1 00:00:02,168 --> 00:00:03,501 WILLIAM SHATNER: Massive structures 2 00:00:03,626 --> 00:00:06,543 lost beneath the waves for thousands of years. 3 00:00:07,918 --> 00:00:09,293 Sunken continents 4 00:00:09,418 --> 00:00:12,210 that were home to advanced civilizations... 5 00:00:13,418 --> 00:00:18,126 ...and a remote mountain lake filled with gold treasure. 6 00:00:20,085 --> 00:00:22,960 For as long as man has roamed the Earth, 7 00:00:23,085 --> 00:00:25,501 we've also explored the world's oceans 8 00:00:25,626 --> 00:00:28,418 in order to find out what lies below. 9 00:00:28,543 --> 00:00:33,501 Is the planet's vast underwater world hiding profound secrets 10 00:00:33,626 --> 00:00:38,210 in the silent expanse of cold and darkness? 11 00:00:38,293 --> 00:00:42,876 What can the depths of the sea tell us about our human nature 12 00:00:43,001 --> 00:00:45,251 and perhaps a lost human history? 13 00:00:45,418 --> 00:00:49,543 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 14 00:00:49,626 --> 00:00:52,543 ♪ ♪ 15 00:01:08,585 --> 00:01:11,876 Billionaire and underwater explorer Victor Vescovo 16 00:01:12,001 --> 00:01:14,751 boards an advanced deep-sea submersible 17 00:01:14,918 --> 00:01:17,210 known as the Limiting Factor 18 00:01:17,335 --> 00:01:21,168 and descends underwater. 19 00:01:22,168 --> 00:01:25,210 His mission is to explore the Challenger Deep, 20 00:01:25,293 --> 00:01:29,585 an underwater valley that is the deepest point on the planet. 21 00:01:31,293 --> 00:01:32,418 VICTOR VESCOVO: I was the fourth person to dive 22 00:01:32,543 --> 00:01:33,960 to the bottom of Challenger Deep. 23 00:01:34,085 --> 00:01:35,376 Within the first thousand meters, 24 00:01:35,501 --> 00:01:37,376 it goes from being brilliant sunshine in the Pacific 25 00:01:37,501 --> 00:01:39,626 to pretty much fully black. 26 00:01:40,918 --> 00:01:44,835 So you descend in the water column, as we call it, 27 00:01:44,918 --> 00:01:47,376 for up to four hours, 28 00:01:47,460 --> 00:01:50,210 steadily going down, watching that depthometer creeping, 29 00:01:50,335 --> 00:01:51,376 creeping, creeping. 30 00:01:51,460 --> 00:01:53,376 And you get to the bottom and then you 31 00:01:53,460 --> 00:01:55,501 check in with the surface, tell them that you're ok. 32 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,210 (cheering) 33 00:01:59,376 --> 00:02:01,876 At that point, it takes seven seconds for the transmission 34 00:02:02,043 --> 00:02:03,418 to actually get to the surface 35 00:02:03,543 --> 00:02:05,793 and seven seconds for it to go down. 36 00:02:07,251 --> 00:02:10,210 It's such an incredible feeling of relief 37 00:02:10,376 --> 00:02:12,293 and a sense of incredible achievement that, 38 00:02:12,418 --> 00:02:13,876 "Oh, my gosh, we actually did it." 39 00:02:15,168 --> 00:02:16,543 JOSH YOUNG: Challenger Deep 40 00:02:16,668 --> 00:02:21,210 is the most deep, dark and dangerous place on the planet. 41 00:02:22,293 --> 00:02:24,876 When you get to the bottom, the pressure is 42 00:02:25,001 --> 00:02:26,293 the equivalent of having 43 00:02:26,418 --> 00:02:29,376 200 747s stacked on top of you. 44 00:02:29,460 --> 00:02:31,668 Unimaginable crush pressure there. 45 00:02:33,126 --> 00:02:36,376 You need a properly engineered submersible 46 00:02:36,501 --> 00:02:39,543 that can go down, withstand the pressure, 47 00:02:39,626 --> 00:02:40,460 stay down there, 48 00:02:40,585 --> 00:02:43,168 and continue to explore these depths. 49 00:02:45,335 --> 00:02:47,085 MONTY HALLS: To get to these locations, 50 00:02:47,210 --> 00:02:48,376 it's an extraordinary undertaking 51 00:02:48,501 --> 00:02:49,668 and it should be celebrated. 52 00:02:49,751 --> 00:02:52,335 They are incredibly difficult to get to, 53 00:02:52,460 --> 00:02:55,460 they're extremely dangerous, they're very hostile to people. 54 00:02:55,585 --> 00:02:56,710 We don't belong down there. 55 00:02:59,168 --> 00:03:00,918 SHATNER: The ocean is a vast expanse 56 00:03:01,043 --> 00:03:03,835 that is almost unimaginable in scope. 57 00:03:05,418 --> 00:03:07,126 And although humans have been traveling 58 00:03:07,251 --> 00:03:09,793 across the high seas for thousands of years, 59 00:03:09,918 --> 00:03:12,918 we still only know a fraction of what lies 60 00:03:13,043 --> 00:03:14,918 beneath the waves. 61 00:03:16,668 --> 00:03:17,960 VESCOVO: The most important thing I think 62 00:03:18,085 --> 00:03:21,168 I try to get people to realize is that the ocean is big. 63 00:03:21,293 --> 00:03:23,210 I mean, really big. 64 00:03:24,418 --> 00:03:26,376 Bigger than you can put your head around. 65 00:03:26,501 --> 00:03:29,835 It is 70% of planet Earth. 66 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:31,626 And it's three-dimensional. 67 00:03:31,751 --> 00:03:34,251 It's not a two-dimensional surface like the land is. 68 00:03:34,418 --> 00:03:36,793 And so, 80% of it is still completely 69 00:03:36,918 --> 00:03:38,626 unmapped and unexplored. 70 00:03:40,751 --> 00:03:41,793 HALLS: The deep sea 71 00:03:41,918 --> 00:03:44,293 remains the last great frontier 72 00:03:44,418 --> 00:03:46,001 for us as a species. 73 00:03:47,585 --> 00:03:50,126 We know way more about the surface of the Moon, 74 00:03:50,251 --> 00:03:52,126 way more about the surface of the other planets 75 00:03:52,251 --> 00:03:53,835 than we do the deepest spots 76 00:03:53,918 --> 00:03:55,335 in the ocean. 77 00:03:55,460 --> 00:03:58,293 It's a mystery we've just started to unravel. 78 00:03:59,793 --> 00:04:02,376 YOUNG: The allure of the deep sea is that it holds something 79 00:04:02,501 --> 00:04:04,251 in everyone's imagination. 80 00:04:04,376 --> 00:04:07,251 Not fully knowing what is there 81 00:04:07,376 --> 00:04:09,751 enables everyone to come up with their own vision 82 00:04:09,876 --> 00:04:11,376 of what might be there. 83 00:04:12,668 --> 00:04:15,126 What creatures might live down there? 84 00:04:15,251 --> 00:04:17,793 Might there be sunken ships and gold, 85 00:04:17,918 --> 00:04:19,376 and where might that be? 86 00:04:20,335 --> 00:04:22,960 That is what sparks the curiosity 87 00:04:23,085 --> 00:04:25,835 that we need to keep exploring 88 00:04:25,918 --> 00:04:28,710 and to keep investigating what's down there, 89 00:04:28,835 --> 00:04:29,751 what's out there. 90 00:04:31,043 --> 00:04:33,335 SHATNER: The recent dives to the bottom of the ocean 91 00:04:33,418 --> 00:04:37,376 have shed new light into the darkness of its depths. 92 00:04:37,501 --> 00:04:41,876 But these voyages are just the latest chapter in mankind's 93 00:04:42,043 --> 00:04:45,710 long quest to uncover what secrets are held in the seas. 94 00:04:45,835 --> 00:04:48,876 In fact, our fascination with the ocean 95 00:04:49,001 --> 00:04:51,293 goes back thousands of years. 96 00:04:52,751 --> 00:04:54,543 LYNNE McNEILL: Throughout history 97 00:04:54,668 --> 00:04:56,710 and cross-culturally as well, 98 00:04:56,835 --> 00:04:59,793 we see a really consistent pattern of belief 99 00:04:59,918 --> 00:05:04,501 that under the water is an entirely other world... 100 00:05:06,126 --> 00:05:08,043 ...full of creatures 101 00:05:08,168 --> 00:05:11,751 like a Kraken or a Leviathan. 102 00:05:11,918 --> 00:05:14,085 And it's not just oceans. 103 00:05:14,210 --> 00:05:18,918 Lakes are always populated with these monstrous creatures, 104 00:05:19,043 --> 00:05:21,751 like the Loch Ness Monster. 