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[Graham] If you look me up on Wikipedia,

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you'll find that I am described as a
pseudoarchaeologist or a pseudoscientist.

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I find this frankly absurd.

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I'm no more a pseudoscientist
than a dolphin is a pseudo-fish.

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I'm an investigative reporter.

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My job is to investigate
the official story.

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What is there in the past

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that the existing model
of prehistory doesn't explain?

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Anomalies and paradoxes
are of great interest.

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<i>That's what's brought me here</i>
<i>to the Bahamas.</i>

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I'm fascinated by parts of the world
that haven't been looked at properly yet.

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That's why I spend years
scuba diving on continental shelves

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'cause there's
ten million square miles of land

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that was above water during
the Ice Age that's underwater today.

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<i>Including here, in the Bahamas.</i>

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<i>These are the Bimini Islands.</i>

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<i>Just under 60 miles</i>
<i>off the coast of Miami,</i>

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<i>Bimini is separated</i>
<i>from the mainland of America</i>

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<i>by a deepwater channel</i>
<i>known as the Straits of Florida.</i>

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You might think this is an unlikely place

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to search for clues
to a lost civilization,

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but something incredible has been
discovered beneath the waves here.

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<i>Just half a mile off the shoreline,</i>
<i>not far from the Gulf Stream current,</i>

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<i>is a massive structure</i>
<i>of carefully laid giant stones…</i>

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<i>with every appearance of being</i>
<i>a megalithic roadway or paved terrace…</i>

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<i>which is how it earned</i>
<i>its nickname, the "Bimini Road."</i>

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<i>The formation was first discovered</i>
<i>in 1968 by a group of divers</i>

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<i>who'd been looking for</i>
<i>the fabled lost city of Atlantis</i>

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<i>beneath the waves of the Bahamas.</i>

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<i>In their excitement,</i>
<i>they announced to the world</i>

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<i>that they had found</i>
<i>the road to Atlantis itself.</i>

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This state of Atlantis is supposed
to have existed in 8000 BC,

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and supposed to have attacked Athens.
Greeks didn't exist in 8000 BC.

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This is all simply absurd.

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I'm afraid there is no history
in this story whatsoever.

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[Graham] <i>Predictably, all this talk of</i>
<i>Atlantis caused archaeologists to discount</i>

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<i>what seemed to be</i>
<i>an underwater megalithic structure</i>

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<i>as no more than breathless hype.</i>

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<i>To this day, archaeologists insist</i>

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<i>that this underwater formation</i>
<i>is just a stretch of fractured beach rock</i>

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<i>probably formed around 3,000 years ago</i>
<i>by natural processes.</i>

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<i>Unwilling to risk their reputations,</i>

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<i>few scholars have</i>
<i>seriously investigated it.</i>

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<i>I have no such reservations.</i>

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<i>Because whether or not</i>

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<i>the Bimini structure</i>
<i>is part of some underwater city,</i>

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<i>it would be reckless</i>
<i>to ignore it completely.</i>

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<i>Which is why I've come here</i>

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<i>with some state-of-the-art technology</i>
<i>and a team of experts</i>

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<i>to reopen this cold case.</i>

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<i>My dive buddy is Dr. Michael Haley…</i>

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[Dr. Haley] Hand me the mask.

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[Graham] <i>…a marine biologist who's been</i>
<i>exploring the waters of the Caribbean</i>

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<i>for over 40 years.</i>

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[Dr. Haley over comms]
<i>Graham, let's swim over here.</i>

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[Graham] <i>The so-called Bimini Road</i>
<i>lies just 18 feet,</i>

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<i>five-and-a-half meters, below the surface.</i>

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<i>An easy dive.</i>

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<i>While Mike and I head</i>
<i>for the mysterious structure,</i>

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<i>up above, another member</i>
<i>of our team, Kyle Dufault,</i>

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<i>is preparing to scan the area</i>
<i>using his sonar array.</i>

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<i>Kyle's a marine investigator</i>

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<i>with years of experience</i>
<i>hunting the world's seabeds</i>

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<i>for wrecks and anomalies.</i>

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[Kyle] Good to go.

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[Graham] <i>His sonar should reveal</i>
<i>the road like an X-ray,</i>

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<i>giving us a much clearer view</i>

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<i>of how these blocks</i>
<i>may originally have been laid out.</i>

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I'm hoping to show something
that has never been seen before.

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If this is in fact a man-made object,
I'd like to see precise lines

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because usually 90-degree angles
do not occur in nature.

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It's very rare.

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All right, what I would like to do
is just go right down the middle.

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[Dr. Haley] <i>Graham, look at this.</i>

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[Graham] <i>Below, Mike and I close in</i>
<i>on the line of massive blocks</i>

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<i>on the otherwise empty seabed.</i>

77
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<i>Recent storms have</i>
<i>stirred up sediment, reducing visibility.</i>

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<i>Even so, it's easy to spot</i>
<i>the well-organized rows of megaliths.</i>

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[over comms] <i>They are laid out</i>
<i>perfectly symmetrically.</i>

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<i>I can swim along the side of the row</i>

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<i>and I can see</i>
<i>absolute level and precision.</i>

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<i>It's a very impressive sight.</i>

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<i>The slabs are remarkably</i>
<i>straight-edged and parallel.</i>

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<i>These very large blocks</i>
<i>are really enormous.</i>

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<i>They're about 15 feet on one dimension,</i>

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<i>and about 12 feet on the other dimension.</i>

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<i>This isn't the top</i>
<i>of any larger buried structure.</i>

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<i>Most of the blocks</i>
<i>are laid out directly on the ocean floor.</i>

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<i>What's so unusual</i>

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<i>is that some of</i>
<i>the undisturbed sections of the structure</i>

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<i>appear to be level,</i>
<i>despite the massive size of the megaliths.</i>

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<i>And when Mike and I take a closer look,</i>
<i>we discover why.</i>

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<i>There's something underneath them.</i>

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[Dr. Haley] <i>Come over here, Graham.</i>
<i>Look at this.</i>

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[Graham] <i>A series of smaller stones</i>
<i>are wedged beneath these huge slabs,</i>

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<i>keeping them level above the sea floor.</i>

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[Dr. Haley] <i>You can see</i>
<i>these foundation stones very clearly.</i>

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[Graham] <i>There's no way those stones</i>
<i>could have gotten under these slabs,</i>

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<i>some of which weigh up to ten tons,</i>

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<i>unless they were put there intentionally.</i>

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<i>There's no doubt about it, in my view.</i>

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<i>Nature just cannot explain</i>
<i>the regularity, the organization,</i>

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<i>the planning</i>
<i>and the precision of this structure.</i>

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It's clear that we're looking
at a man-made structure.

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Huge efforts were made to create

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a leveled-off megalithic platform
on a sloping land form.

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And in order to level that platform,

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they used foundation blocks
underneath the large megaliths.

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<i>Up close, it was difficult to make out</i>

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<i>what the overall intended shape</i>
<i>of the formation might have been.</i>

111
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<i>But Kyle's sonar scans</i>
<i>should give us further perspective.</i>

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So, now you're starting to see the blocks
of the main section of the road.

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-[Graham] Okay.
-And you can definitively see the cracks…

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[Graham] Absolutely.

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…and the uniform shape of the road.

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[Graham] Definition is amazing.

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-Most of the rocks are very uniform.
-[Graham] Yeah.

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They're usually about
ten to twelve foot long,

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by ten to twelve foot wide.

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-[Graham] So, really substantial pieces.
-[Kyle] Absolutely.

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Look at this straight edge here.

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[Kyle] Right, absolutely.

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Yeah, you can definitively
see the lines between the blocks

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-like they were actually made…
-[Graham] Yeah.

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-…and then laid into a road pattern. It--
-Almost perfectly square.

126
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Absolutely.

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Like I said, you can
definitively see that they're blocks.

128
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[Graham] Yes.

129
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[Kyle] I've scanned both sides
on either side of the road

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and there's nothing like that
anywhere around.

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[Graham] <i>If this formation was simply</i>
<i>the product of natural tidal forces,</i>

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<i>as geologists insisted</i>
<i>when it was first discovered,</i>

133
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<i>why would the shorter section of the road</i>
<i>lie at an angle to the main one?</i>

134
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<i>Wouldn't they be parallel?</i>

135
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<i>And why don't we see</i>
<i>other such formations nearby?</i>

136
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I mean, not only the weathering
or just the uniformity of them all,

137
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-but nothing around it looking like this…
-Yeah.

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-Somebody put it there.
-Yes.

139
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So my personal opinion
is that it is man-made.

140
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So, Mike, what do you make of it?

141
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What have we been looking at?

142
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Well, I've dived all over the world

143
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and it's the only structure
I've ever seen like that.

144
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Anyway, it's completely unique.

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When I listen to the arguments of those
who think it is a natural structure,

146
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they argue that it's beach rock.

147
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<i>Oftentimes a shelf of beach rock</i>
<i>will fracture into pieces</i>

148
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<i>while still maintaining its overall shape.</i>

149
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<i>But the blocks at Bimini</i>
<i>are clearly distinct from one another</i>

150
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<i>and uniformly pillow-shaped.</i>

151
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It's very hard for me to see
how nature could have made it.

152
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I've never seen beach rock
fracture in that way.

153
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-Have you?
-Me neither.

154
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And it speaks to me loudly
of human workmanship.

155
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Looks like it very well could be
a man-made structure.

156
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[Graham] If I'm right,
it must have been made at a time

157
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when this part of the Bahamas
was above water.

158
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<i>And extrapolating</i>
<i>from all the available data,</i>

159
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<i>we can get a good idea of what it might</i>
<i>originally have looked like</i>

160
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<i>when it lay atop the coastline.</i>

161
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<i>The hook-shaped formation</i>
<i>runs roughly northeast to southwest,</i>

162
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<i>about 1,600 feet long.</i>

163
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<i>Nearly four-and-a-half football fields.</i>

164
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<i>The biggest blocks are anywhere</i>
<i>from ten to thirteen feet long</i>

165
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<i>and seven to ten feet wide.</i>

166
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<i>And on both terraces,</i>
<i>there appear to be intentional gaps.</i>

167
00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,600
<i>But there's no way to know if there was</i>
<i>any wooden superstructure built on top.</i>

168
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<i>All that remains are the blocks.</i>

169
00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,160
<i>But the very existence</i>
<i>of such a massive man-made structure here</i>

170
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<i>has extraordinary implications.</i>

171
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<i>Because this part of the Bahamas has been</i>
<i>under water for thousands of years.</i>

172
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<i>In fact, most of the islands making up</i>
<i>what we now call the Great Bahama Bank,</i>

173
00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:52,040
<i>were connected during the Ice Age</i>

174
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<i>in places rising</i>
<i>100 meters above sea level.</i>

175
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<i>Part of a vast rectangular Bahama Island,</i>

176
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<i>just off the mainland</i>
<i>of what today is Florida,</i>

177
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<i>an island that existed here</i>
<i>for more than 100,000 years.</i>

178
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Sea levels rose 400 feet
at the end of the last Ice Age

179
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and in the process,

180
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swallowed up millions of square miles
of some of the best land on Earth.

181
00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,480
And if we're trying to tell
the human story while not taking account

182
00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:28,720
of those submerged continental shelves
and what was happening on them,

183
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,080
then we could be missing
a great deal of important information.

184
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<i>The new data we've gathered</i>
<i>on the Bimini Road</i>

185
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<i>strongly suggest to me an ancient date</i>
<i>for this now underwater structure.</i>

186
00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:47,440
<i>And yet, archaeologists have been slow</i>
<i>to take up the challenge</i>

187
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<i>of looking for evidence of</i>
<i>older civilizations here in the Bahamas.</i>

188
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<i>They refuse to consider the possibility.</i>

189
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If there was an advanced civilization
that lived, say, 30,000 years ago,

190
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which is what Graham thinks, okay,

191
00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:05,960
where is their trash? Where are the homes?

192
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,960
You know, where are
their stone tools or metal tools?

193
00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:11,360
Where's their writing?

194
00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:17,080
[Graham] <i>There could be such evidence</i>
<i>of an advanced civilization of the Ice Age</i>

195
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:22,960
<i>waiting to be found</i>
<i>beneath the waves on land later flooded.</i>

196
00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,240
<i>But you're not going to find it</i>
<i>if you don't bother to look.</i>

197
00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:28,760
[Dr. Haley] You're not talking about
a civilization on Bimini.

198
00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,000
You're talking about civilization
on the entire bank, which is huge.

199
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,080
-The research has simply never been done.
-Yeah.

200
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Because archaeology doesn't feel
there's any point in doing that research.

201
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:39,960
Because archaeology feels that

202
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,440
the timeline of human civilization
is already sorted out.

203
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,480
So, there's no reason to investigate that.

204
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,640
<i>The Bimini Road does overlook</i>
<i>the deepwater channel</i>

205
00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:57,160
<i>that once ran between the</i>
<i>Ice Age Bahama Island and North America.</i>

206
00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,320
<i>A channel through which</i>
<i>the Gulf Stream flows,</i>

207
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:05,000
<i>making it a hugely important landmark</i>
<i>for any ships heading northward</i>

208
00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,600
<i>out of the Gulf of Mexico</i>
<i>toward the Atlantic.</i>

209
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:13,240
<i>Like the legendary boat</i>
<i>with no paddles of Quetzalcoatl.</i>

210
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,640
<i>The stone slabs could have been part of</i>
<i>some larger monument or place marker.</i>

211
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:21,400
<i>A legacy of a seafaring culture</i>

212
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,000
<i>that witnessed the rising waters</i>
<i>at the end of the last Ice Age.</i>

213
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:31,000
<i>A culture that may actually</i>
<i>have mapped this important spot.</i>

214
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,640
<i>I've asked Mike to join me on shore</i>

215
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,600
<i>to look over replicas of</i>
<i>some of the oldest surviving world maps.</i>

216
00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:50,720
<i>He may be a seasoned navigator,</i>

217
00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,040
<i>but I'm betting</i>
<i>he's never used maps like these.</i>

218
00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,000
The story of these maps
is quite complicated.

219
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:01,640
These maps were typically drawn

220
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,320
in the 14th, 15th
and 16th centuries of our era.

221
00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:09,840
But the mapmakers admitted freely that
they were copying from older source maps

222
00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,560
and compiling it together with
new information from the Age of Discovery.

223
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,400
Let's start with this one,
which is a very famous map.

224
00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,200
This is the Piri Reis map
drawn by a Turkish admiral…

225
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,320
-Right.
-…in 1513.

226
00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,400
He tells us
in his own handwriting on the map

227
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,840
that he based it on 20 older source maps.

228
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:41,960
<i>In addition to those ancient sources,</i>

229
00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,000
<i>Piri Reis also referred to charts</i>
<i>from recent voyages to the Americas</i>

230
00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,000
<i>by Christopher Columbus and others.</i>

231
00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:53,520
<i>The end result was a world map,</i>

232
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:57,000
<i>but today,</i>
<i>only the western third of it survives.</i>

233
00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,120
This is really interesting, Graham,
because you got this coastline

234
00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:07,320
showing the rivers
in South America quite accurately.

235
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,160
[Graham] Yeah. Very good, really,

236
00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,160
representation of the coast
of South America.

237
00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,800
But what stands out for me
as a huge anomaly,

238
00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:17,800
is this very large island

239
00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,680
shown off the southeast coast
of North America.

240
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,280
<i>Parked off the coast</i>
<i>of a truncated Florida,</i>

241
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:29,240
<i>is a large, vertically-oriented,</i>
<i>rectangular island.</i>

242
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:34,960
<i>It doesn't look like anything</i>
<i>Columbus should have encountered or drawn.</i>

243
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:40,000
Efforts have been made to explain it
as a badly drawn map of Cuba.

244
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,640
And that just doesn't fly for me
because you can't get it wrong.

245
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,120
Well, it's long and thin
and oriented on a different axis.

246
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:51,160
And oriented east-west.
Whereas this is oriented north-south.

247
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:55,360
There is no such island
and it didn't exist in 1513 either.

248
00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,880
But an island
of exactly that size and shape

249
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,720
did exist during the last Ice Age.

250
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,240
The large part of the Grand Bahama Banks
that were above water.

251
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:12,760
<i>And if you take a closer look at what</i>
<i>Piri Reis drew along the island's spine,</i>

252
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,280
<i>it's a series of blocks lined up in a row.</i>

253
00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:20,600
<i>Remind you of something?</i>

254
00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,240
This row looks to me

255
00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:34,960
very much like the rows of megaliths
on the Bimini Road.

256
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,320
That would not be uncharacteristic
of maps of this period

257
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,600
because they took what they saw
as a characteristic feature of that area.

258
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,400
Like we see this elephant in West Africa,

259
00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,200
curious animals here in South America.

260
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,960
And this feature here,
which is not mountains.

261
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,000
It's not how Piri Reis shows mountains.
It's something else.

262
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:04,080
I think it's the Bimini Road.

263
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,240
I don't care whether the Bimini Road
is natural or man-made.

264
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:11,920
My claim about the Bimini Road

265
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,920
is it's really fucking weird
that it appears on a map above water.

266
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:15,840
[Joe] Yes.

267
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,040
A map that was drawn in 1513
based on older source maps.

268
00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,320
<i>This strange appearance</i>
<i>of an Ice Age island</i>

269
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,760
<i>isn't the only unusual feature</i>
<i>on Piri Reis' extraordinary map.</i>

270
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,560
As you move to the south,
you've got this large landmass here.

271
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:35,480
[Graham] Yeah.

272
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,320
And that seems extremely strange.

273
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,280
[Graham] You're putting your finger on

274
00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:43,280
one of the most controversial aspects
of the Piri Reis map.

275
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,920
<i>It's a coastline</i>
<i>extending out from South America</i>

276
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,560
<i>along the southern edge of the Atlantic.</i>

277
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,440
<i>No one should have known about it in 1513.</i>

278
00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:01,360
<i>Take a look at this other world map.</i>

279
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,560
<i>The Pinkerton map, published in 1812.</i>

280
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,680
<i>It's impressively accurate</i>
<i>except for one thing.</i>

281
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:11,560
<i>No Antarctica.</i>

282
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,400
<i>Because our civilization</i>
<i>didn't discover Antarctica until 1820.</i>

283
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,200
<i>This is why historians</i>
<i>refuse to acknowledge the possibility</i>

284
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,160
<i>that it might appear</i>
<i>on a map drawn in 1513.</i>

285
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:34,280
The area of the map
which people say might be Antarctica,

286
00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,880
well, it just isn't Antarctica.

287
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:38,800
It's South America.

288
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,880
All that happened is that
Piri Reis was drawing the coastline,

289
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,000
the paper ran out,
so he changed the direction.

290
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,320
[Peter Barber] He just did a doodle.

291
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,000
And I think we've been
taken in by the doodle

292
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:52,560
into thinking it's something more.

293
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,760
[Graham] <i>That might make sense,</i>
<i>if the Piri Reis map was the only example.</i>

294
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,400
<i>But Antarctica shows up in other</i>
<i>16th century maps, as well.</i>

295
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,040
<i>Here it's clearly detailed</i>
<i>and even labeled</i>

296
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:13,520
<i>on the Orontius Finaeus map</i>
<i>drawn in 1531.</i>

297
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,360
<i>Once again, based on ancient sources,</i>

298
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,960
<i>before any modern explorer</i>
<i>had ever laid eyes on it.</i>

299
00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,160
<i>But if that is Antarctica</i>
<i>on the Piri Reis map,</i>

300
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,400
<i>why is it so oddly oriented</i>
<i>and connected to South America?</i>

301
00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,360
<i>Have a look at Antarctica's coastline,</i>
<i>not as it is today,</i>

302
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:46,640
<i>but as geologists think it was</i>
<i>when sea levels were lower</i>

303
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,600
<i>and the southern ice cap extended north</i>
<i>during the last Ice Age.</i>

304
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,320
<i>If you trace out</i>
<i>Antarctica's Ice Age coastline,</i>

305
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,440
<i>it looks a lot like</i>
<i>the one on the Piri Reis map.</i>

306
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:05,360
Antarctica, its appearance
rather accurately,

307
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,680
and much as it looked
during the Ice Age on ancient maps,

308
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,440
is a real paradox and a problem
which needs to be explained.

309
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,120
And to me, the obvious answer
to that problem isn't coincidence,

310
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,840
it isn't fantasy
on the part of the mapmakers.

311
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,560
It's those source maps
they were drawing from.

312
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,840
I think these maps suggest

313
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,040
a major forgotten episode
in human history.

314
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:33,400
<i>In Indonesia, in Mexico, and on Malta,</i>

315
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:39,400
<i>we've seen advanced megalithic structures</i>
<i>associated with civilizing heroes</i>

316
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:46,120
<i>who arrived by boat, teaching the locals</i>
<i>about agriculture, laws and engineering.</i>

317
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,720
<i>Now, these maps suggest that</i>
<i>long before Magellan's famous expedition,</i>

318
00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:57,240
<i>an advanced culture</i>
<i>did circumnavigate that Ice Age world.</i>

319
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,520
This is all evidence
that we shouldn't dismiss the possibility

320
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,200
that our ancestors
had achieved a level of technology

321
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,480
where they could explore
and map the world's oceans.

322
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:08,560
Shouldn't be dismissed.

323
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:10,960
Is there anything else compelling
in the immediate area

324
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:13,720
that seems to indicate there was
a man-made structure?

325
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,640
[Graham] <i>There is another unexplained</i>
<i>man-made wonder here.</i>

326
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,160
<i>Hidden deep inside</i>
<i>Bimini's dense mangrove forest,</i>

327
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,680
<i>an area accessible only by boat.</i>

328
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,480
<i>Rising ten feet out of the swamp</i>
<i>is a series of mounds</i>

329
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:39,080
<i>set off by empty stretches of sand,</i>
<i>creating a curious 500-foot long shape.</i>

330
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,160
<i>Like the famed Nazca Lines in Peru,</i>

331
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,000
<i>it's a phenomenon</i>
<i>best viewed from the air.</i>

332
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:54,600
<i>The unmistakable shape of one of</i>
<i>Bimini's most famous ancient residents.</i>

333
00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:01,120
<i>This effigy of a shark,</i>
<i>carved into the mangrove swamp,</i>

334
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,720
<i>has been here as long as anyone remembers.</i>

335
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,760
<i>Though, archaeologists</i>
<i>have never seriously studied it</i>

336
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:09,880
<i>since they cannot confirm its origins.</i>

337
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,720
<i>And yet it's a predator</i>
<i>that any ancient seafaring culture,</i>

338
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,080
<i>including the lost civilization</i>
<i>I've been looking for,</i>

339
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,640
<i>would certainly have feared and respected.</i>

340
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,080
<i>So, who were these ancient navigators?</i>

341
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:44,240
<i>Well, at the risk of yet again incurring</i>
<i>the wrath of those in mainstream academia…</i>

342
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,080
Let's talk about Atlantis.

343
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,400
<i>I don't believe</i>
<i>Bimini is the site of Atlantis,</i>

344
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,280
<i>or that Atlantis lies</i>
<i>anywhere near the Bahamas.</i>

345
00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:59,880
<i>But the legend</i>
<i>of the drowned city is intriguing,</i>

346
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,200
<i>precisely because it offers us</i>
<i>the most detailed description of something</i>

347
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:05,720
<i>I believe really existed.</i>

348
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,560
<i>A lost advanced civilization</i>
<i>of the Ice Age.</i>

349
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:13,440
The Greek philosopher Plato

350
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:18,200
is the oldest surviving source
for the story of Atlantis.

351
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,320
<i>Which he describes quite vividly.</i>

352
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,440
<i>Atlantis was a precocious civilization.</i>

353
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,520
<i>Boasting beautiful architecture,</i>
<i>advanced technology,</i>

354
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,240
<i>and city planning on a monumental scale.</i>

355
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,840
<i>It also commanded a vast fleet</i>
<i>capable of navigating the world,</i>

356
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,200
<i>projecting its power</i>
<i>near and far across oceans.</i>

357
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:51,480
<i>Until the city was struck by a series</i>
<i>of massive earthquakes and floods,</i>

358
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,320
<i>a truly cataclysmic event,</i>

359
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,640
<i>and sank beneath the waves.</i>

360
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:04,880
Plato tells us that the story of Atlantis
reached him through his ancestor, Solon.

361
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,160
That Solon visited Egypt.

362
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,280
And we know the date of that visit.
It was 600 BC.

363
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,240
And during that visit, he visited a temple

364
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,200
and the priests
spoke of a lost advanced civilization

365
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:19,800
which they called Atlantis,

366
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,480
which was destroyed in a flood

367
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,920
9,000 years before
the time of Solon's visit.

368
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:39,800
So we have a date
for the destruction of Atlantis, 9600 BC.

369
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,640
That's exactly the same time
as an episode of global cataclysm

370
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,240
and catastrophic sea level rise

371
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,480
that occurred at the end of the Ice Age.

372
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,880
Coincidence? Maybe.

373
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,480
But for the tale of Atlantis
to accord so precisely

374
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,720
with the latest scientific evidence
on the end of the Ice Age,

375
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,320
should give even the harshest of skeptics
pause for thought.

376
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,560
Isn't it much more likely
it is just some sort of allegory?

377
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,360
I might think that if it wasn't
for the fact that the Plato story

378
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:15,400
is echoed all around the world
by people who had no contact with Plato.

379
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,880
And what I suspect is that they are
all drawing on a common source,

380
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,480
a common memory of a real event.

381
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:30,000
When Plato tells us the story of Atlantis,
he also tells us why Atlantis went down.

382
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,280
It wasn't just because of a cataclysm.

383
00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:35,840
It was because of the arrogance,
the hubris, the pride

384
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:37,880
that had grown up within Atlantis.

385
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,360
This is why Atlantis was destroyed.

386
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,160
Because it had
fallen out of harmony with the universe.

387
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:54,160
And I think that our civilization today
is in a very similar predicament.

388
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,240
We have fallen out of harmony
with the universe.

389
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,120
Our conceit at our own achievements,

390
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,440
our willingness to impose
our power around the world

391
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,120
on other less powerful peoples.

392
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,000
All of these things in mythological terms

393
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,160
would suggest that our civilization
is in very great danger.

394
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:13,520
[explosion]

395
00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:23,000
When I published
<i>Fingerprints of the Gods</i> in 1995,

396
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,440
I thought that there was
nothing more for me to say

397
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,720
about the possibility
of a lost civilization.

398
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:36,000
<i>I became aware of an enormous</i>
<i>and really quite astonishing</i>

399
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,280
<i>newly-discovered</i>
<i>megalithic site in Turkey.</i>

400
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,160
<i>One that proved that our Ice Age ancestors</i>

401
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,840
<i>were capable of far more</i>
<i>than historians ever dreamed.</i>

402
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,000
To me, it very strongly
speaks of a lost civilization

403
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,600
that archaeology hasn't got to grips with.

404
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:57,800
<i>It's a site now thought to be</i>
<i>the oldest surviving</i>

405
00:28:57,880 --> 00:28:59,920
<i>megalithic structure in the world.</i>

406
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,000
<i>One that also may have left us</i>
<i>a warning encoded in stone,</i>

407
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,440
<i>that the ancient apocalypse</i>
<i>of the last Ice Age</i>

408
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,360
<i>that nearly destroyed humanity…</i>

409
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,680
[thunder rumbling]

410
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,000
<i>could return.</i>

411
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,000
<i>So, Turkey is where I'm heading next.</i>

