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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
For centuries, historians
imagined the ancient Amazon

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as a wilderness--

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no civilization,

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barely any people,

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nature untouched by human hand.

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Archaeologists largely
ignored it.

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People just assumed that there
was nothing here in the Amazon,

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and it wasn't worth
looking for things here,

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so nobody came.

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NARRATOR:
But now,

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dramatic new discoveries

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are shattering those
old assumptions.

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MICHAEL HECKENBERGER:
All of a sudden,

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we see something in the Amazon

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that had been assumed
couldn't exist there.

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NARRATOR:
Huge ancient
agricultural systems,

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urban centers over
a thousand years old,

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mysterious monumental
architecture.

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♪ ♪

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(translated):
This has changed our perception

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of ancient Amazonian societies.

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NARRATOR:
From the last ice age,
stunning paintings

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left by some of the
very first humans in the Amazon.

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GASPAR MORCOTE:
Acá están plasmados...

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(translated):
Here are captured the thoughts
of many groups

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over thousands of years.

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NARRATOR:
Who were these ancient artists
and builders?

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What were the civilizations
they created?

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Finally, archaeologists
are revealing the untold story

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of the "Ancient Builders
of the Amazon,"

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right now, on "NOVA."

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♪ ♪

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
The vast Amazon.

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Covering almost half
of South America.

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About two-and-a-half million
square miles

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of tropical forest,

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the largest and most biodiverse
rain forest on the planet.

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♪ ♪

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It holds a third of all known

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terrestrial animal and
plant species

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and about 20% of the planet's
flowing fresh water.

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The Amazon's natural history
is spectacular.

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But what about
its ancient human history?

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♪ ♪

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Great ancient civilizations
flourished

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in other parts of the Americas,

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like the Maya and the Inca.

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All built thriving cities
filled with temples.

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They reshaped the landscape
to support huge

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agricultural systems,
many still visible today.

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But until recently,
most scientists viewed

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the ancient Amazon
as untamed nature--

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a wilderness.

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HECKENBERGER:
It was pretty standard,
the assumption of

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both the public
and the scientific community

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that the Amazon was pretty much
untouched nature,

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that human groups there

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were only small,
relatively mobile groups

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living more or less one
with nature.

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CARLA JAIMES:
Y durante muchos siglos...

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(translated):
For many centuries,

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we thought that in Amazonia,

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civilizations and complex
societies

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had just never developed.

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If you look at the history of
archaeology in South America,

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people just assumed that
there was nothing here

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in the Amazon
and it wasn't worth

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looking for things here,

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so nobody came.

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And then this idea

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that there was nothing happening
here

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in the past became very strong.

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
The lack of complex societies

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in the Amazon seemed to have
a good explanation:

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its poor soils made intensive
agriculture impossible.

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Without intensive agriculture,

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dense populations and complex
societies could never exist.

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This was the dominant argument
for decades.

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♪ ♪

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But now, a new generation

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of archaeologists
is proving that wrong.

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One of the scientists
leading the way

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is Bolivian archaeologist
Carla Jaimes.

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♪ ♪

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She works in a remote area
of the Bolivian Amazon

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called the Llanos de Mojos.

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(birds twittering)

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JAIMES:
Y debo admitir que la primera
vez que...

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(translated):
I have to admit
that when they first asked me

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if I wanted to do archaeology
in the Llanos de Mojos,

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it seemed really remote
and inhospitable to me.

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What are we going to find
in the Amazon jungle?

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Ya son...

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(translated):
Now it's over 23 years

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that I've been doing research
in the Llanos de Mojos.

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And the more I learn about it,
the more it surprises me.

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NARRATOR:
Carla's greatest surprise
is that wherever she looks,

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she finds the remnants
of an ancient culture--

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especially when she looks at
the landscape from the air.

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(men speaking on radio)

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
On the edges of the rain forest,

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where jungle gives way
to grasslands,

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geometric markings cover
the plains.

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JAIMES:
Y de repente...

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(translated):
And to suddenly see
those marks on the earth,

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perfectly geometric, gigantic,

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in places where today
there is nobody,

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this would make the mind
of any archaeologist explode.

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Who made them?

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How long ago?

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Why?

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NARRATOR:
Carla has devoted much of
her career to those questions.

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Slowly, she is getting answers.

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Evidence suggests the marks
are raised terraces

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probably constructed
by ancient people

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to protect their crops
from floodwaters.

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JAIMES (translated):
The terraces are 20 to 30 meters
wide

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and 200 or 300 meters long.

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They date from 1,600 years ago
up to 500 years ago.

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So they were functioning
for over a thousand years.

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NARRATOR:
The terraces suggest
intensive agriculture.

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Could this be evidence
of dense populations

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or even ancient cities?

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In another part of
the Llanos de Mojos,

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Carla has been investigating
a number of hills

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covering the landscape.

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JAIMES:
Es increíble la cantidad de
cerámica que se encuentra...

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(translated):
It's incredible the quantity
of pottery

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we find on the surface
of these hills.

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This, for example,

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is a fragment of a grater,
which they used to prepare

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different foods
like peppers, manioc, and corn.

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Como los Llanos de Mojos...

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(translated):
Since the Llanos de Mojos
doesn't have any stone,

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the ancient people who lived
here had to make

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many of their basic tools
from pottery,

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like mortars and graters.

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Esta cerámica que encontramos...

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(translated):
This pottery we find
on the surface

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I calculate is about
800 years old.

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
When she and her team started
digging below the surface,

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they found so many artifacts,

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they concluded the hills
were not natural at all.

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JAIMES (translated):
So here we are on top of
Loma Perotom,

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which is one of hundreds
of small hills

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in the southeast
Llanos de Mojos.

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100 years ago,

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people thought they were
natural formations.

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We now know they were
constructed

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over 1,500 years ago.

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NARRATOR:
Rather than hills,

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these were giant, carefully
built earthworks.

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Along with
the agricultural terraces,

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this was yet more evidence
that ancient Amazonians

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were not just living
on the landscape,

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they were actively
transforming it.

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JAIMES (translated):
We now know that these societies
left a huge mark

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on the landscape.

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The Llanos de Mojos is a
landscape

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that has been modified.

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
Even knowing how ancient people
transformed the landscape,

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Carla was unprepared for the
amazing discovery her team made

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in 2019 at a large mound
called Cotoca.

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A menos de diez kilómetros de
distancia...

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(translated):
About ten kilometers from here
is one of the biggest mounds

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of this region.

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In 2019, we decided to do
a lidar survey of it.

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
Lidar is the remote sensing

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laser technology that's
revolutionizing archaeology.

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Lidar bounces thousands of tiny
laser beams off the landscape

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and then assembles their
reflections into a 3D image.

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Forests and grasslands can then
be digitally cleared away

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to reveal the hidden outlines

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of ancient human settlements
beneath.

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When the lidar images of the
large mound were processed,

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Carla could hardly believe
her eyes.

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♪ ♪

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JAIMES:
Lo que vimos fueron mapas de
sitios...

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(translated):
What we saw was the outlines
of a place that was so big,

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we realized it was not

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just a single mound.

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It was a collection of mounds
that formed what we could call

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a city or some sort of
urban complex.

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It measures about 600 acres,
and inside it there are

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at least 18 separate structures.

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♪ ♪

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NARRATOR:
Nothing quite like this had
ever been seen in the Amazon.

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It was a breathtaking discovery

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which reverberated
around the world.

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♪ ♪

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But was it really a city?

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As archaeologists discover more
evidence of ancient structures

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in the Amazon,

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debates arise about the nature
of the societies

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that built them.

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HECKENBERGER:
In fact, many people

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didn't want to believe that
there was anything like urbanism

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in the pre-Columbian Amazon.

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Well, as time goes on
and technologies improve,

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we start to see that,

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wow, these types of societies

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existed in many parts
of the Amazon.

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The only thing is, is, they
don't fit our standard model

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of what an urban society
would look like,

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based on models that come from

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deep in Western historical
experience--

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Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece,
and Rome.

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NARRATOR:
The lidar images of Cotoca

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show a huge constructed platform

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16 feet high
and spanning over 50 acres.

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This was the focus
of an extensive urban complex.