105 00:05:21,876 --> 00:05:23,126 The message we get 106 00:05:23,251 --> 00:05:25,710 is that no body of water is safe. 107 00:05:27,168 --> 00:05:30,418 MICHAEL TUTTLE: The understandings of the seas and oceans over time 108 00:05:30,543 --> 00:05:32,751 has changed dramatically. 109 00:05:34,210 --> 00:05:36,710 The ocean was basically seen 110 00:05:36,835 --> 00:05:39,210 by seafaring people, like the ancient Greeks were 111 00:05:39,335 --> 00:05:40,626 or ancient Phoenicians were... 112 00:05:41,585 --> 00:05:44,876 ...as the big, bad black sea. 113 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:45,960 They didn't have the ships 114 00:05:46,085 --> 00:05:47,835 to go against the currents and the winds. 115 00:05:47,918 --> 00:05:50,001 And if you sailed far enough, you'd die. 116 00:05:52,293 --> 00:05:54,460 ROBERT SCHOCH: For so long, no one really knew 117 00:05:54,585 --> 00:05:57,793 what the extent of the oceans were, what's under them. 118 00:05:57,918 --> 00:06:01,835 Even in the time of Columbus, late 15th century, 119 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:03,876 people were worried, 120 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:05,960 some people thought the Earth was flat, 121 00:06:06,085 --> 00:06:09,210 that you could literally get to the end of the ocean 122 00:06:09,335 --> 00:06:11,001 and fall off the edge. 123 00:06:13,251 --> 00:06:18,085 SHATNER: Humanity has always been humbled by the vast power of the ocean. 124 00:06:18,210 --> 00:06:22,751 But during the scientific revolution in the 16th century, 125 00:06:22,876 --> 00:06:25,376 we started to get a better understanding 126 00:06:25,501 --> 00:06:27,126 of the underwater world. 127 00:06:28,418 --> 00:06:32,460 In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan 128 00:06:32,585 --> 00:06:36,126 attempted to measure the depth of the ocean by attaching a line 129 00:06:36,251 --> 00:06:39,793 to a cannonball and tossing it over the side of his ship. 130 00:06:41,751 --> 00:06:45,001 After lowering the cannonball 2,400 feet, 131 00:06:45,085 --> 00:06:49,918 Magellan declared that the ocean was immeasurably deep. 132 00:06:51,668 --> 00:06:54,710 Magellan went out and tried to measure the depth of the oceans. 133 00:06:54,793 --> 00:06:57,168 He wasn't largely successful with that, 134 00:06:57,293 --> 00:06:58,418 but it sort of opened the door that, 135 00:06:58,543 --> 00:06:59,793 wow, this is really deep 136 00:06:59,918 --> 00:07:01,835 and we need to do more exploration. 137 00:07:03,251 --> 00:07:05,376 That was furthered later 138 00:07:05,501 --> 00:07:10,293 with the HMS Challenger expedition in the 1870s 139 00:07:10,418 --> 00:07:12,543 that went all the way around the world 140 00:07:12,710 --> 00:07:14,585 to explore the deep oceans. 141 00:07:14,710 --> 00:07:18,376 And the most significant thing it found was the deepest part, 142 00:07:18,543 --> 00:07:20,585 which is the Challenger Deep, 143 00:07:20,751 --> 00:07:22,835 which was named after the expedition. 144 00:07:24,043 --> 00:07:27,376 Over time there became more of a curiosity to the oceans. 145 00:07:27,543 --> 00:07:30,126 To want to go down and to be able to go down to, 146 00:07:30,251 --> 00:07:31,835 to see what was there. 147 00:07:33,751 --> 00:07:34,876 SHATNER: In the 20th century, 148 00:07:35,001 --> 00:07:37,126 the development of undersea submersibles 149 00:07:37,251 --> 00:07:39,251 ushered in a new era 150 00:07:39,418 --> 00:07:43,001 of unprecedented underwater exploration. 151 00:07:44,626 --> 00:07:47,626 YOUNG: The evolution of a deep ocean submersible started 152 00:07:47,751 --> 00:07:49,876 in 1930 when a bathysphere was created, 153 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,710 where a man was put inside of a, essentially, a vessel... 154 00:07:56,251 --> 00:07:59,543 ...and dipped down into the ocean held by a tether. 155 00:07:59,710 --> 00:08:02,376 That was furthered later 156 00:08:02,501 --> 00:08:05,710 by the bathyscaphe in 1960, 157 00:08:05,835 --> 00:08:08,251 the Trieste, which took Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard 158 00:08:08,418 --> 00:08:10,293 to the bottom of the Challenger Deep 159 00:08:10,418 --> 00:08:12,043 for the first time ever. 160 00:08:13,335 --> 00:08:16,085 SHATNER: Today, underwater archaeologists and explorers 161 00:08:16,251 --> 00:08:19,835 are using the latest submersible technology 162 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,543 to try to unravel the mysteries that lie 163 00:08:22,626 --> 00:08:24,043 within the ocean. 164 00:08:24,210 --> 00:08:25,793 And many experts believe 165 00:08:25,918 --> 00:08:28,210 that they are on the cusp of making dramatic 166 00:08:28,335 --> 00:08:30,960 new discoveries on the seafloor. 167 00:08:33,043 --> 00:08:35,001 VESCOVO: My hopes for ocean exploration in the near term 168 00:08:35,085 --> 00:08:38,876 is to bring the very deep places, 169 00:08:39,001 --> 00:08:41,501 the very dangerous places to a point of accessibility 170 00:08:41,626 --> 00:08:43,335 where we can take any scientists down to them 171 00:08:43,418 --> 00:08:44,543 to explore them. 172 00:08:46,085 --> 00:08:48,710 Also, there's a huge project underway 173 00:08:48,793 --> 00:08:51,585 called the 2030 Seafloor Initiative, 174 00:08:51,710 --> 00:08:53,710 where a bunch of different scientists 175 00:08:53,793 --> 00:08:55,001 and people like myself, 176 00:08:55,085 --> 00:08:57,085 we're trying to help map the seafloor. 177 00:08:59,126 --> 00:09:01,543 SHATNER: The Seabed 2030 Initiative 178 00:09:01,668 --> 00:09:05,085 is gathering information collected all over the world 179 00:09:05,210 --> 00:09:06,543 by science vessels, 180 00:09:06,710 --> 00:09:10,043 merchant ships, and underwater drones. 181 00:09:10,168 --> 00:09:14,751 Their goal is to map the entire ocean floor 182 00:09:14,918 --> 00:09:19,376 by the year 2030, a feat that seemed impossible 183 00:09:19,460 --> 00:09:21,876 for most of human history. 184 00:09:22,001 --> 00:09:23,710 VESCOVO: Technology is always the key. 185 00:09:23,793 --> 00:09:25,460 Technology allows us 186 00:09:25,585 --> 00:09:27,085 to do things that we couldn't do before 187 00:09:27,210 --> 00:09:30,001 and see those things that no one has ever seen before. 188 00:09:30,126 --> 00:09:31,043 It's human progress 189 00:09:31,210 --> 00:09:34,043 and really pushing ourselves to the next level. 190 00:09:35,751 --> 00:09:38,793 It's really quite extraordinary that we have the ability 191 00:09:38,918 --> 00:09:41,335 to journey to the very bottom of the ocean, 192 00:09:41,418 --> 00:09:43,793 and scientists are making 193 00:09:43,918 --> 00:09:47,710 incredible underwater discoveries all the time. 194 00:09:47,876 --> 00:09:50,710 For instance, a new landmass was recently found 195 00:09:50,835 --> 00:09:52,626 off the coast of New Zealand. 196 00:09:52,751 --> 00:09:55,626 And there are those who believe that it could be 197 00:09:55,751 --> 00:09:58,251 part of a lost continent. 198 00:10:06,085 --> 00:10:09,460 SHATNER: A team of geologists at GNS Science 199 00:10:09,585 --> 00:10:11,376 announce a major discovery 200 00:10:11,543 --> 00:10:13,376 related to the Earth's continents, 201 00:10:13,460 --> 00:10:17,543 the vast landmasses that make up the planet's surface. 202 00:10:17,626 --> 00:10:19,543 The scientists found that, 203 00:10:19,668 --> 00:10:21,585 in addition to the seven continents 204 00:10:21,751 --> 00:10:23,835 that humans have known about for centuries, 205 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,585 there's also an eighth continent 206 00:10:26,710 --> 00:10:29,210 located directly underneath New Zealand, 207 00:10:29,376 --> 00:10:31,460 which they named Zealandia. 