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Ayahuasca is one of
the scientific inventions of the Amazon.
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It's a powerful visionary brew,
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one that's central to Indigenous
spirituality and legal here in Peru.
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I myself have had many experiences
with ayahuasca guided by a shaman.
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And I believe its use dates back
further than anyone thinks,
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especially in the light
of the artwork it inspires.
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There are incredible visions.
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Nine times out of ten,
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those are introduced
with geometric patterns.
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And after these first visions,
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many people report encounters
with fantastical beings.
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Sometimes those entities may be a mixture
of an animal and a human being,
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so-called therianthrope from the Greek
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therion meaning "wild beast"
and anthropos meaning "man."
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These are very common entities
that are encountered.
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What intrigues me
is that evidence of the use of ayahuasca
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and the visions it inspires
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can be found not just in the Amazon,
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but at many other ancient sites
I've explored in South America.
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{\an8}In Cusco, the Inca used the brew
during human sacrifices
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to aid the victim's passage
to the afterlife.
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And their patterned, figure-filled artwork
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greatly resembles
contemporary ayahuasca-inspired art.
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{\an8}
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{\an8}At the pre-Inca site
of Tiwanaku in Bolivia,
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researchers have identified the objects
held by this 1,500-year-old statue
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as snuff trays for hallucinogenic powders,
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while much Tiwanaku pottery
features geometric designs
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and fantastical entities,
likely inspired by psychedelic visions.
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You can see those same visions reflected
in traditional Amazonian art too.
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What comes to mind
is the case of the Tucano,
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who, by and large,
paint on non-permanent media.
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The painting, the malocas,
you know, the communal houses.
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{\an8}You see that there is a continuity here.
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Remember the origin myth of the Tucano
that speaks of their great teachers,
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the daughter of the sun
and her companions?
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Interestingly, the story doesn't end
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with the departure
of those mystical, civilizing heroes.
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According to lore,
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after ensuring the land
could support the newcomers,
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the divine beings left open
a channel of communication
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for humans to use whenever there was need.
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That channel is the brew
we know today as ayahuasca.
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The word ayahuasca means "vine of souls"
in Quechua, the Inca language.
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But I believe its use
vastly predates the Inca.
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This is where the issue
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of this very ancient rock art
becomes interesting.
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{\an8}These rock paintings
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{\an8}from the part of the Amazon
where the Tucano live today
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explore the same themes we see
in all ayahuasca-inspired art.
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I can't help observing that
there are similar and connected patterns.
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We see therianthropic beings,
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beings that are part animal,
part human in form.
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Like here?
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We see geometric patterns.
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We see serpents.
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To me this is an extraordinary mystery
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that… that the same themes keep coming up
again and again and again.
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And yet these images, indisputably,
were created during the last Ice Age.
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It suggests that ayahuasca was being used
almost 13,000 years ago.
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It's a logical deduction
from looking at the art.
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Exactly.
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If true, the implications are staggering.
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It means those ancient Amazonians
may have already mastered
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the complex chemistry of ayahuasca
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as far back as the Ice Age.
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{\an8}-
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{\an8}
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The geometry,
the spiraling patterns,
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this is one of the most extraordinary
aspects of the psychedelic experience.
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Those geometric visions may explain
another mystery that we encountered
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at the very start
of our exploration of the Americas.
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{\an8}
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{\an8}The immense geoglyphs
emerging from the jungle
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{\an8}along the southwestern rim of the Amazon.
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I'm struck by the repetition
of the geometrical idea,
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that we find this again and again,
whether the art is modern,
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whether it's 13,000 years old,
we find it here.
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And I can't help wondering
whether these geometric earthworks
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may also have been influenced
by ayahuasca.
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Can be. By ayahuasca
or other visionary plants.
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- Other plants.
- Because there are many plants.
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Behind every, uh, culture you find
some visionary plant of some sort.
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Those geoglyphs seem
to be a manifestation
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in three-dimensional form,
on an enormous scale,
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of precisely the kind of visions
that are induced by the consumption
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of a substance like ayahuasca,
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where the very first things that are seen
are geometrical patterns.
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I think we are seeing a manifestation
of the same impulse in different media.
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And if the Amazonian geoglyphs
were inspired by visionary experiences,
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then we have to ask where else
that inspiration might have been felt
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for one compelling reason.
