01x07 - Chamber of Secrets

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: Tonight on
"Lost Gold of the Aztecs"...

You gotta see this, Dad.

We're gonna get the drill rig in
here and see what we can find.

If we find a tunnel system,

does it mean
the treasure's here?

I hope to God it does.

Hey, looks like
we have something here.

Come on, Kevin.

Kevin: We've just got
poisonous gas that came up.

You all right?

Kevin: So we're gonna
have to build something

and get the air cleaned out.

It doesn't have to be pretty.
All it has to do is work.

What you guys got there?

- Check this out.
- This is something manmade.

This is really
what we're out here looking for.

- Jerome: Ready?
- Yeah, real slow.

Real slow. Oh! h*, h*!

Hey, take a look at this!

Narrator: 500 years ago,
the Aztecs possessed

one of the greatest treasures
the world has ever seen.

Word of this treasure
attracted the attention

of the Spanish conquistadors,

but when they came for the gold,

it was already gone,

hidden by Emperor Montezuma
in locations throughout

what is now
the American Southwest.

Now, three
treasure-hunting teams,

all with different approaches,

are closing in
on what they believe

is the location
of the lost Aztec gold.

This right here is
definitely manmade activity.

The Dillmans
are following a trail

blazed by the research
of their grandfather.

I believe it's my destiny
to find it for the family.

The Villescas
are treasure seekers

descended from
Spanish conquistadors.

They believe the Spanish
found the gold...

All right. Here we go.

And melted it into bars

hidden throughout
the American Southwest.

If anybody's gonna find it,
it's gonna be us.

And finally, Hoagland and Hegg.

Fire in the hole!

They believe the treasure
is hidden inside mines

along well known
Aztec trade routes.

If anything happens,
be ready to go.

Decades of searching.

- [ beeping ]
- That's old as hell.

Three different theories.

Kevin: That's what I do.
I go find stuff.

Which one of these teams
will be proven right...

and be the first to find

the lost gold of the Aztecs?

Right up there is perfect, Bert.

Just get in there and start
pulling that stuff away

and setting it off to the side.

Okay.

The Dillman team has
brought in a small excavator

to dig an out an entrance

into what their ERT scan
suggests could be

an underground tunnel system
and chamber.

So right now we're digging
at the exact location

that the geophysicists
had pinpointed for us.

Somewhere around 30 meters,
about 100 feet deep.

Fairly large target
in the center here,

and a few smaller ones
off to the east there.

That may be the chamber
that we're looking for,

and these other anomalies

may be the tunneling
to get there.

Dan: I can't tell you
the excitement

that I have building over this,

because it once again
falls right in line

with my grandfather's writings
and his audiotapes.

It's like
he was guiding us here,

and so now we are digging in.

Gina: He's a little bit
of ways in already.

- It's clearly an opening.
- Oh, yeah.

Derrick: That is
a whole lot of dirt.

Hey, Bert, I'm gonna just go
right over here.

Okay.

We're starting
to get an opening.

We're starting to
get an opening.

Yep. No, this is
definitely deep.

Dan:
Shine your light in there.

- Oh, yeah.
- Holy [ bleep ].

- Are you seeing that?
- I am seeing that.

That is a chamber.

- I mean, this is...
- This is incredible.

This is huge.
I still can't see the back,

which is just crazy.

All right, let's get it...
I wanna get in there.

I am just excited
to get in here.

Who knows the last time anybody
was in this chamber?

- Dan: Careful, man.
- Gina: Go slow.

Who knows what could be
lying right beyond that dirt,

and it's just waiting for us?

What are you seeing?

Derrick: It's huge in here.

I mean, I'm talking
from where you guys are,

at least 40 feet back

before the end of it
that I can see.

Dan: Right.

Derrick: Can you see
what I'm seeing?

Oh, there's
a steep drop off, too.

- Gina: What? Stay back.
- Dan: So it goes down deep?

- Yeah.
- Man, you better be careful.

All right, I'm going deeper in!

Can you still here me, Dad?

Dan: Yeah.

Hey, Derrick,
I'm gonna try to light you.

Walk all around
and see if you see anything.

Derrick: Amazing.
It's massive.

- Can you see me?
- Yeah.

It gets a little bit low.

The cliff face of the shelf,

I gotta crouch down
a little bit.

Is there any evidence of anyone
being in this chamber?

Gina: Any tool marks?