208 00:10:31,585 --> 00:10:34,543 Zealandia sank into the ocean 209 00:10:34,626 --> 00:10:37,168 approximately 50 million years ago, 210 00:10:37,251 --> 00:10:39,043 and its existence suggests 211 00:10:39,126 --> 00:10:42,043 that there may be even more lost continents 212 00:10:42,126 --> 00:10:44,793 that were swallowed up by the sea. 213 00:10:47,251 --> 00:10:50,543 The Earth has cycles of sea level rise and sea level fall. 214 00:10:50,668 --> 00:10:53,710 Over the last hundreds of millions of years, 215 00:10:53,793 --> 00:10:56,543 as climate has warmed we get sea level rise; 216 00:10:56,626 --> 00:10:59,543 cold periods, sea level fall. 217 00:10:59,626 --> 00:11:02,876 There's a huge amount of land which is now 218 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:04,876 covered by the sea. 219 00:11:05,001 --> 00:11:06,543 MICHIO KAKU: 10,000 years ago, 220 00:11:06,668 --> 00:11:08,085 with the end of the Ice Age, 221 00:11:08,251 --> 00:11:11,335 sea levels were dramatically lower than they are now. 222 00:11:12,751 --> 00:11:14,085 And because of the melting 223 00:11:14,210 --> 00:11:17,210 of the ice, sea levels have risen since then, 224 00:11:17,293 --> 00:11:21,585 and cities that may have existed thousands of years ago 225 00:11:21,710 --> 00:11:25,085 could be lost in history as a consequence. 226 00:11:27,793 --> 00:11:30,210 SHATNER: For thousands of years, cultures from around the world 227 00:11:30,335 --> 00:11:33,126 have told stories about long-lost continents 228 00:11:33,251 --> 00:11:36,001 that were home to human civilizations 229 00:11:36,126 --> 00:11:38,960 and are now submerged beneath the waves. 230 00:11:40,210 --> 00:11:43,918 Perhaps the most famous is the legend of Atlantis, 231 00:11:44,085 --> 00:11:47,418 a massive island that was home to an advanced civilization 232 00:11:47,543 --> 00:11:52,376 before it supposedly sank into the ocean after an earthquake. 233 00:11:52,501 --> 00:11:55,543 HUGH NEWMAN: There's been more books written about Atlantis 234 00:11:55,626 --> 00:11:58,251 than any other lost continent in history. 235 00:11:58,376 --> 00:11:59,210 There are many 236 00:11:59,335 --> 00:12:01,710 sunken cities, lost lands, 237 00:12:01,793 --> 00:12:03,960 destroyed continents all around the planet 238 00:12:04,085 --> 00:12:05,293 in legend and history. 239 00:12:05,418 --> 00:12:09,585 For example, we have the lost land of Hy-Brasil, 240 00:12:09,751 --> 00:12:10,751 which was thought to be 241 00:12:10,876 --> 00:12:14,626 200 miles off the coast of Ireland, 242 00:12:14,751 --> 00:12:17,210 and it was even on maps until the 1800s. 243 00:12:18,543 --> 00:12:21,585 SHATNER: One of the most intriguing lost continents is a landmass 244 00:12:21,710 --> 00:12:24,876 that is believed to have once existed in the Pacific Ocean. 245 00:12:25,001 --> 00:12:29,876 A mythical land that is known as Mu. 246 00:12:31,001 --> 00:12:33,376 The first person to write extensively 247 00:12:33,543 --> 00:12:35,585 about the lost continent of Mu 248 00:12:35,710 --> 00:12:38,751 was a Scottish writer 249 00:12:38,918 --> 00:12:41,460 by the name of James Churchward. 250 00:12:41,585 --> 00:12:47,168 In the 19th century, he was in India when he visited 251 00:12:47,251 --> 00:12:48,876 a monastery. 252 00:12:49,001 --> 00:12:53,210 And the monks there had records, apparently, tablets 253 00:12:53,335 --> 00:12:57,168 that referred to this place called Mu 254 00:12:57,293 --> 00:13:02,335 that was this huge continent that supposedly existed 255 00:13:02,418 --> 00:13:04,710 from Hawaii in the north 256 00:13:04,876 --> 00:13:08,085 down to Easter Island in the southeast, 257 00:13:08,210 --> 00:13:12,418 right the way across to Micronesia in the west. 258 00:13:12,543 --> 00:13:16,543 And the people there were supposedly called the Naacal. 259 00:13:17,918 --> 00:13:22,210 The continent of Mu thrived perhaps 50,000 years ago 260 00:13:22,335 --> 00:13:25,918 and was sunk beneath the waves, 261 00:13:26,043 --> 00:13:29,001 possibly at the end of the last Ice Age. 262 00:13:31,085 --> 00:13:32,918 My great-grandfather James Churchward, 263 00:13:33,085 --> 00:13:36,585 eventually he became friends with the rishi of the temple 264 00:13:36,710 --> 00:13:38,710 that he visited in India. 265 00:13:38,835 --> 00:13:41,043 And the rishi mentioned that he was a member 266 00:13:41,126 --> 00:13:42,876 of the Naacal brotherhood, 267 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,460 the holders of wisdom and knowledge 268 00:13:45,585 --> 00:13:47,960 of the lost continent of Mu. 269 00:13:49,001 --> 00:13:51,210 They were mighty navigators and sailors 270 00:13:51,293 --> 00:13:55,251 and established civilization in other parts of the world. 271 00:13:56,918 --> 00:13:58,210 SHATNER: According to James Churchward, 272 00:13:58,293 --> 00:14:00,210 the Naacal civilization had a population 273 00:14:00,335 --> 00:14:03,210 of more than 60 million people at its peak 274 00:14:03,335 --> 00:14:07,918 before a massive volcanic cataclysm caused Mu to vanish 275 00:14:08,043 --> 00:14:10,001 beneath the waters. 276 00:14:11,251 --> 00:14:13,876 So far, no evidence of the lost continent 277 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,126 has been found on the ocean floor. 278 00:14:17,251 --> 00:14:19,626 But some researchers claim that, incredibly, 279 00:14:19,751 --> 00:14:24,043 a tiny remnant of Mu may still exist above water today 280 00:14:24,168 --> 00:14:29,251 on an island located in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. 281 00:14:31,460 --> 00:14:34,210 Roughly 2,500 miles northeast of Australia 282 00:14:34,376 --> 00:14:37,418 lie the ruins of a once great ancient city. 283 00:14:37,585 --> 00:14:38,960 Nan Madol. 284 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,043 Nan Madol is a complex of man-made islands 285 00:14:43,126 --> 00:14:47,043 built with massive stone blocks that float atop 286 00:14:47,126 --> 00:14:49,460 a submerged coral reef. 287 00:14:49,585 --> 00:14:51,751 COLLINS: So as you approach Nan Madol, 288 00:14:51,918 --> 00:14:55,210 there are a series of islands, 289 00:14:55,376 --> 00:14:57,168 and they're built actually on coral, 290 00:14:57,293 --> 00:15:00,418 the only place in the world where this actually occurs. 291 00:15:02,126 --> 00:15:04,710 And you've got all these incredible structures 292 00:15:04,835 --> 00:15:07,293 made of these prismatic blocks. 293 00:15:09,293 --> 00:15:10,876 NEWMAN: At Nan Madol, you have these 294 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,710 ridiculous basalt columns, they're huge, 295 00:15:13,835 --> 00:15:15,126 some of them up to, like, 40 tons, 296 00:15:15,251 --> 00:15:16,543 even more in some cases. 297 00:15:16,710 --> 00:15:19,501 Some of them are raised very high up in the air, 298 00:15:19,585 --> 00:15:21,085 on the very top levels. 299 00:15:21,210 --> 00:15:23,418 So there's a real problem when it comes to try and understand 300 00:15:23,543 --> 00:15:27,376 how they moved these millions of tons of basalt columns. 301 00:15:28,585 --> 00:15:30,460 COLLINS: One of the biggest mysteries 302 00:15:30,585 --> 00:15:32,376 surrounding Nan Madol 303 00:15:32,501 --> 00:15:36,793 is that nobody really knows who constructed it. 304 00:15:36,918 --> 00:15:38,876 But there's some very strange stories 305 00:15:39,001 --> 00:15:43,085 about how the city came into existence. 