NARRATOR: Incredible megalithic sites
unearthed after thousands of years.
WILLIAM HENRY: We're talking about a complex that is so vast,
that it's almost beyond our comprehension.
NARRATOR: Mysterious subterranean dwellings
that stretch for miles.
HUGH NEWMAN: We have multiple underground cities that have been discovered
that are potentially 10,000 or more years old.
NARRATOR: Could recent discoveries provide evidence
of a civilization that existed far earlier
than we ever imagined?
Perhaps even before
the biblical story of the Great Flood,
at a time when humans shared the earth
with otherworldly beings?
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: The knowledge for building
these megalithic structures was imparted
by the so-called gods, who were
the extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: There is a doorway
in the universe.
Beyond it is the promise of truth.
It demands we question everything
we have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
NARRATOR: Abu Shahrain, Iraq.
6,000 years ago, this ancient mound
was the site of Eridu,
the oldest city of the Sumerian empire.
According to mainstream archaeologists,
this is the cradle of civilization.
FELICIA BEARDSLEY: Many archeologists will say civilization began
in Mesopotamia some 6,000 years ago.
It is built on small bands
of hunter-gatherers who then
become settled in that area
as, kind of, semi-sedentary communities.
They adopt agriculture,
the population starts to grow,
and we begin to recognize we need
to organize our communities.
You start seeing these step-sided pyramids,
where the religious practitioner
might conduct his rites or rituals and so on.
And we have
an urban planning environment that also means
we've got a lot of engineering going on.
We have a lot of science, a lot of mathematics.
It has all of those elements we would call a civilization.
NARRATOR: Many researchers around the world
believe there is evidence to suggest
civilization existed on Earth
long before the Sumerians.
And one key source
is the writing of the Sumerians themselves.
Ancient cuneiform tablets
list kings who ruled tens of thousands of years ago,
and they tell of an earlier age
when humans lived among powerful beings
that came down from the sky
called the Anunnaki.
ANDREW COLLINS: The Anunnaki were the builder gods
behind the creation of the civilizations
of Sumer and Babylon.
They provided humanity with the rudiments of civilization.
They gave humanity animal husbandry,
but also agriculture for the first time.
NARRATOR: The Sumerians also wrote that the Anunnaki
were responsible for bringing a devastating cataclysm
-upon the Earth... -(thunder crashing)
eerily similar to the story that would later appear
in the Hebrew Bible as the Great Flood.
This was only just discovered in 2009,
when Dr. Irving Finkel,
one of the world's foremost experts on cuneiform writing,
translated a 3,700-year-old Sumerian tablet.
FINKEL: In the Bible, God decided,
because the human race was so sinful and wicked,
to destroy everything, and at the last minute,
relented enough to inform Noah
that he has to build a boat really fast,
and put all the animals in it and shut the doors,
then, afterwards, life could continue
when the waters went down.
Everybody in the world is interested in Noah's flood
and where it might've come from,
so when this tablet came across the desk to me,
and I realized,
clearly, how important it was,
it was one of those heart-stopping moments.
When I picked it up for the first time
to look at it properly, and started to read it,
one of the first things you read
is when a human being finds out from the gods up in heaven
that there's going to be a dreadful flood,
and the world and all its life is going to be destroyed,
and a boat has to be built.
So, I thought to myself, "This is very exciting."
The tablet is at least a thousand years older
than the story in the Bible.
So, of course, this means that the question
of where the story came from
has a whole different explanation.
NARRATOR: Could the translation of this ancient cuneiform tablet
be evidence that a great flood did,
in fact, occur in the distant past?
While nearly identical stories of a great deluge
can be found in the ancient texts
of many religions and cultures,
mainstream archaeologists had argued
that there was no evidence of any civilization
existing more than 6,000 years ago
to support the idea that such a cataclysm
actually took place.
But in the early 1990s, Klaus Schmidt
of the German Archaeological Institute
began excavations at the ancient site
of Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey,
and what he unearthed
changed everything.
PAUL BAHN: Once Klaus Schmidt
started excavating Göbekli Tepe, it just blew everybody away
because we'd never before known or imagined, even,
that people 12,000 years ago
could produce such spectacular monumental structures
as he found at Göbekli Tepe.
TSOUKALOS: It is the first archaeological site in the world
that proves its age, dating as far back
as 12,000 years, around 10,000 BC.
The discovery and the official acceptance
of Göbekli Tepe's dating
has changed the history of archaeology.
