[calm music]
[intense music]
- [Narrator] The Sumerians were noted
for their worship of many gods.
[calm music]
Among them was Enki,
a god known for being the patron
deity of the city of Eridu.
Enki is depicted in many
pieces of Sumerian art
and literature, including
the Babylonian creation epic,
the "Enuma Elish," "The Epic
of Gilgamesh," and others.
Due to his prominence in such works,
it's fair to assume he played a large role
in Sumerian culture.
Much about Enki remains
shrouded in mystery
and begs further exploration.
Enki, a god known for his inherent worth,
represented healing, fertility,
and creation in Sumerian culture.
His intelligent magic
often included trickery
to benefit the good of the human race.
Son of a sky god, Enki was
thought to reign over the earth
and high heavens as a leader
of the Anunna gods in Sumeria.
It is believed that Enki inhabited
the Earth nearly 400,000 years ago.
Enki was known by a variety of names,
including Enkig, Ea, Nissiku,
and Nudimmund.
The names come with a
variety of translations such
as prince, lord of the earth,
and creator, gift of
fertility and creation.
In Sumerian culture,
Enki is heavily connected
to the concepts of fertility and creation.
This is often represented by water.
Ancient images of Enki show rivers flowing
from his masculine shoulders.
The rivers depicted are
thought to be the Euphrates
and Tigris rivers that
flow through Mesopotamia
and signify his gift of
fertility to the land.
According to legend,
the rivers were formed from his semen,
which further supports his ties
to the concept of fertility.
In addition, other symbols associated
with Enki are the goat and the fish,
which also signify
fertility or fertileness.
One Sumerian lore depicts
Enki as the founder of Eridu,
possibly Mesopotamia's first city,
thus establishing the
beginning of life on earth.
The spiritual site of
Eridu has been compared
to the Judeo-Christian
concept of the Garden of Eden.
The intelligent yet
mischievous Enki suggested
the gods create other beings
to mine the gold for them.
The Anunnaki were thought to
be clone masters who sought
to clone lesser beings
such as the human race
to do their work.
Control of human beings is still thought
to be happening under Anunnaki gods today.
Although Enki contributed
to the concept of cloning,
which could be considered
manipulation of the human race,
he was well intended
and provided humans
with information on how
to restore balance to the Earth
after devastating droughts and famine.
Enki had a substantial cosmic family line.
His immediate family
included a father figure,
mother, brother, wife, and four sons.
An additional eight children
were born later as mentioned
in a folk tale.
The names and relations
of Enki's family members vary
throughout ancient texts.
Enki was a very powerful god
and had the assistance of
mythical beings at his service.
Legends describe an
assortment of creatures such
as mermaids, giants,
and even demons that aided
Enki in his earthly endeavors.
Also, he could call upon both destructive
and caring existences
and keep favored humanity
and social justice.
He was known for his intelligence, wisdom,
and gift for divine arts and crafts.
Enki's knowledge of rituals
included exorcism as well
as healing prayers and chants.
An important figure in
mythological history,
Enki remains one of the
greatest Sumerian legends
and one of the most complex Sumerian gods.
As such, one can spend a
significant amount of time delving
into the history and mystery of Enki.
Continue to explore this
fascinating mythical being
on your own and enjoy the journey.
[epic music]
A discovery comes along that
challenges those theories.
[mysterious music]
We can thank the late great
journalist George Plimpton
for one artifact
that has recently
challenged that narrative,
potentially setting back
the history of mathematics
and casting a new light on
the ever-intriguing culture
of the ancient Babylonians.
The artifact known as Plimpton 322 is
a cuneiform tablet that
was purchased almost a century ago
from the real-life Indiana Jones
and could potentially prove that
the ancient Babylonians
were the first civilization
to understand trigonometry.
Cuneiform tablets.
Pythagoras is thought
to have been the first
to understand that the area of the square
of the hypotenuse of a
right-angle triangle is equal
to the sum of the areas of the squares
of its other two sides, aka
the Pythagorean theorem,
but it's not necessarily well documented
that Pythagoras actually
conceptualized this equation,
nor are there any other of
his mathematical achievements.
Pythagoras ran a school
that was shrouded in mystery
and secrecy with a cabalistic
take on math and numbers.
Some believe it is possible
that his students may
have been responsible
for his supposed
achievements in mathematics,
but due to either reverence or fear,
gave credit to Pythagoras.
Interpretations and documentation
from the time are scarce
as knowledge was typically
spread by word of mouth.
At the same time,
Pythagoras's school was
almost cult-like with stories
of members being m*rder*d
for not maintaining the
school's secrecy and learnings.
The ancient Babylonians,
on the other hand,
used cuneiform tablets to record much
of their intellectual work with thousands
of tablets having been
recovered to this day.
Many of them were excavated
in the early 1900s
and sold to museums or collectors,
but some of the implications
of their carvings
are challenging what
archeologists have believed
about ancient history.
One of these tablets was
purchased by George Plimpton
for a mere $10 in 1922
and has been the center of a heated debate
between archeologists.
The new theory pairs the
findings from Plimpton 322
with another tablet known as YBC 7289
and posits that Babylonian
mathematics included trigonometry
predating the Greeks by 1,000 years.
These ancient Babylonians
used a base-60 system
of mathematics rather than
the base-10 system that we use today.
While we have all assumed
Pythagoras to be the first
to postulate his eponymous theory,
Hipparchus is generally known
to be the Greek father of trigonometry
and the first to produce a
trigonometric table known
as the table of chords.
Hipparchus's work required
a knowledge of trigonometry
for measuring astronomical distances,
but much of the basis for his work came
from Babylonian mathematics
using the base-60 system.
Also, few details are known specifically
about his life despite being
credited with the discovery
of a large field of mathematics.
The base-60 system allowed the Babylonians
to make trigonometric
calculations in terms
of ratios rather than angles.
What is so fascinating
about this discovery is that it brings
a subjective interpretation
to mathematics,
which may seem counterintuitive,
but the ancient Babylonian system
of trigonometry shows
that they were capable
of achieving similar results using
a different mathematical perspective.
Part of their base-60
or sexagesimal system
is even retained today
in certain elements of our lives.
[epic music]
[mysterious music]
Long before the sprawling city streets
of Mexico City stood another city,
one almost lost in the mists of time,
if not for the efforts of
some amazing archeologists
and a little luck.
Under the streets
of this Latin American
city is another city that
was once called Tenochtitlan,
found underneath the now historical sector
of modern Mexico City.
Although its initial construction
would look nothing like
what we see today.
Instead, the present
Mexico City has been built
on a dry lake bed,
previously known as Lake Texcoco
and the former Tenochtitlan
had its foundations built
on an island by the
once great Aztec empire.
The great city was expanded
and added to over the centuries
until its ultimate fall
at the hands of the invading
Spanish in the 15th century.
Before its downfall, it
was a true marvel to behold
and was one of the largest cities
in the pre-Columbian Americas.