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How similar these earthworks are
to geometrical earthworks
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{\an8}in North America, in the state of Ohio.
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{\an8}
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They're called
the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks,
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attributed to a civilization
known today as the Hopewell culture
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that thrived in the Great Lakes region
around 2,000 years ago.
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Massive ditches and embankments
in precise geometrical array.
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You could really transpose
the earthworks of the Amazon
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to the earthworks of Ohio or vice versa.
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And yet they appear to have been created
by completely unconnected cultures.
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This is where I simply cannot accept
coincidence as an explanation.
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I think that when we see an idea
cropping up again and again
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in widely-separated
geographical locations,
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{\an8}what we're looking at
is an inheritance of ideas
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{\an8}that was passed down and that manifests
in different periods of time.
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{\an8}But the idea is what is truly ancient,
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not necessarily the structure
that we're looking at.
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Unlike their Amazonian counterparts,
where research is only just beginning…
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…the earthworks in Ohio have been studied
for more than a century.
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And we know they're more
than just intriguing geometrical shapes.
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Many of Ohio's earthworks,
including the effigy of Serpent Mound,
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feature precise alignments
to specific solstices and equinoxes.
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But remarkably, in some cases,
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they were built to align directly
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with even more
complex lunar cycles as well.
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It's one of the curiosities
of the ancient world
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that there was a very intense interest
in what was going on in the heavens.
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These astounding feats
of astronomical observation
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were made by ancient Americans
some 2,000 years ago,
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perhaps far earlier,
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and can also be found
in other North American mound structures.
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{\an8}At sites like the 1,000-year-old Cahokia
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{\an8}and 3,000-year-old Poverty Point,
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itself purposefully positioned
due north of another site,
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{\an8}Lower Jackson Mound,
which dates back 5,000 years.
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Who knows what astronomy might lie encoded
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waiting to be discovered
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in those recently-revealed
Amazonian geoglyphs?
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We know that human beings were in America
for tens of thousands of years.
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Surely there should be openness
to the possibility that there was time
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to develop a culture, to develop
sophisticated knowledge of the heavens,
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and to express that in monuments.
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Could this
detailed astronomical knowledge
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be evidence that the lost civilization
of the Ice Age I'm seeking
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left a legacy of ideas
in other parts of North America as well?
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1,300 miles from Ohio…
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…in the northwest corner of New Mexico,
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I've arrived at
a high-altitude cold desert
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carved up by towering mesas and buttes.
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The Badlands
of the southwestern United States
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are a realm of harsh extremes
and breathtaking vistas,
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intersected by ancient canyons
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with near-vertical sandstone cliffs
on both sides.
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You might think that the desolate setting
of these Badlands
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would be ill-suited
to any large-scale construction project,
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either now or in ancient times.
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But you'd be wrong.
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This canyon is home to some
of the most important archaeological sites
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in North America.
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Dozens of ancient man-made structures
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are scattered
for miles across the valley floor,
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from small freestanding chambers
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to massive so-called great houses.
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This is Chaco Canyon.
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Despite more
than a century of research,
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the ancient structures that we see here
in Chaco Canyon remain enigmatic.
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Their origins and even their function
are still hotly debated.
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At the heart of the mystery
in the center of the canyon…
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is the most imposing great house
of them all.
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The name of this place is Pueblo Bonito,
meaning "beautiful town."
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Rising to a height of several stories,
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it's a labyrinth of rooms, corridors,
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and vast, circular,
semi-subterranean enclosures.
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Even today, centuries after
all work here ceased,
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it strikes the eye forcefully.
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Pueblo Bonito is
a huge construction project.
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Hundreds of rooms have been mapped,
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many mysteriously built
with no obvious way in or out.
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Archaeologists have worked here
for decades
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and made many significant discoveries.
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Yet it still confounds interpretation.
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But one thing we can be fairly certain of
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is how Pueblo Bonito
would have looked in its prime.
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The compound was a huge semicircle
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with straight walls
facing the canyon floor.
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Rectangular buildings were stacked
around the curve, four stories tall,
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creating as many as 800 rooms,
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all surrounding a plaza
divided by a central wall
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with multiple circular,
semi-subterranean structures on each side.
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So who were its builders?
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And why did they go
to such immense lengths
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to create this extraordinary edifice?
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Nathan Hatfield,
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{\an8}officially designated as
Chaco Canyon's Chief of Interpretation,
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has spent nearly a decade
studying the structures here.
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Tell us about the place
that we're standing in.
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This structure was the largest building
in North America
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up until the mid-19th century.
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Archaeologists couldn't
carbon date the stone itself.
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But using the highly accurate
tree-ring method of dating
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on its wooden beams,
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they were able to determine
various phases of construction.
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This was not built in a single moment.
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This was built over a period
of a couple of centuries.
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So if we look at that oldest part
of Pueblo Bonito,
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what sort of numbers are we talking about?
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It was built starting around 850.
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- That's 850 AD?
- 850 AD.
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Yeah.
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And construction was ongoing for
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at least 200 years,
maybe a little bit longer.
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This was before
the area was settled
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by the modern-day Pueblo peoples…
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like the Hopi, the Zuni, and the Acoma.
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Pueblo Bonito was built by
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what we call the ancestral Pueblo people.
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- For reasons unknown to us…
- Yeah.
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…they selected Chaco Canyon
to be the center of their culture.
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And Pueblo Bonito would become
the largest building
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in this cultural center.
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A cultural center that,
as well as Pueblo Bonito,
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featured more
than a dozen other great houses.
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Why did they build all these structures
here in Chaco Canyon?
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Was there a permanent
established residential population here?
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No. Archaeologists did not see
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the evidence to support a huge population.
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So if these great houses
weren't actually built to house people,
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what was their purpose?
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Within the ruins, archaeologists found
more than a hundred ritual burials…
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along with pottery
featuring spectacular geometric patterns
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{\an8}and artifacts known to come from hundreds,
if not thousands, of miles away.
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{\an8}We find that enormous efforts
were gone to…
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to create it
as a kind of center of the world.
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As the evidence has come in,
it's become clear that
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it seems to have been
a center of pilgrimage,
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where people would come
from all directions,
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drawn to the magic of the place.
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It clearly is a sacred place of some sort.
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In that light,
the circular structures we find
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within nearly all of Chaco's buildings
make more sense.
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The Hopi,
descendants of the ancestral Puebloans,
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call such structures kivas.
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Tell me about the kivas.
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What is your understanding
of what they were and are?
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It's generally agreed upon
that a kiva was a ceremonial space.
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There are features that are pretty common.
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There's the bench.
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Within the larger great kivas,
you see floor vaults.
241
00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:24,880
Most of them have
some kind of wood-burning fireplace.
242
00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:28,880
For the Hopi
and Pueblo peoples today,
243
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,760
the kiva is a spiritual
and political space
244
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,800
in which they gather
to perform sacred rituals.
245
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:37,800
So it's
an ongoing cultural tradition?
246
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,200
- And they're used for ceremony?
- Yes. Yes.
247
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,720
Ceremonies that, then and now,
248
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,920
feature the consumption
of a special form of tobacco.
249
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:50,960
{\an8}North of Chaco in Utah,
250
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,960
archaeologists studying
an ancient man-made hearth
251
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,560
found seeds
from the hallucinogenic species
252
00:17:58,280 --> 00:17:59,520
coyote tobacco.
253
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,320
The seeds were carbon-dated
to 12,300 years ago,
254
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,120
suggesting humans were using tobacco here
255
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,080
as far back as the Ice Age.
256
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:12,680
It's likely that
such hallucinogenic plants
257
00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:17,040
were still in use thousands of years later
in ceremonies here at Chaco…
258
00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,320
just as shamans
of the Amazon use ayahuasca.
259
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,000
Is it possible
that these shamanistic traditions,
260
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,080
thousands of miles apart,
261
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,920
are the legacy of a single,
more ancient belief system
262
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,760
that left traces of itself
across the Americas?
263
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,640
To explore the mysteries
of these kivas further,
264
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:47,800
I'm headed to the canyon rim,
about half a mile south of Pueblo Bonito,
265
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:50,920
to the grandest kiva of them all…
266
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:54,080
…Casa Rinconada.
267
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,480
Unlike the vast majority of Chaco's kivas,
268
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,880
Casa Rinconada stands apart
from any other extensive building.
269
00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,040
Inside the sunken enclosure,
270
00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:11,160
T-shaped doorways
are positioned in the walls,
271
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,280
openings that face
almost perfectly north and south.
272
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,760
As time-lapse photos show,
directly above the doorway,
273
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,600
the night sky revolves around
the north star Polaris.
274
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,400
There's something strangely familiar
about Casa Rinconada.
275
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,120
{\an8}It reminds me of the Ice Age
megalithic site of Göbekli Tepe
276
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:38,440
{\an8}in far-off Turkey.
277
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,360
There, similarly sunken,
circular, kiva-like chambers
278
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:46,720
feature T-shaped pillars,
279
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:50,600
which too are aligned
to specific points in the heavens.
280
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,320
But how could these ancient structures,
281
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,880
so widely separated by geography and time,
282
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:00,680
have any connection?
283
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,360
It's tempting to speculate.
284
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,960
And the origin myth of the Hopi
offers a possible clue.
285
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,320
The Hopi believe
that we're living in the fourth world,
286
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,560
that there have been
three previous emergences
287
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,080
from some sort of underground realm.
288
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,880
According to Hopi legend,
after creating the first living creatures,
289
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,840
the sun spirit ordered his messenger,
Spider Grandmother,
290
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,760
to guide these ever-evolving life forms
through the first two worlds.
291
00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:39,920
In the third world,
292
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,080
she showed early humans
how to weave and make pottery
293
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:45,800
and taught them good from evil.
294
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,000
Still, some turned
to wicked ways.
295
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,000
Displeased,
the sun spirit ordered
296
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,120
those of good heart to move on.
297
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,280
They ascended a great reed
to an opening in the sky.
298
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,040
There, Spider Grandmother
helped them emerge into their new home,
299
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,320
the fourth world,
where their descendants still live today.
300
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,280
The Hopi hold sacred
an unusual geological feature
301
00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:21,640
in the Grand Canyon,
302
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,360
believing it to be
the literal emergence point of myth.
303
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,320
They call it Sipapu.
304
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:31,400
No one is allowed near it,
305
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,920
but symbolically, it's replicated
throughout the Hopi world.
306
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:43,880
In Puebloan culture, a hole in the floor
of the kiva is also known as a sipapu,
307
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:49,000
and this is seen as the place from which
the ancients emerged from a previous world
308
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,120
that had been destroyed
into the world that we live in today.
309
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,040
And this is where
I want to make a comparison
310
00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,440
that might seem very extreme.
311
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:04,080
I'm just wondering
whether it all goes back to a time
312
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,000
when it was necessary
for people to take shelter underground.
313
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:13,360
And we know that there was such a time
around 12,800 years ago
314
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,400
at the beginning of the Younger Dryas.
315
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,320
Although still debated,
316
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,560
many scientists believe
that the Earth-shaking cataclysms
317
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:28,400
and floods of that time were caused
by cosmic impacts and airbursts
318
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,600
as the Earth passed through
the debris trail
319
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:32,680
of a disintegrating comet.
320
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,440
If the enemy was danger from the sky,
321
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:42,040
if we're looking at impacts
from a fragmenting giant comet,
322
00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:45,000
uh, then underground structures
make a great deal of sense.
323
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,840
That deep ancient connection
is not a direct connection.
324
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,640
It's a stored memory in oral tradition
325
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,760
that there was a time
when our ancestors had to emerge
326
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,760
from beneath the ground
to come out into a new world
327
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:03,160
that had been swept clean in a cataclysm
and to repopulate that new world.
328
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,360
Let me be clear.
329
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:12,000
I don't doubt that this spectacular kiva
dates from around 1,000 years ago,
330
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,960
but I suspect
that its builders incorporated within it
331
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,200
a legacy of knowledge and ideas
that are far, far older.
332
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,200
Much like another idea
we see demonstrated again and again
333
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,520
at all these ancient American sites,
334
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,920
the importance of astronomical
and geometrical knowledge.
335
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:38,680
At Pueblo Bonito,
the whole structure is perfectly aligned
336
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,840
to the cardinal directions,
north, south, east, and west,
337
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,200
showing its builders understood
their place on the planet.
338
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,640
What's more, on the equinox,
something magical happens.
339
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:58,240
The sun rises and sets perfectly in line
with the west side of the southern wall.
340
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,800
It wasn't
just some random accident.
341
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:05,080
It was so well-thought-out.
342
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,920
And what's, I think,
appealing to people about that
343
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,680
is that it's the same sky
that we can see today.
344
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:13,680
- Yes.
- We can still see the alignments.
345
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,320
I've heard that there were functionaries
called sun priests here in the past.
346
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:21,400
Is that right?
347
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,880
They were the sun watchers,
the sun priests.
348
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,640
They were people dedicated
to the architecture.
349
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,760
There were people dedicated
to watching the sky.
350
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:31,680
Yeah.
351
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:37,040
What were the main celestial events
that they were tracking?
352
00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:41,400
Summer solstice, winter solstice,
equinoxes, when the sun rises due east?
353
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,920
That ties back to the agriculture.
354
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:45,000
Right.
355
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:50,720
Having that calendar on the landscape
is critical for survival.
356
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,640
And the fact
that they were able to do that
357
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,360
with these monumental structures,
358
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:01,800
I think it all goes back to their ability
to find success with farming.
359
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,920
It's an argument
I've heard before,
360
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,600
but there's a problem with assuming
361
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,560
all this effort
had to do only with farming.
362
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:18,600
Around 90 miles north of Chaco Canyon
stands a distinctive sandstone ridge
363
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:24,240
topped by two pinnacles known as
Chimney Rock and Companion Rock.
364
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:30,640
Near them, we find a Chacoan great house
complete with two kivas.
365
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:37,120
It turns out
that that whole structure was placed there
366
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,280
in a very precise alignment
367
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:45,880
to allow observation of a lunar event
that only occurs once every 18.6 years,
368
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,920
and that is the extreme
northern standstill of the moon.
369
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,480
It's when the rising and setting moon
370
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,480
reaches its most northerly point
in the night sky
371
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,960
before appearing to rise
and set further south
372
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,760
as part of a recurring cycle.
373
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,000
The moon rises between Chimney Rock
and Companion Rock
374
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,720
only at that time and at no other time.
375
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,520
This is the kind of knowledge
that has to be handed down
376
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,120
generation to generation.
377
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:18,760
You don't just notice it once
378
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,200
and then build a structure
to memorialize it.
379
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,080
It speaks to
an ancient intellectual endeavor
380
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,280
to understand the cosmos
that surrounds us,
381
00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:34,960
and that cosmos is full
of motion and changes,
382
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,720
and the long-term observation
of those motions and changes
383
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,360
requires a really dedicated effort,
384
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,520
in many cases over thousands of years.
385
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,200
Once researchers started looking
for lunar alignments
386
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,440
in the buildings in Chaco Canyon,
387
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,080
all sorts of remarkable examples
were found.
388
00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,960
When the moon reaches
its extreme southern standstill in winter,
389
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,800
again once every 18.6 years,
390
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,640
{\an8}it rises in a line
through three great houses six miles apart
391
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,160
{\an8}with Pueblo Bonito at its middle.
392
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,960
{\an8}And 9.3 years later,
at the halfway point in this cycle,
393
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,000
the summer moon rises in a line
across a large structure
394
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:25,080
{\an8}just east of Pueblo Bonito
to another one 11 miles to the southwest…
395
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,760
while that same setting moon
shines across one great house,
396
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,880
again through Pueblo Bonito,
397
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,560
more than 17 miles beyond the canyon
to yet another great house.
398
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:41,800
And one thing is certain.
399
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:47,000
The 18.6-year lunar cycle
has no influence whatsoever
400
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,240
on the growing of crops.
401
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:51,840
Why, therefore, did the ancient Puebloans
402
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,120
go to such lengths
to mark it in their architecture?
403
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:01,000
That speaks eloquently to the fact
that no economic purpose was involved,
404
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,160
that this was about the celebration
405
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,200
of the connection
between heaven and earth.
406
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,520
What's now clear is
that all these Chacoan structures combine
407
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,880
to form a ritual calendar
laid out upon the Earth…
408
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,920
…in a canyon that may have been chosen
for this very purpose
409
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,120
as a terrestrial counterpart
to the Milky Way.
410
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:32,480
But the connections with the cosmos,
sky and ground, as above, so below,
411
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,320
that were so important to Chaco culture
412
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,520
aren't limited
to its vast building complexes.
413
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,880
About five miles southeast
of central Chaco…
414
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,320
I'm heading up from the canyon floor
415
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,800
in search of something intriguing
that adorns these rugged canyon walls.
416
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:04,240
Ancient works of art
carved into the living rock.
417
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,000
These are precious records,
stories in stone
418
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:16,480
that have been continually revised,
altered, and added to
419
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,440
over who knows
how many thousands of years.
420
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,480
There are human figures
that appear to be dancing
421
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,560
and playing musical instruments.
422
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,800
Spirals and serpents coil
along the canyon walls,
423
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,640
which also feature
strange creatures and geometric forms,
424
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,400
much like those that appear
in artwork of the Amazon,
425
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:42,920
possibly inspired by psychedelics.
426
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,320
Whichever part of the world you're in
and whichever period of history it is,
427
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,920
once you come to the cave art
and the petroglyphs and the rock art,
428
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,200
you find again and again
exactly the same visuals
429
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,600
that you find
with the ayahuasca experience
430
00:29:57,680 --> 00:29:59,440
and other psychedelics being repeated.
431
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,200
As well as these visionary elements,
432
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:10,360
Chacoan rock art reflects the same focus
on astronomy found in its architecture.
433
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,480
This image has been interpreted
as an eclipse,
434
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,320
the sun darkened by the moon,
while its corona flares outwards.
435
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,840
And this, a supernova,
436
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,880
now known to have been visible
in the daytime sky
437
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,680
during the ancestral Puebloan period
in AD 1054.
438
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,600
Why create such imagery
in such a hard-to-reach location
439
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,680
unless there was
a compelling reason to do so?
440
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:48,640
In the absence of any apparent economic,
strategic, or political motive,
441
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:52,280
it follows that some higher purpose
must have been involved.
442
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,000
It seems to me more and more obvious
443
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,440
that Chaco Canyon
is a ritualized landscape
444
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,880
and that its origins can't be limited
to a mere thousand or so years ago,
445
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,880
but must go back much further,
446
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,360
perhaps even as far back
as the last Ice Age.
447
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:18,600
To your knowledge,
how far back in the past can we trace
448
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,280
any kind of human presence
here in Chaco Canyon?
449
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:25,880
You've probably heard very recently
in White Sands National Monument--
450
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,280
23,000-year-old footprints in White Sands.
451
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,840
- And that's not that far away.
- No.
452
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:35,120
So it's quite likely that people
would have been in Chaco Canyon
453
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:37,160
maybe even…
454
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,680
maybe even 10,000 years before
any building was constructed.
455
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,080
I think they were
456
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:50,280
observing the landscape
and the sky for generations
457
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,880
- before they decided to build.
- Yeah.
458
00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,480
Chaco Canyon bears the fingerprints
459
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,840
of a culture
of highly-sophisticated astronomers.
460
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:09,000
Their intense focus on
the regular cycles of sun, moon, and stars
461
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,360
and on the wider majesty of the cosmos
462
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,320
wasn't just an idiosyncratic quirk
of their own.
463
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,480
It was shared in the same way,
464
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:22,440
using eerily similar symbolism,
art, and architectural alignments
465
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,560
by many other ancient cultures
all around the world.
466
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:27,600
{\an8}
467
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,840
{\an8}The way Malta's megalithic
Temple of Mnajdra is precisely aligned
468
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,360
{\an8}to capture the equinoxes
and the solstices.
469
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,560
{\an8}Or how the axis
of the great Temple of Karnak in Egypt
470
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,880
{\an8}targets the winter solstice sunrise.
471
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,480
{\an8}Or the precision
with which the central tower
472
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,560
{\an8}of Angkor Wat in Cambodia
473
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,160
aligns to the rising sun on the equinoxes.
474
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,000
There seems to have been
a worldwide architectural project
475
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,400
to reproduce the harmony
and directions of the heavens
476
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:05,280
in monuments on the ground
to bring heaven down to earth.
477
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,680
But how far back does
this seemingly global human project go?
478
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,360
There are clues
479
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,880
in one of ancient America's
most accomplished civilizations
480
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,040
that once dominated what is now
southern Mexico and Central America.
481
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:32,520
The Maya.
482
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,080
The Maya to me are one
of the most fascinating cultures
483
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:40,480
of the ancient world
484
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,360
and a culture filled with
mystery and contradiction.
485
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,640
Many descendants of the Maya
still live here today
486
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:56,280
in the spectacular landscapes
of Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula.
487
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,600
Here, long before the Incas
and the Pueblo culture of Chaco,
488
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,400
the Maya civilization thrived.
489
00:34:09,240 --> 00:34:12,760
It was a culture
that expressed its genius in many ways,
490
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,960
notably through magnificent feats
of architecture.
491
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,520
Surrounded by dense lowland rainforest,
492
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,400
this is the Mayan sacred realm
of Palenque.
493
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,400
Palenque is
an absolutely breathtaking place.
494
00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:46,560
With its awe-inspiring architecture
and engineering,
495
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,360
it has all the hallmarks
of a classic Mayan site.
496
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:53,560
Soaring pyramids,
497
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,040
a ceremonial ball court,
498
00:34:58,240 --> 00:34:59,440
a looming palace,
499
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,240
and temples filled
with intriguing imagery.
500
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,000
The Maya are probably best known
for their incredible architecture,
501
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,040
for the amazing complexes
of pyramids that they created,
502
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:18,920
typically step pyramids,
and the beautiful elegance of the design
503
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,480
and the high precision of the workmanship.
504
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,880
That immediately tells us that
we're dealing with an advanced culture.
505
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:32,800
{\an8}Maya expert and guide
Mildred Lucas Garcia
506
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,000
{\an8}has devoted more than a decade
507
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,040
to understanding Palenque better.
508
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,080
When did work begin here?
509
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:43,520
How long was this site occupied?
510
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,600
The city's foundation started
in the year 200 BC,
511
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,640
and it was abandoned over the 900s AD.
512
00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:51,560
Right.
513
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:55,080
When I look at this incredible site,
these huge pyramids,
514
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:58,040
beautifully constructed,
beautifully designed,
515
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,360
it's clear that this was the work
of very skillful people,
516
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,600
and that they must have had
some kind of plan from the beginning.
517
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,400
But tell me, how did they do it?
518
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,480
We know
that there were quarries nearby.
519
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,760
That's why they decided to build
the city here
520
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,240
because they had
all the natural resources,
521
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,360
they had all the limestone in this area,
522
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,440
they had the water,
523
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,000
and this was a very strategic area
to build the city.
524
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,720
But how… how they built that,
that's unknown.
525
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:28,720
- We don't know.
- It's still a mystery.
526
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:30,640
- It's still a mystery. Mm-hmm.
- Yeah. Yeah.
527
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,800
Why did the Maya build pyramids?
528
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,560
Here in Palenque,
we see a lot of… a lot of pyramids.
529
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,720
The pyramids,
not only for the Mayas,
530
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,600
but for the ancient cultures,
531
00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:44,680
represented the holy mountains.
532
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,440
Here in Palenque,
they built such big structures
533
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:50,320
to represent these holy mountains.
534
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,600
Mountains played
an important role
535
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,960
in the belief system of the Maya
as symbols of the source of creation.
536
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,160
But it appears that there may have been
more to the Maya's epic building project,
537
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:09,240
especially here at Palenque.
538
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,760
In Palenque,
some of the buildings were designed
539
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,640
following the astronomical observations.
540
00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:18,600
Wow.
541
00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:22,760
There's three buildings
known as the Group of the Crosses
542
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,600
that were used
as an astronomical observation area.
543
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:27,560
Right.
544
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,360
These buildings
were perfectly aligned
545
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:32,920
with the summer solstice…
546
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,360
- Yeah.
- …and with the spring equinox.
547
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,320
Clearly, highly-skilled astronomers
were involved in the creation
548
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:42,440
of the whole complex.
549
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:43,440
Yes, it's true.
550
00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:49,480
But why would they go
to so much trouble
551
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,440
to align these massive structures
552
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,040
to solstices and equinoxes?
553
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,360
Given these incredible alignments,
one thing is clear.
554
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,600
If you want to know
what Palenque is really all about,
555
00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,040
you have to look
not only at its architecture,
556
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,080
but also at the sky.
557
00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:26,400
I've come to the Temple of the Sun
at a special moment on a special day,
558
00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:29,840
dawn on the spring equinox,
559
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:36,520
when the sun rises precisely due east
and sets precisely due west
560
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,680
in a manifestation of cosmic harmony.
561
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:46,200
Here at the Temple of the Sun,
that sunrise creates a unique spectacle,
562
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,920
one still celebrated today
by the local community.
563
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,080
{\an8}
The spring equinox, it is important
564
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,120
{\an8}for the spirituality of the Maya.
565
00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:00,560
Right here where we are
is the most important place.
566
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,240
And I have
a front row seat for it.