[dynamic music]
- [Narrator] Of all the
mysteries in the world,
nothing is more curious
than man himself.
Where did we come from?
Why are we here?
And how long have
we been on Earth?
We have examples of our
growth on planet Earth
throughout time.
But some of these
examples befuddle even us.
When did we make these
technological artifacts?
How were they made?
And in some cases,
what was their purpose?
In this program, we will
explore several of these
unique artifacts,
and explore the possible purpose
and manufacturing of each.
Is it possible we had help?
Are we the greatest
mystery of all time?
[vibrant music]
[engine starting]
Let's begin with a mystery
that has raised
eyebrows for decades,
but today has been proven
to be a rather common item.
The story of the Coso
artifact has been embellished
over the years, but all
accounts have common elements.
On February 13th
1961, Wallace Lane,
Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell
were seeking interesting
mineral specimens,
particularly geodes, for their
LM & V Rockhounds Gem and
Gift Shop in California.
The trio were about six
miles northeast of Olancha,
near the top of a peak about
4,300 feet in elevation
and about 340 feet above
the dry bed of Owens Lake.
At lunchtime, after collecting
rocks most of the morning,
all three placed their specimens
in the rock sack
Mikesell was carrying.
The next day in the
gift shop's workroom,
Mikesell ruined a nearly
new diamond saw blade
while cutting what he
thought was a geode.
Inside the nodule that was cut,
Mikesell did not find a
cavity as so many geodes have,
but a perfectly circular
section of very hard,
white material that
appeared to be porcelain.
In the center of the
porcelain cylinder,
was a two millimeter
shaft of bright metal.
The metal shaft
responded to a magnet.
There were still other odd
quantities about the specimen.
The outer layer of the
specimen was allegedly
encrusted with fossil
shells and their fragments.
In addition to shells,
there were reports
of two metallic metal
objects in the crust,
resembling a nail and a washer.
Stranger still, the
inner layer was hexagonal
and seemed to form
a casing around
the hard porcelain cylinder.
Within the inner layer,
a layer of decomposing
copper allegedly surrounded
the porcelain cylinder.
The group had an anomaly.
Here was a possible geode,
over 500,000 years old
with some soft of electronic
device buried within it.
The object looked
like a spark plug
and no one could figure out
how it came to be encased
in a geode from
thousands of years ago.
A spark plug encased in
500,000 year old geode
would represent a
substantial scientific
and historical
anomaly as spark plugs
were invented in
the 19th century.
Critics say that the stone
matrix containing the artifact
is not a geode but
concretion that can
be explained by natural
processes that can take place
over a decade or two.
Had the group really found
a piece of technology
encased in a prehistoric
stone from ages ago?
In 2018 an investigation
by Pierre Stromberg
and Paul Heinrich with
the help of members of the
Spark Plug Collectors of America
identified the artifact as a
1920's era Champion spark plug.
Widely used in the Ford
Model T and Model A engines.
SPCA President Chad Windham
and other collectors
concurred with his assessment.
Stromberg and Heinrich's
report indicates that the
spark plug became encased
in a concretion composed
of iron derived from
the rusting spark plug.
Iron and steel
artifacts rapidly form
iron oxide concretions as
they rust in the ground.
On April 12th 2018, Pierre
Stromberg was contacted
by the family of one of the
co-discoverers of the artifact.
He was offered an opportunity
to physically inspect
the artifact and he accepted.
And also arranged for
the artifact to be
inspected by a geologist from
the University of Washington
Earth and Space
Science Department.
The inspections confirmed
the previous conclusion.
That the artifact was a
1920's-era Champion spark plug.
The Coso artifact is a
good example of not jumping
to conclusions when
analyzing ancient artifacts.
There could be a simple
and reasonable explanation.
However some artifacts
are not simple to explain,
and seemingly, have no
reasonable explanations.
[eerie music]
The Schist disc is one of those
unusual artifacts that
defies explanation.
It's been thought to be anything
from an elaborate candle
or incense holder to
an impeller from some
technological device.
In January 1936, a
strange disc was unearthed
at the plateau edge
of North Saqqara,
approximately 1.7 km north
of Djoser's Step
Pyramid in Egypt.
The discovery of the mysterious
prehistoric artifact,
that many considered
as a device,
was made in the
Tomb of Prince Sabu
around 3100 BC by a famous,
British Egyptologist
Walter Bryan Emery.
Sabu was the son of a high
official or administrator
of a town or province
probably called
"Star of the family of Horus."
The unearthed device
named the Schist disc,
is approximately 24 inches
by 4.2 inches in the center.
It was manufactured
by unknown means
from very fragile
and delicate material
requiring very tedious carving.
The production of which would
confound any craftsmen today.
Now many important
questions arise.
Scientists do not think
the object is a wheel,
because the wheel appeared
in Egypt at 1500 BC,
during the 18th Dynasty.
If the Schist disc
is in fact a wheel
it would mean ancient
Egyptians possessed knowledge
of the wheel about 3000 BC
during the time of
the first dynasty.
This would require Egyptologists
to re-write some history books.
If the Schist disc
is not a wheel,
nor modeled after the
wheel, what is it?
Some scientists suggest
that the fragile nature
of such an intricately
carved stone object
greatly limits it's
practical usage
and suggests a purely
ornamental function,
being of a religious or some
other ritualistic purpose.
Of course, some
believe this disc
served another
purpose, as a lamp.
However, critics
of the theory argue
that the three-blade ceremonial
lamp is hardly possible,
because of the shape and
curvature of its petals,
which seems to suggest a
function, not just decoration.
Egyptologist Cyril Aldred
reached the conclusion that,
independently of what
the object was used for
or what it represented, its
design was without a doubt,
a copy of a previous, more
older metallic object.
Why did the ancient Egyptians
bother to design an object
with such a complex structure
more than 5,000 years ago?
How could a culture who
typically used chisels
to shape rock have
mastered a technique
to work such a delicate material
into this extraordinary level?
Obviously the Schist
disc is an object
that played an important
role 5,000 years ago.
Egyptologists offer
a number of theories
trying to explain what
the disc was used for,
but for the moment
no-one has been able
to explain the object's
complex structure.
The Schist disc's
futuristic design
continues to baffle all
those who have seen it.
There is no doubt
this particular object
continues to constitute
one of the most perplexing
Egyptian and ancient mysteries
and we are left with several
unanswered questions.
You can examine the
Schist disc yourself,
as it is currently
in the Cairo Museum.
[dynamic music]
In 1944, as a ten-year
old boy, Newton Anderson
was fueling the coal furnace
in his parent's home.
He dropped a lump of coal
onto the basement floor
and it broke in half, revealing
that it contained a bell inside.
The coal that was
mined near his house
in Upshur County, West Virginia,
is about 300 million years old.
What is a brass bell
with an iron clapper
doing in coal ascribed to
the Carboniferous Period?
According to Norm
Sharbaugh's book Ammunition,
which includes several
coal anecdotes,
the bell is an
Antediluvian artifact
made before the Genesis Flood.
The Institute of
Creation Research
had the bell
submitted to the lab
at the University of Oklahoma.
There, a nuclear
activation analysis
revealed that the bell contains
an unusual mix of metals,
different from any known
modern alloy production
including copper, zinc, tin,
arsenic, iodine, and selenium.
There is a wined statue
at the top of the bell,
which does not resemble any
known cultural depiction.
The closest depictions
with similarities
would be the Babylonian
Southwest Wind
Demon called Pazuzu.
There is a headpiece
missing on the bell,
which may have indicated
the bell statue was taller.
This is not the only
artifact found in coal,
millions of years old.
An iron pot was found
in coal in Oklahoma.
In an notarized statement,
Frank Kennard said in 1948,
he was working in the
municipal electric plant
in Thomas, Oklahoma in 1912.
He came upon a
solid chunk of coal
which was too large to use.
He broke it up with
a sledgehammer.
The iron pot fell from the
center, leaving the impression
or mold of the pot in
a piece of the coal.
Jim Stull, an employee
of the company,
witnessed the
breaking of the coal
and saw the pot fall out.
He traced the source of the coal
and found that it came from
Wilburton, Oklahoma mines.
A handful of other such
artifact in coal accounts
have been recorded
by Ivan T Sanderson.
Including an intricate
gold chain found in coal.
The Morrisonville,
Illinois Times,
on June 11, 1891,
published a report
that Mrs. S. W. Culp
found a circular shaped,
eight-carat gold chain,
about 10 inches long,
embedded in a lump of coal
after she broke it apart
to put it in her scuttle.
The chain was
described as antique
and of quaint workmanship.
The story said only
part of the chain
was revealed when she
first broke open the coal,
and that the rest of the chain
remained buried within the coal.
The coal came from one of
the southern Illinois mines.
Unfortunately the artifact
has since disappeared.
Objects that are millions
of years old can only mean
there was a civilization
predating our modern culture.
Who made these items eons ago?
This question will
probably never be answered.
[dynamic music]
Suppose you came across
a Roman dodecahedron.
Would you know what it is?
Or what it was used for?
This artifact is a
small, hollow object
made of bronze or stone
with a dodecahedron shape.
Twelve flat pentagonal faces,
each face having a circular hole
of varying diameter
in the middle.
The holes connected to
the hollowed center.
Roman dodecahedra date from
the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD.
About a hundred of these
objects have been found
from Wales to Hungary and
Spain, and to the east of Italy.
And most found in
Germany and France.
Ranging from 4 to 11
centimeters in size,
they also vary in
terms of textures.
Most are made of bronze
but some are made of stone.
No mention of them has been
found in contemporary accounts
or pictures of the time.
Speculated uses
include a candlestick
'cause wax has been found
inside two examples,
dice, survey instruments
for estimating distances to
or distances of objects,
devices for
determining the optimal
sow date for winter grain,
gauges to calibrate water
pipes or army standard bases.
Use as a measuring instrument
of any kind seems improbable,
since the artifacts
are not standardized
and come in many sizes and
arrangements of their openings.
It has also been suggested
that they may have
been religious artifacts or
even fortune-telling devices.
This latter speculation
is based on the fact
that most of the
examples have been found
in Gallo-Roman sites.
Several dodecahedra were
found in coin hoards,
providing evidence
that the owners
considered them
valuable objects.
Smaller dodecahedra
with the same features,
holes and knobs,
and made from gold
have been found in
South-East Asia.
Speculation among
historians has resulted
in many different hypothesis.
Which is as close as we may
get to an accurate answer.
Few archeologists will
even comment on it
because these objects
aren't defined
to a specific cultural
area and therefore,
not their area of expertise.
Even the theories
that do exist are
highly debated among historians.
Can you figure out
what this artifact is?
Or it's purpose?
If you can, then you may
solve one of the most
perplexing mysteries
of our time.
[soothing music]
Tiny objects are one
thing to ponder over.
But what do you do
when confronted with
huge puzzle pieces
that fit together so
perfectly you cannot
get a sheet of rice
paper between them?
Throughout the world, there
are large bolder-like stones
fitted together so perfectly
no one has any idea
how they were quarried
and placed together.
People are very
creative and artistic.
But to quarry a
stone over 500 tons,
move it, and put it into
place where it fits perfectly
behooves even the most
intelligent architect of today.
Yet these walls exist
all over the world,
and no one knows how they
were made or placed together.
For example, consider the
walls in Peru, Baalbek
and other ancient
sites around the globe.
Theories range from ancient
giants that placed the stones,
to aliens with anti-gravity.
Magical talents some men
had, to simple levers.
Some believe the only way
to get this precision,
would be to melt the
stones into place.
Today's builders and
stonemasons would have
a hard time duplicating
these artifacts.
Even with modern
tools and technology.
Some say it simply
cannot be done.
Who built these walls and how?
[vibrant music]
The Antikythera Mechanism
is generally referred to
as the first known
analog computer.
The quality and complexity
of the mechanism's
manufacture suggests that it
has undiscovered predecessors
made during the
Hellenistic period.
It's construction relies
on theories of astronomy
and mathematics developed
by Greek astronomers
during the 2nd century BC,
and it's estimated
to have been built
in the late 2nd century BC
or the early 1st century BC.
It is the world's
first-known computer.
A computer from the 2nd century?
Perhaps.
But some believe it
may be much older.
It was found in a
shipwreck in 1900,
along with statues and pottery.
But no one knows if
it is an older item
that was along with
the Greek pottery.
Or if it may be much older
and was being transported
with current items of the time.
Scientists believe it was
used to plot the movement
of the sun, moon and stars.
Thus it was a clock of sorts
that could accurately predict
upcoming astrological
events and tell time.
Some pieces of the clock
have never been found
and it's possible there
are more components
of it buried in the
shipwreck and lost forever.
The scientists who
have reconstructed the
Antikythera Mechanism
also agree that it was
too sophisticated to have
been a unique device.
That there must be others.
Of special delight
to physicists,
the moon mechanism uses a
special train of bronze gears,
two of them linked with
a slightly offset axis,
to indicate the position
and phase of the moon.
As is known today from Kepler's
Law of Planetary Motion,
the moon travels at different
speeds as it orbits the Earth,
and this speed
differential is modeled
by the Antikythera Mechanism,
even though the ancient
Greeks were not aware
of the actual elliptical shape
of the orbit of the moon.
If ancient computers
existed 500 BC,
could other advanced
technologies have existed
in the ancient past?
What if a modern jet plane were
found in an ancient pyramid?
It would of course
be a major discovery.
And it may have
already happened.
[dynamic music]
Is this a helicopter?
Is this a spaceship?
A submarine or modern boat?
The 3,000 year-old
hieroglyphs found
in Seti I's temple
in Abydos, Egypt,
are said to depict nothing
less than a helicopter,
plane,
and futuristic aircraft
among the usual insects,
symbols and snakes.
The writings have become known
as the Helicopter Hieroglyphics
among pseudoscience
and conspiracy circles.
With many supporters
of the theory saying,
that if the ancient
civilization was putting
helicopters and modern
spacecraft in their artwork,
then they must have seen them,
or at least pictures of them.
And for that to have happened,
someone from the future
must have taken them back.
Some have even taken the
theory a step further,
introducing aliens
to the equation.
The question remains, why
would ancient Egyptians
depict a modern helicopter
above a doorway in a tomb?
If it's not a helicopter
then what is it?
Why is it there alongside
of what appears to be
a modern boat or submarine
and a science-fiction
style spaceship?
What did the Egyptians
know 3,000 years ago?
And if they knew
about helicopters,
what else could be hiding
in undiscovered tombs
across the African continent?
[dynamic music]
Dropa stones are said by some
ufologists and
pseudoarchaeologists
to be a series of at least
716 circular stone discs,
dating back 12,000 years.
On which tiny hieroglyph-like
markings may be found.
Each disc is claimed to measure
up to 1 foot in diameter
and carry two grooves,
originating from a hole
in their center, in the
form of a double spiral.
The hieroglyphic-like
markings are said
to be found in these grooves.
No record has been
found of the stones
being displayed in any
of the world's museums,
and their current
whereabouts are unknown.
In 1962 a Chinese
researcher, Tsum Um Nui,
was reported to have concluded
that the grooves on the discs
were actually very
tiny hieroglyphs.
None of which were of a pattern
that had been seen before,
and which can only
be seen with the use
of a magnifying glass.
He announced that he
had deciphered them
into a story that
told of a spacecraft
that crash landed in
the area of the cave,
the Bayan Har Mountains.
And that the ship
contained the Dropa people
who could not fit in and
therefore had to adapt to Earth.
Further, his research
claims that the Dropa people
were hunted down and k*lled
by the local Han Chinese
for a period.
Tsum Um Nui noted
specifically that one glyph
apparently said,
"The Dropa came down from
the clouds in their aircraft.
Our men, women and
children hid in the caves
ten times before sunrise.
When at last we understood
the sign language
of the Dropas, we realized
that the newcomers
had peaceful intentions."
Tsum Um Nui is said
to have published
his findings in 1962 in
a professional journal,
and was subsequently ridiculed
and met with disbelief.
Shortly afterwards he's
said to have gone to Japan
in a self-imposed exile,
where he died not long
after he completed
the manuscript of his work.
The stones themselves
seemed to have disappeared.
The stone discs were
supposedly stored in
various museums across China.
However none of these
museums have any records
or traces of Dropa
stones ever being there.
They obviously
existed because there
are photographs of them.
What are these stone discs?
And where did they come from?
Is the story they tell true?
And if so, is there any
proof other than the stones?
The mysterious discovery
was allegedly made in 1930
when Chi Pu Tei, an
archeology professor
at Peking University
and his students
were on an expedition to
explore a series of caves
in the inaccessible
mountains near Tibet.
Which were supposedly
carved artificially
in a system of underground
tunnels and pantries.
Now according to these events,
it's said that professor
Chi Pu Tei and his students
found tombs with skeletons
of four to six feet
in height buried inside them.
The skeletons had abnormally
large heads and small,
thin and fragile bodies.
In addition to the
skeletal remains,
professor Chi Pu
Tei and his students
discovered countless
other items.
After their studies
on the Dropa stones,
researchers turned their
attention to the people in the area
themselves, what
happened to the Dropa?
The cave area where
the stones were located
still had two tribes
living in the vicinity,
the Dropas and the Khams.
Archeologists were
called in to determine
where the two tribes
originated from
but were unable to relate
either tribe to a known race.
They also noticed that
the people in these tribes
had a very short average height
and abnormally large
heads and eye sockets.
They were extremely
thin characters
with a very obvious yellow
tinge to their skin color.
Could these be the direct
ancestors to the Dropa?
[dynamic music]
Have you ever seen
a Waffle Rock?
There is one in Virginia
and it's on display.
Waffle Rock in America
is a real geology puzzle
because of the amazing
patterns formed on its surface.
Called Waffle Rock because it
looks like a waffle iron grid.
The question is,
how was it made?
Is it natural or the
imprint of some advanced
technological device
that has long ago eroded
and left it's emboss
on this natural rock?
The Army Corps of
Engineers and geologists
say it's a natural formation.
Period, end of story.
Nothing to see here.
However, the scientific
explanations don't account
for all the features
present in the rock.
Aside from the unusual
ancient alien talk,
many believe that the
pattern is actually
an early form of hieroglyphic
or primitive writing,
and that the rock is the
result of Neolithic art
by pre-Columbian peoples.
The rock on display at
the West Virginia Outlook
on Jennings Randolph
Lake is but a small piece
of the original rock.
It was moved there to save
the geologically significant
piece of history
from a dam project.
Likely in in no small
part, because of pressure
exerted by the original
residents of Shaw,
a town removed for the dam.
Photographs of the
whole rock show clearly,
the pattern or the
structure of the pattern
does not run all the
way through the rock,
but rather can only
been seen on one side.
Most agree the rock is at
least 250 million years old.
It's either a perfectly
natural formation
or the work of an old
ancient civilization,
or maybe even aliens.
[eerie music]
Today, you can find
just about any place
with a quick Google search.
But in times past, to
get from here to there
you needed a map.
Maps have been used to
chart every point known
around the globe.
The more accurate,
the better the map.
And when trusting
your life to the sea,
you wanted the best
map you could get.
So when you went there, you
didn't end up somewhere else.
In 1513, a trip to the new
world was all the rage,
and accurate maps were
needed to get to this
newly founded land.
Enter Piri Reis, a cartographer.
Piri Reis served in
the Turkish Navy,
for which he held
the rank of Admiral.
He used 20 different maps and
charts as his source documents
to create what today is
called the Piri Reis map.
Eight of them were
Ptolemaic maps,
maps of the known
world according to the
2nd century Hellenistic
or Greek society.
Four were Portuguese maps.
One was an Arabic map
and one was drawn by
Christopher Columbus himself.
It was considered a
very accurate map.
But here is where
the map gets weird.
Along with depicting
Africa, South America
and various islands accurately,
it appears to show
Antarctica with no ice caps.
Antarctica as it would have
looked over 6,000 years ago.
Antarctica has been covered
with ice for over 6,000 years
and no one has sailed
around the planet
before it froze over.
So how could a map
referenced from older maps,
have depicted the
continent so accurately?
Modern satellite mapping which
can peer through the ice,
confirms the map is accurate.
It correctly shows the
outline of Antarctica
as it is under the ice.
Peri had referenced a map that
displayed Antarctica correctly.
So where did that map come from?
Who would have known
in 1513 that Antarctica
is a continent and not just
a huge landscape of ice?
Who could have mapped
it over 6,000 years ago
when no one could see it
and tell it was a continent?
No one knows.
It's a huge mystery.
And now you have a new
map to ponder over.
[spooky music]
If you take a tube of
copper, a rod of iron,
and put them in a clay
pot filled with juice
or some acidic liquid,
do you know what you get?
A battery that's what.
Kind of like the potato
clock novelty science toys
you can buy, the clay pot
battery will actually work.
Man has known about electricity
since old Ben Franklin
flew a kite in a storm,
or so we are told.
What if batteries were
around centuries ago?
Well apparently they were.
Or so it seems.
The Baghdad Battery is
a set of three artifacts
which were found together.
A ceramic pot, a tube of
copper, and a rod of iron.
It was discovered
in modern Iraq,
close to the capital
of the Parthian empire
from around 250 BC
and it is considered
to date from that period.
Its origin and
purpose remain unclear
and further evidence is needed
to explain it's purpose.
It was hypothesized
by some researchers
that the object functioned
as a galvanic cell,
or battery, possibly
used for electroplating,
or some kind of electrotherapy,
but there is no
electrocauterized objects
known from this period.
An alternative explanation
is that it functioned
as a storage vessel
for sacred scrolls.
The battery has
been proven to work.
And on the modern
program Mythbusters,
several were linked together
to produce four volts,
enough to barely
electroplate with.
Some researchers
believe four volts is
not enough to be useful
for electroplating
but it could have been
used for some kind of
mild electrotherapy
such as pain relief.
Possibly through
electroacupuncture.
What it was used
for is the mystery.
That it was real and did
exist is not a question.
An over 2,000 year-old
battery makes you wonder
if it keeps going and going
and going and going and going.
[dynamic music]
Finding odd combinations
of things is the norm
in archeology.
It wouldn't be too uncommon
to find an old hammer
with it's handle still intact.
But what if you found a
hammer encased in rock
over 100 million years old.
In the 1930's in the city of
London, near Red Creek, Texas,
an iron hammer was discovered
embedded in a rock.
How did it get there?
The hammer had to
have been build before
the rock was formed, hundreds
of millions of years ago.
According to analysis, the
rock enveloping the tool
was dated to the Ordovician Era.
More than 400 million years old.
While the hammer itself is
thought to be much older,
dating back 500 million years.
The wooden handle of
the hammer is so old,
that it has begun
to turn into coal.
That's one very old tool.
It was determined
that the hammer's head
is made of 97% pure ion,
2% chlorine and 1% sulfur.
In the 80 or so years since
the hammer was unearthed,
the metal object has not
shown any signs of rust,
making it a unique
blend of metallurgy
that some claim to
be a lost technology
from an ancient civilization.
Both researchers and historians
are divided into two camps
in respect to the finding.
With one arguing that
the artifact is proof
prehistoric cultures
existed long before
what history books tell us.
And the other is
denying the possibility.
Could this strange
object be evidence of
a civilization pre-dating
what is known in
our modern understanding
of history?
Who made the hammer?
And who used it 500
million years ago?
That is some
serious hammer time.
[eerie music]
It seems every day
science is pushing back
the date man become
an intellectual being.
Gobekli Tepe sits in
a plateau in Turkey
and is around 20,000 years old.
20,000 years ago man is
supposed to be eeking out
a living with sticks and clubs.
Yet here is a complex
arrangement of statues.
Some many tons in
weight with carvings
of animals and other symbols.
Gobekli Tepe includes
two phases of use
believed to be of
social or ritual nature
dating back to the
10th millennium BC.
During the first phase,
belonging to the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic,
circles of massive T-shaped
stone pillars were erected.
The world's oldest
known megaliths.
More than 200 pillars
in about 20 circles
are currently known through
geophysical surveys.
Each pillar has a
height of up to 20 feet
and weighs up to 10 tons.
They're fitted into
sockets that were
hewn out of the bedrock.
In the second phase,
belonging to the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic, the
erected pillars are smaller
and stood in rectangular rooms
with floors of polished lime.
Pretty sophisticated
for cavemen, right?
The details of the structures
function remain a mystery.
It was excavated by
a German archeologist
under the direction of
Klaus Schmidt from 1996
until his death in 2014.
Schmidt believed that
the site was a sanctuary
where people from a wide-region
periodically congregated.
Not a settlement.
The structures not
only pre-date pottery,
metallurgy and the invention
of writing or the wheel,
but they were built
before the so-called
Neolithic Revolution
that marks the beginning
of agriculture and
animal husbandry.
Around 9000 BC.
The construction of
Gobekli Tepe implies
organization of
an advanced order,
not associated with
Paleolithic society.
However, archeologists
estimate that up to
500 persons were
required to exact
the heavy pillars
from local quarries
and move them 330 to
1640 feet to the site.
The pillars weigh
10 to 20 metric tons
with one still in the
quarry weighing 50 tons.
The site continues
to perplex scientists
and raise more questions
than it answers.
It's the oldest monolithic
site on the planet
as of today, pre-dating
everything else.
It absolutely could not
have been built and crafted
by Neolithic man.
[beating music]
Giant walls are built
to keep people out,
or keep people in.
They are barriers, usually
built for political reasons
to hold off an invading army
or a group of unwanted people.
In some cases, they may
be used to house people
or protect animals.
In any case, a wall is
something of a huge discovery
in archeology.
If you ever find yourself
driving through Rockwall, Texas,
you may ask yourself why
this suburb of Dallas
is called Rockwall.
Well there is an
ancient wall there.
You can't see it because
it's buried but it's there.
For over 160 years, scientists
have claimed the wall
is nothing more than
a natural formation.
Most people living
in Rockwall, Texas,
do not even know that
their city is named
after an ancient rock wall
city complete with the skull
of a giant that was
found while some people
were digging a well looking
for water a long time ago.
The wall is an almost
perfect rectangle,
four miles wide,
and seven miles,
encompassing more than
20 square miles long
with most of the
wall being buried.
The top of the wall
at all outcroppings
found to date have a uniform
elevation of 550 feet
above mean sea level.
Mary Pattie [Wade] Gibson,
is the granddaughter
of T.U. Wade,
founder of the wall
at the Rockwall County
Historical Foundation.
She described the
additional digging
her grandfather and other
men did at the home site.
In her description
were cubicles or rooms
constructed of stone which
you could walk through
and would reach a corridor
which seemed to run
in a direction into the
hill that the town square
sits upon.
She told of an incident in
1906 of two unidentified men
digging out the corridor
which had apparently
been filled with erosion.
Their intent was to reach a
room or cavity under the town
which might be full of gold,
apparently derived from a
story from Indian legend.
The ceiling of the
corridor had steep slopes,
describing a Gothic
type arched ceiling,
much like the Mayans built.
And the further into the
corridor the two men excavated,
the steeper the slope
of the ceiling became.
Consequently, the men fearful
of a structural failure
abandoned their search for gold.
Mary Pattie Gibson
also says that during
her grandfather's
exploration of the wall,
he discovered on the outside,
the wall went straight down.
On the inside she described
the wall going down
to about forty feet, curves
inward and becomes much thicker.
Additional information
provided by the daughter
of the late Mr Deweese, an
early settler of Rockwall,
who described a doorway
with a diagonal shaped stone
in the wall at the Wade
residence on Highway 66.
This portion of the wall was
open to visitors from 1936
until the late 1940's,
and was consequently back filled
because of dangerous
structural conditions.
In 1949, a Mr Sanders
of Fort Worth, Texas,
did an excavation of the wall.
From this excavation four
large stones were brought up
with the largest weighing
approximately two tons.
On these stones were
found inscriptions
with what appear
to be pictographs.
The Dallas Morning News
on the 5 November 1967
reported that "Back
in the 1920's,
T.H. Meredith said a
well was dug on his farm
just east of the
town of Rockwall,
and Mr Meredith declared
that the digging
went along side a
masonry wall which seemed
to have an arch over
a doorway or window."
Metal rings were
found at the site
which was composed of
tin, titanium and iron,
embedded in the rock.
You can see it in this photo
just above the pick axe.
Of course all this
material, and the skull,
have been lost and
much of the wall today
cannot be seen.
It's also unlikely any modern
excavations will happen,
because the town has grown
and is now an urban section
next to Dallas.
But if you drive
through Rockwall, Texas,
you can think about
what mysteries may lie
just a few feet below your car.
[eerie music]
Giant skulls.
Really?
What's up with that?
The truth is, giant
skulls are very real.
And have been found world-wide.
First let me warn you
that there are a bunch
of fake giant skull photos
floating around the internet.
So if you see one,
do your own research
and determine if
it is real or fake.
You see, there was a
contest not long ago,
to make giant skull
images in Photoshop,
and all of those contest
entries are out there
now being mixed up
with the real ones.
So let's take a
look at the reality
versus the misinformation.
Your first question may be,
why is it so hard to find
real giant skull photos?
Well the reason is simple.
Under the
Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act,
a federal law was passed in 1990
requiring Native American
artifacts and remains
to be handled over to
culturally affiliated tribes
or provable descendants
and then reburied.
The few skulls that remain
in anthropological facilities
cannot be photographed
under this law.
So all photos of the
existence of giant skulls
were taken before 1990.
The other issue is
that because giants
didn't fit the
religious criteria
of early explorers
and researchers,
they were often dismissed
or even destroyed.
Many were sent to the
Smithsonian and subsequently
destroyed by the curator,
who back in the early 1930's
thought it was against
his beliefs and didn't fit
his personal
anthropology theories.
So, let's take a look at
some real giant skulls.
[whimsical music]
[spooky music]
These are not isolated accounts.
There are literally
hundreds of reports
around the turn of the century
describing large
bones and skulls.
Many from accredited
newspapers and doctors.
So why the mystery?
Well, even today many
scientists refuse to look
at the evidence because
they would have to
rewrite the history
books and include
a giant civilization
in North America
which apparently was here long
before the Native Americans.
And existed up to colonization.
Skulls and bones found around
the world, corroborate this.
With the lack of
physical evidence,
and the mystery surrounding
many of these finds,
science just can't be bothered
to take a serious look
at the obvious.
Our only hope is that some
time in the near future,
someone somewhere
digs up a new find
and is wise enough to
photograph and document it
before it can be taken away.
[dynamic music]
In a mysterious pyramid in
China's Qinghai Providence
near Mount Baigong
are three caves
filled with pipes leading
to a nearby salt-water lake.
There are also pipes under
the lake bed and on the shore.
The iron pipes range in size,
from some smaller
than a toothpick.
The strangest part is that
they may be 150,000 years old.
Dating done by the Beijing
Institute of Geology
determined these iron
pipes were smelted
about 150,000 years ago.
If they were indeed
made by humans,
And if they were made by humans,
history as it is commonly viewed
would have to be re-evaluated.
The dating was done
using thermoluminescence.
A technique that
determines how long ago
crystalline mineral was
exposed to sunlight or heated.
Humans are only thought to
have inhabited the region
for the past 30,000 years.
Even with the known
history of the area,
the only humans to inhabit
the region were nomads
whose lifestyle would not leave
any such structures behind.
Though some have since
tried to explain the pipes
as a natural
phenomenon, Yang Ji,
a research fellow at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences,
told that the
pyramid may have been
built by intelligent beings.
He did not dismiss the theory
that ancient extraterrestrials
may be responsible,
saying this theory is
"understandable and
worth looking into...
but scientific means
must be employed
to prove whether
or not it is true."
Another theory is that it was
built by prehistoric humans
with techniques lost to
humans of a later period.
The pipes lead
into a salty lake,
though a twin lake nearby
contains freshwater.
The surrounding landscape
is strewn with what
he describes as
"strangely shaped stones."
Rocks protrude from the
ground like broken pillars.
Who could have built a pipe
system 150,000 years ago?
These are iron pipes,
not clay or rock.
They would have had to
have been constructed.
No one was smelting
iron that long ago
according to our current
understanding of history.
Is it possible that an
ancient race of people
lived long before our
so-called historical timeline?
If so, what other
artifacts exist
that prove their existence?
[dynamic music]
Spheres found in the
mines of South Africa
have piqued the curiosity
of researchers for decades.
Why?
Because they're 2.8
billion years old
and appear to be manmade.
According to Michael
Cremo and other
researchers of
prehistoric culture,
these spheres add to
a body of evidence
suggesting intelligent
life existed on Earth
long before a conventional view
of history places it there.
Cremo has traveled the
world gathering information
on out-of-place artifacts.
He compiled his findings
in the popular book,
Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden
History of the Human Race.
In 1984, while
investigating the spheres,
he contacted Roelf Marx,
curator of the museum of
Klerksdorp, South Africa,
where some of the
spheres are kept.
Marx described the
spheres as being about
2.8 billion years old,
with a very hard surface
and a fibrous structure inside.
He found them quite
strange and puzzling.
Marx wrote, according to Cremo
"There is nothing scientific
published about the globes,
for the facts are, they
are found in pyrophyllite,
which is mined near the
little town of Ottosdal
in the Western Transvaal.
Some of the so-called
Klerksdorp spheres
are elliptical in shape with
rough edges around the center.
But some are so balanced
in shape and proportion,
and the grooves around
them look so straight
and hand-carved,
it seems unlikely
they were naturally formed.
Proponents of the theory
say that the spheres
were made by intelligent beings.
Cremo, and others who
hold that these spheres
are evidence of advanced
prehistoric civilizations,
say mainstream science
needs to be bolder,
and more willing to
acknowledge evidence
that could contradict
dominant views.
What was the purpose
of the spheres?
And who was manufacturing
them 2.8 billion years ago?
[vibrant music]
Women today carry a purse.
It's part of our modern culture.
Men wear backpacks
and carry a wallet.
We have bags for pretty
much everything today.
One of the more
mysterious symbols
that has been found
in ancient carvings,
is an image that looks
uncannily like a handbag.
The shape appears in
depictions made by the
Sumerians in Iraq, in the ruins
of ancient Turkish temples,
in decorations of the
Maori of New Zealand,
and in crafts made by the
Olmecs of Central America.
Handbags can be seen in
the art of various cultures
from around the world
and throughout time,
with the first known
instance of a handbag
appearing at the
end of the Ice Age.
What is this mysterious
symbol that can be found
throughout the ancient world?
The handbag image is so called
because it looks very similar
to the modern-day purse.
The objects typically feature
a rounded handle-like top
and a rectangular bottom,
and may include varying
degrees of additional details
of texture or pattern.
The images sometimes appear
as stand-alone objects.
Sometimes they are depicted
in the hand of a person,
a god, or mythical being
in a manner similar
to how one would hold a basket.
One of the earliest instances
of the handbag motif
can be seen in the
ruins of Gobekli Tepe,
located at the top of a mountain
range in southeast Turkey.
Dating back to
approximately 11,000 BC,
Gobekli Tepe is
one of the oldest
temple complexes
ever discovered.
The exact purpose of the
mountain sanctuary is unknown,
however, it appears that
the temple may have served
as a site for
religious sacrifices.
The walls and
pillars of the temple
were decorated with
finely carved animal gods,
and mythical creatures,
perhaps in an effort
to portray the many different
creations of the cosmos.
Amidst these other carvings
are three handbags.
Experts believe that
early religions worshiped
the fundamental elements
of life on Earth.
Therefore, the three
Gobekli Tepe handbags,
taken as an early
form of those icons,
could be said to symbolically
define the site as a temple.
Elsewhere, the
handbag image shows up
with striking similarities
in two stone reliefs.
One made by the
Assyrians of ancient Iraq
sometime between 880
to 859 BC and the other
made by the Olmecs of
ancient Mesoamerica
sometime between
1200 and 400 BC.
In both of these images,
a man-like figure
carries the handbag in his hand,
as if it were a basket or purse.
When used in Assyrian
art it is said
the purse holds magic dust.
When depicted in Olmec
art they postulate
that it contains herbs
for getting high.
This suggests that the
handbag may have been
a standard of measurement
uniquely discovered
by both cultures.
In any case, these handbags
appear on statues and reliefs
all around the world.
And are very similar.
What were they?
What did they contain?
And why was it important
to depict this symbol
in statues and art
thousands of years ago?
[vibrant music]
The Stone of the South
at Baalbek, Lebanon,
is the largest worked
monolith on Earth.
Weighing in at a
staggering 1242 tons.
It is even heavier than the
Stone of the Pregnant Woman
which weighs an
estimated 1000 tons,
that sits on the other side
of the road in the quarry.
Neither of these stones
made it to the main
Temple of Jupiter, some 900
meters to the northeast.
But some 400-ton and 800-ton
stones did make their way
to the temple, were raised
20 feet in to the air
and were placed with
machine-like precision
onto the foundations of
this mighty ancient complex.
Janine Abdel Massih
and her team uncovered
a further monolith that
sits virtually underneath
The Stone of the Pregnant Woman.
Until recently, it was buried
under a few feet of dirt,
and has been measured
at 19.6 meters long,
6 meters wide and
5.5 meters thick.
Because they've not yet
reached the bottom of the rock
to completely clear it, they
have no idea of the volume
or complete dimension
of this ancient stone.
The outline of it can be seen,
and shows a kind of precision
we find in ancient
Peru and Egypt.
The discovery of
this new monolith,
just adds another level of
mystery to the situation,
as it sits virtually under The
Stone of the Pregnant Woman,
and would have had to
have been lifted out,
after this other
1000-ton block was moved.
Could Baalbek have been
constructed by giants?
It certainly appears to
have been built by giants
when trying to work out
how some of these stones
could have been
moved into place.
The western wall of
the Temple of Jupiter
contains some of
these immense blocks
that make up the trilithon,
at least twenty feet
above ground level.
So how could they have
got them from the quarry
to the main site, then
placed them so accurately?
The stones of Baalbek
are one of the
enduring mysteries of the ages,
and it does seem like
some special occult power
was employed to quarry,
lift and transport
these immense blocks.
Why they decided to
use stones of this size
has baffled researchers
for generations.
It would have been so much
easier to use smaller blocks
and put them
together at the site.
Perhaps if they were
giants then these stones
were not as large to
them as they are to us.
We may never know how
Baalbek was constructed.
One thing we do know is that we
cannot duplicate this endeavor.
[dramatic music]
How is it that the
Sumerians and Egyptians
rose to become
empires so quickly?
Ancient Egyptian
civilization emerged in the
fertile Nile Valley,
bounded on each side
by harsh deserts.
In Mesopotamia,
now southern Iraq,
the land between the Euphrates
and the Tigris rivers,
the first cities appeared
on irrigated lands.
Both resulted from
the consolidation
of political and economic power.
Before 3100 BC, the Nile Valley
held a series of
competitive kingdoms.
After centuries of
unsettled conditions,
Egypt became a unified
river valley state
under a leader named Narmer.
Sumerian civilization
in Mesopotamia
was a patchwork of
small city states,
each with their own
aggressive rulers
and patron gods or goddesses.
All depended on
irrigation agriculture
and highly centralized
government.
In the case of Egypt, the
pharaoh was supreme ruler,
thought to be a living god.
In Mesopotamia, city
rulers known as lugals
were considered to
have divine powers.
They were also skilled warriors.
Who were these Gods?
And how did they manage to
create such awesome empires
when man was supposed to be
little more than migrant nomads?
We know much about modern
history because these cultures
left stone tablets with writing.
Who taught these
people to write?
How to carve and
work with stone?
Some stones being
huge and heavy.
Where did they get
their knowledge
of mathematics and architecture?
Modern history marks
these two cultures
to be the beginning of what
we today call civilization.
Though there is now
emerging more evidence man
may have been
civilized long ago,
the Gods who ruled
and taught mankind,
apparently were
technologically advanced.
Could they have been aliens?
Or, is our history so
fragmented, we have no idea
how technology really began?
[dynamic music]
A less ancient discovery,
but very important
to modern culture, is the
famous Shroud of Turin.
The Shroud is said to
be an ancient cloth
that covered the
body of Jesus Christ
when he ascended from his tomb.
The power of his ascension
caused an image of his body
on the cloth.
Determining if the
Shroud is authentic,
means following it's
timeline from the tomb
to Italy, where it is now.
The history of the Shroud
from the 15th Century
is well recorded.
It's the time backward, from
then to the death of Jesus
that is in question.
It is said the Shroud
was taken to Turkey
to Palestine then made
it's way to Italy.
Connecting these dots of where
it was is part of history.
The other part, is how an
image came to be on the Shroud.
Tests have shown it
is not a painting
or contains pigments
of an impression.
Pollens from the cloth
seem to tell it's origin
is indeed from the correct
area Jesus was buried.
There are several reddish
stains on the Shroud,
suggesting blood.
But it is uncertain
whether these stains
were produced at the
same time as the image
or afterwards.
The image on the Shroud,
appears like the negative
of a photograph, though
photography did not exist
in the time of Jesus.
The image clearly,
and accurately,
depicts the wounds on Christ,
and blood that flowed from them.
Some believe the Shroud
is a simple forgery.
While others point to the
blood and other accurate points
within the image
and the cloth itself
dating to the proper age.
In 1976, Pete Schumacher,
John Jackson, and Eric Jumper,
analyzed a photograph
of the Shroud image
using a VP8 image analyzer,
which was developed for
NASA to create brightness
maps of the moon.
A brightness map interprets
differences of brightness
within an image as
differences of elevation.
They found that, unlike any
photograph they had analyzed,
the Shroud image has
the property of decoding
into a 3-dimensional image,
when the darker parts of
the image are interpreted
to be those features of the
man that they were closest to
on the Shroud and the
lighter areas of the image
of those features
that were farthest.
The researchers could
not replicate the effect
when they attempted to
transfer similar images
using techniques of
block print, engravings,
a hot statue, and bas-relief.
The Shroud of Turin, is either
an accurate image of Christ
on cloth or it is
the cleverest forgery
ever constructed
by an early man.
In May of 2018
Turin's International
Center of Sindonology
held it's annual meeting
in Chamberey, France.
The primary topic of
discussion was a new
reevaluation of
it's carbon dating.
[vibrant music]
Lost civilizations.
Out of place artifacts.
Mysterious walls and monuments.
Mankind loves a good mystery.
But these items
are also important
from a historic point of view.
Our history is fragmented
and much of it has been lost.
We believe in a linear
existence from one point
in time to another.
But perhaps history
is not a straight line
but rather comes and
goes in a curved manner
of life on Earth.
Instead of thinking
we have one history,
perhaps we have had several
with man or some being like man
evolving up to a point
then being destroyed
and having to start
all over again.
Is it possible that
there have been several
civilizations on Earth
in it's 4.5 billion
years of existence?
If artifacts and obvious
machine technology found
in ancient ruins
are to be believed,
then somewhere back in
time there may have been
other timelines and other
civilizations before us.
If so, which one are we?
4.5 billion years
is plenty of time
for several civilizations
to have emerged.
Even advanced societies.
Some say, there have
been at least five
civilizations on Earth.
Perhaps rather than
looking for aliens
outside of our planet to
explain these mysteries,
we should be looking
more towards ourselves
and dig deeper to find who we
were in epochs long forgotten.
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Alien Artifacts: The Lost World (2019)
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Space, Time-travel, Futuristic, Aliens, Sci-Fi movie collection.
Space, Time-travel, Futuristic, Aliens, Sci-Fi movie collection.