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Today marks
a special moment in the Mayan calendar.
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It's the spring equinox
when the sunrise ushers in
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not just a new day
but a new cycle of life.
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As the sun clears the tree line,
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its rays illuminate
one of Palenque's most majestic temples.
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This is the Temple of the Sun,
a most appropriate name.
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Just to be here,
bathed in light, is a privilege,
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a connection that merges spirituality
with science in a way
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long forgotten by the modern world.
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At certain key moments of the year,
and this is one of them,
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the rising sun does more than illuminate
the steps of the temple.
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Maya architecture is a repository
for ancient knowledge,
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linking sky and ground, heaven and earth.
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In the process,
it often brought the light of the sun
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through certain specific alignments
into interior spaces,
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purposefully designed to receive it.
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At the winter solstice,
the sun rises over a mountaintop ruin,
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shining into the temple through a doorway,
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where we might imagine a priest
waiting to be bathed in light.
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Six months later, on the summer solstice,
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and only on that day,
the dawn sunlight grazes another pyramid,
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before a needle of light
strikes an interior corner,
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while at both equinoxes,
the sun rises above a man-made depression
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in the eastern horizon,
again shining rays through a doorway
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at such a precise angle,
that for around 40 minutes,
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it dramatically illuminates
another inner alcove.
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For the Maya, such dazzling displays
must have evoked a sense of awe
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in all who observed them.
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And it's not just a special moment
for the ancient Maya.
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Palenque is
an extremely symbolic site.
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{\an8}Ancestral worship in Palenque
was depicted in its architecture
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{\an8}and in its modified landscape.
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It connects with
the modern-day population.
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Mayan culture in Palenque
is very much alive.
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{\an8}
Maya priest Nicolás López Vázquez
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{\an8}has been performing ceremonies here
for decades.
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The ritual going on right now
represents the spring equinox.
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The equinox was very important.
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That's why they made the temples.
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It is like a connection
with the whole planet.
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Indeed,
this complex seems to have been designed
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as an instrument to detect and manifest
the wondrous harmony of the universe.
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So what was the motive
for their intense focus on the heavens?
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And how did they acquire
their advanced astronomical know-how?
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Could we be witnessing a legacy
handed down by a far older civilization,
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one that left traces
of its advanced knowledge
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throughout the Americas?
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{\an8}-
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Dominating the center of Palenque
is its most impressive edifice
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known as the palace.
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And above it looms
this intriguing structure,
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unique in the Maya world,
a multi-storied tower.
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Scholars are divided
on the purpose of this tower.
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The puzzling thing is the roof.
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The roof we see today is
an entirely modern
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and possibly inaccurate reconstruction.
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Earlier excavation photographs show
the tower in ruins without a roof.
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So was it roofed in antiquity?
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Indeed, the original tower may have been
topped by an observation platform,
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which would explain what was found within.
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It's significant
that there's a room with glyphs
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representing perhaps the most important
of all planets to the Maya, Venus.
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Scholars have confirmed
through Mayan texts
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that this symbol does indeed represent
the brightest planet in the night sky.
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Could it be that this tower was built
specifically for use by astronomers?
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Intuitively, it feels like it was intended
for observations of the heavens.
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One would not expect a tower
designed to observe the skies
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to be roofed.
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And those Venus glyphs inside the tower
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strongly suggest that
that's what it was used for.
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But of all the celestial bodies
in the sky, why Venus?
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It may have something to do with one of
the Maya's greatest mythological figures.
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The gods and goddesses of Maya cosmology
often had eerily human characteristics,
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sometimes endearing, sometimes terrifying,
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sometimes deeply mysterious.
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The deity named Kukulkan,
who was at one time a man,
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not only combined
all of these characteristics,
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but was also identified
with the brightest planet in the heavens.
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The tradition says that Kukulkan arrived
after a great cataclysm,
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accompanied by attendants.
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He was a wise teacher
who gave instruction in the rule of law
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and how to organize a civilization,
to cultivate corn,
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and how to build great monuments in stone.
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Even after his time with them was over,
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Kukulkan continued to be worshiped
in the heavens,
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where he manifested in the form
of the planet that we know today as Venus.
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Across the Maya world,
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there are other representations
of Kukulkan.
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{\an8}And at one iconic site,
his memory is also connected
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{\an8}to that highly significant moment
of the spring equinox.
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At Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán,
at the temple of Kukulkan,
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if we look at that pyramid,
what we see normally
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is the northern stairway of the pyramid
with the large head of a serpent
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at the base of the stairway
and a kind of blank balustrade
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running up the side of it
with nothing on it,
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but on the spring equinox,
as the sun is beginning to set,
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the pyramid is so perfectly positioned
that shadows cast by its corner
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onto that stairway create
the form of the body of the serpent,
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so the head of the serpent
is suddenly completed with
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an undulating, waving shadow body
of the serpent,
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and this is a manifestation of Kukulkan.
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In different parts of Mexico,
he was known not only as Kukulkan
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but perhaps most famously as Quetzalcoatl.
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All of these names mean
"plumed or feathered serpent."
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One might almost imagine
that Kukulkan was a traveler
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who used a locally-appropriate name
wherever he went.
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We've met a similar figure in Peru
where he was called Viracocha.
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In Mesopotamia, he was known as Oannes,
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and in Egypt, he was Osiris.
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But the stories remain the same.
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Powerful figures who appeared
after a global cataclysm
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and bestowed upon ancient peoples
the gifts of civilization.
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The identification of their civilizing
hero with the planet Venus
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might explain one
of the Maya's unique obsessions,
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tracking that planet's movements
in the night sky.
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Their studies of Venus
are really, really striking.
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It is the case
that once every roughly 584 days,
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Venus will be seen to rise
in the same place.
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The Maya had an absolutely precise,
spot-on estimate
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of the… what's called
the synodical return of Venus.
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And they were able to make the calculation
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thanks to one of the Maya's
most extraordinary achievements,
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one that, like the incredible stonework
of ancient Peru
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and the ingenious pharmacology
of ancient Amazonia,
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might be part of a legacy of knowledge
handed down from a remote prehistory
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by a mysterious predecessor civilization.
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{\an8}Dr. Edwin Barnhart has been
mapping and studying Palenque
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for over 25 years,
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and he's one of very few people
in the world
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who can read the script
of the ancient Maya.
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We read these glyphs
from top to bottom in double columns.
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You read right left, right left
to the bottom of the first two,
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and then you go to the third and fourth
and read down so that's the reading order.
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How does the system of numbers
that the Maya use
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compare with the system of numbers
that we use today?
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Our system is quite similar.
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We have a base-ten system.
We call it decimal.
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You and I, we can write any number
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- into almost infinity using ten digits.
- Mm-hmm.
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We've got a zero,
and then one through nine.
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- Yeah.
- And when we get to ten,
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we put a zero in the ones place
and a one in the tens place.
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They use base 20.
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It's a Morse code-like system
of dashes and dots
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including a shell glyph representing zero.
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A dot means one.
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- A bar means five.
- Right.
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And so when you get
three bars and four dots,
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- that's 19.
- Mm-hmm.
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How they'd write 20
is putting a zero there
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- and then putting a dot in the 20 place.
- Okay.
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So it's a positional system of enumeration
that allowed them
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to do math on a… on a different level.
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You know, our system's great.
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We can calculate into infinity,
but it takes ten symbols.
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The Maya pulled the same thing off
with only three symbols.
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So in that regard,
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their system is
way more elegant than ours.
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Wow.
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The Maya not only used zero,
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but were acquainted with place numerations
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at a time when
the Ancient Greeks and Romans,
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despite their many achievements,
understood neither.
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Their system was great.
The Romans, they did great things,
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but their number system stunk.
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- That's why they had to make the abacus.
- Yeah.
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The Maya's
advanced numbering system
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wasn't just an elegant way to count.
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For their astronomers,
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this was the key to calculating
and predicting the movements
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of heavenly bodies like Venus,
the sun, and the moon,
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with astounding accuracy.
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And that same knowledge of mathematics
was also fundamental
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to what was arguably
their most impressive invention.
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By far the most perplexing achievement
of the ancient Maya
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was their own amazingly precise system
for measuring time,
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which they incorporated
into one of the most complex calendars
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in human history.
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The calendar, which of course
is incredibly complicated.
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Could you help to uncomplicate it for me?
What is the Mayan calendar all about?
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The calendar, its…
You know, its solar year is 365 days.
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Right. Okay.
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The calendar
they really care about is 260 days,
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but then they have a long count calendar,
which is kind of a linear count of time.
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The Maya tracked key dates
using a combination of three calendars,
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each with its own individual purpose.
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{\an8}
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{\an8}Their sacred calendar was
a repeating cycle of 20 groups
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{\an8}consisting of 13 days apiece,
totaling 260 days.
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{\an8}
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{\an8}A second calendar tracked the solar year,
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{\an8}but was composed of 18 groups,
each of 20 days,
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{\an8}with another five to complete
a 365-day year, just like ours.
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{\an8}When used in tandem,
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these two calendars gave a unique name
to every single day
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across a 52-year period
before then starting over.
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But what made the Mayan system
truly unique was their third calendar,
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the so-called long count,
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which tracked
much greater periods of time.
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Tell me more
about the long count calendar.
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What is it? How does it work?
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What's it intended to achieve?
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It's certainly the most interesting one
because the Maya are very cyclical,
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but it's the only calendar they have
that's a linear calendar.
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It can go backwards and forwards in time
in a straight line into, towards infinity.
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The symbols of the long count
measure the passage
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not just of years, decades,
or centuries, but entire millennia,
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reaching deep into
both the past and the future.
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Is it the case that most of what we can
now read in the… in the Maya script
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has to do with the calendar?
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Here's a perfect example
that when we look at this page,
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everything that you see
with bars and dots and these,
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this is all calendrical information.
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On the whole,
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two-thirds of the entire Maya corpus
of writing are calendar glyphs.
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One explanation
for this obsession
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is that the ancient Maya believed
the world went through recurring cycles
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of creation and destruction…
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…and that they were living
in the fourth such cycle,
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quite similar to the ancient Hopi
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who believed they too
were living in the fourth world.
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But unlike them,
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the Maya were able to put
specific dates to their cycles,
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all tracked using the long count.
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What's this one about here?
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That's a beautiful image,
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one of the few
that very specifically tells us
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what the date was
at the start of the fourth creation.
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- It says 13-0-0-0-0.
- Right.
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And then the very next day, this resets.
And this would be 0-0-0-0-1.
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Right. So putting that
into our dating system today?
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- 3114 B.C., August 13th.
- Right.
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And that's the beginning of the age
of the world in which we now live.
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Right. And the idea, like,
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- why did it start at 3114 B.C.?
- Yeah.
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That's one
that the best minds, for a century now…
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00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,560
- Yeah.
- …have failed to sufficiently answer.
238
00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:19,000
Yeah. I… I have to say, I find that date
quite fascinating in itself,
239
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:24,120
um, since many ancient civilizations,
if we follow the archaeological record,
240
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,360
had an extraordinary beginning
at around that time.
241
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,680
{\an8}In Ancient Egypt around 3000 B.C.
242
00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,520
{\an8}- Sumer, similar sort of period.
Right. Asia as well.
243
00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:37,640
{\an8}It's like
the world was waking up at that time,
244
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,440
and the Maya picked that date.
245
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:40,560
It is very interesting.
246
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:44,560
When do you think
the system began?
247
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,000
How far back can we trace the origins
of this incredible set of calculations?
248
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,920
You know, it's a difficult question.
I've pondered that a lot.
249
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,400
And I… I like to say that by the time
somebody carved it in stone,
250
00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:58,920
that wasn't their first attempt.
251
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,320
Right. And what's the oldest date
that you… that you've found?
252
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,600
There's a couple of them.
There's one that goes back 33,000 years.
253
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,840
Another leads us to a specific date
254
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,560
that has us go back
very exactly five million years.
255
00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,560
- Five million years into the past.
- Yeah. And… and you can do the math.
256
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,840
I think that its intention
is to make a statement
257
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,280
about the never-ending nature of time.
258
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:30,720
Alongside these dates,
259
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,360
one key player
in the drama of the night sky
260
00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,320
keeps appearing in the texts, Venus,
261
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:41,080
that same planet associated with
the Mayan deity, Kukulkan.
262
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:50,240
So Venus is integrated into
the overall Mayan calendrical system.
263
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:51,760
They track it again and again.
264
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,520
There's actually 104 different groups
265
00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,480
- of five Venus cycles…
- Yeah.
266
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,280
…that they put together
so that you could actually track Venus
267
00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:03,040
- and it would be right.
- Right.
268
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:09,200
The Maya were obsessed with the cosmos,
and the Maya were obsessed with time.
269
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,560
These two issues
are fundamental to… to Mayan culture.
270
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:20,680
These two obsessions reveal
that the Maya had and enumerated
271
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,080
a deep understanding
of our planet's vast antiquity.
272
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:29,960
So they were able to do
what modern computer software is doing.
273
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:31,840
- Yes.
- How could they do that?
274
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:34,840
I think that they were among
275
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,360
the ancient world's
greatest mathematicians.
276
00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:39,680
- They just kept cranking the numbers.
- Yeah.
277
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,480
They're doing calculations
of millions of days.
278
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:43,640
Fascinating.
279
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,120
If they're using dates like that,
you have to ask yourself,
280
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,160
"Why would they need to do that?"
281
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,440
- I think--
- It's all speculation.
282
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,200
When we archaeologists
take a hard look in the mirror,
283
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,320
- basically it's all speculation. We--
- Yeah.
284
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,240
We are working on theories.
Very few facts in my field.
285
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:02,160
Yeah.
286
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:11,200
I have a theory,
which is also, admittedly, speculative.
287
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,480
The Mayan calendar feels to me
like an out-of-place artifact.
288
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,640
It feels to me like a legacy
that the Maya have received
289
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:24,040
from a culture that really did need
these enormous numbers…
290
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,840
A lost civilization
that passed on its knowledge
291
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:30,920
of the cyclical nature of time,
292
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,360
encoding it in myths
and spiritual traditions
293
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,000
that would, many thousands of years later,
294
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,720
manifest spectacularly
in the enigmatic machinery
295
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,440
of the Mayan calendar.
296
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,160
But to what end?
297
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,960
I suggest the answer has everything to do
298
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,600
with the Mayan concept
of the impermanence of world ages.
299
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,320
I sometimes think of the Mayan calendar
as a computer for calculating
300
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,800
not the end of the world,
but the end of an age.
301
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,680
The Mayan calendar envisages
repeated destructions
302
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,440
and re-makings of the world.
303
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,160
Repeated world ages come and go.
304
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,160
It was never correct
that the Maya imagined
305
00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:18,640
the world would end
on December 21st, A.D. 2012.
306
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:24,560
But they do see
an episode of great turbulence and change,
307
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,720
uh, taking place at around our time.
308
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:35,400
Certainly, the end of an age is predicted
for roughly the 80-year period
309
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,840
from about 2000 to 2080,
somewhere in that period.
310
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,560
And it's curious that actually that is
our experience of the world today.
311
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,080
We're living in a time of chaos,
of unpredictability, of change.
312
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,200
Could the Mayan calendar's timing for
the end of our current age be accurate?
313
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,360
Perhaps we should be gazing up
at the heavens,
314
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,760
tracking the stars and planets
as they did…
315
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,600
…in case another world-changing apocalypse
is imminent.
316
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:17,480
But there was more to the Maya's interest
in the heavens than predicting the future.
317
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:25,200
There's evidence right here at Palenque
that Dr. Barnhart wants to show me.
318
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,880
This view out here,
there's a perfect place
319
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:31,520
where you can see the horizon.
320
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,240
On the southwestern edge of
a plaza across from the Temple of the Sun,
321
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,680
Dr. Barnhart is taking me
to another powerful edifice
322
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,960
known as the Temple of the Foliated Cross.
323
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,400
It dates from around A.D. 692.
324
00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:01,320
Inside on the back wall,
a curious carved mural awaits us.
325
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,720
Scholars now believe it addresses
326
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,960
the great central mystery
of Maya religion,
327
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,720
the mystery of
what happens to us after death.
328
00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:18,120
We are standing in front of
an extraordinary mural,
329
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,480
which is quite difficult
for me to interpret.
330
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,960
Tell me what you make of it.
What's it all about?
331
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,840
Well, it's obviously so complex.
332
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,680
The iconography is everywhere on this.
333
00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:32,760
Mm-hmm.
334
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,560
There's the foliated cross
because of this foliation coming out.
335
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:37,920
Mm-hmm.
336
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,360
We also have
our two figures on either side.
337
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,880
The mural shows
the deceased Lord Pakal on the right,
338
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,600
the original founder
and ruler of Palenque,
339
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,560
his eyes closed
and dressed in burial clothes,
340
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,760
and what's assumed to be his son
and successor, Kan Bahlam, on the left.
341
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,000
Here's Kan Bahlam's face.
342
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,080
His portrait is everywhere in the city.
We know exactly that is him.
343
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,080
- Yeah.
- We recognize him.
344
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:09,480
But he's big and tall.
345
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:10,880
- Kan Bahlam.
- Yeah.
346
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,800
I always…
I think about him.
347
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,440
We have such a wonderful,
rich history of his life.
348
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:16,360
Yeah.
349
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,080
We know that his dad
was the most famous king of this city.
350
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,040
And he was named heir-designate
at age six.
351
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,160
But his dad didn't die until 80.
352
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:34,840
So he spent his entire life,
until 48, to be the king.
353
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:38,160
- Right.
- And I think he was incredibly trained
354
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,240
in mathematics, architecture, astronomy,
355
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,520
- but also religion, mythology.
- Mm-hmm.
356
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,640
This group, the three magnificent temples,
is his showcase.
357
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,800
This guy probably planned this
for 30 years of his life.
358
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,280
- Mm-hmm.
- Finally, he got to build it.
359
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:01,240
And it's the height
of Maya scientific achievement.
360
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,360
- Yeah.
- There's numerology.
361
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,200
There's mathematics. There's astronomy.
362
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:11,680
The message of the mural is that
the deeds and rituals performed by the son
363
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,000
are essential if the father is to triumph
364
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,680
in the afterlife journey
that now confronts him.
365
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,480
Separating them is an icon
of the greatest significance.
366
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:24,760
Here's our world tree.
367
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,160
That's the sun god's face
in the middle of it.
368
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:32,560
But the tree is also the path
between this world and the other world.
369
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,440
In some contexts, it's the Milky Way.
370
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,240
Is the role that the Milky Way
plays a… a kind of path of souls?
371
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:43,960
It's an afterlife journey in some sense?
372
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:48,120
Yes. The things that
these two individuals are interacting with
373
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,000
is the conduit between this world
and the other.
374
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:52,200
Right.
375
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:56,600
The notion of a leap to the heavens
to the Milky Way
376
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,040
and… and a journey
that is made after death
377
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:01,400
is very strong amongst the Maya.
378
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,600
What's remarkable is
how widespread this notion is.
379
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:14,480
This Milky Way symbolism
as a… as a path of souls is found
380
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:16,360
not just amongst the Maya,
381
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,000
but… but amongst many other cultures
in North America.
382
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:23,920
{\an8}Absolutely. It's one
of those Pan-American ideas.
383
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:25,520
{\an8}It really is.
384
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,400
{\an8}From the tip of Chile up to Alaska,
385
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:34,360
native thought is
that the Milky Way is the path of souls
386
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,560
from this world to the other one.
387
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,760
The dead follow it,
and the power that shamans have,
388
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,680
- they can walk it.
- Right.
389
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:47,560
But it's… it's fascinating
that it's in every single culture
390
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,760
that we can get information about
about the Milky Way.
391
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,680
{\an8}
392
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:58,440
{\an8}It reminds me of how the Apurinã
of Brazil view the Amazonian geoglyphs
393
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,480
as if they were sacred portals
to the afterlife.
394
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,920
- In the Amazon, it's still very alive.
- Yeah.
395
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,400
Here in the Maya world,
it's still very much alive.
396
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,640
Yeah. So it's like there's
a remote common ancestor to this idea.
397
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:13,800
I believe so.
398
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:20,800
I think that these core identity ideas
came over with the first people.
399
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,360
And that's why we find them
amongst so many cultures,
400
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,320
even though those cultures,
for example, in southern Chile
401
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,680
and the far north of North America,
are not in contact with one another.
402
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,080
They're still expressing the same ideas
because it's the same inheritance.
403
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,760
Absolutely. And I think
there's more than just the Milky Way.
404
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,200
There's a couple of different things
that are those core principles.
405
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,320
One of them is
that the Maya have a great love
406
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:46,040
of the concepts
of shamanism, transformation.
407
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:46,960
Yeah.
408
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,720
There's no doubt that Mayan culture
was a shamanistic culture.
409
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:03,480
I think that the idea
of the journey of the soul after death
410
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,240
results ultimately
from shamanistic experiences.
411
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,880
Is it a coincidence
that many of the other Indigenous cultures
412
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:18,960
of the Americas,
413
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,520
and indeed many ancient cultures
all around the world,
414
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,840
preserved an almost identical vision
of the afterlife journey of the soul?
415
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,880
Or are we confronted here
by some underlying connection,
416
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,520
a powerful, all-pervading belief system
417
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,080
that was inherited
by many later civilizations
418
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,040
from a lost civilization of prehistory?
419
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,760
The work that you've shared
has been very exciting.
420
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,560
And when we see
archaeological examples of…
421
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,400
{\an8}of the knowledge of the sky and the stars,
422
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,440
as we look back on it,
I feel like it is older than we think.
423
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:06,640
Yeah.
424
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:11,160
And you connect this idea
to a shamanistic point of view.
425
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:12,600
Yes, absolutely.
426
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,480
All shamanistic cultures
are very interested in the stars.
427
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,880
But at a certain point, that interest
in the stars can become a religion.
428
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,360
Can you dig a little bit into that for me?
429
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,400
Shamanism is a system
to investigate the mystery of death.
430
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,000
What happens to us when we die?
431
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,200
This notion that the soul leaves the body,
leaps up to the heavens.
432
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,720
It was about the journey
of the soul after death.
433
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,480
It seems like in our stories
and our own journey,
434
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,560
as we grow up, there's this fact of death.
435
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:49,920
There's the end.
436
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,720
Yeah. It's the essence of everything.
437
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,240
It's a kind of
morbid subject to discuss,
438
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,520
but it's fundamental for all human beings.
439
00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,320
We're all… we're all facing that moment.
440
00:29:59,920 --> 00:30:04,880
Classically, it's described
as a driving force for our actions.
441
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,360
Yeah. Yeah.
442
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:10,680
I'm going to die, so I will do something.
443
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:15,600
Yeah. And that's… that's exactly what
the shamanistic teachings are saying,
444
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,280
uh, is that we had better use
this opportunity of life well.
445
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:24,480
Yeah. I think that is the challenge
that's before us.
446
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,880
Because that idea
is found all around the world,
447
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,080
very… very specifically
the leap to the Milky Way.
448
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,520
I don't think
that could have happened by accident.
449
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,040
I think it's… I think it's something
that's been passed on
450
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:37,720
from an ancestor culture.
451
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:38,640
Yeah.
452
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,320
But when was it passed on?
453
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:49,440
Just how far back can we trace
this shamanistic tradition
454
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,080
of measuring and tracking objects
in the heavens?
455
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,560
The answers just might lie
at one of the first places I visited
456
00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,400
on my journey through the Americas,
457
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:05,200
deep in the Amazon rainforest
at the ancient site of Serra Do Paituna.
458
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,320
The stone was used as a canvas,
uh, for extraordinary art,
459
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,120
and that art itself
needs to be deciphered.
460
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:26,800
It needs to be better understood.
461
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:32,320
In an attempt to do just that,
462
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,840
{\an8}archaeologist Dr. Christopher Davis
became intrigued by
463
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,800
this prominent grid image full of symbols.
464
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,200
Now, talk to me about
what we're looking at here
465
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,280
and what you make of it.
What's your analysis of this?
466
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,080
It's the largest single painted image
at this site.
467
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:54,960
- There's 49 total boxes.
- Yeah.
468
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,000
One of the first difficulties
was trying to figure out
469
00:31:58,080 --> 00:31:59,640
should we, you know, look at this
470
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,920
from the left to the right
or right to the left.
471
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,640
It seems
the ancient painters left a clue.
472
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,480
Here you can see
this snake image here.
473
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,560
That's fascinating.
So there is an image of a snake there.
474
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:14,080
Right here in yellow.
475
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,920
Mmm. So almost having the snake there
is telling us how to read it.
476
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,160
Exactly. The pattern that pops out to me
477
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,800
is when this grid is read
478
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,600
in a sinusoidal pattern
starting at the bottom.
479
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:30,680
In a sinusoidal pattern,
480
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,760
the boxes read up one column,
then down the next,
481
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,560
then up again, like that snake.
482
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:39,160
But to what end?
483
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:42,400
When he looked to the west,
484
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,400
Dr. Davis noticed a natural notch
in this rocky pillar nearby.
485
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,880
If you're standing right in front,
in the background to your right
486
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:57,160
there's a rock window that the sun,
as it passes over here and sets,
487
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,560
eventually it intersects that rock window.
488
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:03,720
So I believe that they were
possibly taking a tally of the sun.
489
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000
Dr. Davis calls this tally
a sunset capture tracker,
490
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,200
an ingenious way to record
the sun's movements over time,
491
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:20,720
one created more than 13,000 years ago
during the last Ice Age.
492
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:23,160
But how does it work?
493
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,400
I see X marks,
and I see single lines as well.
494
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,440
- These Xs, these are all together.
- Yeah.
495
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,840
And if you read
up and down this way,
496
00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,280
eventually you get
all of these single lines together.
497
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,720
These single vertical lines go together,
and then you go back to the Xs.
498
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,960
These single vertical lines are the boxes
499
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,960
that I think coincide
with the sun capturing.
500
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,280
And that time is sometime around
what would've been the winter solstice.
501
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,200
How clever can you get? That's amazing.
502
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,200
It's not just the grid.
503
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:10,840
Dr. Davis believes that nearly all of
the prehistoric art here tracks the sun.
504
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,560
There's a lot
of concentric circles and other images
505
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:16,840
that appear to be the sun.
506
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:20,280
And they specifically are pointed
to the winter solstice,
507
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,000
and they wrap all the way around
to the summer solstice.
508
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,560
More art, facing due west,
marks the equinoxes.
509
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:32,280
So again, it shows
this almost obsessive focus
510
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,280
with the key moments of the solar year.
511
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:35,520
Yes, absolutely.
512
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,720
What we have here may well be
the earliest evidence yet found
513
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:43,480
anywhere in the Americas
514
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,240
of humans keeping tallies
of celestial events.
515
00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:52,080
So in a way,
this whole thing is kind of a huge machine
516
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,480
for tracking the passage of time?
517
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,160
I believe so.
I believe it's like an almanac
518
00:34:57,240 --> 00:34:58,760
that's written in pictures.
519
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:07,480
This speaks to a scientific mindset
amongst the artists themselves,
520
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,000
as though they're observing
particular incidents
521
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:11,320
and moments in the sky…
522
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,920
and getting to grips
with the science of time
523
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,960
and thus the ability to predict
what would happen
524
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:22,960
at particular dates in the future.
525
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,440
So it was a kind of scientific project
for them?
526
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:28,840
Absolutely, yeah.
527
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,080
The art itself
looks very shamanistic to me.
528
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:33,920
That's just my personal impression.
529
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,880
Do you think shamans were at work here?
530
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:37,240
It's possible.
531
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:41,480
They carried several occupations,
scientists, doctors, all sorts of things.
532
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:42,400
Yeah.
533
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,800
They usually
do carry sacred knowledge,
534
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,040
things like the movement of the stars.
535
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,440
Do you see that spread widely
across the Americas?
536
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:52,400
Yeah.
537
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,160
The knowledge of using astronomy
in this way is found throughout here.
538
00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:57,520
So the Maya…
539
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,240
and other cultures seem to be using this.
540
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,120
In the American Southwest,
we had chiefs who were sun watchers.
541
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,800
So all of this lore
does seem to go back far in time…
542
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,640
- Yeah.
- …uh, to some deep understanding
543
00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,440
that had spread
throughout much of the Americas.
544
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:25,000
This obsession with the heavens
is just one of many recurring themes
545
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,040
I've encountered again and again
all across the Americas…
546
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,400
…ideas that play a central role
in my 30-year quest
547
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,760
for a forgotten episode in human history.
548
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:48,240
The question is,
where did these ideas come from?
549
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:53,640
For me, these are indications
of a remote common source,
550
00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:57,880
that these ideas have filtered down
through many different human cultures,
551
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,640
but the ideas themselves
have remained relatively intact.
552
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:06,160
Unless it's some just extraordinary,
unbelievable coincidence,
553
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,160
we are looking at a legacy
which has been handed down
554
00:37:09,240 --> 00:37:12,080
from the remotest antiquity
and has been preserved
555
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:13,480
and passed on and developed
556
00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,560
by multiple different cultures
all around the Americas.
557
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,400
A legacy perhaps left
by a seafaring people
558
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,480
capable of crossing oceans
as wide as the Pacific
559
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,040
thousands of years before scholars
accept such voyages were possible.
560
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,520
A culture that understood how
to harness the power of plants
561
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,040
to create mind-enhancing visions
562
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,560
of geometric patterns
and encounters with fantastical beings,
563
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,760
visions of such great importance
they would become the basis of their art.
564
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,400
And a culture that shared its knowledge
565
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,160
of how to create
technologically-advanced structures,
566
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,120
whether built in stone
567
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:00,200
or made from the body
of the earth herself,
568
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,480
structures with great spiritual meaning,
569
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,960
designed to bind ground to sky,
570
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,240
celebrating the soul's journey
into the afterlife.
571
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,440
In fact, I would suggest these
common religious
572
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,800
and spiritual motifs
that are found all around the world
573
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:21,200
are amongst the best evidence
for a lost civilization of prehistory…
574
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,640
…that we're ever going to find.
575
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:30,200
Oh my God. We're taking on
every childhood misconception
576
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:33,800
of the story of… of the world.
577
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,760
The story of the peopling
of the Americas is changing,
578
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,680
and I'll give credit to science for that.
579
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,000
It's scientific archaeology that is…
that is unveiling this new information.
580
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,560
What I'm saying is
that old ideas are being pushed aside.
581
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,240
It's very clear
that stuff just keeps on getting older.
582
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,520
What new evidence will come to light next?