306 00:15:44,126 --> 00:15:47,126 For instance, one of the stories talks about 307 00:15:47,251 --> 00:15:50,335 it being constructed by so-called master builders... 308 00:15:51,585 --> 00:15:55,710 ...turning up and using a magical force... 309 00:15:56,918 --> 00:16:01,626 ...to raise the blocks into the air and put them into place, 310 00:16:01,751 --> 00:16:05,251 almost as if they could levitate these blocks. 311 00:16:08,085 --> 00:16:09,585 SCHOCH: Some people actually suggested 312 00:16:09,751 --> 00:16:14,043 that maybe Nan Madol was the last remnant of Mu 313 00:16:14,168 --> 00:16:15,626 that was still above water... 314 00:16:17,001 --> 00:16:18,210 ...and it was simply 315 00:16:18,376 --> 00:16:21,376 indicative of what had sunk 316 00:16:21,460 --> 00:16:25,710 beneath the waves from this advanced civilization. 317 00:16:25,793 --> 00:16:28,251 Nan Madol is in Micronesia, 318 00:16:28,376 --> 00:16:31,126 so it fit the correct general area. 319 00:16:31,251 --> 00:16:34,668 And this is one reason people thought in terms of Mu. 320 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,960 NEWMAN: When it comes to looking for this lost continent of Mu, 321 00:16:39,085 --> 00:16:42,126 places like Nan Madol really do suggest 322 00:16:42,251 --> 00:16:44,626 there could be much more down there than we realize 323 00:16:44,751 --> 00:16:46,418 on the bottom of the ocean. 324 00:16:47,460 --> 00:16:50,543 It's hard to picture an entire continent, 325 00:16:50,626 --> 00:16:55,251 with people living on it, simply vanishing into the sea. 326 00:16:55,376 --> 00:16:56,418 And yet... 327 00:16:57,501 --> 00:17:00,293 ...all over the world, there are legends of lost 328 00:17:00,418 --> 00:17:04,501 civilizations that were swallowed up by the oceans. 329 00:17:04,626 --> 00:17:09,168 But could such legends actually be true? 330 00:17:10,251 --> 00:17:12,376 Perhaps the answer can be found by examining 331 00:17:12,460 --> 00:17:17,251 a mysterious structure located in the Pacific Ocean 332 00:17:17,376 --> 00:17:19,043 that has come to be known as 333 00:17:19,168 --> 00:17:26,043 Japan's Atlantis. 334 00:17:26,126 --> 00:17:27,876 SHATNER: At the western end of the Pacific Ocean, 335 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,126 67 miles off the coast of Taiwan, 336 00:17:30,251 --> 00:17:34,126 is the Japanese island of Yonaguni. 337 00:17:34,251 --> 00:17:38,210 It is one of some 6,800 landforms 338 00:17:38,335 --> 00:17:40,043 in the Japanese archipelago, 339 00:17:40,168 --> 00:17:41,460 a chain of small islands 340 00:17:41,585 --> 00:17:44,210 located near the southern tip of Japan. 341 00:17:45,335 --> 00:17:47,251 But just off the coast of Yonaguni lies 342 00:17:47,376 --> 00:17:50,918 a mysterious complex of underwater stone formations 343 00:17:51,085 --> 00:17:54,751 known as the Yonaguni Monument. 344 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,543 SCHOCH: It's an absolutely incredible structure, 345 00:17:58,626 --> 00:18:01,876 and it looks like a giant staircase. 346 00:18:02,001 --> 00:18:06,460 Steps in the bedrock with terraces. 347 00:18:06,585 --> 00:18:10,418 The symmetry and the regularity that people see on it 348 00:18:10,543 --> 00:18:12,626 just makes a astounding impression. 349 00:18:14,210 --> 00:18:18,960 NEWMAN: It looks like a huge, multifaceted pyramid platform 350 00:18:19,085 --> 00:18:21,168 that stretches over a huge area 351 00:18:21,251 --> 00:18:23,585 with all these details carved into it. 352 00:18:23,751 --> 00:18:27,293 There's areas where monoliths were said to have been standing. 353 00:18:27,418 --> 00:18:31,210 There's even dolmens or large slabs like lintels 354 00:18:31,335 --> 00:18:35,668 covering areas and creating doorways and other features. 355 00:18:37,376 --> 00:18:39,168 HALLS: When you look at some of the rock structures, 356 00:18:39,293 --> 00:18:41,126 it looks undeniably man-made. 357 00:18:41,251 --> 00:18:43,085 But with that comes a whole series of questions. 358 00:18:43,251 --> 00:18:45,335 How did it get here? How long has it been here? 359 00:18:45,460 --> 00:18:47,126 What is the structure you're looking at? 360 00:18:48,751 --> 00:18:52,376 SHATNER: The Yonaguni Monument was discovered by divers in 1987, 361 00:18:52,460 --> 00:18:53,960 and since that time, 362 00:18:54,085 --> 00:18:57,376 experts have debated whether it's a natural formation 363 00:18:57,460 --> 00:19:01,168 caused by erosion or an artificial structure 364 00:19:01,251 --> 00:19:04,335 that was carved by man in the distant past. 365 00:19:05,585 --> 00:19:08,335 Researchers who believe that the monument is man-made 366 00:19:08,418 --> 00:19:09,918 claim that it is the ruins 367 00:19:10,085 --> 00:19:12,460 of a massive stepped pyramid complex 368 00:19:12,585 --> 00:19:17,293 that is nearly 500 feet long, 130 feet wide, and 90 feet tall. 369 00:19:18,460 --> 00:19:22,210 The Yonaguni Monument was originally above water, 370 00:19:22,335 --> 00:19:25,376 but at some point in the past, 371 00:19:25,501 --> 00:19:28,043 waters rose up and covered it 372 00:19:28,126 --> 00:19:32,460 and it's now beneath almost 100 feet of water. 373 00:19:32,585 --> 00:19:36,001 You have not only these geometrical structures, 374 00:19:36,126 --> 00:19:37,043 these terraces, 375 00:19:37,210 --> 00:19:39,668 but also some strange monuments, 376 00:19:39,793 --> 00:19:43,293 including what appears to be this human head. 377 00:19:43,418 --> 00:19:45,668 It's 23 feet tall 378 00:19:45,793 --> 00:19:49,418 and it has these hollow sunken eyes. 379 00:19:49,543 --> 00:19:54,043 It almost looks like the moai statues of Easter Island. 380 00:19:54,168 --> 00:19:56,001 It looks hauntingly like 381 00:19:56,085 --> 00:19:58,210 some kind of giant of the past. 382 00:19:59,751 --> 00:20:03,001 SHATNER: Underwater archaeologists who have visited Yonaguni 383 00:20:03,126 --> 00:20:05,085 have also noted that there appears to be 384 00:20:05,210 --> 00:20:07,835 a sculpture of a sea turtle. 385 00:20:07,918 --> 00:20:11,835 And some even claim there is a carved roadway 386 00:20:11,918 --> 00:20:14,001 circling the entire site. 387 00:20:16,751 --> 00:20:18,543 NEWMAN: There's so many elements to it 388 00:20:18,626 --> 00:20:22,626 which suggest it's at least been manipulated by man, 389 00:20:22,751 --> 00:20:25,126 because it looks like it's been carved from solid rock. 390 00:20:25,251 --> 00:20:27,710 And one of the theories that has kind of caught 391 00:20:27,835 --> 00:20:30,710 many researchers' attention is that it could be evidence 392 00:20:30,876 --> 00:20:34,710 of a lost civilization many thousands of years old. 393 00:20:34,835 --> 00:20:37,835 SCHOCH: Some people have thought of Yonaguni 394 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:41,793 being "Japan's Atlantis," 395 00:20:41,918 --> 00:20:46,126 in the sense that if Yonaguni is an artificial, 396 00:20:46,251 --> 00:20:49,626 human construction from very ancient times, 397 00:20:49,751 --> 00:20:54,043 it must represent the tip of the proverbial iceberg 398 00:20:54,126 --> 00:20:55,876 of an advanced civilization 399 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,210 thousands of years ago that somehow disappeared 400 00:20:59,335 --> 00:21:02,376 into the ocean under the waves. 401 00:21:04,001 --> 00:21:05,543 SHATNER: Is the Yonaguni Monument 402 00:21:05,626 --> 00:21:07,376 the remains of a lost civilization? 403 00:21:07,501 --> 00:21:12,293 And if so, how long ago did that civilization exist? 