1 00:02:06,835 --> 00:02:09,838 We are here in the Vanuatu Archipelago, 2 00:02:09,921 --> 00:02:13,425 a cluster of volcanic islands in the Pacific, 3 00:02:13,508 --> 00:02:17,763 about 1,000 miles east of northern Australia. 4 00:02:19,765 --> 00:02:23,977 Below, the village of Endu on the island of Ambrym. 5 00:02:25,062 --> 00:02:29,441 A year ago, most of it was destroyed by a tropical storm 6 00:02:29,524 --> 00:02:31,360 of phenomenal force. 7 00:02:32,194 --> 00:02:36,114 But the village also has to endure to the periodic fallout 8 00:02:36,198 --> 00:02:38,617 of volcanic eruptions. 9 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:41,536 Punctuated by catastrophes, 10 00:02:41,620 --> 00:02:45,749 time does not seem to have found a grip on the community. 11 00:02:49,711 --> 00:02:51,672 We met Chief Mael Moses, 12 00:02:51,755 --> 00:02:54,633 here with members of his large family. 13 00:02:57,094 --> 00:02:59,012 This is Clive Oppenheimer, 14 00:02:59,096 --> 00:03:02,265 a volcanologist from Cambridge University, 15 00:03:02,349 --> 00:03:04,518 who brought us to this place. 16 00:03:05,185 --> 00:03:08,814 Chief Mael Moses, you're the head of this beautiful village of Endu, 17 00:03:08,897 --> 00:03:11,733 just a few kilometers from the volcano crater. 18 00:03:11,817 --> 00:03:17,197 You visited the crater and looked yourself into the inferno, 19 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,699 -into the raging fire. -Yeah. 20 00:03:19,783 --> 00:03:22,160 How did you feel when you went there? 21 00:03:23,578 --> 00:03:24,871 Uh... 22 00:03:26,039 --> 00:03:29,960 I felt very frightened to look at the fire. 23 00:03:32,003 --> 00:03:38,677 Secondly, I feel that I was not in the island of Ambrym. 24 00:03:39,094 --> 00:03:40,762 I thought I was somewhere else. 25 00:03:41,930 --> 00:03:45,142 And, uh... the other thing, 26 00:03:45,225 --> 00:03:51,148 I feel that-- how powerful that fire is. 27 00:03:56,695 --> 00:03:59,156 Do spirits live in the fire? 28 00:04:00,282 --> 00:04:03,368 That's how we believe, that spirits are in the fire. 29 00:04:03,452 --> 00:04:07,706 The fire is burning through that spirit. 30 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,918 We believe that the fire is burning through that spirit. 31 00:04:14,921 --> 00:04:20,427 I read that there was a big eruption in 1968, 32 00:04:20,510 --> 00:04:25,265 and that there were rituals performed to stop the eruption. 33 00:04:25,348 --> 00:04:30,187 And then tourists were not allowed for three years afterwards 34 00:04:30,270 --> 00:04:32,105 to visit the crater 35 00:04:32,189 --> 00:04:36,067 because it was seen that somehow the tourists had started the eruption. 36 00:04:36,151 --> 00:04:37,444 Is that...? 37 00:04:37,527 --> 00:04:42,365 Well, we believe that because we thought that the spirits 38 00:04:42,449 --> 00:04:44,659 that are in the volcano... 39 00:04:44,743 --> 00:04:48,622 if they look at you, they don't know who is this. Okay? 40 00:04:48,705 --> 00:04:52,292 But if they look at one of us, they know that, uh, 41 00:04:52,375 --> 00:04:55,879 because we are more or less related to the volcano, 42 00:04:55,962 --> 00:04:58,965 then they will just be quiet. 43 00:04:59,883 --> 00:05:04,513 Sometimes we say that tourists won't go up there. Okay? 44 00:05:04,596 --> 00:05:09,601 Because you are foreigners to that spirit, the volcano. 45 00:05:13,522 --> 00:05:19,694 Once I dreamt about volcano, I saw people in that fire. 46 00:05:21,488 --> 00:05:23,990 People and women and men. 47 00:05:24,074 --> 00:05:26,451 They're cooking their food in there. 48 00:05:26,535 --> 00:05:30,080 So, it makes me believe that there is somebody who is-- 49 00:05:30,163 --> 00:05:31,790 their spirits are there. 50 00:05:34,376 --> 00:05:37,087 The molten rock, is that part of the spirit? 51 00:05:38,421 --> 00:05:43,927 The lava expresses the anger of the devil 52 00:05:44,010 --> 00:05:46,972 who are living in that fire, volcano. 53 00:05:51,768 --> 00:05:55,814 Do the ancestors, then, live under the volcano? 54 00:05:55,897 --> 00:06:01,736 Yes, we believe that anybody who dies here goes to the volcano, 55 00:06:01,820 --> 00:06:05,365 and that volcano has become their village, 56 00:06:05,448 --> 00:06:09,869 where you can talk to them and they can talk to us. 57 00:06:10,787 --> 00:06:14,541 -Can you talk to the volcano? -I'm not, because, you know, 58 00:06:14,624 --> 00:06:16,960 I'm not related to the volcano. 59 00:06:17,043 --> 00:06:22,132 But one of my brothers is. He was talking to the volcano. 60 00:06:22,215 --> 00:06:28,680 His father-- His father, when he goes up to the volcano, 61 00:06:28,763 --> 00:06:32,475 and if he wants to smoke, he just calls out 62 00:06:32,559 --> 00:06:35,520 and the fire will come down, and take the fire 63 00:06:35,604 --> 00:06:39,649 and light his cigarette or pipe or something like that. 64 00:06:39,733 --> 00:06:42,068 And if you brother talks to the volcano, 65 00:06:42,152 --> 00:06:44,988 is he allowed to tell you what the volcano has said, 66 00:06:45,071 --> 00:06:48,742 -or is it just a secret? -No, it's a secret for him. Yes. 67 00:06:48,825 --> 00:06:51,911 -Do you try and get the secret out of him? -I've got some. 68 00:06:55,790 --> 00:06:58,126 But Chief Mael Moses is worried 69 00:06:58,209 --> 00:07:01,004 about the loss of their ancient culture. 70 00:07:01,087 --> 00:07:05,675 He asked us to follow him to a ritual site in the jungle. 71 00:07:10,805 --> 00:07:15,352 Once upon a time, our people were cannibal. 72 00:07:15,435 --> 00:07:20,315 They see somebody, and they would like to attack him 73 00:07:20,398 --> 00:07:24,069 and kill him so that they use it for meat. 74 00:07:24,152 --> 00:07:26,404 And this how they demonstrate it. 75 00:07:49,844 --> 00:07:52,472 Many people here have lost the dance. 76 00:07:52,931 --> 00:07:57,602 They have lost the idea of dancing. 77 00:07:57,686 --> 00:07:58,603 Yes. 78 00:07:59,729 --> 00:08:05,402 The custom dance that you're going to see this afternoon, 79 00:08:05,485 --> 00:08:09,864 just my family will perform the dance. 80 00:08:15,203 --> 00:08:19,666 This a happier dance. The happiest dance. 81 00:08:19,749 --> 00:08:22,669 After we have gone through a long suffering, 82 00:08:22,752 --> 00:08:25,797 then we are happy to go back and dance 83 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:27,549 and to express ourselves. 84 00:09:40,622 --> 00:09:43,958 I studied here ten years ago with some colleagues, 85 00:09:44,042 --> 00:09:45,835 scientists from Vanuatu. 86 00:09:45,919 --> 00:09:50,215 For you, is it strange to imagine that someone would come here to work, 87 00:09:50,298 --> 00:09:53,718 to study how the volcano works, how it erupts? 88 00:09:54,636 --> 00:09:59,390 I'm very surprised to hear that you people are very interested 89 00:09:59,474 --> 00:10:01,810 in the volcano. Yeah. 90 00:10:02,227 --> 00:10:04,479 I always ask myself, 91 00:10:04,562 --> 00:10:08,691 "Why do these people want to do with that fire?" 92 00:10:08,775 --> 00:10:11,736 Okay? 93 00:10:11,820 --> 00:10:16,741 When looking at this, going in the helicopter yesterday, 94 00:10:16,825 --> 00:10:19,994 I was wondering, "Why this man is going-- 95 00:10:20,078 --> 00:10:23,665 wanting to do with that volcano, eh?" 96 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,841 Yes, I don't know why you are so interested in volcano. 97 00:10:34,884 --> 00:10:39,514 In a way, this film started for me ten years ago in Antarctica. 98 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,227 I was doing a film about scientists on this continent 99 00:10:44,310 --> 00:10:48,064 which took me to Mount Erebus, an active volcano, 100 00:10:48,148 --> 00:10:50,108 one of the three in the world 101 00:10:50,191 --> 00:10:54,112 where you can look straight into the magma of the inner earth. 102 00:10:55,613 --> 00:11:00,785 Magma is the heated molten rock from which lava can be extruded. 103 00:11:01,744 --> 00:11:06,207 It was on Erebus, 12,500 feet above sea level, 104 00:11:06,291 --> 00:11:10,503 that I met a strange and wonderful tribe of volcanologists, 105 00:11:10,587 --> 00:11:13,756 some of them overcome by altitude sickness. 106 00:11:22,557 --> 00:11:26,686 This close to the boiling magma, which frequently explodes, 107 00:11:26,769 --> 00:11:31,524 we were briefed on the etiquette of how to deal with the stuff. 108 00:11:33,026 --> 00:11:35,570 One very important thing to keep in mind 109 00:11:35,653 --> 00:11:37,197 when you're on the crater 110 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,992 is that the lava lake could explode at any time. 111 00:11:41,075 --> 00:11:45,371 If it does, it's vital to keep your attention 112 00:11:45,455 --> 00:11:46,831 faced toward the lava lake 113 00:11:46,915 --> 00:11:51,127 and watch for bombs that are tracking up into the air, 114 00:11:51,210 --> 00:11:54,464 and try to pick out the ones that might be coming toward you 115 00:11:54,547 --> 00:11:56,257 and step out of the way. 116 00:11:56,341 --> 00:11:59,510 The last thing you want to do is turn away from the crater 117 00:11:59,594 --> 00:12:01,638 or run or crouch down. 118 00:12:01,721 --> 00:12:04,307 Keep your attention toward the lava lake, look up, 119 00:12:04,390 --> 00:12:05,558 and move out of the way. 120 00:12:09,228 --> 00:12:12,565 What really impressed me was seeing these scientists 121 00:12:12,649 --> 00:12:17,070 toiling up the side of the volcano with such heavy loads. 122 00:12:18,863 --> 00:12:21,282 The temperature on this particular morning 123 00:12:21,366 --> 00:12:24,786 was minus-25 degrees Fahrenheit. 124 00:12:25,787 --> 00:12:28,331 My face is frozen. 125 00:12:29,958 --> 00:12:32,085 One of them stood out. 126 00:12:32,168 --> 00:12:35,046 Despite having that fantastic lava lake down there, 127 00:12:35,129 --> 00:12:36,839 with all that energy, 128 00:12:36,923 --> 00:12:42,178 we still have to bring old petrol generators up to the crater rim. 129 00:12:52,981 --> 00:12:55,400 Man vs. machine, chapter 53. 130 00:12:55,942 --> 00:12:59,028 Professor Clive Oppenheimer on Erebus. 131 00:13:00,571 --> 00:13:01,781 Hands in pockets. 132 00:13:02,949 --> 00:13:04,784 Waiting for it to start spontaneously. 133 00:13:05,827 --> 00:13:07,620 I think he'll be waiting a long time. 134 00:13:09,789 --> 00:13:12,625 Have you ever seen two men kiss on the top of Erebus before? 135 00:13:18,214 --> 00:13:20,008 I like working with Harry. 136 00:13:22,593 --> 00:13:24,595 Is that all right? Thank you. 137 00:13:25,388 --> 00:13:28,349 It was easy to start a friendship with him. 138 00:13:29,309 --> 00:13:31,602 On one of our first days together, 139 00:13:31,686 --> 00:13:35,273 he insisted upon training his own camera on me. 140 00:13:35,356 --> 00:13:37,233 Let's turn it off, yeah? Okay? 141 00:13:37,316 --> 00:13:41,112 Do you see them only in destructive terms, volcanoes? 142 00:13:41,195 --> 00:13:44,407 No, I... I do not. Uh... 143 00:13:47,493 --> 00:13:49,954 Something different. It's good that they are there. 144 00:13:50,038 --> 00:13:56,210 And the soil we are walking upon, uh, is not permanent. 145 00:13:56,794 --> 00:13:59,797 There's no permanence to what we are doing... 146 00:14:00,673 --> 00:14:03,259 no permanence to the efforts of human being, 147 00:14:03,342 --> 00:14:06,596 no permanence to art, no permanence to science. 148 00:14:07,180 --> 00:14:12,393 There is something of a crust that is somehow moving, 149 00:14:12,477 --> 00:14:18,274 and it makes me fond of the volcano to know that our life, 150 00:14:18,358 --> 00:14:21,194 human life, or animals, 151 00:14:21,277 --> 00:14:23,905 can only live and survive 152 00:14:23,988 --> 00:14:27,867 because the volcanoes created the atmosphere that we need. 153 00:14:27,950 --> 00:14:31,746 Do you have a sense of the different kinds of volcanoes and different eruptions? 154 00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:36,793 I know you filmed on La Soufrière de Guadeloupe many years ago, 155 00:14:36,876 --> 00:14:38,294 which is a very-- 156 00:14:38,378 --> 00:14:43,007 Well, do you sense differences in the activity here with...? 157 00:14:43,091 --> 00:14:46,177 Yeah, La Soufrière was very volatile. 158 00:14:49,347 --> 00:14:52,517 It was all the way back in 1976 159 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,353 when I first filmed a volcano. 160 00:14:55,436 --> 00:14:58,815 This was on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. 161 00:15:00,108 --> 00:15:03,820 The mountain was expected to explode at any moment, 162 00:15:03,903 --> 00:15:07,532 and 70,000 people were rapidly evacuated. 163 00:15:10,410 --> 00:15:12,245 The fear was intense 164 00:15:12,328 --> 00:15:17,667 because of the memory of an event that took on apocalyptic proportions. 165 00:15:18,793 --> 00:15:21,921 It was known that, in 1902, 166 00:15:22,004 --> 00:15:26,717 on the neighboring island of Martinique, Mount Pelée exploded. 167 00:15:26,801 --> 00:15:32,890 The signals that La Soufrière issued in Guadeloupe 168 00:15:32,974 --> 00:15:36,894 were almost identical to what had happened. 169 00:15:36,978 --> 00:15:39,272 It was measured in 1902. 170 00:15:39,355 --> 00:15:41,607 So, everybody was afraid it would explode, 171 00:15:41,691 --> 00:15:45,528 and it would explode with very, very massive force, 172 00:15:45,611 --> 00:15:49,991 many times an atomic bomb, Hiroshima-size. 173 00:15:50,074 --> 00:15:52,910 So, I was not interested in the volcano. 174 00:15:52,994 --> 00:15:57,039 I was interested in one single man who refused to be evacuated. 175 00:15:57,123 --> 00:15:58,082 Uh-huh. 176 00:15:58,166 --> 00:16:00,626 A different attitude towards death. 177 00:16:00,710 --> 00:16:05,339 75 people-- 75,000 people being evacuated, 178 00:16:05,423 --> 00:16:06,799 and he stayed on. 179 00:16:06,883 --> 00:16:09,719 I actually found him-- I find him sleeping. 180 00:16:09,802 --> 00:16:13,473 I find him sleeping. I had to wake him up on camera. 181 00:16:16,225 --> 00:16:18,686 And what was wonderful-- he was very philosophical. 182 00:16:18,769 --> 00:16:20,980 A very poor black farmer. 183 00:16:21,063 --> 00:16:23,024 And I sensed that, after a while, 184 00:16:23,107 --> 00:16:26,569 he didn't feel so comfortable with us anymore, 185 00:16:26,652 --> 00:16:31,991 and he sat up and started to tie his worn-out tennis shoe. 186 00:16:32,074 --> 00:16:35,578 And then, all of a sudden, he sings a song against the camera, 187 00:16:35,661 --> 00:16:39,123 and I knew that was that. So, go away, we'd better get out. 188 00:16:54,305 --> 00:16:56,349 We met in Antarctica 189 00:16:56,432 --> 00:17:00,061 during the shoot of Encounters at the End of the World, 190 00:17:00,144 --> 00:17:03,940 and I knew a little bit about you. I'd seen some of your movies 191 00:17:04,023 --> 00:17:06,692 when I was a youngster, 192 00:17:06,776 --> 00:17:09,862 and I knew something of your reputation. 193 00:17:09,946 --> 00:17:13,074 And we, in our field team, 194 00:17:13,157 --> 00:17:18,871 we were anxious that you were going to have us propelled 195 00:17:18,955 --> 00:17:20,748 down towards the lava lake. 196 00:17:20,831 --> 00:17:25,044 There was some concern that you would be looking for lengths of rope 197 00:17:25,127 --> 00:17:28,422 with which we could be lowered down within meters of this fiery lake 198 00:17:28,506 --> 00:17:30,341 on Mount Erebus, volcano. 199 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:36,889 And instead, you were interested in what we were doing 200 00:17:36,973 --> 00:17:38,766 and why we were doing it. 201 00:17:38,849 --> 00:17:43,437 For me, there is no personal excitement to go down. 202 00:17:43,521 --> 00:17:47,733 There's a curiosity. Yes, I would love to see it from close up. 203 00:17:48,484 --> 00:17:51,862 But since it is too dangerous, it would be silly. 204 00:17:51,946 --> 00:17:54,365 We have, in some ways, similar... 205 00:17:54,448 --> 00:17:57,243 Um, you know, we both-- As a volcanologist, 206 00:17:57,326 --> 00:17:59,620 of course, there's a risk doing the measurements, 207 00:17:59,704 --> 00:18:04,792 and you ask yourself, "Well, is it worth dying to get this measurement?" 208 00:18:04,875 --> 00:18:08,087 And the answer is no, if you look at it in those terms. 209 00:18:08,170 --> 00:18:10,673 But you're always trying to evaluate 210 00:18:10,756 --> 00:18:13,009 how far you're going to tolerate the risk. 211 00:18:13,092 --> 00:18:15,678 I mean, even here, the volcano could explode now 212 00:18:15,761 --> 00:18:18,848 and we could all be hit by one of these five-meter bombs. 213 00:18:18,931 --> 00:18:22,560 I'm the only one in filmmaking who is clinically sane, 214 00:18:22,643 --> 00:18:25,396 -taking all precautions. -That's very clear. Oh, absolutely. 215 00:18:25,479 --> 00:18:28,482 I mean, you wouldn't still be here if you were insane. 216 00:18:28,566 --> 00:18:32,486 You would've been consumed long ago by a pyroclastic current 217 00:18:32,570 --> 00:18:36,532 or a gas flare or a grizzly bear or whatever. 218 00:18:36,616 --> 00:18:38,743 So, it's quite clear that you're sane. 219 00:18:39,285 --> 00:18:42,872 I never doubted that for a moment from our first encounter. 220 00:18:43,497 --> 00:18:47,126 Deposited out from the volcanic gas. 221 00:18:48,794 --> 00:18:49,670 Very nice. 222 00:18:51,297 --> 00:18:54,008 -That's a good swoosh. -Yeah, a good swoosh. 223 00:18:56,385 --> 00:18:59,263 -We're very blasé about all of this. -Yes. 224 00:19:00,431 --> 00:19:04,935 But let it come at us. We'll face it and step aside. 225 00:19:06,937 --> 00:19:10,608 We would often discuss the life and work of a French couple, 226 00:19:10,691 --> 00:19:13,027 Katia and Maurice Krafft. 227 00:19:14,028 --> 00:19:18,449 They were famous for capturing incredible images of volcanoes. 228 00:19:21,202 --> 00:19:26,040 But this meant that they had to get dangerously close to their subject. 229 00:19:26,123 --> 00:19:30,044 Too close, as it would eventually turn out. 230 00:21:13,773 --> 00:21:18,319 They were both instantly killed by a pyroclastic flow in Japan, 231 00:21:18,402 --> 00:21:21,155 together with 41 other people. 232 00:21:27,453 --> 00:21:32,374 This is the very avalanche of super-heated gases that killed them. 233 00:21:32,458 --> 00:21:37,046 What is rushing down this slope at over 100 miles per hour 234 00:21:37,129 --> 00:21:41,217 has a temperature of more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit. 235 00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:13,332 I spent a very formative part of my youth in Indonesia. 236 00:22:13,415 --> 00:22:17,044 I came to Toba when I was 19 years old. 237 00:22:17,127 --> 00:22:20,256 And actually, in Indonesia, I feel like it's my second home. 238 00:22:20,339 --> 00:22:23,133 I've come back intermittently over the years, 239 00:22:23,217 --> 00:22:25,177 but I immediately feel at home. 240 00:22:25,261 --> 00:22:29,974 The smell of the kretek clove cigarettes, the sights, the sounds. 241 00:22:30,057 --> 00:22:32,476 It's a very special place to me. 242 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,647 And I think my career as a volcanologist 243 00:22:36,730 --> 00:22:41,235 was partly formed from that first visit as a 19-year-old. 244 00:22:42,027 --> 00:22:46,240 Indonesia was the right place for an aspiring scientist. 245 00:22:46,323 --> 00:22:52,705 In fact, there's no country in the world that has more volcanoes than this one. 246 00:22:52,788 --> 00:22:55,791 Clive Oppenheimer took us to Mount Sinabung. 247 00:22:56,542 --> 00:23:00,087 It had been relatively quiet the last few years. 248 00:23:01,589 --> 00:23:06,844 The area we are shooting in right now had been declared a restricted zone, 249 00:23:06,927 --> 00:23:10,097 with no access allowed to anyone. 250 00:23:10,180 --> 00:23:15,352 But, as we found farmers working there, we felt reasonably safe. 251 00:23:16,604 --> 00:23:21,775 Eerie relics remained, though, from an eruption in 2010. 252 00:23:23,819 --> 00:23:26,947 Feeling that this was distant enough in time, 253 00:23:27,031 --> 00:23:30,492 no one was expecting what happened next. 254 00:24:18,082 --> 00:24:21,585 Fortunately, this eruption did not hurt anyone, 255 00:24:21,669 --> 00:24:24,296 and we quickly left the area. 256 00:24:31,762 --> 00:24:36,475 Only a few days later, we saw this on Indonesian television. 257 00:24:37,142 --> 00:24:41,814 Seven people were killed in the very spot where we had had our camera. 258 00:25:06,797 --> 00:25:09,717 In order to prevent such catastrophes, 259 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,263 Indonesia has set up numerous early warning systems. 260 00:25:14,346 --> 00:25:17,099 This is the Babadan Observatory, 261 00:25:17,182 --> 00:25:19,351 which monitors Mount Merapi, 262 00:25:19,435 --> 00:25:23,272 one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. 263 00:25:24,231 --> 00:25:28,819 And each of these stations is a seismometer somewhere on Merapi, 264 00:25:28,902 --> 00:25:32,281 a different distance, five, six kilometers from the summit? 265 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:38,203 Yeah, that's true. So, we have a summit station. 266 00:25:38,287 --> 00:25:41,081 We have a short east station, 267 00:25:41,165 --> 00:25:44,793 we have short station in Babadan Hill. 268 00:25:44,877 --> 00:25:49,173 And also we have on the west of station. 269 00:25:49,256 --> 00:25:54,470 And these real-time data provide one of the most important parts 270 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:59,016 of a volcano-monitoring program for assessing what the volcano is doing. 271 00:25:59,099 --> 00:26:01,643 -It's the heartbeat of the volcano. -Exactly. 272 00:26:01,727 --> 00:26:06,273 This one is the electronic distance measurements. 273 00:26:06,356 --> 00:26:11,487 So, we have a reflector in the summit of Merapi. 274 00:26:11,570 --> 00:26:15,365 Then we're measuring every morning. 275 00:26:15,908 --> 00:26:19,620 By this measuring, we're plotting the cone. 276 00:26:19,703 --> 00:26:22,289 So, it's measuring-- It's firing a laser pulse 277 00:26:22,372 --> 00:26:25,125 to a mirror five, six kilometers away, 278 00:26:25,209 --> 00:26:27,795 the light bounces back and you've measured the distance. 279 00:26:27,878 --> 00:26:31,882 And that can show whether the volcano is inflating 280 00:26:31,965 --> 00:26:35,511 because magma is rising into the cone. Is that-- 281 00:26:35,594 --> 00:26:41,600 That's right. That's the idea for the electronic distance measurements. 282 00:26:41,683 --> 00:26:43,977 In a worst-case scenario, 283 00:26:44,061 --> 00:26:48,315 I imagine the observer is at risk if there's a pyroclastic flow. 284 00:26:48,398 --> 00:26:51,193 If it's too late for the observer to evacuate, 285 00:26:51,276 --> 00:26:53,195 are there any options left? 286 00:26:53,278 --> 00:26:55,739 Yeah, that's the emergency. 287 00:26:55,823 --> 00:26:59,076 Then, if it is emergency, we have a bunker. 288 00:27:00,452 --> 00:27:01,954 It's a thick door. 289 00:27:02,037 --> 00:27:03,539 -Yeah. -After you. 290 00:27:04,832 --> 00:27:08,001 We put the food and also oxygen. 291 00:27:08,085 --> 00:27:12,256 We hope that they can survive for one month. 292 00:27:13,549 --> 00:27:18,762 It reminds me of the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902 293 00:27:18,846 --> 00:27:22,141 that killed nearly 30,000 people in the city of Saint-Pierre 294 00:27:22,224 --> 00:27:25,853 as the pyroclastic flows reached it. 295 00:27:26,353 --> 00:27:31,275 And the only survivor lived because he was the baddest guy in town. 296 00:27:31,358 --> 00:27:35,070 He was a criminal. I think he stabbed a prison officer 297 00:27:35,153 --> 00:27:37,197 through the cheek with a pencil, 298 00:27:37,281 --> 00:27:41,660 and he was put in solitary confinement in a bunker-like cell. 299 00:27:41,743 --> 00:27:45,163 All the other prisoners perished, but he survived, 300 00:27:45,247 --> 00:27:49,376 albeit badly burnt, because there was a tiny grill window in the cell, 301 00:27:49,459 --> 00:27:53,005 and he subsequently joined the Barnum & Bailey Circus 302 00:27:53,088 --> 00:27:55,757 and was exhibited as a celebrity, 303 00:27:55,841 --> 00:27:58,468 as the sole survivor of this eruption. 304 00:28:09,646 --> 00:28:14,067 So, in 2010, the monitoring was absolutely crucial 305 00:28:14,151 --> 00:28:18,363 in forecasting the eruption and its escalation. 306 00:28:18,447 --> 00:28:21,700 The first indication was seismic. 307 00:28:21,783 --> 00:28:25,204 A lot of volcanic earthquakes. 308 00:28:26,038 --> 00:28:29,458 This indicates that there is magma moving. 309 00:28:29,541 --> 00:28:34,296 Also, supported by these electronic distance measurements. 310 00:28:34,379 --> 00:28:35,672 And the gas measurements? 311 00:28:35,756 --> 00:28:36,965 Of course. 312 00:28:38,008 --> 00:28:40,552 I know this looks pathetic, like a shoebox 313 00:28:40,636 --> 00:28:43,055 with a baked bean tin stuck on the end, 314 00:28:43,138 --> 00:28:45,182 and it also looks like it's pointing at the ground, 315 00:28:45,265 --> 00:28:47,768 rather than at the volcano summit over here. 316 00:28:47,851 --> 00:28:51,230 But it's something I'm very proud of. It's something that we built in Cambridge. 317 00:28:51,313 --> 00:28:55,025 There's a little window here, and a mirror and some lenses, 318 00:28:55,108 --> 00:28:57,319 connected to an ultraviolet spectrometer. 319 00:28:57,402 --> 00:29:01,949 The device measures the emissions of sulfur dioxide from the volcano 320 00:29:02,032 --> 00:29:05,244 as the gases rise above the summit, 321 00:29:05,327 --> 00:29:07,537 and this is a very important parameter 322 00:29:07,621 --> 00:29:10,874 in many volcano-monitoring programs around the world. 323 00:29:10,958 --> 00:29:15,587 And the forerunner of this device we had working here in 2010, 324 00:29:15,671 --> 00:29:20,050 and it played an important role in the hazard assessment, 325 00:29:20,133 --> 00:29:24,721 and it's conservatively estimated at something like 20,000 lives were saved 326 00:29:24,805 --> 00:29:27,849 because of the effective monitoring of Merapi in 2010 327 00:29:27,933 --> 00:29:30,143 and the evacuation that followed. 328 00:29:38,193 --> 00:29:41,071 I'm very happy to see that it's still working. Uh... 329 00:29:41,154 --> 00:29:46,535 I hold, along with some colleagues, the patent for the original prototype, 330 00:29:46,618 --> 00:29:49,288 which we designed more than ten years ago now. 331 00:29:49,371 --> 00:29:53,458 So, this technology is now found on volcanoes around the world, 332 00:29:53,542 --> 00:29:58,088 and it's revolutionized the monitoring of gas emissions from volcanoes. 333 00:29:59,423 --> 00:30:02,426 It's my baby. I'm really glad to see it. 334 00:30:02,509 --> 00:30:05,929 I haven't seen it for two years, and here it is, still working. 335 00:30:12,269 --> 00:30:16,481 Obviously, there was a scientific side to our journey. 336 00:30:16,565 --> 00:30:20,777 But what we were really chasing was the magical side: 337 00:30:20,861 --> 00:30:23,572 the demons, the new gods. 338 00:30:24,406 --> 00:30:28,368 This was the itinerary we had set for ourselves, 339 00:30:28,452 --> 00:30:32,205 no matter how strange things might eventually get. 340 00:30:33,582 --> 00:30:37,419 Here in the palace of the Sultan of Jogjakarta, 341 00:30:37,502 --> 00:30:42,924 dignitaries are charged with the task of reconciling the goddess of the ocean 342 00:30:43,008 --> 00:30:45,635 with the demon of the volcano. 343 00:30:48,472 --> 00:30:52,726 The sultan himself does not participate in the procession. 344 00:30:52,809 --> 00:30:58,065 We marveled at his parked Mercedes, wrapped in a bubble of plastic, 345 00:30:58,148 --> 00:31:03,070 as if the conceptual artist Christo had just been here. 346 00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:15,874 The procession stops for a ritual close to the ocean. 347 00:31:15,957 --> 00:31:19,628 This will be a reenactment of the sexual union 348 00:31:19,711 --> 00:31:24,174 between an ancient sultan and the Queen of the Sea. 349 00:31:24,257 --> 00:31:28,095 A doctoral student of Clive's, Adam Bobbette, 350 00:31:28,178 --> 00:31:30,263 functioned as our guide. 351 00:31:30,347 --> 00:31:35,018 Every year, they have to reproduce this by giving rituals-- 352 00:31:35,102 --> 00:31:38,605 by doing rituals in this site and then giving offerings 353 00:31:38,688 --> 00:31:43,026 to the South Sea from the sultan, including his body parts-- 354 00:31:43,110 --> 00:31:46,446 fingernails, hair, clothes-- 355 00:31:46,530 --> 00:31:51,535 which they launch into the ocean to appease the Queen of the South Sea. 356 00:31:51,618 --> 00:31:54,496 As a part of their sexual union, 357 00:31:54,579 --> 00:31:58,083 they also created a kind of monster 358 00:31:58,166 --> 00:32:01,711 that ended up occupying the volcano. 359 00:32:02,712 --> 00:32:06,883 So, this hole is where they will give offerings, 360 00:32:06,967 --> 00:32:09,970 because this is the site of the sexual union 361 00:32:10,053 --> 00:32:13,181 between the Goddess of the Sea and the first sultan. 362 00:32:13,932 --> 00:32:16,768 I think it's coming right now. It's a box. 363 00:32:16,852 --> 00:32:18,228 This is it. 364 00:32:29,948 --> 00:32:33,368 And now the offerings to the ocean. 365 00:33:00,228 --> 00:33:04,900 The following day, we witnessed the ritual at the volcano. 366 00:33:04,983 --> 00:33:09,321 Merapi, on this morning, was not enshrouded in clouds. 367 00:33:31,218 --> 00:33:36,181 After the ceremony, the crowd went right for the flower petals, 368 00:33:36,264 --> 00:33:38,350 an auspicious souvenir. 369 00:33:50,987 --> 00:33:52,864 More strange magic. 370 00:33:52,948 --> 00:33:55,450 Another bewildering alignment, 371 00:33:55,534 --> 00:33:58,745 this time between a building and the volcano, 372 00:33:58,828 --> 00:34:03,291 here, barely visible, as if floating in the clouds. 373 00:34:05,293 --> 00:34:09,297 The odd edifice is still under construction. 374 00:34:17,764 --> 00:34:20,183 Inside, we found nobody 375 00:34:20,267 --> 00:34:24,104 in an empty chair pretending to watch TV. 376 00:34:32,362 --> 00:34:36,324 On the floor above, we met a few carpenters. 377 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,877 Yes, I am one of the workers building this place. 378 00:34:49,045 --> 00:34:52,549 What is it? What are you building? 379 00:34:52,632 --> 00:34:56,720 I built this. 380 00:34:57,762 --> 00:35:04,436 The owner had a dream. After that, he built this building. 381 00:35:04,519 --> 00:35:10,942 A building to be used for prayer. 382 00:35:13,653 --> 00:35:15,780 It looks like a chicken? 383 00:35:15,864 --> 00:35:18,575 It's actually a dove, not a chicken. 384 00:35:18,658 --> 00:35:25,498 But maybe it's also related to Merapi? 385 00:35:27,626 --> 00:35:33,757 Maybe the owner thinks that way, pointing it towards Mount Merapi. 386 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:38,595 I'm only an ordinary worker 387 00:35:38,678 --> 00:35:42,557 who goes home after working hours. 388 00:35:42,641 --> 00:35:48,480 But it still looks like a chicken, right? 389 00:35:48,563 --> 00:35:52,692 Yes, most people say it's like a chicken. 390 00:35:52,776 --> 00:35:56,321 They call it the Chicken Church. 391 00:35:56,404 --> 00:36:02,786 -A soap opera filmed a scene here. -Yes. 392 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:09,125 It became popular after the soap opera was shot. 393 00:36:09,209 --> 00:36:15,965 Last Saturday, someone from Surabaya who saw the show, 394 00:36:16,049 --> 00:36:22,931 wanted to see the location, so they came here. 395 00:36:27,102 --> 00:36:31,731 Odder still is the fact that, in this mostly Muslim country, 396 00:36:31,815 --> 00:36:34,359 this is a Roman Catholic church. 397 00:36:35,318 --> 00:36:39,489 Under the floor, it even has its own catacombs, 398 00:36:39,572 --> 00:36:42,033 maybe as a shelter for hermits, 399 00:36:42,117 --> 00:36:45,036 as protection against volcanic fallout. 400 00:37:28,371 --> 00:37:31,666 Of all the many volcanoes in Indonesia, 401 00:37:31,750 --> 00:37:34,961 there is no single one that is not connected 402 00:37:35,044 --> 00:37:36,880 to a belief system. 403 00:37:39,382 --> 00:37:42,635 For the locals, all this volcanic landscape 404 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,263 bears magical names. 405 00:37:45,346 --> 00:37:47,807 The Night Market of the Ghosts, 406 00:37:47,891 --> 00:37:49,893 the Flying Foxes, 407 00:37:49,976 --> 00:37:53,271 the Dancing Place of the Spirits. 408 00:38:30,475 --> 00:38:32,143 Back to Lake Toba, 409 00:38:32,227 --> 00:38:36,147 where Clive Oppenheimer's scientific journey began. 410 00:38:37,857 --> 00:38:40,860 This is the largest volcanic crater lake on Earth. 411 00:38:40,944 --> 00:38:44,405 It extends something like 100 kilometers off into the distance. 412 00:38:44,489 --> 00:38:46,032 Frankly, it's too big to film. 413 00:38:46,115 --> 00:38:48,952 We should've booked a ticket on the International Space Station 414 00:38:49,035 --> 00:38:52,372 to look down from above and appreciate its vast scale. 415 00:38:53,957 --> 00:38:57,710 The eruption occurred something like 74,000 years ago. 416 00:38:58,711 --> 00:39:02,632 This was a monstrous, stupendous volcanic eruption, 417 00:39:02,715 --> 00:39:04,884 one of the very largest that we've documented 418 00:39:04,968 --> 00:39:07,679 in all of Earth history for a single event. 419 00:39:07,762 --> 00:39:09,639 The skies would've been darkened, 420 00:39:09,722 --> 00:39:13,810 there would've been a conflagration across this part of Northern Sumatra 421 00:39:13,893 --> 00:39:18,982 as the pyroclastic currents spread out radially around the crater, 422 00:39:19,065 --> 00:39:22,610 igniting all of the tropical vegetation. 423 00:39:22,694 --> 00:39:28,199 The eruption produced something like 15,000 cubic kilometers of ash and pumice 424 00:39:28,283 --> 00:39:31,744 that was pumped high into the stratosphere 425 00:39:31,828 --> 00:39:33,872 and spread across the globe. 426 00:39:33,955 --> 00:39:40,420 Enough pumice came out to bury everyone in the United States to head-height. 427 00:39:40,795 --> 00:39:43,798 It's something like 10,000 times larger 428 00:39:43,882 --> 00:39:46,175 than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. 429 00:39:46,259 --> 00:39:48,636 It's 100,000 times greater 430 00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:52,140 than the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland in 2010 431 00:39:52,223 --> 00:39:54,267 that disrupted global aviation. 432 00:39:54,350 --> 00:39:58,313 This was the stupendous event in Earth history. 433 00:39:58,396 --> 00:40:01,107 And there's even a theory that the eruption 434 00:40:01,190 --> 00:40:03,151 almost wiped us out as a species. 435 00:40:03,234 --> 00:40:07,155 Based on the genetic pedigree of living humans, 436 00:40:07,238 --> 00:40:12,827 we can say that there was a bottleneck in human numbers around this time period. 437 00:40:13,912 --> 00:40:18,291 And the link is between the climate change wrought by the eruption, 438 00:40:18,374 --> 00:40:20,752 the decimation of tropical vegetation 439 00:40:20,835 --> 00:40:23,796 that was the resource base for our ancestors. 440 00:40:24,714 --> 00:40:29,302 Perhaps there were as few as 600 of our species left on Earth. 441 00:40:29,385 --> 00:40:31,971 We would've been classified as an endangered species. 442 00:40:32,055 --> 00:40:33,681 Somehow, we rebounded. 443 00:40:34,682 --> 00:40:37,685 This theory is very controversial, however. 444 00:40:37,769 --> 00:40:40,813 And that's because there's a very limited amount of evidence 445 00:40:40,897 --> 00:40:42,106 this far back in time. 446 00:40:42,190 --> 00:40:45,068 In particular, there are very few human fossils 447 00:40:45,151 --> 00:40:47,111 to try and establish cause and effect. 448 00:40:47,820 --> 00:40:50,740 If we want to find human fossils from 74,000 years ago, 449 00:40:50,823 --> 00:40:54,702 we'd better go to Ethiopia, we'd better go to the Afar Region. 450 00:40:58,122 --> 00:41:01,250 This is part of the Danakil Depression, 451 00:41:01,334 --> 00:41:03,962 300 feet below sea level. 452 00:41:04,545 --> 00:41:07,632 In terms of average year-round temperature, 453 00:41:07,715 --> 00:41:10,760 this is the hottest place on our planet. 454 00:41:12,136 --> 00:41:13,262 During summer, 455 00:41:13,346 --> 00:41:18,309 temperatures hardly ever dip below 120 degrees Fahrenheit. 456 00:41:19,435 --> 00:41:23,147 Working conditions are only tolerable in mid-winter, 457 00:41:23,231 --> 00:41:26,401 and even then it is extremely hot. 458 00:41:28,069 --> 00:41:32,156 On top of that, this is an area of tribal warfare, 459 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:36,828 and you can only enter it accompanied by armed soldiers. 460 00:41:47,380 --> 00:41:51,384 This depression is only part of a long, stretched rift, 461 00:41:51,467 --> 00:41:54,554 continuing down through all of East Africa. 462 00:41:55,638 --> 00:41:58,850 In millions of years, the rift will widen 463 00:41:58,933 --> 00:42:01,936 until a strip of the continent breaks off, 464 00:42:02,020 --> 00:42:04,439 drifting into the Indian Ocean. 465 00:42:06,607 --> 00:42:09,569 In such places, volcanoes form. 466 00:42:11,404 --> 00:42:14,532 This particular one, Erta Ale, 467 00:42:14,615 --> 00:42:18,870 is one of the three in the world where magma is directly exposed. 468 00:42:45,813 --> 00:42:50,443 Erta Ale is also important for its significance to early man. 469 00:42:51,152 --> 00:42:55,448 A great amount of obsidian, a volcanic glass, 470 00:42:55,531 --> 00:42:57,575 was extruded from the crater. 471 00:43:00,870 --> 00:43:04,373 Look at that. It's translucent at the edges. 472 00:43:05,333 --> 00:43:06,959 Beautiful flake. 473 00:43:10,088 --> 00:43:13,841 And very sharp still. You could probably shave with that. 474 00:43:14,842 --> 00:43:17,512 Obsidian is very hard and brittle, 475 00:43:17,595 --> 00:43:21,224 and therefore fractures with extremely sharp edges. 476 00:43:21,891 --> 00:43:25,895 So sharp, in fact, that up until the 1980s 477 00:43:25,978 --> 00:43:30,233 eye operations were performed with obsidian scalpels, 478 00:43:30,316 --> 00:43:32,360 sharper than any steel. 479 00:43:34,695 --> 00:43:39,992 This amazing material has attracted early humans to this landscape 480 00:43:40,076 --> 00:43:43,913 as far back as hominids a million years ago. 481 00:43:46,791 --> 00:43:50,002 At this site, a team of paleontologists 482 00:43:50,086 --> 00:43:54,841 are extracting artifacts and remains of our direct ancestors, 483 00:43:54,924 --> 00:43:56,968 the first Homo sapiens, 484 00:43:57,051 --> 00:44:01,097 who emerged in this area 100,000 years ago. 485 00:44:04,016 --> 00:44:08,146 What is amazing to me is the fact that the remains are found 486 00:44:08,229 --> 00:44:10,523 almost directly at the surface. 487 00:44:10,606 --> 00:44:14,110 And more so, why this particular spot 488 00:44:14,193 --> 00:44:17,488 and not back there where the goats are roaming? 489 00:44:21,659 --> 00:44:25,872 This grid was apparently a tool manufacturing site. 490 00:44:25,955 --> 00:44:29,542 Hundreds of obsidian chips are strewn about. 491 00:44:30,877 --> 00:44:34,797 Dr. Yonatan Sahle, an Ethiopian scientist, 492 00:44:34,881 --> 00:44:38,301 has excavated this prehistoric workshop. 493 00:44:39,051 --> 00:44:43,514 And where did your passion come from? How did you fall into this field? 494 00:44:43,598 --> 00:44:48,978 Well, I had-- I studied history for my bachelor's degree. 495 00:44:49,061 --> 00:44:52,106 And that's when I started to fall in love. 496 00:44:52,189 --> 00:44:54,567 So, history was not deep enough for me. 497 00:44:54,650 --> 00:44:57,987 I wanted to look further back in time 498 00:44:58,070 --> 00:45:02,617 and find out what is it, really, that makes us human. 499 00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:04,744 We are a very unique species. 500 00:45:04,827 --> 00:45:08,581 In a way, we interact and we collaborate 501 00:45:08,664 --> 00:45:12,752 and we cooperate and we produce, we modify our environment. 502 00:45:12,835 --> 00:45:15,796 But at the same time, we fight and destruct, 503 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:19,759 and we are even a danger to other species and the planet, 504 00:45:19,842 --> 00:45:21,761 the fate of the planet as well. 505 00:45:21,844 --> 00:45:23,763 So, we are a very interesting species. 506 00:45:23,846 --> 00:45:27,183 So, I wanted to get at the root of all this 507 00:45:27,266 --> 00:45:32,730 and see, in deep time, what underlies all these processes. 508 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:37,568 We're sifting through the trash of humans 509 00:45:37,652 --> 00:45:40,404 from 50 to 100,000 years ago. 510 00:45:40,488 --> 00:45:45,117 Do you think we have another 100,000 years on planet Earth? 511 00:45:45,201 --> 00:45:50,122 I would say that, you know, another thousand years, 512 00:45:50,206 --> 00:45:53,709 we will be in a very critical situation, 513 00:45:53,793 --> 00:45:56,587 and so we will have to learn from our mistakes 514 00:45:56,671 --> 00:46:03,219 and we'll have to work toward improving the condition of our planet 515 00:46:03,302 --> 00:46:09,392 so that it can have the carrying capacity to allow our species to perpetuate. 516 00:46:10,434 --> 00:46:12,270 If you had a time machine that could go 517 00:46:12,353 --> 00:46:15,106 to only one time period in the past, when would it be? 518 00:46:15,189 --> 00:46:17,984 It would be exactly this time period 519 00:46:18,067 --> 00:46:20,736 because this is... 520 00:46:20,820 --> 00:46:26,826 I believe this is when we started to look like us, um, 521 00:46:26,909 --> 00:46:30,204 and when we, uh, 522 00:46:30,288 --> 00:46:34,667 as a species, um, started. 523 00:46:34,750 --> 00:46:39,505 And so, this is before we became-- 524 00:46:39,588 --> 00:46:42,216 we acquired different skin colors. 525 00:46:42,299 --> 00:46:46,554 This is before we acquired different languages 526 00:46:46,637 --> 00:46:50,850 and we spread across different geographies. 527 00:46:50,933 --> 00:46:54,228 So, this is where I want to be, right at the root. 528 00:46:54,312 --> 00:46:58,899 So, I would love to express my... 529 00:46:58,983 --> 00:47:01,652 uh, my fascination to this ground 530 00:47:01,736 --> 00:47:04,196 by kissing it. 531 00:47:04,697 --> 00:47:06,157 And here I go. 532 00:47:16,083 --> 00:47:20,755 Professor Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, 533 00:47:20,838 --> 00:47:22,465 leads the team here. 534 00:47:22,548 --> 00:47:28,262 We were immediately captivated by his wild style of explaining things. 535 00:47:29,972 --> 00:47:31,640 So, look at the... 536 00:47:32,808 --> 00:47:34,060 powder. 537 00:47:34,143 --> 00:47:36,896 It blows in the wind, it's very fine grain, 538 00:47:36,979 --> 00:47:39,565 it's all floodplain, it's all silt. 539 00:47:39,648 --> 00:47:43,819 But it all started as volcanic rock from the highlands, 540 00:47:43,903 --> 00:47:45,279 from the rift margin, 541 00:47:45,362 --> 00:47:49,283 ground up over millions of years, distributed out here, 542 00:47:49,366 --> 00:47:51,619 and redistributed by the Awash River. 543 00:47:51,702 --> 00:47:53,996 If you die today, 544 00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,457 your body will decompose on the floodplain. 545 00:47:56,540 --> 00:47:59,668 If the hyenas don't chew all the bones up, 546 00:47:59,752 --> 00:48:03,672 the next time the river floods, this soft, silty material 547 00:48:03,756 --> 00:48:05,341 will be carried in, 548 00:48:05,424 --> 00:48:08,385 and it will encase your bones. 549 00:48:09,136 --> 00:48:10,429 Let's go. 550 00:48:36,372 --> 00:48:41,377 Oh, we're gonna call this the Werner Herzog Highway. 551 00:48:42,294 --> 00:48:47,133 And what we're doing here is opening up a space for the cars... 552 00:48:48,551 --> 00:48:53,264 so we can come through with a full crew tomorrow morning... 553 00:48:54,223 --> 00:48:57,017 to recover the additional pieces of the hominid 554 00:48:57,101 --> 00:49:01,522 that we found just up on top there, on the eroding sediments. 555 00:49:01,605 --> 00:49:04,233 So, we'd like to pull the cars in as close as we can get 556 00:49:04,316 --> 00:49:06,360 so we can get all the equipment there. 557 00:49:06,444 --> 00:49:10,281 And we'll start an extraction process to pull that hominid out. 558 00:49:17,538 --> 00:49:20,583 How phenomenally lucky are we to have arrived now 559 00:49:20,666 --> 00:49:25,379 and you've found this 100,000-year-old human? 560 00:49:25,462 --> 00:49:27,423 This does not happen very often. 561 00:49:27,506 --> 00:49:31,010 These hominid fossils are very, very rare. 562 00:49:31,093 --> 00:49:34,013 Finding an artifact, that's easier, 563 00:49:34,096 --> 00:49:37,808 because during any hominid's lifetime, they can make dozens, thousands, 564 00:49:37,892 --> 00:49:41,812 of stone-age calling cards scattered all over the landscape. 565 00:49:41,896 --> 00:49:44,440 But they only have one skeleton, one dentition. 566 00:49:44,523 --> 00:49:47,234 They only die once. So, think about it. 567 00:49:47,318 --> 00:49:50,237 Acres and acres of eroding sediment. 568 00:49:50,321 --> 00:49:52,865 How in the world can we find the place 569 00:49:52,948 --> 00:49:57,161 where this dead person's bones came to rest 570 00:49:57,244 --> 00:49:59,872 and arrive just at the geological moment 571 00:49:59,955 --> 00:50:02,333 that erosion is carving these sediments out, 572 00:50:02,416 --> 00:50:04,501 exposing these ancient surfaces, 573 00:50:04,585 --> 00:50:07,087 with the monkeys and the hippos and everything else, 574 00:50:07,171 --> 00:50:09,757 thousands of bones and artifacts all over the surface? 575 00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:12,176 And there's one guy, one guy in the world. 576 00:50:12,259 --> 00:50:15,804 If I had to say, "Get that guy out here on the surface. 577 00:50:15,888 --> 00:50:18,224 He's gonna find the hominid." You know who that is? 578 00:50:18,307 --> 00:50:20,851 That is Kampiro Kayrento, 579 00:50:20,935 --> 00:50:23,687 the world's greatest fossil finder. 580 00:50:25,522 --> 00:50:26,774 Oh. 581 00:50:26,857 --> 00:50:28,734 This is Kampiro Kayrento. 582 00:50:28,817 --> 00:50:32,071 He is one of the world's experts, if not the world's expert. 583 00:50:32,154 --> 00:50:34,448 He's the guy I want on the aircraft to find things. 584 00:50:34,531 --> 00:50:38,827 He can recognize what's an antelope, what's a carnivore, 585 00:50:38,911 --> 00:50:42,915 what's a fish, what's a baboon, what's a zebra, 586 00:50:42,998 --> 00:50:46,752 what's a giraffe, what's a rhino. He's got all that. 587 00:50:46,835 --> 00:50:49,547 Not from the whole animal, because you never find the whole animal. 588 00:50:49,630 --> 00:50:53,133 You find pieces of animals, pieces of the bones of animals. 589 00:50:53,217 --> 00:50:54,802 He knows what they are. 590 00:51:00,516 --> 00:51:01,559 You got anything, Tim? 591 00:51:01,642 --> 00:51:03,519 More pieces for the puzzle. 592 00:51:04,353 --> 00:51:08,399 Cranial vault piece, freshly out of the ground. 593 00:51:08,482 --> 00:51:11,735 That one needs to be squirted off. 594 00:51:11,819 --> 00:51:14,238 This bone is beautifully preserved, 595 00:51:14,321 --> 00:51:17,658 completely silicified, completely fossilized. 596 00:51:18,409 --> 00:51:22,204 So, we've got now a number of different elements. 597 00:51:22,288 --> 00:51:29,086 The most diagnostic and important one, ultimately, will be this one here, 598 00:51:29,169 --> 00:51:32,965 which is... the top... 599 00:51:34,008 --> 00:51:37,219 of the left orbit. 600 00:51:37,303 --> 00:51:40,055 So to sort of place it in Clive's head... 601 00:51:43,767 --> 00:51:46,395 -Whereabouts? -Other side. There you go. 602 00:51:46,478 --> 00:51:47,604 Okay. 603 00:51:47,688 --> 00:51:52,192 I'm looking into the eye of a Paleolithic hominid that lived here. 604 00:51:53,652 --> 00:51:56,322 So, it's a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. 605 00:52:01,785 --> 00:52:05,039 Yeah, no one's gonna argue that those two pieces fit back together. 606 00:52:05,122 --> 00:52:06,457 That's a nice fit. 607 00:52:06,540 --> 00:52:09,585 In evolutionary terms, here in the Middle Awash, 608 00:52:09,668 --> 00:52:12,296 we have six million years' worth of rocks. 609 00:52:12,379 --> 00:52:17,176 The ones on the bottom have small-brained early bipeds. 610 00:52:17,259 --> 00:52:20,012 These are close to the top of the succession. 611 00:52:20,095 --> 00:52:22,389 These are much more like you and I. 612 00:52:22,473 --> 00:52:25,100 They have chins, vertical foreheads. 613 00:52:25,184 --> 00:52:29,563 We still have a lot to learn about them, but the importance for humanity 614 00:52:29,647 --> 00:52:33,859 is that this is the right time, 100,000 years ago, 615 00:52:33,942 --> 00:52:36,820 and the right place, Africa, 616 00:52:36,904 --> 00:52:39,657 according to the archeology and the genetic evidence... 617 00:52:40,783 --> 00:52:44,328 to know the people who were the ones 618 00:52:44,411 --> 00:52:48,582 who expanded from Africa to Asia, 619 00:52:48,666 --> 00:52:51,085 to Europe, and then beyond. 620 00:52:53,045 --> 00:52:56,423 While these people were living here in tropical Africa, 621 00:52:56,507 --> 00:52:59,760 dining on hippos, Europe was locked under ice. 622 00:53:05,474 --> 00:53:08,644 Let's go get more pieces. Are we ready to rock 'n' roll? 623 00:53:08,727 --> 00:53:09,937 Let's get brushes. 624 00:53:11,563 --> 00:53:15,275 We've taken all of the surface-exposed bone off the surface. 625 00:53:15,359 --> 00:53:18,779 We suspect there's going to be sub-surface bone in here. 626 00:53:18,862 --> 00:53:22,241 We've maximized where we think it is, 627 00:53:22,324 --> 00:53:27,079 and now it's a matter of going to the casino 628 00:53:27,162 --> 00:53:28,914 and rolling the dice 629 00:53:28,997 --> 00:53:33,001 and hoping we're gonna get some nice human anatomy, 630 00:53:33,085 --> 00:53:36,171 fossilized for 100,000 years, right out of this unit. 631 00:53:36,255 --> 00:53:38,715 We're just gonna brush and find bone. 632 00:53:38,799 --> 00:53:41,760 Whoa! There's a piece of bone right there. 633 00:53:41,844 --> 00:53:44,680 That one's not identifiable, but it might join other ones 634 00:53:44,763 --> 00:53:47,516 and become identifiable. So, that's a keeper. 635 00:53:47,599 --> 00:53:49,726 Every single piece of bone is a keeper. 636 00:53:57,109 --> 00:53:57,985 See the piece? 637 00:54:08,579 --> 00:54:10,372 So, that's a limb bone shaft. 638 00:54:10,456 --> 00:54:12,541 I can't tell which limb bone. It's one of three. 639 00:54:12,624 --> 00:54:15,169 It's tibia, humerus or femur. 640 00:54:16,587 --> 00:54:20,299 Here we go. That's a nice shaft piece. 641 00:54:20,382 --> 00:54:23,218 Again, it's tibia-- It's one of the major long bones. 642 00:54:23,302 --> 00:54:25,471 It's this one, this one or that one. 643 00:54:26,847 --> 00:54:30,309 You can see these things are-- they're completely turned to stone. 644 00:54:30,392 --> 00:54:32,436 They're completely fossilized, 645 00:54:32,519 --> 00:54:35,272 so they're brittle. 646 00:54:35,355 --> 00:54:38,942 And when erosion comes and exposes them, 647 00:54:39,026 --> 00:54:40,652 they just shatter. 648 00:54:40,736 --> 00:54:43,864 And so, we have to be careful to get all of the shattered pieces. 649 00:54:43,947 --> 00:54:48,243 My skeleton has 206 bones. Same with this person. 650 00:54:48,327 --> 00:54:49,453 They're human. 651 00:54:49,995 --> 00:54:54,416 But now we're looking for literally probably 4,000 pieces 652 00:54:54,500 --> 00:54:57,586 because all of those bones each shattered. 653 00:54:57,669 --> 00:55:00,214 I can already see something that discriminates you and I, 654 00:55:00,297 --> 00:55:02,257 which is, we've been here the same amount of time. 655 00:55:02,341 --> 00:55:04,718 You've pulled out half a dozen of these bone fragments. 656 00:55:04,801 --> 00:55:06,094 I haven't found anything. 657 00:55:06,178 --> 00:55:10,265 There's clearly an expertise that goes with this business. 658 00:55:10,349 --> 00:55:12,226 But the greatest thing about the game 659 00:55:12,309 --> 00:55:15,562 is the combination of the expertise and the luck. 660 00:55:15,646 --> 00:55:17,022 Like Las Vegas. 661 00:55:17,898 --> 00:55:21,485 Viva Las Vegas! 662 00:55:21,568 --> 00:55:23,445 Courtesy of Bizayu. 663 00:55:23,529 --> 00:55:28,075 Bizayu! Got a limb bone shaft. Thank you. 664 00:55:29,618 --> 00:55:31,203 What's wrong over there, Clive? 665 00:55:33,497 --> 00:55:35,499 -Ohh! -Ohh! 666 00:55:38,502 --> 00:55:40,170 Whoo! 667 00:55:41,505 --> 00:55:43,715 Check it out! 668 00:55:44,675 --> 00:55:45,843 Clive. 669 00:55:48,428 --> 00:55:50,222 Where does it fit in? 670 00:55:50,305 --> 00:55:54,268 Check it out. This is a distal humerus. 671 00:55:54,351 --> 00:55:55,936 Definitely hominid. 672 00:55:56,520 --> 00:56:02,317 It is right down at the end of your upper arm bone. 673 00:56:02,401 --> 00:56:04,945 So, if we were to place this in our anatomy, 674 00:56:05,028 --> 00:56:07,489 we'd set it up something like that. 675 00:56:07,573 --> 00:56:10,450 I figured out, Tim, I'm holding the brush wrong. 676 00:56:10,534 --> 00:56:12,995 There's got to be something wrong with my technique. 677 00:56:13,078 --> 00:56:15,497 Come on, Clive, move over into the hot place there. 678 00:56:15,581 --> 00:56:17,457 I'm moving K.K. out. This is your chance. 679 00:56:17,541 --> 00:56:20,002 -You don't think it's too hot for me? -This is your chance. 680 00:56:20,085 --> 00:56:22,504 You got to get in here, man. This guy's finding everything. 681 00:56:22,588 --> 00:56:24,006 I was right there. 682 00:56:25,549 --> 00:56:26,967 He planted it. 683 00:56:28,385 --> 00:56:30,262 It's just to make me look bad, isn't it? 684 00:56:31,179 --> 00:56:33,265 -I'll stick to volcanology. -Brush, man, brush! 685 00:56:33,348 --> 00:56:34,933 He's going to lose this race. 686 00:56:36,226 --> 00:56:39,354 Piece after piece after piece after piece. 687 00:56:39,438 --> 00:56:41,565 Maybe we'll get it all back together again. 688 00:56:42,190 --> 00:56:45,485 If we're lucky. If Clive would just find something! 689 00:56:46,194 --> 00:56:47,905 -I'm not gonna give up. -Come on, Clive. 690 00:57:00,167 --> 00:57:02,002 Huh? Look at... 691 00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:06,757 Whoa, whoa, whoa. 692 00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:09,926 Whoa! Bingo! 693 00:57:10,552 --> 00:57:13,138 - Is it a human? - Yeah. 694 00:57:13,221 --> 00:57:15,933 All right! He's got it. 695 00:57:16,767 --> 00:57:18,727 Clive scores! 696 00:57:19,811 --> 00:57:22,064 It's such a relief. 697 00:57:25,108 --> 00:57:27,194 Just out of the dirt, 698 00:57:27,277 --> 00:57:29,529 where it's been 100,000 years, maybe. 699 00:57:31,156 --> 00:57:35,577 A little piece of my direct ancestor, perhaps. 700 00:57:38,121 --> 00:57:41,959 It's quite heavy. It's, uh, fossilized. 701 00:57:47,923 --> 00:57:50,842 One skeleton from Kenya. 702 00:57:52,219 --> 00:57:54,805 One skeleton from two meters up, 703 00:57:54,888 --> 00:57:58,100 500 meters away, in the Middle Awash. 704 00:57:58,892 --> 00:58:00,227 And this one. 705 00:58:00,310 --> 00:58:06,650 That's how rare even partial skeletons of human ancestors are 706 00:58:06,733 --> 00:58:08,318 in that time interval. 707 00:58:08,402 --> 00:58:10,654 Just the first surface sweep, 708 00:58:10,737 --> 00:58:15,033 we've probably got another 30 pieces of this individual, 709 00:58:15,117 --> 00:58:19,287 and all of this came out in about 30 minutes 710 00:58:19,371 --> 00:58:21,456 of simply sweeping. 711 00:58:21,540 --> 00:58:25,293 As these piles that we've swept up go through the sieve, 712 00:58:25,377 --> 00:58:27,963 we're gonna have a bunch of other pieces of bone 713 00:58:28,046 --> 00:58:31,758 that escaped the brushing but won't escape our sieve. 714 00:58:31,842 --> 00:58:35,303 Hopefully, we'll see a cranium take shape, 715 00:58:35,387 --> 00:58:38,181 and we'll come to know the anatomy of this person. 716 00:58:38,515 --> 00:58:40,976 I just-- What a phenomenal cornucopia 717 00:58:41,059 --> 00:58:43,645 for half an hour's work with a dustpan and brush. 718 00:58:43,729 --> 00:58:46,606 It's just-- just sensational. 719 00:58:46,690 --> 00:58:49,609 One of three in Africa ever recovered. 720 00:58:50,819 --> 00:58:52,612 Your timing was very good. 721 00:58:56,616 --> 00:58:57,993 What? Wait a minute. 722 00:58:58,076 --> 00:59:00,370 There's a Konso dance going on here in the background. 723 00:59:00,454 --> 00:59:02,956 -It's gonna be good. -This is gonna be good. 724 00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:06,626 -Moya! -Moya means, in Afarinia, "head." 725 00:59:10,380 --> 00:59:12,215 Got the moya. 726 00:59:12,299 --> 00:59:13,800 Whoo! 727 00:59:13,884 --> 00:59:15,510 We got a moya! 728 00:59:22,225 --> 00:59:24,144 The extraction begins. 729 00:59:24,811 --> 00:59:27,606 This fragment is of particular importance, 730 00:59:27,689 --> 00:59:30,108 as it is part of the cranium. 731 00:59:30,192 --> 00:59:33,153 Time for a Shakespearean moment, perhaps, 732 00:59:33,236 --> 00:59:39,284 to soliloquize on... my deep ancestry. 733 00:59:42,412 --> 00:59:44,122 I can see the curvature. 734 00:59:44,998 --> 00:59:47,042 It's the biggest piece we have so far. 735 00:59:51,463 --> 00:59:55,467 As dusk came, we made our way to the volcano. 736 00:59:57,803 --> 01:00:00,263 Looking into the magma at night, 737 01:00:00,347 --> 01:00:04,684 the interior of our planet reveals its strange beauty. 738 01:01:17,966 --> 01:01:20,177 Compared to Ethiopia, 739 01:01:20,260 --> 01:01:23,638 Iceland's history is a mere blip in time. 740 01:01:24,306 --> 01:01:27,017 Less than 1,200 years ago, 741 01:01:27,100 --> 01:01:29,352 it was settled by Norsemen. 742 01:01:31,938 --> 01:01:34,107 All of Iceland is volcanic, 743 01:01:34,191 --> 01:01:37,611 including the Westman Islands to the south. 744 01:01:38,862 --> 01:01:42,032 Out of nowhere, in the early morning hours 745 01:01:42,115 --> 01:01:45,702 of January 23, 1973, 746 01:01:45,785 --> 01:01:47,579 a trench of fire opened 747 01:01:47,662 --> 01:01:50,749 right at the edge of the town of Heimaey. 748 01:01:52,626 --> 01:01:57,339 The eruption occurred without any previous warning signs. 749 01:02:51,559 --> 01:02:55,855 As bad as it looks, no one lost their lives here. 750 01:02:55,939 --> 01:02:59,067 The fishing fleet had just returned to harbor 751 01:02:59,150 --> 01:03:01,945 and rescued many of the inhabitants. 752 01:03:07,951 --> 01:03:10,161 Forty years after the event, 753 01:03:10,245 --> 01:03:12,914 Clive Oppenheimer brought us here. 754 01:03:12,998 --> 01:03:15,208 Grass has grown again, 755 01:03:15,292 --> 01:03:18,253 and there are still curtains in the windows. 756 01:03:20,422 --> 01:03:23,800 But Heimaey was hardly an isolated event. 757 01:03:23,883 --> 01:03:28,596 Not a season goes by in Iceland without an eruption. 758 01:03:36,813 --> 01:03:39,482 This event happened in 2010 759 01:03:39,566 --> 01:03:45,488 and is remembered as the ash cloud that paralyzed air traffic for weeks. 760 01:03:46,364 --> 01:03:49,117 Very quickly, the heat from the eruption 761 01:03:49,200 --> 01:03:52,954 melted the thick ice covering on top of the mountain, 762 01:03:53,038 --> 01:03:55,165 creating enormous floods. 763 01:04:47,425 --> 01:04:50,637 But an event of this magnitude is nothing 764 01:04:50,720 --> 01:04:53,932 compared to earlier eruptions in Iceland. 765 01:04:54,015 --> 01:04:58,686 This area is the site of the so-called Laki eruption. 766 01:04:59,229 --> 01:05:02,607 Beginning on June 8, 1783, 767 01:05:02,690 --> 01:05:06,361 this entire landscape exploded into flames 768 01:05:06,444 --> 01:05:11,032 as far as the eye could see, from horizon to horizon. 769 01:05:23,420 --> 01:05:25,880 The molten rock came up to the surface 770 01:05:25,964 --> 01:05:29,509 and rent open a 27-kilometer-long fissure 771 01:05:29,592 --> 01:05:35,390 that stretches in this direction for something like half of that distance. 772 01:05:36,683 --> 01:05:40,645 Overall, about 140 vents were active, 773 01:05:40,728 --> 01:05:46,192 building up cones above them with fire fountains rising into the air. 774 01:05:47,110 --> 01:05:52,157 And after a few months, the fissure opened up in this direction, 775 01:05:52,240 --> 01:05:55,243 again, another 13, 14 kilometers or so. 776 01:05:56,202 --> 01:05:59,122 And another few dozen vents open up, 777 01:05:59,205 --> 01:06:03,042 and they spewed out lava to the northeast of us. 778 01:06:03,126 --> 01:06:06,546 Everything we see now has been set in stone. 779 01:06:06,629 --> 01:06:11,050 The lava has solidified and frozen. But if we'd been here at the time, 780 01:06:11,134 --> 01:06:14,888 we would've seen jets of fire, fountains of fire, 781 01:06:14,971 --> 01:06:18,558 rising a kilometer-and-a-half into the air 782 01:06:18,641 --> 01:06:21,644 and then cascading down to the ground again. 783 01:06:21,728 --> 01:06:26,524 And that built up the cones, like the one that we're standing on now. 784 01:06:27,108 --> 01:06:28,818 And from the bases of these cones, 785 01:06:28,902 --> 01:06:31,529 lava gushed out at a phenomenal rate. 786 01:06:31,613 --> 01:06:34,240 This is very, very hot lava, very, very fluid, 787 01:06:34,324 --> 01:06:36,409 and it poured down the valleys, 788 01:06:36,493 --> 01:06:40,455 filling them to depths of 100, 150 meters. 789 01:06:53,551 --> 01:06:55,803 These primordial occurrences 790 01:06:55,887 --> 01:07:01,226 influenced the sense of mythical poetry of the Icelanders. 791 01:07:01,309 --> 01:07:05,605 There is a text that defines the spirit of the people. 792 01:07:05,939 --> 01:07:08,608 It exists only in a single manuscript. 793 01:07:08,691 --> 01:07:14,906 For Iceland, it is as important as the Dead Sea Scrolls are for Israel. 794 01:07:15,615 --> 01:07:19,452 The codex was given as a present to the king of Denmark 795 01:07:19,536 --> 01:07:23,081 by an Icelandic bishop in the 17th century. 796 01:07:23,164 --> 01:07:27,919 The Royal Codex, or Codex Regius. 797 01:07:28,378 --> 01:07:32,966 In 1971, Denmark returned it to Iceland. 798 01:07:33,049 --> 01:07:36,719 Knowing that it constituted the soul of the country, 799 01:07:36,803 --> 01:07:40,473 the codex was put on Denmark's largest battleship 800 01:07:40,557 --> 01:07:43,184 and escorted by a whole fleet. 801 01:07:43,268 --> 01:07:46,396 No amount of money in the world would be enough 802 01:07:46,479 --> 01:07:49,440 to purchase this manuscript from Iceland, 803 01:07:49,524 --> 01:07:53,695 although it is battered and crumpled and filled with holes. 804 01:07:56,656 --> 01:08:00,451 In the opening passage, called "The Prophecy of the Seeress," 805 01:08:00,535 --> 01:08:05,623 there is an apocalyptic vision of the end of the pagan gods. 806 01:08:05,707 --> 01:08:09,252 This seems to describe a huge volcanic event. 807 01:08:11,087 --> 01:08:15,925 "'Neath the sea the land sinketh, the sun dimmeth, 808 01:08:16,009 --> 01:08:19,554 from the heavens fall the fair, bright stars; 809 01:08:20,221 --> 01:08:23,933 gusheth forth steam and gutting fire, 810 01:08:24,017 --> 01:08:28,021 to very heaven soar the hurtling flames. 811 01:08:29,606 --> 01:08:33,776 The fates I fathom, yet farther I see: 812 01:08:33,860 --> 01:08:37,363 of the mighty gods the engulfing doom. 813 01:08:39,032 --> 01:08:41,909 Comes the darksome dragon flying, 814 01:08:41,993 --> 01:08:46,664 Níthhogg, upward from the Nitha Fells. 815 01:08:46,748 --> 01:08:51,711 He bears in his pinions as the plains he o'erflies, 816 01:08:51,794 --> 01:08:55,381 now he will sink." 817 01:10:02,323 --> 01:10:05,451 Right on the border with China lies a volcano 818 01:10:05,535 --> 01:10:08,705 in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 819 01:10:08,788 --> 01:10:11,666 better known in the West as North Korea. 820 01:10:11,749 --> 01:10:15,712 It has been inactive for more than 1,000 years, 821 01:10:15,795 --> 01:10:19,757 but it plays a huge role in the imagination of the people. 822 01:10:21,134 --> 01:10:24,804 For millennia, it was considered the mythical birthplace 823 01:10:24,887 --> 01:10:26,889 of the Korean nation. 824 01:10:26,973 --> 01:10:31,269 Today, the socialist government co-opts this myth. 825 01:10:32,854 --> 01:10:35,481 This is the site of pilgrimages. 826 01:10:36,649 --> 01:10:42,572 Out of the mist, we saw a formation of uniformed men with a flag emerging. 827 01:10:42,655 --> 01:10:44,574 We believed they were soldiers, 828 01:10:44,657 --> 01:10:47,827 but it turned out they were university students 829 01:10:47,910 --> 01:10:52,123 come to rejoice in the power that emanates from this place. 830 01:11:13,060 --> 01:11:16,272 And now they are singing in praise of Mount Paektu. 831 01:11:34,165 --> 01:11:37,168 Everything is different in North Korea. 832 01:11:37,251 --> 01:11:41,547 Imagine if these were students at a campus in California. 833 01:12:26,259 --> 01:12:30,054 A unique opportunity presented itself to us. 834 01:12:30,137 --> 01:12:33,140 The near-impervious country opened its doors 835 01:12:33,224 --> 01:12:35,518 to a joint scientific program 836 01:12:35,601 --> 01:12:40,815 between the University of Cambridge and North Korean volcanologists. 837 01:12:40,898 --> 01:12:44,443 And so we were invited to film there. 838 01:12:51,492 --> 01:12:55,037 But everything we saw was an act of presentation, 839 01:12:55,121 --> 01:12:56,873 and we went for it. 840 01:12:56,956 --> 01:13:00,376 There is no other way to see this enigmatic country 841 01:13:00,459 --> 01:13:03,754 other than how it wants to present itself. 842 01:13:05,006 --> 01:13:09,552 In propaganda films seen frequently on North Korean television, 843 01:13:09,635 --> 01:13:14,432 the images display monumental unity and fervent emotion, 844 01:13:14,515 --> 01:13:17,059 all dedicated to the leadership. 