Derrick:
Man, this is...

there's a lot to see.

I mean, it's massive.

- Hey, Derrick?
- Yeah?

Why don't you... why don't you
get on out of here, man?

We need to dig this out.

Me and Mom need to come down
there and join you.

- We need to open this up.
- All right, coming up.

Dan: Now we gotta get
to these anomalies

that the ERT scan
had produced for us

that may be a tunnel system.

Pass you my flashlight.

Because what may be behind there

could be everything
that our family's

been searching for
for over 55 years.

Right on, man.
That's awesome.

- Dude.
- Great job.

But we need to get
all the way in there.

- That was cool.
- We do.

Dan: It sounds like there's more
area to dig or more to find.

All right, let's stop talking
and let's start digging.

Let's get Bert right now
to dig this out.

I'm gonna shake it
a little bit, okay?

Narrator: The Villescas team
is continuing

their exhaustive search
at the Fire Pits.

With three teams working
in all three pits,

their hunt for what they hope
is Spanish gold

is moving full steam ahead.

That was a big one, huh?

Ramon: That was a good dump.

- Gabriel: Nothing?
- Nothing yet.

Okay, I'll go again.

Gabriel: I think
we're in the right area.

We've been led here by
several different artifacts,

and it proves that
the Spanish were here,

and they occupied this area,

but that's not
what we're looking for.

We're looking for gold.

At least it's holding up.

Narrator:
While Gabe and his father

continue sifting material,

Jerome is moving heavy earth
with the excavator

in Fire Pit one.

Damn.

This gray stuff is pretty hard.

We're hitting something hard
down there.

It's solid.

Yeah, this stuff
is way too hard.

This is not what
we're looking for here.

Bedrock.

Moving a lot of material,
but I'm hitting bedrock.

Once we hit bedrock,

obviously the Spanish
never dug through it.

Bedrock to me
just seems like a dead end.

Think we're gonna have to
call it right here.

If we're gonna find something
where somebody buried something,

it'd be a lot softer than this.

Kind of disappointing.

Finally get
the big machines in here

and moving quite a bit
of material at a time,

and I was hoping to find
a lot more artifacts,

but we just haven't
been hitting nothing.

Gabriel:
Hey, Jerome, you got a copy?

Yeah, go ahead.

Hey, have you had any luck
over there in pit number one?

Nah, I ain't seen
[ bleep ], man.

Just, I keep moving
all this material,

but I keep hitting bedrock.

I haven't had any luck either.

Jerome: Yeah,
once I clear out the material,

I'm just kinda looking to see
if there's a soft void

or something in there, you know?

Working, like, a grid pattern,
you know what I mean?

So I make sure
and see everything

that's down there, you know?

Let me know if you hit anything.
I'll do the same.



Gabriel: Well, me and Jerome
have been digging

in Fire Pit one and two
for several days now,

and it's not good, you know,

knowing that we've got all
this equipment here

and, you know,
it's just eating up the money.

It's bringing
my confidence way down.

Now I'm beginning
to doubt myself.

- Nothing.
- Gabriel: Okay.

- Try it again.
- I'm not sure

if we should keep digging
and spending the money

or cut my losses
and stop right here.

It's hard decision,
because it took us years

to get to this point.

[ grunting ]

[ groans ]

Didn't punch through?
Did it seem a little shaky?

Chris: Good thing is there's
definitely a hole back there.

Uh, everything's still
holding together.

[ alarm wailing ]

Hey, I got bad gas in here.
Let's go, let's go.

Pull line! Pull line!

Go, go, go, go, go.

Narrator: Miners Kevin
Hoagland and Chris Hegg

were drilling holes
for expl*sives

when Chris's oxygen monitor
went off.

Come on. Gotta get out.

Keep going.
We gotta get...

- [ alarm continues ]
- Come on.

[ bleep ]

- I'm coming over your head.
- Okay, untether.

Come on, Kevin.
Come on, everybody...

Kevin: Get me
the [ bleep ] out of here.

Chris: Stay low.
Watch your head.

- [ alarm continues ]
- [ bleep ]

[ muted chatter, gasping ]

[ alarm continues ]

The adrenaline's dropped, man,

and now I'm feeling everything.

That [ bleep ] meter going off
wrecked me.

About 30 years ago,
I had a good friend...

he didn't have a meter.

He didn't even know
what happened to him.

- How you doing?
- I'm better.

I'll be all right.

Yeah, that was pretty quick.

There's no way that that hole
is gonna beat me.

I'm not gonna let that happen.
I'm not gonna die in there.

I need to go back
to being a miner,

and I need to put
this thing together,

then figure out what it's
gonna take to get in this hole.

'Cause it ain't gonna beat me.

I'm going back in,
and I need you to watch my a*s.

- Okay. I'm in.
- I know you are.

What do we got in the arsenal

to either breathe that thing
or air it out?

Yeah, we gotta blow some
kind of air in there, yeah.

Let's get off
this [ bleep ] hill.

Narrator: Kevin and Chris are
headed to the machine shop

to figure out a way to get back
into the mine safely.

Kevin: Chris had the idea
of coming back to the home base

and going through there and
just seeing what we could find.

What we're looking to do
is just make this

a really simple build.

We need a blower type fan,

and that has to be encased
and it needs to push air out.

And from there,
we'll take some sheet metal

and we'll build a box that
we can attach other parts to

and get to where
we need it to go.

Narrator: Kevin and Chris
are trying to create a way

to run fresh air into the mine

and down into the pit.

They hope to vent
any carbon dioxide

that may have accumulated there.

- That might be a start.
- Excellent.

Kevin: I'm glad it was Chris
on the other end of that line,

and I'm glad that I trust Chris
as much as I do.

We gotta cover
this whole thing up.

- Sheet metal.
- Okay, so some sheet metal.

When something like that
that happens that deadly,

we're so dependent
upon each other,

me to get him out of the hole

and him to make sure
that I'm out.

- That's perfect.
- It's not dangerous.

It's deadly.
That's way too thick.

Here's some old rusty stuff.

It doesn't have to be pretty.
All it has to do is work.

Chris: There we go.

Chris and I are not
going to take any chances.

We are going to do
whatever it takes

to make sure that we are safe

and that our air is always good.

Okay, check this out.

Do that.

Heavy duty.

- Okay.
- Moment of truth.

It's working.

I'd say we're getting air.

All right, man. Good job.
Good job.

- We got a blower.
- Chris: Yep.

Kevin: Grab your gloves.

Let's lock up
and get out of here.

Chris: All right.

Just make sure to make it
a little wider, too.

Okay.

Narrator: The Dillman team
is expanding the opening

to the chamber they discovered.

They're looking for any sign
of a human presence...

or the entrance
to a tunnel system.

Dan:
A tunnel system to me says

it could be engineering,
possibly even manmade.

It gives purpose
to why we're here

and to what we're looking for.

I think we're cool
to get in, man.

- Okay.
- Great work!

Derrick: This drop-off like
I was talking about...

Gina: Yikes.

Derrick:
You guys in here? Mom?

- Gina: Yep, I'm coming.
- Dan: Be careful.

It is definitely moist in here.

Derrick: Yeah.

And look,
so this is the almost...

Like, the shelf
I was talking about.

- Dan: Yeah.
- There's this shelf here.

- You seeing this, Mom?
- Gina: Yep.

You see that, Dad?

Whoa, wait a minute.

- I do.
- Gina: Those are teeth, guys.

- That's some kind of...
- Dan: Jawbone.

Yeah, I saw that.
There's more bones there.

Looks like
that could have been part

of a rib cage or a vertebrae.

That's not no small animal.
No, it's definitely a jawbone.

You can see it
from this angle over here.

It doesn't look
like anything's...

It's holding anything up.

It looks like
it was wedged there.

Dan: Yeah,
that's what's so strange.

And this looks kind of
like a tibia or a...

That, Dad...
I mean, I can reach it.

Nah, we don't wanna
touch it yet.

It's not gonna go anywhere.

Yeah, these bones
are interesting.

Just the way
that jawbone's placed,

I don't think that's natural.

I mean, that's... oh, [ bleep ].

Hey, look at this, guys.

It's super small.

No, that's maize, man.

This is definitely
ancient corn, man.

Ancient maize.

Maize is sacred.
It wasn't just food.

The fact that it's just so tiny,
you can see the level

of detail on it still
after hundreds of years.

Dan: There's a lot
to investigate in here.

All right, show me where the ERT
scan said the tunnels were.

Follow me over here.

You see that slab almost
across the top right there?

- Dan and Gina: Yeah.
- And how it looks like

it's almost dug out
just a little bit underneath?