404 00:21:13,501 --> 00:21:16,210 HALLS: One of the really, really interesting, 405 00:21:16,335 --> 00:21:18,918 mystifying things about the Yonaguni Monument 406 00:21:19,043 --> 00:21:20,710 is the depth of water. 407 00:21:20,876 --> 00:21:22,293 So, it's 25 meters. 408 00:21:23,501 --> 00:21:28,376 Now, if we were relying on the pulses of sea level rise 409 00:21:28,460 --> 00:21:30,085 from kind of the end of the Ice Age 410 00:21:30,210 --> 00:21:33,293 10,000 years ago, that means that the Yonaguni Monument 411 00:21:33,418 --> 00:21:37,210 would be 12,000 to 14,000 years old. 412 00:21:37,293 --> 00:21:38,960 That's going to predate 413 00:21:39,085 --> 00:21:42,418 the earliest civilizations we know of by 7,000 years or so. 414 00:21:43,668 --> 00:21:47,001 If the Yonaguni Monument was man-made, then it is a truly 415 00:21:47,085 --> 00:21:48,585 seismic discovery in terms 416 00:21:48,710 --> 00:21:50,876 of the history of our species because, 417 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:55,585 potentially, the cradle of human civilization was Japan, 418 00:21:55,710 --> 00:21:57,126 was off the coast of Japan. 419 00:21:57,251 --> 00:22:01,043 SHATNER: Is it possible that the Yonaguni Monument 420 00:22:01,210 --> 00:22:02,376 is not only man-made 421 00:22:02,543 --> 00:22:05,543 but also much older than any other ruin 422 00:22:05,668 --> 00:22:07,335 that's ever been discovered? 423 00:22:07,460 --> 00:22:09,418 Many scientists believe 424 00:22:09,585 --> 00:22:12,210 that further research on this remarkable structure 425 00:22:12,335 --> 00:22:14,085 could rewrite history 426 00:22:14,251 --> 00:22:18,543 and offer tangible evidence in support of the theory 427 00:22:18,668 --> 00:22:21,501 that there are remnants of lost 428 00:22:21,585 --> 00:22:25,335 civilizations hidden in the world's oceans. 429 00:22:26,793 --> 00:22:29,126 TUTTLE: Are there some foundational cities 430 00:22:29,251 --> 00:22:31,043 underneath the water? 431 00:22:31,126 --> 00:22:32,501 I wouldn't bet against it. 432 00:22:32,626 --> 00:22:35,210 If we want to unlock the secrets of ancient civilizations, 433 00:22:35,335 --> 00:22:38,460 we may very well have to look underwater. 434 00:22:39,460 --> 00:22:41,418 HALLS: What we are beginning to learn 435 00:22:41,543 --> 00:22:44,460 is the huge potential of 436 00:22:44,585 --> 00:22:47,876 mysteries in the sea, as in what the sea can give us 437 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:53,085 in terms of new discoveries, new glimpses into other worlds. 438 00:22:53,210 --> 00:22:56,626 And the Yonaguni Monument is a real manifestation of that. 439 00:22:57,501 --> 00:22:59,335 The mere possibility 440 00:22:59,418 --> 00:23:01,335 that the ruins of an ancient civilization 441 00:23:01,418 --> 00:23:03,210 could be lying on the floor of the Pacific Ocean 442 00:23:03,335 --> 00:23:04,835 is fascinating. 443 00:23:04,918 --> 00:23:09,335 But our next underwater mystery can be found not in the ocean 444 00:23:09,418 --> 00:23:11,585 but at the bottom of a vast lake. 445 00:23:11,710 --> 00:23:16,001 A lake that holds gold and silver artifacts that date back 446 00:23:16,126 --> 00:23:25,501 thousands of years. 447 00:23:25,585 --> 00:23:29,210 SHATNER: High atop this 5,500-mile-long mountain range 448 00:23:29,335 --> 00:23:32,210 lies Lake Titicaca, 449 00:23:32,335 --> 00:23:36,751 one of the most picturesque bodies of water in the world. 450 00:23:36,918 --> 00:23:39,710 Lake Titicaca sits at a remarkable elevation 451 00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:44,543 of 12,500 feet, which is roughly two miles above sea level. 452 00:23:47,418 --> 00:23:49,668 REINHARD: Lake Titicaca is a massive lake 453 00:23:49,751 --> 00:23:52,043 in the midst of a mountain range, 454 00:23:52,126 --> 00:23:56,210 and it's about 120 miles long 455 00:23:56,293 --> 00:23:58,710 and 30-some miles wide. 456 00:23:59,751 --> 00:24:02,626 It extends down nearly a thousand feet, 457 00:24:02,751 --> 00:24:06,585 and it's the highest navigable lake in the world. 458 00:24:06,710 --> 00:24:08,668 It's quite unusual to be on something 459 00:24:08,751 --> 00:24:11,043 that looks like a sea when you're on it 460 00:24:11,126 --> 00:24:14,960 and see snowcapped peaks... (laughs) surrounding it. 461 00:24:15,085 --> 00:24:17,085 SHATNER: You might think that a lake located 462 00:24:17,210 --> 00:24:20,876 at such a high and remote location would have no traces 463 00:24:21,043 --> 00:24:22,126 of human activity. 464 00:24:22,251 --> 00:24:23,876 But what's incredible 465 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,210 about Lake Titicaca is that, for decades, 466 00:24:27,293 --> 00:24:29,210 archaeologists have been finding 467 00:24:29,335 --> 00:24:32,876 mysterious gold artifacts submerged 468 00:24:33,043 --> 00:24:35,001 within its icy waters. 469 00:24:38,001 --> 00:24:40,960 FOERSTER: Excavations of Lake Titicaca found 470 00:24:41,085 --> 00:24:44,126 2,000 artifacts of gold, silver, and pottery. 471 00:24:45,418 --> 00:24:48,418 Normally, of course on land you would find that, but to find it 472 00:24:48,543 --> 00:24:52,001 in the lake was very mysterious and surprising. 473 00:24:54,085 --> 00:24:57,210 REINHARD: There's more than 40-some carved stone boxes 474 00:24:57,335 --> 00:24:58,543 that have been found. 475 00:24:58,668 --> 00:25:04,085 Many of them have little grooves in their sides, 476 00:25:04,210 --> 00:25:06,418 which was where the ropes were 477 00:25:06,543 --> 00:25:09,376 tied around them so they wouldn't slip out 478 00:25:09,501 --> 00:25:11,626 when they were being lowered into the water. 479 00:25:12,835 --> 00:25:15,918 Now, the exciting thing about finding these boxes 480 00:25:16,043 --> 00:25:19,585 with a lid is the kinds of finds that were being made in them, 481 00:25:19,710 --> 00:25:22,376 such as a gold vase, 482 00:25:22,501 --> 00:25:24,835 a gold medallion, 483 00:25:24,918 --> 00:25:28,043 and gold feline figurines. 484 00:25:29,460 --> 00:25:32,168 SHATNER: But why would the ancient peoples of this region make 485 00:25:32,293 --> 00:25:35,626 a difficult trek to this lake that is located atop 486 00:25:35,751 --> 00:25:38,543 one of the least accessible mountain ranges in the world 487 00:25:38,668 --> 00:25:42,460 to leave so many gold artifacts 488 00:25:42,585 --> 00:25:44,543 at the bottom of the lake? 489 00:25:46,043 --> 00:25:49,751 This entire area of the Andes is associated with the Inca. 490 00:25:51,126 --> 00:25:54,001 And they are responsible for many of the finds 491 00:25:54,085 --> 00:25:56,293 that have been made in Lake Titicaca. 492 00:25:57,543 --> 00:26:00,210 The Inca were a South American civilization 493 00:26:00,335 --> 00:26:03,710 that controlled 2,500 miles 494 00:26:03,835 --> 00:26:07,335 stretching all the way from Peru, modern-day Bolivia, 495 00:26:07,460 --> 00:26:10,585 Guatemala into Chile and Argentina. 496 00:26:11,835 --> 00:26:13,751 REINHARD: Lake Titicaca was one of the most sacred places 497 00:26:13,918 --> 00:26:16,376 in the entire Inca Empire. 498 00:26:16,501 --> 00:26:18,543 It was sacred because it was 499 00:26:18,710 --> 00:26:23,043 one of the most important freshwater bodies of water 500 00:26:23,168 --> 00:26:24,835 in all of South America. 501 00:26:26,918 --> 00:26:30,210 BELLINGER: When the Inca realized the incredible value 502 00:26:30,293 --> 00:26:31,960 of the Lake Titicaca basin... 