ROBERT SCHOCH: This is indications of a major civilization
at that remote time,
a time when the standard historians all along have said,
"Well, no, civilization didn't occur at that time.
"They were just simple hunter and gatherers.
They were primitive people."
But we now have evidence to the contrary.
BAHN: It really did send shockwaves
through the whole world of early prehistory,
because we have never ever seen anything like this
from anywhere in the world at that time, 12,000 years ago.
NARRATOR: Göbekli Tepe's nearly two dozen
enormous T-shaped pillars,
some weighing more than 20 tons,
feature numerous carvings that include depictions of animals,
human hands,
and intricately designed symbols.
Archaeologists estimate that it would have taken
a team of 50 men an entire week
to move just one of the monolithic pillars
from the limestone quarry,
to the top of the hill where they stand today,
and over 300 hours to carve the bas-reliefs.
ROY FISHER: The structures seem to reflect
coordinated effort among significant numbers of people,
which is not how we typically imagine
hunter-gatherer societies,
which are usually smaller in size.
NARRATOR: For years, mainstream scholars maintained
that Göbekli Tepe was a completely unique site,
and while highly impressive,
it was not large enough to constitute
what would be considered a civilization.
But then, in 2004,
author Andrew Collins was shown photographs
of a location that looked remarkably similar
to parts of Göbekli Tepe.
COLLINS: I was visiting Göbekli Tepe,
and some children came up to me and showed me a picture
of this T-shaped standing stone
with this snake along the side.
And I thought, I've never seen this before.
Where is this?
And it became clear
that it was some unexcavated site
in the Tektek Mountains, which is about 25 miles
away from Göbekli Tepe.
And so I set out to find it,
and eventually,
I came to this bare limestone hill.
And as I walked up towards it, I could then see,
sticking out of the ground,
these heads of these T-shaped pillars,
again, exactly as you see at Göbekli Tepe.
And I realized
that somewhere beneath this soil
was something as grand and spectacular as Göbekli Tepe.
NARRATOR: For 15 years, only a small group of researchers
were aware of the pillars protruding from the earth
at the site known as Karahan Tepe.
When it was finally excavated,
archaeologists were shocked once again.
In 2019, digging begins...
...and beneath the surface layers,
the archaeologists start uncovering
dozens of these T-shaped pillars.
DAVID CHILDRESS: We have about 200
of these T-shaped megaliths.
They're typically 13 feet high,
weigh about 11 tons.
You have other phallic stones,
you have, uh, certain depictions of animals,
and some human faces as well.
So, we have really, uh, a pretty extensive site.
NARRATOR: The discovery of the vast megalithic complex
made headlines around the world,
as it was estimated by experts
to have been inhabited somewhere between 11,000
and 12,000 years ago,
just like Göbekli Tepe.
TSOUKALOS: Both Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe
are striking in beauty,
striking in how massive and incredible
those megaliths are.
And, in my opinion, they are related.
So, it's also possible
that at some point a long time ago,
that entire region was one gigantic city.
NARRATOR: Could these sites confirm the written accounts
found both in the Bible and on Sumerian tablets
of a sophisticated civilization
that existed on Earth in the remote past?
One in which humans lived alongside
powerful visitors from the sky,
but ultimately fell victim to a devastating cataclysm?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
and claim there is evidence that these vast megalithic complexes
were built with the help
of otherworldly visitors.
NARRATOR: Nevsehir Province, central Turkey.
Here, 300 miles northwest
of the 12,000-year-old megalithic sites
of Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe,
there is an ancient subterranean city called Derinkuyu
that archaeologists believe
once housed more than 20,000 people.
First discovered in 1963,
the maze of carved tunnels and rooms
lies 200 feet below ground.
Who built it and when remain unknown.
Derinkuyu is a multileveled city
that has existed since time immemorial.
It was certainly used during Christian times,
but there's also evidence
that there's prehistoric activity
going on at these places
as early as 11,000, perhaps even 12,000 years ago,
right after the end of the last Ice Age.
NARRATOR: Much like Göbekli Tepe,
Derinkuyu was thought to be an anomaly.
But in 2014,
just six miles to the north,
a local construction crew
excavating for an urban renovation project
stumbled across a strange series of carved rooms
and tunnels deep underground.
Upon further exploration,
they found a subterranean network
known as Kaymakli, which spans several miles
and extends hundreds of feet below
the surface of the Earth,
much like the nearby underground city
of Derinkuyu.
I was many times in the underground cities
in Turkey,
and this is a fantastic experience.
They are linked together.
Between Derinkuyu and Kaymakli,
there are seven kilometers long underground tunnels
connecting the two cities.
NARRATOR: Evidence that these cities
once housed thousands of people,
has been further supported by the discovery of air vents
and water wells that would have made it possible
for people to live underground for years at a time.
COLLINS: These are huge, vast cities
that have been cut out of the living rock themself.
Who exactly built them?
The fact that Göbekli Tepe
was built right at the end
of the last Ice Age
tells us that there is a possibility
that there is connection
between these underground cities
and the building of Göbekli Tepe and Karahan.
It could have been the same people.
NARRATOR: Is there a connection between Turkey's mysterious
underground dwellings and the extremely ancient sites
of Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe?
Could both have been built by a preflood civilization?
But if so, who would have had the ability
to manufacture such sophisticated structures?
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest the answer may lie
within sacred texts that describe interactions
between early humans and otherworldly beings.
Uruk, southern Iraq.
In the early 19th century,
archaeologists excavating this ancient city
unearthed clay tablets covered in a form of symbolic writing
known as cuneiform.
It remains the world's first known writing system.
When the tablets were deciphered in the 1820s,
they revealed a record of Sumerian daily life,
names of important figures and rulers,
and accounts of sky gods called the Anunnaki.
These clay tablets are 5,000 years old and more,
and they tell of the arrival of
the Anunnaki, the pantheon of gods.
The chief was Anu.
This is the sky god who came along and created everything.
So, the origin of the civilization
on the planet came from the sky.
The high god of the Anunnaki,
Anu, presided over
the divine council.
There were a multitude of beings that came to this council.
They deliberated with Anu,
they made decisions for humanity,
they intervened in human affairs.
Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe
are in an area that is well-known for its mythology.
Which suggests that the Anunnaki
were responsible for giving humanity
the rudiments of civilization.
It was said that they gave humanity animal husbandry,
but also agriculture for the first time,
both of which we know
occurred in the area of Göbekli Tepe
and Karahan Tepe.
At Göbekli Tepe, there's a carving
of these three handbags
that appear above this bird-like creature.
And what's fascinating about this
is that you can find carvings of similar handbags
about 400 miles to the south
where the ancient Sumerians lived.
And there, the handbags are held
by these winged figures with bird-like heads
called Anunnaki,
and the bags are said to hold
all the knowledge of the universe.
Professor Klaus Schmidt,
the rediscoverer of Göbekli Tepe in 1994,
actually wrote that he believed
that the founders of Göbekli Tepe
were the Anunnaki.
NARRATOR: Similarly, the Bible also tells of early humans
having help from beings who came down from the sky
called the watchers.
The watchers are the fallen angels
who came to Earth and intermingled with humans.
We are told that they are here to observe,
and they're not going to interfere
in human development, although some of them did.
They're also seeding humanity with knowledge
that will help us to progress.
COLLINS: Both the watchers
and the Anunnaki, who almost certainly were the same,
have been associated with this culture
at Göbekli Tepe and Karahan.
And is it possible, therefore,
that they are behind the creation of these sites?
And if we consider the possibility
that there was a huge cataclysm,
the chances are, the underground cites of Cappadocia,
they would have been used as places of refuge.
NARRATOR: As mainstream scholars struggle to explain
how people living 12,000 years ago
were able to carve out
millions of square feet of rock from the earth,
and build sprawling megalithic sites,
could the answer be found in the ancient writings
that describe our earliest ancestors
receiving assistance from extraterrestrials?
Perhaps further clues can be found
by more closely examining the T-shaped pillars
at the ancient sites,
and the curious features
carved into them.
Karahan Tepe is really something quite spectacular.
Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Authors Andrew Collins
and Hugh Newman have spent decades
investigating ancient sites around the world,
and have made multiple trips to Karahan Tepe
in southeast Turkey.
NEWMAN: In the last couple of years,
they've uncovered it, only a small amount,
but enough to provide some remarkable insights
into what was going on here in southeast Turkey.
Absolutely. I mean, it's like
this is pieces of a jigsaw
that's just waiting to be put together.
NARRATOR: In September 2022,
Andrew and Hugh traveled to the site together
in search of further clues
as to just who built it and why.
Upon their arrival at Karahan Tepe,
Andrew and Hugh were joined
by local researcher Taha Ozyavuz.
COLLINS: Taha.
Nice to meet you.
This is Hugh.
Thank you, and good to meet you.
I'm absolutely astounded by this site,
how vast it is, how, like, immaculate it is,
and how it is just
literally one of the most
astonishing places I've ever visited.
Well, this is just, you know, just enormous,
everything that's here.
We can see T-pillars going in every direction.
And just think
what is below our feet right now.
And if you do compare it to Göbekli Tepe,
it is... it's got the T-pillars,
it's got the enclosures,
it's got the remarkable 3D relief carving,
the statues, the serpents and everything else.
There are incredible, uh,
images of different animals and creatures
of the natural world.
What do they mean?
NARRATOR: Most mainstream scholars identify the sites
of Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe as temples of worship.
Others have suggested that the round enclosures
may have been used as corrals for animals,
and that the T-shaped pillars once supported roofs.
However, Klaus Schmidt,
the archaeologist behind the excavation
of Göbekli Tepe in the 1990s,
was certain that the T-shaped pillars
represent human forms,
but with some curious features.
I think what we see
when we look at these T-shaped pillars
is abstract human beings basically.
The heads are the actual T-shaped terminations.
The stems of the stones are the bodies.
Sometimes we see belts around them.
But what's so weird about these
is that the arms here
almost seem like an abstract animal as well.
Perhaps a bird, perhaps a snake.
NEWMAN: That is intriguing.
And this is a tradition we find linked with giants
all around the world.
Even in the Bible we have the giant of Gath
that had extra fingers.
We have stories of Goliath
and his family having extra fingers.
We have stories of great Irish giant gods
having extra digits as well.
And the fact that the watchers,
the Nephilim, and the Anunnaki
would seem to be associated
with the mythology of this region
suggests to us that they could be
one of the builders of Karahan Tepe.
NARRATOR: According to the Bible's Book of Genesis,
prior to the Great Flood,
angels known as the watchers defied God's will,
and came down to Earth to live among humans.
These otherworldly beings mated with their human subjects,
producing a race of hybrid human giants
that were known as the "Nephilim."
One of the most tantalizing small tidbits
in the Hebrew Bible,
is found in the opening verses of Genesis, chapter 6,
where we hear the story of the Nephilim,
who are described as, basically,
being the hybrid offspring of humans
and divine beings
who are called the "sons of God."
RABBI ARIEL BAR TZADOK: Who were these sons of God?
Legend expands and tells us
that they were rebellious angels.
But yet, we must understand angels
to not be spiritual beings,
but very tangibly physical.
Or else how could they take human wives
and bear children?
Now, the children of these sons of God and human women
became known as the hybrids called the fallen ones.
In Hebrew, the Nephilim.
They existed in the days before Noah.
MICHAEL CARTER: Aside from the Bible, religious texts
that talk about these demigods, these hybrids,
are the Hindu Upanishads,
and if we look at
Sumer, again,
gods coming down from the Earth,
fraternizing with the natives, which are us,
and creating a new race of people:
Half-human and half-extraterrestrial gods.
Yes, we can speculate
were those who were to become known
as the sons of God
originally inhabitants of a place like Karahan?
NARRATOR: Does the eight-fingered figure found at Karahan Tepe
provide evidence to support the biblical accounts
of giants existing on Earth before the Great Flood?
And if so, might they have been involved
in the creation of Turkey's mysterious sites,
both above ground and below?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,
and claim that these hybrid beings
not only built megalithic sites in Turkey,
but all over the world.
NARRATOR: At the famous site of Stonehenge
in Wiltshire, England,
are concentric circles of massive boulders,
each nearly 13 feet tall,
and weighing up to 25 tons.
On the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea,
the Ggantija Temples contain megalithic blocks
weighing as much as 50 tons.
And on the remote South Pacific Island of Rapa Nui,
better known as Easter Island,
there are nearly 900 ancient stone statues
that stand as tall as 30 feet high,
and weigh up to 90 tons.
These ancient megalithic sites
are thousands of miles from each other.
However, the local traditions of the indigenous cultures
at each location claim that they were constructed
by giants.
It's fascinating that around the world,
wherever you have megalithic ancient sites,
there are local legends
that the giants built these places.
For example, in Puma Punku, they say
it was built overnight by giants.
They say Stonehenge may have been built by giants.
In Malta, they are suggesting
that all this megalithic walls
and structures were built by giants.
JIM VIEIRA: To me what's astonishing is that you have
ancient sites associated with
giants building them all around the planet,
but you also have historical documents
that talk about the unearthing of giant bones at these sites.
Like at Baalbek, Lebanon,
in Stonehenge, in Sardinia.
You have these historical documents
that talk about giant bones that were unearthed.
We have an account
from the American geographic society in the 1860s
where giant bones were unearthed and documented.
NARRATOR: Until recently, the megalithic sites in southern Turkey
were hidden beneath the earth, and completely unknown,
even to the local populations,
so no record or ancient legends exist
to explain how they were constructed.
But might certain details,
like the eight-fingered figures
and the large stone head found at Karahan Tepe,
connect these sites with giants as well?
Could they have been built before the biblical event
known as the Great Flood,
and with the help of the Nephilim,
the hybrid beings described in the Hebrew Bible?
NEWMAN: As we go round the world,
there's talk about a race of giants
involved in the construction of these megalithic sites.
Well, so what can we say about this?
Were these the descendants
of the builders of Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe?
And did their giant genes get passed down from this early era
to these other megalithic areas around the world?
NARRATOR: Curiously,
many of the megalithic sites around the world
have features that perfectly align
with specific constellations,
star systems, or celestial events.
Stonehenge in England was built to align
with the sunrise on the summer solstice,
as was the Temple of Mnajdra on the island of Malta.
Pyramids in both Egypt and Mesoamerica
were positioned to line up with the belt stars of Orion.
And celestial alignments have also been found at Karahan Tepe,
with a stone face that is positioned
to align with the sun at certain times of the year.
COLLINS: One of the enclosure's structure at Karahan Tepe
points directly towards the sun
as it sets at the time of the summer solstice.
Another alignment is at
the mid-winter solstice at Karahan Tepe.
The sun, just after sunrise on this date,
would've illuminated this head
so that anybody actually inside this shrine
would've seen the head light up.
CHILDRESS: These are people who are now watching the stars,
they're looking at constellations,
they're seeing the movements, they're studying it.
In a way, they become the first astronomers.
And that would be, perhaps, what Karahan Tepe was,
in a sense, an astronomical observatory.
But at the same time,
perhaps they're interested in certain stars
because these are the stars where the Anunnaki came from.
NARRATOR: Could it be that Karahan Tepe,
and other megalithic sites around the world,
were intentionally aligned to the stars
to indicate that their architects
came from somewhere far beyond Earth?
Perhaps further clues can be found by examining
one of the most curious mysteries regarding Göbekli Tepe
and Karahan Tepe:
The fact that both ancient sites
were deliberately buried.
NARRATOR: In the Bible's Book of Genesis,
chapter 6, verse 9,
begins with the story of Noah and the flood...
(thunder crashing)
...in which God unleashes a great deluge
to rid the Earth of evil.
In Genesis, only Noah
is warned of the coming cataclysm
so that he may build the ark,
and restart life on Earth after the flood.
However, a very different story
is told in the Book of Enoch,
a controversial text that can be found in the Bible
used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
but was omitted in all other Christian traditions.
In this version of the story, Noah's great-grandfather Enoch
learns of the coming cataclysm
long before Noah is even born.
The Book of Enoch is sensational
because he speaks of the first person.
He says, it was evening,
then he hear the noise in the firmament.
(thunder crashing)
And two beings crossed him.
And he said, "They had not the breathe of humans."
So, if somebody does not breathe like humans, what are they?
Nonhumans.
Enoch describes, "They brought me over the Earth.
I saw the round face of the Earth."
Enoch was teached by the extraterrestrials.
When he came back down to Earth,
he told to the humans,
a gigantic flood would come
and destroy everything.
NARRATOR: One of the oldest religious traditions in the Middle East,
Zoroastrianism, also teaches
that it was not just one person
who knew of a coming cataclysm.
In the Vendidad, which predates
all the books of the Hebrew Bible,
a young priest named Yima
is warned of a disaster by the god Ahura Mazda,
who is often depicted seated inside a winged disk.
Yima is instructed to share this information with his people,
and even to build an underground shelter
that sounds very similar to the ancient man-made caves
that have been found in Turkey.
Ahura Mazda instructs Yima to build a vara.
This is a huge structure,
two miles long, two miles wide.
An underground hall, of sorts,
where things can be protected from the terrible winter.
Yima was to hide a remnant of the people,
and an extensive seed bank,
also a pair of each of the animal species.
Once Yima is finished building the vara,
he takes 2,000 people in,
a representation of mankind.
CHILDRESS: So again, we have a warning
to tell the people, "Get ready,
this terrible cataclysm is gonna happen."
And these underground cities,
like Derinkuyu, are huge.
They are vast.
They go many, many stories underground.
There's all kinds of streets and rooms.
So, you have to wonder
if these underground cities served as a refuge
for survivors of this cataclysm.
NARRATOR: If a great civilization of humans and giants
existed on Earth long ago,
is it possible that they received advanced warning
of a worldwide cataclysm by an extraterrestrial race?
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest
the evidence of such a warning
lies in the fact that both Göbekli Tepe
and Karahan Tepe were not overcome
by the sands of time,
but were intentionally buried.
Archaeologists are now pretty well certain
that Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe
were intentionally buried.
Why do you do that?
Perhaps they knew of an impending cataclysm.
The flood of the Old Testament, we're told, was premeditated.
People had foreknowledge that it was coming,
and they were preparing for it,
and they were trying to preserve elements of their civilization.
It was intended for us to ultimately discover it
later in the future.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that the builders of Karahan Tepe
buried the entire site because they had been forewarned
of a coming cataclysm,
and wanted to preserve some record of a civilization
that was on the verge of extinction?
A civilization that was, perhaps,
far different from our own?
There are legends from around the world
that speak about a great, highly advanced,
wonderful civilization that predated our own.
We're familiar with this by names like Atlantis
or Lemuria and the like.
There are many legends which speak about
the existence of giants.
We know about them from the Bible.
Very famous story of David and Goliath.
It is also said that, in these days,
many of what we today call "angels"
walked among human beings openly.
Now today, we call these entities extraterrestrials.
When we see imagery from around the world,
and when we read about these things
in the ancient traditions, we need to ask the question,
is there some literal fact behind this?
And when we look at these excavations today in Turkey,
can we speculate
that these were the remnants of that civilization?
VIEIRA: These sites that we're talking about, these super ancient,
super complex sites, they are telling us something.
They're telling us about mythology being true.
They're telling us there's a larger story
to the-the history of humanity.
NARRATOR: Now that Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe
have been exhumed from the Earth
after being hidden for more than 11,000 years,
might we learn that the history of humankind
is much different than we ever imagined?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,
and propose that new excavations in southern Turkey
suggest that these sites have only begun to reveal
their ancient secrets.
NARRATOR: Sanliurfa Province.
June 27, 2021.
Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy
appears before the international press corps
to make an historic announcement
regarding the ongoing excavations in southern Turkey.
The minister of tourism for Turkey announced
that we now have 12 sites,
many of which remained to be excavated.
And all of this forms part of what they call
the Tas Tepeler culture.
SCHOCH: The Turkish authorities
have been making a series of announcements
of new incredibly ancient sites.
Incredible number of sites,
we have at least a dozen sites now that are known.
And what this is really reconfirming
is that this was a major area
of early civilization.
NARRATOR: Since it was initiated in 2019
by Istanbul University,
the Göbekli culture and Karahan excavations project
has determined that these ancient settlements
cover a region that spans an astonishing
125 miles from one end to the other.
This suggests that approximately 12,000 years ago,
the area was an extensive
and highly advanced metropolis.
HENRY: This site is absolutely massive.
What we are working with right now represents,
perhaps, 1% of the entire site.
And they're forecasting it's literally gonna take centuries
to uncover everything that is
at Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe.
We're talking about a complex that is so vast,
that it's almost beyond our comprehension.
TSOUKALOS: I love this idea of a megalopolis,
a mega, ancient city,
where some archaeologists say,
"Oh, that could have never happened."
Well, maybe it did.
And Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe
and the other sites that have been found there
was a worldwide city
of millions of people.
NEWMAN: These excavations in the whole Tas Tepeler region,
are gonna rewrite history.
They're already doing so.
They're like the smoking gun
of an advanced lost civilization,
a supercivilization, I believe,
where there was highly advanced cultures working together.
And you have to, you know, really question
if the further they look, they're gonna find evidence
of these legendary Anunnaki,
these extraterrestrial beings.
Our ultimate questions have always revolved around
who are we, where did we come from,
why are we here,
where are we going from here, and how do we get there?
These questions are now being answered for us.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that what archeologists
are uncovering in southern Turkey
is the true record of the beginning
of mankind's development on Earth?
Do the ancient reliefs carved into limestone
depict advanced beings
that traveled to our planet to create hybrid humans,
and set in motion the dawn of modern civilization?
Perhaps as excavations continue,
we will unearth, not only startling new evidence
about the past,
but undeniable proof
of our otherworldly origins.
CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS