02:10:32,439
the craggy mountains further inland
2284
02:10:32,680 --> 02:10:36,680
have been eaten away by rivers coursing through them.
2285
02:10:37,479 --> 02:10:39,439
As the rivers make their way to the coast,
2286
02:10:39,439 --> 02:10:43,479
they carry with them the huge amount of rocks and debris.
2287
02:10:44,439 --> 02:10:46,199
One of the things that really impressed me
2288
02:10:46,199 --> 02:10:47,679
was the sheer amount of material
2289
02:10:47,680 --> 02:10:49,200
that was coming from the mountain side.
2290
02:10:49,199 --> 02:10:50,960
Those rivers that were coming through
2291
02:10:50,960 --> 02:10:52,960
were bringing huge amounts of debris down
2292
02:10:53,000 --> 02:10:54,960
and spreading it across the coastline.
2293
02:10:54,960 --> 02:10:57,199
So this was one of the most dynamic landscapes
2294
02:10:57,239 --> 02:10:58,679
I'd ever encountered.
2295
02:10:59,479 --> 02:11:00,719
Each winter,
2296
02:11:00,960 --> 02:11:02,680
the rivers break their banks
2297
02:11:02,680 --> 02:11:05,680
and deposit sediment across the entire plain.
2298
02:11:06,960 --> 02:11:10,680
It explains why the bridge is now over dry land.
2299
02:11:11,680 --> 02:11:13,720
That bridge was at one point over a river.
2300
02:11:13,960 --> 02:11:15,680
And it's no longer over a river,
2301
02:11:15,680 --> 02:11:17,960
the river's about 500m away.
2302
02:11:17,960 --> 02:11:19,439
So that tells us that the rivers
2303
02:11:19,439 --> 02:11:21,679
have changed since the classical time.
2304
02:11:23,199 --> 02:11:25,679
As the sediment builds year after year,
2305
02:11:25,920 --> 02:11:27,960
the rivers gradually become silted up
2306
02:11:27,960 --> 02:11:30,680
and the water changes course.
2307
02:11:31,720 --> 02:11:34,960
The bridge is a feature
2308
02:11:34,960 --> 02:11:36,439
that has to do
2309
02:11:36,439 --> 02:11:42,039
with the geomorphological changes of the plain.
2310
02:11:42,119 --> 02:11:45,920
Actually the bridge is evidence
2311
02:11:45,960 --> 02:11:48,480
for the shift of the river.
2312
02:11:50,600 --> 02:11:53,440
For Katsonopoulou, it's a profound realisation.
2313
02:11:53,439 --> 02:11:56,960
The lost city of Helike was submerged in a lagoon.
2314
02:11:57,039 --> 02:12:01,600
But all her evidence pointed to the location being on dry land.
2315
02:12:03,359 --> 02:12:04,599
Katsonopoulous suspects
2316
02:12:04,840 --> 02:12:06,480
a lagoon was once here,
2317
02:12:06,560 --> 02:12:09,440
but had silted up over time.
2318
02:12:10,439 --> 02:12:14,519
The lagoon had completely been silted
2319
02:12:14,600 --> 02:12:19,000
over by the sediments brought down by the rivers.
2320
02:12:19,079 --> 02:12:23,960
And that's why today you do not see any lagoon in the area.
2321
02:12:26,039 --> 02:12:29,960
The lagoon, of course, it is buried under the dry land today.
2322
02:12:31,960 --> 02:12:34,439
The ancient texts, the sonar scans,
2323
02:12:34,439 --> 02:12:36,479
the existence of a lagoon,
2324
02:12:36,560 --> 02:12:39,960
all pointed to Helike being under this plain.
2325
02:12:41,359 --> 02:12:42,519
But to know for certain,
2326
02:12:42,600 --> 02:12:45,440
her team will need to break ground.
2327
02:12:51,560 --> 02:12:53,360
Katsonopoulou and her team
2328
02:12:53,439 --> 02:12:56,119
conduct a series of extensive surface surveys
2329
02:12:56,359 --> 02:12:58,439
along the coastal plain.
2330
02:12:59,439 --> 02:13:02,439
They drill boreholes down to a depth of 15m
2331
02:13:02,439 --> 02:13:04,359
and examine the samples
2332
02:13:04,439 --> 02:13:06,319
for any signs of ancient life.
2333
02:13:07,560 --> 02:13:09,840
In 1993, they find some.
2334
02:13:10,840 --> 02:13:11,960
Pieces of pottery.
2335
02:13:13,079 --> 02:13:15,439
Inside these soils samples
2336
02:13:15,479 --> 02:13:19,959
were found the first pottery fragments.
2337
02:13:19,960 --> 02:13:21,439
Until then,
2338
02:13:21,439 --> 02:13:24,559
nothing was known from this area.
2339
02:13:24,800 --> 02:13:27,360
Even to find some first
2340
02:13:27,439 --> 02:13:29,439
small pottery fragments,
2341
02:13:29,479 --> 02:13:33,319
it was something to rejoice at.
2342
02:13:35,920 --> 02:13:37,079
For Katsonopoulou,
2343
02:13:37,319 --> 02:13:39,799
these finds indicated an ancient settlement
2344
02:13:39,880 --> 02:13:42,440
that's likely to exist beneath their feet.
2345
02:13:43,600 --> 02:13:46,880
Could these be the ruins of Helike?
2346
02:13:47,560 --> 02:13:49,960
The team prepares to excavate.
2347
02:13:54,880 --> 02:13:57,440
But before the archaeologists can start,
2348
02:13:57,439 --> 02:13:59,000
they are woken in the night
2349
02:13:59,079 --> 02:14:01,079
by a horrific noise.
2350
02:14:02,399 --> 02:14:05,439
We were conducting our first excavation in the area
2351
02:14:05,520 --> 02:14:08,440
when this earthquake happened,
2352
02:14:08,439 --> 02:14:11,439
the Aigion earthquake of 1995.
2353
02:14:13,079 --> 02:14:16,119
We were very much alarmed because, you know,
2354
02:14:16,359 --> 02:14:18,439
that happened early in the morning.
2355
02:14:18,439 --> 02:14:20,960
Of course living through
2356
02:14:20,960 --> 02:14:22,960
an earthquake event,
2357
02:14:23,000 --> 02:14:25,439
it's something dramatic
2358
02:14:25,520 --> 02:14:26,960
and terrifying.
2359
02:14:29,439 --> 02:14:31,519
When the dust from the earthquake settles,
2360
02:14:31,600 --> 02:14:34,880
Katsonopoulou's team finally break ground.
2361
02:14:35,479 --> 02:14:38,919
Here they uncover the remains of an ancient building.
2362
02:14:40,479 --> 02:14:44,039
Helike was destroyed in 373 BCE,
2363
02:14:44,119 --> 02:14:46,039
during the Classical Period.
2364
02:14:48,439 --> 02:14:51,960
But frustratingly, the remains uncovered are Roman.
2365
02:14:51,960 --> 02:14:55,600
They date from a far later period in history.
2366
02:14:56,520 --> 02:15:00,560
But for Katsonopoulou, it proves they're on the right track.
2367
02:15:01,439 --> 02:15:03,919
For me, it was very important.
2368
02:15:03,960 --> 02:15:07,600
Because that proved for good
2369
02:15:07,840 --> 02:15:14,440
that there is ancient occupation in this plain.
2370
02:15:14,439 --> 02:15:18,439
And you have the real evidence in front of your eyes.
2371
02:15:18,439 --> 02:15:19,960
You have a building.
2372
02:15:21,000 --> 02:15:22,960
As more excavations are conducted,
2373
02:15:22,960 --> 02:15:27,960
it becomes clear that the site held a very long occupation history.
2374
02:15:27,960 --> 02:15:29,880
It's promising news.
2375
02:15:29,960 --> 02:15:33,439
But to edge closer to proving this is Helike,
2376
02:15:33,439 --> 02:15:35,079
Katsonopoulou's team
2377
02:15:35,319 --> 02:15:36,960
need to uncover evidence
2378
02:15:37,000 --> 02:15:39,439
that this site was inhabited
2379
02:15:39,520 --> 02:15:41,880
during the Classical Period.
2380
02:15:42,880 --> 02:15:46,440
In the foundation trench of this building,
2381
02:15:46,439 --> 02:15:49,119
we discovered a nice group
2382
02:15:49,359 --> 02:15:52,799
of pottery fragments from earlier periods,
2383
02:15:52,880 --> 02:15:57,440
like Classical and even earlier,
2384
02:15:57,439 --> 02:16:00,079
going back to the 8th century BC.
2385
02:16:00,319 --> 02:16:05,439
That showed to us that we were in the right track,
2386
02:16:05,439 --> 02:16:07,519
we were in the right area.
2387
02:16:08,560 --> 02:16:12,520
The wealth of finds uncovered indicate that a significant,
2388
02:16:12,600 --> 02:16:16,400
prosperous, ancient city once existed here.
2389
02:16:16,439 --> 02:16:18,439
But although the team have found traces
2390
02:16:18,439 --> 02:16:20,519
of settlements from the Roman,
2391
02:16:20,600 --> 02:16:23,960
the early Bronze Age and Helladic periods,
2392
02:16:24,039 --> 02:16:26,079
they haven't found any structures
2393
02:16:26,319 --> 02:16:28,439
from the Classical Period,
2394
02:16:28,439 --> 02:16:31,879
the era that Helike existed in.
2395
02:16:38,799 --> 02:16:43,439
Until Professor Katsonopoulou's team make a discovery in 2001.
2396
02:16:44,959 --> 02:16:46,319
Beneath an olive grove,
2397
02:16:46,399 --> 02:16:47,600
they uncover a series
2398
02:16:47,840 --> 02:16:50,920
of structures teaming with artefacts.
2399
02:16:51,840 --> 02:16:52,960
When they date them,
2400
02:16:52,959 --> 02:16:56,079
it becomes clear they've hit the jackpot.
2401
02:16:56,959 --> 02:16:59,399
We can date these buildings as Classical
2402
02:16:59,440 --> 02:17:00,960
because of the finds
2403
02:17:01,040 --> 02:17:03,440
that is pottery, coins and other,
2404
02:17:03,479 --> 02:17:07,000
that date to the 4th century BC.
2405
02:17:08,879 --> 02:17:10,839
The artefacts fit the time frame
2406
02:17:10,920 --> 02:17:13,360
for the story of Helike's destruction.
2407
02:17:14,120 --> 02:17:17,000
And as Katsonopoulou sifts through the remains,
2408
02:17:17,079 --> 02:17:19,959
she comes across a timely remainder
2409
02:17:19,959 --> 02:17:22,359
that people once lived here,
2410
02:17:22,440 --> 02:17:26,120
an object which appears to be a family heirloom.
2411
02:17:27,040 --> 02:17:28,920
One of the more special finds
2412
02:17:28,959 --> 02:17:33,879
is the terracotta painted head of female idol,
2413
02:17:33,959 --> 02:17:39,959
which actually chronologically is not Classical,
2414
02:17:40,000 --> 02:17:42,120
is earlier than Classical.
2415
02:17:42,360 --> 02:17:46,920
Because this is a 6th century BC find,
2416
02:17:46,959 --> 02:17:50,959
and obviously this belonged
2417
02:17:51,040 --> 02:17:54,360
to the people who own this building.
2418
02:17:54,440 --> 02:17:56,520
And this was something like
2419
02:17:56,600 --> 02:17:58,840
they had inherited
2420
02:17:58,920 --> 02:18:02,040
from one generation to the other,
2421
02:18:02,120 --> 02:18:06,440
and was still remaining in this building in 373 BC.
2422
02:18:09,879 --> 02:18:13,359
Finally, Professor Katsonopoulou has proof
2423
02:18:13,440 --> 02:18:18,399
that a large city existed here in 373 BCE,
2424
02:18:19,440 --> 02:18:20,960
the year that Helike is said
2425
02:18:20,959 --> 02:18:23,839
to have been destroyed by a tsunami.
2426
02:18:24,920 --> 02:18:28,319
Had Katsonopoulou finally uncovered the lost city?
2427
02:18:28,959 --> 02:18:31,359
The ancient ruins her team have uncovered
2428
02:18:31,440 --> 02:18:33,399
match the historical
2429
02:18:33,440 --> 02:18:35,960
and geographical descriptions perfectly.
2430
02:18:36,959 --> 02:18:38,959
But a key question remains unanswered -
2431
02:18:39,040 --> 02:18:40,520
was there any proof
2432
02:18:40,600 --> 02:18:42,520
that this site had been destroyed
2433
02:18:42,600 --> 02:18:46,559
by a tsunami and submerged in a lagoon?
2434
02:18:47,440 --> 02:18:50,960
Without this, it's impossible to know for certain
2435
02:18:51,040 --> 02:18:53,800
whether the lost city of Helike
2436
02:18:53,879 --> 02:18:56,399
had finally been found.
2437
02:19:01,600 --> 02:19:04,479
If these ruins had once lay underwater,
2438
02:19:04,559 --> 02:19:08,479
then the remains of aquatic life might still be present.
2439
02:19:09,920 --> 02:19:12,120
Katsonopoulou's team re-examine the soil
2440
02:19:12,360 --> 02:19:15,480
brought up by bore hole drillings across the region.
2441
02:19:16,440 --> 02:19:18,440
When they analyse the sediment samples,
2442
02:19:18,520 --> 02:19:21,440
they make an important discovery,
2443
02:19:21,520 --> 02:19:23,960
evidence of microscopic organisms
2444
02:19:24,040 --> 02:19:27,320
usually found in a marine environment.
2445
02:19:27,399 --> 02:19:30,440
You have organisms in this soil sample
2446
02:19:30,520 --> 02:19:33,520
that show that the environment
2447
02:19:33,600 --> 02:19:35,399
in which they are found
2448
02:19:35,440 --> 02:19:39,399
is definitely a lagoonal environment.
2449
02:19:40,120 --> 02:19:43,440
These ruins were once submerged in a lagoon,
2450
02:19:43,440 --> 02:19:44,960
just as the ancient accounts
2451
02:19:45,000 --> 02:19:47,120
of the destruction of Helike described.
2452
02:19:48,120 --> 02:19:49,840
For Katsonopoulou,
2453
02:19:49,920 --> 02:19:52,120
she has proof that these ruins
2454
02:19:52,360 --> 02:19:55,360
are the lost city of Helike.
2455
02:19:56,000 --> 02:19:57,799
It's an incredible moment.
2456
02:19:58,600 --> 02:20:01,000
Finding something that,
2457
02:20:01,079 --> 02:20:03,000
for over a century,
2458
02:20:03,079 --> 02:20:07,120
was an unresolved problem for archaeology,
2459
02:20:07,360 --> 02:20:09,880
was a major moment.
2460
02:20:10,959 --> 02:20:12,439
It's an amazing feeling,
2461
02:20:12,479 --> 02:20:14,439
that it is difficult to describe.
2462
02:20:14,440 --> 02:20:16,960
It is a life's work for me.
2463
02:20:18,520 --> 02:20:21,040
Could these ruins finally reveal the truth
2464
02:20:21,120 --> 02:20:24,480
behind one of the Ancient World's greatest mysteries,
2465
02:20:24,559 --> 02:20:28,959
what actually caused the destruction of Helike.
2466
02:20:34,399 --> 02:20:36,039
According to the ancient texts,
2467
02:20:36,120 --> 02:20:39,360
Poseidon was angry with the inhabitants of Helike
2468
02:20:39,440 --> 02:20:41,360
and caused an earthquake,
2469
02:20:41,440 --> 02:20:43,440
which triggered a tsunami
2470
02:20:43,440 --> 02:20:46,440
that overwhelmed and submerged the city.
2471
02:20:46,440 --> 02:20:50,360
But was a tsunami actually responsible
2472
02:20:50,440 --> 02:20:52,480
for the eradication of Helike?
2473
02:20:53,399 --> 02:20:56,039
As Katsonopoulou's team examined the ruins,
2474
02:20:56,120 --> 02:20:57,960
they found clear evidence
2475
02:20:58,000 --> 02:21:00,559
that the structures had been destroyed,
2476
02:21:00,799 --> 02:21:02,959
and crucially, the destruction pattern
2477
02:21:02,959 --> 02:21:05,439
pointed to a great wave.
2478
02:21:06,920 --> 02:21:08,440
In two different locations
2479
02:21:08,440 --> 02:21:11,440
have been found Classical remains
2480
02:21:11,440 --> 02:21:14,600
of buildings destroyed,
2481
02:21:14,840 --> 02:21:17,319
and the interesting thing
2482
02:21:17,399 --> 02:21:19,440
is that in one case,
2483
02:21:19,520 --> 02:21:23,000
the way one of the walls is fallen,
2484
02:21:23,079 --> 02:21:26,559
shows that it was perhaps
2485
02:21:26,799 --> 02:21:30,439
the result of a backwash of a tsunami.
2486
02:21:32,440 --> 02:21:35,440
It was looking like the ancient texts were correct.
2487
02:21:36,479 --> 02:21:38,959
A tsunami had engulfed Helike.
2488
02:21:39,920 --> 02:21:42,000
But a closer analysis of the destruction layers
2489
02:21:42,079 --> 02:21:43,959
shows something else,
2490
02:21:44,879 --> 02:21:47,959
Helike had suffered wide scale destruction
2491
02:21:48,000 --> 02:21:50,959
before the tsunami hit,
2492
02:21:50,959 --> 02:21:53,959
almost as if the city was swallowed by the ground
2493
02:21:54,000 --> 02:21:56,959
prior to being engulfed.
2494
02:21:56,959 --> 02:21:59,079
What could have caused this?
2495
02:22:01,959 --> 02:22:04,439
The Gulf of Corinth is a really interesting area,
2496
02:22:04,440 --> 02:22:08,319
because it's the most seismically active part of Greece,
2497
02:22:08,399 --> 02:22:11,440
and Greece is the most seismically active part of Europe.
2498
02:22:11,479 --> 02:22:13,439
Geologist Iain Stewart
2499
02:22:13,479 --> 02:22:15,520
was investigating another earthquake
2500
02:22:15,600 --> 02:22:18,360
that had occurred in 1861
2501
02:22:18,440 --> 02:22:21,440
when his path crossed with Katsonopoulou.
2502
02:22:22,440 --> 02:22:24,960
What he discovered offered an answer.
2503
02:22:25,559 --> 02:22:27,959
I was doing what was called paleoseismology.
2504
02:22:28,040 --> 02:22:31,120
So, you kind of excavate along the fault line,
2505
02:22:31,360 --> 02:22:33,079
and you get some evidence
2506
02:22:33,319 --> 02:22:34,879
of when that fault last moved
2507
02:22:34,959 --> 02:22:36,439
during an earthquake.
2508
02:22:36,440 --> 02:22:40,000
I knew there was an earthquake that had happened in December 1861,
2509
02:22:40,079 --> 02:22:42,559
so my question was, was the fault that I was looking at
2510
02:22:42,799 --> 02:22:43,959
the one that also moved
2511
02:22:44,040 --> 02:22:47,040
in the earlier earthquake of 373 BC?
2512
02:22:48,440 --> 02:22:49,960
Stewart's geological analysis
2513
02:22:50,000 --> 02:22:51,959
highlighted many similarities
2514
02:22:51,959 --> 02:22:54,439
between the earthquake of 1861
2515
02:22:54,440 --> 02:22:59,560
and the earthquake that triggered the tsunami of 373 BCE.
2516
02:23:01,920 --> 02:23:04,879
His findings match the destruction seen at Helike.
2517
02:23:05,920 --> 02:23:08,079
There was large scale coastal submergence,
2518
02:23:08,319 --> 02:23:09,520
large areas of flooding,
2519
02:23:09,600 --> 02:23:11,559
there was lots of mud and water
2520
02:23:11,799 --> 02:23:13,079
that had erupted out.
2521
02:23:13,319 --> 02:23:14,959
There was fissuring of the landscape.
2522
02:23:16,399 --> 02:23:19,479
373 BC was a really big earthquake.
2523
02:23:19,559 --> 02:23:22,439
The plain dropped, maybe 3m.
2524
02:23:22,479 --> 02:23:24,439
The tops of the olive trees
2525
02:23:24,440 --> 02:23:26,040
were just sticking out of the water.
2526
02:23:26,120 --> 02:23:29,960
This would have been the most intense jolt
2527
02:23:29,959 --> 02:23:31,359
of this whole landscape.
2528
02:23:31,440 --> 02:23:32,960
The whole area would have been shaking.
2529
02:23:33,040 --> 02:23:34,840
And then, you just get the feeling of it
2530
02:23:34,920 --> 02:23:35,960
kind of collapsing down
2531
02:23:35,959 --> 02:23:37,319
into the sea.
2532
02:23:37,399 --> 02:23:38,399
It would have been
2533
02:23:38,440 --> 02:23:41,399
the most extraordinary event to have lived through.
2534
02:23:41,440 --> 02:23:42,480
Terrifying.
2535
02:23:43,959 --> 02:23:45,439
For Stewart, it seemed likely
2536
02:23:45,440 --> 02:23:48,600
the earthquake of 373 BCE
2537
02:23:48,840 --> 02:23:50,960
didn't just cause a tsunami,
2538
02:23:50,959 --> 02:23:52,919
but shook the ground so violently
2539
02:23:52,959 --> 02:23:56,439
that Helike was engulfed by water from below.
2540
02:23:57,479 --> 02:24:00,000
It's a process known as liquefaction.
2541
02:24:01,799 --> 02:24:03,959
It occurs when wet, loosely packed soil
2542
02:24:03,959 --> 02:24:05,519
is shaken by an earthquake.
2543
02:24:06,440 --> 02:24:08,520
It causes the soil particles to break contact
2544
02:24:09,520 --> 02:24:11,479
and the moisture rises to the surface.
2545
02:24:12,440 --> 02:24:16,040
Solid ground takes on the consistency of a liquid.
2546
02:24:17,440 --> 02:24:20,440
The main effects of liquefaction in 373 BC
2547
02:24:20,479 --> 02:24:23,079
are dramatic outpourings of water,
2548
02:24:23,319 --> 02:24:25,440
in some case kind of bursting and flooding out,
2549
02:24:25,479 --> 02:24:26,959
but in some cases fountains.
2550
02:24:26,959 --> 02:24:28,839
Like, almost like volcanic eruptions,
2551
02:24:28,920 --> 02:24:31,960
exploding out under great pressure.
2552
02:24:31,959 --> 02:24:33,439
Changing, transforming the whole
2553
02:24:33,440 --> 02:24:34,960
physical kind of landscape,
2554
02:24:34,959 --> 02:24:36,319
burying buildings,
2555
02:24:36,399 --> 02:24:37,559
burying people perhaps.
2556
02:24:38,799 --> 02:24:42,039
It seems that in 373 BCE,
2557
02:24:42,120 --> 02:24:43,960
the ancient city of Helike
2558
02:24:43,959 --> 02:24:46,439
was hit by a cataclysmic earthquake.
2559
02:24:47,799 --> 02:24:49,399
As the earth opened up,
2560
02:24:49,440 --> 02:24:50,960
the city and its inhabitants
2561
02:24:51,000 --> 02:24:54,440
were flooded by water bursting up from beneath their feet.
2562
02:24:55,799 --> 02:24:57,119
With the city all but destroyed,
2563
02:24:57,360 --> 02:24:59,920
the tsunami triggered by the earthquake
2564
02:24:59,959 --> 02:25:02,959
engulfed all that remained of Helike.
2565
02:25:03,959 --> 02:25:06,599
The city was lost beneath the waves.
2566
02:25:10,840 --> 02:25:13,440
While Helike is giving up its secrets,
2567
02:25:13,440 --> 02:25:16,079
the myth of the lost city of Atlantis
2568
02:25:16,319 --> 02:25:19,559
remains as big a mystery as it's ever been.
2569
02:25:21,319 --> 02:25:25,440
But as archaeologists continue to examine the evidence at Helike,
2570
02:25:25,440 --> 02:25:27,880
similarities between the city's demise
2571
02:25:27,959 --> 02:25:31,919
and Plato's tale of Atlantis become clear.
2572
02:25:32,959 --> 02:25:36,439
Could Helike's destruction be its inspiration?
2573
02:25:37,520 --> 02:25:39,960
Poseidon was the patron
2574
02:25:39,959 --> 02:25:42,399
and most important god of Helike.
2575
02:25:42,440 --> 02:25:43,960
As god of Earthquakes,
2576
02:25:44,040 --> 02:25:47,440
Poseidon was the most important god for Atlantis.
2577
02:25:47,440 --> 02:25:50,000
But there is another reason
2578
02:25:50,079 --> 02:25:54,440
that Plato would be interested in Helike's destruction,
2579
02:25:54,440 --> 02:25:56,079
he was in Athens,
2580
02:25:56,319 --> 02:25:58,440
Helike was not very far from Athens.
2581
02:25:58,440 --> 02:26:01,480
The phenomenon that destroyed Helike
2582
02:26:01,559 --> 02:26:04,439
impressed very much the ancients,
2583
02:26:04,440 --> 02:26:07,120
so Plato heard about it,
2584
02:26:07,360 --> 02:26:09,440
there is no doubt that he heard
2585
02:26:09,520 --> 02:26:11,120
and he knew about it.
2586
02:26:12,360 --> 02:26:13,520
In Plato's tale,
2587
02:26:13,600 --> 02:26:15,920
the citizens of Atlantis angered the gods,
2588
02:26:15,959 --> 02:26:17,879
who then sent an earthquake
2589
02:26:17,959 --> 02:26:20,919
that made Atlantis sink into the sea.
2590
02:26:21,959 --> 02:26:25,319
The Helike legend offers up a direct parallel.
2591
02:26:25,399 --> 02:26:27,959
Poseidon is said to have destroyed the city
2592
02:26:28,040 --> 02:26:29,840
in a fit of wrath
2593
02:26:29,920 --> 02:26:31,559
with the way the people of Helike
2594
02:26:31,799 --> 02:26:33,920
had behaved towards some visitors
2595
02:26:33,959 --> 02:26:36,439
wishing to venerate him.
2596
02:26:37,840 --> 02:26:39,440
If you look at the period in Greek history
2597
02:26:39,479 --> 02:26:41,000
that Plato lived through,
2598
02:26:41,079 --> 02:26:42,840
is there were lots of big earthquakes.
2599
02:26:42,920 --> 02:26:46,440
Ones like Helike, where you had cities destroyed overnight.
2600
02:26:46,440 --> 02:26:47,960
So to my mind,
2601
02:26:47,959 --> 02:26:49,359
it's perfectly reasonable
2602
02:26:49,440 --> 02:26:51,000
what Plato did was he took reality
2603
02:26:51,079 --> 02:26:52,959
that he was seeing unfolding around him,
2604
02:26:52,959 --> 02:26:55,519
and he transposed that into a story of a civilisation
2605
02:26:55,600 --> 02:26:57,559
that happened way in the past.
2606
02:26:57,799 --> 02:27:00,000
So it's one of those factional accounts really,
2607
02:27:00,079 --> 02:27:01,959
where there's a bit of fact in there
2608
02:27:02,000 --> 02:27:03,959
but there's also a little bit of fiction.
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