503 00:26:33,168 --> 00:26:37,335 ...they initiated a program of religious pilgrimages, 504 00:26:37,418 --> 00:26:39,960 essentially, saying that 505 00:26:40,085 --> 00:26:43,793 their key creator god, known as Viracocha, 506 00:26:43,918 --> 00:26:46,376 rose up out of the waters of Lake Titicaca 507 00:26:46,460 --> 00:26:48,751 to create all humanity. 508 00:26:50,543 --> 00:26:51,835 REINHARD: Lake Titicaca 509 00:26:51,918 --> 00:26:54,543 is the mythological origin 510 00:26:54,626 --> 00:26:56,876 of the entire Inca Empire. 511 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,626 They believed that they were descendants of the cultures 512 00:27:00,751 --> 00:27:03,168 that had evolved at Lake Titicaca. 513 00:27:04,126 --> 00:27:06,043 There were legends of temples and whatnot 514 00:27:06,126 --> 00:27:09,210 underwater in Lake Titicaca, long before the Incas. 515 00:27:10,918 --> 00:27:12,751 SHATNER: According to Inca legend, 516 00:27:12,918 --> 00:27:15,793 a civilization that existed centuries prior to them 517 00:27:15,918 --> 00:27:18,293 rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca. 518 00:27:18,418 --> 00:27:21,710 Remarkably, archaeologists have uncovered evidence 519 00:27:21,793 --> 00:27:25,876 which suggests that there may be some truth to this myth. 520 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,376 In August of 2000, an Italian team of divers 521 00:27:31,501 --> 00:27:34,001 uncovered traces of a paved road, 522 00:27:34,085 --> 00:27:36,085 a stone terrace, 523 00:27:36,251 --> 00:27:39,460 and a wall nearly a half a mile long. 524 00:27:39,585 --> 00:27:42,835 BELLINGER: They found themselves swimming along what looked to be 525 00:27:42,918 --> 00:27:45,210 an ancient paved roadway. 526 00:27:45,335 --> 00:27:47,376 And they passed what looked like it could have been 527 00:27:47,543 --> 00:27:49,126 terraced agricultural fields 528 00:27:49,251 --> 00:27:52,501 quite similar to what you can see 529 00:27:52,626 --> 00:27:55,335 around the shores of the lake even today. 530 00:27:55,460 --> 00:27:58,418 But what they found at the end of this road 531 00:27:58,585 --> 00:28:00,251 really astonished them. 532 00:28:00,376 --> 00:28:03,793 It was a giant temple complex, 533 00:28:03,918 --> 00:28:07,335 the size of two football fields. 534 00:28:07,418 --> 00:28:09,793 Archaeologists were able to see that these were 535 00:28:09,918 --> 00:28:14,835 extremely ancient, 1,000 to 1,500 years old. 536 00:28:16,668 --> 00:28:17,918 REINHARD: We found artifacts 537 00:28:18,043 --> 00:28:22,210 dating from around 300, 400 AD, until about 1100 AD. 538 00:28:22,376 --> 00:28:25,293 And then you have the Inca coming in around 1400 AD. 539 00:28:25,418 --> 00:28:27,710 So that means that Lake Titicaca 540 00:28:27,793 --> 00:28:30,126 was a sacred place to civilizations 541 00:28:30,251 --> 00:28:33,293 that dominated the Andes before the Incas. 542 00:28:35,710 --> 00:28:38,501 SHATNER: The ruins found at the bottom of Lake Titicaca would seem 543 00:28:38,585 --> 00:28:41,751 to validate the Inca belief that there was another culture 544 00:28:41,876 --> 00:28:44,043 present there long before them. 545 00:28:44,168 --> 00:28:48,126 But how did these ruins become submerged? 546 00:28:49,376 --> 00:28:51,793 SCHOCH: We've got these structures underwater. 547 00:28:51,918 --> 00:28:54,876 They're 1,500 years old or older. 548 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,085 It's one thing to find artifacts underwater 549 00:28:57,251 --> 00:28:59,210 and they may have been dropped or may have been 550 00:28:59,376 --> 00:29:03,126 purposefully, um, sacrificed to the lake, if you would. 551 00:29:04,418 --> 00:29:08,043 But when you find temples and walls and roadways underwater, 552 00:29:08,168 --> 00:29:10,668 you know that something was going on 553 00:29:10,751 --> 00:29:12,793 at a much earlier period. 554 00:29:12,918 --> 00:29:16,168 Certainly they were not building these things underwater. 555 00:29:16,293 --> 00:29:20,751 We do know that Lake Titicaca fluctuates in terms of 556 00:29:20,876 --> 00:29:24,876 the water levels over time over thousands of years. 557 00:29:25,001 --> 00:29:29,043 So this is incredibly important and fascinating 558 00:29:29,126 --> 00:29:31,793 and it ties in with Inca beliefs 559 00:29:31,918 --> 00:29:33,876 that they thought this was a place 560 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,043 that was literally the birthplace 561 00:29:36,168 --> 00:29:39,793 of civilization for them, up in the high Andes. 562 00:29:42,501 --> 00:29:45,001 FOERSTER: The enduring mysteries associated 563 00:29:45,085 --> 00:29:49,668 with Lake Titicaca would be, for example, who was the first 564 00:29:49,793 --> 00:29:51,293 civilization to live here? 565 00:29:51,418 --> 00:29:56,043 We have no idea how far back in time humanity goes 566 00:29:56,168 --> 00:30:00,460 in terms of the first habitation or inhabitation of this lake. 567 00:30:00,585 --> 00:30:04,751 But that's why there should be more underwater archaeology 568 00:30:04,876 --> 00:30:06,543 done here in Lake Titicaca, 569 00:30:06,668 --> 00:30:11,710 in order to be able to fully comprehend the true history 570 00:30:11,793 --> 00:30:14,960 of this amazing aquatic area. 571 00:30:17,168 --> 00:30:20,710 What else might be submerged at the bottom of Lake Titicaca? 572 00:30:20,793 --> 00:30:22,335 Could there be other artifacts 573 00:30:22,418 --> 00:30:24,835 that might change our understanding of human history? 574 00:30:24,918 --> 00:30:28,293 Well, the diving expeditions continue, 575 00:30:28,418 --> 00:30:30,210 as do the revelations. 576 00:30:30,335 --> 00:30:35,876 But let's consider a different kind of undersea discovery. 577 00:30:36,043 --> 00:30:38,293 One that makes us question not our past 578 00:30:38,418 --> 00:30:48,251 but rather whether we're alone in the universe. 579 00:30:48,376 --> 00:30:51,543 SHATNER: 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, 580 00:30:51,668 --> 00:30:53,710 a group of U.S. warships are conducting 581 00:30:53,835 --> 00:30:55,960 routine training exercises 582 00:30:56,085 --> 00:30:58,876 when they detect a number of unidentified 583 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,210 flying objects near Catalina Island. 584 00:31:02,376 --> 00:31:05,668 They were picking up multiple targets on the radar system, 585 00:31:05,793 --> 00:31:07,751 but they had a new system they were testing. 586 00:31:07,876 --> 00:31:10,543 So the theory was that it was just glitches, 587 00:31:10,710 --> 00:31:12,418 and so they rebooted. 588 00:31:12,585 --> 00:31:16,001 But sure enough, these targets showed up again. 589 00:31:16,085 --> 00:31:18,835 And this goes on for a series of some days, 590 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,543 and then they vectored jets to go and investigate. 591 00:31:23,835 --> 00:31:26,751 SHATNER: As Navy F-18 fighter jets approach the area where the UFOs 592 00:31:26,876 --> 00:31:28,376 had been detected on radar, 593 00:31:28,460 --> 00:31:32,001 the pilots see a white, oval-shaped object 594 00:31:32,126 --> 00:31:33,876 that has no wings 595 00:31:34,001 --> 00:31:37,418 and resembles a giant Tic Tac. 596 00:31:38,751 --> 00:31:40,168 But then suddenly, 597 00:31:40,251 --> 00:31:43,168 it rapidly descends 80,000 feet in less than a second 598 00:31:43,251 --> 00:31:47,168 and hovers above the surface of the water. 