1 00:00:01,663 --> 00:00:03,353 NARRATOR: Could this strange contraption 2 00:00:03,456 --> 00:00:05,111 really see into your soul? 3 00:00:06,974 --> 00:00:08,318 WEST: The idea that you could just put something 4 00:00:08,422 --> 00:00:10,215 on someone's head and then suck out 5 00:00:10,318 --> 00:00:12,008 all the measures of personality from them -- 6 00:00:12,111 --> 00:00:14,043 wouldn't that be fun? 7 00:00:14,146 --> 00:00:15,870 NARRATOR: Why was the wearer of this 8 00:00:15,974 --> 00:00:19,077 weird gold mask treated so bizarrely? 9 00:00:19,180 --> 00:00:22,456 ESCOLANO-POVEDA: He was placed upside down with 10 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:24,663 his head separated from the body. 11 00:00:26,111 --> 00:00:29,560 NARRATOR: And what is so odd about this ancient Greek jar? 12 00:00:29,663 --> 00:00:31,732 MacDONALD: There's every reason to believe 13 00:00:31,836 --> 00:00:33,870 that this combination of pot 14 00:00:33,974 --> 00:00:37,801 and sacrifice and iron nail are part of an act of 15 00:00:37,905 --> 00:00:38,939 dark magic. 16 00:00:42,663 --> 00:00:44,318 NARRATOR: These are the most remarkable 17 00:00:44,422 --> 00:00:46,387 and mysterious objects on earth. 18 00:00:47,767 --> 00:00:53,560 Hidden away in museums, laboratories, and storage rooms. 19 00:00:53,663 --> 00:00:56,043 Now, new research and technology 20 00:00:56,146 --> 00:00:58,111 can get under their skin 21 00:00:58,215 --> 00:01:00,698 like never before. 22 00:01:00,801 --> 00:01:02,422 We can rebuild them, 23 00:01:04,422 --> 00:01:05,594 pull them apart, 24 00:01:06,905 --> 00:01:09,284 and zoom in to reveal 25 00:01:09,387 --> 00:01:12,456 the unbelievable, the ancient, 26 00:01:14,043 --> 00:01:15,629 and the truly bizarre. 27 00:01:18,008 --> 00:01:21,422 These are the world's strangest things. 28 00:01:32,491 --> 00:01:35,077 In Minnesota's Science Museum 29 00:01:35,180 --> 00:01:38,905 sits one of the strangest devices ever invented. 30 00:01:39,008 --> 00:01:41,663 This is a completely bizarre contraption. 31 00:01:45,525 --> 00:01:47,870 NARRATOR: Now, using cutting-edge technology, 32 00:01:47,974 --> 00:01:51,732 we can bring this unique object to life. 33 00:01:51,836 --> 00:01:54,353 This is the psychograph. 34 00:01:55,629 --> 00:01:58,387 Consisting of nearly 2,000 individual parts, 35 00:01:58,491 --> 00:02:01,491 it looks like some kind of robotic hairdryer. 36 00:02:01,594 --> 00:02:05,422 BALL: There's a dome that comes down from a pole 37 00:02:05,525 --> 00:02:10,111 over the head, and that's attached to a mahogany box, 38 00:02:10,215 --> 00:02:11,905 and then there are electrical connections 39 00:02:12,008 --> 00:02:14,974 going from this device into the box. 40 00:02:16,629 --> 00:02:18,663 NARRATOR: Within the dome are 32 tiny, 41 00:02:18,767 --> 00:02:21,767 twisted steel probes mounted on pivots. 42 00:02:21,870 --> 00:02:24,215 They are designed to press up against the skull. 43 00:02:25,767 --> 00:02:28,560 Its creator claims this allows it to accurately 44 00:02:28,663 --> 00:02:32,146 calculate your psychological strengths and weaknesses. 45 00:02:33,353 --> 00:02:35,767 It's supposedly capable of revealing 46 00:02:35,870 --> 00:02:38,318 not just what kind of person you are, 47 00:02:38,422 --> 00:02:41,318 but the kind of job that you should do. 48 00:02:42,594 --> 00:02:44,456 NARRATOR: When it is unveiled to the public, 49 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,491 it becomes a sensation, with people clamoring 50 00:02:47,594 --> 00:02:51,939 to get their head read, but can it really work? 51 00:02:52,043 --> 00:02:54,905 Where does the idea for it come from? 52 00:02:55,008 --> 00:02:57,111 And how does a scientific device 53 00:02:57,215 --> 00:02:58,732 end up in a shopping mall? 54 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,215 Wisconsin, 1901. 55 00:03:05,836 --> 00:03:08,836 Inventor and self-proclaimed profound thinker, 56 00:03:08,939 --> 00:03:10,594 Henry Charles Lavery, 57 00:03:10,698 --> 00:03:15,111 begins working on plans for a revolutionary machine. 58 00:03:15,215 --> 00:03:18,249 Lavery is essentially an auto mechanic by trade, 59 00:03:18,353 --> 00:03:22,698 but he's got big dreams, and he earned a name 60 00:03:22,801 --> 00:03:25,974 for himself as the Thomas Edison of Superior, Wisconsin. 61 00:03:30,698 --> 00:03:32,491 NARRATOR: Lavery believes this new machine 62 00:03:32,594 --> 00:03:35,560 will change the world, because it will be 63 00:03:35,663 --> 00:03:38,801 capable of reading and judging someone's personality. 64 00:03:41,180 --> 00:03:43,905 BELLINGER: The premise of this contraption was that it could 65 00:03:44,008 --> 00:03:45,870 measure the shape of 66 00:03:45,974 --> 00:03:49,318 an individual's head and spit out a reading 67 00:03:49,422 --> 00:03:52,974 based on measurements that varied one or two ticks above 68 00:03:53,077 --> 00:03:55,870 or below normal and would 69 00:03:55,974 --> 00:03:59,801 thereby reveal this person's nature, their intelligence. 70 00:04:01,698 --> 00:04:02,801 WEST: Fundamentally, 71 00:04:02,905 --> 00:04:06,318 the idea is that certain thoughts, attitudes, 72 00:04:06,422 --> 00:04:07,663 behavior patterns, talents, 73 00:04:07,767 --> 00:04:09,663 they're linked to structures in the brain. 74 00:04:11,284 --> 00:04:13,767 NARRATOR: In 1931, nearly 30 years 75 00:04:13,870 --> 00:04:16,387 after Lavery first came up with the idea, 76 00:04:16,491 --> 00:04:18,801 he reveals the finished machine. 77 00:04:21,146 --> 00:04:25,387 He goes big on the name and calls it the psychograph. 78 00:04:26,974 --> 00:04:30,594 Where did he get the idea for such a bizarre device? 79 00:04:34,387 --> 00:04:37,353 Ancient Greece, over 2,000 years ago. 80 00:04:37,456 --> 00:04:40,456 Philosophers like Pythagoras and Aristotle are 81 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,043 championing the idea that you really can judge a book 82 00:04:44,146 --> 00:04:45,801 by its cover. 83 00:04:45,905 --> 00:04:47,974 It's called physiognomy. 84 00:04:48,077 --> 00:04:50,870 BELLINGER: Physiognomy is the belief that there's 85 00:04:50,974 --> 00:04:52,663 a direct correlation between 86 00:04:52,767 --> 00:04:56,732 one's outward physical appearance and one's inward 87 00:04:56,836 --> 00:04:59,905 intellectual capability and personality. 88 00:05:02,043 --> 00:05:04,111 NARRATOR: Sounds crazy, but it's actually 89 00:05:04,215 --> 00:05:07,767 something everyone does without realizing it. 90 00:05:07,870 --> 00:05:10,077 Human beings like to be able to make judgments 91 00:05:10,180 --> 00:05:11,732 fairly quickly. 92 00:05:11,836 --> 00:05:14,387 And one of the easiest ways to do that is to look at someone 93 00:05:14,491 --> 00:05:16,180 and see how much you like the way they look and then 94 00:05:16,284 --> 00:05:19,008 extrapolate quite a lot about them in other ways. 95 00:05:19,111 --> 00:05:21,387 That's a normal thing for humans to do, even if it isn't 96 00:05:21,491 --> 00:05:23,767 a very accurate thing for humans to do. 97 00:05:26,422 --> 00:05:29,318 NARRATOR: Unsurprisingly, physiognomy's popularity grows 98 00:05:29,422 --> 00:05:30,905 over the centuries, 99 00:05:31,008 --> 00:05:35,077 and it gives rise to some very weird ideas. 100 00:05:35,180 --> 00:05:36,663 BALL: During the 16th century, 101 00:05:36,767 --> 00:05:39,801 an Italian scholar called Giambattista della Porta wrote 102 00:05:39,905 --> 00:05:42,146 a book called Human Physiognomy, 103 00:05:42,249 --> 00:05:44,905 in which he drew comparisons 104 00:05:45,008 --> 00:05:47,215 between human features 105 00:05:47,318 --> 00:05:50,491 and features of various animal species, 106 00:05:50,594 --> 00:05:53,249 and he would suggest that there were similarities, 107 00:05:53,353 --> 00:05:56,732 behavioral similarities, between these two types. 108 00:05:58,353 --> 00:06:00,939 NARRATOR: For example, he suggests that looking like 109 00:06:01,043 --> 00:06:04,318 a sheep means you have a sheep-like personality, 110 00:06:04,422 --> 00:06:07,077 an animal he believes is stupid and wicked. 111 00:06:09,215 --> 00:06:12,525 The psychograph is based on an evolution of this idea first 112 00:06:12,629 --> 00:06:16,077 proposed in the 18th century by German physiologist, 113 00:06:16,180 --> 00:06:17,767 Franz Joseph Gall. 114 00:06:19,353 --> 00:06:21,249 BELLINGER: Gall's ideas emerged 115 00:06:21,353 --> 00:06:24,043 from his own experience as a schoolboy, 116 00:06:24,146 --> 00:06:27,836 in which he observed that his classmates with the most 117 00:06:27,939 --> 00:06:31,215 bulging eyes and prominent foreheads 118 00:06:31,318 --> 00:06:34,215 seemed to have the best memory and recall. 119 00:06:34,318 --> 00:06:36,801 Gall drew the conclusion that there must 120 00:06:36,905 --> 00:06:41,249 be some organ of memory that resided in the skull right 121 00:06:41,353 --> 00:06:44,836 behind the eyes, which would cause it to protrude. 122 00:06:47,732 --> 00:06:49,353 NARRATOR: Gall decides that the brain 123 00:06:49,456 --> 00:06:52,422 is divided into 27 independent regions. 124 00:06:53,663 --> 00:06:55,767 BALL: Gall believed that the brain 125 00:06:55,870 --> 00:06:58,077 was actually a composite organ, 126 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,525 that it was made of many different smaller organs 127 00:07:02,629 --> 00:07:04,008 and that each of these 128 00:07:04,111 --> 00:07:07,249 somehow governed different aspects of our 129 00:07:07,353 --> 00:07:10,974 character and our personality and our behavior. 130 00:07:11,077 --> 00:07:13,525 And the sizes of these different regions would be 131 00:07:13,629 --> 00:07:16,353 indicative of how much a person held onto each of those traits. 132 00:07:18,008 --> 00:07:20,249 NARRATOR: Gall believes that the larger the region, 133 00:07:20,353 --> 00:07:22,422 the more it changes the skull shape, 134 00:07:22,525 --> 00:07:25,353 creating lumps and bumps on the surface 135 00:07:25,456 --> 00:07:27,422 that can be measured, 136 00:07:27,525 --> 00:07:32,111 exactly what the psychograph does with its tiny levers. 137 00:07:32,215 --> 00:07:34,594 By the early 19th century, Gall's idea 138 00:07:34,698 --> 00:07:38,629 has acquired a very scientific name -- phrenology. 139 00:07:40,043 --> 00:07:42,525 Getting your head read with a giant set of calipers 140 00:07:42,629 --> 00:07:45,353 becomes all the rage among the elites of European 141 00:07:45,456 --> 00:07:47,180 high society, 142 00:07:47,284 --> 00:07:51,111 while in America, brothers Lorenzo and Orson Fowler 143 00:07:51,215 --> 00:07:53,836 turn it into a business empire. 144 00:07:53,939 --> 00:07:58,111 The Fowler brothers created the phrenological cabinet, 145 00:07:59,594 --> 00:08:03,698 and they had thousands of skulls of shady characters, 146 00:08:03,801 --> 00:08:06,974 ranging from known criminals to pirates, 147 00:08:07,077 --> 00:08:10,284 and they offered readings to the general public, 148 00:08:10,387 --> 00:08:13,456 who could come in and pay for the privilege of being told 149 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,629 what kind of person they were based on their skull. 150 00:08:19,043 --> 00:08:20,525 NARRATOR: Phrenology attracts 151 00:08:20,629 --> 00:08:24,249 celebrity fans like American poet Walt Whitman, 152 00:08:24,353 --> 00:08:26,629 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 153 00:08:26,732 --> 00:08:29,043 and the great inventor, Thomas Edison. 154 00:08:31,836 --> 00:08:34,008 But there is a dark side to the idea 155 00:08:34,111 --> 00:08:36,560 behind the psychograph. 156 00:08:36,663 --> 00:08:41,560 Amongst the skulls in the Fowler Brothers collection was one 157 00:08:41,663 --> 00:08:42,905 that had belonged to 158 00:08:43,008 --> 00:08:47,974 an Apache chief named Mangas Coloradas, who had been first 159 00:08:48,077 --> 00:08:51,422 tortured and then killed by American soldiers. 160 00:08:53,422 --> 00:08:56,974 And they alleged that it showed characteristics 161 00:08:57,077 --> 00:08:59,180 of indigenous Americans 162 00:08:59,284 --> 00:09:02,629 that set them apart from white European settlers. 163 00:09:04,836 --> 00:09:08,974 And so the whole science of phrenology was very much caught 164 00:09:09,077 --> 00:09:12,077 up with this deeply racist undercurrent 165 00:09:12,180 --> 00:09:14,663 of thinking about human races. 166 00:09:16,077 --> 00:09:18,629 NARRATOR: Ignoring these disturbing controversies, 167 00:09:18,732 --> 00:09:22,146 inventor Henry Lavery sees a business opportunity. 168 00:09:22,249 --> 00:09:24,043 He's going to sell phrenology to 169 00:09:24,146 --> 00:09:27,180 companies so they can select perfect employees. 170 00:09:27,284 --> 00:09:29,836 But the old-fashioned manual approach is 171 00:09:29,939 --> 00:09:32,180 a poor fit for his new business model. 172 00:09:32,284 --> 00:09:35,077 BELLINGER: First of all, it was very time consuming 173 00:09:35,180 --> 00:09:39,629 but perhaps more importantly, it's really subjective. 174 00:09:39,732 --> 00:09:42,077 His idea was, let's actually make 175 00:09:42,180 --> 00:09:45,249 a device which can automate this process. 176 00:09:45,353 --> 00:09:48,525 It can do it faster and more accurately 177 00:09:48,629 --> 00:09:50,939 and more consistently. 178 00:09:51,043 --> 00:09:53,353 Hence the psychograph was born. 179 00:09:57,249 --> 00:09:59,905 NARRATOR: Lavery claims his bizarre new contraption can 180 00:10:00,008 --> 00:10:02,939 take an accurate reading in just 90 seconds, 181 00:10:05,525 --> 00:10:08,594 but has he really made a machine that can do that? 182 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:20,525 NARRATOR: This weird contraption claims 183 00:10:20,629 --> 00:10:23,629 to scientifically measure your personality. 184 00:10:23,732 --> 00:10:26,249 How on Earth can it do that? 185 00:10:26,353 --> 00:10:28,629 A helmet was brought down over the head, 186 00:10:28,732 --> 00:10:33,043 there was a knob on the front to tighten it, and then inside 187 00:10:33,146 --> 00:10:35,732 the helmet, there were 32 probes 188 00:10:35,836 --> 00:10:39,698 that would move to 32 different parts of the cranium and would 189 00:10:39,801 --> 00:10:44,491 make measurements that would allegedly reveal the scores for 190 00:10:44,594 --> 00:10:47,422 these different 32 personality characteristics, 191 00:10:47,525 --> 00:10:52,974 things like sense of humor, covetousness, combativeness. 192 00:10:54,974 --> 00:10:56,870 NARRATOR: As the metal probes pivot to match 193 00:10:56,974 --> 00:10:58,215 the shape of the skull, 194 00:10:58,318 --> 00:11:02,422 they connect to one of five different electrical contacts. 195 00:11:02,525 --> 00:11:06,008 So each of these 32 probes would measure 196 00:11:06,111 --> 00:11:07,974 basically a bump on the skull 197 00:11:08,077 --> 00:11:11,663 and see how big it was and would send that signal to 198 00:11:11,767 --> 00:11:12,836 the recording device. 199 00:11:12,939 --> 00:11:15,663 So for a small bump, you'd get a readout of one. 200 00:11:15,767 --> 00:11:17,663 If it's a bit bigger, it was two, and so on 201 00:11:17,767 --> 00:11:19,318 on this five-point scale. 202 00:11:20,663 --> 00:11:22,387 NARRATOR: When the subject is in place, 203 00:11:22,491 --> 00:11:24,249 the operator flicks a switch, 204 00:11:24,353 --> 00:11:27,629 activating a belt-driven motor that drives the printer in 205 00:11:27,732 --> 00:11:28,698 the wooden box. 206 00:11:28,801 --> 00:11:31,836 The printer receives a signal 207 00:11:31,939 --> 00:11:34,560 from each of these 32 sensors 208 00:11:34,663 --> 00:11:37,008 and stamps out the appropriate number 209 00:11:37,111 --> 00:11:39,491 from 1 to 5, consecutively 210 00:11:39,594 --> 00:11:41,870 for each of these personality traits. 211 00:11:43,905 --> 00:11:47,422 NARRATOR: Five possible readings from each of the 32 probes 212 00:11:47,525 --> 00:11:49,732 gives an almost unlimited number of 213 00:11:49,836 --> 00:11:52,043 possible profiles. 214 00:11:52,146 --> 00:11:54,491 The results appear on a 16-inch-long 215 00:11:54,594 --> 00:11:56,422 ticker tape roll of paper. 216 00:11:56,525 --> 00:11:58,387 BALL: It wasn't just giving you 217 00:11:58,491 --> 00:12:02,353 a kind of objective assessment of your personality. 218 00:12:02,456 --> 00:12:04,905 It was dispensing vocational advice. 219 00:12:05,008 --> 00:12:07,008 So it was telling you what kinds 220 00:12:07,111 --> 00:12:09,008 of jobs you might be suited for. 221 00:12:09,111 --> 00:12:11,318 You know, whether you might be best suited 222 00:12:11,422 --> 00:12:15,974 to being a hotel manager or even a prizefighter. 223 00:12:16,077 --> 00:12:18,043 NARRATOR: It looks deeply impressive. 224 00:12:18,146 --> 00:12:22,043 But what's the real science behind Lavery's strange machine? 225 00:12:22,146 --> 00:12:24,663 Can you really measure someone's personality 226 00:12:24,767 --> 00:12:26,249 from the bumps on their head? 227 00:12:29,939 --> 00:12:32,905 When Gall talks about the brain being divided 228 00:12:33,008 --> 00:12:36,249 into regions, he isn't completely crazy. 229 00:12:37,594 --> 00:12:40,698 BALL: If you think about those porcelain figurines 230 00:12:40,801 --> 00:12:42,249 that were made of the skull, 231 00:12:42,353 --> 00:12:45,836 divided into various areas, labeled with different aspects 232 00:12:45,939 --> 00:12:46,974 of personality, 233 00:12:47,077 --> 00:12:50,698 there's something in that that resonates with 234 00:12:50,801 --> 00:12:53,491 a more modern view of understanding the brain itself, 235 00:12:53,594 --> 00:12:56,594 and this was something that really started to be 236 00:12:56,698 --> 00:12:59,077 appreciated in the mid-19th century, 237 00:12:59,180 --> 00:13:02,422 in particular in the 1860s with the work of 238 00:13:02,525 --> 00:13:04,525 the French physiologist, Paul Broca. 239 00:13:06,111 --> 00:13:08,560 NARRATOR: Broca discovers that all of his stroke patients 240 00:13:08,663 --> 00:13:10,318 that have difficulty speaking 241 00:13:10,422 --> 00:13:14,284 have damage to the left frontal region of the brain. 242 00:13:14,387 --> 00:13:16,801 He concludes correctly that this area 243 00:13:16,905 --> 00:13:20,111 controls our ability to speak. 244 00:13:20,215 --> 00:13:21,801 MAN: The white area 245 00:13:21,905 --> 00:13:23,905 that's shown here in the black area, 246 00:13:24,008 --> 00:13:25,491 it's a different way of seeing it. 247 00:13:25,594 --> 00:13:27,215 That's a devastating stroke. 248 00:13:27,318 --> 00:13:30,836 This part of the brain is now known as Broca's Area, 249 00:13:30,939 --> 00:13:34,146 but this is not the same as Gall's leap to defining all 250 00:13:34,249 --> 00:13:36,422 personality from brain shape. 251 00:13:36,525 --> 00:13:39,422 WEST: It is true that there are different parts of the brain 252 00:13:39,525 --> 00:13:40,801 that correspond to different 253 00:13:40,905 --> 00:13:43,318 parts of our minds, if you want to put it that way, 254 00:13:43,422 --> 00:13:46,491 but it's not in the same neat, packaged way 255 00:13:46,594 --> 00:13:48,801 that Gall was proposing -- that part isn't true. 256 00:13:48,905 --> 00:13:50,732 NARRATOR: Even in Gall's day, 257 00:13:50,836 --> 00:13:53,939 a century before the psychograph sees the light of day, 258 00:13:54,043 --> 00:13:58,077 phrenology is already viewed with enormous suspicion. 259 00:13:58,180 --> 00:14:01,594 BALL: One of the problems that phrenology had is that there 260 00:14:01,698 --> 00:14:04,077 wasn't any consensus about 261 00:14:04,180 --> 00:14:09,043 which parts of the brain dealt with which particular function, 262 00:14:09,146 --> 00:14:11,249 which particular personality trait. 263 00:14:11,353 --> 00:14:14,939 And there wasn't any consensus about what those traits were. 264 00:14:15,043 --> 00:14:17,836 NARRATOR: But there is an even more fundamental problem with 265 00:14:17,939 --> 00:14:19,284 Gall's ideas. 266 00:14:19,387 --> 00:14:22,836 BALL: The real problem with phrenology is that the shape 267 00:14:22,939 --> 00:14:24,870 and thickness of the skull 268 00:14:24,974 --> 00:14:28,939 bears no obvious relation to the brain it's encasing. 269 00:14:29,043 --> 00:14:31,560 It can vary for all sorts of reasons. 270 00:14:33,422 --> 00:14:35,560 WEST: The idea that you could just put something on someone's 271 00:14:35,663 --> 00:14:38,629 head and then suck out all the measures of personality 272 00:14:38,732 --> 00:14:39,801 from them, wouldn't that be fun? 273 00:14:39,905 --> 00:14:43,008 It's a nice idea, even if not a very credible one. 274 00:14:44,594 --> 00:14:46,422 NARRATOR: By the turn of the 20th century, 275 00:14:46,525 --> 00:14:50,146 phrenology has been almost completely debunked by science. 276 00:14:52,422 --> 00:14:54,767 So why does Henry Lavery then spend 277 00:14:54,870 --> 00:14:57,594 30 years building the psychograph? 278 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:01,077 The fact that science doesn't 279 00:15:01,180 --> 00:15:03,905 support the psychograph is almost irrelevant. 280 00:15:04,008 --> 00:15:07,180 Lavery isn't planning to sell it to scientists. 281 00:15:07,284 --> 00:15:11,491 BELLINGER: We start to see these psychograph machines popping 282 00:15:11,594 --> 00:15:15,387 up everywhere -- in the lobbies of cinemas, 283 00:15:15,491 --> 00:15:19,111 in department stores, in cruise ships, 284 00:15:19,215 --> 00:15:21,525 I mean, even in doctors' offices. 285 00:15:21,629 --> 00:15:26,870 They become a bit of a form of public entertainment with this 286 00:15:26,974 --> 00:15:29,629 kind of false promise of 287 00:15:29,732 --> 00:15:32,043 enlightening people about themselves. 288 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,939 NARRATOR: In 1934, the psychograph is even 289 00:15:37,043 --> 00:15:39,491 exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair. 290 00:15:41,905 --> 00:15:43,422 But it isn't alongside 291 00:15:43,525 --> 00:15:46,525 the other technological innovations of the age. 292 00:15:46,629 --> 00:15:49,560 BELLINGER: It's over with the freak shows in between 293 00:15:49,663 --> 00:15:54,387 the Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibition and the flea circus. 294 00:15:54,491 --> 00:15:56,663 It's been relegated to 295 00:15:56,767 --> 00:15:59,974 the sphere of pseudoscience, to popular entertainment. 296 00:16:01,629 --> 00:16:04,008 NARRATOR: Up to 45 machines are built, 297 00:16:04,111 --> 00:16:08,387 but in 1938, the psychograph bubble finally bursts, 298 00:16:08,491 --> 00:16:11,698 and Lavery is forced to mothball his machines. 299 00:16:14,767 --> 00:16:16,974 The psychograph may have died in obscurity, 300 00:16:17,077 --> 00:16:20,801 but the ghost of phrenology lives on. 301 00:16:20,905 --> 00:16:25,284 Its ideas have permeated into our language to some degree, 302 00:16:25,387 --> 00:16:26,387 they're still there, 303 00:16:26,491 --> 00:16:28,318 so when we talk about, for example, things being 304 00:16:28,422 --> 00:16:30,594 highbrow and lowbrow, 305 00:16:30,698 --> 00:16:35,077 that's a reflection of the old idea that the shape of our brow 306 00:16:35,180 --> 00:16:37,629 was somehow connected to our intellect. 307 00:16:37,732 --> 00:16:39,077 And if you had a low brow, 308 00:16:39,180 --> 00:16:41,767 you were less intelligent than if you had a nice sort of 309 00:16:41,870 --> 00:16:43,491 high forehead. 310 00:16:43,594 --> 00:16:45,870 NARRATOR: So, despite its controversial past, 311 00:16:45,974 --> 00:16:48,663 the idea behind this bizarre machine 312 00:16:48,767 --> 00:16:51,905 is the pseudoscience that refuses to die. 313 00:16:58,663 --> 00:17:01,939 In a display case at a museum in Northern Peru is 314 00:17:02,043 --> 00:17:05,560 a strange mask with a distorted and heavily 315 00:17:05,663 --> 00:17:08,111 decorated human face. 316 00:17:08,215 --> 00:17:11,456 The quality of the craftsmanship is outstanding. 317 00:17:12,698 --> 00:17:14,663 NARRATOR: But brand-new analysis has led experts 318 00:17:14,767 --> 00:17:18,043 into a dark world of macabre ancient rituals. 319 00:17:20,146 --> 00:17:21,525 DODDS PENNOCK: This new research just added 320 00:17:21,629 --> 00:17:24,525 an amazing new dimension to our understanding. 321 00:17:24,629 --> 00:17:27,387 NARRATOR: Now, using cutting edge digital technology, 322 00:17:27,491 --> 00:17:31,629 we can examine this strange relic in microscopic detail. 323 00:17:33,525 --> 00:17:37,491 This is the Sican Mask. 324 00:17:37,594 --> 00:17:39,456 Fashioned from solid gold, 325 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,249 it measures 18 inches by 11 inches, 326 00:17:42,353 --> 00:17:45,318 and at the center of the unusually shaped eyes are 327 00:17:45,422 --> 00:17:48,767 beads made from polished amber and emeralds. 328 00:17:48,870 --> 00:17:51,180 It's decorated with a nose clip 329 00:17:51,284 --> 00:17:54,525 and intricate ornamental earrings. 330 00:17:54,629 --> 00:17:57,249 Just from looking at the craftsmanship, we can tell 331 00:17:57,353 --> 00:17:59,043 it's incredibly valuable. 332 00:17:59,146 --> 00:18:01,525 NARRATOR: It is painted a vivid red, 333 00:18:01,629 --> 00:18:03,146 the color still bright 334 00:18:03,249 --> 00:18:06,215 a thousand years after it was made, 335 00:18:06,318 --> 00:18:08,560 and there is a gruesome reason for that. 336 00:18:10,767 --> 00:18:13,629 Who made it? What was it for? 337 00:18:15,180 --> 00:18:17,870 And what makes the new research so grisly? 338 00:18:30,146 --> 00:18:32,525 NARRATOR: Northwest coast of Peru, 339 00:18:32,629 --> 00:18:35,318 the Pomac Forest, 1991. 340 00:18:36,594 --> 00:18:39,008 A team led by Professor Izumi Shimada 341 00:18:39,111 --> 00:18:40,905 is on an archaeological dig. 342 00:18:43,767 --> 00:18:46,215 This area is one of only four areas in Peru 343 00:18:46,318 --> 00:18:49,043 designated as of special historical interest 344 00:18:49,146 --> 00:18:51,284 and protected for that reason. 345 00:18:51,387 --> 00:18:55,974 NARRATOR: Beneath the tropical dry forest lie 36 manmade mounds 346 00:18:56,077 --> 00:18:58,732 spread across 23 square miles. 347 00:18:58,836 --> 00:19:01,180 It is all that remains of 348 00:19:01,284 --> 00:19:04,732 a lost civilization that flourished along Peru's 349 00:19:04,836 --> 00:19:06,284 north coast. 350 00:19:06,387 --> 00:19:09,974 It disappeared more than 600 years ago. 351 00:19:10,077 --> 00:19:12,077 They are called the Sican. 352 00:19:13,836 --> 00:19:15,560 Shimada's excavation focuses on 353 00:19:15,663 --> 00:19:18,870 a temple mound known as Huaca Loro, 354 00:19:18,974 --> 00:19:23,387 and at the bottom of a 36-foot-deep vertical shaft 355 00:19:23,491 --> 00:19:25,387 they find the motherlode, 356 00:19:26,836 --> 00:19:30,422 an untouched Sican tomb packed with riches. 357 00:19:32,215 --> 00:19:35,629 DODDS PENNOCK: They recover over a ton of grave goods, 358 00:19:35,732 --> 00:19:38,284 about a third of which are made of metal. 359 00:19:39,767 --> 00:19:41,732 NARRATOR: The treasures include crowns, 360 00:19:41,836 --> 00:19:43,905 gold feather head ornaments, 361 00:19:44,008 --> 00:19:48,560 gold earrings, and a gold ceremonial knife. 362 00:19:51,801 --> 00:19:55,111 But they also find the bodies of two women and two children. 363 00:19:57,215 --> 00:19:59,318 They are arranged around a fifth body 364 00:19:59,422 --> 00:20:00,525 in the center of the tomb. 365 00:20:02,732 --> 00:20:07,456 DODDS PENNOCK: He is laying on the remains of a robe 366 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,836 that was covered with hundreds of tiny gold squares. 367 00:20:11,939 --> 00:20:16,560 He has elaborate gold shin ornaments, as well as 368 00:20:16,663 --> 00:20:19,974 a big chest piece made of inches deep of beads. 369 00:20:21,525 --> 00:20:24,077 A reconstruction reveals how the women 370 00:20:24,180 --> 00:20:27,698 and children were positioned around this man. 371 00:20:27,801 --> 00:20:31,560 Each seems to have been placed in very bizarre poses. 372 00:20:32,974 --> 00:20:37,215 But strangest by far is the man at the center. 373 00:20:37,318 --> 00:20:39,974 He was arranged in a seated position. 374 00:20:40,077 --> 00:20:42,456 His body was painted red. 375 00:20:43,974 --> 00:20:45,905 NARRATOR: That's not what is strange. 376 00:20:47,180 --> 00:20:49,560 He was placed upside down 377 00:20:51,525 --> 00:20:54,249 and with his head separated from the body. 378 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,801 The head has been removed and rotated to 180 degrees 379 00:20:58,905 --> 00:20:59,905 so it's upright. 380 00:21:01,732 --> 00:21:03,491 NARRATOR: And covering the decapitated head... 381 00:21:06,422 --> 00:21:08,905 the weird red mask. 382 00:21:09,008 --> 00:21:10,146 DODDS PENNOCK: The mask is made of gold. 383 00:21:10,249 --> 00:21:13,387 It has very delicate, beaded eyes 384 00:21:13,491 --> 00:21:14,525 made from different kinds of stones 385 00:21:14,629 --> 00:21:16,905 so you see the pupil staring out from the mask 386 00:21:17,008 --> 00:21:19,491 at you, but what's most striking is this bright 387 00:21:19,594 --> 00:21:22,008 red paint in which it's been daubed. 388 00:21:22,111 --> 00:21:25,008 It really gives the mask this depth of color, 389 00:21:25,111 --> 00:21:26,594 which has been preserved incredibly 390 00:21:26,698 --> 00:21:27,974 through the centuries. 391 00:21:29,422 --> 00:21:31,525 NARRATOR: And these details hide a gruesome 392 00:21:31,629 --> 00:21:34,318 secret that has only just been discovered. 393 00:21:38,491 --> 00:21:40,663 The mask is 1,000 years old. 394 00:21:41,974 --> 00:21:44,560 It is made from a single gold alloy sheet 395 00:21:44,663 --> 00:21:47,560 just 200ths of an inch thick. 396 00:21:47,663 --> 00:21:50,905 It is a perfect example of the skill of Sican craft. 397 00:21:53,974 --> 00:21:55,560 In shaping the mask, 398 00:21:55,663 --> 00:21:59,215 there's a real kind of balance to be struck between, you know, 399 00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:01,732 keeping it thin enough, 400 00:22:01,836 --> 00:22:05,180 but on the other hand strong enough to maintain the features. 401 00:22:06,732 --> 00:22:08,249 NARRATOR: The iris and pupil are formed 402 00:22:08,353 --> 00:22:11,353 from large pierced amber and emerald beads. 403 00:22:11,456 --> 00:22:15,629 The finishing touch was to add the distinctive red paint. 404 00:22:15,732 --> 00:22:18,008 SELLA: That stunning red color 405 00:22:18,111 --> 00:22:21,594 actually comes from a mineral called cinnabar, 406 00:22:21,698 --> 00:22:23,491 and it's the sulfide of mercury. 407 00:22:26,422 --> 00:22:29,180 NARRATOR: Cinnabar has been highly prized as a precious 408 00:22:29,284 --> 00:22:31,249 resource by many different cultures 409 00:22:31,353 --> 00:22:34,215 around the globe for at least 12,000 years. 410 00:22:35,525 --> 00:22:39,249 It's a fabulous dye and therefore is often used to 411 00:22:39,353 --> 00:22:44,456 evoke importance through ideas about blood and rulership 412 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,387 and fertility in particular -- we know that 413 00:22:47,491 --> 00:22:50,077 the Romans used it in triumphal processions. 414 00:22:52,111 --> 00:22:54,077 NARRATOR: Many statues in antiquity were 415 00:22:54,180 --> 00:22:56,767 originally decorated with bright red colors. 416 00:22:58,146 --> 00:23:00,836 But this mask is different. 417 00:23:00,939 --> 00:23:04,594 There is something very dark beneath its gaudy paint. 418 00:23:09,767 --> 00:23:12,146 SELLA: The whole idea of a paint is that 419 00:23:12,249 --> 00:23:16,318 you're going to apply a color across a surface. 420 00:23:16,422 --> 00:23:19,422 And for that, you're gonna need, first of all, a pigment. 421 00:23:19,525 --> 00:23:21,491 That's the substance which actually 422 00:23:21,594 --> 00:23:23,491 gives rise to the color. 423 00:23:23,594 --> 00:23:25,111 NARRATOR: In the case of the mask, 424 00:23:25,215 --> 00:23:28,318 that is the red mercury salt, cinnabar. 425 00:23:28,422 --> 00:23:31,594 You're then going to need some kind of liquid medium, 426 00:23:31,698 --> 00:23:33,180 which allows it to flow so that 427 00:23:33,284 --> 00:23:35,180 you can spread it around, and finally, 428 00:23:35,284 --> 00:23:38,111 you're gonna need some kind of binder, which will hold it 429 00:23:38,215 --> 00:23:40,456 together once you've applied it to the surface. 430 00:23:42,870 --> 00:23:45,077 NARRATOR: But new research has revealed something 431 00:23:45,180 --> 00:23:46,732 completely unexpected. 432 00:23:50,043 --> 00:23:54,767 In 2021, a study was done to actually analyze 433 00:23:54,870 --> 00:23:58,698 the composition of the red material on the surface. 434 00:23:58,801 --> 00:24:01,663 They used a technique which is called FTIR. 435 00:24:01,767 --> 00:24:04,974 This is an infrared technique, which actually allows 436 00:24:05,077 --> 00:24:08,456 you to detect organic molecules on the surface 437 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,249 and identify them. 438 00:24:10,353 --> 00:24:12,284 And with this, they were able 439 00:24:12,387 --> 00:24:14,491 to conclude that there was protein. 440 00:24:15,939 --> 00:24:17,939 NARRATOR: But it's when scientists carry out 441 00:24:18,043 --> 00:24:20,629 further analysis to identify the proteins 442 00:24:20,732 --> 00:24:23,560 that they discover something truly shocking. 443 00:24:25,353 --> 00:24:29,525 It was both serum albumin and immunoglobulin G, 444 00:24:29,629 --> 00:24:33,698 both of which are proteins present human blood. 445 00:24:36,180 --> 00:24:39,008 That deep red color 446 00:24:39,111 --> 00:24:40,456 comes from blood. 447 00:24:41,905 --> 00:24:43,043 Human blood. 448 00:24:44,180 --> 00:24:46,939 NARRATOR: Who wears a mask painted with 449 00:24:47,043 --> 00:24:50,043 human blood on their decapitated head? 450 00:25:01,870 --> 00:25:05,043 NARRATOR: The red paint on this 1,000-year-old mask 451 00:25:05,146 --> 00:25:07,077 is mixed with human blood. 452 00:25:07,180 --> 00:25:11,491 Who is the decapitated man buried wearing it? 453 00:25:13,215 --> 00:25:16,318 Archaeologists have found many simple shallow graves in 454 00:25:16,422 --> 00:25:18,801 communal Sican cemeteries believed to be 455 00:25:18,905 --> 00:25:20,594 those of commoners. 456 00:25:20,698 --> 00:25:22,870 But the tomb where the mask is found 457 00:25:22,974 --> 00:25:25,732 is on an altogether different scale. 458 00:25:25,836 --> 00:25:30,387 Calculations have shown that it took about two weeks to 459 00:25:30,491 --> 00:25:33,663 20 people to just build the structure of the tomb. 460 00:25:33,767 --> 00:25:36,491 And a lot more work went into 461 00:25:36,594 --> 00:25:39,318 making all the objects that were put inside. 462 00:25:39,422 --> 00:25:41,836 So quite a lot of economic value, 463 00:25:41,939 --> 00:25:44,249 but also the work of many people was 464 00:25:44,353 --> 00:25:47,387 invested into creating the tomb for this person. 465 00:25:49,525 --> 00:25:51,939 NARRATOR: The use of gold in the mask also gives 466 00:25:52,043 --> 00:25:54,594 us clues about the man buried in the tomb. 467 00:25:56,663 --> 00:26:00,629 Access to refined gold, to precious metals seems 468 00:26:00,732 --> 00:26:04,111 to be indicative of the very highest status. 469 00:26:04,215 --> 00:26:07,111 These are the elite lords of the dynasty. 470 00:26:09,215 --> 00:26:11,146 NARRATOR: As a member of this elite group, 471 00:26:11,249 --> 00:26:14,077 the mask's owner would be at the center of Sican 472 00:26:14,180 --> 00:26:16,077 religious practices. 473 00:26:16,180 --> 00:26:18,284 DODDS PENNOCK: He would have worn a fabulous 474 00:26:18,387 --> 00:26:21,525 headdress as well as the mask and gold all over, 475 00:26:21,629 --> 00:26:24,974 and it's quite clear that it's designed to make a noise 476 00:26:25,077 --> 00:26:27,456 when he moves, as well as to shine. 477 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,801 It will make this incredible jingling noise when he moves. 478 00:26:31,905 --> 00:26:34,801 And so this evokes the gods, evokes divinity. 479 00:26:34,905 --> 00:26:38,905 It takes people outside of the mundane and into the divine. 480 00:26:40,249 --> 00:26:42,387 NARRATOR: So is the presence of human blood 481 00:26:42,491 --> 00:26:46,249 on this strange mask part of a religious ritual? 482 00:26:46,353 --> 00:26:48,422 And is the blood willingly given? 483 00:26:48,525 --> 00:26:50,249 Or is it taken by force? 484 00:26:55,077 --> 00:26:58,525 In 2011, archaeologists studying the lost 485 00:26:58,629 --> 00:27:02,560 Sican civilization make a troubling discovery. 486 00:27:02,663 --> 00:27:06,043 Close to where the mask was found, 487 00:27:06,146 --> 00:27:11,249 archaeologists have located over 150 bodies, which were 488 00:27:11,353 --> 00:27:18,077 probably sacrificed in specific rituals around these temples. 489 00:27:18,180 --> 00:27:19,767 The study of the bones has 490 00:27:19,870 --> 00:27:22,284 shown that there's no skeletal trauma, 491 00:27:22,387 --> 00:27:25,008 so they were probably buried alive. 492 00:27:26,974 --> 00:27:30,732 NARRATOR: Bioarchaeological analysis of the female skeletons 493 00:27:30,836 --> 00:27:32,974 from the tomb where the mask is discovered 494 00:27:33,077 --> 00:27:35,663 shows they are healthy before they die. 495 00:27:37,008 --> 00:27:40,732 It suggests they may also have been sacrificed. 496 00:27:40,836 --> 00:27:44,215 So why did these healthy young women have to die? 497 00:27:44,318 --> 00:27:46,767 Next to the body of the man 498 00:27:46,870 --> 00:27:49,180 in the center of the tomb were found the bodies 499 00:27:49,284 --> 00:27:50,353 of two women. 500 00:27:50,456 --> 00:27:55,008 One of them was posed as if she were giving birth. 501 00:27:58,387 --> 00:28:02,284 And the other one was in a midwifery position. 502 00:28:04,215 --> 00:28:06,353 NARRATOR: The positioning of the two women points 503 00:28:06,456 --> 00:28:10,284 to the true purpose of this extraordinary burial. 504 00:28:10,387 --> 00:28:12,284 DODDS PENNOCK: We believe that the Sican lord 505 00:28:12,387 --> 00:28:16,387 is being symbolically reborn into the world, 506 00:28:16,491 --> 00:28:19,456 perhaps reborn as a member of the ancestor cult, 507 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:20,939 someone who's moving on to the next 508 00:28:21,043 --> 00:28:23,077 phase of life to be worshiped there. 509 00:28:24,318 --> 00:28:26,663 NARRATOR: It explains why the body of the elite man 510 00:28:26,767 --> 00:28:29,663 at the center of the tomb is upside down. 511 00:28:29,767 --> 00:28:31,801 It's how he would be born. 512 00:28:33,111 --> 00:28:35,905 There were also two children buried in the tomb, 513 00:28:36,008 --> 00:28:40,008 and there have been different explanations to their presence 514 00:28:40,111 --> 00:28:43,284 in there -- they could perhaps be offerings. 515 00:28:43,387 --> 00:28:47,422 Perhaps they were meant to be companions for the elite member 516 00:28:47,525 --> 00:28:50,353 of society after he had been reborn. 517 00:28:53,353 --> 00:28:55,491 NARRATOR: Why the head of the elite man 518 00:28:55,594 --> 00:28:59,008 behind the mask is decapitated remains a mystery, 519 00:29:00,663 --> 00:29:03,663 but experts believe the most gruesome ingredient in 520 00:29:03,767 --> 00:29:05,629 the mask's vivid red paint, 521 00:29:05,732 --> 00:29:10,732 human blood, could be meant to aid the rebirth. 522 00:29:12,353 --> 00:29:15,456 DODDS PENNOCK: Blood in Sican culture, it appears, 523 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:19,111 was tied to fertility and to life. 524 00:29:19,215 --> 00:29:22,249 NARRATOR: So it seems likely the blood is intended 525 00:29:22,353 --> 00:29:25,525 to enhance this strange ritual in some way. 526 00:29:26,939 --> 00:29:30,491 So far, the striking gold mask is the only one found with 527 00:29:30,594 --> 00:29:31,836 human blood, 528 00:29:31,939 --> 00:29:34,318 but it's also the only one analyzed. 529 00:29:36,456 --> 00:29:39,801 The discovery is so new that until other examples 530 00:29:39,905 --> 00:29:43,905 are tested, no one knows if this mask is a one off 531 00:29:44,008 --> 00:29:46,663 or if painting with human blood was common 532 00:29:46,767 --> 00:29:48,939 in this lost culture. 533 00:29:49,043 --> 00:29:50,663 Watch this space. 534 00:29:56,870 --> 00:30:01,215 In a museum in Athens sits a plain-looking ceramic jar, 535 00:30:01,318 --> 00:30:04,905 but this really isn't any old jar. 536 00:30:05,008 --> 00:30:07,732 This jar is one-of-a-kind -- it has curses, 537 00:30:07,836 --> 00:30:09,180 witchcraft, and magic. 538 00:30:11,905 --> 00:30:14,491 NARRATOR: Now, using digital imaging technology, 539 00:30:14,594 --> 00:30:17,836 we can examine the artifact inside and out. 540 00:30:19,249 --> 00:30:22,215 It's become known as the cursed chicken pot. 541 00:30:24,732 --> 00:30:26,456 It's about 4 and 1/2 inches high, 542 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,249 with a spherical base 5 inches in diameter, 543 00:30:29,353 --> 00:30:31,008 and a handle on one side. 544 00:30:32,456 --> 00:30:35,939 MacDONALD: At first glance, this is a rather unspectacular, 545 00:30:36,043 --> 00:30:38,525 unglazed brown pot, 546 00:30:38,629 --> 00:30:40,870 like many thousands of others found 547 00:30:40,974 --> 00:30:43,491 in archaeological sites in ancient Greece. 548 00:30:45,387 --> 00:30:49,353 NARRATOR: But magnify it, and it suddenly stands out, 549 00:30:49,456 --> 00:30:51,836 because it's covered in faint inscriptions 550 00:30:51,939 --> 00:30:55,284 in ancient Greek scratched into the clay. 551 00:30:55,387 --> 00:30:59,043 This was clearly something done for a significant reason. 552 00:31:00,491 --> 00:31:05,043 NARRATOR: And inside the pot, things just get even weirder. 553 00:31:05,146 --> 00:31:06,939 There was actually a head of a chicken. 554 00:31:09,422 --> 00:31:12,180 NARRATOR: What does the writing on the outside mean? 555 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,594 Why is there a decapitated chicken head inside? 556 00:31:17,698 --> 00:31:19,939 Is this pot really cursed? 557 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,422 NARRATOR: This weird clay pot covered with inscriptions 558 00:31:33,525 --> 00:31:36,939 is discovered in the Agora of ancient Athens. 559 00:31:39,525 --> 00:31:41,698 ALTAWEEL: The Agora of Athens is one of the most prominent 560 00:31:41,801 --> 00:31:46,077 marketplaces, industrial places of really the classical world. 561 00:31:46,180 --> 00:31:49,422 Athens, in this period, is one of the greatest cities on Earth, 562 00:31:49,525 --> 00:31:50,905 and the Agora is at the heart of it. 563 00:31:52,111 --> 00:31:55,146 MacDONALD: The Agora was a civic center, 564 00:31:55,249 --> 00:31:59,594 a place of governance, of meeting, of remembrance, 565 00:31:59,698 --> 00:32:01,249 a commercial area, 566 00:32:01,353 --> 00:32:04,249 the center of the ancient city. 567 00:32:08,284 --> 00:32:11,663 NARRATOR: In 2006, a team of archaeologists are digging in 568 00:32:11,767 --> 00:32:13,111 an area of the Agora 569 00:32:13,215 --> 00:32:16,077 once used by the craftspeople of ancient Athens. 570 00:32:17,767 --> 00:32:20,215 ALTAWEEL: They're excavating in the Agora in this building 571 00:32:20,318 --> 00:32:21,456 that's in the heart 572 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,491 of the commercial area, and they come across a fairly 573 00:32:24,594 --> 00:32:25,905 simple-looking jar. 574 00:32:28,284 --> 00:32:32,422 NARRATOR: The jar dates to between 325 and 270 BCE. 575 00:32:34,525 --> 00:32:36,008 And at first glance, it looks 576 00:32:36,111 --> 00:32:38,939 like any old piece of Greek pottery. 577 00:32:39,043 --> 00:32:41,180 In fact, oftentimes, we just pick them up 578 00:32:41,284 --> 00:32:42,422 and sort of throw them in the bucket 579 00:32:42,525 --> 00:32:43,525 without much thought, because these things 580 00:32:43,629 --> 00:32:45,008 are quite common, right? 581 00:32:45,111 --> 00:32:47,836 So we didn't expect this to be that fascinating. 582 00:32:49,111 --> 00:32:51,456 NARRATOR: When the archaeologists look closer, 583 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,318 they realize there's something about this jar that is 584 00:32:54,422 --> 00:32:56,215 very odd indeed. 585 00:32:56,318 --> 00:32:58,836 There's actually lots of writing on it. 586 00:32:58,939 --> 00:33:01,801 There's about at least 30 or so names that are legible. 587 00:33:01,905 --> 00:33:03,525 There's even more names than that. 588 00:33:05,594 --> 00:33:07,767 NARRATOR: Examining the pot further, 589 00:33:07,870 --> 00:33:11,043 the archaeologists spot another strange clue. 590 00:33:12,594 --> 00:33:15,525 The only two words that we can still make out 591 00:33:15,629 --> 00:33:18,594 that aren't individual names are the words "we bind." 592 00:33:20,663 --> 00:33:24,387 NARRATOR: All very weird, but not exactly groundbreaking. 593 00:33:25,870 --> 00:33:29,353 It's when the archaeologists look inside the jar 594 00:33:29,456 --> 00:33:32,560 that things start to turn really bizarre. 595 00:33:34,974 --> 00:33:38,215 ALTAWEEL: There was actually a head of a chicken found, 596 00:33:38,318 --> 00:33:41,767 and some parts of the body scattered into the jar. 597 00:33:43,146 --> 00:33:45,008 NARRATOR: And if that wasn't strange enough, 598 00:33:47,146 --> 00:33:50,836 the chicken isn't even the oddest thing hidden inside. 599 00:33:50,939 --> 00:33:54,043 The jar has a nail that goes through it that is pierced from 600 00:33:54,146 --> 00:33:55,629 the top, and it goes into the base 601 00:33:55,732 --> 00:33:57,387 but doesn't shatter the jar. 602 00:33:58,939 --> 00:34:00,698 NARRATOR: There is no way the nail can 603 00:34:00,801 --> 00:34:03,836 have pierced the delicate clay material by accident. 604 00:34:05,422 --> 00:34:08,767 The brittleness of a material like 605 00:34:08,870 --> 00:34:13,077 terracotta, fired clay, is absolutely notorious. 606 00:34:13,180 --> 00:34:15,387 I don't think you embed a nail 607 00:34:15,491 --> 00:34:19,594 into a piece of terracotta just for fun. 608 00:34:20,939 --> 00:34:25,387 If you want to pierce it in some way, you can't do it 609 00:34:25,491 --> 00:34:26,939 by hitting it. 610 00:34:27,043 --> 00:34:30,905 You've got to be much more subtle and effectively 611 00:34:31,008 --> 00:34:35,594 wear away, drill through, very, very gently, 612 00:34:35,698 --> 00:34:38,111 to ensure that you don't get the beginnings of 613 00:34:38,215 --> 00:34:40,698 that crack, which will give you weakness. 614 00:34:42,008 --> 00:34:44,525 And so this was clearly something done for 615 00:34:44,629 --> 00:34:45,663 a significant reason. 616 00:34:47,836 --> 00:34:49,594 NARRATOR: And it just gets weirder, 617 00:34:49,698 --> 00:34:51,974 because there's something else in there 618 00:34:52,077 --> 00:34:54,732 alongside the chicken remains and the nail. 619 00:34:54,836 --> 00:34:58,318 ALTAWEEL: A small coin was found at the edge of this nail, 620 00:34:58,422 --> 00:35:00,629 not legible, so it's -- it's been erased 621 00:35:00,732 --> 00:35:02,146 so that you can't tell what period 622 00:35:02,249 --> 00:35:04,180 or what king was even referred to, 623 00:35:04,284 --> 00:35:06,732 but it seems to be of a kind of small denomination. 624 00:35:08,456 --> 00:35:11,318 NARRATOR: Why would someone stuff this strange 625 00:35:11,422 --> 00:35:14,801 combination of items into this pot? 626 00:35:14,905 --> 00:35:18,629 If we zoom in on this digital reconstruction, 627 00:35:18,732 --> 00:35:21,629 can closer inspection of the strange markings on 628 00:35:21,732 --> 00:35:24,905 the surface help explain the pot's true purpose? 629 00:35:29,422 --> 00:35:30,939 PLUMMER SIRES: The key to understanding the pot 630 00:35:31,043 --> 00:35:33,215 is in the names that are inscribed. 631 00:35:34,525 --> 00:35:37,284 Although today we can only make out 632 00:35:37,387 --> 00:35:39,180 about 30 individual names, 633 00:35:39,284 --> 00:35:42,560 it is very possible that, when the pot was made, 634 00:35:42,663 --> 00:35:47,008 up to about 55 names were inscribed on the surface. 635 00:35:47,111 --> 00:35:49,180 NARRATOR: But it's not the names that tell us 636 00:35:49,284 --> 00:35:51,249 what this jar is for. 637 00:35:51,353 --> 00:35:54,870 It's the other text experts have spotted, 638 00:35:54,974 --> 00:35:56,836 the words [speaking ancient Greek], 639 00:35:56,939 --> 00:35:58,974 ancient Greek for "we bind." 640 00:36:00,353 --> 00:36:04,008 There's every reason to believe that this combination 641 00:36:04,111 --> 00:36:05,870 of pot and sacrifice 642 00:36:05,974 --> 00:36:09,939 and iron nail are part of an act of 643 00:36:10,043 --> 00:36:10,939 dark magic, 644 00:36:11,043 --> 00:36:14,387 a binding curse known as a katares. 645 00:36:17,077 --> 00:36:20,318 NARRATOR: Could this weird pot really be cursed? 646 00:36:20,422 --> 00:36:23,870 Did the ancient Greeks even believe in magic? 647 00:36:34,870 --> 00:36:38,111 NARRATOR: It seems this ancient Greek pot containing parts of 648 00:36:38,215 --> 00:36:41,905 a dismembered chicken, a nail, and a coin, is cursed. 649 00:36:43,249 --> 00:36:47,456 But do the ancient Greeks really believe in dark magic? 650 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:48,870 ALTAWEEL: We think of ancient Greece as 651 00:36:48,974 --> 00:36:50,870 being a society of logic, of reason, 652 00:36:50,974 --> 00:36:53,974 but actually, magic, superstition, were quite common, 653 00:36:54,077 --> 00:36:56,939 creating spells and potions and even prayers 654 00:36:57,043 --> 00:36:58,456 against your enemies or people 655 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,629 you just want to have bad things happen to. 656 00:37:01,732 --> 00:37:05,284 NARRATOR: Curses are used for a whole host of reasons. 657 00:37:05,387 --> 00:37:08,801 MacDONALD: It was used for business purposes. 658 00:37:08,905 --> 00:37:11,043 It was used to settle lawsuits. 659 00:37:11,146 --> 00:37:14,732 It was used because of hatred, and in some senses, 660 00:37:14,836 --> 00:37:17,318 different sorts of magic were used for love. 661 00:37:19,008 --> 00:37:20,767 NARRATOR: In ancient Greek society, it seems 662 00:37:20,870 --> 00:37:23,008 everyone's in on magic and curses. 663 00:37:24,146 --> 00:37:25,456 MacDONALD: We know that in some cases, 664 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,905 city states actually commissioned certain acts 665 00:37:29,008 --> 00:37:29,974 of magic. 666 00:37:30,077 --> 00:37:34,698 Also, certain laws prohibited acts of magic. 667 00:37:34,801 --> 00:37:38,663 So therefore, this was a system that was broadly believed in. 668 00:37:40,318 --> 00:37:43,318 NARRATOR: These spells often take the form of a curse tablet. 669 00:37:45,353 --> 00:37:47,663 PLUMMER SIRES: Normally, they would have been written 670 00:37:47,767 --> 00:37:50,974 on a lead sheet, inscribed, 671 00:37:51,077 --> 00:37:53,525 folded, and pierced with an iron nail. 672 00:37:53,629 --> 00:37:58,422 The curse tablets would have then either been buried with 673 00:37:58,525 --> 00:38:00,456 a deceased, because they believed 674 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,525 the dead person could carry the message quicker 675 00:38:03,629 --> 00:38:05,525 to the gods, or they would have been 676 00:38:05,629 --> 00:38:06,732 placed somewhere where 677 00:38:06,836 --> 00:38:09,732 the target of the curse would have frequented. 678 00:38:13,077 --> 00:38:16,939 NARRATOR: Maybe the chicken pot is some kind of a curse tablet. 679 00:38:17,043 --> 00:38:18,180 It has names, 680 00:38:18,284 --> 00:38:20,353 so it indicates individuals which you want to 681 00:38:20,456 --> 00:38:21,491 curse, potentially. 682 00:38:22,767 --> 00:38:25,318 We bind indicates that this object 683 00:38:25,422 --> 00:38:27,594 is somehow pointed towards these individuals, 684 00:38:27,698 --> 00:38:31,525 that the power of the curse is bounded to these individuals, 685 00:38:31,629 --> 00:38:34,284 which is typical of curse tablets. 686 00:38:34,387 --> 00:38:37,836 NARRATOR: The coin found inside the jar also supports this being 687 00:38:37,939 --> 00:38:39,456 a curse. 688 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:40,905 The coin could be paying 689 00:38:41,008 --> 00:38:43,870 the gods, effectively, to carry out the curse. 690 00:38:43,974 --> 00:38:45,663 So, in a sense, you have to always do 691 00:38:45,767 --> 00:38:48,698 a little bit of sacrifice to get the curse that you want. 692 00:38:48,801 --> 00:38:51,629 So the coin is part of that sacrifice. 693 00:38:53,284 --> 00:38:55,801 NARRATOR: But ancient Greek curse tablets don't normally 694 00:38:55,905 --> 00:38:57,249 use animals. 695 00:38:58,939 --> 00:39:00,629 So what's its purpose? 696 00:39:00,732 --> 00:39:04,905 The chicken is what holds the entire curse together. 697 00:39:05,008 --> 00:39:08,180 The commissioner or commissioners of the pot would 698 00:39:08,284 --> 00:39:10,732 have tried to imbue the helplessness 699 00:39:10,836 --> 00:39:13,870 and the inability to protect itself that the chicken had 700 00:39:13,974 --> 00:39:15,767 onto the intended targets. 701 00:39:17,146 --> 00:39:20,560 NARRATOR: And the chicken itself is significant, because 702 00:39:20,663 --> 00:39:24,180 chickens originally come to Europe from distant Asia. 703 00:39:24,284 --> 00:39:26,767 MacDONALD: The chicken is still an exotic animal 704 00:39:26,870 --> 00:39:30,525 in ancient Greece, and as an exotic animal, 705 00:39:30,629 --> 00:39:33,767 it was particularly well suited to sacrifice. 706 00:39:33,870 --> 00:39:36,008 It was something out of the ordinary. 707 00:39:38,525 --> 00:39:40,698 NARRATOR: But if this is a cursed pot, 708 00:39:40,801 --> 00:39:42,284 who was it aimed at? 709 00:39:44,043 --> 00:39:48,008 We know that the pot was found below the floor of the Agora in 710 00:39:48,111 --> 00:39:51,180 a workshop, and we also know 711 00:39:51,284 --> 00:39:55,249 that the curse tablets, or curse pot in this case, 712 00:39:55,353 --> 00:39:57,491 they were usually buried where 713 00:39:57,594 --> 00:39:59,870 the intended targets would frequent. 714 00:39:59,974 --> 00:40:03,146 So it would stand to reason that this pot or this curse 715 00:40:03,249 --> 00:40:05,732 has something to do with competition 716 00:40:05,836 --> 00:40:07,146 within the trading guilds. 717 00:40:09,525 --> 00:40:11,215 NARRATOR: What kind of curse is being 718 00:40:11,318 --> 00:40:12,560 put on these craftspeople? 719 00:40:14,008 --> 00:40:15,836 ALTAWEEL: Oftentimes, when you do curses 720 00:40:15,939 --> 00:40:17,146 with many different names, 721 00:40:17,249 --> 00:40:19,353 it's usually a judicial case, because there's lots of 722 00:40:19,456 --> 00:40:21,387 individuals involved. 723 00:40:21,491 --> 00:40:23,801 NARRATOR: There are lots of examples of curse tablets 724 00:40:23,905 --> 00:40:26,180 used to affect the outcome of a lawsuit. 725 00:40:27,594 --> 00:40:29,905 ALTAWEEL: The argument that this is a kind of curse pot, 726 00:40:30,008 --> 00:40:32,525 if you will, against a competitor is supported by 727 00:40:32,629 --> 00:40:35,111 the fact that curse tablets were already used in this area. 728 00:40:37,629 --> 00:40:39,353 So having something like this 729 00:40:39,456 --> 00:40:42,732 as another example is not surprising. 730 00:40:42,836 --> 00:40:44,353 NARRATOR: Studying the names inscribed 731 00:40:44,456 --> 00:40:46,905 on the jar also provides a clue. 732 00:40:48,180 --> 00:40:49,698 PLUMMER SIRES: About a third of the names inscribed 733 00:40:49,801 --> 00:40:51,043 on the pot belonged to women, 734 00:40:51,146 --> 00:40:53,491 which is actually really interesting. 735 00:40:53,594 --> 00:40:58,180 We do know that lawsuits were not uncommon during this time, 736 00:40:58,284 --> 00:41:01,594 and these types of curses would 737 00:41:01,698 --> 00:41:05,043 include not just the opponents in the -- 738 00:41:05,146 --> 00:41:08,939 in the court case, but any witnesses or supporters 739 00:41:09,043 --> 00:41:10,215 of the opponents. 740 00:41:10,318 --> 00:41:12,974 This might explain why there were so many women's names. 741 00:41:13,077 --> 00:41:15,111 These could have been the wives, mothers, 742 00:41:15,215 --> 00:41:16,767 daughters of the cursed men. 743 00:41:18,663 --> 00:41:21,456 NARRATOR: But did the curse actually work? 744 00:41:23,353 --> 00:41:24,905 MacDONALD: We'll never know whether or not 745 00:41:25,008 --> 00:41:28,146 the curse of the ancient Agora worked, 746 00:41:28,249 --> 00:41:30,629 and we're not even really sure what it was trying 747 00:41:30,732 --> 00:41:33,663 to affect -- was it trying to end the business, 748 00:41:33,767 --> 00:41:37,043 or was it trying to actually harm the people who might have 749 00:41:37,146 --> 00:41:39,077 worked for a particular business? 750 00:41:40,249 --> 00:41:43,249 But, in a sense, that doesn't matter. 751 00:41:43,353 --> 00:41:45,111 What it tells us is about 752 00:41:45,215 --> 00:41:49,043 the strength of belief in magic in ancient Athens. 753 00:41:50,456 --> 00:41:52,387 NARRATOR: Is this innocuous-looking pot 754 00:41:52,491 --> 00:41:55,422 really a curse carrier designed to inflict magical 755 00:41:55,525 --> 00:41:58,008 harm on the names scored into its surface? 756 00:41:59,456 --> 00:42:02,215 Dark magic is the only theory proposed 757 00:42:02,318 --> 00:42:03,284 so far that holds water.