Speaker 1: If you had to pick seven ancient wonders of the world,
Speaker 1: which ones would they be? We've compiled a list of
Speaker 1: our top seven, from the soaring heights of the Great Pyramid,
Speaker 1: through the statues of Easter Island, exotic Mayan temples, a
Speaker 1: Roman Amphitheater, and the Great Wall of China. The next
Speaker 1: two hours, we'll explore some of the most awesome ancient wonders,
Speaker 1: each rich in stories of mystery and intrigue. Will take
Speaker 1: part in the summer Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, walk the
Speaker 1: Great Wall of China, and join archaeologists in Mexico as
Speaker 1: they hunt for treasure in the Maya Temples. By searching
Speaker 1: for clues hidden within these historic monuments, we can begin
Speaker 1: to unlock their secrets and reveal the marvels of these
Speaker 1: ancient wonders of the world. The three Pyramids of Giza
Speaker 1: have stood on a high plateau by the Nile for
Speaker 1: more than four and a half thousand years. These wonders
Speaker 1: were built by the ancient Egyptian king Trufu, his son,
Speaker 1: and his grandson. Kufu's Great Pyramid is the largest and
Speaker 1: most impressive of them all.
Speaker 2: The pyramid has magic admestry, and I always say, if
Speaker 2: you come by to visit the Giza plateau and just
Speaker 2: walk and you can see the pyramid for the first time,
Speaker 2: your heart will be going up and down because it's
Speaker 2: something that cannot be explained. The Great Pyramid of Kufu
Speaker 2: is immortal.
Speaker 1: Amazingly, these ancient wonders are only a few minutes from
Speaker 1: downtown Cairo. The Pyramids at Giza are the planet's original
Speaker 1: tourist attraction.
Speaker 3: Awesome to think that you are standing on ancient history
Speaker 3: and seeing it in person.
Speaker 4: This is so much better than any kind of picture
Speaker 4: or television or anything.
Speaker 5: It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Today millions of visitors from around the world come to
Speaker 1: marvel at the pyramids.
Speaker 6: You know, I have always been thinking about pyramids since
Speaker 6: I was a little kid. For me, it's kind of
Speaker 6: a dream come true.
Speaker 7: I tried to read up on ahead of time, and there's.
Speaker 8: Just no way to.
Speaker 3: Prepare yourself for this, which is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: One scene, these ancient giants are never forgotten.
Speaker 2: All of this Lily capture the heart of everyone who
Speaker 2: come to visit the ship. And therefore, when you got
Speaker 2: to Paradise, God will say the only mistake that you
Speaker 2: do in your life that you did not visit the.
Speaker 1: The Great Pyramid is the largest monument ever built. The
Speaker 1: base is bigger than any temple or cathedral, and until
Speaker 1: the Eiffel Tower was finished in eighteen eighty seven, it
Speaker 1: was the tallest structure for over four thousand years.
Speaker 2: When we did an estimation a few months ago, we
Speaker 2: found out that the stones of the Great Pyramid are
Speaker 2: one million and three hundred thousand blocks. This the pyramids
Speaker 2: were massive, built of massive stones.
Speaker 1: The precision of their construction is astonishing. The four sides
Speaker 1: were aligned almost exactly with true north, southeast, and west,
Speaker 1: and the outer casing blocks were so skillfully laid that
Speaker 1: even a knife blade won't fit between them. Robert Bouval,
Speaker 1: born in Egypt, has been fascinated by the pyramids all
Speaker 1: his life. He's a construction engineer and full of admiration
Speaker 1: for the amazing skills of the ancient pyramid builders.
Speaker 9: There is no question that the Disneycropolis is the largest
Speaker 9: engineering project in the world in history, and omal sky
Speaker 9: Rise will contain something in the order of two hundred
Speaker 9: thousand tons of material. This is six million tons. You're
Speaker 9: talking about ten to fifteen times greater. So they're the
Speaker 9: giant skycrapers of history.
Speaker 1: Four and a half thousand years on, we still have
Speaker 1: no real idea how the Egyptians managed to construct these
Speaker 1: gigantic monuments, the largest stone structures ever built.
Speaker 9: The thing that makes them special is the father that
Speaker 9: we know very little about them. We don't know exactly
Speaker 9: who build them, we don't know exactly how old they are,
Speaker 9: we don't know why the building, So it's a huge
Speaker 9: question mark that looms in the desert. Some of the
Speaker 9: blocks that we use way up to sixty tons. These
Speaker 9: blocks are made of granite. Granite is imported from six
Speaker 9: hundred miles to the south of Egypt down the Nile.
Speaker 9: Can imagine sixty tons. Sixty tons is sixty family cars,
Speaker 9: you know, compacted into one block. So this is the
Speaker 9: kind of problems that we see, and they seem to
Speaker 9: sort of tease us with this mystery.
Speaker 10: It is a.
Speaker 9: Challenge to future generation to say, figure out how we
Speaker 9: did it.
Speaker 1: All three pyramids at Giza were originally cased with polished
Speaker 1: white limestone. Over the centuries, most of this limestone has
Speaker 1: been pillaged, but a few blocks remain around the base
Speaker 1: of the Great Pyramid and on the summit of King
Speaker 1: Kaffra's pyramid.
Speaker 9: You can't see the pyramids today from Bianzidan, but with
Speaker 9: this reflective surface they would have been sparkling, so you
Speaker 9: can imagine when they were new, they would have been
Speaker 9: absolutely staggering.
Speaker 1: If their size remains a marble, their purpose remains one
Speaker 1: of the greatest mysteries. The traditionally accepted view is that
Speaker 1: they were built as tombs for the mummified bodies of
Speaker 1: the pharaohs.
Speaker 2: The pyramid was a tomb, but it was also a
Speaker 2: national project of the whole nation. Every household in the
Speaker 2: north of Egypt and the south participated in building the
Speaker 2: pyramid by sending workforce, grain food to help the king.
Speaker 2: Because the pyramid will help that the birth of the king.
Speaker 2: It would make the king as a god. When they
Speaker 2: put the cap stone in the top of the pyramid,
Speaker 2: it meant that the pyramid was finished and everyone dance
Speaker 2: and sing.
Speaker 1: But Robert Bouval has a controversial alternative theory, which he
Speaker 1: began to formulate twenty years ago. His first seeds of
Speaker 1: doubt were sown deep inside the pyramid. The experience of
Speaker 1: climbing through this ancient ructure is unforgettable and completely impossible
Speaker 1: if you suffer even the tiniest degree of claustrophobia. Close
Speaker 1: to the heart of the pyramid, the tiny passageway opens
Speaker 1: up into the grand gallery. Over the centuries, the pale
Speaker 1: limestone has been blackened by the soot from countless candle flames.
Speaker 1: It was here in the King's chamber that Boval first
Speaker 1: questioned the Orthodox view that this was a tomb for
Speaker 1: King Kufu's mummified body.
Speaker 9: The Gyptologists say that this is a coffin for a
Speaker 9: dead body, but it may not be a coffin. It
Speaker 9: may be a place where great resurrection rituds take place.
Speaker 9: In fact, it may be something that served for the living,
Speaker 9: not for the dead.
Speaker 1: No human remains have ever been found inside any Egyptian pyramid.
Speaker 1: Boval believes this suggests that the monuments were built not
Speaker 1: as tombs, but as a grand setting for symbolic resurrections.
Speaker 1: He was also intrigued by the curious layout of the pyramids.
Speaker 1: The two largest are set along a southwest diagonal line,
Speaker 1: but the smaller pyramid of my Serinas was slightly offset
Speaker 1: to the east. Why was the third pyramid both smaller
Speaker 1: and built out of line.
Speaker 9: It was one of those things that being an engineer
Speaker 9: and being a surveying engineer was totally puzzling. I had
Speaker 9: a hunch that it had something to do with the
Speaker 9: stars the started engine.
Speaker 1: Boval followed up his hunch by taking a closer look
Speaker 1: at a completely different pyramid at the ancient side of Sakara,
Speaker 1: twenty five miles from Giza. This small pyramid was built
Speaker 1: for King Unas two hundred years after the Great Pyramid.
Speaker 1: It may look decrepid, but it holds some of the
Speaker 1: most revealing testimonies of the ancient Egyptian culture. Apart from
Speaker 1: some insignificant graffiti, the Pyramids of Giza are completely devoid
Speaker 1: of writing. But deep inside this pyramid are the Pyramid Texts,
Speaker 1: the oldest religious writing in the world. Two tiny rooms
Speaker 1: are crammed with magical spells, prayers, and hymns about the
Speaker 1: rebirth of the king and his reunion with the gods
Speaker 1: in the afterlife.