599 00:31:48,168 --> 00:31:50,501 Naval Officer Ryan Weigelt 600 00:31:50,585 --> 00:31:53,585 was stationed on the nearby USS Princeton 601 00:31:53,710 --> 00:31:56,293 on the day of the encounter. 602 00:31:56,418 --> 00:31:59,210 I was called to the bridge by the CO 603 00:31:59,293 --> 00:32:00,710 and when I got up to the bridge, 604 00:32:00,835 --> 00:32:05,626 the whole office was much more crowded and chaotic than normal. 605 00:32:05,751 --> 00:32:07,876 People were raising their voice 606 00:32:08,043 --> 00:32:10,001 on seeing some of the things that they were seeing. 607 00:32:10,126 --> 00:32:12,043 It was a very excited atmosphere. 608 00:32:12,168 --> 00:32:15,210 I noticed that to my left-hand side 609 00:32:15,293 --> 00:32:18,043 was a video monitor where the FLIR footage 610 00:32:18,168 --> 00:32:19,960 was being fed into the Princeton, 611 00:32:20,085 --> 00:32:21,626 so I could see what the jets were seeing. 612 00:32:21,751 --> 00:32:23,710 On my right-hand side 613 00:32:23,835 --> 00:32:25,876 I am watching them on a radar screen 614 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:27,751 that gives information on altitude 615 00:32:27,876 --> 00:32:29,543 and speed and heading and... 616 00:32:29,668 --> 00:32:31,710 Seeing what I saw, 617 00:32:31,793 --> 00:32:35,335 it's impossible for anything that we own or have created 618 00:32:35,418 --> 00:32:38,793 to withstand the G forces that would be created 619 00:32:38,918 --> 00:32:41,126 from doing any type of thrusts, 620 00:32:41,251 --> 00:32:43,501 like what this Tic Tac was doing. 621 00:32:44,751 --> 00:32:47,626 Two of the pilots involved in the Tic Tac incident, 622 00:32:47,751 --> 00:32:49,376 Commander David Fravor 623 00:32:49,460 --> 00:32:52,001 and Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich, 624 00:32:52,085 --> 00:32:56,168 have stated that under the infamous Tic Tac, 625 00:32:56,251 --> 00:32:59,876 there was an area of water that was roiling, 626 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:03,668 as if there was this object under the waves. 627 00:33:03,751 --> 00:33:05,668 And this object was about 628 00:33:05,751 --> 00:33:08,376 the size of a Boeing 737. 629 00:33:09,835 --> 00:33:11,043 SHATNER: Navy eyewitnesses 630 00:33:11,210 --> 00:33:13,168 have reported that the Tic Tac was moving 631 00:33:13,293 --> 00:33:15,501 erratically above the surface of the water, 632 00:33:15,585 --> 00:33:18,376 as though it appeared to be interacting 633 00:33:18,501 --> 00:33:21,793 with the unidentified object located beneath the waves. 634 00:33:21,918 --> 00:33:24,043 Moments later, the Tic Tac 635 00:33:24,126 --> 00:33:26,835 made a series of seemingly impossible maneuvers 636 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,126 to evade the Navy jets before accelerating away 637 00:33:30,251 --> 00:33:32,835 at thousands of miles per hour. 638 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,460 And the pilots claim that when they tried to get a second look 639 00:33:36,585 --> 00:33:41,876 at the underwater object, it had somehow vanished. 640 00:33:42,001 --> 00:33:44,876 I am a person who needs to see 641 00:33:45,001 --> 00:33:47,543 to really believe and... 642 00:33:47,668 --> 00:33:52,251 seeing what I saw during that time frame, 643 00:33:52,376 --> 00:33:57,043 I think any rational-minded person would be somewhat alarmed 644 00:33:57,168 --> 00:33:59,876 that there is this technology out there 645 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:02,168 that is far superior to us. 646 00:34:02,251 --> 00:34:05,835 POPE: That technology isn't something we have. 647 00:34:05,918 --> 00:34:07,876 So, if not us, who or what? 648 00:34:08,001 --> 00:34:13,043 And what we're hearing about now is just the tip of the iceberg. 649 00:34:13,168 --> 00:34:16,501 There have been consistently a lot of reports 650 00:34:16,626 --> 00:34:20,960 of unidentified objects under the ocean. 651 00:34:21,085 --> 00:34:22,501 People have seen them from the shore, 652 00:34:22,585 --> 00:34:25,126 going into the sea and coming out of the sea. 653 00:34:25,251 --> 00:34:29,543 We've all heard of UFOs because they fly in our atmosphere, 654 00:34:29,668 --> 00:34:34,543 but what happens if they can hit the oceans and go underwater? 655 00:34:34,668 --> 00:34:36,210 These are USOs. 656 00:34:36,335 --> 00:34:38,668 Unidentified submerged objects 657 00:34:38,751 --> 00:34:42,210 are objects that have the ability to plunge 658 00:34:42,335 --> 00:34:45,376 right into the ocean and disappear. 659 00:34:45,501 --> 00:34:48,543 This is something that we cannot duplicate 660 00:34:48,710 --> 00:34:51,376 with our technology, and so these objects 661 00:34:51,501 --> 00:34:54,210 are of very intense interest because it means 662 00:34:54,335 --> 00:34:59,418 that a new technology is being harnessed by some unknown party. 663 00:34:59,543 --> 00:35:03,168 They could be even, perhaps, extraterrestrial. 664 00:35:03,251 --> 00:35:06,960 SHATNER: Extraterrestrial USOs? 665 00:35:07,085 --> 00:35:10,335 Flying into and out of the world's oceans? 666 00:35:10,418 --> 00:35:12,585 For some, that may sound like something 667 00:35:12,751 --> 00:35:14,126 out of science fiction. 668 00:35:14,251 --> 00:35:15,501 But curiously, 669 00:35:15,585 --> 00:35:18,043 more than a decade after the Tic Tac incident, 670 00:35:18,168 --> 00:35:22,293 the United States Navy continues to detect USOs 671 00:35:22,418 --> 00:35:24,668 off the coast of Southern California. 672 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:30,001 In July of 2019, Navy aircraft flying in the same area 673 00:35:30,126 --> 00:35:32,376 recorded video which appears to show 674 00:35:32,501 --> 00:35:36,751 an unidentified flying object disappearing into the ocean. 675 00:35:39,751 --> 00:35:41,543 POPE: What's really interesting about this 676 00:35:41,626 --> 00:35:43,043 is that all this is happening 677 00:35:43,126 --> 00:35:45,376 in a fairly small geographical area. 678 00:35:45,501 --> 00:35:50,293 So you've got a series of encounters 679 00:35:50,418 --> 00:35:52,626 happening off the coast of San Diego. 680 00:35:52,751 --> 00:35:56,335 To have all this going on in one very concentrated spot, 681 00:35:56,460 --> 00:35:59,710 one has to say, is this just a coincidence 682 00:35:59,793 --> 00:36:01,501 or is there a connection? 683 00:36:01,585 --> 00:36:06,251 SHATNER: If there are, in fact, extraterrestrial USOs 684 00:36:06,376 --> 00:36:08,585 lurking in this area, 685 00:36:08,710 --> 00:36:12,626 then where are they hiding when they go underwater? 686 00:36:17,501 --> 00:36:19,793 Satellite imagery reveals a strange 687 00:36:19,918 --> 00:36:24,168 underwater formation only six miles off the coast. 688 00:36:25,335 --> 00:36:28,251 The three-mile-long anomaly lies 2,000 feet 689 00:36:28,418 --> 00:36:30,293 below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, 690 00:36:30,418 --> 00:36:33,210 and the discovery led many to wonder 691 00:36:33,335 --> 00:36:35,751 if this formation might actually be 692 00:36:35,918 --> 00:36:38,335 an artificial structure. 693 00:36:38,460 --> 00:36:39,501 POPE: A lot of people 694 00:36:39,585 --> 00:36:42,710 got very excited by this discovery. 695 00:36:42,835 --> 00:36:44,460 It's really quite striking 696 00:36:44,585 --> 00:36:47,126 and it really does look artificial. 697 00:36:47,251 --> 00:36:51,043 It looks like the thing's got this huge flat roof. 698 00:36:51,168 --> 00:36:54,293 It looks like it's got pillars or columns. 