Original subtitles

Gates: How Did Something This Big, This Complex Get Built Here?

That Is What I'm Here To Find Out.

♪♪

It's Probably The Most Important City

In All The American Continent.

They Had This Really Violent Mythology.

What The Hell?

They Made This Directly Under The Center Of The Pyramid.

[ Chuckling ] Oh, My God.

They Put Something Down There They Didn't Want People To Find.

How Awesome Is This?

So, It All Leads To This.

Holy [Bleep]

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

♪♪

Long Before Europeans Arrived In The So-Called New World,

The Americas Were Home

To Some Of The Most Advanced Civilizations In History --

The Aztecs, The Inca, The Maya.

But There's Another Civilization

That May Have Been More Powerful Than All Of Them --

The Empire Of Teotihuacan.

At Their Ruined Capital In Mexico,

They Left Behind Soaring Pyramids,

Imposing Temples,

And A Treasure Trove Of Cryptic Art

Dating Back Nearly 2,000 Years.

And Yet, For All Of Their Might,

We Know Surprisingly Little About Them.

Archaeologists Have Been Unable

To Decipher Their System Of Writing,

And They Haven't Found A Single Tomb

From One Of Their Rulers.

Historians Used To Believe

That Teotihuacan Was A Peaceful Culture.

But Now Grisly Evidence Has Been Found

That Could Point To Bizarre Rituals

And A Bloodthirsty Legacy.

So, Who Were These People?

How Did They Become So Powerful?

And Why Did They Vanish From History?

We're About To Find Out.

Above The Ruins, 21St-Century Technology

Is Helping To Reconstruct Their Mystical City.

Meanwhile, A Team Of Explorers Has Discovered A Secret Tunnel

Beneath One Of Their Most Sacred Temples.

But Where Does It Lead?

To Find Out, I'm Heading South Of The Border

To Join The Teams That Are On The Verge

Of Discovering The Secrets Of Teotihuacan.

♪♪

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration,

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord!

[ Laughs ]

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Good To Fly. Let's Go.

This Is "Expedition Unknown."

♪♪

♪♪

Well, It Is Very Early Morning, Very Chilly,

And I'm Only About An Hour From Mexico City,

But You Would Never Know It.

I May As Well Be In Another Time And Place Altogether.

There Are No People, There's No Cars -- Just Silence.

This Is One Of The Most Mysterious Places In The World.

It Is Sunrise, And This Is Teotihuacan.

Sprawling Avenues,

Perfectly Constructed Platforms,

Cryptic Temples,

And Immense Pyramids --

One Dedicated To The God Of The Moon,

And This One, The Pyramid Of The Sun.

This Is The Pyramid Of The Sun.

I Could Use A Lot Of Adjectives To Describe How Big It Is.

I Could Tell You That It's The Third-Largest Pyramid

In The World.

But The Only Way To Really Understand

How Hugethis Thing Is Is To Go To The Top.

Okay.

You Got This.

You Got This.

This Is Fine.

You're Not Gonna Die And Roll Down This Pyramid.

Let Me Tell You Something

I Just Learned About The Teotihuacanos --

Big-Time Into Cardio.

Here...We Are.

[ Panting ]

Whew!

Oh, God.

Look At That View.

Whew.

God, I Hope They Have A Defibrillator Up Here.

Until Recently, We've Known

Relatively Little About Teotihuacan.

In The Time Line Of Mesoamerican Cultures,

They Came To Power Over 2,000 Years Ago

And Dominated For Seven Centuries.

They Were Contemporaries With The Maya,

Who Ruled Further To The South,

And They Collapsed Just Before The Rise Of The Aztecs.

Since No Royal Tombs

Or Evidence Of Mass Sacrifice Was Found Here,

For Years, The Prevailing Belief

Was That Teotihuacan Was A Peaceful, Communal Society --

The Hippies Of The Precolonial Americas.

But From Up Here, The City And Its Grand Temples

Look Pretty Imposing.

This Pyramid Is The Centerpiece Of Teotihuacan In Many Ways.

It Is The Perfect Symbol

For The Unknown That Is This Place.

How Did Something This Big, This Complex Get Built Here

1,500 Years Before The Spanish Arrived In The Americas?

Who Were The People Who Built It?

And Why Don't We Know More About Them?

Why Isn't Teotihuacan A Household Name?

That Is What I'm Here To Find Out.

Time To Get Down, Cool Off,

And Get To Work.

I'm Going To Speak With One Of The Most Prominent

Archaeologists Here At Teotihuacan,

Who May Be On The Verge Of A Breakthrough.

But Since It's About 6:00 A.M. And Everyone Is Still Asleep,

I've Got A Few Hours Before The Meeting.

I Grab A Jeep And Head About 30 Miles

To Another Ancient Town --

One That's Far From Abandoned And Already Wide Awake.

♪♪

Mexico City -- The Oldest Capital In The Americas

And The Largest Urban Center In The Western Hemisphere,

Home To More Than 20 Million People.

This Is Also A City That People Who Have Never Been To

Have A Lot Of Opinions About.

People Worry That It's Dangerous.

They Worry That The Food Is Going To Make You Sick.

Let Me Set You Straight.

Mexico City May Be A Little Chaotic,

But It Has A Huge Heart, And It Is Quickly Becoming

One Of The Most Cosmopolitan, One Of The Safest,

And, Frankly, One Of The Coolest Cities In The Americas.

This City Has Something For Everyone --

World-Class Dining...

What -- What Is The Escamoles?

Ant Eggs.

Ant Eggs? Yeah.

Oh. Good, Good, Good.

[ Crunching ]

Crunchy.

...And Stores So New, They Seem To Pop Up Out Of Nowhere.

They Drag The Clothes Down Here, Which Is Better Real Estate,

But It's Illegal.

They Have Spotters With Walkie-Talkies.

And If Any Of Them See The Cops,

Then All These Guys Run Like Hell.

I Mean, It's A Pretty Good System.

I'm Not Just Here To Kill Time, Though.

This Is A Critical Stop

On My Exploration Of Teotihuacan.

You See, This Wasn't Always Mexico City.

When The Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés

Came Over The Hill Here In 1521,

He Saw Something That Took His Breath Away --

A Massive City In The Center Of A Great Salt Lake,

Home To More Than 100,000 People.

This Was The Aztec Capital Of Tenochtitlan.

The Aztecs Were One Of The Most Advanced Cultures

In The Americas,

And They Took Great Inspiration From The Empire Of Teotihuacan

That Collapsed Just Before They Rose To Power.

To Find Traces Of The Original City,

You Have To Look Underground.

In The Crowded Mexico City Subway

Where, Apparently, It's Pay-Or-Limbo Day,

Archaeologists Have Uncovered Stunning Aztec Glyphs

And Even Had To Build A Station Around A Pyramid.

Sorry. Sorry.

Sorry, Mexico.

Some Of The City's Oldest Traditions

Are Alive And Well At The Sonora Market --

The Place To Go For Anything, Everything, And Thisthing.

This Is Rattlesnake Powder, Which Is Used To Fight Disease,

And, Uh, How It Does That Is It Kills You.

This Is A Spray Called Call Client.

It's To Get Customers To Come Into Your Store.

Do They Have A Call Viewers?

Fresh Mint, Rosemary, Basil.

Do You Have Shrunken Human Heads Here?

Oh! No, They're Right Here. I Found Them. I Got Them.

Everything You Need For That Upcoming Dinner Party.

Coming Out Of The Market, I Make My Way To Zócalo Square.

Beneath It, Archaeologists Are Excavating

The Grand Temple Of The Aztec Capital.

To Learn What This Pyramid Can Reveal About Teotihuacan,

I'm Chatting With Dr. Carlos Gonzalez,

Who's Been Investigating This Place For Decades.

We Really Are In The Center Of The Aztec World Here, Right?

Many People Have Heard Of The Aztecs,

But Teotihuacan, We Don't Know As Much About.

So, When The Aztecs Got To Teotihuacan,

It Was Already Abandoned.

When The Aztecs Discovered The Ruins Of Teotihuacan,

They Were Taken Aback By The Sheer Size

And Craftsmanship Of The Construction.

They Believed That This Must Have Been

The Home Of Their Ancestors

And Dubbed The City Teotihuacan, Or The Home Of The Gods.

It's Curious That The Aztecs,

Who Were Arguably The Most Violent

Of The Mesoamerican Civilizations,

Were Inspired By A Culture

That Archaeologists Have Always Thought Of As Peaceful.

I Head Back To Teotihuacan

To Sort Out What Seems Like A Strange Contradiction.

♪♪

I Link Up With Professor Saburo Sugiyama,

Who Has Been At The Forefront Of Exploration At Teotihuacan

For More Than Three Decades.

What's Been The Standing Wisdom About This Place?

And As You've Been Working Here Over The Years And Excavating,

Has That View Changed?

Saburo Made A Series Of Astounding Discoveries

Inside The Pyramid Of The Moon.

He Uncovered The Remains Of 12 People

Who Appear To Have Been Brutally Sacrificed.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

That's Quite A Reversal, Right?

Anytime You Find Jewelry Made Of Human Bones,

You're Probably Dealing With A Group Of People

Who Maybe Were Not Totally Peaceful.

Auto-Sacrifice -- So Self-Bloodletting?

Come On.

No, That's Okay. I Think I'm -- I Think I'm Fine.

Saburo's Discoveries At Teotihuacan

Are Rapidly Reshaping History.

It May Be That The Aztecs Took More Inspiration Here

Than Anyone Ever Realized.

As Much As The Aztecs, Do You Think?

♪♪

This Potential Power Is At The Heart

Of Saburo's Latest Research, As He Tries To Figure Out

Just How Influential This City Really Was.

♪♪

Right.

I Would Love To See It. Yeah.

To Understand The True Power Of Teotihuacan,

We Need To Take To The Air.

A Helicopter From A Nearby Airfield

Lifts Us High Above The Ancient City.

And After A Moment, It's Clear

That I've Only Seen The Tip Of The Iceberg.

♪♪

Gates: I'm In Mexico, Hoping To Unlock The Mysteries

Of The Legendary City Of Teotihuacan.

I'm Flying Shotgun With Professor Saburo Sugiyama,

Who's Using Powerful Laser Scanners

To Map The Ruins Below.

Lidar Technology Uses Lasers To See Through

Existing Vegetation And Construction,

Giving The User A Kind Of X-Ray Vision

To See What's Underneath.

In This Case, A Shocking Surprise.

♪♪

♪♪

The City Is Bigger Than Anyone Had Previously Imagined --

Muchbigger.

The Lidar Reveals A Sophisticated Network

Of Roads, Irrigation Systems,

And Even Other Pyramids That Have Never Been Excavated.

♪♪

This Is The True Face Of Teotihuacan,

Laid Out Like A Digital Carpet.

The Data Reveals

That This Was The Largest City In The New World.

Today, Thousands Of People Live On Top Of It

Without Even Knowing.

Its Newly Revealed Immense Size

Means That This Almost Certainly Wasn't Some Commune

That Expanded Over Time.

This Is A Mega City

That Was Planned And Engineered From The Get-Go.

But By Whom?

♪♪

To Build An Urban Center Like This Would've Required

An Immense Amount Of Manpower And Organization,

Which Means The People Who Constructed It

Must Have Been Powerful And Wealthy.

So Where Did That Power Come From?

I'm Back On Terra Firma To Find Out.

They Say The Best Way To Get To Know Someone

Is To Talk To Their Neighbors.

For The Teotihuacanos,

That Means Heading 80 Miles Away,

To The Ruins Of A Smaller Culture In The Town Of Cholula.

In America, Of Course,

Cholula Is Famous For Its Namesake Hot Sauce,

Which, It Turns Out, Is Neither Made In

Nor Particularly Famous In Cholula.

Next, You're Gonna Tell Me

That Milky Way Candy Bars Are Not Made In Outer Space.

[ Scoffs ] I Mean, Come On.

Just Because They Don't Make Hot Sauce Here

Doesn't Mean That Cholula Lacks Spice.

This Was A Major Settlement At The Same Time As Teotihuacan.

And It's Still A Vital, Bustling Place Today.

There's Homemade Clothing To Buy...

I'm A Tourist.

...One-Of-A-Kind Souvenirs...

This Literally Has A Snake, A Bat, And A Scorpion In It.

Oof.

You Thought Kombucha Tea Was Tough.

...And Tortillas That Can't Get Any Fresher.

[ Cheers And Applause ]

On My Way Through The Market, I Hear A Lot Of Commotion.

Meet The Voladores, Or Flying Men.

They're Part Cirque Du Soleil, Part Daredevil Act,

And All Crazy.

These Guys Climb A 100-Foot Pole,

Tie Themselves At The Waist, And Then Jump,

Spinning Their Way To The Bottom.

So, This Is An Activity That Has Been Going On

Here In Mesoamerica Since Ancient Times.

Very Scary, No?

No.You're Very Brave.

Con Huevos.You Got Huevos.

Huevos.

Can I Give It A Try?

Yes? -Yes. -Arriba.

Let's Do This. Come On, Guys.

Gates: I Always Wanted To Join The Circus,

And Working For Tips On An Unregulated Deathtrap

May Be As Close As I Get.

[ Cheers And Applause ]

♪♪

♪♪

That Josh Gates Is Really Brave.