845 01:14:08,611 --> 01:14:12,114 One thing that's remarkable and I'm very aware of as I work here 846 01:14:12,198 --> 01:14:14,200 is the sanctity of this mountain. 847 01:14:14,283 --> 01:14:18,496 This has a very long history, going back 5,000 years, 848 01:14:18,579 --> 01:14:23,584 as the mythical birthplace of the Korean people from this volcano. 849 01:14:23,918 --> 01:14:27,171 And through the medieval period and to the more modern period, 850 01:14:27,254 --> 01:14:29,882 this is the sacred mountain of the revolution, 851 01:14:29,966 --> 01:14:32,885 where the struggle was fought against Japanese occupation 852 01:14:32,969 --> 01:14:34,553 70 years ago. 853 01:14:34,637 --> 01:14:39,308 And the spirit of the mountain is in all the Korean people, 854 01:14:39,392 --> 01:14:42,561 and this is something very, very special about this place. 855 01:14:44,480 --> 01:14:48,109 It seems like we're on a tranquil boat trip on a Norwegian fjord, 856 01:14:48,192 --> 01:14:50,194 but actually we're at ground zero 857 01:14:50,277 --> 01:14:53,572 of what was a most monumental volcanic eruption 858 01:14:53,656 --> 01:14:57,118 nearly 1,100 years ago, the so-called Millennium eruption. 859 01:14:57,868 --> 01:15:00,454 The crater here is about three miles across. 860 01:15:00,538 --> 01:15:03,874 And actually these cliffs are all part of the crater rim, 861 01:15:03,958 --> 01:15:06,335 all around us, 360 degrees. 862 01:15:07,044 --> 01:15:09,505 The amount of pumice that came out in the eruption 863 01:15:09,588 --> 01:15:11,757 would be enough to bury the whole of New York City. 864 01:15:11,841 --> 01:15:14,927 Only the highest buildings would poke out of the top. 865 01:15:15,011 --> 01:15:17,930 In a way, if you look at the crater surrounding us 866 01:15:18,014 --> 01:15:21,559 and imagine that once there was a cone built over our heads, 867 01:15:21,642 --> 01:15:26,981 that missing volume alone accounts for a huge amount of rock 868 01:15:27,064 --> 01:15:29,233 and pumice and lava. 869 01:15:29,316 --> 01:15:32,820 So, this has been spewed out over the Korean peninsula, 870 01:15:32,903 --> 01:15:36,115 it's in parts of China, it's in parts of Russia, 871 01:15:36,198 --> 01:15:39,744 and there's even about three inches of ash 872 01:15:39,827 --> 01:15:43,205 that fell over parts of Japan that you can still find today. 873 01:15:44,665 --> 01:15:48,794 Around ten years ago, there was a swarm of earthquakes 874 01:15:48,878 --> 01:15:51,297 that were detected by sensitive instruments 875 01:15:51,380 --> 01:15:52,673 around the mountain, 876 01:15:52,757 --> 01:15:56,719 and that really ignited the scientific interest in the volcano 877 01:15:56,802 --> 01:15:59,972 and whether there might be signs of reawakening. 878 01:16:01,932 --> 01:16:03,392 Over the last few years, 879 01:16:03,476 --> 01:16:06,103 we've built a really strong and unique collaboration 880 01:16:06,187 --> 01:16:08,022 with scientists from Pyongyang 881 01:16:08,105 --> 01:16:10,357 who've worked here for 10, 20 years, 882 01:16:10,441 --> 01:16:14,361 so they have very detailed knowledge of the structure of the volcano. 883 01:16:14,445 --> 01:16:16,322 So, we've learnt a lot from them. 884 01:16:16,405 --> 01:16:20,576 It's very difficult for scientists here to attend international conferences, 885 01:16:20,659 --> 01:16:24,080 so we've really shared our experiences and expertise 886 01:16:24,163 --> 01:16:26,582 to better understand this volcano. 887 01:16:26,665 --> 01:16:28,292 So, two years of data. 888 01:16:28,375 --> 01:16:31,378 Yeah, we've collected two years of seismic data. 889 01:16:31,462 --> 01:16:35,132 Uh, which is pretty incredible. Um... 890 01:16:35,216 --> 01:16:40,221 And the seismometer sitting here will record all the earthquakes. 891 01:16:40,304 --> 01:16:44,266 It looks just like a paint pot linked to a laptop, 892 01:16:44,350 --> 01:16:47,853 and yet that's recorded this unique data service, 893 01:16:47,937 --> 01:16:49,480 so that's really something. 894 01:16:49,563 --> 01:16:51,357 Looks can be deceptive. 895 01:16:51,440 --> 01:16:56,862 It's an incredibly sensitive instrument in there. 896 01:16:56,946 --> 01:17:01,158 So, it records, you know, um, just minor movements. 897 01:17:01,242 --> 01:17:04,787 Even us walking around here will be creating noise. 898 01:17:04,870 --> 01:17:06,997 So, this is Mr. Yun Yong-Gun. 899 01:17:07,081 --> 01:17:10,668 He's the vice-director of the Earthquake Administration 900 01:17:10,751 --> 01:17:15,256 and kind of leads the DPRK side of the project. 901 01:17:24,140 --> 01:17:28,185 The Earthquake Administration of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 902 01:17:28,269 --> 01:17:33,107 pays special attention to this project of international joint research. 903 01:17:46,078 --> 01:17:49,039 Great importance is given to this mountain 904 01:17:49,123 --> 01:17:53,085 just because around this mountain, our great leader President Kim Il-sung 905 01:17:53,169 --> 01:17:55,963 fought against the Japanese imperialists. 906 01:17:57,715 --> 01:18:00,092 Kim Il-sung, the founding father 907 01:18:00,176 --> 01:18:02,553 of the communist North Korean state, 908 01:18:02,636 --> 01:18:05,764 appropriated the myth of the volcano. 909 01:18:06,640 --> 01:18:09,727 He established his secret military headquarters 910 01:18:09,810 --> 01:18:13,105 in a forest right here at the foot of the mountain, 911 01:18:13,189 --> 01:18:18,235 thus transferring its power and dynamic into his revolution. 912 01:18:22,698 --> 01:18:26,702 This monument is a gateway to the sacred ground. 913 01:18:47,556 --> 01:18:50,809 This group sculpture is about the camping life of the guerillas 914 01:18:50,893 --> 01:18:52,311 in Chongbong Camp. 915 01:18:53,270 --> 01:18:55,981 They were very much moved to put their foot 916 01:18:56,065 --> 01:18:59,735 the first time on the homeland, and they could not sleep. 917 01:19:01,654 --> 01:19:04,114 You can see there are lady guerrillas 918 01:19:04,198 --> 01:19:07,826 who are now sewing the buttons to the clothes. 919 01:19:07,910 --> 01:19:11,455 A guerrilla who is reading a book under the fire. 920 01:19:11,538 --> 01:19:15,376 A little guerrilla is now dreaming about returning back home 921 01:19:15,459 --> 01:19:17,378 after the liberation of their country, 922 01:19:17,461 --> 01:19:21,966 and one of the guerrillas is now playing the pipe. 923 01:19:23,926 --> 01:19:29,265 Those guerrillas are now rejoicing over the sight of Mount Paektu. 924 01:19:31,308 --> 01:19:34,061 From the 21st of July, 1979, 925 01:19:34,144 --> 01:19:37,231 our great leader Generalissimo Kim Jong-il 926 01:19:37,314 --> 01:19:40,901 came to this place and particularly highly appreciated 927 01:19:40,985 --> 01:19:44,154 that that lady, who is now standing in solitude, 928 01:19:44,238 --> 01:19:46,031 was greatly depicted. 929 01:19:59,503 --> 01:20:03,299 This is the biggest lake, number one. 930 01:20:03,382 --> 01:20:06,051 And over there we have the lake number two. 931 01:20:07,761 --> 01:20:10,931 And a little further up, we have the lake number three. 932 01:20:12,057 --> 01:20:18,147 When our great leader Generalissimo Kim Jong-il came here in March, 2003, 933 01:20:18,230 --> 01:20:21,233 he highly appreciated the beauty of these trees. 934 01:20:38,125 --> 01:20:42,254 This is the mosaic mural painting The Glory of February. 935 01:20:51,555 --> 01:20:54,933 The mural painting represents the great leader President Kim Il-sung 936 01:20:55,017 --> 01:20:57,686 and the anti-Japanese hero Kim Jong-suk, 937 01:20:57,770 --> 01:21:00,647 who are celebrating their first birth anniversary 938 01:21:00,731 --> 01:21:02,941 of the great leader Kim Jong-il. 939 01:21:07,321 --> 01:21:11,367 And here, the secret log cabin of Kim Il-sung. 940 01:21:11,450 --> 01:21:14,286 Daily, thousands of people make their pilgrimage 941 01:21:14,370 --> 01:21:16,205 to this humble place. 942 01:21:18,415 --> 01:21:23,253 In the Christian world, this would be like visiting the birthplace of Jesus, 943 01:21:23,337 --> 01:21:25,255 the stable in Bethlehem. 944 01:21:28,634 --> 01:21:30,052 For North Koreans... 945 01:21:30,803 --> 01:21:34,598 the founding father of their revolution still lives on. 946 01:21:35,557 --> 01:21:38,519 Kim Il-sung became president of the nation, 947 01:21:38,602 --> 01:21:40,938 and then president for life. 948 01:21:41,021 --> 01:21:45,859 After his death, he was declared president for eternity. 949 01:21:52,991 --> 01:21:58,038 The propaganda appears to create a quasi-religious experience. 950 01:22:01,625 --> 01:22:05,003 Actually, the life in the secret camp in those days 951 01:22:05,087 --> 01:22:08,132 was so difficult that they had no blankets at all. 952 01:22:08,215 --> 01:22:12,886 That is why the guerrilla soldiers, collected their pad wads 953 01:22:12,970 --> 01:22:15,305 from their own padded clothes, 954 01:22:15,389 --> 01:22:20,185 and then made that blanket for our dear Kim Jong-il. 955 01:22:25,983 --> 01:22:29,236 The birthplace of the socialist revolution 956 01:22:29,319 --> 01:22:32,239 manifests itself in collective formations 957 01:22:32,322 --> 01:22:34,032 of the North Koreans. 958 01:22:36,160 --> 01:22:38,662 In the country's biggest stadium, 959 01:22:38,745 --> 01:22:44,877 more than 100,000 people participate in creating a unique art form. 960 01:22:47,337 --> 01:22:50,841 The picture of the hut in the snow is not a painting. 961 01:22:50,924 --> 01:22:53,510 It is made of human pixels. 962 01:22:54,803 --> 01:22:57,139 And this is how it's done. 963 01:22:57,222 --> 01:23:03,103 A prearranged pattern of color cards is held and flipped over in sync. 964 01:23:06,356 --> 01:23:11,028 Here, the rising sun over the landscape of Mount Paektu. 965 01:23:31,256 --> 01:23:34,510 And here, father and son of the revolution. 966 01:23:36,094 --> 01:23:39,264 All this appears like a cosmic metaphor 967 01:23:39,348 --> 01:23:42,601 for a society aligned in a unified pattern 968 01:23:42,684 --> 01:23:45,103 behind a common ideology. 969 01:24:06,166 --> 01:24:09,002 But in all this display of the masses, 970 01:24:09,086 --> 01:24:12,839 I find an underlying emptiness and solitude. 971 01:24:25,060 --> 01:24:31,358 Because of the North Korean ideology of political and economic self-reliance, 972 01:24:31,441 --> 01:24:35,153 and because of internationally-imposed sanctions, 973 01:24:35,237 --> 01:24:37,114 the country is unique. 974 01:24:37,823 --> 01:24:41,243 The population at large has very limited contact 975 01:24:41,326 --> 01:24:43,412 with the outside world. 976 01:24:43,495 --> 01:24:48,375 There are no international phone lines or Internet available to the public, 977 01:24:48,458 --> 01:24:52,504 no radio or television from the outside world. 978 01:24:53,505 --> 01:24:56,425 To our eyes, it is strange to see people 979 01:24:56,508 --> 01:24:59,052 not glued to their cell phones. 980 01:25:00,512 --> 01:25:02,806 There is no advertising anywhere. 981 01:25:02,889 --> 01:25:06,560 Instead, just the ever-present propaganda. 982 01:25:07,644 --> 01:25:09,730 There are no newsstands, 983 01:25:09,813 --> 01:25:13,025 only the official party newspaper on display. 984 01:26:03,825 --> 01:26:07,412 In the subway, in the streets, almost everywhere, 985 01:26:07,496 --> 01:26:12,876 you'll find pictures of the leaders, always in the vicinity of the volcano. 986 01:26:19,675 --> 01:26:24,763 Back on the mountain, we spoke to a historian who was assigned to us. 987 01:26:26,056 --> 01:26:29,685 We asked him about the photos and the precise location 988 01:26:29,768 --> 01:26:31,937 of where they had been taken. 989 01:26:32,020 --> 01:26:36,066 He probably stood exactly at the place you are standing now. 990 01:26:48,161 --> 01:26:50,956 Not this place, but up there on the Janggun Peak. 991 01:26:51,039 --> 01:26:53,875 Yeah. They're famous photos. We know them. 992 01:26:55,961 --> 01:27:00,298 About this monument, it dates back to what time, roughly? 993 01:27:10,726 --> 01:27:13,729 It dates back to the early 20th century. 994 01:27:13,812 --> 01:27:19,443 It was erected by the heavenly people living around this area. 995 01:27:19,526 --> 01:27:22,195 And, according to the inscription on the monument, 996 01:27:22,279 --> 01:27:25,574 they prayed to Mount Paektu and Lake Chon here 997 01:27:25,657 --> 01:27:28,618 to give birth to a prominent person 998 01:27:28,702 --> 01:27:33,331 who can give prosperity and happiness to the Korean nation. 999 01:27:33,415 --> 01:27:36,001 And the person materialized? 1000 01:27:40,839 --> 01:27:42,174 You are quite right. 1001 01:27:42,924 --> 01:27:47,137 This kind of miserable nation was rescued and saved 1002 01:27:47,220 --> 01:27:52,309 just by our great leader, the fearless patriot Kim Il-sung, 1003 01:27:52,392 --> 01:27:54,853 who fought against the Japanese imperialists. 1004 01:27:54,936 --> 01:27:57,814 And how do you feel, as a historian, 1005 01:27:57,898 --> 01:28:01,234 with all the thousands of years behind you, 1006 01:28:01,318 --> 01:28:05,655 how do you feel personally? Is there pride? Is there patriotism? 1007 01:28:06,740 --> 01:28:07,741 Eh... 1008 01:28:13,205 --> 01:28:16,833 My question was meant to elicit a personal response. 1009 01:28:16,917 --> 01:28:20,879 However, personal opinions seem to us a mirror image 1010 01:28:20,962 --> 01:28:25,509 of the omnipotent ideology of the people and their leadership. 1011 01:28:28,804 --> 01:28:32,390 All the Korean people frequently climb up to this mountain, 1012 01:28:32,474 --> 01:28:36,228 but every time whenever they climb up this mountain, 1013 01:28:36,311 --> 01:28:39,105 they have a new feeling, a solemn feeling, 1014 01:28:39,189 --> 01:28:42,901 and at the same time, they make up a new determination 1015 01:28:42,984 --> 01:28:46,404 to work harder for the country with patriotism. 1016 01:28:46,488 --> 01:28:50,492 And all the Korean people are now singing the song 1017 01:28:50,575 --> 01:28:54,704 whose title is "Let Us Go to Mount Paektu." 1018 01:28:54,788 --> 01:28:59,584 And it clearly reflects the spirit of the Korean people. 1019 01:30:38,183 --> 01:30:40,644 We are back now where we started, 1020 01:30:40,727 --> 01:30:43,355 the Vanuatu Archipelago, 1021 01:30:43,438 --> 01:30:46,775 this time on Tanna Island in the south. 1022 01:30:47,776 --> 01:30:51,863 There is an active volcano here, Mount Yasur. 1023 01:33:07,582 --> 01:33:12,462 Similar to North Korea, this volcano has created a new god. 1024 01:33:12,545 --> 01:33:15,673 John Frum, 1025 01:33:15,757 --> 01:33:20,345 the mythical American G.I. who descended from the clouds. 1026 01:33:22,180 --> 01:33:26,101 Each Friday night, the islanders celebrate his cult. 1027 01:34:30,874 --> 01:34:33,710 Chief Isaac of this John Frum village 1028 01:34:33,793 --> 01:34:37,672 tightly controls the dogma of the new faith. 1029 01:34:37,755 --> 01:34:42,176 Different denominations and even a schism in the church 1030 01:34:42,260 --> 01:34:44,846 seem to have materialized, 1031 01:34:44,929 --> 01:34:48,683 and so we were only allowed to speak to him and his son. 1032 01:34:50,768 --> 01:34:55,899 He flies the Stars and Stripes because John Frum is an American 1033 01:34:55,982 --> 01:35:01,404 who promises to return with copious cargos of consumer goods. 1034 01:35:03,781 --> 01:35:08,286 I understand that John Frum one day will appear to all the people 1035 01:35:08,369 --> 01:35:11,456 and that he will bring many things-- 1036 01:35:11,539 --> 01:35:15,960 chewing gum, fridges, Cadillacs, maybe Boeing airplanes. 1037 01:35:22,050 --> 01:35:24,594 He thinks that-- 1038 01:35:24,677 --> 01:35:29,432 He says that it is a promise that was made one day. 1039 01:35:34,145 --> 01:35:37,148 He says that it is a promise made by the spirit 1040 01:35:37,231 --> 01:35:42,403 that one day, it will be like the Americans will do all that. 1041 01:35:42,487 --> 01:35:45,698 Is John Frum like a god? 1042 01:35:45,782 --> 01:35:47,200 Mm-hmm. 1043 01:35:47,283 --> 01:35:50,286 John Frum is like a god to us. 1044 01:35:50,912 --> 01:35:52,080 The one god? 1045 01:35:54,040 --> 01:35:55,166 And-- 1046 01:35:58,461 --> 01:36:00,964 John Frum is like a god, and it is like-- 1047 01:36:07,929 --> 01:36:11,933 John Frum is like a gate. 1048 01:36:12,016 --> 01:36:16,187 It is like Jesus. You have to pass through before going to God. 1049 01:36:18,064 --> 01:36:20,775 What happens when people die? 1050 01:36:28,950 --> 01:36:32,745 His believing is that when the dead are buried, 1051 01:36:32,829 --> 01:36:34,789 they are in a room... 1052 01:36:36,290 --> 01:36:39,585 waiting for the Last Kingdom. 1053 01:36:40,878 --> 01:36:43,798 Will they meet John Frum in the Last Kingdom? 1054 01:36:51,139 --> 01:36:54,767 So, he thinks that the Last Kingdom, 1055 01:36:54,851 --> 01:36:57,812 John Frum is like a walking person, like Jesus. 1056 01:36:57,895 --> 01:37:02,191 In the Last Kingdom, it is thought that he'll be searching for people. 1057 01:37:03,234 --> 01:37:06,863 His son had direct encounters with John Frum. 1058 01:37:06,946 --> 01:37:10,533 You're next in line to be chief of this John Frum village, 1059 01:37:10,616 --> 01:37:14,495 and I understand that you have spent time living in the volcano. 1060 01:37:14,579 --> 01:37:17,123 You spent some nights there. What were you doing, 1061 01:37:17,206 --> 01:37:20,668 and did you speak to John Frum while you were there? 1062 01:37:27,884 --> 01:37:30,720 He's answering that yes, he's been there. 1063 01:37:30,803 --> 01:37:33,514 He stayed there for one full night. 1064 01:37:34,807 --> 01:37:38,519 He had seen someone and he spoke to him. 1065 01:37:39,687 --> 01:37:45,359 We-- It's said that John Frum uses the volcano as a portal, 1066 01:37:45,443 --> 01:37:49,655 a doorway, to travel from Tanna to America. 1067 01:37:49,739 --> 01:37:52,742 Does John Frum live inside the volcano? 1068 01:38:06,381 --> 01:38:11,511 He's telling us that John Frum has a special room that he's living in. 1069 01:38:11,594 --> 01:38:15,390 But there is one day that we will meet him 1070 01:38:15,473 --> 01:38:18,810 in a different form of a person, like Jesus. 1071 01:38:23,648 --> 01:38:25,900 When I was on the volcano... 1072 01:38:26,567 --> 01:38:30,488 I found it amazing to watch, but also quite terrifying. 1073 01:38:30,571 --> 01:38:34,492 How did you feel spending a whole night up in the crater? 1074 01:38:34,575 --> 01:38:36,577 Were you afraid? 1075 01:38:51,300 --> 01:38:54,554 He's telling us that when he went there 1076 01:38:54,637 --> 01:38:56,472 and spent the night, he wasn't afraid 1077 01:38:56,556 --> 01:38:59,642 because he knows that that is God, 1078 01:38:59,725 --> 01:39:04,605 and He's the one that's allowing him to go there. 1079 01:39:12,655 --> 01:39:16,450 So, he went inside the volcano and he saw Him, 1080 01:39:16,534 --> 01:39:19,537 and he spoke to Him. They had a conversation. 1081 01:39:22,290 --> 01:39:25,877 Are you allowed to tell us what the conversation was about? 1082 01:39:37,180 --> 01:39:43,227 He says that the message that the spirit gave to him, 1083 01:39:43,311 --> 01:39:45,855 he didn't tell to his father 1084 01:39:45,938 --> 01:39:49,275 and even the followers that are following John Frum. 1085 01:39:49,358 --> 01:39:50,818 It is only for him. 1086 01:39:50,902 --> 01:39:55,114 I'm a volcano man. You can't whisper it to me in my ear? 1087 01:40:34,987 --> 01:40:38,241 It is hard to take your eyes off the fire 1088 01:40:38,324 --> 01:40:41,369 that burns deep under our feet, 1089 01:40:41,452 --> 01:40:46,540 everywhere, under the crust of the continents and sea beds. 1090 01:40:46,624 --> 01:40:49,585 It is a fire that wants to burst forth, 1091 01:40:49,669 --> 01:40:54,465 and it could not care less about what we are doing up here. 1092 01:41:02,890 --> 01:41:07,728 This boiling mass is just monumentally indifferent 1093 01:41:07,812 --> 01:41:12,275 to scurrying roaches, retarded reptiles 1094 01:41:12,358 --> 01:41:14,819 and vapid humans alike. 1095 01:41:18,656 --> 01:41:20,700 When I went there... 1096 01:41:21,742 --> 01:41:26,080 I started to walk to the lava lake. 1097 01:41:27,290 --> 01:41:32,712 I didn't think that I would see something like what I saw. 1098 01:41:33,546 --> 01:41:35,464 And when I looked down there... 1099 01:41:37,258 --> 01:41:43,097 I thought that I was looking at the seawater. 1100 01:41:45,308 --> 01:41:47,018 But it was red. 1101 01:41:49,103 --> 01:41:50,896 And I didn't understand. 1102 01:41:52,857 --> 01:41:58,362 I started to think about why there's water there 1103 01:41:58,446 --> 01:42:00,239 and the water is red. 1104 01:42:01,699 --> 01:42:03,326 I didn't understand. 1105 01:42:06,579 --> 01:42:11,542 I thought that perhaps this fire 1106 01:42:11,626 --> 01:42:15,379 will someday come to that seawater. 1107 01:42:17,381 --> 01:42:19,133 So, I was very frightened. 1108 01:42:26,182 --> 01:42:32,021 According to our culture, I think the volcano will... 1109 01:42:32,104 --> 01:42:33,731 will destroy everything. 1110 01:42:35,149 --> 01:42:37,026 I believe that. 1111 01:42:39,111 --> 01:42:42,782 Because I hear about, from various people, 1112 01:42:42,865 --> 01:42:48,412 that there are volcanoes around the world. 1113 01:42:48,496 --> 01:42:52,667 And I think that, uh... I believe that someday 1114 01:42:52,750 --> 01:42:55,669 this volcano will erupt, 1115 01:42:55,753 --> 01:42:58,631 and the one at Lopevi, 1116 01:42:58,714 --> 01:43:01,592 and they will join together and will burn everybody. 1117 01:43:01,675 --> 01:43:03,928 This is what I'm thinking of. 1118 01:43:04,804 --> 01:43:07,306 I think everything will melt. 1119 01:43:08,307 --> 01:43:09,850 That's what I'm thinking. 1120 01:43:11,977 --> 01:43:13,687 Everything will melt. 1121 01:43:15,773 --> 01:43:19,276 The stone, the soil... 1122 01:43:20,403 --> 01:43:23,823 trees and everything, will melt. 1123 01:43:25,032 --> 01:43:26,242 Like water. 1124 01:43:31,497 --> 01:43:37,044 And so, I believe that this volcano will destroy this world someday.