1
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,760
[Graham] What I'm suggesting is that
something that we would recognize
2
00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:22,120
as an advanced civilization
existed during the Ice Age.
3
00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,640
I'm not saying that they flew to the moon.
4
00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,920
But what I'm saying is that they were
far, far, far more advanced
5
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:35,800
in terms of scientific knowledge.
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00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,920
Knowledge of the Earth,
knowledge of the universe,
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00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:42,560
than we're taught.
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00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,040
And capable of
astounding feats of engineering,
9
00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,720
like the site I'm heading to
in Turkey's Cappadocia region.
10
00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,440
There's an ancient survival bunker
deep underground…
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00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,440
built not just to shelter a few people,
but to shelter thousands.
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00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,840
Mainstream historians
have long debated its purpose,
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00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,480
but I believe it might just explain
14
00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:19,800
how this lost ancient civilization
I've been looking for became lost.
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00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,160
This is the story of Derinkuyu.
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00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,960
I've come to a region of Turkey
known as Cappadocia.
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00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:55,880
About 240 miles northwest of those
mysterious enclosures of Göbekli Tepe…
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00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,480
that were intentionally buried,
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00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,720
memorializing a time of great cataclysms
at the end of the Ice Age.
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00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,600
Millions of years ago,
this region's landscape was transformed
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00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:20,320
by a series of volcanic eruptions,
leaving layer upon layer of ash,
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00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:25,160
which compressed over millennia
into a soft stone called tuff.
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00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:29,720
A stone easily shaped by the elements,
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00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,760
creating what locals call
"fairy chimneys."
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00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,200
But a stone that also
allowed the construction
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00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:41,040
of one of the most remarkable
large-scale projects
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00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:46,160
humanity has ever embarked upon
deep beneath this soft rock.
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00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,360
Just a few miles from where I stand,
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00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:54,440
the mysterious hidden city created
thousands of years ago has been revealed.
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00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:57,840
It's the work of
an as-yet unidentified civilization
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00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,520
that was clearly motivated by fear.
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00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,760
The big question therefore is,
fear of what?
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00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,160
The closest town,
Derinkuyu, seems unremarkable.
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00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:26,320
But in 1963, developers renovating
a house here knocked through a floor,
35
00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:33,880
only to discover a deep tunnel,
one that led to a forgotten world.
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00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:39,360
It's hard to believe, as you walk
the dusty streets of this small town,
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00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,240
that carved out of the living bedrock
right beneath my feet
38
00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,600
is an ancient, immense
and mysterious subterranean complex.
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00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,200
If you're claustrophobic,
consider yourself warned.
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00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:58,720
We're headed underground.
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00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,080
This is the underground city of Derinkuyu.
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00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,560
A series of stone tunnels and chambers
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00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:19,040
plunging as deep
as 85 meters below the surface…
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00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,040
creating 18 levels of rooms and tunnels.
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00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:31,320
The entire complex
was hacked out of the rock with hand axes.
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00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,840
A disorientating warren
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00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,960
that occasionally widens
into large open spaces.
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00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:44,200
From inside, it's virtually impossible
to get a sense of the scale of the place.
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00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,440
But most of this underground city
has been mapped,
50
00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,920
and if we take away the rock
between the spaces,
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00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,840
we can see a cross section of the city,
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00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,000
and it's utterly astounding.
53
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:09,120
It's an ant farm built human size,
with subterranean caves and tunnels
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00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,680
extending over an area
of four square kilometers.
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00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:20,000
To keep it well-ventilated,
Derinkuyu has upwards of 15,000 air ducts
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00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,360
connecting the upper levels
to the surface…
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00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:27,760
and more than 50 vertical shafts,
58
00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:32,720
some stretching all the way down to the
water table 85 meters below the surface…
59
00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:38,320
giving the complex its name.
60
00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,120
Derinkuyu means, "deep well."
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00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,480
Stunning in its ingenuity
and architectural complexity,
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00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:53,640
it's calculated that Derinkuyu
could shelter up to 20,000 people.
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00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:55,560
But questions remain.
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00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,520
Which people, when and why?
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00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:04,360
It's hard to know precisely,
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00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:09,840
because Derinkuyu is like a crime scene
that's been trampled on for generations.
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00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,040
Many cultures have passed through
this part of Turkey.
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00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,240
For centuries, Cappadocia occupied
a place of strategic importance,
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00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,920
along the legendary Silk Road
that connected Asia to Europe,
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00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:29,880
going back to the time
of Alexander the Great.
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00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:34,480
Turkish scholar, Sevim Tunçdemir,
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00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,440
is an expert on the Derinkuyu tunnels
and their various occupants.
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00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,640
[in Turkish] This region has been home
to many civilizations.
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00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,080
If we count them
starting from the beginning,
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00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,440
there were the Hittites,
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00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,080
then there were the Phrygians,
then the Persians,
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00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:52,600
the Cappadocian kingdom,
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00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,080
the Roman Empire.
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00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,960
All the people
who passed through used them.
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00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:02,320
They were even in use
up until the Ottoman period.
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00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:06,760
[Graham] When the tunnels
were first discovered,
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00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:10,440
archaeologists found artifacts
left by early Christians,
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00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,200
and in the deepest levels,
secret meeting rooms
84
00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,200
carved out with
vaulted ceilings like churches.
85
00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:21,360
So the original theory,
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00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,080
which many historians
still cling to today,
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00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,680
was that the tunnels beneath Derinkuyu
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00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,200
were carved out by Christians
in the 7th century AD,
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00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:34,920
trying to hide from Arab raiding parties.
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00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,920
It's a tale
that appeals to Western tourists.
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00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,200
Also, it's totally wrong.
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00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:49,280
Later excavations found evidence
of people using this underground city
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00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,000
as early as the 8th century BC,
94
00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,720
hundreds of years before
the Christians were here.
95
00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,760
We encounter this again and again
on archaeological sites around the world.
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00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:06,240
There's a big notice based on
the received wisdom of archaeologists,
97
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,000
and again and again that notice is wrong.
98
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,040
Factually wrong.
99
00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,640
Proved to be wrong
by later excavations and yet not changed.
100
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,600
Don't trust the noticeboards.
Do the legwork yourself.
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00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,200
Don't rely on the so-called experts.
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00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,400
There were many cultures
who used these tunnels over centuries,
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00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,280
but what I want to know
is who began this remarkable project.
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00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,360
How far back does it go?
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00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:43,679
Historian Hüsam Süleymangil has been
investigating this site for decades,
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00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,400
trying to unlock its mysterious origins.
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00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:53,720
So, when I look at Derinkuyu
and the complexity of it, I am mystified.
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00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,680
When do you think
that this project started?
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00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,840
There are several
different theories about it
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00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:02,760
and none of them
is really proven by science.
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00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:03,680
Right.
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00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:05,800
They couldn't find
any written information.
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00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,920
They couldn't find any organic material
to use to carbon date.
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00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:11,480
Are there any carbon dates at all?
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00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:13,760
As far as I know,
there is no carbon dating.
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00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:14,680
That's extraordinary.
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00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,240
So, the date is still a big mystery.
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00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:23,400
I have my own theories,
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00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,160
but Hüsam proposes a date
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00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,000
based on the oldest known culture
to use these caves.
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00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,040
Most plausible theory,
according to my mind,
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00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,360
is actually about the 8th century BC.
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00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,160
[Graham] At that time,
this part of the world
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00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,280
was inhabited by a people
known as the Phrygians,
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00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,040
who were under threat
from another empire, the Assyrians.
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00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,960
We know that there was a big Assyrian army
coming from southeast.
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00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,120
[Graham] The Phrygians would've viewed
the invading army with sheer terror.
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00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,240
The Assyrians were notorious
for skinning prisoners,
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00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,640
impaling them and burning children alive.
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00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:14,320
According to later accounts,
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00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:18,000
when the Assyrian invaders
marched against the people in this valley,
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00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,280
they were surprised
by the defenders' innovative tactics.
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00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,240
[Hüsam] The Phrygians were fighting
against the Assyrian army
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00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:32,840
in the guerilla type of warfare,
135
00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,440
attacking the army
in sort of unexpected places.
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00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:37,000
When the army start to chase them,
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00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,680
they would come
and use these as hideout places.
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00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,520
[Graham] It's a time-honored strategy
in guerrilla warfare.
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00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,320
Similar tunnels were dug out
by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam.
140
00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:54,880
And Afghan rebels did the same
141
00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,200
to hide from superior Soviet
and then American invading forces.
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00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:03,480
This official position,
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00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:07,400
that the Phrygians dug out these tunnels
as a secret military base,
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00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,920
seems to be supported by
one of the complex's more clever features…
145
00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,520
massive stone discs
that can be rolled into place,
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00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:19,120
sealing up the passageways.
147
00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,960
These rolling doors
have a diameter of up to five feet
148
00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:28,200
and can weigh up to half a ton.
149
00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,560
On the inside surface,
the disc has a hole.
150
00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:41,400
Insert a smaller locking stone as a handle
and you can roll the door shut,
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00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,040
creating a smooth, formidable barrier
for anyone on the other side.
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00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:58,360
But did the Phrygians
really make these ingenious doors,
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00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:01,560
or were they already here?
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00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:05,880
They're carved
from the same compressed ash
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00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:07,640
that made the fairy chimneys.
156
00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,720
The same soft rock that allowed someone
to dig all this out in the first place.
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00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,720
They're certainly sealable doors,
separating the levels from each other,
158
00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,360
requiring sophisticated engineering
to fit in place.
159
00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:28,080
But the stone is soft
160
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,160
and determined attackers
armed with sledgehammers and chisels
161
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,120
could easily have broken through,
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00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,400
rendering all the effort to make
these megaliths completely useless.
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00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,480
I'm beginning to wonder if they were
designed to deter human attackers at all.
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00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:48,080
To me, these look less
like defensive fortifications
165
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,600
and more like a clever way
to allow privacy between sections,
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00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,200
or to prevent fires from spreading.
167
00:12:57,560 --> 00:13:02,080
Even if this place was originally built
as a military installation,
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00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,000
why dig it out here?
169
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,840
There was nothing here to defend.
170
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:11,560
[Sevim, in Turkish]
There were no settlements
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00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,680
above ground in Derinkuyu until 1830.
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00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:26,080
The notion that these are places where
people went to hide from invading armies
173
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:27,840
makes very little sense to me.
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00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,560
When an invading army
comes into a territory,
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00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,400
they come to take,
possess and occupy that territory.
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00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,280
All they have to do is block the entrances
and wait till you die of starvation.
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00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,160
So that idea
just doesn't make any sense at all.
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00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,520
See, in my opinion,
I think scholarship is going too far
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00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:47,560
to say this was the 8th century BC
180
00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,800
because those are the earliest dates
that we find people using it.
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00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:51,840
Right.
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00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,800
But that we don't necessarily know
that they made it then.
183
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,800
Maybe it was already made.
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00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,680
Quite possible, as it's still a mystery.
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00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:00,760
-It's just the most plausible theory…
-Yes.
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00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:02,680
…not the only correct theory.
187
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,520
[Graham] The dating
of this underground city
188
00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,480
is about as insecure as it's possible
for archaeological dating to be.
189
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,480
All the proposed dates derive from
use of the structure at different periods.
190
00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:21,720
The fact that I live in a house today
191
00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,120
doesn't mean it was built
immediately before I moved in.
192
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,520
It's a notion that leads me to question
the official dating of these tunnels.
193
00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,120
Could they be older,
194
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,320
much older, than the accepted theory says?
195
00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:50,400
And was the reason for their construction
not to hide from an invading army
196
00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:53,920
but to hide from something else?
197
00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,320
In the most ancient levels,
the ones closest to the surface,
198
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,240
the chambers seem
not to be designed for defense
199
00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:04,600
but for everyday living.
200
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:14,320
[in Turkish] The underground cities were
organized to cater for human living.
201
00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,800
In other words, for daily life.
202
00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,640
And for this,
all the resources were available.
203
00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:28,040
Starting with the kitchen,
to the pantry, to the living spaces.
204
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,000
[in English] There are sections
we know that they would use as cooking
205
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,640
and we know
that they created small chimneys.
206
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:37,680
Mmm-hmm.
207
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,200
At the entrance floors, there are
some rooms that's named as stables.
208
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,520
Animals would be the most valuable
belongings of those people.
209
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,720
[Graham] One area has even been identified
as an ancient winery
210
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:53,760
where grapes were crushed.
211
00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,680
Indeed, the tunnels
would make a great wine cellar.
212
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:01,480
The temperature stays quite comfortable,
213
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,840
no matter how hot or cold
it gets on the surface.
214
00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,560
Food would've stayed fresh
longer down here.
215
00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:16,680
It's clear that Derinkuyu was created
to be used by a substantial population.
216
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:18,800
An underground bunker.
217
00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:24,520
Think about all the modern examples
218
00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:28,440
where humans have created
vast underground living spaces.
219
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:31,600
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado.
220
00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:38,240
The Dixia Cheng network of tunnels
dug out beneath Beijing.
221
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,520
The Presidential Emergency
Operations Center under the White House.
222
00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,600
None of these were built
to defend against invading armies.
223
00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:52,120
They were built as places of refuge,
224
00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,800
to preserve life in the event
of some kind of threat from above.
225
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,800
I think that's exactly what's going on…
226
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:05,280
at Derinkuyu.
227
00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,319
But I also believe this bunker
was created much longer ago
228
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:13,920
than archaeologists
are willing to consider.
229
00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:17,400
There is evidence that suggests
230
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,760
that Derinkuyu may go back
as far as the last Ice Age.
231
00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:29,359
It concerns those telltale marks
left by hand axes
232
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,040
on the walls of Derinkuyu.
233
00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,120
Just a mile outside Derinkuyu,
234
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,680
Turkish archaeologists
exploring an ancient riverbed
235
00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,560
found several hand axes and stone tools
236
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:46,600
dating back to around 9500 BC,
237
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:49,400
the end of the last Ice Age.
238
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:51,520
The same sort of tools
239
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:55,560
that shaped Derinkuyu's
shallowest and oldest chambers.
240
00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,920
Think about the semi-subterranean chamber
at Karahan Tepe,
241
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,320
less than 300 miles from here,
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00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,080
with its columns that closely resemble
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00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,320
the natural fairy chimney formations
of Cappadocia.
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00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:15,440
Since no one disputes
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00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,800
that this chamber was carved out
at the end of the last Ice Age,
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00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:22,400
there's no reason why Derinkuyu
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00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,920
couldn't have been made
at around the same time.
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00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,080
As Derinkuyu reveals
its depth and complexity,
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00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,400
what's hard to ignore
is the vast scale of the enterprise
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00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:43,040
and the enormous effort involved
in tunneling it out in the first place.
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00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,800
What makes this feat of engineering
even more remarkable
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00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,080
is that this isn't the only
underground city in Cappadocia.
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00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,040
In 2013,
construction workers stumbled across
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00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:03,400
another series of tunnels at Nevşehir,
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00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:07,000
17 miles away.
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00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,880
What they found was an underground city
that's even larger than Derinkuyu.
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00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,840
Since then, more underground cities
have been discovered.
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00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,120
The stunning truth is here in Cappadocia,
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00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:28,880
archaeologists have identified
36 such underground cities.
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00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,080
And if we count the ones
with just two levels,
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00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,760
that number balloons to 200.
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00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:47,160
One of these underground cities,
just five miles away from Derinkuyu,
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00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:49,400
holds an incredible secret.
264
00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,000
The tunnels at Kaymakli
run eight stories deep
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00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,840
over an area wider than Derinkuyu.
266
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,640
Based on the number of storage chambers
carved into the walls,
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00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:08,200
archaeologists think this bunker
could've supported up to 3,500 people.
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00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:18,320
But Kaymakli's most mind-blowing feature
can be found here on the third level down.
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00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,320
An underground tunnel
that runs far into the distance.
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00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:33,840
It's impassable today,
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00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:39,000
but this blocked tunnel is claimed by some
to connect Kaymakli to Derinkuyu.
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00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,840
A straight-line distance
of about five miles.
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00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,280
In fact, archaeologists have confirmed
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00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:55,400
that at least six other
underground complexes in Cappadocia
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00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,040
are connected to one another
by similar underground passages.
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00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,920
To my thinking, this changes everything.
277
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,560
These underground labyrinths
aren't just isolated, individual bunkers.
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00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,720
They're part of
a massive and widespread project
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00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,560
involving dozens of similar sites
scattered across the region.
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00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,400
Only a highly motivated culture
would have undertaken such a task.
281
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,040
What kind of threat
would have been so devastating
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00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:30,240
that it could compel an entire people,
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00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:35,200
possibly hundreds of thousands of them,
to carve out a new life underground?
284
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,240
There has to be another explanation
for why these places were made
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00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,120
which makes better sense
than hiding from invading armies.
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00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,160
The answer might lie
in one of the region's very oldest myths,
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00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,640
one that dates back thousands of years
to the Zoroastrians.
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00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,000
[folk music playing]
289
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,600
These are some of Cappadocia's
famous whirling dervishes.
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00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,360
Devout followers
of a religion called Sufism.
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00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,320
One of the few remnants
of the ancient culture of Zoroastrianism.
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00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:25,200
The ancient Persian prophet, Zoroaster,
founded what's claimed by some
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00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,600
to be the world's oldest
continuously practiced religion.
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00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:37,000
Its sacred texts refer to
an underground city just like Derinkuyu,
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00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:41,280
telling us exactly
why it was made and by whom.
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00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:46,640
Zoroaster spoke of the first king
and founder of civilization,
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00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:48,080
a man named Yima.
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00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,000
One day, as Yima was beside a river,
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00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,720
the great god Ahura Mazda
appeared to him with an ominous warning.
300
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,080
Not of a flood, but of a fatal winter.
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00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:12,160
And he told Yima to build a vara,
an immense underground shelter.
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00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,920
Into it, he must bring the best
of men and women, and animals,
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00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,280
two of every kind.
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00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,600
Yima must store seeds
of every tree and fruit,
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00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,840
creating an inexhaustible supply
until the fatal winter had passed.
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00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,680
Oh, and the sacred texts also tell us
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00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:37,080
that the onset of this fatal winter
would be heralded by a serpent in the sky.
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00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:42,720
The supposedly mythical vara
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00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,760
sounds a lot like the underground cities
we find here in Cappadocia.
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00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,800
But mainstream historians
refuse to see the connection.
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00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,440
The Yima myth
is just another one of those myths
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00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:56,880
that archaeology assumes
don't mean anything,
313
00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,480
and yet it speaks of
a terrible freezing winter descending.
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00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:02,440
[wind howling]
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00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,480
And just as geologists have confirmed
316
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,520
that there was a period of great floods
during the Younger Dryas,
317
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,080
much resembling those described in myths,
318
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:17,240
they've also noted that afterward,
temperatures around the planet plummeted.
319
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,240
A fatal winter indeed.
320
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,000
And then there's that detail
linking the onset of the fatal winter
321
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,000
to the arrival
of a great snake out of the sky,
322
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,520
just like the snakes we've encountered
in the myths of the ancient Aztecs,
323
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:37,560
or of the Iroquois.
324
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,600
Serpents always
associated with cataclysms.
325
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:48,920
I'm also reminded
of those pillars at Göbekli Tepe
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00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:54,240
covered in carved depictions of snakes
seemingly raining down from the sky.
327
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,960
Or of the snake etched into
Malta's great temple of Ġgantija.
328
00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:01,960
Or of Serpent Mound in North America.
329
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:07,400
Of course, archaeologists don't connect
these ancient symbols and traditions
330
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,680
from opposite sides of the planet
to one another at all,
331
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,920
let alone to a singular event.
332
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,000
But we've now seen how different
and supposedly unrelated structures
333
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:19,480
all around the world
334
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,680
seem to have benefitted from a legacy
of very ancient knowledge.
335
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:26,560
A shared legacy of unknown origin.
336
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:30,920
The stunning implication
is that during the Ice Age,
337
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,040
an advanced civilization,
whose influence spanned the globe,
338
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:39,560
coexisted with the hunter-gatherers who
we know were also present at that time.
339
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:42,520
A civilization that was destroyed
340
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,520
in the mysterious cataclysms
of the Younger Dryas.
341
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,000
Could all these references to serpents
also be part of that legacy?
342
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,320
A warning left behind by survivors.
343
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:11,040
What it comes down to, for me, is that
we humans are a species with amnesia.
344
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,480
So badly knocked on the head
by the cataclysms that occurred
345
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,520
at the end of the last Ice Age,
346
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,680
that we've forgotten
an important chapter of our own story.
347
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,200
And that can be a big problem
because as with so many of these myths,
348
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,760
a later story about Yima
ends with a clear warning from the gods
349
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,200
that one day,
a similar catastrophe would return.
350
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,000
[thunderclap]
351
00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:40,080
Could it?
352
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:46,720
For a long time, it remained a mystery
as to what triggered the floods,
353
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,160
fires and plunging temperatures
of the Younger Dryas,
354
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:55,120
but new geological evidence
has suggested a terrible possibility.
355
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,760
Evidence still visible today
356
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,840
in the scarred landscape
of prehistoric America,
357
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,440
where I'm headed next.
358
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,320
I'm quite persuaded
that the origin of serpent symbolism
359
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,160
has to do precisely
with those serpents in the sky
360
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:12,840
that we call comets.