On The Far End Of The Market In The Center Of Town

Is A Massive Hill

With A Spanish Cathedral At The Top.

But Looks Can Be Deceiving.

This Is No Hill.

Beneath The Earth And Vegetation Is A Temple.

In Fact, At 1,300 Feet Long,

It Is The Largest Pyramid On Earth...

...Even Bigger Than The Pyramid At Giza.

To Find Out What This Buried Time Capsule

Can Tell Me About Teotihuacan,

I'm Meeting With Archaeologist Dr. Sergio Suarez Cruz.

It Is The Biggest Pyramid In The World By Volume.

Sí. It's Crazy.

I'd Love To See It. Please -- Lead On.

Yes. Yeah.

[ Chuckles ]

Okay.

Into The Darkness.

We Walk Into The Hill Through A Portal

Dug Not By Ancient Builders, But By Modern Archaeologists.

You Can See Where All This Was Chiseled Out By Hand.

Starting In The 1930S,

They Tunneled Into The Hillside With Almost Surgical Precision

In Order To Study The Layers Of History Underneath.

So, First Of All,

It Seems Like There Are A Million Passages Down Here.

Interpreter: Yes -- Nearly 5 Miles.

5 Miles Of Tunnels.

Do You Ever Get Lost Down Here?

Claro. Sí.

Oh, You Do? Oh. Okay, Good.

Well, I'm Right Behind You. Here We Go.

Dr. Cruz Somehow Navigates

Through The Pitch-Black Corridors

And Eventually Leads Me To Evidence

That This Hill Hasn't Always Been Just A Hill.

Holy Moly.

These Stairs Weren't Created Underground.

This Is The Exterior Of The Great Pyramid Of Cholula.

You Really Get A Sense Of How Tall This Is

When You Get In Here

And See This Channel That They've Cut

That Actually Takes You Up The Entire Side Of The Pyramid.

These Stairs Are Just

The Outermost Layer Of The Temple.

And Since All Of It Is Buried,

Each Inner Layer Has Been Perfectly Preserved.

We Travel Deeper Into The Darkness

Until We Arrive At The Heart Of The Pyramid

And A Stunning Surprise.

Wow. Look At That.

Wow. Look At That.

Gates: Deep Underneath The Ruins Of A Buried Pyramid

In Cholula, Mexico, Archaeologist Sergio Cruz And I

Come Face-To-Face With A Piece Of Hidden History.

Really Evocative.Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm.

See This Skull-Like Face, This Red Skull

Just Peering Out At You From The Darkness.

And These Are Original Murals.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Interpreter: What You're Seeing Here Is Incredibly Rare.

This Is The Outside Of A Pyramid.

When We See Most Pyramids Today, They're Just Stone,

But They Were Originally Covered In Artwork.

Ojos. Ah, Face.

Face. Uh-Huh.

Look At That -- Just Trapped In Time.

Interpreter: This Art We Found Predates The Aztecs By 1,000 Years.

We Now Think, With High Probability,

That It's Teotihuacan In Origin,

Depicting A Spirit Of A Dry Season

Causing Death And Famine.

What Have You Learned About The Relationship

Between Cholula And Teotihuacan?

Interpreter: This Art Shows Us

That Teotihuacan Had Control Here.

Their Power Spread Far Beyond The Borders Of Their Capital.

Dr. Cruz And Others Are Discovering

That The Influence Of Teotihuacan Was Vast.

Along With The Murals Here At Cholula,

There Are Teotihuacan Motifs Found At Various Other Sites

In Central Mexico.

What's More, The Glyphs Appear At The Mayan Sites Of Matacapan

And Hundreds Of Miles Away

At The Mayan Ruins Of Oxkintok In The Yucatán.

There's Even A Depiction Of A Teotihuacano Warrior

On A Stone Tablet

As Far South As The Mayan Ruins Of Yaxhá In Guatemala.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Interpreter: We Now Believe This Teotihuacan Culture

Was Immensely Powerful.

What Have You Found For Artifacts Down Here?

We Found Ceramic Pieces Here,

As Well As Very Strange Blades Made From Obsidian.

Obsidian? Obsidian.

Obsidian Is A Naturally Made Type Of Volcanic Glass

That's Usually Black In Color.

Its Extremely Sharp Edges

Made It A Favorite Tool For Early Cultures.

Interpreter: But What's Interesting Is That

95% Of The Obsidian We Found Here Is Green.

Huh. Most Of It's Green.

And That's Related To Teotihuacan?

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Interpreter: Sí. This Green Obsidian Is Very, Very Rare.

The Other Place It's Been Found

Is In The Sacrifices Discovered At Teotihuacan.

♪♪

Outside Of The City Of Pachuca De Soto,

I Meet With Archaeologist Alejandro Pastrana,

Who Is Excavating

One Of The Most Unique Sites Controlled By Teotihuacan.

Hola. Hola. ¿Como Estas?

How You Doing? Bien.

What Is This Place?

So, I Take It You're Finding Obsidian Here.

Why Were They Mining This Obsidian?

What Was It Used For, Primarily?

Because Obsidian Is Both Uniquely Sharp

And Uniquely Strong,

It Was Crucial To Making High-Quality Weapons And Tools.

But Alejandro's Team

Has Discovered Something Extraordinary Here,

And He's Invited Me To See It.

Though It Might Not Look Like It,

This Area Is Actually An Ancient Industrial Mine,

With Pits In Every Direction.

His Team Has Discovered Over 1,000 Mine Shafts,

And He's Taking Me Inside Of One

To Recover An Important Piece Of Obsidian At Its Source.

Whoa!

Whoa Ho Ho!

Alejandro's Team Has Dug A Horizontal Tunnel

To Intersect Some Of The Vertical Shafts

Dug By Teotihuacan's Engineers Nearly 2,000 Years Ago.

How Crazy Is This?

♪♪

Oh, My God!

What The Hell?

♪♪

Wow.

Isn't There Just Some Obsidian We Can Get Here?

Yeah. I'm Going Down, All Right.

I'm Going Down Hard. Okay.

We Gear Up To Rappel The 60 Feet Into The Mine,

Donning Helmets And Harnesses To Make The Descent.

♪♪

Why Am I Here?

To Get A Rock.

Okay, Coming Down.

Okay. Into The Darkness. Here We Go.

[ Chuckling ] Oh, My God!

Okay, Alejandro, I'm Coming Down.

I'm On A Sketchy Trip

In An Ancient Mexican Mine Shaft,

Where Archaeologist Alejandro Pastrana

Is About To Reveal

How The Teotihuacan Empire Became So Powerful.

Okay.

[ Grunts ]

Whew!

Okay. Nice Job.

With Both Feet On The Floor,

I Try Not To Think About How We're Going To Get Back Up.

And I Follow Alejandro Down The Tunnel.

Soon, He Reveals

Why The Teotihuacanos Bored Down Into These Hills.

Oh, Wow.

Look At All These Pieces Of Obsidian.

This Was All From An Eruption.

Wow.

It Turns Out That Millions Of Years Ago,

A Massive Lava Flow

Deposited A Mountain Of Obsidian Beneath Teotihuacan Territory.

This Isn't Just A Mine. It's The Mother Lode.

How Do We Get It Out Of The Wall?

Uh-Huh.

Right.

I See.

This Mine Has Zero Structural Support,

Which Means That Chipping Away At The Walls Is A Gamble.

Alejandro, Careful.

Yeah. [ Chuckles ]

♪♪

It's A Good Piece, Yeah?

Yes. It's A Good Piece.

Gates: This Is Green Obsidian --

The Same Type Found Under The Pyramid At Cholula

And The Same Type Found

In The Ritual Sacrifices At Teotihuacan.

We Return To The Surface

To Discuss The Significance Of The Find.

It Turns Out This Type Of Obsidian Isn't Just Uncommon.

It's All But Nonexistent.

At His Nearby Workshop, Alejandro Shows Me

How This Raw Green Obsidian Was Turned Into Something Potent.

Wow. It's Incredible.

I Should Point Out

That Alejandro Is One Of About Five People In The World

Who Know How To Replicate These Ancient Tools.

Are Your Blades As Good As The Ones From Teotihuacan?

Almost? Oh, Wow.

Lethal.

This Is Really, Like, As Sharp As A Knife, Right?

So, This Is Really Thick Leather.

[ Chuckles ]

Okay. [ Chuckles ]

I Mean, It's Razor-Sharp.

Okay, So Now Let Me Try To Shave You.

Yep.

No. You're Crazy. [ Laughs ]

Sir, You Obviously Don't Know Me Well.

You Should Not Have Leaned In.

Why Is Teotihuacan

Making So Much Out Of This Obsidian?

Archaeologists Now Believe That Teotihuacan Controlled

Nearly All Of The Black Obsidian Mines In Mexico

And The Only Green Obsidian Mine.

This Green Obsidian Wasn't Just Unique.

It Was Believed To Be Magical -- A Supernatural Blade

Tied To The Gods Of Fertility And Life.

And Teotihuacan Was Its Only Supplier.

So, It's Interesting.

It Really Changes This Image Of Teotihuacan

As An Isolated Place.

Seems Like That They Were Maybe Much More Widespread

In Terms Of Their Influence.

With The Revelation That Teotihuacan Was

The Amazon.Com Of Supernatural Weapons,

I Speed Back To The City's Ruins.

We Now Know The Source Of Their Power.

But There's A Huge Question That Still Hasn't Been Answered --

Who Was Running The Show?

Unlike The Maya Or The Aztecs,

A Royal Tomb Of A Teotihuacan Leader

Has Never Been Found.

But One Of The Most Exciting Digs On Earth Is Unfolding Here

That May Change All That.

♪♪

This Is The Citadel.

It Is One Of The Largest Compounds Inside Of Teotihuacan.

It's So Large That You Could Fit A Sold-Out Crowd

From Yankee Stadium In Here Five Times Over.

So The Big Question Is, What Was It Used For?

In The Middle Of This Massive Compound

Sits An Otherworldly Pyramid Dedicated To A Powerful Deity.

This Is The Temple Of The Feathered Serpent,

Or Quetzalcoatl.

It's One Of The Only Places At Teotihuacan

That You See Any Sculpture, Any Carvings.

This Gives Us An Idea Of How Significant This Place Was.

There's Clearly This Ritualistic Feeling About This Place,

So No Question That Some Sort Of Ceremonies Happened Here.

But What? We Don't Know.

But There Is A Guy Excavating

Right Here In The Middle Of This Plaza

Who May Be Close To Finding An Answer.

It's Hard To Miss The Large White Canopy

That Archaeologists Have Erected Directly In Front Of The Temple.

Inside, Sergio Gomez Is Running The Most Important Excavation

In The History Of Teotihuacan.

Hola. Hola.

Hola, Josh. Como Estas.Nice To Meet You.

Hello. I'm Josh.

Quite An Operation You Have Going Here.

Interpreter: One Of The Biggest Projects Happening At Teotihuacan.

There Is Over 60 People Working At The Moment.

And How Did You Come To Start Digging

Right There In Front Of The Pyramid?

One Day, When I Came To Work, I Was Informed

That There Was A Hole In The Ground 83 Centimeters Wide,

And My Team Lowered Me Into This Hole In The Ground.

In The Beginning, We Didn't Know What It Was,

But When I Went Down,

I Saw There Was The Evidence Of A Tunnel.

You Could Tell That There Was A Tunnel?

I Was Able To Remove A Couple Of Rocks

To See The Distance Going To One Side

And Then To The Other.

Teotihuacans Had Filled This Tunnel.

So That's A Good Indicator

That They Put Something Down There

They Didn't Want People To Find.

Yes. [ Speaking Spanish ]

-Do I Want To See What's In The Tunnel? -Yes.

It Would Honestly Be A Dream Come True.

Okay. Lets Do It.

Gates: Dr. Gomez Leads Me Back Through His Team's Workshop,

Which Looks More Like A Sophisticated Construction Site.

Helmets. Okay.

[ Elevator Whirring ]

Here We Go.

Sergio, You've Come A Long Way

Since Going Down This Hole On A Rope.

This Is Crazy.

I've Been To More Than My Share Of Archaeological Sites,

And This Is, Without A Doubt,

The Most High-Tech Excavation I Have Ever Seen.

Gates: How Deep Is This Tunnel?

40 To 50 Feet.

Straight Down?Straight Down.

And What Is This Machine Doing?

[ Speaking Spanish ]

The Machine Is Extracting Gas Radon,

Which Is Produced By The Composition

Of The Uranium And The Organic Material.

Uranium.

Perfect.

The Machine Is Part Of A Sophisticated Ventilation System

That Purges The Tunnel Of Poisonous Radon Gas.

But That's Nothing Compared To What Lies Waiting

At The Bottom Of This Elevator Shaft.

Wow.

Gates: I'm In Mexico, Where We've Discovered

That The Ancient City Of Teotihuacan

Was More Powerful Than Anyone Suspected.

But Since No Royal Tomb Has Ever Been Found Here,

It's Unclear Who Controlled That Power.

The Answers May Lie Beneath

One Of The City's Most Important Temples,

Where An Archaeologist Has Discovered A Hidden Tunnel.

Wow.

Let's See What You Guys Are Getting Up To Down Here.

My Very First Step Into The Tunnel

Takes My Breath Away.

This Is No Crawl Space.

This Is An Extensive Passage Leading Deep Under The Ruins.

Gates: This Is The Original Tunnel That They Dug?

This Is The Original Ceiling, Walls, And Floors.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

In Some Parts, You Can Still See The Scraping And The Holes

From The Tools They Used.

Wow.

These Blocks That Are Down Here,

What Did They Build Down Here?

At Some Point, The Teotihuacan People

Blocked The Tunnel By Creating These Walls.

This Is Why We Feel So Fortunate

To Be The First Ones To Discover This Place

After Approximately 1,700 Years.

Gates: We Move Further Into The Tunnel,

Where Sergio's Men Are Uncovering Artifacts

That Have Been Hidden Here For Nearly Two Millennia.

Gomez: This Is The Ceramica.

It's Intact?

It's Intact, You See. Complete.

That Looks Brand-New.

Sí.

It Looks Like That Was Justmade.

Interpreter: Everything That They Have Found

Has Been Taken Out Very Meticulously.

And They Have Found Thousands Of Objects.

Obsidian. And Obsidian.

Those Are Obsidian Blades.

Seeing These Blades Fanned Out Like This In A Ceramic Pot,

Clearly An Offering That Was Left Here.

And To Have It Uncovered In Real Time,

It's Just Beyond Rare To See Something Like This.

That's Something You Don't Find Every Day --

Unless, Of Course, You Work Down Here.

♪♪

Gates: We Push Deeper,

Passing Trench After Trench Filled With Offerings.

Wherever This Tunnel Leads, It's Obviously Sacred.

Eventually, We Reach An Area Where Massive Support Beams

Have Been Erected By The Archaeologists.

Gates: Sergio, What Is This?

Much Bigger Supports.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Interpreter: We Are Under Now The Temple Of The Feathered Serpent.

It's Above Us. Exactamente.

So, This Is Some Hard-Core Engineering

To Make Sure That The Pyramid Doesn't Come Down On Us.

Sí. [ Chuckles ] Wow.

Gates: It's In This Area

That Sergio's Team Is Employing Their Secret Weapon.

Hola. ¿Qué Tal?

Whoa. You Have A Robot.

Interpreter: Yes.

It Is The First Time In Mexico

That These Type Of Robots Are Used

For Archaeological Purposes

And The Second Time In The World That They Use Them.

And It Has Cameras Here And A Camera On The Back?

Sí -- Dos Cameras.

It Managed To Give Them The Image Of The Stability

And The Conditions Of The Tunnel Inside

Before They Were Able To Go In.

Let's See It In Action.

They Send The Robot To Explore A New Section Of The Passage

That Hasn't Yet Been Excavated.

So, What Are We Looking At Here?

You're Controlling It Just With A Joystick?

Yes, A Joystick.And How Do You Fire The Guns?

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Ah, There It Is. The Red Button -- Of Course.

It's Always The Red Button.

How Deep Is This Alcove? Do You Know?

Interpreter: It's Around 15 Feet.

It's Tough. It Gets Hung Up A Lot On The Low Ceiling.

Soft Sand And A Dead End.

Gates: The Robot Reaches The End Of The Alcove,

Sending Back Images

Vital To Determining The Tunnel's Stability.

What Have You Found Back Here Already?

Interpreter: They Found 400 Metallic Spheres

Made From This Mineral That Looks Like Metal,

And They Were Shiny And Metal-Like.

And What Were These For?

We Don't Know What It Was Used For,

And It's The First Time In Teotihuacan

That They Found This.

I Know Why It Was Here -- Aliens.

No Aliens. [ Laughs ]

Sir, You're The Expert,

But I'm Pretty Sure It's Alien Technology.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

One Of His Ideas Is That It Resembles A Drop Of Water.

Or Alien Technology.

No Alien Technology.

He's With Me. You're With Me.

He Knows. He Knows.

Okay.

Gates: From Here, The Passage Drops Down,

Leading Directly Underneath The Temple Of The Feathered Serpent

Into A Newly Discovered Chamber

That Might Change Everything We Know About Teotihuacan.

♪♪

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Beneath Teotihuacan's Temple Of The Feathered Serpent,

Archaeologist Sergio Gomez

Has Led Me Through A Hidden Tunnel

To What Is Possibly The Most Important Discovery

Ever Made Here.

So, It All Leads To This.

What Is This Room?

Interpreter: You're Standing Directly Underneath

The Dead Center Of The Temple Of The Feathered Serpent.

The Tunnels Go Out From Here

Alongside The Exact Axis Of The Temple.

They Made This Cross-Shaped Intersection Here

Directly Under The Center Of The Pyramid?

Exactamente.

How Close Did They Get?

Es Milímetrica. Millimeters.

Sí.

Gates: This Is The End Of The Line --

A Tunnel Over A Football Field Long

Leading To A Mysterious Room

That's Perfectly Aligned To The Pyramid Above.

And So, What Did You Find In This Room?

Here, They Found Thousands And Thousands Of Objects

In This Room.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Two Statues Of Women?

Two Statues Of Women And One Of Man.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Big Conch Shells.

And What About Bones?

[ Speaking Spanish ]

They Have Found Jaguar Bones.

Gates: Clearly A Sacred Space.

But I'm Most Puzzled

By The Strange Design Of The Chamber Itself.

This Room Looks Very Different Than The Other Rooms.

Unlike The Smooth Tunnel, Everywhere You Look,

There Are Odd, Uneven Ridges.

And Within Those Ridges, Sergio Has Just Made An Awesome Find.

Oh, Wow.

What Is This? ¿Qué Es Eso?

Esto Es Una Pelota.

Pelota? It's A Ball?

Sí.

For The Mesoamerican Ball Game?

[ Speaking Spanish ]

Interpreter: The Ball Represents The Movement Of The Sun.

The Sun Comes Out Facing North.

And When It Starts To Set,

It Goes Back Down On The Underworld.

Gates: The Mesoamerican Ball Game Was Both Entertainment And Ritual,

Depicted In Murals And Carvings Alongside Human Sacrifice.

I'm Just Speechless, Actually.

I've Never Seen One Of The Actual Balls

That Was Used In The Game.

This Is The First Time They Find Anything Like This

In An Archaeological Research.

Anywhere?

Nunca -- Never.

What Is It Made Of?

De Hule. It's Rubber?

This Is Extraordinary.

Mm-Hmm.

Gates: But The Ball, Which Is Linked To The Underworld,

Isn't The Only Telling Find Here.

Sergio Produces Their Most Spectacular Discovery To Date.

[ Speaking Spanish ]

This Is Mercury?

Mm-Hmm.

I've Never Heard Of Liquid Mercury

Being Found In A Place Like This.

Is That Rare?

Interpreter: Never Before Has Been Found Mercury In Mexico --

Only In The Maya Regions Of Belize And Guatemala.

You Found This Mercury Where?

[ Speaking Spanish ]In The Floor?

Gates: The Discovery Of Mercury Is A Revelation.

Dr. Gomez And His Team Realize That This Isn't A Room.

It's A Living Model Of The Underworld.

The Mercury Was Found In The Miniature Valleys

On The Floor, Where It Shimmered Like Lakes And Rivers.

This Feels Like The Underworld.

So It's Like This Whole Room Is Like A Diorama.

Yes. It's A Model To Represent A View.

The Axis Of The World Should Connect The Underworld

With The Superficial And The Heavens.

The Ball Is Extraordinary.

All Of The Finds Here And The Sculpting Of The Floor,

It's Incredible.

Gates: This Chamber All But Confirms That Teotihuacan Was Lorded Over

By Immensely Powerful Religious Leaders.

It Appears To Be A Place

Where The Elite Came For Coronations --

A Literal Trip To The Underworld To Meet With The Gods.

This Is Where The New Leaders Came In.

This Is The Place Where They Came To The Divinities,

And They Came Out Dressed With The New Powers

For The Governing.

Gates: If It Was Also Used As A Royal Tomb,

Dr. Gomez Believes The Bodies May Have Been Cremated

And Scattered Into The Darkness.

This Is Off The Charts.

This Is Really One Of The Most Incredible Rooms

I've Ever Been In.

Thank You So Much For Showing It To Me.

I Really Appreciate It.

Teotihuacan -- Once Thought To Be

A Peaceful And Communal Settlement,

But Science Is Rewriting History.

The City Is Bigger Than Anyone Knew,

Its Influence Spread Wider Than We Ever Imagined,

And Its Power Was Harnessed

Through The Production Of A Supernatural Commodity.

And Now This -- A Tunnel Leading To The Underworld Itself,

A Place Of Sacrifice, Of Ritual,

And A Portal To Confer Godlike Powers On A Select Few.

It's Time This Empire Was Recognized For Its True Might.

It Stood Alongside The Maya And Inspired The Aztecs.

They Called This Place The Home Of The Gods.

And Down Here,

In The Meeting Point Between Power And Faith,

I Finally Know Why.