Bernal Diaz del Castillo
in his "Conquest of New Spain" offers us
some insights into the surprise
of the conquerors as
they approached the city.
"When we saw so many cities
and villages built in the water
and other great towns on
dry land, we were amazed
and said that it was like
the enchantments on account
of the great towers and cues
and buildings rising from the water,
and all built of masonry.
And some of our soldiers
even asked whether
the things that we saw were not a dream.
I do not know how to describe it,
seeing things as we did
that had never been heard
or seen of before, not
even dreamed about."
[enigmatic music]
The great city was founded in 1325 AD
and unlike most of the
civilizations around the world,
great cultures need a secure cornerstone
of religious underpinnings to bring order
and control to the masses.
The Mexica was founded the city
and ruled over the Aztec empire.
However, there are
suggestions that they were
a harsh civilization and plenty
of evidence that shows they
possessed a cruel streak.
The religion was based
on an ancient prophecy that recognized
the early tribal cultures
of Central America
and noted that they would find peace
in a great city whose sight
would be signaled to them
in the form of a great
eagle that held a snake
in its mouth resting on top of a cactus.
Interestingly, the Mexica
concluded that the answer
to this prophecy was found
on an island in Lake Texcoco,
fulfilling their belief
and creating a foundation
to build the great city
and open it to not only their people
but also to their gods.
During excavations of
Tenochtitlan in 2006,
archeologists uncovered a
massive stone tablet dedicated
to one of their gods called Tlaltecuhtli.
They're calling it the
largest Aztec idol ever found,
and it seems a title
well deserved weighing
at 12 and 1/2 tons.
A spectacular statue of that size
with almost perfect detail
should be fascinating enough,
but it seems it's even more intriguing
because some were speculating
this structure may have been a door
to a hidden chamber.
The monolith of Tlaltecuhtli
was excavated within close
proximity to the Templo Mayor,
which was actually discovered by accident
as workers uncovered a corner
of the great monolith while sweeping some
of the temple steps.
Templo Mayor was the main temple
and was used by the Aztecs
for ceremonial purposes.
Unfortunately, this was
primarily human sacrifice.
Archeologists have reported
that in one ceremony alone,
thousands of victims
were sacrificed in 1487.
Tlaltecuhtli, the Earth God goddess was
a Mesoamerican earth goddess
associated with fertility.
As she was seen as their source of life,
the Aztecs sought necessary
to constantly please their
goddess with blood sacrifices,
especially human hearts.
According to the creation
legend surrounding it,
the earth first roamed on the
primordial sea in the form
of a monster by this name.
The legend also goes on to say
that this goddess was fierce
and had a taste for
human flesh so ferocious
that one single gaping mouth
with teeth of flint knives was not enough
to satisfy her bestial hunger.
To remedy this, she had
more mouths at her elbows
and knees that could
simultaneously devour her victims.
She was so savage that even
other gods were afraid of her.
The myth continues to say
that the gods Tezcatlipoca
and Quetzalcoatl transformed
into giant serpents
and strangled Tlaltecuhtli
until her giant body split in two.
They threw one half of her
broken body up in the sky
and it was transformed into
the vault of the heavens
and the other half of
her created the earth.
The other deities were appalled
by what the serpents had
done to Tlaltecuhtli,
so they descended to the
earth half to console her.
They commanded that all
the fruits necessary
for the survival of humans
should come from her.
From that moment, all creation
was to come from her body.
They made it so that all trees, flowers,
and herbs would spring
from her hair, wells,
and springs to come from her eyes,
her mouth would create the
rivers, lakes, and caverns,
and her nose would create the
mountain ranges and valleys.
The goddess sprang back
to life in a new way,
but despite the gifts she had been given,
she is said to still cry out
at night with her longing
to continue to eat the
hearts of humankind.
The legend continues,
the goddess was restless
and will not stay quiet
and still until she was
given the sacrifices,
nor would she bear fruit
on the land unless her thirst was quenched
with the blood of men.
Some researchers believe that the increase
in human sacrifice in the later stages
of the Mayan civilization
and the almost frenzied pace it took
with the Aztecs was due to
the decline of their society.
This downward spiral
would've made it very easy
for the Spanish to conquer them.
Unfortunately, when the massive statue
of Tlaltecuhtli was discovered,
it was fragmented into
four pieces with a section
of its core missing
or possibly destroyed by
the decimation of time.
However, despite its
incomplete appearance,
the monolith of this
earth monster deity is
one that radiates great power
and intimidation to all
those in its presence.
The Aztecs believed that the presentation
of a monument should be in accordance
with its cosmological place
and as Tlaltecuhtli was
depicted as an earth monster,
she was placed in the earth underneath
or below other objects.
She was also often carved
beneath Aztec monuments
rather than in plain sight,
like those of the carvings at Tlaloc,
and is believed that this
is so that she can take her
position of the earth as well
as resting against the earth itself.
She's also placed front forward
in the many representations found of her.
In the Aztec culture,
it was commonplace for their deities
to be presented this way
as to show their power
and distinguish them from other figures.
Directly underneath the statue,
they discovered the
largest find of offerings,
which included shells and corals,
a tiny pine mask, a sawfish bill,
8 and 1/2 thousand animal bones,
a jar of grain, a scepter,
and many fire god sculptures.
Archeologists believe these
used to be an arrangement
of sacrificial ornaments or
offerings to the goddess.
The gods of old and their worshipers
have always fascinated us.
Even in modern religion,
we venerate statues of saints in buildings
and churches that were
adorned with symbolism
and carvings that are
linked to old pagan worship,
but sadly, even with the many lives
that the Aztecs sacrificed to Tlaltecuhtli
to placate her thirst for human hearts,
the once great city of
Tenochtitlan was abandoned
by their goddess.
Following a failed aqueduct design
to bring fresh water to the Aztec people,
a massive flood destroyed the city
in 1502 AD including many
satellite towns and villages.
Even though the city was built by mortar,
the walls could not sustain
the devastating attack by the water.
However, the Mexica were persistent
and began rebuilding
once the waters receded.
For the most part,
the technological genius
of the Aztec people
allowed them to build dams,
which actually controlled the
level of water quite well.
However, after the Spanish conquest,
the dams were destroyed
and the flooding once again
claimed this great city
of ancient times.
[epic music]
[haunting music]
A strange circular rock
known as Alien Mountain
in Sri Lanka is so called
because of its cylindrical shape,
numerous UFO sightings, ancient legends,
and spiritual connotations.
Now newly discovered petroglyphs,
which some believe to be an
antique astronomical code
have been discovered at the site as well.
Some researchers believe that the mountain
and its ancient rock
carvings provide proof
of extraterrestrial visitors on Earth.
Sri Lanka is a large
independent island nation
in the Indian Ocean,
located about 26 miles off
the southeast coast of India.
The island was colonized by
anatomically modern humans
in the last Interglacial
period dating back
to around 125,000 years ago.