Fits right in line
with the readings we were

looking at earlier leading
straight towards Three Lakes.

Dan: Right.

And there is no massive objects.

Doesn't seem at this point
another entrance

that we can see
that we could walk into.

I had hope that entering
into this chamber

we would find some
of Montezuma's treasure.

But there's a reason, a purpose,

why this has been hidden
and covered up.

And so I still believe
that we're in the right place.

We got more trials
to go through.

- We have more to do.
- There's no giving up,

but this is the end
of the road for today.

If we're gonna attempt
to dig this out,

it ain't happening by hand,
and I don't quite know

how we're gonna do it,

but we're gonna have
to figure it out.

Kevin: What have you got
onto your left?

- Chris: Oh, not... not a lot.
- Kevin: No. No, no, no, no.

You got a foot and a half
on your right.

I think you do that
sometimes on purpose.

I think you go for that last
little bounce all the time.

Chris: Maybe.

Narrator:
Kevin and Chris are preparing

to install a ventilation system
to gain access

to the pit area of the mine...

First things first.

Where they believe another
mineshaft may be hidden.

Kevin: We're going to pump
as much air into this thing

to make it safe.

I got my gas monitor.

We don't know
if it's dissipated.

Not taking any chances.

Here's a shorty.

Narrator:
Their plan is to run a pipe

the length of the mineshaft

and pump fresh air into the pit

to dilute any carbon dioxide

that may have accumulated.

Okay, I'm gonna run in
real quick

just a short ways and pull that.

- Meter's good?
- Yep, meter's just beeped.

All right, brother.

Chris: This is the first time

we've walked back down
in the mine.

You know, we're still,
not really spooked,

but, man, we're on our toes.

Kevin: Hey, Chris,
before I go any further,

give me a gas reading.

Chris: So far so good, but
let's keep an eye on it, okay?

Kevin: Okay. Hang tight.
How are we gonna do this?

Uh, let me get to
the other side.

We're gonna have to start
making some weird bends.

Narrator: Chris and Kevin are
not going down into the pit

where the gas was detected,

so they must get the 20 foot
sections of pipe

down the narrow 90-degree drop.

- Oh, whoa.
- You got it?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Careful, careful.
- Yep, yep.

There's all kinds of components.

We got dryer venting.

We got band clamps
to hold it together.

We got some duct tape.
Whatever it's gonna take.

Chris: Okay, Kevin,
you ready to go down?

- Yep.
- Oh!

Easy, easy, easy, easy, easy.

Narrator:
The team needs to be careful

as the pipe is lowered
into the pit.

- Kevin: Let me feed it.
- They don't wanna stir up

the carbon dioxide and make it
rise up into the mine.

Okay, I'm gonna lift this, okay?

Hang on. I'm getting
a lot of weight on me.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

- [ rattling ]
- Got some rocks in there.

Well, at least we know
the pipe's going

- all the way to the bottom.
- Yep.

Pipe's laid.

We're gonna let the mine
air out as long as we can.

- We pushed our luck.
- Let's go. Let's go.

Then we're gonna come back,
set the blasters, blow the wall,

and see what is behind it.

Let's move some air, man.

Narrator:
Dan, Gina, and Derrick Dillman

have brought in
archeologist Aaron Jordan

to help them make sense of
an item they found in a chamber

that they just opened.

Within this chamber,
we have found something

really interesting,
and I wanted to share it

with you today
and get your opinion on it.

Okay. Let's see it.

Oh, whoa.

Wow, that is nice.

So you've got yourself...
Let's count that.

That looks like
an eight-row corn husk,

which is definitely not modern.

So you're definitely dealing
with something that's quite old.

- Right.
- What's the significance

- with the eight-row of corn?
- As corn was developed,

it basically started
South America, moved up north.

The eight-row
is kind of original.

Narrator: Corn was the staple
crop of the Aztecs.

By boiling the dried kernels
in water and lime,

they produced nixtamal,

a more workable, flavorful,
and nutritious product

from which they could make
tortillas,

tamales, and porridge.

Preservation's actually
pretty amazing.

One other thing that
I'm keying in on here

is one of the ways that
they would dry their corn.

You see how
the actual corn husks,

most of them actually have...
But it's cored out.

- Derrick: Mm-hmm.
- A lot of times we actually

find these corn husks like that

that actually a stick
has been run through them

they'd actually have to
hold them for drying purposes.

So this is something
that's absolutely

been not just man-grown...
We could say they processed it,

they've treated it,
they've dried it out.

What would be the reason
for them to dry it out?

Oh, we think of corn
like corn on the cob, right?

You know, nice and juicy
and butter.

What they would do
is they'd actually

make corn meal out of it.

So they want those kernels
to actually dry out,

and then grind them, they make
the corn flour out of it,

and then they'd make
a bunch of different stuff

once it's into a flour.

As an archeologist,
this tells me

that we are dealing with
a specific group of people

that had communication
with Central and South America

because that's where
the corn came from.

So that tells me also
that these people, you know,

as you've got
your fields planted,

you don't wanna leave them.

So that also caused
people to settle.

So that also tells me
if this is showing up here

in this particular canyon

that there's probably
nearby habitation areas.

Dan: Listening to Aaron
talk to me

about this maize, this corn,

and the attributes that it has,

you know, that tells me that
we've got a connection here.

We've got people living
in this chamber.

To me, there's
some great significance

to us finding
this piece of corn.

Like I said, it really does
bring us back though

to indicate that
the alcove you're in

absolutely could've
been occupied.

And not only occupied,

it was occupied by people
that were growing corn.

- Right.
- Which means that we're dealing

with people like the Anasazi
and the Aztec,

people that were sedentary,
building civilization.

We're not talking
hunter-gatherers here.

Yep, there's the hard stuff
right there.

Narrator:
Jerome and a small crew

continue to work Fire Pit one.

Despite hitting bedrock
during yesterday's dig,

the Villescas team have decided
to completely exhaust this site

before crossing it
off their list

as they continue their search
for Spanish gold bars.

Le me get this stuff
out of the way.

All right, guys, I'm gonna
start digging right here,

and I'm gonna put it over there.

- Okay.
- You've got it.

Jerome: It's been kind of
disappointing, you know,

to be working out here
and digging

and then hitting the bedrock
like I have.

You know, 'cause then
it tells me that nobody

dug any deeper than that.

Nothing is buried there,

but we'll check every pile
out here

and we're gonna
go through everything.

There.

I got my buddy Miguel over here

just keeping an eye out
as I dig.

He's my eyes in the hole.

I had a couple of other guys
over here

as I throw the tillings
to the side.

Spread it out thin
so these guys can find it.

They're going through with
metal detectors, shovels,

just keeping an eye out
for any artifact

we can find out here.

Miguel: Hey.

It changed colors.

What do you think?

It seems different right here.
Like, soft, huh?

It's just weird that it changed
color, and it's really soft.

Look how flat it is.

All the other black rock
we've hit in this pit

has been solid, and I've had to
bust it up with the excavator.

This is different.

I mean, the machine
was struggling to dig

through all that other stuff,

and we're just taking this
out by hand.

These black rocks
I'm looking at now,

they look like
they're stacked bricks.

I don't know. You think
this stuff was placed in here?

Possibly.

Dan:
So if you follow me...

This is what we're dealing
with here.

Narrator:
The Dillman team have called in

heavy machine operators
to figure out a way

to get a drilling rig
into the chamber.

Dan's plan is to drill a hole
so he can send in a camera

to see if the openings
he found in the ERT scans

are actually tunnels.

We've got a massive cavern here,

and we've got
a couple anomalies,

a couple areas inside

that we want you to focus on
with the drill

and see if we can't penetrate
into a tunnel system.

- Okay.
- And so we need to find a way

to get you in there.
That's why I've got Bert here.

Because we need to dig this out

so that he can get
his drill rig in there.

- Cool.
- All right.

Let's get the hell in there.

Just a reminder, Bert!

Watch out for the wall
when you get closer.

That kind of what you want?
Just a ramp going down in there?

- Absolutely, man.
- Yeah, as much as you can.

Bert: All right.

What we're doing right now
is we've got Bert here

clearing away the entrance
to the chamber.

We've got a drill rig here.

That drill rig needs to be able

to be lowered down
as close as possible

so that the drillers
can start penetrating

into what we believe
is a tunnel system.

That looks like about as far
as you can get in there.

Yeah, I can't go much further.

All right, well, we'll get you
to back this bad boy out,

and we're gonna get
the drill rig in here

and see what we can find.

I can't even begin to explain
the excitement that is building.

But I also to have
to be reserved.

We've been overjoyed
at locations,

and then it turns out
there's nothing there.

Narrator: Decades before,
in the same Utah canyon,

Dan's grandfather
Raymond Dillman

identified the location

of another potential
treasure chamber

in a cave known as Three Lakes.

In 2003, Dan conducted
an ERT scan there

and discovered a chamber.

About ten foot by ten foot...

- Opening.
- Opening down there.

A cavity down there.

But when they drilled down,

they found it was flooded.

Dan, I don't see any motion
of the water to me.

They then tried to find

the opening through
the lake itself,

but eventually determined
it was too dangerous.

All right, come up.

Now almost 20 years later,

Dan hopes this chamber
will produce better results.

Dan:
If we find a tunnel system,

then we've got proof
of manmade engineering.

Does that mean
the treasure's here?

I hope to God it does.

- Good there?
- Yeah, man, this is perfect.

We're gonna want
to get that drill bit

directly into that corner,

I'd say at about
a 45-degree angle.

- Right, Derrick?
- Yeah.

It should be 80 to 100 feet in.

The tunnel system
could be closer.

It could be farther.

- All right.
- We're ready.

Go ahead and start drilling.

Dan: We've got to get
into what I believe

is a tunnel system.

If we can do that,

we're one step closer
to our goal.

I mean, the machine
was struggling

to dig through
all that other stuff,

and we're just
taking this out by hand.

Narrator:
While digging in Fire Pit one,

Jerome and his team
have made an unusual find.

You think this stuff
was placed in here?

A pocket of soft black stone
just above the bedrock.

Look at the color difference
from the red to the black.

See how it just comes apart
and it's real flat?

It's pieced together.
It's real flat.

How far back does it go
over there?

It ends about right here.

Jerome: If these black rocks
were natural,

it would look like
more solid face of rock,

not stacked, not like bricks.

Look, there's a good,
what, three, four inches,

five inches of clay?

I think they sealed it

'cause water doesn't
go through clay.

- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?

So they probably didn't want
no moisture in there.

And, look, it's very thin,
like if somebody capped it.

All right, Miguel,
I think we need

to clear all this stuff off
and get to that clay layer

- and see what it looks like.
- Sounds good.

See why it's there, you know?
This is a good find, man.

It's a good start of something.

[ horn honks ]

Gotta be easy with this thing

and get down to that clay layer.

I just don't wanna crush it.

Right there.
Straight back.

Let's check it out!

It's not just a little,
you know, 4x4 piece

in the middle of a rock pit.

It just doesn't
make sense to me.

So the clay's just
right in here, right?

- Right here?
- Looks kinda like a square

- or something, right?
- Yeah.

Just look at the orange.
It comes like this.

And then comes up
like this and goes back.

Solid rock all around.

Why would this be here
like that?

Let me have that other shovel.

Start scanning this stuff.
Something's here.

- [ beeps ]
- Let's just remove all this

rock and get to that clay.

You guys scan it
while we shovel it

just in case there's
something in there.

See, look.
Why did it change again?

- Now it's orange right here.
- [ beeping ]

Dig a little deeper right there.

Where's that little pick?

[ hollow knocking ]

- You guys hear that?
- It sounds hollow.

We might have
to call Gabe over here.

- Jerome to Gabe.
- Gabriel: Go ahead, Jerome.

Hey, bro,
can you come to pit one?

We kind of found
a little something over here.

Gabriel:


The way these black stones
are stacked

in this clay layer
and the hollow sound,

it just seems like a void's
in there somewhere.

It seems like a structure.

Yeah, I see the drill working
a little bit harder!

Narrator:
The Dillman team is using

a horizontal drilling rig

to try and bore a hole
into a possible tunnel system.

Derrick:
I don't know what to expect.

I'm excited, I'm worried,
I'm stressed.

Whoever's tunnel system it was,
once we're in there

who knows what we're gonna find?

About how many feet do you think
we're in about now?



What I want is proof to show
that we know what we're doing,

we know what we're talking
about, and that this is real.

My family's been doing this
for years, for a generation,

and this could be
that next big boom

that pushes us
even further forward

than we ever thought
we would be.

- What's going on?
- Think we hit a pocket.

Yeah, we're about 100 feet in.

- Hit a pocket?
- Yeah. Open space.

- Open like a void?
- Yeah.

Hey, Dad, you got a copy?

Dan: What's going on?

It looks like
we have something here.

Hey, bro, can you come
to pit one?

We kind of found a little
something over here

you might want to look at.

Gabriel:


Narrator:
After a week of digging

in three separate pits
with no significant finds,

Jerome believes he may have
finally uncovered

something important
in Fire Pit one.

What you guys got there?

Found some clay right here,
but check this out.

This is what Miguel found
and stopped me.

Yeah, we were digging,
hitting this hard gray stuff.

This is stone. Hard, hard.

But look at this.

This stuff looks like it was
just stacked in there.

This stone, look how just...

- That is incredible.
- Look at this.

- And just comes right out.
- Oh, yeah.

But the other thing is,
is look at this clay layer.

All this clay...

and it only goes
from here to here.

And look.
Look at the colors.

This is stuff
that you see on the surface.

Gabriel: Oh, yeah. Oh.

We're 20 feet down
in the ground.

Look at that. Water ain't
gonna penetrate that.

- Nope.
- And the other thing is, watch.

Hand me that, Miguel.
Look it.

Listen to this, bro.

[ hollow knocking ]

Wow.

Huh!

See what I mean?

[ hollow knocking ]

You find any square edges to it?

It looks like it runs
right there.

Back over that way,
and then it died right there.

Gabriel: What could this be?
We don't know yet.

It's perfectly flat.
It's sitting horizontal,

Now that we've found
some edges on there,

you know, we're noticing
that this thing,

it's got some
definitely shape to it.

I mean, it looks like
it's out of place.

Let's dig it up
and see what we got.

It just... it goes that way, huh?

Continues this way.

Trying to find the edges
of whatever this is.

Let's follow it.

This is like stone, dude.

It's getting
kind of exciting, huh?

It's still going this way
right here. Look.

There it is.

That's almost square.
Almost perfectly square.

In a pit of nothing
but small rocks,

we got this
large rectangular rock

that it's about six,
eight inches thick,

probably 300 or 400 pounds,
you know?

This was definitely
placed there.

It almost looks like
a capstone, huh?

Yep.

My instincts tell me that this
is something manmade.

Maybe it is got a...
A hollow spot underneath it.

Let's keep going.

This is definitely way deeper
than a regular person,

you know, coming out here to
hide something would've done,

even down to having
a capstone sealed with clay.

I mean, this is perfect.
I'm really getting excited here.

Jerome: Let's see
if we can lift it.

- Ready?
- [ grunting ]

- No way, huh?
- There's no chance.

How are we gonna get this
off of there?

Gabe, there's something
under there. Look.

Some of the dirt just
went into a little hole.

- See that dirt going in?
- Yeah.

I think it's hollow under it.

Maybe we can find a way

to get something underneath it
or around it.

- Strap it?
- Yeah.

Yeah, let's get the straps
and get to doing it

and see what's in there.

Obviously it's too heavy
for three men to pick up.

So we gotta put a ratchet strap
around the base of it,

grab ahold of this rock,

utilize the tractor
to pick it up out of the way,

and not be destructive,

not destroy
what's underneath there.

Why don't you bring
that machine on over?

Jerome: I think
something's down there.

I don't know what's in there.
We don't know if it's gold.

We don't know
if it's a dead body, bones,

but obviously
somebody was trying

to protect something big here.

This guy a little bit more.

Come on.
Hurry up, hurry up.

I don't know. You think
that's gonna do it, Dad?

- Ramon: I think so.
- Today!

You ready?

Yeah, real slow. Real slow.

Little more.

- Come on.
- Yeah, a little bit more.

It's coming off.

- That's coming off, Gabe.
- Oh! Whoa! h*!

Hey, take a look at this!

Narrator: On the season finale
of "Lost Gold of the Aztecs"...

Fire in the hole!

Looks like a vertical shaft
back here.

I've never seen
anything like this.

I've gotta see it, man.
I've gotta see this.

This could be a treasure room.
It could be.

Chris: We're gonna be stepping
into a time machine.

Jerome: What's in there?

Gabriel: That's a treasure
in itself right there,

just be able to locate
something like this.

All right, I'm going in.

Dan: We've got a camera that's
designed to go into pipes,

and we're gonna find out
if that opening is a tunnel.

All right, you got it.
Keep on going.

I feel that we are
right at the cusp

of finding
where the treasure is.

You see that? What is that?