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♪ ♪

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In its center was a huge
70-foot pyramid,

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which archaeologists believe

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was probably used for
grand rituals

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and administrative functions.

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♪ ♪

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This civic
ceremonial construction

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dominated a network
of settlements that spread out

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over the surrounding plains.

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♪ ♪

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Working in another part
of the Amazon,

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Michael Heckenberger was
one of the first to describe

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this distinctive type of
Amazonian settlement pattern.

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We proposed that this indeed
was a form

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of pre-modern urbanism.

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That in fact,
they didn't have cities,

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but the connections
and networks--

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very systematic
and very tightly integrated--

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00:14:06,733 --> 00:14:11,800
of towns and villages
had the same scale of impact,

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perhaps organized the same scale
of populations,

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as people were accustomed
to talking about

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in small to medium-sized
urban civilizations

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elsewhere in the world.

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NARRATOR:
After the discovery of 2019,

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Carla is now expanding her
lidar surveys,

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looking for yet more
ancient settlements.

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¿Como le va, señorita?
Bien, gracias.

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NARRATOR:
She works with the
Indigenous people

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00:14:43,166 --> 00:14:47,400
who still live in the forests
of the Llanos de Mojos--

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like Dionisia Noza,

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00:14:49,300 --> 00:14:53,066
leader of the Mojeño Indigenous
community of San Bartolo.

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Dionisia and her family
are probably descendants

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00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,600
of the people who created
the ancient urban complexes.

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¿Sienten que también tienen una
relación

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00:15:06,333 --> 00:15:08,100
con, con sus ancestros

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00:15:08,100 --> 00:15:10,066
y con la gente que vivía antes
acá?

255
00:15:10,066 --> 00:15:15,266
NOZA:
Bueno nosotros sentimos porque
le hablamos nosotros.

256
00:15:15,266 --> 00:15:19,900
Nosotros sentimos que ellos nos
están ayudando, no ve?

257
00:15:19,900 --> 00:15:23,566
Entonces por medio de eso
sentimos el peso

258
00:15:23,566 --> 00:15:27,400
de que nosotros sentimos que
vamos a poder, igual que ellos.

259
00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:32,133
JAIMES (translated):
I think there is something
that is really changing

260
00:15:32,133 --> 00:15:34,133
in archaeology.

261
00:15:34,133 --> 00:15:35,700
It is our commitment to return

262
00:15:35,700 --> 00:15:40,833
the results of our research to
the communities where we work.

263
00:15:40,833 --> 00:15:42,833
Before,
research would be published

264
00:15:42,833 --> 00:15:45,200
in foreign languages
in publications

265
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,233
in other countries.

266
00:15:47,233 --> 00:15:50,600
Now we make sure the
publications come back here.

267
00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:52,333
People want to have them
translated

268
00:15:52,333 --> 00:15:54,633
and keep them in their own
libraries.

269
00:15:54,633 --> 00:15:56,266
♪ ♪

270
00:15:56,266 --> 00:15:57,933
NARRATOR:
Before starting his flight,

271
00:15:57,933 --> 00:16:01,533
lidar expert Renan Torres

272
00:16:01,533 --> 00:16:05,366
explains the remote sensing
laser technology to Dionisia.

273
00:16:05,366 --> 00:16:09,066
He has the latest generation
of lidar equipment,

274
00:16:09,066 --> 00:16:13,500
which is now so small,
it can be mounted on a drone.

275
00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:15,166
Este es un drone...

276
00:16:15,166 --> 00:16:17,700
(translated): This is a drone
on which is mounted

277
00:16:17,700 --> 00:16:21,300
the latest lidar sensor,
which allows us

278
00:16:21,300 --> 00:16:22,900
 
to erase the information
about the trees

279
00:16:22,900 --> 00:16:26,333
so that what remains

280
00:16:26,333 --> 00:16:29,466
is only what has been modified
by humans.

281
00:16:39,100 --> 00:16:40,866
NARRATOR:
Carla has already made

282
00:16:40,866 --> 00:16:43,700
amazing discoveries with lidar.

283
00:16:43,700 --> 00:16:46,800
She hopes for more.

284
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:51,333
She suspects that
buried beneath the jungle

285
00:16:51,333 --> 00:16:53,766
around the village
of San Bartolo

286
00:16:53,766 --> 00:16:56,900
are more traces
of ancient settlements.

287
00:16:56,900 --> 00:17:01,766
She is looking for the
telltale raised-earth platforms

288
00:17:01,766 --> 00:17:06,600
created by ancient peoples.

289
00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,766
(crickets chirping,
wildlife calling)

290
00:17:09,766 --> 00:17:11,000
That night,

291
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,000
when Carla and Renan
study the 3D image

292
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,700
of the rain forest
around San Bartolo,

293
00:17:17,700 --> 00:17:20,866
their expectations
are surpassed.

294
00:17:20,866 --> 00:17:23,533
When the vegetation
is stripped away,

295
00:17:23,533 --> 00:17:27,333
they can clearly see
that the present-day village

296
00:17:27,333 --> 00:17:31,733
is actually built on an ancient
human-made platform.

297
00:17:31,733 --> 00:17:35,600
JAIMES (translated):
So the platform looks
rectangular--

298
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:37,366
200 meters by 500 meters

299
00:17:37,366 --> 00:17:41,466
and about three meters high.

300
00:17:41,466 --> 00:17:43,566
And there are in fact
two platforms.

301
00:17:43,566 --> 00:17:47,533
NARRATOR:
So there has probably been
a community where Dionisia

302
00:17:47,533 --> 00:17:53,000
and her family live today
for a thousand years.

303
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,866
It was one of the many small
satellite communities

304
00:17:55,866 --> 00:18:00,266
of the ancient urban network
of the Llanos de Mojos.

305
00:18:00,266 --> 00:18:03,700
This existed right up
to the time of the arrival

306
00:18:03,700 --> 00:18:06,666
of Europeans in
the 16th century,

307
00:18:06,666 --> 00:18:11,533
the end of the era
of the ancient Amazonians.

308
00:18:11,533 --> 00:18:14,500
♪ ♪

309
00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:19,500
When did that era begin?

310
00:18:19,500 --> 00:18:21,900
Until recently, nobody was sure.

311
00:18:23,566 --> 00:18:25,766
But in the Colombian
rain forest,

312
00:18:25,766 --> 00:18:28,666
extraordinary evidence
of the arrival

313
00:18:28,666 --> 00:18:34,600
of some of the first humans
in Amazonia is being found.

314
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:39,266
Archaeologist Gaspar Morcote
has made the search

315
00:18:39,266 --> 00:18:42,733
for those first Amazonians
his life's work.

316
00:18:42,733 --> 00:18:44,133
In an area of mountainous jungle

317
00:18:44,133 --> 00:18:47,766
called
La Serranía de la Lindosa,

318
00:18:47,766 --> 00:18:50,100
he and his team have been
finding traces

319
00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:53,500
of ancient human activity
everywhere.

320
00:18:53,500 --> 00:18:57,200
MORCOTE:
Este es uno de los caminos de
mayor antigüedad...

321
00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,866
(translated):
This is one of the oldest
pathways of those first humans

322
00:19:00,866 --> 00:19:02,633
in the Amazon rain forest.

323
00:19:02,633 --> 00:19:06,433
NARRATOR:
How does Gaspar know
they were here?

324
00:19:06,433 --> 00:19:09,866
The clues are in
the physical remnants

325
00:19:09,866 --> 00:19:12,900
those early Amazonians
left behind.

326
00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:14,833
MORCOTE:
Hemos encontrado las
evidencias...

327
00:19:14,833 --> 00:19:16,666
(translated):
We've found the traces
they left.

328
00:19:16,666 --> 00:19:22,200
Traces of bones,
their food, pieces of fruit,

329
00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,600
their fireplaces,
and their stone tools.

330
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,000
NARRATOR:
When Gaspar's team
radiocarbon-dated

331
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,933
those traces,
their age astonished him.

332
00:19:32,933 --> 00:19:35,033
Muestran que hace...

333
00:19:35,033 --> 00:19:38,533
(translated): They show that
12,600 years ago,

334
00:19:38,533 --> 00:19:41,233
human groups arrived in this
area of the jungle.

335
00:19:41,233 --> 00:19:44,566
 
NARRATOR:
It means that humans were here

336
00:19:44,566 --> 00:19:49,366
towards the end of
the last ice age.

337
00:19:49,366 --> 00:19:54,100
Este es un sitio que está
ubicado en estos aleros...

338
00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:58,133
(translated):
This is a site in one of
the rock shelters

339
00:19:58,133 --> 00:20:01,133
which were typical places
those first inhabitants

340
00:20:01,133 --> 00:20:02,700
of the Amazon used.

341
00:20:02,700 --> 00:20:07,566
And this is a type of soil
which we can read like a book.

342
00:20:07,566 --> 00:20:10,333
Y acá nos cuenta la historia...

343
00:20:10,333 --> 00:20:13,300
(translated):
It tells us the story
of those first inhabitants

344
00:20:13,300 --> 00:20:17,566
and all of the generations
that came after.

345
00:20:17,566 --> 00:20:20,066
That whole story is here.

346
00:20:20,066 --> 00:20:23,900
NARRATOR:
The story told by these soils

347
00:20:23,900 --> 00:20:25,733
is of the
nomadic hunter-gatherers

348
00:20:25,733 --> 00:20:29,500
who arrived here
over 12,000 years ago,

349
00:20:29,500 --> 00:20:31,833
some of the earliest
confirmed evidence

350
00:20:31,833 --> 00:20:34,466
of people in the Amazon.

351
00:20:34,466 --> 00:20:39,566
They used this rock shelter
as a temporary campsite.

352
00:20:39,566 --> 00:20:42,733
MORCOTE:
No tenían cerámica.

353
00:20:42,733 --> 00:20:45,166
(translated):
They didn't have pottery.

354
00:20:45,166 --> 00:20:49,233
They were nomadic groups
who wandered the jungle

355
00:20:49,233 --> 00:20:52,400
living from what they hunted and
the fruits they could gather.

356
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:58,133
NARRATOR:
The tools and food remnants
left by those early Amazonians

357
00:20:58,133 --> 00:21:01,866
tell Gaspar the story
of their way of life.

358
00:21:01,866 --> 00:21:05,500
But other traces they left
behind are much more dramatic.

359
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:15,566
To reach them requires
a journey by river.

360
00:21:15,566 --> 00:21:20,100
The Guayabero River
is born in the High Andes.

361
00:21:20,100 --> 00:21:23,233
Its waters squeeze between
the high rock walls

362
00:21:23,233 --> 00:21:25,733
of the Serranía de la Lindosa

363
00:21:25,733 --> 00:21:29,500
before flowing down
into the jungle.

364
00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:35,133
Scientists think that humans
first came into South America

365
00:21:35,133 --> 00:21:37,733
through the Isthmus of Panama.

366
00:21:37,733 --> 00:21:40,300
To get into the Amazon,

367
00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:42,200
some had to cross the Andes,

368
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,066
and Gaspar believes that
the Guayabero Canyon

369
00:21:45,066 --> 00:21:49,466
provided those early travelers
with a natural entry point,

370
00:21:49,466 --> 00:21:52,233
through the mountains
and down into the rain forest.

371
00:21:52,233 --> 00:21:54,800
MORCOTE:
Un portal donde...

372
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,500
(translated):
It was a gateway

373
00:21:56,500 --> 00:21:59,400
through which those
first humans came down

374
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,166
from the Andes and started
to colonize the Amazon basin.

375
00:22:05,433 --> 00:22:08,000
NARRATOR:
There is no way of knowing
all the different pathways

376
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,900
people took on their way into
the Amazon,

377
00:22:10,900 --> 00:22:13,433
but dramatic evidence reveals

378
00:22:13,433 --> 00:22:18,466
this was clearly
a very important one.

379
00:22:18,466 --> 00:22:21,600
Because those ancient travelers
covered the cliffs

380
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,733
of the low mountains of
La Lindosa

381
00:22:24,733 --> 00:22:27,366
with painted figures.

382
00:22:27,366 --> 00:22:32,900
♪ ♪

383
00:22:32,900 --> 00:22:36,333
Thousands of them.

384
00:22:36,333 --> 00:22:42,133
♪ ♪

385
00:22:42,133 --> 00:22:46,966
MORCOTE:
Este es un mundo fabuloso que
la gente antigua...

386
00:22:46,966 --> 00:22:49,400
(translated):
It's a fabulous world
that those ancient people

387
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,033
painted here.

388
00:22:52,033 --> 00:22:54,166
They represent the animals
they lived with

389
00:22:54,166 --> 00:22:56,000
and the plants they lived with.

390
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,100
Acá están plasmados...

391
00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:02,433
(translated):
These figures capture
the thoughts of many groups

392
00:23:02,433 --> 00:23:05,266
over thousands of years.

393
00:23:05,266 --> 00:23:09,866
Muchas figuras que pueden
plasmar la magia...

394
00:23:09,866 --> 00:23:12,966
(translated):
Some of the figures
seem to represent

395
00:23:12,966 --> 00:23:18,233
the magic and shamanism
of their rituals,

396
00:23:18,233 --> 00:23:23,333
but there are also geometric
figures and human figures.

397
00:23:23,333 --> 00:23:27,833
NARRATOR:
The ocher pigments contain

398
00:23:27,833 --> 00:23:30,766
iron oxide minerals from the
earth.

399
00:23:30,766 --> 00:23:33,833
♪ ♪

400
00:23:39,433 --> 00:23:43,466
Even though their exact meaning
is not clear to Gaspar,

401
00:23:43,466 --> 00:23:47,600
he feels the paintings express
a profound kinship

402
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,633
with the natural world.

403
00:23:53,300 --> 00:23:56,800
MORCOTE:
Eso no es como hoy día...

404
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,933
(translated):
Unlike us today, who feel
we are separate from the jungle,

405
00:24:00,933 --> 00:24:02,533
those people were part of it,

406
00:24:02,533 --> 00:24:08,133
along with the rest of the
animal and vegetable world;

407
00:24:08,133 --> 00:24:10,166
just another being
of the jungle.

408
00:24:10,166 --> 00:24:14,300
NARRATOR:
Along with the figures
of humans and animals

409
00:24:14,300 --> 00:24:19,366
of today's rain forest,
like deer, tapirs, and jaguars,

410
00:24:19,366 --> 00:24:21,666
there seem to be animals
that went extinct

411
00:24:21,666 --> 00:24:23,766
thousands of years ago.

412
00:24:23,766 --> 00:24:26,766
It is a reminder of
just how ancient

413
00:24:26,766 --> 00:24:30,366
some of the paintings
probably are.

414
00:24:30,366 --> 00:24:33,666
MORCOTE (translated):
We are talking about
12,600 years ago.

415
00:24:33,666 --> 00:24:36,966
At that time, there was a fauna
that no longer exists

416
00:24:36,966 --> 00:24:38,466
in South America,

417
00:24:38,466 --> 00:24:40,866
like mastodons

418
00:24:40,866 --> 00:24:43,500
and the American horse.

419
00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:45,633
...que todo este tipo de fauna

420
00:24:45,633 --> 00:24:48,733
convivió, vivió con la gente,
con los humanos...

421
00:24:48,733 --> 00:24:51,966
(translated):
All of these animals
lived with humans

422
00:24:51,966 --> 00:24:56,500
up until about 10,000 years ago,
when they started to go extinct.

423
00:24:56,500 --> 00:25:01,433
...pensamos nosotros, que
existen también animales...

424
00:25:01,433 --> 00:25:04,200
(translated):
So here, we think,

425
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,866
there are animals
of the last ice age,

426
00:25:06,866 --> 00:25:10,700
like the giant sloth
right behind me.

427
00:25:10,700 --> 00:25:13,633
NARRATOR:
The painted cliffs
of La Lindosa

428
00:25:13,633 --> 00:25:17,633
open a remarkable window
on the lives and minds

429
00:25:17,633 --> 00:25:21,166
of the first ice-age Amazonians.

430
00:25:21,166 --> 00:25:23,900
At their nearby
habitation sites,

431
00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:27,200
Gaspar and his team
have also discovered evidence

432
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,533
of how their lives changed
over the millennia.

433
00:25:30,533 --> 00:25:34,833
The only tools the earliest
nomadic hunter-gatherers

434
00:25:34,833 --> 00:25:37,866
left behind were made of stone.

435
00:25:37,866 --> 00:25:42,300
(translated):
This was their way of life
up until somewhere between

436
00:25:42,300 --> 00:25:44,933
4,000 and 6,000 years ago.

437
00:25:44,933 --> 00:25:47,133
Posteriormente mas o menos
acá...

438
00:25:47,133 --> 00:25:50,566
(translated):
About here, at 70 centimeters
down,

439
00:25:50,566 --> 00:25:53,966
we start to find
the people with agriculture.

440
00:25:53,966 --> 00:25:57,533
These are the people
who domesticated plants.

441
00:25:57,533 --> 00:26:01,966
NARRATOR:
In levels dating
to less than 6,000 years ago,

442
00:26:01,966 --> 00:26:03,766
Gaspar starts to find evidence

443
00:26:03,766 --> 00:26:07,400
of manioc and peach palm
cultivation.

444
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,933
Other research has shown
that early Amazonians

445
00:26:10,933 --> 00:26:16,366
also planted cacao, tobacco,
papaya, and chili peppers.

446
00:26:16,366 --> 00:26:18,466
Todos los trabajos de las
últimas,

447
00:26:18,466 --> 00:26:20,666
de los últimos 20 años...

448
00:26:20,666 --> 00:26:23,333
(translated):
Work in the last 20 years

449
00:26:23,333 --> 00:26:26,666
has shown that Amazonia is
an independent center

450
00:26:26,666 --> 00:26:29,433
of plant domestication.

451
00:26:29,433 --> 00:26:31,300
Manioc is a great example.

452
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:33,500
Su experimentación inicial...

453
00:26:33,500 --> 00:26:35,433
(translated):
We know that the first
experimentation

454
00:26:35,433 --> 00:26:38,966
in domesticating it began
8,000 or 9,000 years ago

455
00:26:38,966 --> 00:26:40,900
here in Amazonia.

456
00:26:40,900 --> 00:26:43,933
It is the same with cacao,

457
00:26:43,933 --> 00:26:46,566
tobacco,

458
00:26:46,566 --> 00:26:48,533
coca, and papaya.

459
00:26:49,733 --> 00:26:54,100
NARRATOR:
But how could early Amazonians
grow all these crops?

460
00:26:54,100 --> 00:26:55,833
It has long been known

461
00:26:55,833 --> 00:27:01,866
that the soils of the Amazon
are naturally sandy and acidic.

462
00:27:01,866 --> 00:27:03,900
Nutrients in the topsoil

463
00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:06,733
are absorbed by
the dense vegetation

464
00:27:06,733 --> 00:27:11,733
or leached away
by the constant rain.

465
00:27:11,733 --> 00:27:14,766
This is what led archaeologists
to believe

466
00:27:14,766 --> 00:27:18,300
intensive agriculture,
and therefore large populations,

467
00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:22,533
were impossible in Amazonia.

468
00:27:22,533 --> 00:27:26,033
HECKENBERGER:
When I came into the field,
it was widely assumed

469
00:27:26,033 --> 00:27:28,000
that Amazonian soils

470
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,100
were not particularly fertile,
they were difficult to work,

471
00:27:31,100 --> 00:27:33,933
and would not provide
the type of productivity

472
00:27:33,933 --> 00:27:36,800
that could support
large populations

473
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:38,533
based on agriculture.

474
00:27:38,533 --> 00:27:43,233
Well, we've come to realize
that not only are Amazonian

475
00:27:43,233 --> 00:27:45,833
agricultural systems
very diverse,

476
00:27:45,833 --> 00:27:48,500
use a wide variety of crops,
fruit trees,

477
00:27:48,500 --> 00:27:52,200
but they also focus,
as often as not, on root crops,

478
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,266
rather than seed crops,
like corn or wheat or rice.

479
00:27:56,266 --> 00:27:59,866
And it turns out that manioc,
the primary root crop,

480
00:27:59,866 --> 00:28:03,600
actually does quite
well in Amazonian soils.

481
00:28:05,933 --> 00:28:09,666
NARRATOR:
But what about the other crops
that early Amazonians planted,

482
00:28:09,666 --> 00:28:12,266
like cacao, tobacco, coca,

483
00:28:12,266 --> 00:28:15,433
and papaya,
that require more fertile

484
00:28:15,433 --> 00:28:18,133
and less acidic soils?

485
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,200
By the banks of
Brazil's Rio Negro

486
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,266
in the northwest Amazon,

487
00:28:26,266 --> 00:28:28,800
a team of Western and
Indigenous archaeologists

488
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:33,633
is investigating the soils of
an ancient Indigenous community.

489
00:28:33,633 --> 00:28:35,933
(rain falling steadily)

490
00:28:37,933 --> 00:28:41,633
Led by archaeologist
Manuel Arroyo-Kalin,

491
00:28:41,633 --> 00:28:45,266
they discover
a thick layer of dark earth

492
00:28:45,266 --> 00:28:49,000
quite different from
normal jungle soils.

493
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,433
(speaking Portuguese)

494
00:28:51,433 --> 00:28:52,933
(translated):
It is a loose, rich earth,

495
00:28:52,933 --> 00:28:55,133
which is fantastic
for cultivating,

496
00:28:55,133 --> 00:28:58,033
because it's very fertile.

497
00:28:58,033 --> 00:28:59,933
In fact, we are finding

498
00:28:59,933 --> 00:29:03,033
pieces of bone in it,
which tell us

499
00:29:03,033 --> 00:29:05,200
that its pH is higher,
more alkaline, than usual

500
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:06,566
in acid jungle soils.

501
00:29:06,566 --> 00:29:10,300
It is probably close to
pH neutral,

502
00:29:10,300 --> 00:29:13,733
which is why it preserves
bone material much better.

503
00:29:15,166 --> 00:29:18,533
NARRATOR:
This rich dark earth is called
terra preta,

504
00:29:18,533 --> 00:29:22,500
and it does not exist naturally
in the Amazon.

505
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,633
Ancient people had to create it

506
00:29:26,633 --> 00:29:29,866
by carefully composting ash,
crushed bones,

507
00:29:29,866 --> 00:29:32,800
pottery shards,
and vegetable refuse

508
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,733
into the soil around
their communities.

509
00:29:38,233 --> 00:29:40,400
Over generations,
this transformed

510
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,066
the acidic jungle sands

511
00:29:42,066 --> 00:29:44,433
and clays
into the rich dark soil

512
00:29:44,433 --> 00:29:48,033
that could sustain
intensive agriculture.

513
00:29:50,866 --> 00:29:55,566
Tucano archaeology student
Jurandir da Silva

514
00:29:55,566 --> 00:30:00,166
is fascinated by how his
ancestors created terra preta.

515
00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:05,300
(Jurandir da Silva speaking
Portuguese)

516
00:30:05,300 --> 00:30:09,233
(translated):
They transformed the soil
according to their needs,

517
00:30:09,233 --> 00:30:13,733
over many years
turning refuse into the soil,

518
00:30:13,733 --> 00:30:16,533
letting it decompose,

519
00:30:16,533 --> 00:30:18,733
and then putting more and more
on top.

520
00:30:18,733 --> 00:30:22,000
And with time,

521
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,400
the terra preta becomes
really fertile

522
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,933
and productive.

523
00:30:26,933 --> 00:30:29,800
People still use it today
for their agriculture.

524
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,733
HECKENBERGER:
It turns out human activities,

525
00:30:33,733 --> 00:30:36,400
just basic refuse activities,

526
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,100
and the upkeep of
houses and villages

527
00:30:39,100 --> 00:30:41,133
incorporates materials
into the soil

528
00:30:41,133 --> 00:30:42,666
that make them more fertile,

529
00:30:42,666 --> 00:30:45,500
that make them more suitable
for agricultural production.

530
00:30:45,500 --> 00:30:47,500
(birds chirping)

531
00:30:47,500 --> 00:30:48,900
NARRATOR:
Ancient Amazonians

532
00:30:48,900 --> 00:30:53,000
clearly understood the value
of this composting.

533
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,700
They used it to
transform jungle soils

534
00:30:55,700 --> 00:30:57,466
so that they could support

535
00:30:57,466 --> 00:31:02,400
intensive agriculture and
large populations.

536
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,666
NEVES:
These production strategies,
they were good enough

537
00:31:04,666 --> 00:31:06,366
to keep the people living
together--

538
00:31:06,366 --> 00:31:07,366
we're talking about hundreds

539
00:31:07,366 --> 00:31:08,500
or thousands of people--

540
00:31:08,500 --> 00:31:11,400
for a long time
in the same place.

541
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,766
NARRATOR:
As well as creating fertile
soils around their communities,

542
00:31:15,766 --> 00:31:18,233
ancient Amazonians also

543
00:31:18,233 --> 00:31:20,166
carefully managed
the rain forest.

544
00:31:20,166 --> 00:31:22,400
(wildlife chittering)

545
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,366
They gathered certain trees,
like peach palm and Brazil nut,

546
00:31:26,366 --> 00:31:30,166
in groves, where they could
be visited occasionally

547
00:31:30,166 --> 00:31:32,566
and their fruits harvested.

548
00:31:32,566 --> 00:31:35,200
To this day,

549
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,000
even very remote parts
of the Amazon

550
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,666
bear the mark of this
ancient forest management.

551
00:31:40,666 --> 00:31:45,566
What Europeans imagined as
pristine wilderness

552
00:31:45,566 --> 00:31:51,166
was in fact for millennia
a semi-domesticated landscape.

553
00:31:51,166 --> 00:31:54,500
La gente lo que hace con las
plantas es...

554
00:31:54,500 --> 00:31:55,600
(translated):
What those people did

555
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,966
was to propagate
certain species,

556
00:31:57,966 --> 00:32:00,433
concentrating them
in a few places.

557
00:32:00,433 --> 00:32:03,766
...de selva con una cierta...

558
00:32:03,766 --> 00:32:05,333
(translated):
And so we see a jungle

559
00:32:05,333 --> 00:32:07,200
that is a mosaic of species

560
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:08,900
which is the product of
their work.

561
00:32:08,900 --> 00:32:13,500
...trabajo, lo que vemos hoy en
parte es...

562
00:32:13,500 --> 00:32:16,933
(translated):
What we see today is the
fruit of human actions

563
00:32:16,933 --> 00:32:21,466
that managed the forest
without destroying it.

564
00:32:21,466 --> 00:32:25,966
(Helena Lima
speaking Portuguese)

565
00:32:25,966 --> 00:32:29,500
(translated):
The latest research shows

566
00:32:29,500 --> 00:32:32,266
that the landscape

567
00:32:32,266 --> 00:32:35,033
and much of
the biodiversity of the jungle

568
00:32:35,033 --> 00:32:38,700
was created by
the Indigenous community

569
00:32:38,700 --> 00:32:42,700
that lived here in the past
and still live here now.

570
00:32:42,700 --> 00:32:45,500
♪ ♪

571
00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:49,100
NARRATOR:
More than 80 species of plants
were domesticated

572
00:32:49,100 --> 00:32:52,700
or semi-domesticated
by ancient Amazonians.

573
00:32:52,700 --> 00:32:55,966
That process began
about the same time as

574
00:32:55,966 --> 00:33:00,166
the so-called Neolithic
Revolution in the Middle East.

575
00:33:00,166 --> 00:33:04,766
But it was very different,
and led to different results.

576
00:33:04,766 --> 00:33:07,100
NEVES:
Typically, an archaeologist
would say,

577
00:33:07,100 --> 00:33:09,400
"Well, these people,
they never really completed

578
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:10,700
"the full Neolithic cycle.

579
00:33:10,700 --> 00:33:11,933
"They never really became

580
00:33:11,933 --> 00:33:15,066
fully formed farmers."

581
00:33:15,066 --> 00:33:16,933
But what archaeology
tells us today

582
00:33:16,933 --> 00:33:18,566
is that that perspective
is not right,

583
00:33:18,566 --> 00:33:21,200
that these people were
building their whole histories

584
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,733
based on
a different perspective,

585
00:33:22,733 --> 00:33:25,033
on a different logic.

586
00:33:25,033 --> 00:33:26,600
NARRATOR:
In the Middle East,

587
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,700
plant domestication was
based upon a handful of crops,

588
00:33:30,700 --> 00:33:36,666
such as wheat and barley,
which could be easily stored.

589
00:33:36,666 --> 00:33:38,666
The accumulation of surpluses

590
00:33:38,666 --> 00:33:41,366
and the development
of huge irrigation systems

591
00:33:41,366 --> 00:33:43,300
that had to be administered

592
00:33:43,300 --> 00:33:47,200
led to forms of
centralized political control.

593
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:51,900
From these arose
the first cities and empires.

594
00:33:51,900 --> 00:33:53,633
♪ ♪

595
00:33:53,633 --> 00:33:58,033
In Amazonia,
it was different.

596
00:33:58,033 --> 00:34:00,966
The need for irrigation
was minimal.

597
00:34:00,966 --> 00:34:02,466
The humid climate

598
00:34:02,466 --> 00:34:06,533
made storage and surpluses
impossible.

599
00:34:06,533 --> 00:34:10,200
So, highly centralized urban
settlements never developed.

600
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,300
♪ ♪

601
00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:15,200
What emerged were
towns and chiefdoms

602
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:17,933
with populations
in the tens of thousands,

603
00:34:17,933 --> 00:34:22,500
but not grand cities
and empires.

604
00:34:24,466 --> 00:34:27,300
♪ ♪

605
00:34:27,300 --> 00:34:31,233
There was not just one
ancient Amazonian culture,

606
00:34:31,233 --> 00:34:32,933
but many.

607
00:34:36,433 --> 00:34:40,966
They appeared all along the
Amazon River itself,

608
00:34:40,966 --> 00:34:45,366
from the Guianas in the north
to the Xingu in the south.

609
00:34:45,366 --> 00:34:47,233
All distinct,

610
00:34:47,233 --> 00:34:51,200
all with
their own unique styles.

611
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,566
One of the most remarkable

612
00:34:53,566 --> 00:34:56,200
is from
the high jungle of Peru,

613
00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,533
at a site called
Monte Grande.

614
00:35:00,533 --> 00:35:04,233
QUIRINO OLIVERA:
Siempre el punto crítico...

615
00:35:04,233 --> 00:35:06,533
(translated):
Always, the central point
of the scientists

616
00:35:06,533 --> 00:35:09,833
of the academy
was that in Amazonia,

617
00:35:09,833 --> 00:35:13,000
there was no
monumental architecture.

618
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,966
There was no evidence of
organized populations capable of

619
00:35:17,966 --> 00:35:19,966
building
monumental architecture

620
00:35:19,966 --> 00:35:22,500
because they thought
they were just hunter-gatherers.

621
00:35:25,266 --> 00:35:28,233
NARRATOR:
Peruvian archaeologist
Quirino Olivera

622
00:35:28,233 --> 00:35:32,633
had always wondered about
the strangely symmetrical mounds

623
00:35:32,633 --> 00:35:34,566
by the banks of
the Marañon River,

624
00:35:34,566 --> 00:35:38,400
a tributary of
the Upper Amazon.

625
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,266
They seemed natural,

626
00:35:41,266 --> 00:35:45,000
but could people have
constructed them?

627
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,400
In 2010,

628
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,533
he started to excavate
a similar mound

629
00:35:50,533 --> 00:35:55,200
on the outskirts of
the nearby town of Jaén.

630
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,800
It is the rainy season
in the high jungle,

631
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,066
so every night, they must
cover the site to protect it,

632
00:36:01,066 --> 00:36:03,533
then uncover
it the next morning.

633
00:36:03,533 --> 00:36:06,833
OLIVERA:
En el año 2010...

634
00:36:06,833 --> 00:36:08,000
(translated):
In 2010,

635
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:09,766
we started
archaeological research

636
00:36:09,766 --> 00:36:12,400
on a mound that, up until then,

637
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,633
had been completely neglected.

638
00:36:14,633 --> 00:36:17,200
We had no idea
that we were on the verge

639
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,533
of a discovery so important.

640
00:36:19,533 --> 00:36:22,766
NARRATOR:
Quirino has been excavating

641
00:36:22,766 --> 00:36:25,700
the site at Monte Grande
ever since.

642
00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:28,866
It is one of the most
extraordinary

643
00:36:28,866 --> 00:36:32,966
and baffling archaeological
finds of recent years.

644
00:36:32,966 --> 00:36:36,533
Ese detalle de sacar capa por
capa nos lleváron

645
00:36:36,533 --> 00:36:38,366
a identificar...

646
00:36:38,366 --> 00:36:40,733
(translated):
As we cleared away the
top layers of soil,

647
00:36:40,733 --> 00:36:44,200
we began to see stones

648
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,700
in a circular arrangement.

649
00:36:47,700 --> 00:36:51,800
Then platforms and
terraces began to appear.

650
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:56,766
That really surprised us--
it seemed extraordinary.

651
00:36:56,766 --> 00:37:01,966
♪ ♪

652
00:37:01,966 --> 00:37:06,600
NARRATOR:
As the full structure emerged,
their surprise grew.

653
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:12,033
Here was a massive pyramid, as
tall as a five-story building,

654
00:37:12,033 --> 00:37:16,233
constructed from
clay, stone, and reed,

655
00:37:16,233 --> 00:37:21,533
with a mysterious stone spiral
built on its summit.

656
00:37:23,466 --> 00:37:27,400
The carbon-14 dates
were even more astonishing.

657
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:33,266
The pyramid was
built over 5,000 years ago,

658
00:37:33,266 --> 00:37:37,000
even before the pyramids of
Egypt and Mesopotamia,

659
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,933
a time when archaeologists
had believed

660
00:37:39,933 --> 00:37:44,466
the Amazon was populated only
by hunter-gatherers.

661
00:37:44,466 --> 00:37:46,833
♪ ♪

662
00:37:46,833 --> 00:37:51,333
The find is so important,
Quirino has invited

663
00:37:51,333 --> 00:37:55,766
famed Brazilian archaeologist
Eduardo Neves to visit.

664
00:37:55,766 --> 00:37:58,366
!¡No creo que estoy acá!
!¡Verdad!

665
00:37:58,366 --> 00:37:59,800
!¡Que alegría!
Que lindo.

666
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:01,233
Permiso, pasar para

667
00:38:01,233 --> 00:38:03,800
hacer una pequeña ceremonia
que tenemos acá.

668
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,466
Claro, si.
Por tu llegada.

669
00:38:06,466 --> 00:38:08,933
(both laughing)
!¡Que lindo, Quirino!

670
00:38:08,933 --> 00:38:11,300
He visto
tantos fotos de acá,

671
00:38:11,300 --> 00:38:12,666
imágenes.
(inaudible)

672
00:38:12,666 --> 00:38:14,633
Y ahora finalmente
estar acá...

673
00:38:14,633 --> 00:38:16,100
Si, es una
maravilla.
(inaudible)

674
00:38:16,100 --> 00:38:19,933
NARRATOR:
Quirino is of Indigenous descent

675
00:38:19,933 --> 00:38:21,533
and celebrates the occasion

676
00:38:21,533 --> 00:38:22,966
with an offering to
the Pachamama,

677
00:38:22,966 --> 00:38:24,566
goddess of the Earth.

678
00:38:24,566 --> 00:38:25,833
Salud, bienvenido.

679
00:38:25,833 --> 00:38:30,733
♪ ♪

680
00:38:34,733 --> 00:38:38,233
NEVES:
To be here at Monte Grande,
for me, it's really like

681
00:38:38,233 --> 00:38:39,533
a dream fulfilled,

682
00:38:39,533 --> 00:38:40,866
because I've been
teaching classes

683
00:38:40,866 --> 00:38:42,933
on South American archaeology
for many years,

684
00:38:42,933 --> 00:38:44,433
on Amazonian archaeology,

685
00:38:44,433 --> 00:38:47,033
and of course, I know
of Quirino's work,

686
00:38:47,033 --> 00:38:49,366
but being here is
a total different story.

687
00:38:49,366 --> 00:38:52,700
You can have a feeling about
the power of the place,

688
00:38:52,700 --> 00:38:55,133
where it is located in
this valley,

689
00:38:55,133 --> 00:38:56,300
surrounded by the mountains.

690
00:38:56,300 --> 00:38:57,966
This is a very important site.

691
00:38:57,966 --> 00:38:59,133
It's one of the most important

692
00:38:59,133 --> 00:39:00,200
archaeological sites

693
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,133
that we have in the Americas,

694
00:39:02,133 --> 00:39:04,166
not only here in South America.

695
00:39:04,166 --> 00:39:09,266
NARRATOR:
Monte Grande rewrites
the history of complex societies

696
00:39:09,266 --> 00:39:10,833
on the continent.

697
00:39:12,133 --> 00:39:15,400
For over a century,
when archaeologists wrote about

698
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,900
cities and high civilization
in South America,

699
00:39:18,900 --> 00:39:22,000
they focused on cultures like
the Inca of the Andes

700
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,400
or the Nazca of
the Pacific coast.

701
00:39:27,900 --> 00:39:31,033
But here at Monte Grande
is clear evidence

702
00:39:31,033 --> 00:39:35,233
of a complex society
and monumental architecture

703
00:39:35,233 --> 00:39:41,233
at least 3,000 years older
than either the Inca or Nazca.

704
00:39:41,233 --> 00:39:44,100
♪ ♪

705
00:39:44,100 --> 00:39:47,500
NEVES:
If you compare the evidence
from early architecture,

706
00:39:47,500 --> 00:39:50,766
of monumental architecture,
of plant domestication,

707
00:39:50,766 --> 00:39:53,500
we see a lot of things
happening before here

708
00:39:53,500 --> 00:39:55,166
in this part of Peru,
in the Amazon,

709
00:39:55,166 --> 00:39:58,766
not in the coast and
not even the mountains.

710
00:39:58,766 --> 00:40:01,200
So I think it really brings

711
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,433
and highlights the importance
that the place

712
00:40:03,433 --> 00:40:05,400
that Amazonian
Indigenous people had

713
00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,600
in the deep cultural history of
this part of South America.

714
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,300
NARRATOR:
The excavation of
an almost identical

715
00:40:12,300 --> 00:40:13,766
but much smaller
spiral pyramid

716
00:40:13,766 --> 00:40:16,533
in Ecuador revealed a tomb.

717
00:40:16,533 --> 00:40:18,233
This makes Quirino think

718
00:40:18,233 --> 00:40:23,633
that Monte Grande also is
the tomb of a religious leader.

719
00:40:23,633 --> 00:40:25,300
If he's right,

720
00:40:25,300 --> 00:40:28,266
it would give meaning to
the mysterious spiral

721
00:40:28,266 --> 00:40:31,233
so carefully
constructed on top of it.

722
00:40:31,233 --> 00:40:33,400
Porque el espiral es...

723
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,133
(translated):
The spiral is one of the
most ancient symbols

724
00:40:37,133 --> 00:40:38,766
in the history of humanity.

725
00:40:38,766 --> 00:40:42,433
It signifies the beginning
and the end of life,

726
00:40:42,433 --> 00:40:45,000
the endless creation of
one generation

727
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:46,300
from the preceding one.

728
00:40:46,300 --> 00:40:48,333
Yo estoy sentado en
el centro

729
00:40:48,333 --> 00:40:50,433
de la arquitectura
en forma de espiral.

730
00:40:50,433 --> 00:40:54,400
(translated):
I am sitting at the center of
the spiral architecture,

731
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:57,800
and right beneath me,
in the spiral's center,

732
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,166
would be the tomb
of that high-status individual.

733
00:41:01,166 --> 00:41:04,266
Suponemos que está...

734
00:41:04,266 --> 00:41:09,400
(translated):
We believe that he is
seated in a fetal position.

735
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:11,866
And from
the center of his head,

736
00:41:11,866 --> 00:41:15,700
the spiral expands out
like the axis mundi,

737
00:41:15,700 --> 00:41:18,066
the axis of the cosmos.

738
00:41:18,066 --> 00:41:20,666
Y eso además tiene un concepto
astronómico,

739
00:41:20,666 --> 00:41:22,500
probablemente por...

740
00:41:22,500 --> 00:41:26,266
(translated):
This also probably had important
astronomical associations,

741
00:41:26,266 --> 00:41:30,133
as in most ancient societies
who studied the night sky,

742
00:41:30,133 --> 00:41:34,066
the stars, and linked them
to life on Earth.

743
00:41:34,066 --> 00:41:39,100
♪ ♪

744
00:41:40,866 --> 00:41:44,333
(flames crackling)

745
00:41:44,333 --> 00:41:50,333
(Eduardo Izmiño speaking
Awajún)

746
00:41:50,333 --> 00:41:54,400
(translated):
In the beginning,
everything was in darkness.

747
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:57,000
(continues in Awajún)

748
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,800
(translated):
There was no fire and no light.

749
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:03,066
(continues in Awajún)

750
00:42:03,066 --> 00:42:07,933
(translated):
The only one with fire
was a being called Iwa.

751
00:42:07,933 --> 00:42:11,200
(continues in Awajún)

752
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,700
(translated):
So, before the world could
begin,

753
00:42:13,700 --> 00:42:19,066
our ancestor had
to steal fire from him.

754
00:42:19,066 --> 00:42:21,333
NARRATOR:
Quirino believes Monte Grande

755
00:42:21,333 --> 00:42:27,133
embodies profound beliefs about
life, death, and the cosmos.

756
00:42:27,133 --> 00:42:31,766
The creation story of today's
Awajún people does, too.

757
00:42:31,766 --> 00:42:33,833
It tells of
a primordial time

758
00:42:33,833 --> 00:42:36,900
when people and animals
spoke to each other.

759
00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:40,266
Through their adventures,
the world was born.

760
00:42:40,266 --> 00:42:42,400
(flames crackling)

761
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:47,933
The story is told by
Eduardo Izmiño, Awajún elder,

762
00:42:47,933 --> 00:42:50,300
and his wife of
many years, Teresa.

763
00:42:50,300 --> 00:42:55,166
They live nearby, and
have often wondered about

764
00:42:55,166 --> 00:42:57,466
the people who built
Monte Grande.

765
00:42:57,466 --> 00:43:02,200
They don't feel related to them,
but are impressed.

766
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,266
¿Este trabajo, que nos da?
¿Qué nos enseña?

767
00:43:05,266 --> 00:43:09,500
(translated): So, what does this
place teach us?

768
00:43:09,500 --> 00:43:13,800
It's clear that in those times,
there was no money,

769
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:17,533
but there was hunting
and fishing, a lot of it.

770
00:43:17,533 --> 00:43:21,666
The people ate very well.

771
00:43:21,666 --> 00:43:23,666
There was a lot of solidarity.

772
00:43:23,666 --> 00:43:25,966
This required a lot of work,

773
00:43:25,966 --> 00:43:27,533
a big communal work.

774
00:43:27,533 --> 00:43:30,300
They were living from
hunting and fishing,

775
00:43:30,300 --> 00:43:32,800
and here,
there was a lot of people:

776
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,966
children,
young people, adults.

777
00:43:35,966 --> 00:43:39,566
That was in those times,
working together.

778
00:43:39,566 --> 00:43:41,766
(translated):
One person could never
do all this.

779
00:43:41,766 --> 00:43:45,233
NARRATOR:
Eduardo and Teresa are not

780
00:43:45,233 --> 00:43:48,066
the only ones to
marvel at the achievements

781
00:43:48,066 --> 00:43:51,933
of the ancient peoples
of the Amazon.

782
00:43:51,933 --> 00:43:56,400
Evidence of them is being found
from the Atlantic to the Andes.

783
00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:00,866
Not hunter-gatherers living in
a tropical wilderness,

784
00:44:00,866 --> 00:44:05,266
but sophisticated cultures.

785
00:44:05,266 --> 00:44:09,766
The hidden history of the
lost civilizations of the Amazon

786
00:44:09,766 --> 00:44:12,800
is being unearthed.

787
00:44:16,933 --> 00:44:22,966
♪ ♪

788
00:44:24,900 --> 00:44:30,533
What happened to those ancient
Amazonian farmers and builders?

789
00:44:32,300 --> 00:44:36,400
Most scholars estimate
that within 100 years of

790
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,400
their first contacts
with Europeans,

791
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:44,033
about 80% of the
Indigenous populations died,

792
00:44:44,033 --> 00:44:47,366
killed by epidemics of
European diseases

793
00:44:47,366 --> 00:44:50,266
to which they had no immunity.

794
00:44:50,266 --> 00:44:54,866
Violence by settlers and
rubber tappers killed even more.

795
00:44:54,866 --> 00:44:59,433
Perhaps as many as
eight million people died.

796
00:45:02,833 --> 00:45:07,366
The great urban complexes and
agricultural systems of Amazonia

797
00:45:07,366 --> 00:45:10,300
were reclaimed by
the rain forest.

798
00:45:10,300 --> 00:45:13,900
♪ ♪

799
00:45:13,900 --> 00:45:17,200
The pristine wilderness
that many Europeans imagined

800
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,800
was in fact a landscape
emptied of

801
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,333
most of its
former inhabitants.

802
00:45:22,333 --> 00:45:25,500
(wildlife chittering)

803
00:45:30,566 --> 00:45:32,366
(horn honks)

804
00:45:32,366 --> 00:45:33,833
Today,

805
00:45:33,833 --> 00:45:37,166
an estimated one-and-a-half
million Indigenous people

806
00:45:37,166 --> 00:45:39,033
live in the Amazon.

807
00:45:39,033 --> 00:45:41,200
In 1492,

808
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,066
there were many, many more.

809
00:45:44,066 --> 00:45:47,500
HECKENBERGER:
And the scale of population
in the Amazon

810
00:45:47,500 --> 00:45:50,500
has been a question that has
drawn a lot of attention

811
00:45:50,500 --> 00:45:51,866
for, um, a long time.

812
00:45:51,866 --> 00:45:54,233
But overall,

813
00:45:54,233 --> 00:45:56,833
the estimates
generally range today

814
00:45:56,833 --> 00:45:59,466
between about
five and ten million people

815
00:45:59,466 --> 00:46:02,133
in the Amazon basin.

816
00:46:02,133 --> 00:46:05,733
NARRATOR:
The scale of the destruction
brought about by the conquest

817
00:46:05,733 --> 00:46:08,800
has given archaeology's
exploration of the past

818
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:13,200
extra relevance to
Indigenous people.

819
00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:16,200
In the city of
São Gabriel da Cachoeira,

820
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:18,600
on the Rio Negro
in the Brazilian Amazon,

821
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,366
Indigenous archaeology students

822
00:46:21,366 --> 00:46:23,100
are learning their craft.

823
00:46:23,100 --> 00:46:25,366
(Ana Keila Fontes da Silva
speaking Portuguese)

824
00:46:25,366 --> 00:46:26,500
(translated): I want to get

825
00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:28,366
involved with archaeology,

826
00:46:28,366 --> 00:46:30,833
and I do it so I can learn

827
00:46:30,833 --> 00:46:34,066
the story of my people.

828
00:46:34,066 --> 00:46:35,900
These days,
my people are interested in

829
00:46:35,900 --> 00:46:37,700
reclaiming the history of

830
00:46:37,700 --> 00:46:39,466
our Indigenous
Tariano community.

831
00:46:39,466 --> 00:46:43,733
(speaking Portuguese)

832
00:46:43,733 --> 00:46:45,700
(translated):
Learning how we got
from the past

833
00:46:45,700 --> 00:46:49,666
to where we are now,
and into the future.

834
00:46:49,666 --> 00:46:54,433
(Jurandir da Silva
speaking Portuguese)

835
00:46:54,433 --> 00:46:56,633
(translated):
For me, it was very important

836
00:46:56,633 --> 00:47:01,066
to do this archaeology workshop,

837
00:47:01,066 --> 00:47:03,500
because it looks at the origins
of my own people,

838
00:47:03,500 --> 00:47:05,066
way back in time.

839
00:47:05,066 --> 00:47:07,666
(people talking in background,
soil sifting)

840
00:47:07,666 --> 00:47:09,900
NARRATOR:
Archaeology student
Odanilde Freitas

841
00:47:09,900 --> 00:47:13,833
has been studying granite rocks
in the rapids of the Rio Negro.

842
00:47:15,433 --> 00:47:17,333
Centuries before the conquest,

843
00:47:17,333 --> 00:47:21,100
ancient people carved
mortars and grindstones in them

844
00:47:21,100 --> 00:47:23,366
to sharpen
their fish spears.

845
00:47:23,366 --> 00:47:26,200
(Freitas speaking Portuguese)

846
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:29,333
(translated):
Here we have a polisher
and circular bowl.

847
00:47:29,333 --> 00:47:34,300
(speaking Portuguese)

848
00:47:34,300 --> 00:47:36,600
(translated):
Here we have sharpening stones--

849
00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:38,733
two in one--

850
00:47:38,733 --> 00:47:43,366
where the people sharpened
their arrows and spear points.

851
00:47:44,533 --> 00:47:47,700
NARRATOR:
Oda's archaeological work
has made her think about

852
00:47:47,700 --> 00:47:49,566
the history of her people,

853
00:47:49,566 --> 00:47:54,300
a history almost
erased by colonization.

854
00:47:54,300 --> 00:47:57,366
(translated): There has been a
big impact

855
00:47:57,366 --> 00:47:58,566
in our culture

856
00:47:58,566 --> 00:48:01,500
from the centuries of
colonization,

857
00:48:01,500 --> 00:48:02,900
but with archaeology,

858
00:48:02,900 --> 00:48:06,733
I feel we can rescue
and reconstruct our identity,

859
00:48:06,733 --> 00:48:11,666
our Indigenous history,
through artifacts like this.

860
00:48:12,733 --> 00:48:14,000
(crying, speaking Portuguese)

861
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,000
(translated):
Excuse me.

862
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:17,333
I'm sorry.

863
00:48:17,333 --> 00:48:20,433
It's because
those people were free.

864
00:48:20,433 --> 00:48:22,200
They were really free.

865
00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:26,166
My people suffered.

866
00:48:26,166 --> 00:48:28,066
They disappeared.

867
00:48:28,066 --> 00:48:30,133
Imagine how they were massacred.

868
00:48:30,133 --> 00:48:32,800
Sadly,
that's the word.

869
00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:35,200
They were massacred,
they were raped,

870
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,433
physically, culturally,

871
00:48:38,433 --> 00:48:41,966
psychologically, emotionally.

872
00:48:41,966 --> 00:48:46,366
So that makes me sad
to think about the past.

873
00:48:46,366 --> 00:48:49,400
For me, it's very sad.

874
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:51,433
NARRATOR:
The sadness Oda feels

875
00:48:51,433 --> 00:48:53,566
echoes the tragedy of
Indigenous people

876
00:48:53,566 --> 00:48:56,966
all over the Americas.

877
00:48:56,966 --> 00:49:00,900
Archaeology offers
a reminder of what was lost.

878
00:49:00,900 --> 00:49:03,966
But some Amazonian people today

879
00:49:03,966 --> 00:49:06,366
also feel that
the recent discoveries

880
00:49:06,366 --> 00:49:08,800
help establish their rights

881
00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:11,433
to the land they have
lived on for millennia.

882
00:49:11,433 --> 00:49:15,466
As their forest is cut down

883
00:49:15,466 --> 00:49:19,300
for mining, cattle pasture,
and soy fields,

884
00:49:19,300 --> 00:49:22,433
many Indigenous people
are turning to archaeology

885
00:49:22,433 --> 00:49:24,166
to support their cause.

886
00:49:24,166 --> 00:49:26,333
♪ ♪

887
00:49:26,333 --> 00:49:30,166
Kalutata Kuikuro is
an up-and-coming leader

888
00:49:30,166 --> 00:49:33,400
of a group that has become
iconic of Indigenous Amazonia

889
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:38,066
and the struggle
for its preservation:

890
00:49:38,066 --> 00:49:39,833
the Kuikuro.

891
00:49:39,833 --> 00:49:41,800
(speaking Portuguese)

892
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:43,500
(translated):
Today my people understand

893
00:49:43,500 --> 00:49:44,733
that archaeology is important.

894
00:49:44,733 --> 00:49:48,666
(speaking Portuguese)

895
00:49:48,666 --> 00:49:51,800
(translated):
Every day, we're being pressured
by ranchers and White people,

896
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:55,733
so we believe that archaeology
and understanding our history

897
00:49:55,733 --> 00:49:58,300
is part of
our political struggle.

898
00:49:58,300 --> 00:50:03,133
NARRATOR:
So archaeology today is
not just about the past.

899
00:50:03,133 --> 00:50:04,766
It is bringing together

900
00:50:04,766 --> 00:50:08,566
scientists and Indigenous people
in a common cause:

901
00:50:08,566 --> 00:50:11,233
the future of the Amazon.

902
00:50:11,233 --> 00:50:13,133
NEVES:
I think that the combination

903
00:50:13,133 --> 00:50:15,566
of the so-called scientific
approaches with

904
00:50:15,566 --> 00:50:18,666
this more politically engaged
archaeology done--

905
00:50:18,666 --> 00:50:21,066
you know, the decolonialized
archaeology done--

906
00:50:21,066 --> 00:50:24,633
 
by Indigenous
and non-Indigenous people,

907
00:50:24,633 --> 00:50:26,966
it's going to make
archaeology more powerful

908
00:50:26,966 --> 00:50:28,966
and more relevant
and more interesting.

909
00:50:28,966 --> 00:50:32,166
Y creo que casi todos nosotros
tenemos también...

910
00:50:32,166 --> 00:50:34,000
(translated): I think all of us
have something

911
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:36,533
very important in our thinking,

912
00:50:36,533 --> 00:50:40,433
which is our commitment
to Indigenous communities.

913
00:50:40,433 --> 00:50:43,433
Y estamos en momentos muy
difíciles en la Amazonía.

914
00:50:43,433 --> 00:50:47,300
(translated):
We are in difficult times
in Amazonia,

915
00:50:47,300 --> 00:50:50,433
because it's being destroyed.

916
00:50:50,433 --> 00:50:53,933
This is what is
bringing us together,

917
00:50:53,933 --> 00:50:57,366
thinking about how
the past can help us

918
00:50:57,366 --> 00:50:59,200
oppose the destruction

919
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:02,466
which is now
so systematic in Amazonia.

920
00:51:02,466 --> 00:51:07,133
♪ ♪

921
00:51:07,133 --> 00:51:09,600
NARRATOR:
The revelation that for
millennia,

922
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:13,333
the ancient Amazon was home to
complex civilizations

923
00:51:13,333 --> 00:51:15,533
is a reminder that

924
00:51:15,533 --> 00:51:20,300
humanity and the rain forest
can coexist.

925
00:51:20,300 --> 00:51:23,533
They did for thousands of years.

926
00:51:23,533 --> 00:51:26,233
They can do so again.

927
00:51:29,500 --> 00:51:35,466
MORCOTE:
Estos grupos humanos
no impactaron...

928
00:51:35,466 --> 00:51:39,400
(translated):
Those ancient human groups were
not detrimental to the forest.

929
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:43,033
On the contrary,
they were managing the forest.

930
00:51:44,166 --> 00:51:48,033
Entonces creo que es una
enseñanza, un legado...

931
00:51:48,033 --> 00:51:50,800
(translated):
So this is a lesson, a legacy,

932
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:54,300
that those ancient humans
have left us.

933
00:51:54,300 --> 00:51:55,900
They can teach us so much.

934
00:51:55,900 --> 00:52:00,300
Let's see if
we can learn from them.

935
00:52:00,300 --> 00:52:05,700
♪ ♪

936
00:52:22,900 --> 00:52:30,433
♪ ♪

937
00:52:37,666 --> 00:52:42,533
ANNOUNCER:
To order this program on DVD,
visit ShopPBS.

938
00:52:42,533 --> 00:52:45,266
Or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

939
00:52:45,266 --> 00:52:48,133
Episodes of "NOVA"
are available with Passport.

940
00:52:48,133 --> 00:52:51,866
"NOVA" is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.

941
00:52:51,866 --> 00:52:57,066
♪ ♪

942
00:53:05,933 --> 00:53:13,100
♪ ♪