Speaker 9: They're intensely astronomy. They speak of the stars, they speak
Speaker 9: of the sun. It seems it's all about the sky,
Speaker 9: which is not surprising because this was the afterlife destiny
Speaker 9: of the king.
Speaker 1: Many of the hieroglyphs tell of the king making his
Speaker 1: afterlife journey to the stars, in particular the constellation of Orion.
Speaker 1: The Egyptians believed Orion was the representation of Osiris, the
Speaker 1: god of regeneration and symbol of eternal life. So Boval
Speaker 1: wondered if there could be a link between Orion and
Speaker 1: the unusual layout of the pyramids at Giza. After the break,
Speaker 1: we reveal Boval's ingenious solution to the mystery. Author Robert
Speaker 1: Bovell's brain wave about the unusual alignment of the pyramids
Speaker 1: of Giza came during a chance conversation in the desert.
Speaker 1: His friend was contemplating the three stars of Orion's belt.
Speaker 9: And he pointed specifically about the stars, and he referred
Speaker 9: to them as the three stars in a row. And then,
Speaker 9: just as an afterthought, said, but the third one is
Speaker 9: offset to the left, and the penny dropped. Suddenly, there
Speaker 9: was a correlation in my mind as to why this designed,
Speaker 9: this layout of the three pyramids had been said this way.
Speaker 1: With mounting excitement, Boval began to formulate his theory that
Speaker 1: the ancient Egyptians based the layout of the pyramids on
Speaker 1: a plan of the stars When he got back to Giza,
Speaker 1: Boval found further proof that the pyramids were designed to
Speaker 1: assist the king's afterlife journey to the stars. In the
Speaker 1: King's chamber of the Great Pyramid, a so called ventilation
Speaker 1: shaft is aligned directly with the peak position of Orion's belt,
Speaker 1: as it would have been seen in the ancient Egyptian
Speaker 1: night sky, and similar shafts originating from the center of
Speaker 1: the pyramid point directly towards other constellations that also had
Speaker 1: important significance in the ancient Egyptian star religion. By now,
Speaker 1: Boval had enough evidence to construct his controversial theory.
Speaker 9: That the whole machinery of the religion was how to
Speaker 9: ensure that their pharaohs after death would manage to undertake
Speaker 9: this celestial journey and return to the stars, and these
Speaker 9: monuments are the agency to produce that results. They are
Speaker 9: launching pads, if you like, for the pharaohs to reach
Speaker 9: the stars.
Speaker 1: How famous Orian correlation theory took the world by storm
Speaker 1: and reopened the debate about the mystery of the pyramids.
Speaker 1: Most Egyptologists stand firm in their belief that the pyramids
Speaker 1: were built as tombs, and they've completely dismissed Boval's star theory.
Speaker 2: It's beautifully written, it's beautifully made, its computer analysis, but
Speaker 2: it's strong because those people they come and smell the dirt,
Speaker 2: like I always say that those people they go and
Speaker 2: ride this box in an air cordition room in London
Speaker 2: or in America. But we excavate and our perfume is
Speaker 2: a dirt.
Speaker 1: Whichever theory is correct, there remains an unsolved mystery what
Speaker 1: happened to the mummified corpses of King Kufu, his son,
Speaker 1: and his grandson. If Boval's theory holds true and the
Speaker 1: pyramids weren't used as tomb, the mummies might have been
Speaker 1: buried somewhere nearby.
Speaker 9: Perhaps one day they will pop out. I mean one
Speaker 9: has to bear in mind that you're looking at the
Speaker 9: tip of the iceberg here, because there are still a
Speaker 9: lot of unexcavated sites. I mean, they keep on finding
Speaker 9: things all the time. They say that seventy percent of
Speaker 9: what was here is still underground, so they may still
Speaker 9: pop out.
Speaker 1: There are many questions still to be answered about the
Speaker 1: pyramids at Giza, and it's likely that these ancient wonders
Speaker 1: will always be shrouded in mystery. Perhaps rightly so, they
Speaker 1: will remain one of the greatest enigmas of our time.
Speaker 1: The Tower of London is the oldest palace and fortress
Speaker 1: in Europe. Behind this facade of respectability, like dark, blood
Speaker 1: curdling tales of terror, sinister acts born of ruthless ambition.
Speaker 1: For over nine hundred years, these monumental walls have overshadowed
Speaker 1: the city of London. Even today, the Tower of London
Speaker 1: is one of the capital's most prominent landmarks. Standing on
Speaker 1: the banks of the River Thames, this great royal fortress
Speaker 1: is one of the most popular attractions in Britain, with
Speaker 1: two million visitors every year.
Speaker 5: Well, I've been working at the Tower of London as
Speaker 5: an assistant curator and archaeologist for six years and the
Speaker 5: place never ceases to amaze me how much there is
Speaker 5: to discover here. And one thing that I still can't
Speaker 5: get my head round is the fact that we have
Speaker 5: buildings here from every century, from the eleventh century to
Speaker 5: the twenty first century. I can't rethink of anywhere else
Speaker 5: in England or Europe, or anywhere else in the world
Speaker 5: that can say that. It's just immensely exciting.
Speaker 1: The White Tower is the center of today's castle. In
Speaker 1: the twelfth century, the monarchy, inspired by the design of
Speaker 1: European castles, built the first perimeter walls. At the end
Speaker 1: of the thirteenth century, Edward the First, one of the
Speaker 1: greatest castle builders of all time, constructed a second concentric
Speaker 1: wall and dug a new moat, giving us the shape
Speaker 1: of the castle we see today.
Speaker 5: One of the most long lasting functions of the Tyer
Speaker 5: of London, and the one that's impressed itself most on
Speaker 5: people's memories, is its function as a prison ah ah ah.
Speaker 1: For prisoners jailed in the tower, this would have been
Speaker 1: a dreadful place.
Speaker 5: They are kept, probably in solitary confinement, and food will
Speaker 5: be brought to them by their jae. They won't be
Speaker 5: able to talk to anyone. Sometimes prison must have been very,
Speaker 5: very unpleasant business.
Speaker 1: Indeed, many of the tormented prisoners left behind engravings and
Speaker 1: the walls of their cells that can still be seen today.
Speaker 1: The intricacy of these gruesome carvings reveals the depths of
Speaker 1: their suffering. Their misery was sometimes made much worse by
Speaker 1: merciless torturers. These cruel acts were often the result the
Speaker 1: ambitious desires of the monarchy.
Speaker 5: It's very, very important to be aware that torture in
Speaker 5: this instance was done only by royal warrant, and the
Speaker 5: interrogators did it out of sadism. They did it because
Speaker 5: they needed to get information.
Speaker 11: Ah.
Speaker 1: The Tower of London was founded by the first Norman
Speaker 1: King of England, William the Conqueror, soon after he invaded
Speaker 1: England in ten sixty six.
Speaker 5: We know from writers at the time that he thought
Speaker 5: that the people of London were a huge, fierce and
Speaker 5: fickle population, and for that reason he felt that he
Speaker 5: needed to protect himself within the city, and so he
Speaker 5: built the Tower of London.
Speaker 1: Next up gruesome tales of treason and treachery at the tower.
Speaker 1: As the Tower of London grew in size, a variety
Speaker 1: of intimidating defenses were added to resist attack.
Speaker 12: The reason why this one particular art was so securely
Speaker 12: defended is because all those hundreds and hundred of years ago,
Speaker 12: this was the only entry into the Inner Wars into
Speaker 12: the Royal Palace itself.
Speaker 1: Since the fourteenth century, the castle has been protected by
Speaker 1: jumen warders. Today there are thirty eight of them, all
Speaker 1: former non commissioned officers from the armed forces, and they
Speaker 1: live with their families within the Tower Wars.
Speaker 13: Most people call us beef Is. That's the nickname. No
Speaker 13: one's really sure where it came from. The nearest week
Speaker 13: you get to it is that certainly during the reign
Speaker 13: of Henry the eighth we were partly paid in beef.
Speaker 12: Ladies and gentlemen were now down beside one of the
Speaker 12: most famous infamous skates for that hatter in the history
Speaker 12: of the world. For before you lie, straight escape, And
Speaker 12: for all you lovely Americans, do you know what it was
Speaker 12: originally called?
Speaker 13: Water Gate? We are the tower Guardians. We are more
Speaker 13: or less a policeman. We're responsible for everything within the tower,
Speaker 13: the safety, the security of everything and the people that visit.
Speaker 13: But our main job is the security of this great
Speaker 13: royal palace.
Speaker 1: As well as being watched over by Yeoman warders, the
Speaker 1: tower is also secured by military guards from the same
Speaker 1: regiment as those at Buckingham Palace. Their most important duty
Speaker 1: is to guard the Crown jewels that are kept secure
Speaker 1: in the Waterloo barracks. And there are other residents of
Speaker 1: the tower that have an historic role to play in
Speaker 1: defending the castle. The Ravens, Yeoman water Derek Coyle is
Speaker 1: the raven master.
Speaker 12: Bit of a wall name. See two of our ravens.
Speaker 12: The one million is called Mooning, the one just behind
Speaker 12: her is called Cedric. It's my job to look after
Speaker 12: these birds. Now, whilst we're on about them. They are
Speaker 12: not tame. They are semi wild. You go into their territory,
Speaker 12: they'll attack. Put your finger out. They're allowed to take
Speaker 12: the finger and straight off. Look at the bags on
Speaker 12: them as well as not their talons. I raise the shop.
Speaker 12: So please give these birds the respect that they deserve.
Speaker 13: All right, come on, hondy, good boy.
Speaker 1: Ravens have lived here for hundreds of years, and tradition
Speaker 1: holds that if they should ever leave, the White Tower
Speaker 1: will be destroyed and a great disaster will befall England.
Speaker 13: Go on, so a good boy.
Speaker 1: In sixteen sixty Charles the Sid took this belief so
Speaker 1: seriously had he decreed that at least six ravens should
Speaker 1: be kept here at all times. Today these birds have
Speaker 1: their wing feathers clipped so they can't fly away. These
Speaker 1: famous residents of the tower get five star treatment, and.
Speaker 13: That's what they get.
Speaker 1: Luck.
Speaker 13: Prime hard raven's are magnificent, whereas they're very humorous, they're
Speaker 13: very mischievous, and they're very very intellivision. Oh I love them.
Speaker 13: Come on, then, come on then.
Speaker 1: The London was originally built as a royal palace and
Speaker 1: was used as a royal residence until Elizabethan times. Many
Speaker 1: kings and Queens of England were treated to a lavish
Speaker 1: lifestyle here, but some of the aristocracy were brought to
Speaker 1: the tower for a much more sinister purpose, to be
Speaker 1: locked up.
Speaker 5: It's very important to know that this isn't just any
Speaker 5: old prison. This is a very important prison of state,
Speaker 5: and most of the people who are brought here are
Speaker 5: people who are either too important or too dangerous to
Speaker 5: be kept anywhere else.
Speaker 1: Prisoners at the Tower were expected to pay for their
Speaker 1: own cheap Wealthy royalty and noblemen could afford to live comfortably,
Speaker 1: bringing in their own possessions and buying themselves extravagant meals.
Speaker 5: Most of your prisoners would be living in houses, or
Speaker 5: would be living in towers. It's not like Alcatraz. It's
Speaker 5: an awful lot more like living under house arrest. And
Speaker 5: that's what it would be like.
Speaker 1: Sir Walter Raleigh, famous explorer of the Americas, was imprisoned
Speaker 1: in the Bloody Tower for thirteen years after his alleged
Speaker 1: involvement in a plot against King James the First. He
Speaker 1: lived here with his wife and two sons, wrote the
Speaker 1: history of the world, and even grew tobacco in the
Speaker 1: tower garden, and then he was finally executed in sixteen eighteen.
Speaker 1: The most notorious prisoners were brought to the Tower by river,
Speaker 1: often at night, where they entered the fortress through the
Speaker 1: now infamous Trader's Gate.
Speaker 12: Many and a leed traitor when it comes from these gatesphere,
Speaker 12: including four Queens of England, Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Catherine Howell,
Speaker 12: Lady Jane Gray, the unprowned Queen of nine Days Only,
Speaker 12: and of course the young Princess Elizabeth, who later became
Speaker 12: Queen Elizabeth First.
Speaker 1: For prisoners such as Anne Boleyn, this journey would be
Speaker 1: their last. Anne Berlyn was the second wife of Henry
Speaker 1: the eighth, and after her conviction for adultery, she was
Speaker 1: brought to the tower. Ironically, her lodgings were the same
Speaker 1: rooms she had stayed in just three years earlier to
Speaker 1: prepare for her coronation. Anne was condemned to execution by beheading.
Speaker 1: At her request, a swordsman from France was summoned to
Speaker 1: deliver a swift death with a sharp sword rather than
Speaker 1: the traditional axe, which could take several blows. On the
Speaker 1: morning of the nineteenth of May fifteen thirty six, she
Speaker 1: was finally given the dignity of a private execution on
Speaker 1: Tower Green. Only seven prisoners, the most prestigious, were beheaded
Speaker 1: within the tower walls. All other unfortunates were executed outside
Speaker 1: the perimeter walls in full view of the public. Up
Speaker 1: until the nineteenth century, no one knew what happened to
Speaker 1: the bodies, but in eighteen seventy six workmen restoring the
Speaker 1: tower's chapel made a gruesome discovery. Fifteen hundred corpses were
Speaker 1: lying under the flagstones.
Speaker 5: They are still there now in the area of the alta,
Speaker 5: with a new Victorian pavement laid over the top of them,
Speaker 5: bearing their names in the coats of arms of the
Speaker 5: important people buried in that area, and Catherine Howard, Lady
Speaker 5: Jane Gray, the Earl of.
Speaker 1: Essex, and many others. Some of the royal victims still
Speaker 1: haunt the castle today. The tale of the Two Little
Speaker 1: Princes is one of the saddest stories of the tower.
Speaker 1: After their father Edward died in fourteen eighty three, the
Speaker 1: boys were lodged in the tower while the eldest was
Speaker 1: prepared for coronation, but their uncle Richard declared the boys
Speaker 1: illegitimate and had himself crowned as King Richard the Third.
Speaker 1: The princes were soon to mysteriously disappear. The common belief
Speaker 1: is that they were murdered, and many suspected that the
Speaker 1: dreadful crime was sanctioned by King Richard. Reports at the
Speaker 1: time stated that the youngest boy was smothered to death
Speaker 1: and his older brother fatally stabbed, but the full truth
Speaker 1: will never be known.
Speaker 5: There's an aftermath to this story that in the year
Speaker 5: sixteen seventy four, some workmen doing some work near the
Speaker 5: White Tower, quite by accident, came upon the burials of
Speaker 5: two small children. The authorities at the time convinced King
Speaker 5: Charles the Second, then on the throne, that these were
Speaker 5: none other than the bones of the two missing princes
Speaker 5: in the tower, and they were taken to Westminster Abbey,
Speaker 5: where even now they're buried, interred within a marble urn
Speaker 5: in a place called Innocence Corner.
Speaker 13: Every stone Every brick in the wall has its own
Speaker 13: little story to tell. And when you think that I
Speaker 13: walk around every day where kings and Queens of England
Speaker 13: have walked, some for their last walk, it just brings
Speaker 13: it home to you. It's a great traditional place and
Speaker 13: long mates stay.
Speaker 6: That way as well.
Speaker 1: Coming up, we relived the glories of ancient Rome and
Speaker 1: the greatest amphitheater ever built. The Colosseum, a marvel of
Speaker 1: Roman engineering and the greatest amphitheater ever built. This huge
Speaker 1: stadium was designed so that as many Romans as possible
Speaker 1: could watch the most cruel and violent games the world
Speaker 1: has ever seen. Thousands died here in the name of
Speaker 1: popular entertainment. The Colosseum stands in the heart of Rome,
Speaker 1: the vibrant capital city of Italy. Rome and its architecture
Speaker 1: is a must see on the Grand Tour of Europe.
Speaker 1: It's a living museum, overflowing with ancient wonders. Throughout the
Speaker 1: city are relics of over two thousand years of history,
Speaker 1: dating back to before the time of Christ. The most
Speaker 1: awe inspiring of all these ancient monuments is the inaugurated
Speaker 1: in eighty a d. This sporting arena was the brainchild
Speaker 1: of the emperor Flavius Vespasian, and was originally called the
Speaker 1: Flavian Amphitheater. The building is divided into four levels, the
Speaker 1: first three of arches and the fourth divided into compartments
Speaker 1: with windows.
Speaker 5: I've seen pictures and everything, but they really can't capture
Speaker 5: how big it really is.
Speaker 14: The fact that an ancient people were able to construct
Speaker 14: something so incredibly huge, it's just incredible to me.
Speaker 8: The idea of it, the immensity of it, the enormous
Speaker 8: at the engineering of it, just absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 1: What we see today is nothing compared to what the
Speaker 1: spectacular Amphitheater would have looked like in ancient Rome. In
Speaker 1: its prime, the colosseum was faced with marble, and each
Speaker 1: portico was filled with an ornate statue of an important
Speaker 1: Roman face. At the very top of the building, there
Speaker 1: were two hundred and forty masts which supported an enormous
Speaker 1: canvas awning known as the valerium. On sunny days, it
Speaker 1: was stretched over the top to provide shade for the spectators.
Speaker 1: The Amphitheater had a capacity of over fifty thousand people.
Speaker 1: Archaeologists like Lynn Lancaster have worked out how the coliseum
Speaker 1: was designed to cope with such large numbers of spectators.
Speaker 1: They would have entered through one of eighty different entrances.
Speaker 15: Above each of the arches on the ground level there
Speaker 15: is actually a Roman numeral and they go from one
Speaker 15: to seventy six. Through these numbers, you would know where
Speaker 15: to go into the building, and then so if you
Speaker 15: were sitting over there, you wouldn't want to come in
Speaker 15: over here and then wander all around. You would want
Speaker 15: to come in on one of the gates there. And
Speaker 15: this was one of the really clever things about the
Speaker 15: building is that they were able to organize very large
Speaker 15: groups of people to get to the right very quickly.
Speaker 1: Despite the size of the building, more than fifty thousand
Speaker 1: people would have been able to reach their seats within
Speaker 1: a matter of minutes. Where the people sat was determined
Speaker 1: by social class. The highest class senators would sit nearest
Speaker 1: the arena, and wealthy men would sit in the second
Speaker 1: tier above that, poorer men would sit in the third tier.
Speaker 1: Women in slaves were restricted to the very top, where
Speaker 1: there were only uncomfortable wooden benches. There were also two boxes,
Speaker 1: no longer preserved, one for the emperor and one for
Speaker 1: the sacred priestesses, the best of virgins.
Speaker 15: Now these would be the only women who would be
Speaker 15: sitting low down, and these were prime seats or the
Speaker 15: vesta virgins. Gave up a lot to be vest of virgins,
Speaker 15: but they got something in return.
Speaker 1: Each day's bloodshed was divided into three parts. Professor Roger
Speaker 1: Wilson from the University of Nottingham has researched the day's events.
Speaker 16: Fest of all, in the morning you had the animal shows.
Speaker 16: This was if you liked the order. This was the
Speaker 16: warming up of the people. And then at midday, if
Speaker 16: there were criminals to be executed, then they would be executed.
Speaker 16: And then after a pause, there would be the afternoon entertainment,
Speaker 16: and that was what people were really waiting for, the
Speaker 16: gladiatorial combat. I think you've got to imagine a good
Speaker 16: deal of noise, the roar of the spectators. We're talking
Speaker 16: about fifty thousand people packed into that arena, making one
Speaker 16: hell of it.
Speaker 1: In to provide this dramatic entertainment, there was a large
Speaker 1: working area underneath the arena. Hidden elevators and trapdoors with
Speaker 1: a complicated system of counterweights and pulleys allowed animals, men
Speaker 1: in scenery to appear from underground.
Speaker 15: The cage would pop up through the floor, and so
Speaker 15: this is one of the ways they could to make
Speaker 15: it more spectacular. They could have scenery or gladiators or
Speaker 15: animals sort of coming up from nowhere.
Speaker 1: Up next the most sensational and bloodthirsty games ever, the
Speaker 1: most sensational games at the coliseum in Rome were in
Speaker 1: one hundred and seven AD. Ten thousand gladiators fought to
Speaker 1: the death in a blood bath that lasted one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty three days, an.
Speaker 16: Enormous amount of entertainment. And also there were no less
Speaker 16: than eleven thousand animals butchered in the course of that
Speaker 16: one hundred and twenty three days. At the end of
Speaker 16: the games, when they had all been slaughtered, one of
Speaker 16: the fascinating questions is what happened to the carcasses. When
Speaker 16: you've got an elephant dead in the arena, Okay, you
Speaker 16: can drag it out, but what then do you do
Speaker 16: with it? Whether they were cut up and given to
Speaker 16: feed other animals that were waiting their turn, we simply
Speaker 16: don't know.
Speaker 1: The dead animals and corpses would probably have been taken
Speaker 1: to one of the many buildings surrounding the Colosseum. In
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty seven, the remains of the Ludus Magnus, the
Speaker 1: largest gladiatorial school in Rome, were discovered. Next door to
Speaker 1: the Colosseum, a mini arena has been partly excavated, and
Speaker 1: this is where the gladiators were subjected to a strict
Speaker 1: program of training, watched over by their trainers, who would
Speaker 1: have sat on their surrounding seats. The gladiators would have
Speaker 1: lived here in a permanent state of captivity.
Speaker 16: Gladiators were either slaves or they were criminals. In either house,
Speaker 16: they were expendable. It was a very hard life. They
Speaker 16: lived in pretty harsh conditions. I'm sure they were pretty
Speaker 16: abysmally treated, but if the alternative was either straight execution
Speaker 16: or condemnation to the mind, then frankly, perhaps it was
Speaker 16: a better life being a gladiator. At least you had hope.
Speaker 1: They walked to the games through an underground tunnel that
Speaker 1: led directly from the Ludus Magnus to beneath the Colosseum.
Speaker 1: The ultimate prize was a gladiator's freedom, but this was
Speaker 1: rarely granted.
Speaker 16: The pinnacle of gladiator's achievement if they'd really been successful,
Speaker 16: was that they would go on winning, They go on
Speaker 16: getting adulation in the amphitheater, and as we know from inscriptions,
Speaker 16: they were the equivalent of the pop stars.
Speaker 17: Of the day.
Speaker 1: The Colisseum is so well preserved that it's not difficult
Speaker 1: to imagine the gory events of two thousand years ago.
Speaker 14: Once you stood down on the floor and looked up
Speaker 14: at where Caesar sat, you can imagine what it's like
Speaker 14: to be a gladiator and be fighting for your life
Speaker 14: in there. Quite amazing.
Speaker 5: It seated fifty thousand people, but pretty much for the
Speaker 5: wrong reasons.
Speaker 8: So excited people being killed, we would be mold. But
Speaker 8: drama and fiercer and excitement. To me, everything was here, well,
Speaker 8: light was here.
Speaker 1: Construction of the Colosseum began in seventy a d. And
Speaker 1: this masterpiece of engineering took ten years to build. Around
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand cartloads of huge stone blocks were used
Speaker 1: to build the outer walls. Towards the top of the monument.
Speaker 1: The stone was replaced by much smaller and lighter bricks
Speaker 1: held together with mortar.
Speaker 15: Roman mortar is particularly strong, much stronger than say the
Speaker 15: mortar they would use in Greece, because there's a volcanic
Speaker 15: material in the area called Potslana. You can actually see
Speaker 15: the potslana in there. It's the little dark speckles, but
Speaker 15: it has chemicals in it that will bind with the
Speaker 15: lime and it'll create a mortar that's eight to ten
Speaker 15: times stronger than the regular mortar.
Speaker 1: Since its heyday, the Colosseum has suffered from plundering and decay.
Speaker 1: The outer wall was partially destroyed when it was damaged
Speaker 1: by an earthquake in the fourteenth century, but some of
Speaker 1: the damage was much more deliberate.
Speaker 15: Because people often ask me why the Colosseum looks like
Speaker 15: a bunch of Swiss cheese, because it has all these
Speaker 15: holes in it, and these holes are robber holes. The
Speaker 15: whole monument was put together, at least the stone parts
Speaker 15: were put together with the iron clamps and iron dowels,
Speaker 15: and in the medieval period when they needed to have
Speaker 15: lots of iron to melt down for cannon balls or whatever,
Speaker 15: they would go to ancient monuments and they would dig
Speaker 15: out the ancient iron and then melt it down into
Speaker 15: whatever they needed.
Speaker 1: It's a marvel that this huge building is still standing
Speaker 1: without any of the original iron clamps and dowels.
Speaker 15: Once they put the arches all the way around. Then
Speaker 15: it forms sort of a unified hole, and so it's
Speaker 15: not nearly as unstable, and so even when you take
Speaker 15: the pens out, it's not going to fall down because
Speaker 15: it's structurally sound.
Speaker 1: The more archaeologists learn about this grand monument, the more
Speaker 1: respect they have for the skills of the ancient Roman craftsmen.
Speaker 15: This building is overwhelming at times. Every time I come here,
Speaker 15: I see something new. It's really exciting to be here.
Speaker 1: For over three hundred years, this was Rome's premiere killing ground,
Speaker 1: but towards the end of the Roman Empire and the
Speaker 1: onset of Christianity, the Romans began to grow unhappy with
Speaker 1: the savage role call of brutality. In four hundred and
Speaker 1: four a d. The Emperor Honorius finally banned gladiator shows forever. Today,
Speaker 1: this triumph of Roman architecture is surely one of the
Speaker 1: most monumental ancient wonders of the world. Next up, we
Speaker 1: investigate the mysteries of the oldest structure on Earth. Deep
Speaker 1: in the heart of the English countryside lies what is
Speaker 1: possibly the oldest structure on Earth. This is Stonehenge. It
Speaker 1: was built by a prehistoric man and yet amazingly, this
Speaker 1: extraordinary monument is aligned with the cosmos. The arrangement of
Speaker 1: the stones can predict exactly when the sun and the
Speaker 1: moon will eclipse, and on the longest day of the year,
Speaker 1: they line up precisely with the Midsummer sunrise. Stonehenge stands
Speaker 1: on the bleak expanse of Salisbury Plain. On the eve
Speaker 1: of the longest day of the year, thousands of people
Speaker 1: gather together at Stonehenge to party through the night and
Speaker 1: celebrate the dawn of the Summer solstice. For Celtic priests
Speaker 1: known as Druids, this is the time of year when
Speaker 1: the lure of these ancient stones seems to reach its
Speaker 1: greatest power.
Speaker 18: Druids have always been at Stonehenge and celebrating the birth
Speaker 18: of the longest day, which is a major part of
Speaker 18: our religious experience, and what we as Drewids believe is
Speaker 18: that at the Samerson Stice, Druidsagans, Christians, Hindus, Jews, it
Speaker 18: doesn't matter, have a focal point in the British landscape
Speaker 18: where they can gather to celebrate what is the longest
Speaker 18: day of the year.
Speaker 1: It is believed that this ancient stone circle has long
Speaker 1: been a spiritual focus.
Speaker 18: And going back to a time in ancient Britain and
Speaker 18: the pagan faith was predominant, and they celebrated the changing
Speaker 18: of the seasons, and they went to specific places and
Speaker 18: sacred sites to celebrate that. So Stonehenge has always been
Speaker 18: a gathering point of the summer's solstice.
Speaker 1: Stonehenge is the most complete megalithic monument in Europe, older
Speaker 1: than the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The site dates back
Speaker 1: five thousand years. That's two and a half years earlier
Speaker 1: than even the first Druids, and there is nothing else
Speaker 1: like it anywhere in the world. The magnetism of these
Speaker 1: stones draws more than a million visitors every year to
Speaker 1: ponder the questions who built this ancient monument, how was
Speaker 1: it built, and why.
Speaker 17: Stonehenge is one of the great wonders of the world.
Speaker 1: So we're here in the midst and the rain.
Speaker 19: To see it.
Speaker 1: My first impression is on the road coming up here
Speaker 1: and you just see them in the distance, and I
Speaker 1: was really excited over it. You know, that's pretty incredible.
Speaker 17: Yeah, and then it's awesome for it.
Speaker 20: Pandalous to think that it's British has been there so long.
Speaker 20: I mean, you know how did they do it?
Speaker 1: The intriguing enigma of Stonehenge has left a lasting impression
Speaker 1: on many generations of visitors.
Speaker 5: It is unique.
Speaker 21: Stonehenge is recognized around the world. I mean, you draw
Speaker 21: the Triliathan symbol out and people recognize that in the
Speaker 21: same way as you draw the pyramid out. They recognize
Speaker 21: those things. It is an internationally known monument. It's become
Speaker 21: that sort of icon. The mystery is what was it
Speaker 21: used for? Why was it built? There is no written evidence,
Speaker 21: so we'll never actually know the motives behind it. And
Speaker 21: I suppose the fun about Stonehenge because we don't know,
Speaker 21: you can speculate.
Speaker 1: There are plenty of theories. Some believe that this site
Speaker 1: was designed for sacrifice. In the Middle Ages, people thought
Speaker 1: the monster as stones have been put up by giants,
Speaker 1: and since then there have even been theories that this
Speaker 1: is a UFO landing.
Speaker 14: Site, rising to the old.
Speaker 1: Perscyd Ruined priests are firm in their belief that stone
Speaker 1: was built as a temple.
Speaker 18: How Stonehenge got there and how it was built is
Speaker 18: lost in the mystery of time. But I firmly believe
Speaker 18: I know what it's there for, and that is as
Speaker 18: a place of worship at the turning of the seasons
Speaker 18: of the year of our name.
Speaker 1: What we do know is that it was built with
Speaker 1: astounding precision, and the alignment of the stones will accurately
Speaker 1: predict the turn of the seasons. In the outer ring
Speaker 1: of stones, one of them is half the width of
Speaker 1: the others, creating twenty nine and a half stones. These
Speaker 1: may well represent the twenty nine and a half days
Speaker 1: in a lunar month. Four stationed stones set outside the
Speaker 1: stone circle mark the most northerly and southerly positions of
Speaker 1: the risings and settings of the Sun and the moon.
Speaker 1: Around the outside of the stones, there are fifty six
Speaker 1: pits known as Aubrey holes. Using a model of Stonehenge,
Speaker 1: Robin Heath can demonstrate how these pits could have predicted
Speaker 1: a lunary clipse.
Speaker 10: We imagine that the Earth is the center of Stonehenge.
Speaker 10: The temple represents the Earth. Then we can say that
Speaker 10: the outer diction bank represents the sky.
Speaker 1: By moving a marker for the moon by two Aubrey
Speaker 1: holes each day and a marker for the sun once
Speaker 1: every thirteen days, the model behaves like an astronomical calculator.
Speaker 1: When the two markers coincide. The Aubrey holes predict an eclipse.
Speaker 1: When we return, we get fired up with the Druid priests.
Speaker 1: Four five hundred years ago, prehistoric man began the extraordinary
Speaker 1: feat of positioning the stones at Stonehenge. At first, there
Speaker 1: were just the smaller bluestones, named after the bluish color
Speaker 1: of the rock. These were erected inside a pre existing
Speaker 1: earthwork in the shape of a double crescent. Two or
Speaker 1: three hundred years later, the much larger stones, the Sarsen stones,
Speaker 1: were brought from the Molbra Downs twenty miles away. These
Speaker 1: huge boulders were arranged in a closed circle with five
Speaker 1: immense trilithons and a horseshoe shape in the center. Mysteriously,
Speaker 1: the smaller bluestones were then completely repositioned within the circle.
Speaker 1: Hauling the Sarzen stones to the site would have required
Speaker 1: heroic effort. They weighed anything up to a massive fifty tons.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety six, a large group of volunteers conducted
Speaker 1: an experiment to find out how it could have been done.
Speaker 1: They were limited to the tools of the prehistoric age, ropes,
Speaker 1: wooden levers, and brute force. They successfully hauled the replica
Speaker 1: sarsen stone along a sledge guided by wooden tracks. Then
Speaker 1: there was the problem of how the ancient craftsmen could
Speaker 1: have stood the stone upright. The team exploited some basic
Speaker 1: principles of weights and balance. Root force was needed to
Speaker 1: stand it straight, but the original builders still had the
Speaker 1: daunting task of raising the lntil stones. The outer circle
Speaker 1: of sarcen stones once supported a complete ring of thirty
Speaker 1: lntels fifteen feet above the ground. This was one of
Speaker 1: the greatest engineering achievements of prehistory. One solution is that
Speaker 1: the lentils were raised by progressively adding to a temporary
Speaker 1: timber platform. Then the craftsmen had to line up holes
Speaker 1: carved out of each end of the lintel with a
Speaker 1: protruding tennin on top of each upright stone.
Speaker 10: I think that was a precarious operation. You had to
Speaker 10: slide the lintel from the cradle onto two upright stones
Speaker 10: with tennin joints in them and get it right. And
Speaker 10: they did get it right.
Speaker 1: An hour before dawn, the solstice festivities reach a climax.
Speaker 1: The druids lead the torchlit procession in a complete circle
Speaker 1: around the stones, symbolizing the Earth orbiting the sun.
Speaker 18: These stones have been used as a gathering point for many,
Speaker 18: many millennia, and it's in that that they have gathered
Speaker 18: their own power and their own mistake, and it's that
Speaker 18: that draws successive generations to them.
Speaker 1: Over two hundred generations have passed since Stonehenge was erected,
Speaker 1: yet great Wonder is still here for us to admire
Speaker 1: and marvel at. Its construction. Built across mountain ranges up
Speaker 1: to eight thousand feet high, the Great Wall of China
Speaker 1: is a feat of engineering unparalleled in the world. It
Speaker 1: extends over four thousand, five hundred miles from North Korea
Speaker 1: to the wastes of the Gobi Desert. The same distance
Speaker 1: is from Miami to the North Pole. The Great Wall
Speaker 1: of China is the longest man made structure on the planet.
Speaker 1: Two hundred and fifty BC, China was a nation of
Speaker 1: warring states. After decades of fighting, the Emperor Chin chewand
Speaker 1: succeeded in joining the different kingdoms into a single, unified China.
Speaker 1: But the victorious emperor needed to protect his new country
Speaker 1: from marauding tribes from the north, and two hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty one BC he ordered the building of the Great
Speaker 1: Wall of China. So good was the quality of construction
Speaker 1: that many sections are still standing two thousand years later.
Speaker 1: It has been calculated that the wall would have cost
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty billion dollars in today's money. In
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, a group of British tourists set off
Speaker 1: on a hundred mile hike along the wall to raise
Speaker 1: money for charity. This was to be the adventure holiday
Speaker 1: of a lifetime.
Speaker 20: I really thought it would be a straightforward walk in
Speaker 20: the park kind of thing. Trust me, it was amston.
Speaker 1: Their plan was to walk along the most treacherous parts
Speaker 1: of the wall. Just get up to the wall itself
Speaker 1: involved a tough two hour height, the rough terrain, and
Speaker 1: the only way was up.
Speaker 20: As coached the wall, it looked about a million feet
Speaker 20: high and I thought to myself, and they want me
Speaker 20: to get up there, now I'm going back up.
Speaker 22: No one could get on it by themselves, and it
Speaker 22: was much higher than I was, probably about six seven
Speaker 22: foot high in some places where we wanted to get on.
Speaker 22: So we had to have two people on the top
Speaker 22: of the wall two people below and they sort of
Speaker 22: pushed you up and had to get you on top.
Speaker 1: Reaching the top was a momentous achievement for Aid, who
Speaker 1: suffers from vertigo.
Speaker 20: Actually got up on a wall and I said, I
Speaker 20: made it. I made it, and that was just ecstatic.
Speaker 20: Simply just being there.
Speaker 4: Just really takes your breath away. It's so exhausting, but
Speaker 4: such an achievement when you actually.
Speaker 17: Get up there.
Speaker 1: The Hagers have been given permission to walk sections of
Speaker 1: the Great Wall normally off limits, and in parts it
Speaker 1: was crumbling and dangerously precarious.
Speaker 4: The parts of it that were crumpling that we walked on,
Speaker 4: that was the best bit because you're out there on
Speaker 4: your own, and parts of it were a bit scary.
Speaker 4: Luckily I don't suffer from vertigo or anything, but it
Speaker 4: was still scary even for me.
Speaker 20: At one stage, I was walking up and someone said
Speaker 20: to me, right, I now looked behind you, and I
Speaker 20: felt as if I was on the moon looking down.
Speaker 20: I didn't realize i'd gone that far up.
Speaker 22: Chinese people are generally much shorter than all of us,
Speaker 22: and to think that they actually built the wall and
Speaker 22: climbed along it was just amazing. So it really made
Speaker 22: you think about who was building it and how they'd
Speaker 22: actually managed to lug all of these big blocks of
Speaker 22: stone and actually build the wall.
Speaker 1: When the Great Wall was initially built during the Qin dynasty,
Speaker 1: it was made of compacted earth and reads. Emperor chinchewand
Speaker 1: used three hundred thousand soldiers and five hundred thousand conscripts.
Speaker 1: He built the three thousand miles of the wall in
Speaker 1: just ten years. One of the world's leading experts on
Speaker 1: Chinese history is Krol Michaelson.
Speaker 23: Chinchi Hondi has been both revered and reviled throughout Chinese history,
Speaker 23: but generally his building of the Great Wall was regarded
Speaker 23: by most people as one of the most abhorred things
Speaker 23: that he did because an awful lot of people died
Speaker 23: building it. Many people were sent many hundreds of miles
Speaker 23: away from their home and never made it back again.
Speaker 23: There are millions of bones buried under the foundations of
Speaker 23: the Great Wall to help strengthen it.
Speaker 1: In the sixteenth century, in response to the thread of
Speaker 1: invading Mongols from the north, the Great Wall of China
Speaker 1: was substantially renovated and extended.
Speaker 23: It was during the Ming dynasty that the wall that
Speaker 23: we see in China today was reconstructed and rebuilt made
Speaker 23: of brick and stone. Special kilns being set up to
Speaker 23: bate the bricks in each place in order to make
Speaker 23: it sturdier than it had been. It is the brick
Speaker 23: and stone reconstruction that the astronauts could see from the
Speaker 23: moon and that the actual tourists who go to China today,
Speaker 23: and this is a very much sturdia more impressive wall
Speaker 23: than the original Great War would ever have been.
Speaker 1: Up next, the Chinese Army defends the war against marauding
Speaker 1: invaders from the north. Today, the Great Wall of China
Speaker 1: is an accessible tourist destination and attracts people from all
Speaker 1: over the world. Most tourists visit the reconstructed sections close
Speaker 1: to Beijing. In nineteen seventy two, Richard Nixon was the
Speaker 1: first American president to visit China. Stop at the Wall
Speaker 1: provided the perfect photo opportunity.
Speaker 10: We've come a long way, but I would say it's worth.
Speaker 12: Coming sixteen thousand miles just to stand here and.
Speaker 1: See the Wall. In nineteen ninety eight, Bill Clinton was
Speaker 1: equally impressed.
Speaker 22: More magnificence than I had imagined it would be, and
Speaker 22: there are much more sudden changes in altitude than I thought.
Speaker 1: The sheer size of the Great Wall ensure that it
Speaker 1: was rarely breached but during the early years it was
Speaker 1: constantly attacked by enemies from the north. Soldiers send coated
Speaker 1: smoke signals along the wall to warn of potential attack.
Speaker 1: When the wall was rebuilt in the Ming dynasty, watchtowers
Speaker 1: were constructed every two hundred yards, and extensions of the
Speaker 1: wall were built at right angles, so the soldiers could
Speaker 1: attack the enemy from two sides. If the wall was breached,
Speaker 1: the Chinese troops could retreat and take cover behind specially
Speaker 1: designed buttresses. If all else failed, they could take refuge
Speaker 1: in the heavily fortified watchtowers. But it was the Chinese
Speaker 1: invention of gunpowder that was eventually used by the enemy
Speaker 1: to effectively attack the wall.
Speaker 23: Once they could use cannons, they could breach the Great
Speaker 23: Wall very easily, and by the end of the Ming
Speaker 23: dynasty it was perfectly obvious that building this wall was
Speaker 23: fairly useless if in fact it could be breached by cannons,
Speaker 23: and so at the end of the Ming dynasty in
Speaker 23: sixteen forty four, the reconstruction of the Great Wall basically ended.
Speaker 1: After six days, the charity walkers completed their one hundred
Speaker 1: mile hike, reaching the end of such a unique adventure,
Speaker 1: an emotional experience.
Speaker 4: It's very, very emotional. We'll hugged each old. You know
Speaker 4: we've made it.
Speaker 17: Vistisnal.
Speaker 1: Anyone who visits the Great Wall of China cannot fail
Speaker 1: to be impressed by the vastness of this ancient wonder.
Speaker 23: It's just such an amazing feat. The fact that they
Speaker 23: were able in two hundred BC to build such an
Speaker 23: immense project is testimony to the greatness of Chinese civilization.
Speaker 1: This is one of the most isolated places on Earth,
Speaker 1: yet every year twenty thousand tourists make the journey here
Speaker 1: to see some of the strangest wonders of the world.
Speaker 1: Easter Island is over two thousand miles from the nearest
Speaker 1: habitation in Chile. It's a place with a tragic history
Speaker 1: where the events of the past almost destroyed an entire population.
Speaker 1: Eight hundred and eighty seven gigantic statues dot the island.
Speaker 1: Some perch on top of beautifully crafted platforms called ahu,
Speaker 1: and the statues face inland towards the island community. These
Speaker 1: mysterious figures all have similar features an elongated head, long ears,
Speaker 1: prominent nose, and determinedly pursed lips. Some are crowned with
Speaker 1: enormous cylinders of red stones, and they all have an
Speaker 1: eerily human like stance.
Speaker 19: If you look at these tattoos, you can see portraying
Speaker 19: their image. The presence of an elder person is not
Speaker 19: a friendly person that kind of look into your eyes
Speaker 19: and smiling, but somebody either mean or authoritarian and too
Speaker 19: arrogant to look close to you. So it's an attitude
Speaker 19: of in a sense of the Polynesian style.
Speaker 1: Easter Island, known as Raphanui by the locals, has an
Speaker 1: area of just sixty square miles, about the size of Boston.
Speaker 1: The original inhabitants were Polynesians who sailed from distant islands
Speaker 1: sometime before eight hundred AD. Soon after their arrival, the
Speaker 1: islanders began to build these extraordinary statues. Their original purpose
Speaker 1: has been lost in time, but the Rapannui population today
Speaker 1: believed they were built as a representation of their Polynesian ancestors.
Speaker 19: In many of the Polynesian islands, the representation of the
Speaker 19: ancestor were doed with small figurine, sometimes within piles of rocks.
Speaker 19: A Rapnoi we have the image of the ancestor, and
Speaker 19: it grew in size and style from a small roundhead
Speaker 19: figure all the way to the largest of twenty two
Speaker 19: meter high.
Speaker 1: Most of the platforms with statues are sighted along the coast,
Speaker 1: but there are many more statues inland. The world's leading
Speaker 1: expert on the island statues is Joanne van Tilberg, an
Speaker 1: American archaeologist. She's been surveying and documenting the stones for
Speaker 1: the last twenty years.
Speaker 3: East Island has probably been the most important project I've
Speaker 3: ever worked on. I didn't come here intending to work
Speaker 3: as an archaeologist, but once here I think, well, I
Speaker 3: fell in love.
Speaker 17: Yeah, we have to check a.
Speaker 5: Couple of these.
Speaker 3: One sixty one, sixty three to the exact one sixty
Speaker 3: three to the mottom.
Speaker 16: Of the deck.
Speaker 1: By taking hundreds of careful measurements of each statue, Ben
Speaker 1: Tilberg has built up an intimate knowledge of their individual features.
Speaker 17: And on the side of the neck.
Speaker 3: Even though the statues at first glance appear all the
Speaker 3: same and appear standardized, they have individual design characteristics, and
Speaker 3: they have in fact individual personalities, so that now I
Speaker 3: can see what the revenue people have always said, which
Speaker 3: is that these are the faces of their ancestors.
Speaker 1: Most of the statues were carved from compressed volcanic ash
Speaker 1: concentrated in this extinct crater known as Rano Roraku. There
Speaker 1: are three hundred and ninety seven statues stranded in various
Speaker 1: stages of completion in this quarry.
Speaker 3: I think the quarry for everybody who comes here. It
Speaker 3: is sort of the beating heart of the island. It's
Speaker 3: the place where the energy is concentrated in terms of
Speaker 3: the numbers of statues, in the size of statues.
Speaker 1: This rock was never used to build houses or even walls.
Speaker 1: The mountain was a revered site that provided the Rapanui
Speaker 1: with the precious material to build statues.
Speaker 3: It was a place of tremendous energy and production, but
Speaker 3: it was also a sacred place, a place that was scary,
Speaker 3: that was filled with spirits. Come around at night. They
Speaker 3: seem a little.
Speaker 17: A little spooky.
Speaker 1: The original Rapanui islanders lived in complete isolation from the
Speaker 1: rest of the world until Easter Sunday seventeen twenty two,
Speaker 1: when a Dutch navigator yakup Roe Vane, landed on the
Speaker 1: shores and named the place Easter Island. These explorers marveled
Speaker 1: at the statues, but if they did discover anything of
Speaker 1: their purpose, nothing was recorded. For posterity. After the break
Speaker 1: we revealed a disaster that struck Easter Island. As recently
Speaker 1: as twenty five years ago, archaeologists made an intriguing new
Speaker 1: discovery about the Easter Island statues. Some of the figures
Speaker 1: would originally have had eyes made of coral.
Speaker 19: We have learned for the first time that the stone
Speaker 19: carving on Easter Islands have carried inlaid eyes once they
Speaker 19: are placed on the platforms, and that is true throughout
Speaker 19: the entire islands. Although fragments of coral has been fined
Speaker 19: before by colleagues and even almost the whole eyes, we
Speaker 19: did not discover that these are eyes of status until
Speaker 19: nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 1: The most enduring mystery that has yet to be solved
Speaker 1: is how these huge statues were transported to their specially
Speaker 1: prepared platforms. It's believed that some of the smaller ones
Speaker 1: might have been rolled on logs, but this would have
Speaker 1: been impossible for the largest statues that can weigh anything
Speaker 1: up to eighty two.
Speaker 3: Once you get up into these large size statues, there's
Speaker 3: a whole other series of problems that come up proportionate
Speaker 3: to their size increase, and there has been speculation on
Speaker 3: the part of some that perhaps they were in fact
Speaker 3: manipulated upright over this terrain and out along the roads.
Speaker 3: It hasn't been demonstrated yet that that could have been
Speaker 3: done here, but it's open to consideration.
Speaker 1: For hundreds of years, Easter Islands supported a thriving community,
Speaker 1: and the population increased to around ten thousand. The islanders
Speaker 1: built bigger and bigger statues, but then in the seventeenth
Speaker 1: century something went terribly wrong. The landscape is strewn with
Speaker 1: toppled abandoned statues, and many of them seem to have
Speaker 1: been deliberately decapitated. Why would the islanders suddenly turn against
Speaker 1: their sacred statues. Pollen analysis of samples taken from the
Speaker 1: bottom of this lake revealed that the island was once
Speaker 1: heavily forested with giant palm trees. Over the years, the
Speaker 1: islanders cut them down to provide housing, wood for fires,
Speaker 1: and logs for transporting the statues. They created an ecological disaster.
Speaker 1: As the forests disappeared, the land began to erode and
Speaker 1: their crops began to fail.
Speaker 19: When that came then, the obvious consequence, among others was
Speaker 19: social conflicts, and societ conflict led to inter tribal fightings
Speaker 19: and eventually to a total social organization change. So within
Speaker 19: this social conflict, the monument were either abandoned or destroyed.
Speaker 1: This was the end of the era of the statues.
Speaker 1: The survivors of the conflict had to find new ways
Speaker 1: of living on this desolate island. They couldn't escape because
Speaker 1: there was no wood to build boats, and there was
Speaker 1: worse to come when passing ships began to dock at
Speaker 1: Easter Island, Repeated raids by slave traders, and the introduction
Speaker 1: of unfamiliar infectious diseases almost wiped out the population.
Speaker 19: We do know for fact that in eighteen seventy seven
Speaker 19: our population on this island was only one hundred and eleven.
Speaker 19: Almost two exterminations. We could have lost the entire human groups.
Speaker 19: That would be perhaps the saddest aspect of human history.
Speaker 1: Now an x by Chile, the island has rebounded from
Speaker 1: near obscurity with its current population of more than three thousand.
Speaker 1: We still don't understand the original purpose of these statues,
Speaker 1: but today they provide an important source of income for
Speaker 1: the Rapanui. Tourists and archaeologists flocked to the island to
Speaker 1: wonder at these extraordinary legacies of the past. In the
Speaker 1: eighteenth century, the Spanish priest was sent by his bishop
Speaker 1: to explore the dense jungle of Central America, searching for
Speaker 1: new land to cultivate. He stumbled upon some hauntingly beautiful
Speaker 1: ruins rising spectacularly out of the forest. This was the
Speaker 1: lost city of Polenke. Lenk lies on the edge of
Speaker 1: the jungle in Chiappus, Mexico. Vast, mysterious and enchanting, this
Speaker 1: ruined city was originally constructed by a long lost Native
Speaker 1: American civilization, the Maya. Two hundred and fifty years after
Speaker 1: it was first discovered, archaeologists are still unraveling the mystery
Speaker 1: of what happened to the Maya and why these ancient
Speaker 1: people abandoned their city. The ruins date back to before
Speaker 1: the seventh century, when the Maya civilization covered large areas
Speaker 1: of Central America. Chichanitza, at the tip of the Yukatam Peninsula,
Speaker 1: is one of the most famous of the excavated cities,
Speaker 1: but Polenke, nearly three hundred miles to the southwest, is
Speaker 1: even more impressive and intriguing. Many of the buildings on
Speaker 1: this sprawling site have still to be reclaimed from the jungle.
Speaker 1: Julian Miller is one of an international team of archaeologists
Speaker 1: who's been unearthing the secrets of this ancient city.
Speaker 11: Kolenka is almost a magical place. It has a certain
Speaker 11: appeal that other sites don't. It's special between the buildings
Speaker 11: and the woods that surround the buildings. It's just a
Speaker 11: wonderful place to come and spend time and visit.
Speaker 1: More than a thousand tourists every day flock to this
Speaker 1: lost city to admire the elaborate creations of the Maya
Speaker 1: tur guide Moyess Morales shows many of them around the site.
Speaker 24: Balenka doesn't have beaches, Bananka doesn't have good hotels, Baloonque
Speaker 24: doesn't have a niceiscaus. Balenka has nothing but the ruins
Speaker 24: and the beautiful nature. So the people that comes to
Speaker 24: Palenka they come for the culture of reason. So you
Speaker 24: see the best people of the world visiting Palink and
Speaker 24: that's a real privilege.
Speaker 1: Originally, this city would have supported a population of fifteen
Speaker 1: to twenty thousand people. Their wooden houses are long gone,
Speaker 1: but the palaces and temples built from limestone have survived
Speaker 1: the passage of time. The most spectacular building at Peleenke
Speaker 1: is the Royal Palace. It was built over several generations
Speaker 1: as successive ruling kings added their embellishments.
Speaker 24: This is a paradise in the sense that the monuments
Speaker 24: are among the most important ones in the world. So
Speaker 24: the Maya culture is one of the ten very important cultures,
Speaker 24: So what else do you want?
Speaker 1: The Maya culture was very complex. They had their own
Speaker 1: form of writing, the Central American equivalent of Egyptian hieroglyphics,
Speaker 1: which has still not been fully deciphered even today, and
Speaker 1: they had an obsession with blood ritual bloodletting was a
Speaker 1: major part of any important event. Human sacrifice was often
Speaker 1: the climax of religious celebrations and sporting events. Coming up,
Speaker 1: we descend to a subterranean world of the dead. Over
Speaker 1: the last fifty years, there have been a series of
Speaker 1: dramatic discoveries in the ancient Maya city of Helenke in Mexico.
Speaker 1: One of the most impressive was at the Temple of Inscriptions,
Speaker 1: an eighty five foot high eight stepped pyramid. In nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty two, a Mexican archeologist, Alberto ruz Lulia set about
Speaker 1: reclaiming this stone monument from the jungle undergrowth. At the
Speaker 1: base of the pyramid, he discovered an entrance to a
Speaker 1: dank and eerie staircase blocked by tons of debris.
Speaker 13: Royalty.
Speaker 1: After three seasons of intense excavation, he uncovered steps that
Speaker 1: led eighty feet down into the heart of the pyramid.
Speaker 1: At the very bottom was a vaulted burial chamber containing
Speaker 1: an intricately carved stone sarcophagus. Inside was the skeleton of
Speaker 1: Pakal Vautaan, one of the great ruling kings of the city.
Speaker 1: His face was covered by a mosaic j death mask.
Speaker 1: The carvings on the massive sarcophagus depict Pakal at the
Speaker 1: moment of his death, falling into the underworld, symbolized by
Speaker 1: a monster's jaws.
Speaker 24: The man that is veries here was the most important
Speaker 24: person in the half of the war during his life.
Speaker 24: When this man was alive the seventh century, there was
Speaker 24: nothing in Europe, and there was nothing in the Pacific.
Speaker 24: There was nothing in the American continent but the Maya
Speaker 24: saw in the western ward. There is nothing more important
Speaker 24: in the seventh and eighth century than the Maya culture.
Speaker 1: This was the very first pyramid tomb ever discovered in
Speaker 1: the Americas and is still the most important and impressive
Speaker 1: here at Polenke. There are more than a thousand buildings
Speaker 1: still to be reclaimed from the jungle, but by the
Speaker 1: laws of Mexico, you're not allowed to excavate a building
Speaker 1: unless you intend to restore it. For Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Morales,
Speaker 1: it's a time consuming process.
Speaker 7: The restoration is very slow, it's very tedious, it is
Speaker 7: very expensive. We can tell that fifty structures had been
Speaker 7: uncovered in two hundred years. It will multiply by the
Speaker 7: non number of structures. It will take us three thousand,
Speaker 7: six hundred years to do the side of Polinka.
Speaker 1: One of the latest projects involves restoring a pyramid that's
Speaker 1: become overgrown by trees. The Maya had ingeniously covered a
Speaker 1: natural hill with limestone blocks and built a temple on top.
Speaker 1: When Julia Miller and her team surveyed the site with
Speaker 1: ground penetrating radar, it revealed a tomb hidden fifteen feet
Speaker 1: beneath the temple. To investigate further, they dug and exploratory.
Speaker 11: Pits about the before.
Speaker 1: Dusting at the bottom of the pit. They located the
Speaker 1: corner of the tomb and the archaeologist. We're able to
Speaker 1: insert a video camera by digging out a small hole.
Speaker 11: It's looking towards the northwest corner. Right now, it's at
Speaker 11: the roof. I can see the doors at the southern
Speaker 11: end of the tomb.
Speaker 5: How's that?
Speaker 11: I think, Yeah, that's a little bit better. And if
Speaker 11: you can turn it there we go. Okay. I can
Speaker 11: see four pots. I can see some jade beads that
Speaker 11: are on the floor. There's a lot of debris that's
Speaker 11: fallen onto the floor. It looks like the debris from
Speaker 11: the walls. It is really exciting because most tombs have
Speaker 11: something of pottery. They'll have jade, they'll have shell, they'll
Speaker 11: have lots of different kinds of artifacts. But this tomb
Speaker 11: is really special because it has mural paintings.
Speaker 17: On the walls.
Speaker 11: Yeah. Now you can see one of the figures on
Speaker 11: the west side of the tomb. It's a man who's
Speaker 11: wearing an elaborate head dress with lots of feathers on it,
Speaker 11: and he's got a necklace, probably with jade beads, and
Speaker 11: he's wearing a kilt.
Speaker 1: The Maya didn't mummify their dead, so the body in
Speaker 1: the tomb has long since decomposed.
Speaker 11: We don't know whose tomb it was. At this point.
Speaker 11: We can't see any hieroglyphic writing on the walls or
Speaker 11: on any of the ceramic vessels. I see what I
Speaker 11: think I can still see is but the shape of
Speaker 11: the ceramic pots tells us that the tomb came from
Speaker 11: about five hundred and forty a d.
Speaker 1: Mysteriously, sometime during the eighth century, the Maya civilization at
Speaker 1: Polink collapsed. Nobody really knows why. Ecological disaster, war and
Speaker 1: famine are possible causes. But whatever the reason, these majestic
Speaker 1: monuments were deserted and left to decay under a shroud
Speaker 1: of tangled vines and foliage over a thousand years later.
Speaker 1: Pilenk has a mystical charm that will enchant tourists and
Speaker 1: archaeologists forever.
Speaker 11: When Pelenki empties out at the end of the day
Speaker 11: and the sun is setting in the west, it's just
Speaker 11: a beautiful, beautiful place. The monkey start howling, the birds
Speaker 11: start singing, and you just want to sit and soak
Speaker 11: in the atmosphere.
Speaker 1: Around the globe, there is a rich heritage of magnificent
Speaker 1: monuments left behind by our ancient ancestors. These amazing feats
Speaker 1: of engineering have survived the ravages of time and outlasted
Speaker 1: entire civilizations. They stand as a testimony to the triumph
Speaker 1: of human endeavor.
Speaker 15: Stiddy sim evitevisivis