Danigala Mountain is situated
in the Polonnaruwa district of Sri Lanka
and has long been known as a sacred site
to the local population.
The mountain itself is a
unique cylindrical shaped rock,
which is known by various intriguing names
including Alien Mountain,
Kandegama Rock, and the
Stargate of King Ravana.
[cryptic music]
It's believed to be one of the places
where King Ravana landed his
special aircraft Dandu Monara.
According to Hindu legend,
King Ravana was one of the
most powerful beings ever
to roam the universe.
He ruled in Sri Lanka
over the Monara gods,
humans, and demons.
Legend says that Ravana ruled Lanka
for several hundred
years prior to the times
of Ramayana when he was
k*lled by Prince Janmab
for kidnapping his wife Sita.
Some researchers believed
that this Ramayana
was not entirely a fictional character
and may have been based
on a real king who ruled over Sri Lanka
from 2554 to 2517 BC.
Under the rule of the scholarly Ravana,
Sri Lanka witnessed great advancements
in science and medicine.
The Pushpaka Vimana or the airplane
in which some versions
of the legend is said to have flown
during his reign is held up as an example
of the great scientific
achievements taking place
at the time.
The word vimana is
composed of "vi" the sky,
"mana" meaning measure.
Vimana is something that measures
the sky as it crosses it.
Indian legends are full
of stories of vimana.
The most well-known of these legends
of the Pushpaka Vimana
concerns Rama who was returning
from Lanka to Ayodhya along with Sita
after defeating Ravana.
The vimana that was used by
Ravana himself was also known
as Dandu Monara.
[plucky music]
In the local Sinhalaese language,
monara means peacock
and Dandu Monara means
that which can fly resembling a peacock.
In fact, the story of
Ravana flying in a vimana
with his wife Mandodari is
depicted in the insignia
of Sri Lanka's most famous hotel,
Galle Face Hotel Colombo.
In some ancient texts which
discuss these flying machines,
there are tantalizing mentions
of possible fuels used,
aeronautics, meteorology,
and aerial maneuvers that
were deployed in flying them.
Some researchers have noted the connection
between these ancient vimanas
and the designation of Alien Mountain
to describe Danigala Mountain.
There's just one problem,
there is no record of any
UFO sightings in the area
of the mountain.
It could be perhaps the
designation Alien Mountain comes
from the connection with
the ancient vimanas,
though no one seems to be sure of that,
it's possible through
the alien connection that it goes
further back than modern UFO sightings.
[elusive music]
In September 2020,
a doctor published a controversial report
on the Research Gate
scientific networking site
on the petroglyphs
at Alien Mountain entitled
"Danigala Coding Sri Lanka."
In this report,
which describes the new
discovery of petroglyphs
in a part of the northwest
slope of the mountain
in July 2020,
Danigala states, "Those bind ruins
are dominantly compared
with other archeological
sites in Sri Lanka
and the Southeast Asia region.
The type of symbols bind ruins
and petroglyphs found are quite new,
and for the first time
discovered in Sri Lankan
during archeoastronomical
and geological preliminary
survey conducted
by the Central Culture
Fund with a corporation
of South Asian Astrobiology
and Earth Sciences Research
Unit of Eco Astronomy Sri Lanka.
Hence, this is a new discovery.
It should be considered as our geological,
astronomical, and
archeological heritage site,
which represents the collective memory
of the anthropomorphic scenes
affected by mother nature."
He's the CEO and founder
of Eco Astronomy Sri Lanka established
in 2016 as a newly developed
research area in Sri Lanka.
Their research focuses
on comparative systematic analysis
of extreme environmental
conditions of planet Earth,
which related to
extraterrestrial life based
on paleontological and
meteorological factors.
He believes that the rock
carvings found at Alien Mountain,
so-called bind ruins,
when two or more ruins are connected
or bound together,
constitute a lost astronomical
counting system created
by the Neolithic hunters
thousands of years ago.
Though such bind ruins are unique,
ancient rock art in Sri
Lanka is fairly common.
It first came to the attention
of researchers in 1897
and to date over 40 sites
have been cataloged on the island.
These sites mostly rock shelters
are mainly concentrated in the eastern,
southeastern north, central,
and central hill regions of the island.
The paintings in the caves
generally depict humans
and animals such as elephants, leopards,
stags, deer, and dogs.
It's important to note that
the animals depicted are not shown
in hunting scenes when they're
shown alongside humans,
they appear almost as
companions rather than prey.
[ethereal music]
Some researchers have pointed
out these similarities
between the circular Danigala Mountain
and the prominent ancient rock fortress
in the Northern Matale district near
the town of Dambulla
in the central province of Sri Lanka,
this enigmatic rock
outcrop rises dramatically
from the plains.
Its almost vertical walls soar skyward
to a flat top summit
that contains the ruins
of an ancient civilization believed
to be once the focal point
of the short-lived kingdom of Kassapa.
Given its stunning appearance,
it's perhaps not surprising
that Sigiriya is known
by locals as the eighth
wonder of the world.
The fortress complex is located
on a massive rock plateau,
1,214 feet above sea level.
The fortress complex includes the remains
of a ruined palace,
surrounded by an extensive
network of fortifications,
huge gardens, ponds, canals,
alleys, and fountains.
From the 3rd century BC,
the rocky plateau of Sigiriya
functioned as a monastery.
In the second half of the 5th century AD,
King Kashyapa constructed
a royal residence there,
but after his death,
the site again became
a Buddhist monastery,
which lasted up until the 14th century
when it was finally abandoned.
The western wall of the palace
was almost entirely covered
by stunning frescoes created
during the reign of Kashyapa,
18 of which survived to this day.
The frescoes depict naked females
and are considered to be either portraits
of Kashyapa's wives and concubines
or priestesses performing
religious rituals.
Another striking feature of
Sigiriya is its mirror wall.
In ancient times, it was
polished so thoroughly that
the king could see his reflection in it.
The mirror wall is
painted with inscriptions
and poems written by the
visitors to the area,
the most ancient of which dates back
to the 8th century
showing that Sigiriya was
a tourist destination more
than a thousand years ago.
Sigiriya has also water gardens,
cave and boulder gardens,
and also terrace gardens.
They're located on the
western part of the site
and were watered using
an incredibly complex hydraulic system
which consisted of canals, locks,
lakes, dams, bridges, fountains,
as well as surface and
underground water pumps.
The buildings and landscape gardens
of Sigiriya show that the creators
of this incredible architectural
monument used unique
[mysterious music]
and creative technical
skills and technologies.
In fact, so astonishing are
the features that some
paranormal researchers believe
the site to be the result
of extraterrestrial intervention
rather than human ingenuity and hard work.
These researchers point
out the architectural
and engineering design at the
site which is advanced even
by 21st century standards.
One legend surrounding
the huge rock fortress states
that it was built initially for Kubera,
the treasurer of the Gods of Vishwakarma,
the divine engineer.
One alien hunter suggested
that the rock fortress
was something like a lighthouse
for ancient aliens and their vimanas,
[energy pulsating]
reasoning that if they
were landing at night,
the crystals in the mirror wall
of the site would reflect the
light back from the craft.
Believers in the ancient alien theory
for the site question how
ancient builders created
such extraordinary structures
on top of a rock over 1,200 feet high.
But why would this suggest aliens?
There are numerous archeological sites
throughout the world,
far higher up and more inaccessible.
The most obvious examples
being the Inca Citadel
of Machu Picchu in Peru,
located 7,970 feet up on a mountain ridge.
The palace and fortress complex
of Sigiriya has been recognized as one
of the finest examples
of ancient urban planning
in the world.
Taking into account the
uniqueness of this site,
UNESCO declared it a world
heritage site in 1982.
[epic music]
[haunting music]
The Inga Stone is located
in the middle of the waters
of the Inga River near
the small city of Inga
in Paraiba state in the
northwest of Brazil.
This controversial historical
treasure 150 feet long
and 13 feet in height
is covered in carvings
of strange unidentified geometric symbols
of various sizes and shapes.
Although many researchers
have speculated on the origins
and the meaning of the symbols,
no theory has yet been proven.
Were they made by
a previously unknown civilization
maybe possessing ancient
technology long since forgotten?
What do the symbols really mean?
[mysterious music]
The area where the site is located covers
around 40 hectares of
extensive granite outcrops
that contain a large
number of rock carvings.
The main outcrop is popularly known
as Pedra do Inga, the Stone of Inga,
and forms a wall oriented
northeast-southeast
and features the three main
rock panels at the site.
In the rainy season,
this large monolith is
partially covered by water
and can only be seen in
its entirety in dry weather
and when the riverbed is completely dry.
Although there is speculation as
to what tools could have been
used to make the carvings,
it's believed that the figures were made
with round stones found in nearby streams.
Archeological research
indicates the existence
of lithic workshops in
the vicinity of the site
and temporary camps
associated with the main site
in use from about 10,000
BC to around 1,400 AD,
possibly as a sacred place used
by the local prehistoric populations.
There is also evidence
of other occupations
in the areas outside of the main site,
which is associated with it.
So far, experts have identified
more than 400 engravings
on the stone's surface.
Most of the Inga carvings
are hard to understand,
but some of them are thought
to represent celestial features
with two being similar to the Milky Way
and the constellation of Orion.
Others are thought to be
representations of circles,
geometric shapes,
animals, fruits, weapons,
human shapes, and birds.
Many of the carvings seem
to relate to the daily life
of the local population at the time.
The exact origin of the
inscriptions is still unknown.
[ominous music]
Brazil was officially discovered in 1500
when a fleet on its way to India commanded
by Portuguese diplomat
Pedro Alvarez Cabral landed
in Porto Seguro between
Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.
The first references to
the mysterious carvings
are found in the reports
of the European settlers
in the state in the 16th century.
Among these references,
the most important is
the "Dialogues of Brazil's Grandness"
attributed to Ambrosio Fernandes Brandao
written between 1519 and 1618.
According to the researcher
Gabriela Martin in 2008,
"The Inga stone is undoubtedly
the most famous rock engraving in Brazil,
but as a result of this
exalted reputation,
a number of groundless
theories, hopeful speculations
and popular myths have
grown up around the stone
and the origin and
meaning of its carvings.
Hidden treasures are mentioned
as are lost Venetian sailors
and of course extraterrestrial beings.
Where would we be without their help?"
[mysterious music]
Gabriele D'Annunzio
Baraldi from 1938 to 2002
was Italian by birth,
but lived in Brazil, Sao
Paulo until his death.
Baraldi claimed that the area
around the Inga Stone was a Hittite colony
and that the Hittite empire
had existed in Brazil.
This was apparently based
on the basic similarity
and nothing more between
Hittite inscriptions
and those on the Inga stone.
The Hittites occupied the ancient region
of Anatolia, modern-day Turkey,
around 1700 BC,
so how they found the way
to Brazil is anyone's guess,
perhaps the extraterrestrials
brought them.
[energy pulsating]
[mysterious music]
In the early 20th century,
the Austrian traveler
Ludwig Schwennhagen toured
various parts of Northeastern
Brazil studying traces
of what he believed to be the presence
of Phoenicians in this region.
Besides numerous articles,
he published a book,
"Ancient History of Brazil,"
associating the inscriptions of Inga
with the Phoenicians.
The Phoenicians were a maritime people
who occupied the coast of Levant,
modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine,
and most of Western Turkey
from around 1500 to 332 BC.
Again, what were they doing in Brazil?
But the theory of Phoenicians in Brazil
and the Americas has
a long history as part
of the recurring, often bizarre attempts
to find ancient Semitic inscriptions
in the western hemisphere.
In 1872, a stone inscribed
with Phoenician writing
was allegedly discovered
in Paraiba, northeast Brazil.
The letter sent from
the original discoverer
of the stone to the president
of the Brazilian Historical
and Geographic Institute is worth quoting:
[eerie music]
"As I was having stones
carried into my property,
my sl*ves brought me one
that they had already broken
into four pieces.
This stone presented numerous characters
that no one understood.
I had them copied by my son,
who knows a little about draftsmanship,
and I was resolved to send
this copy to your Excellency
as president of the Historical
and Geographical Institute of Brazil
to see if your Excellency
or some other person could determine
what these letters mean,
and as I have arrived in this capital city
and have not had the time
to give them personally
to your Excellency,
I have sent them to him through the post.
I am with all consideration
and respect for your Excellency.
Attentive, devoted, and obliged servant,
Joaquim Alves de Costa,
Rio, 11th of September, 1872."
[thunder crashing]
The inscription itself told the story
of a Phoenician ship which
was caught in a storm
and separated from a fleet sailing
from Egypt around Africa.
[enigmatic music]
The stone also mentions the
Pharaoh Necho I or Necho II.
A transcription was shown to the director
of the National Museum of Brazil who
at first accepted the
inscription as genuine,
but Alves de Costa
and his estate proved impossible to locate
and it was concluded that the whole affair
was nothing more than a hoax.
Marshall McKusick has reviewed
and dismissed various
theories of Phoenicians
or Canaanites in the new world,
observing that "In this
modern day everyone wishes
to be his own authority
and the personal search
for cultural alternatives seems
to make every idea or
theory equal in value."
[mysterious music]
Ronald H. Fritze has discussed
the theory of such claims
from the 17th to the 20th centuries,
concluding that although the journey
to Brazil was technically possible,
no archeological evidence
has yet been discovered
to prove it.
Peruvian electrical engineer Huari Roman
has linked the Inga stone
with refugees from the
sunken continent of Atlantis.
Roman claims that before the great flood,
most of central Brazil
was a huge inland sea
and that the Atlanteans
and Arawaks lived around this lake,
and that the one artifact left behind
by them was the Inga stone.
After the deluge,
[waves crashing]
a cataclysm inundated Atlantis and Brazil,
destroying the Inland Sea.
Some groups fled to the Andean Highlands
of Peru eventually developing
the empire of Tiwanaku,
which then later became the Incan Empire.
What is Roman's evidence for
this extraordinary theory?
Apparently, he's keeping that to himself.
Who also those who believe that the signs
on the Inga stone are the
work of extraterrestrials?
According to Claudio Quintans
of the Paraibano Center for Ufology,
it is unlikely that the prehistoric people
of the area would've been able
to make such intricate carvings.
Therefore, he believes the
carvings were actually made
by extraterrestrial
visitors to the planet,
and some symbols may be interpreted
as explaining the distance
between the planets such
as the Earth and the Moon,
and even further beyond that.
[haunting music]
He adds that the Inga
stone shows some formulas
for the production of quantum energy.
There must be a queue
of physicists forming
around Quintans's house
to ask just where he obtained
that earth-shattering
information and what it means.
[mysterious music]
The attitude of Quintan's is very common
in alternative history theories.
The belief is that there's
no way that the natives
of Brazil could have
ever been advanced enough
to make anything that required
any technological skill
or knowledge.
In fact, in Brazil's
Natural History Museum,
there are stone instruments
which the natives used
for various activities
including grooving stones
to make inscriptions such
as those on the Inga stone.
Spanish engineer Francisco Pavia Alemany
has mathematically studied the stone,
and his first results
were published in 1986.
Alemany identified a series of
bowls on the stone's surface
and another petroglyph etched
into the vertical surface
of the wall of Inga
that formed a solar calendar.
Alemany later focused on recording
and documenting a series of symbols
on the surface which
represented stars that appeared
to have been grouped
together in what appeared
to be constellations.
According to him, it's the
coexistence of the bowls
and constellations on the
rock surface which give
the stone its
archeoastronomical significance.
Although there are a number of theories
to explain the unusual
designs on the stone,
the simplest is probably true.
The symbols represent various cultural
and spiritual teachings passed
on by local tribal elders
to the younger generations.
Unfortunately, there have
been virtually no studies
of the technological
development, social structure,
or cultural complexity of
the prehistoric populations
of Northeastern Brazil.
Hence, there's a gap in our knowledge
of the cultures of the area,
which allows all sorts
of bizarre unsubstantiated theories
to wriggle through unchecked.
[calm music]
The Inga stone and the
area around it represents
a people who created
expressive art in rock
with a high technical capacity.
The site is remarkable for
its almost exclusive use
of non-figurative representations
on its panels expressing
the creative genius of
a human group that appropriated
abstract aesthetic standards
as a means of expression
of possibly symbolic religious concepts.
The local populations were unlike
other prehistoric
Brazilian cultures in this,
who mostly made use of anthropomorphic
and zoomorphic representations.
Unfortunately today the site
where the Inga stone stands
is under constant threat,
not only from the elements
but from the hundreds
of tourists who trample
all over it almost daily.
There have been also cases
of the stone being damaged by vandals,
so there is an urgent
need for the Inga stone
to be protected and preserved
if we want future generations to be
as fascinated by it as we are.
[epic music]
[ethereal music]
Controversy has arisen
around an artifact known
as the Nazareth Inscription long believed
[feet stomping]
to be an official Roman
response to the disappearance
of Jesus' body from its tomb.
New researchers cast doubt
on the origin of the inscription,
which was acquired
by German collector in Paris in 1878.
[playful carnival music]
However, apart from a note indicating
[ethereal music continues]
that it had come from Nazareth,
its history has remained
something of a mystery.
The Nazareth Inscription.
The Nazareth Inscription
itself is written on a block
of marble, about two
feet tall, a foot wide,
and two inches deep.
The first of its 22 lines of text carved
in Greek letters announces
an "Edict of Caesar."
[trumpet blowing]
The edict calls for capital punishment
for anyone who removes a body from a tomb.
If the tablet did originate in Nazareth,
it's understandable how
one could make a connection
between this edict and the
beginnings of Christianity.
Perhaps the inscription
had something to do
with the controversy over
the famous empty tomb
and suggests that a
Roman emperor was aware
of disturbing claims about
a crucified man rising
from the dead in a distant
province of his wide empire.
The style of the letters used
in the inscription certainly
indicates it was written
in the first half of the 1st century.
- [Soldier] What do we want!
- [Narrator] Indeed, no one-
has ever questioned-
- [Soldiers] Justice!
- [Soldier] When do we want it!
- [Soldiers] Now!
- [Narrator] The authenticity
of the Nazareth inscription,
so it's highly unlikely
that this is a forgery,
but its interpretation
and possible connection to the story
of the resurrection of Christ
are still fiercely debated today.
The translation of the inscription reads:
"Edict of Caesar.
[bell dinging]
It is my decision,
graves and tombs, whoever has made them
for the religious observances
of parents, or children,
or household members,
that these remain undisturbed forever.
But if anyone legally charges
that another person has destroyed
or has in any manner extracted
those who have been buried,
or has moved with wicked intent
those who have been
buried to other places,
committing a crime against them,
or has moved sepulchral stones,
against such a person,
I order that a judicial
tribunal be created,
[bell dinging]
just as concerning the gods
in human religious observances.
Even more so it will
be obligatory to treat
with honor those who have been entombed.
You are absolutely not
to allow anyone to move,
But if so, I wish that one
to suffer capital
punishment under the title
of tomb-breaker."
The discovery of the Nazareth Inscription.
When scholar and collector of antiquities,
Wilhelm Froehner died in
his Paris home in 1925,
he left behind among his possessions
a curious inscription
and manuscripts that could be
the oldest surviving
artifact of Christianity.
By the time he died,
he'd been in possession of
the Nazareth Inscription
for nearly 50 years.
His inventory of the
inscription simply states,
"This marble was sent
from Nazareth in 1878."
In 1925, the collection was acquired
by the Paris National Library where
the Nazareth inscription was rediscovered
and read by a monsieur Rostovtzeff.
Rostovtzeff informed his friend
the scholar Franz Cumont
about the inscription,
and in 1930 he published
a Greek transcription
and a translation of the
inscription with a commentary.
Cumont came to the conclusion
that there were two possible contexts
for the inscription,
which have remained the
leading contenders to this day
[feet stomping]
Theories about the inscription's origin.
The first suggests that
the edict was issued
against the background
of the general upheavals of
Rome's violent transition
from republic to empire.
The end of the republic had witnessed
the eastern provinces
extensively plundered,
tombs and temples alike were ravaged.
Perhaps the Nazareth inscription was part
of a general effort to restore order.
If this is the case, then
the inscription would belong
to the final decade's BC
and thus originally to
a fully Roman dominion
[fire crackling]
somewhere like Greece
or more likely Asia Minor,
before eventually surfacing in Palestine.
Palestinian origins.
The primary alternative explanation
is that the edict is a response
to the Christian gospel
[bell dinging]
and the hostile conflicts it aroused.
In the Bible, the disciples
of Jesus claimed that they
found their master's tomb empty,
and the Gospel of Matthew makes it clear
that opposing accounts of the empty tomb
were being circulated.
Those Jews who did not
believe that Jesus was
the Messiah spread the rumor that
the disciples had stolen the body,
and according to Matthew,
they bribed the Roman guards
into swearing this alternative
truth before the governor.
Could it be that, aware
of enduring tensions
and conflict over the
claims of the resurrection,
the emperor issued an edict
specifying harsh penalties
for violating tombs and
the bodies lying within?
But while this of course doesn't prove
that the inscription is evidence
for the resurrection of Christ,
it does indicate that the
story of the resurrection
of Christ was already
circulating very early on,
perhaps even in the reign
of Emperor Claudius around 41 AD.
If the story of the resurrection
of Christ was widely known
soon after his crucifixion,
it could be that it was circulated
by his apostles themselves.
In his 1968 book,
author Michael Green wrote that there
was firm contemporary evidence
for the presence of Jesus' empty tomb.
He said this piece
of evidence is called
the Nazareth Inscription
after the town where it was found.
It is an imperial edict belonging either
to the reign of Tiberius, 14-37 AD,
or of Claudius 41-54 AD,
and it's an invective
backed with heavy sanctions
against meddling around
with tombs and graves.
It looked very much as if the news
of the empty tomb had got back
to Rome in a garbled form.
Pilate would have had to report
and he would obviously have said
the tomb had been rifled.
This edict, it seems, is
the imperial reaction,
but as mentioned earlier,
the inscription provides no evidence
for any specific event.
Indeed, skeptics of the
Jesus connection argue
that there is absolutely nothing linking
this inscription with Christianity,
only the town it was found in.
Even though Jesus was
not buried in Nazareth,
and its possible date.
They also point out
that the law is prefaced
by a reference to the importance
of family burial cult,
so the incentive for the law seems
seems to been an objection
to those who were depriving
people of the right
to pay homage to their dead ancestors,
something that would appear
to have no connection
with the missing body of Jesus.
Skeptics also point out that
in the late 19th century there
were only two major market centers
for all antiquities
recovered in Palestine,
Jerusalem, and Nazareth.
Thus de Zulueta makes the
plausible conjecture that
the slab was recovered either
in Samaria or Decapolis
and either purchased
or shipped via the nearest possible place,
which would've been Nazareth.
New evidence: In April 2020,
it was announced that
scientists had conducted
the first isotope
analysis of marble sample
from the slab containing the inscription.
The research team
sensationally discovered that
the unique isotopic fingerprints
of the marble were a close match
for a signature found in white marble
from the Greek island of Kos
of Turkey's southwestern coast.
[waves crashing]
As Kos is a long way from Nazareth,
the results of the tests
would certainly seem
to reduce the likelihood that
the edict had any connection
with early Christianity.
Researchers believe that the inscription,
rather than referring
to the story of Jesus' empty tomb,
relates to an incident
which took place decades
before the death of Jesus.
The incident took place
on Kos in the 30s BC
and involved what happened after the death
of an extremely unpopular
but powerful official named Nicias.
[wolf howling]
After Nicias's demise,
locals broke into his tomb
and desecrated the body.
Researchers now believe
that the Roman edict warning
of harsh punishments for grave desecration
was response to the fate suffered
by the body of Nicias.
Lead study author Kyle Harper,
a professor of classics
and letters at the
University of Oklahoma said
of the discovery,
"We believe that it's
the first time stable isotope chemistry
has ever been used to establish
the provenance of an inscription, period.
We got lucky twice over.
First, it was very direct match with
a rather unexpected marble quarry
so we could really pinpoint
its origins on Kos.
[bell dinging]
Second, it happened that
we know of an episode
of tomb violation that was very famous
in the exact right period.
[waves crashing]
I would've never hoped
for such a remarkable alignment."
[insects chirring]
Harper and his team have also suggested
the Greek dialect on the
inscription does not match
a Nazarene background for the period
and that it could have
been written anywhere
between 100 BC and 100 AD.
But although Harper's work proves
that the marble was sourced from Kos,
it doesn't prove that
Nazareth's Inscription
was inscribed in Kos.
Indeed, since its publication,
Harper's research has been questioned
by other researchers
and is certainly not set
to be the final word on the edict.
One researcher has pointed out
that with the Herodian Dynasty,
which ruled Judea for almost 80 years
from 37 BC to 39 AD,
traded regularly with the island of Kos.
Perhaps, they reason,
[waves crashing]
marble was commercially
transported to Judea from Kos
and found its way into
Nazareth during the reign
of Claudius or Nero.
At the moment, there's no way of knowing
for certain where the stone was inscribed
and what exactly it was referring to.
It seems the debate about the
Nazareth inscription is set
to rage on for many years to come.
[epic music]
[dramatic music]
Evidence from the 11,000-year-old carvings
on an ancient temple site
in what is now Turkey suggests
that a mass of comet fragments hit
the Earth around 11,000 BC.
There is also other evidence
to support this catastrophic event
from a Greenland ice core.
The impact, which probably resulted
from the breakup of a giant comet
in the inner solar system,
triggered a cold climate,
which lasted at least a thousand years
and seems to have been remembered
by the hunter-gatherers in the area
for thousands of years afterwards.
[mysterious music]
Gobekli Tepe.
Gobekli Tepe, Turkish for
the hill of the navel is
a 1,000-foot diameter mound located
at the highest point
of a mountain ridge in
southeastern Turkey.
The site includes two phases of use,
believed to be social
or ritual in nature by its discoverer
and excavator Klaus Schmidt.
It dates back to the
10th-8th millennium BC
and since 1994, excavations
conducted by Klaus Schmidt
of the Istanbul branch
of the German Archeological Institute have
been taking place at the site.
Results to date have been outstanding,
especially bearing in mind that
the excavators estimate that
their work has uncovered
a mere 5% of the site.
Gobekli Tepe consists of four arrangements
of monolithic pillars
linked together by segments
of coarsely built dry stone
walls to form a series
of circular or oval structures.
There are two large pillars
in the center of each complex,
which are encircled
by slightly smaller stones facing inwards.
During the first phase of the site,
circles of huge T-shaped
stone pillars were erected,
at the moment, the world's
oldest known megaliths.
Archeologists believed that these pillars
could have once supported roofs.
The structures vary in size between 33
and 98 feet in diameter
and have floors made of burned lime.
The megaliths themselves,
43 of which have been unearthed so far,
are mainly T-shaped
pillars of soft limestone
up to around 16 feet in height.
The stone would've been excavated
and transported from a stone quarry
on the lowest southwestern
slope of the hill.
Geophysical surveys on the
hill indicate there are
as many as 250 more megaliths
lying buried around the site,
suggesting that another
16 complexes once existed
at Gobekli Tepe.
Although the pictograms at Gobekli Tepe
do not represent a form of writing,
they may have functioned as sacred symbols
whose meanings were implicitly understood
by the local population at the time.
The carving of the comet impact.
The mysterious megaliths at Gobekli Tepe
have been puzzling archeologists
and challenging presumptions
about prehistoric culture
since their discovery.
The most debated point is how
a nomadic hunter-gatherer society
with a supposedly primitive
social structure could plan
and build such monumental stone circles.
It was recently announced that researchers
from the University of Edinburgh
in Scotland had found
evidence for the recording
of a devastating comet impact
more than 13,000 years ago
while examining symbols
on a decorated stone
from Gobekli Tepe called
the Vulture Stone.
Using computer star tracking
software called Stellarium,
the researchers were able to track
what the sky looked like
in the time Gobekli Tepe was in use.
The team matched carvings of
animals on the Vulture Stone,
which they interpreted
as astronomical symbols,
[celestial music]
to patterns of stars
and were able to pinpoint
the cataclysmic event caused
by the comet fragments hitting the Earth
to 10,950 BC, give or take 250 years.
Another image on the stone,
that of a headless man,
is believed to symbolize human disaster
and extensive loss of life.
Scientists have speculated for decades
whether a comet could have been the cause
of a sudden fall in temperature
during a period known
as the Younger Dryas.
The Younger Dryas was
essentially a mini ice age,
which lasted around a thousand years
and it's considered a
critical period for humanity
as it was around the time agriculture
and the first Neolithic
civilizations arose,
possibly in response to the
arrival of a colder climate.
Dr. Martin Sweatman of
the School of Engineering
at the University of
Edinburgh led the research
into the Vulture Stone and commented
on the team's findings.
"I think this research,
along with a recent finding
of a widespread platinum anomaly
across the North American continent,
virtually seal the case in favor
of a Younger Dryas comet impact.
Our work serves to reinforce
that physical evidence.
What is happening here is
the process of paradigm change.
[expl*si*n booming]
It appears Gobekli Tepe
was, among other things,
an observatory for
monitoring the night sky.
One of its pillars seems to have served
as a memorial to this devastating event,
probably the worst day
in history since the end
of the Ice Age."
The Vulture Stone,
labeled by archeologists Pillar 43,
is one of the oldest artifacts discovered
at Gobekli Tepe,
and archeologists have
found that it exhibits signs
[mysterious music]
of being cared for by the
people there for millennia,
which indicates that
what was carved onto it
was very important.
Perhaps the event that
researchers believe the images
on the stone depicted
had a long-lasting impact
on the civilization in the area.
In their paper published
on the Vulture Stone,
images in "Mediterranean Archeology
and Archeometry" in 2017, Dr. Sweatman
and Dimitrios Tsikritsis described
their findings connecting
the comet strike with Gobekli Tepe
and the onset of the Younger
Dryas in more detail.
They said, "Symbolism on
pillar 18 is consistent
with an event of cosmic origin.
The fox symbolism in particular suggests
a cosmic event originating
from a specific position.
The belt, buckle, eclipse,
and snake symbols are consistent
with a cometary encounter.
We also find evidence that a key function
of Gobekli Tepe was to
observe meteor showers
and record cometary encounters.
Indeed, the people of Gobekli Tepe appear
to have had a special interest
in the Taurid meteor stream,
the same meteor stream that
is proposed as responsible
for the Younger Dryas event."
Is Gobekli Tepe the smoking g*n
for the Younger Dryas cometary encounter
and hence for coherent catastrophism?
Was Gobekli Tepe an observatory?
Dr. Sweatman's comment that Gobekli Tepe
may have functioned
as an observatory at some stage
in its history is a controversial one.
The claims of Gobekli Tepe's connection
to the night sky have been mostly rejected
by the main archeological
team excavating the temple.
In their opinion,
although Gobekli Tepe is
extraordinarily well preserved,
time and the elements
have changed the location
of certain features at the site.
Some of the pillars at Gobekli
Tepe were certainly removed
and recycled elsewhere during
occupation of the site.
Moreover, later civilizations in the area
and more recently farmers
have repositioned parts
of certain pillars,
even on some occasions
breaking pieces off.
In a paper written in response
to the claims of Dr.
Sweatman and his team,
they stated their main objection
to his claim that Gobekli
Tepe was an observatory is
"There is significant possibility
that we are dealing
with roofed structures.
This fact alone would pose limitations
to a function of sky observatories.
The arches depicted on
the western broad side
of Pillar 43 could even be images
of the monumental buildings
themselves covered
by a corbel roof."
Dr. Sweatman published a quick response
to the criticism of their work
by the excavators of Gobekli Tepe,
and in this response they reiterated
their hypothesis that
Gobekli Tepe had been,
at an early stage at the
site's history, an observatory,
whether it was in later life
a roofed structure or not.
They said, "We suggest construction
[celestial music]
of the rough stone enclosure walls,
might or might not have supported a roof,
might have followed an earlier phase
of construction consisting
of relatively freestanding pillars.
We suggest this because
the carvings on many
of the pillars are covered by these walls.
Given the undoubted
extreme effort required
and limited resources available
to construct the pillars
and their carvings,
it makes little sense
to us that the builders
of Gobekli Tepe would have
immediately hidden many
of the carvings within the
rough stone enclosure wall.
We also note that whether Gobekli Tepe
was roofed at some point or not,
this has little bearing on the statistics
in our interpretation.
It only affects
interpretation of the usage
of Gobekli Tepe at some
point in its history."
[epic music]
Most people are familiar
with the biblical story
[celestial music]
of Sodom and Gomorrah.
For most scholars, it is just a story,
but one scientific study has determined
that a clay tablet dating
from around 700 BC is a copy
of notes taken by an eyewitness
to the ancient asteroid impact
[asteroid whooshing]
believed to be responsible
for the destruction
of the two biblical cities.
The cuneiform symbols on the tablet,
recently translated by researchers,
are believed to detail an account written
by an ancient Sumerian astronomer watching
the asteroid impact.
There were other competing theories
for the destruction of
the two cities however.
Recently one researcher wrote
that he was convinced that Sodom
and Gomorrah were destroyed
by a massive earthquake followed
by a catastrophic landslide.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Sodom and Gomorrah were two
notoriously sinful cities
in the biblical book of Genesis,
located in the region of the Dead Sea
between what are now Israel
and Jordan in the Middle East.
Along with the cities of Admah, Zeboim,
and Zoar, Sodom and Gomorrah constituted
the five cities of the plain referenced
throughout both the Old
and New Testaments and the Quran.
Genesis describes God's dissatisfaction
with Sodom and Gomorrah and his decision
to destroy them,
[energy whirring]
"The sun had risen over
the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the Lord rained on
Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone
and fire from the Lord out of heaven,
and he overthrew those
cities, and all the valley,
and all the inhabitants of the cities,
and what grew on the ground.
But his wife from behind him looked back,
[celestial music]
and she became a pillar of salt.
Now Abraham arose early in the morning
and went to the place where
he had stood before the Lord,
and he looked down
towards Sodom and Gomorrah
and toward all the land of the valley,
and he saw, and behold,
[fire crackling]
the smoke of the land ascended
like the smoke of a furnace.
Thus, it came about,
when God destroyed the
cities of the valley,
that God remembered Abraham
and sent Lot out in the midst
of the overthrow when
he overthrew the cities
in which Lot lived."
[fire crackling]
It is an extremely dramatic story,
but is it merely fiction?
According to archeologists, scientists,
and biblical scholars, there
is no evidence that Sodom
and its sister town Gomorrah even existed,
let alone that they came
to a sudden and disastrous end.
[eluding music]
The ancient clay tablet.
In March 2008, it was
announced in the media that
an ancient clay tablet that
had perplexed scientists
for over 150 years had been identified
as a witness's account of an asteroid
[cryptic music]
that destroyed the biblical cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah 5,000 years ago.
The cuneiform tablet known
as the Planisphere is
in the British Museum
collection number K8538,
and was discovered by
Henry Layard in the remains
of the library in the
royal palace at Nineveh.
The tablet was made
by an Assyrian scribe around 700 BC.
The recently translated
cuneiform symbols are believed
to be an ancient copy of
the night notebook made
by an ancient Sumerian
astronomer who watched
the asteroid impact.
Astonishingly, scholars have been able
to pinpoint the date of the impact at dawn
on the 29th of June 3123 BC,
based on the symbols on the tablet
which describe cloud formation
and the positions of
constellations in the sky.
The theory was put forward by Alan Bond,
Managing Director of
Reaction Engines Limited,
and Mark Hempsell,
Senior Lecturer in Astronautics
at Bristol University in the UK,
who spent eight years
researching the subject
and collecting evidence
to support their theory.
The asteroid in question is believed
to have been over half a mile wide
and probably crashed
into the Austrian Alps
at Kofels where there is evidence
of a huge ancient landslide.
It had long been thought
[asteroid roaring]
that a large object
had impacted at Kofels,
the evidence being a giant
landslide 640 feet thick
and 3.1 miles in diameter.
Hempsell described the ancient event
as he believes it happened.
"It came in at a very low angle
[asteroid whooshing]
around six degrees and then clipped
a mountain called Gamskogel
[calm music]
around 11 kilometers from Kofels.
This caused it to explode,
[expl*si*n banging]
and as it traveled down the valley,
it became a fireball.
When it hit Kofels
[fireball whooshing]
it created enormous pressure,
which pulverized the rock
and caused the landslide,
but because it wasn't solid,
there was no crater."
Another conclusion can be made
from the trajectory.
The back plume from the expl*si*n,
the mushroom cloud,
[expl*si*n banging]
would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea,
reentering the atmosphere
over the Levant, Sinai,
and Northern Egypt.
The ground heating, though very short,
would be enough to ignite
any flammable material
including human hair and clothes.
It's probable more people
died under the plume
than in the Alps due to the impact blast.
According to Dr. Hempsell,
around 386,000 square miles
would've been devastated by the asteroid,
and the impact would've been equivalent
to more than 1000 tons of TNT exploding.
He believes that
at least 20 ancient
myths record devastation
which could equate to that of the type
and on the scale of the asteroid's impact.
These stories include
the Old Testament tale
of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
and the ancient Greek myth
of Phaeton, son of Helios,
who fell into the river Eridanus
after losing control of
his father's sun chariot.
Bond and Hempsell presented their theory
in their 2008 monograph,
"A Sumerian Observation
of the Kofels Impact."
However, the academic world
was far from convinced
by the asteroid theory.
Jon Taylor, a retired expert
in Near Eastern archeology
at the British Museum,
pointed out that there
was no evidence that
the ancient Sumerians had the ability
to make such accurate
astronomical records,
and that our knowledge
of Sumerian language
was very far from complete.
"I remain unconvinced by
these results," he stated.
In December 2018, yet
another theory accounting
for the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah emerged.
This time, it was a meteor that exploded
in the air near the
Dead Sea 3,700 years ago
and could have wiped out
communities in the area
of the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam,
which according to one of its
excavators, Steven Collins,
is the biblical city of
Sodom from the Bible.
Part of the abstract from
the conference presentation
by the two proponents of this new theory,
archeologists Philip J. Silvia
and Steven Collins
of Trinity Southwest University
in Albuquerque, reads,
"The paper surveys the multiple lines
of evidence that collectively suggest
a Tunguska-like cosmic airburst event
that obliterated civilization,
including the Middle Bronze
Age city-state anchored
by Tall el-Hammam.
In the Middle Ghor,
the 25-kilometer diameter circular plain
immediately north of the Dead Sea,
3,700 years before present."
[mysterious music]
The two researchers also have
an intriguing explanation
as to how Lot's wife
could have been turned
into a pillar of salt.
They theorize that the intense shock waves
from the blast may have
also covered the area
with a superheated brine of
Dead Sea anhydride salts.
This catastrophic event
could also account for
the archeological evidence
that indicates that it
took almost 600 years
for civilization to return to the area,
as the soil had been rendered
useless for agriculture.
Did an earthquake destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah?
A conflicting theory for the destruction
of the two biblical cities
emerged a few years ago.
Retired geologist Graham Harris believes
that not only did Sodom
and Gomorrah exist,
but that they were also destroyed
by a dreadful natural
apocalypse corresponding
to the description in the book of Genesis.
Harris spent 10 years researching
in the area where the two biblical cities
were supposed to be located
and came to the conclusion that
the conditions there were perfect
for a massive earthquake
that would've triggered
a huge landslide.
Harris believes the resulting destruction
of settlements in the area would've been
so devastating that it could
have passed into folklore.
A summary of Harris's
2015 book on the subject,
"Destruction of Sodom:
The A Scientific Commentary," states,
"In 'The Destruction of Sodom, '
the biblical account of
the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah is examined
under the spotlight
of modern science against
a cultural backdrop
of history and archeology.
In this scientific reconstruction,
the account of the events described
in the book of Genesis is verified,
and it is established that
the destruction occurred at
about 2350 BC as a result
of an earthquake-induced
landslide transporting Sodom
to the depths of the Dead Sea.
Strands of geography, geology,
and engineering science are drawn together
to provide comprehensive treatment
of all relevant scientific
aspects pertinent
to a rational understanding
of the mechanics
of the disaster.
Graham Harris provides
evidence that the mainstay
of Canaanite commerce was the exploitation
of the bitumen resources of the Dead Sea,
that the Sodomites were among
the world's first chemical engineers.
"The Destruction of Sodom" is an example
of the application of science
to a fuller understanding
[bright music]
of one of the most intriguing
events in the Old Testament
and will be of direct
interest to scholars,
as well as to the wider public.
All these competing theories, of course,
can't be right, and thus far,
none of them have proved convincing enough
to be taken seriously
by the academic world.
[ominous music]
[intense music]
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Anunnaki Origins: Sumeria to South America (2025)
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