699 00:36:54,418 --> 00:36:55,668 And it makes you wonder, 700 00:36:55,751 --> 00:37:00,335 is this the remains of some ancient civilization 701 00:37:00,418 --> 00:37:03,626 that's just hidden by rising sea level? 702 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,418 Or is it, as some believe, an extraterrestrial base? 703 00:37:09,585 --> 00:37:12,668 KAKU: If all these objects are buzzing our aircraft, 704 00:37:12,793 --> 00:37:15,293 they must have a base of operations. 705 00:37:15,418 --> 00:37:18,085 But you see, if they have a base of operations 706 00:37:18,210 --> 00:37:20,543 as easily detected by us humans, 707 00:37:20,626 --> 00:37:23,376 it would sort of defeat the purpose of observing us. 708 00:37:23,501 --> 00:37:26,293 So perhaps there's an underwater base 709 00:37:26,418 --> 00:37:29,543 that is away from prying eyes of humans, 710 00:37:29,668 --> 00:37:32,710 so that we don't interfere with their plans. 711 00:37:32,876 --> 00:37:34,793 That cannot be ruled out. 712 00:37:36,918 --> 00:37:38,418 Is it really possible 713 00:37:38,585 --> 00:37:41,460 there are extraterrestrial spacecraft 714 00:37:41,585 --> 00:37:45,501 lurking in the ocean, as members of the U.S. military claim? 715 00:37:45,585 --> 00:37:48,043 As of now, we can't say for sure. 716 00:37:49,543 --> 00:37:52,585 But sometimes the ocean's depths reveal evidence 717 00:37:52,710 --> 00:37:56,376 which proves that an incredible story is true. 718 00:37:56,501 --> 00:37:58,876 Like off the coast of India... 719 00:37:59,918 --> 00:38:01,751 ...where archaeologists rediscovered 720 00:38:01,918 --> 00:38:04,210 the ruins of a mythical 721 00:38:04,293 --> 00:38:10,168 underwater city. 722 00:38:10,251 --> 00:38:13,168 SHATNER: Perched on the shore of the Arabian Sea 723 00:38:13,251 --> 00:38:16,293 sits the modern city of Dwarka. 724 00:38:17,501 --> 00:38:19,460 It was named after a legendary city 725 00:38:19,585 --> 00:38:22,460 that was also called Dwarka. 726 00:38:22,585 --> 00:38:26,293 The sacred Hindu text the Mahabharata 727 00:38:26,418 --> 00:38:28,710 explains that the legendary city of Dwarka 728 00:38:28,793 --> 00:38:31,293 was said to be the dwelling place of Lord Krishna 729 00:38:31,418 --> 00:38:34,585 before it sank into the sea following a fantastic 730 00:38:34,751 --> 00:38:37,210 battle in the sky between Krishna 731 00:38:37,376 --> 00:38:39,793 and another Hindu god Lord Salva. 732 00:38:41,043 --> 00:38:44,751 For centuries that story was believed to be merely a legend. 733 00:38:44,918 --> 00:38:47,876 That is, until 1983 734 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,460 when underwater ruins were discovered off the coast. 735 00:38:52,751 --> 00:38:56,293 Ruins which suggest that the legendary city of Dwarka 736 00:38:56,418 --> 00:39:00,751 was not a myth but rather a real place. 737 00:39:02,251 --> 00:39:03,751 RICHARD BATES: S.R. Rao 738 00:39:03,876 --> 00:39:06,543 was an archaeologist, a marine archaeologist 739 00:39:06,668 --> 00:39:10,335 working with the Archaeology Institute in India. 740 00:39:11,835 --> 00:39:14,460 And he started the exploration 741 00:39:14,585 --> 00:39:17,210 from the shore of present-day Dwarka. 742 00:39:17,293 --> 00:39:19,376 And on the floor of the ocean, 743 00:39:19,543 --> 00:39:22,876 on the seafloor he found wall structures, 744 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:27,710 blocks three foot by three foot, probably a foot thick, 745 00:39:27,793 --> 00:39:32,835 stacked as if they were building continuous wall structures. 746 00:39:32,918 --> 00:39:35,085 They could be city walls, they could be street, 747 00:39:35,210 --> 00:39:38,126 building walls, um, they could be walls of temples. 748 00:39:40,293 --> 00:39:43,918 DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: The archaeologists are now saying that they are perhaps 749 00:39:44,043 --> 00:39:47,376 datable to 9000 BCE. 750 00:39:48,376 --> 00:39:49,710 If it is true, 751 00:39:49,793 --> 00:39:52,835 the archaeological fact supports the story. 752 00:39:52,918 --> 00:39:56,043 And that is what makes it more interesting and more 753 00:39:56,168 --> 00:39:58,210 significant, this discovery. 754 00:39:59,501 --> 00:40:02,501 SHATNER: The discovery of sunken ruins off the coast of Dwarka 755 00:40:02,626 --> 00:40:05,835 is proof that underwater exploration can turn some myths 756 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:07,710 into reality. 757 00:40:07,793 --> 00:40:12,210 Many experts believe that Dwarka is just the tip of the iceberg, 758 00:40:12,293 --> 00:40:16,168 and that there are even more secrets lurking in the deep 759 00:40:16,293 --> 00:40:17,460 that could challenge 760 00:40:17,585 --> 00:40:19,668 our understanding of both our planet... 761 00:40:20,585 --> 00:40:22,876 ...and human history. 762 00:40:23,001 --> 00:40:24,376 YOUNG: The biggest unanswered question 763 00:40:24,543 --> 00:40:26,210 regarding the oceans is, 764 00:40:26,376 --> 00:40:29,876 now that we've opened this door to this scientific exploration, 765 00:40:30,001 --> 00:40:31,210 what can be found 766 00:40:31,376 --> 00:40:33,585 that will have some impact on our own lives? 767 00:40:34,626 --> 00:40:37,210 Well, the oceans, they drive weather 768 00:40:37,335 --> 00:40:39,668 and regulate temperature 769 00:40:39,793 --> 00:40:42,210 in ways that we don't fully understand now, 770 00:40:42,376 --> 00:40:45,751 and the only way that we're going to completely understand 771 00:40:45,918 --> 00:40:48,501 is to go down there and to gather more data. 772 00:40:48,626 --> 00:40:50,460 And that's just one example. 773 00:40:50,585 --> 00:40:53,460 The ocean is constantly throwing up surprises. 774 00:40:55,418 --> 00:40:57,710 VESCOVO: Will we find remnants of an ancient civilization 775 00:40:57,793 --> 00:40:59,168 that no one knew about? 776 00:40:59,251 --> 00:41:01,043 I don't know, but that 777 00:41:01,126 --> 00:41:04,668 unknown is what drives me, because there's a chance 778 00:41:04,793 --> 00:41:05,960 that we'll find something revolutionary 779 00:41:06,085 --> 00:41:07,043 at the bottom of the ocean 780 00:41:07,168 --> 00:41:08,793 that no one had ever thought of before. 781 00:41:11,085 --> 00:41:12,876 HALLS: Even though we are the first 782 00:41:13,001 --> 00:41:16,960 generation ever to explore under the sea 783 00:41:17,085 --> 00:41:20,543 with any level of technology and rigor, 784 00:41:20,668 --> 00:41:23,001 the deep sea still eludes us. 785 00:41:24,585 --> 00:41:25,876 And the good thing is, 786 00:41:26,001 --> 00:41:27,835 it's becoming more and more accessible. 787 00:41:27,918 --> 00:41:30,626 Imagine what we can discover in the next 50 years. 788 00:41:32,251 --> 00:41:34,835 So, what do you think? 789 00:41:34,918 --> 00:41:38,668 What still lies in the deepest, darkest corners of the ocean? 790 00:41:38,751 --> 00:41:40,793 Well, in spite of everything we've learned 791 00:41:40,918 --> 00:41:42,460 about the underwater world, 792 00:41:42,585 --> 00:41:45,460 we simply don't know what else is down there 793 00:41:45,585 --> 00:41:46,918 waiting to be found. 794 00:41:47,043 --> 00:41:50,543 And that mystery is what compels us to keep diving, 795 00:41:50,668 --> 00:41:54,918 to keep searching, in the hope that one day 796 00:41:55,043 --> 00:41:57,626 we will uncover all the secrets of the deep that, 797 00:41:57,751 --> 00:41:59,043 for the moment, remain... 798 00:41:59,168 --> 00:42:01,543 unexplained. 799 00:42:01,626 --> 00:42:03,668 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS