Ubaid lizard-men the name Ubaid is derived from an archaeologists site where a large amount of material from the period was excavated tell a low bade among the artifacts unearthed were what has come to be known as obeyed lizard-men they are humanoid figures with reptilian characteristics the actual definitive genesis of the obeyed civilization is a mystery they are known to have lived in villages scattered about the region they were acquainted with basic architecture they paved their streets and built admirable structures considering the time in which they existed they were also accomplished in the agricultural sciences they were perhaps the first to use a relatively advanced irrigation system some of the larger buildings and temples they created became focal points of the later Sumerian civilization the alibied site was first excavated in 1919 by Harry Reginald Hal whose team discovered both male and female lizard man figurines in varying postures nearly all the figurines appear to be wearing helmets and shoulder padding some of the figures are holding scepters female figures are depicted holding infants that appear to be suckling milk suckling is a mammalian trait reptiles do not suckle or produce milk both the parent and the child figurines are reptilian lizard like ancient alien theorists have speculated that perhaps these lizard men figurines depict an ancient race of star people who came to Earth in the obedient era naysayers point out that the Ubaid civilization practiced skull modification whereby the skull was manipulated from infancy to deform to an oblong shape this would explain the head shapes the almond shaped oval eyes are a common primitive stylistic rendering of Asiatic features and less pronounced examples have been found around the region but why the two features were merged together on one genre of sculpture is a mystery in and of itself the obaid themselves were not Asiatic had they been there would have been more of a realistic depiction of the eyes which is evidenced by ancient oriental art artifacts of lizard-like creatures have been found in the Middle East and many other ancient civilizations spanning the globe alibi'd archaeologists site in Iraq is a goldmine for archaeologists and historians it has yielded numerous objects from a pre-sumerian time called you bide period five thousand nine hundred to 4,000 BC however some of these objects are quite disturbing several Umayyad statues depicting strange lizard like humanoid figures in unique unceremonious poses that seem to indicate they were not gods such as the animal headed deities of Egypt but rather a race of lizard people of course the statues have been drawn into stories and theories of reptilian aliens that used to roam the earth and perhaps still do the figurines are presented with long needles almond shaped eyes long tapered faces and a lizard type nose what exactly they represent is completely unknown according to archeologists their postures such as a female figure breastfeeding does not suggest that they were ritualistic objects so what did these lizard figures represent whatever they were they appear to have been important to the ancient Hawaii people we know that the serpent was a major symbol used in many societies to represent several gods for example the Sumerian god Enki and the snake was used later as a symbol for the Brotherhood of the snake [Music] serpent mound serpent mound is the largest surviving example of a prehistoric effigy mound in the world stretching 1348 feet over the ground the beautifully preserved ancient earthwork depicts the form of an undulating serpent with an oval shape at the head many groups of ancient American Indian cultures called the area of southern Ohio home for thousands of years prior to European contact and vestiges of their sophisticated art and large-scale earthen creations remain unfortunately many of our lands prehistoric earthworks have been lost in recent centuries due to development and agriculture but Serpent Mound was spared this fate early excavations of portions of the Serpent Mound revealed no artifacts to help identify which ancient indigenous culture constructed this immense earth work at least two different mound building cultures were present at the site in succession over time three conical burial mounds can be found near Serpent Mound two of them belonged to identical Chur 800 BC to 100 AD and one to the fort ancient culture 1000 to 1650 ad a nearby village side evidences occupation by both the Adina and later fort ancient cultures the builders left no written records so investigation and speculation continued on in both archaeological and less formal circles attempting to explain the serpent mounds origins the original purpose of the Serpent Mound remains a mystery no record of explanation other than the earth work itself has been discovered and the historical oral traditions that might have connected us to the distant past have been highly interrupted there are many theories as to what the earthwork could have been intended for there is some evidence for astronomical correlations that suggest an earthly acknowledgement of cosmic celestial events the nearby burial mound and the timelessly moving quality of the Serpent's coils suggest it was once a site of sacred worship the serpent motif has a connection to the cycles of birth death and nature in many cultures throughout the world modern visitors may enjoy contemplating the mysteries of our lands ancestors feeling a connection to the past and sensing of wonder at the scale of early people's physical and artistic accomplishments mystery rather than certainty remains the site's greatest gift to the present generations and all visitors are welcome to enter the circle of conjecture Serpent Mound was known to native peoples and early settlers of Adams County for many years but was brought to general attention in the 1840s by the famous pair who made a broad survey of Ohio's earthworks Squier and Davis in the 1880s Massachusetts archaeologist Frederick Warde Putnam became interested in the site and noticed that it was being degraded by erosion and vandalism he was able to raise the funds to purchase the land in the name of Harvard University and it was dedicated as a public park in 1900 the site was turned over to the Ohio Historical Society which supervised the building of the observation tower overlooking the effigy and later in the 1930s the facilities and shelter house libation base of the god NGC de neo Sumerian era around 21 20 BC the inscription reads to the god ninja sida his god Gudea NC governor of lagash for the prolongation of his life health has dedicated this this is the earliest known instance of the caduceus ninja sita was a guardian of the higher realm and thought to be the equivalent of Thoth and Hermes Hermes Trismegistus and the early Mesoamerican god quotes a caudal ninja Zita is credited with providing Gudea one of su mares most enlightened and well-known rulers 22nd century BCE a set of divine instructions a holy stylus in which the direction and orientation of a great temple could be established the temple was a ziggurat a seven stage pyramid and ninja Zita Thoth Hermes Hermes Trismegistus etc instructed him in how to build a firm foundation capable of supporting the structure the original cornerstone the caduceus is the original symbol for he who possesses the philosopher's stone it is one of the most ancient symbols of alchemy it signified the enlightened philosopher priest King the archetype of the Egyptian pharaoh and all the kings and chiefs from all over the world that followed the Serpent's represent the balance in duality of Moon and Sun a female and male of the two hemispheres of the mind of the Hermetic soul the enlightened human the complete divine [Music] the ancient civilizations of America were unique and their history has been mostly passed down through oral history but there is some physical evidence that we can examine the remnants of these lost ancient American civilizations can still be seen if you look hard enough Chaco Canyon ruins Chaco culture National Historic Park preserves a major historic center of ceremony and trade in San Juan Basin just south of Farmington New Mexico natural beauty and cultural significance meet in this area of northwestern New Mexico where ruins artifacts and other archaeological sites radiate from Chaco Canyon cultural epicenter around 200 AD the first farmers settled in what is now Chaco using agriculture to supplement hunting and gathering and building small pit houses on the Mesa for shelter this era of early Pueblo culture lasted more than a half century until drastic changes in the complexity and scale of building construction changed the face of both the culture and the landscape for 300 years this latest version of Pueblo culture coined Anasazi flourished constructing impressive buildings and roads throughout the greater Chaco region with Chaco Canyon as the epicenter and then they vanished abandoning Chaco Canyon around 1150 ad there are many ideas about the cause of this sudden Exodus including prolonged drought but the likely complex reasons for this Exodus remain a mystery amazing building skills are what most defined the Chaco culture massive great houses are a significant divergence from the traditional Pueblo settlements great houses are unusually large multi-story masonry buildings made of stacked stone usually sandstone and mortar in addition to their size highly refined masonry techniques and advanced engineering make these structures truly spectacular featuring hundreds of rooms some very large and several circular Kiva's built within the main structure in traditional Pueblo domestic settlements Kiva's were in a central plaza each great house had a separate great Kiva nearby over 200 outlying Giacomin great houses exist in the greater Chaco region with a bit of a mystery still surrounding their purpose some believe they served as the center for massive settlements while others have seen them as trade centers or ceremonial developments Giacomin roads are another defining aspect of the Chaco culture an elaborate road system served to connect Great Houses and significant landscape features across the Greater Chaco region there are over 100 miles of prehistoric roads associated with Chaco some of which can still be traced today like Chico and Great Houses these roads were massive and built with an elevated level of engineering skill they were also remarkably linear while most roads and trails contour with the landscape Chacoan roads follow direct lines to a destination often going over rather than contouring around major landscape features and taking angular bends instead of gentle curves some of these roads extended for miles in a single direction Chaco culture was intimately linked to the Stars the Chaco and people were experts sky watchers with a strong connection between celestial events and daily life this connection of the stars is evident in the architecture of the Great Houses where architectural features are aligned with significant astronomical events similar alignments are found in observational and ceremonial sites throughout the Greater Chaco region with astronomy as a center point of culture dark night skies were an integral component of Chaco and life this feature is largely preserved today as the night sky of the greater Chaco region remains one of the most unpopulated in the u.s. sargon of akkad masks sargon of akkad who came into power around 23 40 BCE was the first Mesopotamian ruler to unite Sioux mayor and other Mesopotamian territories under one regime and proclaim himself king in his own right along with this political shift came a shift in artistic representation earlier works often focused on depictions of divine beings in the Akkadian period the rise of human sovereigns led to the creation of royal portraits that glorified earthly rulers this bronze portrait had believed to represent Sargon as one of the first of these royal likenesses through its precise detailed craftsmanship and realistic features not seen in earlier works the head simultaneously conveys a sense of its subjects grandeur and humanity in the ancient Near East the concept of representation involved a complex relationship between the image and the entity it represented the image of a person was more than a symbol standing for that person rather it embodied some of the real presence of the individual and could therefore act as a substitute for him or her by inscribing the individual's name on the figure furthermore that presence could be enhanced following this line of thinking the head of Sargon originally a full bodied sculpture would have been not just a statement of the Kings power but also a perpetual embodiment of it likewise to damage the sculpture would have been to harm the king himself only the world comes across events discoveries and architectural pieces that generate a lot of controversies debates and arguments the Ramat set - also known as Adams bridge is very much real there is no debate regarding that or what has caused controversies is the multitude of tales surrounding its origin what makes this structure very interesting is the fact it is described in ancient Hindu scriptures in the epic it is mentioned how ramayana built a bridge 1 million seven hundred thousand years ago between India and the coast of Sri Lanka Rama whose wife had been kidnapped organized an army consisting of monkeys and built a bridge that led them to Sri Lanka where a lengthy war broke out a carved stone relief at prominent temple on the island of Java in Indonesia shows monkeys helping Rama bringing stones for building the bridge in a strange turn of events a us-based news channel along with Vaishnava news network said that they found a remnant of the bridge constructed by Lord Hanuman and the Vanara army and that they had evidence collected from a NASA satellite to prove their claims then the doctor Badri Narayan Anna the former director of the Geological Survey of India performed a survey of this structure and concluded it was man-made dr. Badri Narayan on and his team drilled 10 bore holes along the alignment of Adam's bridge what he discovered was startling about 6 metres below the surface he found a consistent layer of kal Souris sandstone corals and Boulder like materials his team was surprised when they discovered a layer of loose sand some 4 to 5 meters further down and then hard rock formations below that a team of divers examined the bridge the boulders they observed were not composed of a typical marine formation they were identified as having come from either side of the causeway there is evidence of ancient coring in these areas his team concluded that materials from either shore were placed upon the sandy bottom of the water to form the causeway according to his evidence this could be real Baghdad battery a 2200 year-old clay jar found near Baghdad Iraq has been described as the oldest known electric battery in existence the clay jar and others like it are part of the holdings of the National Museum of Iraq and have been attributed to the Parthian Empire an ancient Asian culture that ruled most of the Middle East from 247 BC to 80 228 the jar itself has been dated to sometime around 200 BC it was first described in 1938 by German archaeologists Vilhelm Koenig so how is it that a 2200 year-old clay jar can be called a battery those who've examined it closely say that there's little else that it can be the nondescript earth and is only five and a half inches by three inches across the opening was sealed with an asphalt plug which held in place a copper sheet rolled into a tube this tube was capped at the bottom with a copper disc held in place by more asphalt a narrow iron rod was stuck through the upper asphalt plug and hung down into the center of the copper tube not touching any part of it fill the jar with an acidic liquid such as vinegar or fermented grape juice and you have yourself a battery capable of generating a small current the acidic liquid permits a flow of electrons from the copper tube to the iron rod when the two metal terminals are connected this is basically the same principle that was discovered by Galvani 2,000 years later and that Volta successfully harnessed into the first modern battery a few years later experiments with models of the Baghdad battery have generated between 1.5 and 2 volts not a lot of power so what would batteries have been used for 2,000 years ago perhaps the battery was used as a ready source of anaglyphic electricity other theories hold that several batteries could have been linked together to generate a higher voltage for the use in electroplating gold - a silver surface more experiments with several Baghdad type batteries have shown this to be possible [Music] for Nefertiti bust Nefertiti wife of pharaoh akhenaten and queen of egypt known for her beauty many works depicting the ancient and mysterious monarchs still exist the most remarkable discovery thus far is none other than the world-renowned Nefertiti bust in December 1912 the German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt oversaw a dig it was on the banks of the Nile River that an Egyptian workers stumbled across the rubble of a structure the structure was the studio and home of celebrated quartz sculptor Thutmose among the debris the team uncovered an astounding artifact it was upside down and embedded in the floor of the workshop the elegantly carved statue illustrates Nefertiti's delicate features and swan-like neck with expert precision the paint is detailed enhancing her beauty in various shades of red green blue gold and black and his intact and in excellent condition Nefertiti's bust details both her delicate features and a finely detailed necklace and lavish headdress one eye is inlaid with wax and crystal though due to unknown circumstances unfortunately Thutmose was unable to finish the second eye she is alluring nonetheless years of examination and technological advances have helped analyze the makeup of Nefertiti bust studies conclude she consists of layers of gypsum stucco plaster and a limestone core the use of stucco plaster enabled Thutmose to craft her headdress face and neck the plaster also led to the symmetry of the sculpture in fact the lines of her face and headdress form a perfect triangle the age of this incredible artwork is approximately 3,300 years the bust has been the source of much controversy since the discovery and not just between Egypt and Germany upon its discovery it appears that board shot fudged the facts so to speak a 1924 document alleges that board shut made it a point to downplay the significance of his discovery he did so by stating that it was made of gypsum and not limestone stucco the idea was that the bust could remain in German possession the bust has been a source of pride for Germany for over a century even Hitler had a deep fondness for the statue having said I will never relinquish the head of the Queen to this day the bust remains a sore subject in regard to diplomacy between Germany and Egypt chief of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities aji Hawass has attempted to request the bus returned to Egypt but curators at Berlin's Egyptian Museum vehemently assert that it is too fragile and may sustain damage if moved to sum the bus denotes a point in Egyptian history during which a temporary switch to monotheism took place and changed the cultural ideals of beauty to others the statue represents the mystique of femininity and the ability for women to rise to power Nefertiti's busts spent the initial years after its discovery in the private collection of philanthropist James Simon though he eventually donated his collection to various museums in Berlin and had been on public display since 1923 Scotland Petros fears the carved stone balls are mysterious objects and they have been the subject of much speculation by scientists over the years over 400 of these unique objects have been found nearly all of them in Scotland with the majority found in Aberdeenshire however some samples were also discovered in Britain and Ireland the stone balls date from about 3500 to 1500 BC a period spanning between the later Neolithic era and the Bronze Age almost all come from Scotland a few have been found in northern England and Ireland all of the stones are made of various materials ranging from sandstone to granite and they are all decorated with knobs around the surface the number of knobs range from between three and 160 but the most common ones are those with six projecting knobs some carved balls have additional decorations such as the spaces between the knobs which are decorated with hatchings in size the lines spirals and concentric circles most of the stones are of a comparable size with a diameter of three inches although some larger ones were found ranging from 3.5 and 4.5 inches over 400 examples of these balls are known the symmetrical patterns engraved all over the surface on some of the objects suggest that Neolithic people were experimenting with solid geometry a type of geometrical form known as platonic solid the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Plato was the first to mention these solids as the core patterns of physical creation intriguingly the Scottish stones are dated a millennium before Plato's time which is what makes them so fascinating for mathematicians they believe that there is a possibility that these stones are the earliest examples of experiments in solid geometry anywhere in the world a possible relationship to the platonic solids of the Greek mathematicians historians have puzzled over the use and meaning of these stones and while many theories have been offered none have been firmly accepted theories range from spiritual meanings tools tribal council meetings speaking stones a form of currency weapons etc as of today these stones remain a complete mystery rosetta stone this find was made by a French soldier in 1799 Pierre Bouchard who was simply trying to increase the size of a French fort in Rosetta Egypt stumbled upon the rosetta stone it was in an old wall that was being demolished for the expansion of the fort fortunately the commanding officer recognized its importance and extracted the piece at the time of its discovery Napoleon the Emperor of France was invading Egypt so the rosetta stone was claimed as French property until 1801 soon after its discovery the British defeated the French and claimed all their important cultural artifacts since 1802 the stone has been held in the British Museum for viewing the ownership of the stone has caused a lot of controversy over the years many Egyptians feel that the stone belongs to their country and should be held in a museum on Egyptian soil the rosetta stone was created in 196 BCE for Ptolemy v the king of Egypt at the time it is a black basalt slab with an inscription also known as Stella it was measured about four feet by two and a half feet and it was originally a part of a bigger slab that was in a temple at Cius about 35 miles north of Alexandria the Stella presents a decree issued in Egypt that praises Ptolemy v for his achievements and states that a statue will be set up in his honor the text further decrees that the King's birthday and coronation day to be celebrated with festivals and sacrifices the rosetta stone was a landmark in understanding Egyptian culture it was written in two languages Greek and Egyptian and three scripts a script is a writing style using the specific alphabet the scripts included Greek Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic in antiquity all Egyptians used one language to communicate however priests and many elites used hieroglyphics and the common people of Egypt used emmonak as their form of writing for years archaeologists were unable to decode the writing of Egyptian hieroglyphics but the rosetta stone gave them the answers they were looking for the same passage was inscribed on the stone three times in three different scripts this allowed English scientist Thomas Young and French scholar Jean Francoise Shambo Leon to decode the Egyptian hieroglyphic script Thomas Young started the process by decoding a few symbols but Jean Francoise shampo Leon is credited with deciphering most of the Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet using his knowledge of the ancient Greek language at last the culture of the Egyptians could be understood in its full context and the ascriptions on tombs pyramids and other structures could be read this was a significant moment not only for scholars but the Egyptians as well it allowed them to further understand their past and read the inscriptions of their late kings and queens hi Brazil when discussing underwater lore and legends Atlantis is an AVI subject of interest however the lost island of hi Brazil or hi Brazil is just as intriguing and has more first-person accounts the name of the island may come from the Middle Ages term Brazil which seems to indicate a source of rare red dye the dye may have acquired its name from the legendary island or vice versa or the name also called the fortunate Island may originate with the old Irish word Brea meaning noble or fortunate in folklore this island country takes its name from Brazil the high king of the world in Celtic history he may or may not be related to Brazil at colomac acock braceland from the stories of Lula Terra he was not Saint Brussels although pre-christian folklore may be the foundation for that Saints legend the mysterious island was noted on maps as early as 1325 when Genoese cartographer angelino de dalorto AKA angelina lucid placed the islands west of ireland on successive sailing charts it appears southwest of Galway Bay on some 15th century Maps islands of the Azores appears as a Zola de Brazil or insula de Brazil after 1865 hi Brazil appears on few maps since its location could not be verified regardless of the name or location the islands history is consistent it is the home of a wealthy and highly advanced civilization those who visited the island returned with tales of gold roofed towers and domes healthy cattle and opulent citizens the Irish legend of the disappearing Island is equally fascinating for example it is shrouded in fog or perhaps beneath the ocean and the island appears only briefly once every 7 years many people have visited the island for centuries both st. marine and the Saint Brendan found the island on their respective voyages and returned home with nearly identical descriptions of hi Brazil which they dubbed the promised land one of the most famous visits to hi Brazil was in 1674 by Captain John Nisbet of Killybegs company Donegal Ireland he and his crew were in familiar waters west of Ireland when a fog came up as the fog lifted the ship was dangerously close to rocks while getting their bearings the ship anchored in three fathoms of water and four crew members wrote ashore to visit Brazil Island captain Nisbet and his crew spent the day on the island and returned with silver and gold given to them by an old man who lived there supposedly the captain told of large black rabbits and a magician who lived in a castle by himself on the island however it appears that the story was the fiction of an Irish author Richard head upon the return of the crew to Ireland a second ship set out under the command of Alexander Johnson they too found the hospitable Irish Island and returned to confirm the tales of Captain Nisbet and crew the last documented sighting of hi Brazil was in 1872 when author TJ Westropp and several companions saw the island appear and then vanish this was mr. West drops third view of the Irish Island but on this voyage he had brought his mother and some friends to verify its existence researchers and archeologists have searched in the most likely locations west of Ireland and there is evidence that islands existed there shallow water shells have been found at porcupine Bank somewhat northeast of the most likely location of the Irish Island even further north similar shells were discovered at Rock Hall other islands exist near Cornwall England the Isles of Scilly there is evidence that the islets were once one much larger land mass and that rising tides that occurred around 400 to 500 AD inundated the land to form smaller islands there may also be other geological forces at work that stem from the last ice age those forces involve the Earth's rising mantle around Scotland which may be pushing down and submerging nearby land areas researchers indicate that the whole of southern England has been steadily sinking in opposition to post-glacial rebound in Scotland this has caused the Ria's drowned river valleys on the southern Cornish coast example River fall and the tamar estuary dudley dorothy excavations on nor nor in the Isles of Scilly 1962 to 6 the archaeological journal 1967 so there is evidence of geological landmass changes in that part of the Atlantic Ocean those changes may have led to Brazil Islands disappearance the most distinctive geographical feature of hi Brazil is that it appears on maps as a perfect circle with a semicircular channel through the center the circular perimeter of the island was confirmed by both Saints Marine and Brennan who separately walked the shores to determine where the island ended but never found it most likely they were walking in circles although the legendary Irish Island does not have the fame of Atlantis besides role-playing games it is a story worth exploring there have been many locations proposed for the location of Atlantis some legitimate scholarly or archaeological works others have been made by psychic means but as of yet no one has been able to prove which one of these places if any are the real Atlantis layered cylinder seal necklace lady layered necklace the gold settings are decorated with Chevron borders which imitates the latest Syrian cylinder seals and include a Syrian Lions heads and pine cone motifs Sir Austen Henry Layard married in March 1869 at the age of 52 his 25 year old bride was Enid guests daughter of Lady Charlotte Schreiber layers cousin old friend and a longtime supporter as a wedding present Laird had several seals which he had acquired during his travels made up into a necklace bracelet and two earrings in these Victorian gold settings a portrait shows Enid wearing the jewelry and she wrote in her diary that when they dined with Queen Victoria in 1873 it was much admired some of the most enigmatic cylinder seals ever discovered some depicting up Calais and fish costumes are encased in the necklace not to mention the difficult to carve chalcedony Great Zimbabwe the great zimbabwe ruins are the largest collection of ruins in Africa south of the Sahara located in the heart of southern Africa between the Zambezi and the Limpopo rivers they are a testament to a culture of great wealth and great architectural skill built between the 11th and 15th centuries Great Zimbabwe was home to a cattle herding people who was also adept at metalworking the ruins are the largest of their kind on this Ambala plateau but they are by no means unique other smaller sites were ransacked by European treasure hunters in the 19th century these smaller ruins are called Zimbabwe and can be found as far as Mozambique out of all these the ruins of Great Zimbabwe are the largest great zimbabwe ruins granite walls embellished with turrets towers platforms and elegantly sculpted stairways seem to have had no defensive function but in the words of archaeologist Peter garlic they display an architecture that is unparalleled elsewhere in Africa or beyond although in expertly restored in many places the ruins that great zimbabwe are still by a good margin the most impressive ancient structures in sub-saharan Africa they are also the source of considerable pride for present-day Zimbabweans after all the huge chiseled walls of the great enclosure with its soaring stone Tower and complex Chevron patterns are a work of high engineering skill much about great zimbabwe is still a mystery owing in large measure to frenzied plundering of the site around 1902 but it can be stated with certainty that the queen of sheba never drew breath here instead at any given time during great zimbabwe heyday anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 black africans did by the 13th century they dwelt at the epicenter of an industrious southern african empire with trading links stretching as far away as India Persia and China in a small Museum that stands near the site nowadays you inspect shards of Persian pottery a Chinese writing set and brass ornaments from Assam in India all unearth the mid or near the ruins and all extremely old outside the splendid stone buildings however the mass of people lived in conditions resembling a modern slum by the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived in southern Africa Great Zimbabwe had fallen into obscurity no one is certain why the stonework entirely without mortar gradually improves until the newest walls stand double the height and width of the oldest structures a second wall a metre inside the enclosure forms a long forbidding passage at some points the walls are 11 metres high and extend for over 800 meters up kalos ages during the neo-assyrian period 911 - 612 BCE of Kalu's were supernatural creatures or demigods who were richly depicted in Palace reliefs of Khalu sage or genie are interchangeable terms used by Assyria lodgest to describe human headed male or female or Eagle headed and winged with one or two pairs of wings figures sometimes they wore a fish skin cloak the figures are protective spirits or guardians just like angels who protect the king as well as the palace and its inhabitants and contents against evil spirits the majority were placed flanking room entrances or corners this is where the evil spirits were thought to reside the of keluar 7 sumerian sages demigods who are said to have been created by the god Enki to establish culture and give civilization to mankind they served as priests Evenki and advisors to the earliest kings or rulers of Sumer before the flood they were fished like men who emerged from the Sweetwater Abzu they are commonly represented as having the lower torso of a fish or dressed as a fish according to the myth human beings were initially unaware of the benefits of culture and civilization the god Enki sent Dillman amphibious half fish half human creatures who emerged from its oceans to live with the early human beings and teach them the me moral code the crafts the arts and other aspects of civilizations such as writing law temple and city building and agriculture the up kala remained with human beings after teaching them the ways of civilization and served as advisors to Kings the app keluar referred to in several Sumerian myths and cuneiform literature they are first referred to in the era epic by the character of Marta who asks where are the seven sages of the OPSEU the pure piranha fish who just as their Lord a ax Enki have been endowed with sublime wisdom according to the temple ham of Kawara all seven sages are said to have originally belonged to the city of aira do however the names and order of appearance of these seven stages are varied in various sources they are also referred to in the incantation series of bit Mis Aries third tablet in cuneiform sources they find references in the writings of neurosis the 3rd century BC Babylonian priests Belmar Duke neuroses describes the appearance from the Persian Gulf of the first of these sages awareness and describes him as a monster with two heads the body of a fish and human feet he then relates that more of these monsters followed the seven stages are also referred to in an exorcism text where they are described as bearing the likeness of carbs fufu ship among the many dazzling discoveries made in Egypt is the famous boat Khufu ship the Khufu ship is an intact full-size vessel from ancient Egypt that was sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC the ship was almost certainly built for Khufu the second Pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of the old kingdom of Egypt it is one of the oldest largest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity it measures 143 feet long and 19 and a half feet wide it was thus identified as the world's oldest intact ship and has been described as a masterpiece of wood craft that could sail today if put into water this type of boat is known as a solar barge a ritual vessel to carry the resurrected King with the Sun Gaara across the heavens however it bears some signs of having been used in water and it is possible that the ship was either a funerary barge used to carry the Kings embalmed body from Memphis to Giza or even that Khufu himself used it as a pilgrimage ship to visit holy places and that it was then buried for him to use in the afterlife the ship was rediscovered in 1954 by kamal-el-mallakh is lowered the Giza bedrock it was built largely of Lebanon cedar planking and the Shelf first construction technique it was originally dismantled into 1224 individual parts on top of the wood was a layer of mats and ropes an instrument made of flint and some small pieces of white plaster the prow of the boat a wooden column topped by a round wooden disk was found at the western end of the pit this column was connected to two long wooden pieces that extended along the bottom of the pit most of the wooden parts had been tied together with ropes also found inside the pit were many other items such as twelve oars each made from a single piece of wood 58 poles three cylindrical columns and Phi doors in total there were 13 layers of materials consisting of 651 artifacts you can imagine the difficulty of the reassembly of this many pieces with no idea how the finished boat should look it took years for the boat to be painstakingly reassembled primarily by the Egyptian department of antiquities chief restorer Ahmed Yusuf Mustafa before reconstructing the boat he had to acquire expertise on ancient Egyptian boat building he studied the reliefs carved on walls and tombs and many of little wooden models of ships and boats found in tombs he eventually completed the restoration it is now on display in the museum on the south side of the Great Pyramid of Giza full-size ships and boats have been found buried at several locations close to ancient Egyptian temples and pyramids however the precise function and the full story behind these ships like many other things about ancient Egypt will never be fully understood by our civilization after all that's why ancient Egypt is often called the greatest riddle of all all the great civilizations left us intriguing clues enigmas and mysteries when it comes to the Sumerians they did leave us monuments a stench as clay bricks ziggurats that are disappearing into the sands of time yet it is the Sumerian Akkadian and Babylonian artifacts which remain that give us the most insights into the weirdness of what was happening back then clay tablets obelisks jewelry crystal carving inscriptions trade culture and contact with the gods are all exposed in the amazing artifacts that follow Hammurabi law code the text of the laws is set within a larger prologue and epilogue which are written in the hymnal epic dialect and which reveal key aspects of kingship particularly the Kings commitment to justice the top portion of the Stella depicts king Hammurabi receiving the laws from shamash the god of justice along with the ring and a rod two symbols of law and justice in the prologue we find Hammurabi has given these law codes from the Annunaki when under the sublime king of the Anunnaki and Bell the Lord of Heaven and Earth who decreed the fate of the land assigned to Marduk the overruling son of a ax God of righteousness dominion over earthly man and made him great among the igg they called Babylon by his illustrious name made it great on earth and founded an everlasting Kingdom in it whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth then a new and bell called by name me Hammurabi the exalted Prince who feared God to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land to destroy the wicked and the evil doers so that the strong should not harm the weak so that I should rule over the black-headed people like shamash and enlighten the land to further the well-being of mankind the Stila of Hammurabi now housed in the Louvre Museum was found in Susa where it was carried off after the sack of Babylon in 1155 it was composed much earlier during the past part of the reign of the king of Hammurabi 1792 to 1750 the basalt Stella records 282 legal provisions that deal with a range of cases including those that involve economic transactions loans robbery and theft negligence marriage and inheritance among others most of the law provisions are expressed using the COS we stick formula where the Proteus presents the circumstances of a legal case and the Abydos Esprit Zent the appropriate legal response to the case Plain of Jars labs the Plain of Jars is a group of fields containing thousands of stone jars cut out from rock thousands of years ago the sites are located around the city of fond Savannah and Shang Quang Province northeast Laos while some of the sites contain just a few jars others contain hundreds many of which are broken or have fallen over the history of the stone jars is shrouded in mystery the jars are believed to be about two thousand years old they come in varying sizes up to three metres high weighing up to several tonnes most of them were sculpted from sandstone rock several theories and legends exist about the purpose of the jars local legends tell they were made by a race of giants to use as cups to drink rice wine another story says that jars were used to store water for the dry season or a king had the jars made to store rice wine after a military victory signs of the secret war are clearly visible at several of the sites in the form of bomb craters and damaged jars during the Vietnam War enormous quantities of bombs were dropped on Laos many of which failed to explode although cleaning works of unexploded bombs have been carried out at most of the visited sites it is strongly recommended to stay within the marked paths archeologists have documented about 200 rather mysterious stone discs around the jar Fields they range in size but are generally no more than three feet wide many of them are pancake shaped but others are more like button mushrooms a small number of disks exhibit a relief carving of a human animal or concentric circles it has been argued that the larger discs were not used as lids to the open air vessels since many of them were not the same size as the jar openings however it is mentioned that the rounder smaller stones that are buried in the ground are lids to clay burial pots to add to the mystery of the disks it is odd that the number of disks is only 1/10 the number of jars in the two provinces there is widespread speculation but no conclusive answers about the purpose of the jars one theory proposes that they were distillation containers for human bodies a counter-argument against this theory indicates that many of the stone containers did not have internal areas large enough to contain a whole human body what then did the people do with the jars that had small openings statue of a dreamy Akkadian script in Turkey the statue of Allah Lok King a dreamy is one of the outstanding pieces for the second half of the second millennium in Syria the inscription written all over the statue even on the beard is one of only a few specimens of autobiographical texts from Mesopotamia Allah lack modern tel Akana belong then to the territory of Aleppo and therefore to the powerful kingdom of Mitani the text tells a dreamy story about fleeing to amar and then moving on to live amongst the Canaanite tribes there he was able to gain control and marched back to Allah LOC Hara Tona the king of mitanni recognized his power over the throne of Allah lack the inscription on the statue is written in Akkadian using cuneiform script it describes the exploits of King a dreamy and his family the inscription tells how following a dispute a dreamy and his family were forced to flee Ahmad Aleppo to his mother's family @mr now miss keen on the river Euphrates determined to restore the dynasty's fortunes a dreamy left amar and traveled to Canaan where he made a treaty with the king of Oman Monda rallied troops and mounted a seaborne expedition to recover the lost territory from the Hittites he eventually became a vassal of King Bharat Anna who installed him as king in alack which he ruled for 30 years the inscription ends with curses on anyone who desecrates or destroys the statue Voynich manuscript the Voynich manuscript has been dubbed the most mysterious manuscript in the world this manuscript codex dates to early 15th century possibly created in northern Italy it is named after the book dealer Wilfrid Voynich who purchased it in 1912 some pages are missing but there are now about 240 vellum pages most with illustrations its size is twenty-three point five centimeters by sixteen point two centimeters by five centimeters much of the manuscript resembles herbal manuscripts of the 1500s seeming to present illustrations and information about plants and their possible uses for medicinal purposes however most of the plants do not match known species and the manuscript script and language remain unknown possibly some form of encrypted cipher texts the Voynich manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographer including American and British codebreakers from both World War one and world war two it has defied all decipherment attempts becoming a famous case of historical cryptology the mystery surrounding it has excited the popular imagination making the manuscript a subject of both fanciful theories and novels none of the many speculative solutions proposed over the last hundred years has yet been independently verified the Voynich manuscript was donated to Yale University's by Nicky Rare Book and Manuscript library in 1969 where it is catalogued under call number M s 408 and called a cipher manuscript while the media regularly reports that someone has finally cracked the code none of the claims have so far stood up to scrutiny recently it was claimed that the manuscript had been decoded by artificial intelligence except of course it hasn't not at all according to experts the Voynich manuscript remains as inscrutable as ever we may never fully understand all the messages some are easy to discern while others resemble allegory making them subjective to the reader many of the images follow basic iconography found in other ancient texts the history of the manuscript takes us to alchemy creation and the way the world appeared to the author hundreds of years ago I believe one man wrote the book over many years if not decades to explain his theory of the way the universe works as well as being used as a healing tool all of which remained the fundamental foundations to answers we seek in the 21st century the secrecy and cryptic aspects make it fascinating wherever your journey is taking you there will be some message in the book Sumerian Kings list much of what occurred on planet earth 240,000 years ago is still a mystery to society at large but a popular tale amongst folks who believed in ancient aliens is that of the eight immortal words known as Sumerian Kings it is believed that these Lords descended from the heaven above to rule over earth for 240 2,100 years this ancient clay tablet originating in Sumer contains the list of Sumerian Kings after the kingship descended from heaven the kingship was in era do in era do Ahlul in became king he ruled for twenty eight thousand eight hundred years kingship is believed to be handed down from the gods and could then pass from city to city according to the tablets after al-alem's aim as kingship came to an end Allen gar inherited the throne and ruled for 36,000 years thereafter and men Luana's began his forty three thousand two hundred year-long King ships when an Minh luan has passed away the five kings to follow suit ruled the land for no less than eighteen thousand years which eventually came to an end with the last king who Bharata to the Great Flood is said to have marked the end of these extraterrestrial beings what was left fell into the hands of the leaders in an ancient city in Sumer known as Kish to this day Kish is the home of the very first documented Sumerian dynasty unlike the eight Lords who descended from the heaven above the royalty in this dynasty was not immortal but their lifespans still exceeded that of average human beings gusher the first king of this dynasty is rumored to have ruled for 1200 years zamak the son of Barse a Luna was the eighteenth King and holds the title for the shortest reign spanning over a total of 140 years there is little scientific evidence to prove the existence of the eight sumerian immortal Lords and neither the counter evidence is disproving their existence if they did exist wants to say that there aren't more immortal beings in the universe just waiting to descend and reign supreme on modern day earth and importantly if they were truly immortal could it be possible that they still walk the earth despite all that we've learned and discovered about our ancient history mankind has only been thoroughly documenting our past for a relatively brief period there's an enormous amount we don't know about the early days of humans and in some cases the mysterious objects that have been left behind only served to make the ancient world more bath over time it's often proved difficult not to look at these ancient artifacts through a modern-day thinking and occasionally doing so has given rise to a series of theories such as an advanced ancient civilization existing on earth long before recorded history in some cases archaeologists have found bones footprints and artifacts showing that people like ourselves may have existed on earth for millions of years or relics that prove the Bible to be true but many scientists have forgotten or ignored these remarkable facts this documentary examines many of these claims and in some cases reaches some startling conclusions did you know our ancestors from almost 4000 years ago used discs to store information just like we do with our CDs today and even more important is the fact that one of these discs described by some as the first Minoan cd-rom but known to us today as the Phaistos disc may have finally been decoded the artifact which was discovered in 1908 at the palace of fine stoves in Crete has baffled archaeologists for more than a century measuring just 6 inches in diameter the disc is made up of 241 pictures or tokens on both sides which are based on 45 individual signs British independent researcher Alan Butler in his book the Bronze Age computer disk showed that the Phaistos disc was probably a very elaborate calendar based on a 366 day year Butler also had a great intuition the Minoan calendar had perhaps given birth to a 366 degree geometry in a nutshell if these people divided their year into 366 days they might also have divided the heavens and the circle in 366 parts Butler uncovered some evidence that this geometry did exist the Minoan foot the Minoans unit of length and the megalithic yard were both very precise subdivisions of the Earth's circumference in 366 degree geometry the Minoans second Varg as well as the megalithic second of arc were identical the only difference was that this second of Arc was equal to 1000 Minoan feet while for the megalithic sailors it was 366 megalithic yards these results could not be attributed to chance and showed that these people knew that the earth was a sphere and were perfectly aware of its dimensions sylveon Tristan in his first book Lesley Nia's door the golden lines studied both arms and butlers work and made unprecedented discoveries 366 degree geometry once existed on a global scale many of the most beautiful cities of ancient civilization were built on the meridians and parallels of this world geometry has Butler rediscovered prehistoric knowledge and a system of super elegance that was lost before Moses reached the promised land a [Music] histone inscription the Rosetta of Persia this inscription is two cuneiform what the rosetta stone is to Egyptian hieroglyphics the document most crucial in the decipherment of a previously lost script this trilingual inscription has 414 lines in old Persian cuneiform 260 in Allah mine cuneiform and 112 in Akkadian cuneiform copies of the text have been found elsewhere notably in Babylon and elephantine Egypt accompanying a narrative scene in relief the inscriptions are carved on the face of mount behistun about 30 kilometers east of the city of kermanshah above an important trade route ultimately connecting Babylonia to India the Royal Road of our community times the inscriptions give an account of King Darius is ascension to the throne of the Persian Empire according to the narrative after Kim by C's son of Cyrus ruling from Egypt killed his brother smeared as' in secrecy a Magi called GAO modest seized the throne in Persia and claimed to be smeared as him by seized died and Darius taking the throne deposed the imposter gal Mata with the help of the Zoroastrian God Ahura Mazda the inscription also describes a series of rebellions that were quelled and describes the extent of the Persian Empire the relief depicts King Darius standing with two supported behind him facing nine bound captive rulers a tenth lying under Darius's feet a winget disc representing Ahura Mazda hovers overhead the biggest on inscription is considered important in the decipherment of cuneiform in the 19th century in large part by Rollins son Bill Cathcart has shown that other inscriptions primarily studied by Edward Hinks were just as pivotal in the decipherment process the place name behistun literally means place of God and a hurrah Mazda the guy in the flying chariot is at the center of it all [Music] [Music] antiquey Farah mechanism this technologically baffling device is believed to have been created around 60 to 80 BC shortly before it was sunken in a Roman shipwreck off the island of Antikythera near Greece though the device was badly corroded and many parts completely deteriorated over the 2,000 years it was submerged in the sea its secrets have been unlocked by researchers using x-ray and gamma-ray analysis the Antikythera mechanism is believed to be the first computer ever invented since it is the oldest complex calculator created in ancient times this device is an astronomical calculator that accurately tracks the movements of the Sun and Moon and predicts eclipses lunar cycles and seasons it is important to understand that this device was amazingly advanced for its time it was so advanced that no other device with similarities and mathematics and engineering was invented for another 1000 years when a much simpler and much larger 8 geared lunar solar calculator was built into an astrolabe by al-biruni it was originally comprised of over thirty two bronze gears housed in a wooden box with face plates that showed the current state of the astronomical bodies attract the device's gears contained complex three-dimensional gear trains not just gears but gear trains that moved in three dimensions with an accuracy of fine timepieces engineer today the mathematics involved in the gear arrangements and the detailed engineering and manufacturing of the parts was far beyond the capabilities of the Greeks of the 1st century BC it is literally impossible for such detailed manufacturing to be achieved by hand the Manute intricacies of the gear system in the Antikythera mechanism are like that of a fine Swiss watch far beyond the capabilities of the ancient Greeks while many experts try to offer explanations of how this device could have been conceived designed and built all their concepts fail the tests of logic there is only one possible explanation a civilization with advanced knowledge of astronomical bodies mathematics and precision engineering tools created the device or gave the knowledge for its creation to someone during the first century BC [Music] the Cyrus cylinder the first charter of human rights this royal inscription of Persian king Cyrus the Great commemorates his conquest of Babylon portraying it as a peaceful event guided by Marduk himself Cyrus was chosen by the Babylonian God to deliver the land from neo Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar aid as a failed oppressive impious tyrant the inscription incorporates elements of the classic Mesopotamian royal inscriptions on rrah but rejects boasts of violence instead highlighting cyrus is merciful and pious treatment of babylon restoring cult centers returning displaced Mesopotamians to their homes instituting correct religious practice although the document has been used as evidence of the Persian policy towards conquered peoples it must be remembered that it is a work of royal propaganda and its claims should be taken with a heavy grain of salt while the text is often admired by modern readers for its kindly outlook it should be noted that the themes of Mercy and piety had been an element of neo-babylonian and neo-assyrian royal inscriptions before Cyrus as had the motif of God choosing his own people's Conqueror German experts are now clamoring to dismantle the cylinders claim to fame among them is ancient history Professor Joseph Liza Hoffer who derided it yesterday as a propaganda inscription it has become a very celebrated document he said but Cyrus himself ordered it done trying to make himself appear righteous the real King was not more or less brutal than any other ancient king of the Near East like Xerces but he was cleverer in the UK author and historian Tom Holland who wrote about the rise of Cyrus in his book Persian fire joined the condemnation of the cylinder as a model text enshrine in human right it's nonsense absolute nonsense he said the ancient Persians were not some early form of Swedish Social Democrats he added that conquering a huge Empire in the ancient world did not come without a list of atrocities and he staged Oh Sally Toria atrocities when he invaded Persepolis the majestic city of Persepolis once the wealthiest city Under the Sun as noted in the writings of Diodorus Siculus was a grandiose showcase of the Achaemenid Empire when it was built in the 5th century the Persians ruled over an estimated 44 percent of the entire human population Persepolis which means the city of Persians was called Parsa and was quite a curious complex it was in a mountainous region that wasn't easily approached and was visited usually only in the spring and summer because roads during the rainy season turned into mud Darius the first who ruled from 522 to 486 BC started the construction in 518 BC at the place chosen by Sirius the great the founder of the Achaemenid Empire Xerces the first finish the construction during his rule 486 to 465 and most of the palace is his work it was located 37 miles to the northeast of Shiraz on the east side of the Mount of Mercy Ramat mountain which was cut into to provide space for the platform of the 1345 square-foot Terrace the royal complex that represented visual microcosms of the empire included the APPA donna or audience hall the throne hall the palaces of Darius and Xerxes the gate of All Nations the Treasury and the harem according to the historian Diodorus Persepolis was enclosed by three walls first seven feet high the second about fourteen feet and the last 130 feet tall and towers always heavily man one of the most characteristic features of this architectural gem is the Persepolis stairway which is built into the western wall and believed to have been originally intended as the main entrance to the terrace the two symmetrical 23 foot wide staircases have 111 shallow steps they are full of processional reliefs of dark grey stone rendering the 23 Nations representative of the Empire with their offerings to the king and repetitive scenes even today one can identify the represented nations as Egyptians Indians Tajiks Bactrian Assyrians and so on by their cultural accessories and physical appearance both the eastern and western entrances of the Grand Hall of the gate of All Nations built by Xerces are guarded by two Lama su protective deities with the body of a bull and a human head there is also inscribed in three languages the name of Xerces so it would be known that he ordered their construction the throne Hall or hundred columns Palace consisted of one large room made of limestone and decorated with reliefs depicting throne scenes and scenes of the king fighting monsters its construction was begun by Xerces and completed by his son artaxerxes initially an important reception room it was later used as a storehouse for the Treasury the Appa Donna was even larger than the throne Hall built first by Darius and finished by Xerces it was the main audience hall 72 impressive columns topped with carvings of animals supported the roof of the Grand Hall it was an edifice full of gold silver precious stones and ivory as were all other buildings near this site are found three tombs that are carved into the Hussain ku mountain it is believed that Darius the great Xerces the first artaxerxes and Darius the second are buried there the facade in the form of a cross has a relief of the king and Ahura Mazda swing a disc chief god of the Zoroastrian religion worshiped by Persians the entrance to the tomb is high from the ground and leads deep into the mountain today only 13 of the 37 columns are still standing since the city went through a devastating history of destruction nevertheless it continues to be the symbol of the strength and glory of the a comedian monarchy Alexander the Great known for his daring and sometimes cruel temper gave the order for the city to be burned to ashes in 330 BC there is speculation he did it to revenge Athens which was burned by Circe's in 480 BC but it wasn't until 1931 the archeological excavations began under the supervision and sponsorship of the Oriental Institute of Chicago in 1979 UNESCO listed it on its world heritage list it is a site of previous glory that still provokes amazement and admiration shroud of turin the Turin Shroud is a linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have suffered physical trauma in a manner consistent with a crucifixion and is commonly associated with Jesus Christ the Shroud measures approximately fourteen point three by three point seven feet and bares the faint reddish-brown image of the front and back view of a naked man just under six feet tall with a beard mustache and shoulder length hair with his hands folded across his groin the origins of the shroud and its image are the subject of intense debate among scientists theologians historians and researchers and it continues to be one of the most studied and controversial artifacts in human history is the Shroud of Turin an authentic first century AD burial cloth of a Jesus Christ or the work of a brilliant medieval European forger reports about the burial cloth of Jesus existed for centuries before the Turin Shroud appeared in the medieval historical record the Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke state that Joseph of America wrapped the body of Jesus in a piece of linen cloth and placed it in a new tomb Christ's burial cloth was reportedly owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the sack of Constantinople in 1204 criticisms have been raised regarding the choice of the sample taken for testing with suggestions that the sample may represent a medieval invisible repair fragment rather than the image bearing cloth the Shroud was damaged by a fire in a French chapel in 1532 and triangular patches were sewn onto the cloth by nuns to repair the burn holes carbon from the fire damage may have skewed the carbon dating by more than 1,000 years German textile expert McFlurry Limburg found that a seam in the cloth corresponds to a fabric found at the fortress of Masada near the Dead Sea which dated to the 1st century and is consistent with the first century Syrian design neither x-ray florescence examination nor infrared thermography has detected any pigment chemists john heller & alan adler identified the reddish stains as blood and interpreted the iron oxide as natural residue of hemoglobin forensic pathologist Pierluigi by ama bologna later identified the blood as belonging to group a B a common blood type among middle-eastern people but fairly rare among medieval Europeans whether you accept the Shroud of Turin as the genuine burial cloth of Jesus Christ or believe it to be the artistic work of some medieval genius it is a remarkable artifact which modern science can't completely explain Roman dodecahedron the mystery of the Roman dodecahedra are well documented these typically bronze objects have been found in multiple locations across what was once known as the Roman Empire their visual appearance is striking and as the old saying goes a picture tells a thousand words in the case of the dodecahedron a picture is a much more succinct way to show their appearance some of the Roman dodecahedron czar basic and design some have patterns and markings on them a dodecahedron found in Germany has circular grooves around the holes on the faces whether they are decorative or functional is another mystery these ancient Roman artifacts offer up to us as simple questions the size of the Roman dodecahedron is deceptively small when looking at photos it's hard to gauge the scale the dodecahedron ZAR small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and were typically anything from two to five inches in diameter the Roman dodecahedron have been found in many locations in Europe but all were at some point involved with the Roman Empire there has been anywhere from 60 to 100 examples found today due to their unique appearance non obvious usage and the fact that there is no documentation or notes about them from their time of creation the Roman dodecahedron have long been discussed in regard to their actual usage we have seen some of the more common theories listed here but of course they are just that theories and it's quite likely we may never truly know what the dodecahedron were created for one measurement theory is that the dodecahedron would be a range measuring object this could explain the different sized holes in the pentagrams maybe they were used on the battlefield for judging projectile attacks on the Roman opposition finger measurement is another theory presented by some the different gauge holes could represent different finger sizes but this theory is also unproven other mentions have said that the artifacts could have been used by ancient Roman plumbers who would use the dodecahedron to accurately measure pipe width some theorists have stated that the dodecahedron could be some tying device with knobs being used to tie ropes maybe even used in the construction of tents many have attempted to solve their riddle historians scientists and everyone who sees the Roman dodecahedron will have their own idea of what these fascinating Roman artifacts may have been created for but for now no one has figured out what these puzzling artifacts are [Music] try lobed disk of Sabu on the first floor of the Cairo Museum there is a strange item a round plate with three inflections discovered in the tomb of Sabu Pharaoh Ana Jeebs son this mysterious item classifies as an out of place artifact in this case the plate is dated for the years three thousand to three thousand one hundred BC but researchers just cannot seem to reconcile this with its sophisticated design it is made from meta silt stone a material used in ancient Egypt for carving delicate objects without breaking them many objects of this material were found by archaeologists but the round plate of Saba is the strangest of all it's incredibly thin even related to the fine material designed with hollow holes in the center of the plate it resembles a three-bladed propeller and suggests that it was placed on an axis the plate itself is not perfectly symmetrical but three very similar bindings tilted at an angle of 120 degrees extend from the disk what was the purpose of this object the only thing that researchers agree on is that it was not used as a wheel because the wheel appeared relatively late in Egypt comparing to the items age another scenario is that the placard was proposed as a kind of hydraulic propeller if so Egyptians were able to develop a technology that made electric motors available for them some suggested that the placard was a part of a generator or a battery to generate electricity there are many alternative explanations for the almost unfathomable idea that the Egyptians were able to use electricity but they all raise questions it seems that the real mystery is not what the object was used for but who were those who had the skills required to format it even today to manufacture such thin forms so proportional from a very hard rock is hard enough even using sophisticated machinery and three-dimensional computer software could a skilled stone carver achieved the same result alone in ancient Egypt 5000 years ago [Music] [Music] Iike stones a unique time capsule of images is housed in a warehouse in Eco Peru here are some 20,000 stone boulders tablets and baseball sized rocks decorated with an astounding assortment of pictures in many cases very much out of time and place the owner is a local physician amateur archaeologist and geologist dr. Javier Cabrera da most material employed is a grey and assigned an extremely hard granite semi crystalline matrix that is very difficult to carve but as dr. Cabrera observed people have been finding these engraved stones in the region for years they were first seen and recorded by jesuit missionary father simon who accompanied Pizarro in 1525 samples were shipped to spain in 1562 the stone portraits show very sophisticated surgery skills and medical knowledge in some cases as advanced or even more advanced than today there are scenes of blood transfusions the use of acupuncture needles as an anaesthetic which only gained use in the West since the late 1970s delicate operations as well as 20 stones showing a step-by-step heart transplant procedure this is a revelation in itself that someone an unknown antiquity achieved a level of sophistication rivaling our own but there are other pictures even more out of place as dr. Cabrera noted and as has been verified by other medical physicians there are stone edgings which show a brain transplant the prehistoric surgeons it is evident possessed knowledge several steps beyond modern-day surgery south american jet in 1954 the government of Colombia sent part of its collection of ancient gold artifacts on a US tour Emanuel Stobbs one of America's leading jewelers was commissioned to cast reproductions of six of the objects 15 years later one was given to biologists to zoologist Ivan T Sanderson for analysis after a thorough examination and consulting several experts Sanderson's mind-boggling conclusion was that the object is a model of high-speed aircraft at least a thousand years old approximately 2 inches long the object was worn as a pendant on a neck chain it was classified as CE pneu a pre inca culture from AD 500 to 800 both Sanderson and dr. Arthur poisley of the aeronautical Institute of New York concluded it did not represent any known winged animal in fact the little artifact appears more mechanical than biological for example the front wings are Delta shaped and rigidly straight edged very unanimity respond airplane-like item it is right triangle flat surfaced and rigidly perpendicular to the wings only fish have upright tail fins but none have exclusively an upright flange without a counterbalancing lower one adding to the mystery an insignia appears on the left face of the runner precisely where ID marks appear on many airplanes today the insignia is perhaps as out of place as the gold model itself for it has been identified as the Arabic or early Hebrew letter beth or b this may indicate that the original plane did not come from colombia but was the product of a very early people inhabiting the Middle East who knew the secret of flying [Music] sukhothai sukhothai historical park covers an area of about 70 square kilometers and contains more than 190 historical ruins inside the city wall and moat wat mahathat stands at its epicenter as the spiritual center of the kingdom and the royal palace now collapsed lies to its northwest to the city's immediate north is a small contained area housing wat frappe luang believed to be the original foundation side of the sukhothai kingdom strolling through the grounds of the historical park you will encounter at least three architectural styles early sukhothai people shared the same beliefs in the system of the universe with the camer temples were laid out according to the Mount Meru concept with the central praying being the tallest and most significant structure only after Thera davao buddhism entered the kingdom did the celanese bell-shaped jetties replaced the corn shaped praying's sukhothai craftsmen also developed their own style known as the lotus bud Shetty about 60 kilometres from sukhothai historical park is its sister city see such an ally a flourishing center for trade with China at the time much of what constitutes modern Thailand can be traced back to the sukhothai Kingdom although some history dating back to this ancient period remains pretty much unclear and debatable before the rise of sukkot I cm was made of small fiefdoms subject to the ancient Kaymer empires rule sukkot eyes Kingdom marked a golden period for art and architecture King Ram coming the great 12:39 to 1317 the second ruling monarch of the fra ruing dynasty established the celanese School of Thera Davao Buddhism as the state religion set up an administrative system and documented tight alphabets from ancient Kaymer scripts Ceylonese style bell-shaped stupas grew to become a common sight at buddhist temples across the kingdom sukhothai temple craftsmen also developed their own style known as the sukhothai style the most notable being the lotus bud channeis brick over stucco construction technique and buddha images with a signature graceful form after king rama coming sukhothai slowly entered a period of decline beginning 1378 onwards by the mid 15th century sukhothai was fully annexed by the union kingdom Ajanta caves according to archaeologists construction of the Ajanta caves in maharashtra india began about 2200 years ago over hundreds of years of work and more than 30 monuments were laborious li cut into the rock face of the mountains according to speculation the use of the caves stopped around 1000 AD for unknown reasons letting a thick jungle canopy grow around them hiding them away for many generations no human I saw the caves again until centuries later in 1819 when an Englishman by the name of John Smith was hunting a tiger and he discovered a hidden doorway to one of the temples we know this because he unfortunately left his name on the wall of the temple and a date which can still be seen today but although that first English Discoverer did not go immediately public with his discovery the existence of the caves became known and soon after Indian and European tourists started pouring into the ancient site after much digging and cleaning that is the caves were home to many species of animals for centuries experts have dated the caves from the second century BC 200 years before the birth of Christ their function seems to be ritualistic used as prayer halls much use of Roman design is evident in the columns and arches in the caves the hard rock face of the caves was supposedly chiseled with rough tools and even bare hands this seems impossible as such there are many conflicting theories as to how it was built it seems that the first hallowed caves were dug during the time of the satavahana Empire which dates back to about 230 BC almost every surface but the floor is covered in paintings literally they have lost much of their former glory of course but efforts are being made to restore them poems are also painted on the walls 547 of them which tells stories of Buddha's previous lives to create them a chisel was used to make room for plaster on the walls which was spread on the surface before it dried the painter would paint on it soaking it into the plaster so it became part of the surface this method has been proven to survive for over 2,000 years no one knows why the caves were deserted and we may never know the answer to this mystery but they continue to draw many visitors who marvel at the art of the Ancients that came before them Giza pyramids if there are two things that people are fascinated about then those two are probably ancient Egypt and aliens the intriguing and enigmatic history of ancient Egypt has so many questions that scholars simply cannot answer possibly because of their conventional thinking methods or because in the end they prefer to leave the truth where it is hidden from sight one of the most searched for answers when it comes to ancient Egypt is who built the pyramids of Egypt and how were these megalithic structures built thousands of years ago what if as the ancient alien theory suggests beings not from Earth had something to do with the construction of the pyramids at the Giza Plateau the positioning of the three Pyramids of Giza is exactly aligned with the position of the three stars in the belt of Orion both in position and in size while it is possible it would create many difficulties for the Egyptians in terms of measuring huge distances not only this but in fact at the time that the pyramids were supposedly built around 3,000 BC the stars that make up the belt of Orion were not exactly at the correct angle to match up with the pyramids if the location of the stars is traced back over thousands of years the time at which the belt is exactly aligned with the pyramids is in fact 10,500 BC a time when there were supposedly no civilized humans living on the earth another factor support this is if you consider the Sphinx a lion with a human head and then look at the size of the body you can see that the body is perfectly proportioned for the head of a lion not the human head this human head looks tiny and silly sitting on the top of the body this is because the Sphinx was built in 10,500 BC around the same time as the pyramids with the real head of a lion evidence to support this is that there are signs of water erosion all over the Sphinx the last time that there was any water nearby aside from the Nile is around 10,000 BC also the constellation of Leo de Lyon thus closely related to the Sphinx was in fact rising directly behind the Sun in 10,500 BC are they saying that the Egyptians built their pyramids to be in the exact shape of Orion's belt but purposefully aligned them differently from what was in the sky that after they built the Sphinx they purposely made the head look small then they broke their backs carrying water from the Nile just so that they could put water erosion lines all over the body in fact no Egyptian did it at all it is said an ancient alien civilization came down to earth in the year 10,500 BC and built the pyramids and the Sphinx they built it with a head of a lion to match the belt of Orion as well as the constellation of Leo thousands of years later Ramses the Eagle maniac old dictator Pharaoh of Egypt decided that he didn't like having the head of a lion on top of the statue in his land so he had a head in his own likeness constructed instead but the Egyptians not being very skilled at huge masonry built the head somewhat too small why is it that the Great Pyramids of Giza built in 3000 are perfect and still standing as tall as the day they were built aside from the cap stones and the polished stones which were stripped by humans in the building of Cairo the other pyramids which were supposedly built around 500 years later have all shoddy masonry and are crumbling down is it because the Egyptian pharaohs saw the great pyramids standing on their land and decided that they wanted pyramids of their own but they found that it was much harder to do than was expected and ended up building inferior looking structures that don't even come close to comparing with the magnitude or elegance emanating from the great pyramids if aliens visited earth in the past could they make an appearance in the future for ancient alien researchers the answer is a resounding yes they believe that by finding answers to what happened on earth thousands of years ago they can help prepare future generations for the inevitable encounter that awaits them this site south of Aswan along Lake Nasser shore is the most famous in all of Egypt after the Giza pyramids built by the greatest of the pharaohs ramses ii these huge rock-cut temples marked the southern boundary of the Egyptian Empire with Nubia at the peak of its power during the New Kingdom they were meant to convey the power of Egypt's rulers to anyone who laid eyes upon them they must have been effective in this capacity because the great statues of Ramses and his wife Nefertari that adorn their facades are still all inspiring today the four statues guarding the doorway to the larger of these temples are the largest sculptures that survived from the pharaonic era Abu Simbel was rediscovered in 1813 by a Swiss Explorer John Lewis Burkhardt the temples had long been forgotten and the sands of the desert had covered all but the tops of the heads of the huge statues in the front of the entrance since 1909 when the sand was finally cleared away these twin temples have become the most famous site in Egypt south the temple has six colossal statues on its facade for depicting Rameses and the two showing Nefertari the second temple is significant for the status that it affords to the wife of the Pharaoh depicting her several times on equal footing with the Pharaoh the larger temple is aligned with the Sun so that twice a year the Sun shines into its deepest recesses to illuminate a statue of Ramses and the gods the temple is dedicated to the Abu Simbel Sun festival takes place on February 22nd and October 22nd of every year to much fanfare with several thousand people gathering early in the morning to see this testament to the knowledge and skill that the ancient Egyptians possessed to align the temple so perfectly the relocation of the temples was a historic event in the 1960s at that time the temples were threatened by submersion in lake nasser when the high dam was constructed the egyptian government with the support of unesco launched worldwide appeal to save these colossal landmarks they were successfully dismantled and relocated to a spot 60 meters above the cliff where they had been initially built the Great Sphinx of Giza crouches on the Giza Plateau near Cairo Egypt the statue depicts a large reclining sphinx which is a mythical monster with the body of a lion and the head of a human it is the oldest artistic sculpture known to history and is the largest monolith in the world the history behind the Great Sphinx of Giza is largely obscured by antiquity however it is generally accepted that it was built sometime in the old kingdom of the ancient Egyptians under the rule of the Pharaoh Khafra in approximately 2500 BC however the exact date of its construction or by whom it was constructed is still in question even the original name for the Sphinx is unknown it was not given the modern names Fink's until about 2,000 years after its probable construction the Sphinx was half buried by sand after the area was abandoned it was not completely excavated until 1925 the Sphinx originates from Greek mythology the name literally meaning strangler the Greek version of the Beast was depicted as a lion with the head of a woman and eagle like wings the Egyptian sphinx is representative of the Sun it often symbolized the Pharaoh in the form of the Sun God raw when the Sphinx wore a ram head it was associated with the god Amun the Sphinx of Giza was constructed out of a single chunk of soft limestone bedrock because of the relative delicacy of this sandstone this Fink's would have crumbled to nothing if not for the protective sand helping to shield it it stands more than 65 feet high 241 feet long and 20 feet wide larger and taller than a six-story building it faces due east toward the Rising Sun it is entirely composed of megaliths or very large stone blocks some of these megaliths weigh 200 tons each the most distinctive features of the sphinx of giza are the features that are missing the nose once a metre in length is missing no one knows what happened to the nose although it can probably be attributed to deliberate removal or vandalism of some form a ceremonial beard customarily worn by all Egyptian pharaohs is also missing a small chapel is located between the Sphinx's pause the statue also features a long tail that is wrapped around its right paw the Sphinx of Giza has been continually eroded since its construction two major schools of thought exist on the nature of this erosion some scholars on the subject have concluded that the erosion is the result of prolonged water and rain exposure however keeping in accordance with average rainfall in Egypt this theory would set the date of its construction much further back than generally believed others believe that the sculpture has been sandblasted by wind for the last several millennia Saqqara was the principal necropolis for the ancient city of Memphis where from dynasty 1 onwards the Egyptians elite built their tombs the area is best known today as being the site of the first stone pyramid built for a king of dynasty 3 whose Horus name was net ji Raquette the pyramid has been attributed to a King Djoser since the New Kingdom but only the name that Jerry ket has been found on the monument the pyramid structure rises above the plateau in a series of six stepped mustapha's and was surrounded by a complex of dummy buildings and closed within a niche two limestone wall over 10 meters high beyond the wall was a rectangular trench measuring 750 meters by 40 meters and although it is now filled by sand it can be clearly seen on aerial photographs the high limestone walls of the enclosures were decorated with niches and false doors which were carved into the wall after it was built quite an enormous task some archeologists believe that the enclosure wall may have represented the earthly residence of the King and so the term palace facade became used for this type of decoration it is thought that the design imitates the wooden framework carved by woven reed mats which would have been used in earlier structures although it has also been suggested that the motif may originate in Mesopotamia the wall has been reconstructed on the southern rampart and near the entrance and this is the best place to examine the construction the single entrance to the enclosure is the southernmost doorway on the eastern side of the wall the only one of the 15 doorways which is not a false door and leads to the entrance colonnade 20 pairs of engaged columns resembling bundles of reeds or palm ribs lined the corridor between the columns are 24 small chambers thought perhaps to represent the gnomes of Upper and Lower Egypt which may once have contained statues of the king or deities the roof of the entrance colonnade was constructed to represent whole tree trunks this is one of the places where the challenging equipment of copying natural minerals in stone is most evident the columns were not yet trusted to support the roof without being attached to the side walls and the small size of the stone blocks used in the construction reflects the fact that previous structures were built from mud bricks at the end of the entrance hall to false stoned or leaves arrest against the side walls of a transverse vestibule which has been reconstructed several statue fragments were found in the entrance colonnade but the most important was a statue base now in Cairo Museum inscribed with the Horus name and titles of met Jerry ket and also with the name of a high priest of Heliopolis and royal architect Imhotep Imhotep who may have been a son of Djoser is credited with the invention of building in dressed stone and the design and construction of the step pyramid complex he was defined as a God of wisdom in the tomake period and worshipped as Asclepius god of medicine by the greeks 'not Jerek its name is directly linked to his predecessor his second way because mud ceilings bearing his name were found in 1996 in Casa Kamui's Abydos tomb sniff Roo built two large pyramids at - ur one we have already covered the bent pyramid while his second monument at - ur is about four kilometres to the north and is known as the north or red pyramid the monument whose ancient name was probably sniff Rouge shines was to be sniff Rouge third attempt at pyramid construction including medium his architects now using the technical experience gained from previous structures a reduced angle of slope and less ambitious plan it is thought to have been begun in Stepford whose 30th year of reign and dates found in builders marks on blocks from the red pyramid have proved to be of significant importance in giving a clear picture of the time it took to build the pyramid the name red pyramid was derived from the color of limestone used in constructing the pyramids core its casing of white limestone is now completely missing the monument has been visited since the Middle Ages and was investigated by pairing in lepsius in the mid-1800s Petrie and Reisner included it in more modern studies and amid Fakhri worked on this and other dahshur pyramids in the 1950s most recent excavations have been undertaken by the german archaeological Institute of Cairo directed by a Rainer saddleman since 1982 the length of each side of the red pyramid is 220 metres and its original height was 104 metres the German team have recently found remains of the pyramids capstone or pyramidion which has now been rican instructed and placed on the pyramids eastern side however the angle of the slope of the pyramidion differs from the red pyramid suggesting that it was not originally intended to be placed on this structure the entrance to a 60 metre long sloping passage is on the northern side of the pyramid 28 metres above the ground and leads to the first of three chambers the first two rooms are tall and two chambers with high corbelled roofs and separated by a narrow rectangular passage and the roof of the second chamber coincides with the vertical axis of the structure the antechambers are very similar in size and construction with projecting vaulted ceilings of large blocks of fine white limestone in the second antechamber and the passage to the burial chamber many early explorers have left graffiti reminders of their presence inside the pyramid the burial chamber is entered via a short horizontal passage about eight meters above the floor level in the south wall of the second antechamber recent research has led state'll men to suggest that this pyramid was the true resting place of the king fragments of human remains were found in the passage but proved to be from an intrusive burial from the late period other archaeologists favor the bent pyramid as the true burial place the burial chamber is oriented east to west unlike those in his two preceding pyramids of dynasty three tradition and its high vaulted ceiling rises to a height of 16 meters Sneferu x' mortuary temple on the eastern side of the red pyramid seems likely to have been hastily completed only after the King's death a plan of the temple has been reconstructed by the German team from the scant remains which included a fragment of a pink granite false door Stella fragments of a set festival relief and remains of mud-brick storerooms a rectangular perimeter wall enclosed the complex but a causeway was never completed as far as the valley temple although there is evidence of construction ramps connect the mortuary temple with the Nile Valley calakmul the most characteristic buildings around the plaza the ball court temple to Temple P East Palace and temple q eastern side the ball Court stands out for its integrity and the East Palace for the rooms it contains temples G H I and J at the center of the plaza building J considered to be the first astronomical observatory in Mesoamerica is very characteristic due to the declining of its central axis relative to the other buildings and for its reliefs designated Delos conquista the south platform in the South stands out because it is monumental and because of its reliefs at the base which represent numbers writings and people that define chronological scenes and war system M the wall of the Don's antes building L building K and system for western side the wall of the Don's antes contains a series of stelae that according to reliefs represent humans whose movements suggest the name because of their physical characteristics they are considered to represent Olmec culture identified as the oldest in Mesoamerica northern platform sunken patio buildings a and B retreats geodesic o building northern side the northern platform is known for its size and because of the congregation of various platforms tomb 104 located at the back of the north platform is known for its mural paintings din tells John bus' with reliefs and clay funnel offerings tomb 107 where dr. cazzo found treasures of monte alban is located on the northeastern part isolated from the main plaza the structures around the main plaza are diverse and have been identified as living areas tombs and entire communities the site's museum is located at the entrance to monte alban and there visitors can learn about the other sites to visit inside the archaeological zone two adjacent pyramids is the meaning of the name calakmul we are in one of the most important cities of Mayan civilization in area as well as population since it was once home to over 50,000 inhabitants the city's timeline goes back to the pre-classic period 300 BC to 250 AD while its Golden Age took place in the classic period when the reign of Khan allied with other states in a confederation known as Cooke Cabal there are records stating that some ceremonial activities were still performed in the late Postclassic period calakmul became known thanks to biologist Cyrus Longworth Lundell who working for a bubblegum company arrived at the site in 1931 it was not until half a century later in 1982 that large-scale excavations took place under the supervision of William Fulham of the historical and social research center of the Autonomous University of Campeche the site is located inside calakmul biosphere reserve which is over seven hundred twenty three thousand hectares and is the largest of five protected natural areas of Campeche the 6,000 structures that comprise the cities bed occupy about 70 square kilometers the monumental area covers about two square kilometers and includes around a thousand structures according to recent studies it appears that calakmul was the capital of what is known as the kingdom of the serpent or Kingdom of Khan it was two calls main rival and the two kingdoms disputed dominance of the central Mayan area during the classic period due to the importance of the site who nesco declared it a world cultural heritage of humanity on July 4th 2002 the territorial space of Calakmul has spread among five large complexes organized around the central great plaza which is considered as the governing axis of its urban distribution the most important are structures four and eight in the first section and structures five and two in the second the great acropolis an important space in the site consists of the North Plaza which includes the ball court structures 1413 and the annex dedicated to ceremonial activities structures 15 and tene are located in this south plaza where public acts were performed the great plaza of Calakmul was the meeting point of political religious and social forces of the kingdom of the serpent head in this urban distribution the residential areas of the leading classes are quite interesting such as the waka Hana residential unit and the UCL Khan residential unit the number of rooms in these buildings indicate that they were occupied by large families one of the unique features of Calakmul are the stelae that have been found there 117 have been discovered so far more than in any other mayan site which is why this site is so important all the stelae were built during the classic period the oldest ones date to 435 ad the uck Stettin glyph three stones appears at least eight times in the inscriptions related to important people from the city which is how it came to be known as calakmul to call during the classic period from 80 250 to 900 Tikal was one of the most powerful Mayan cities and dominated a large part of the Mayan world politically economically and militarily large plazas surrounded by tall temple pyramids and royal palaces dominated the central area of the site with a height of up to 70 meters 230 feet the pyramids in Tikal were among the tallest man-made structures in the Americas until the first skyscrapers appeared in North America the general decline of the Mayan civilization in the 9th century AD did not spare to call however the city was abandoned and lay buried under tropical rainforests until it was rediscovered in the 19th century serious scientific exploration of the site began in the 1950s and many restoration projects have been carried out by North American universities in cooperation with Guatemalan institutions Tikal is now the best understood of all the ancient Mayan cities although many mysteries still remain enormous trees still shroud to calls buildings which cluster in groups reached by wide cosway's meandering through the epical forest home to toucans parrots wild turkeys howler monkeys racoon like coati mundi and countless other creatures to calls grand scale even as those who have visited spectacular Mayan sites such as Palenque in Mexico [Music] [Music] Eriko believes the Mayan ruins of Caracol are the most extensive in all of Belize after a victory over Tikal in the 6th century caracal flourished and became one of the greatest Mayan cities after its decline the city lay hidden in thick high canopy jungle for centuries until a native logger came across the ruins in 1937 a year later two archeologists visited the ruins they named the site chemical Spanish for snail because of the large number of snail shells they encountered the ancient Mayan name of this city was ox wits ax or 3 Hill water excavations of the ruins did not begin until the 1950s while most of the work took place since 1985 the excavations have uncovered pyramids royal tombs dwellings monuments and two ball courts the earliest habitation of Caracol occurred between 900 BC and 600 BC while the first Mayan temple the temple of the wooden lintel dates from around 70 AD the caracal royal dynasty was founded in 331 and the city rose in power over the next two centuries at first Caracol was an ally of Tikal as witnessed by the appointment of a new Lord / care a call by two calls King double bird in 553 ad the relationship between the former allies turned hostile however when caracal switched alliances from Tikal to calakmul an outraged double bird declared war against chemical and defeated it but not decisively in 562 Lord kaan water of caracal alongside its ally calakmul planned a war in accordance with astrology against tikal double bird was captured and sacrificed and Carrick all experienced a boost in wealth and power at its peak Caracol maintained a population of over 140,000 people through the creation of an immense agricultural field system and through elaborate City Planning it covered an area much larger than present-day Belize City and may even have exceeded that of the Teotihuacan Teotihuacan was not of course an Aztec city by the time the Aztec Empire was at its height this great city had been around for over 1,600 years we know very little about the founding of the great city of central Mexico of the buildings that remain the oldest seemed to be about from 200 BC but it seems that it was a city of great power between 150 BC and 750 ad at this time it became the sixth largest city in the world after Constantinople Chang'an Luoyang Tessa Fong and Alexandria it's believed that the population was around 125,000 and up to 200,000 researchers have speculated that several small settlements may have joined around the lava tube cave over which the Sun pyramid temple was eventually built caves often held important ritual significance to the people in the area this one may have become an important shrine because it had four chambers a symbolic number what we do know is that the city was brilliantly constructed large buildings and small the wide Central Avenue and careful organization are a part of what makes the ancient cities stand out the city has been carefully studied and researchers believe they have found at least six distinct social classes in the buildings of Teotihuacan though the people of the city left little in the way of writings they left a lot of architecture the two pyramids were two of the world's largest man-made structures the Pyramid of the Sun may be one of the earliest structures in the city originally approximately 215 by 215 meters at the base and about 63 meters high it was enlarged at least twice over the course of its history is an ancient Egyptian pyramid located at the Royal necropolis of dasher approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu circa 2600 BC a unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt this was the second pyramid built by Sneferu the bent pyramid rises from the desert at a 54 degree inclination but the top section is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees lending the pyramid it's obvious bent appearance archaeologists now believe that the bent pyramid represents a transitional form between step side and smooth sided pyramids it has been suggested that due to the steepness of the original angle of inclination the structure may have begun to show signs of instability during construction forcing the builders to adopt a shallower angle to avert the structures collapse this theory appears to be borne out by the fact that the adjacent red pyramid built immediately afterwards by the same Pharaoh was constructed at an angle of 43 degrees from its base this fact also contradicts the theory that at the initial angle the construction would take too long because no Pharaoh's death was nearing so builders changed the angle to complete the construction in time in 1974 Kurt Mendelssohn suggested the change of the angle to have been made as a security precaution in reaction to a catastrophic collapse of the medium pyramid while it was still under construction it is also unique amongst the approximately 90 pyramids to be found in Egypt in that its original polished limestone outer casing remains largely intact British structural engineer Peter James attributes this to larger clearances between the parts of the casing then used in later pyramids these imperfections would work as expansion joints and prevent the successive destruction of the outer casing by thermal expansion the bent pyramid has two entrances one low down on the north side to which a substantial wooden stairway has been built for the convenience of tourists the second entrance is high on the west face of the pyramid each entrance leads to a chamber with a high core build roof the northern entrance leads to a chamber that is below ground level the Western to a chamber built in the body of the pyramid itself a hole in the roof of the North Chamber leads via a rough connecting passage to the passage from the western entrance on the east side of the temple there are the fragmentary remains of the pyramid temple like the pyramid temple of the medium pyramid there are two stelae behind the temple though of these only stumps remain there is no trace of inscription to be seen the ancient Egyptians are known for their beautiful temples and the Luxor Temple in Thebes is one of the most extraordinary dating back to 13 92 BCE the temple was built on the east bank of the Nile River and is dedicated to the deities mut con su and Ammon its construction was begun by Pharaoh Amenhotep the third and was completed by Pharaoh Tutankhamen most of the luxor temple dates to the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history ramses ii built the pylon two obelisks only one remains today and six statues of himself the Sphinx is a long avenue of sphinxes were built by neck team bo the first and replaced by ram headed sphinx is built by a Menatep the third the avenue stretched from the luxor temple to the Karnak temple for a distance of two miles the philosopher mathematician and Egyptologist RH Waller de lubicz 1887 to 1961 wrote the temple of man following a 12-year study of the temple of Amun mut con su at Luxor through a reading of the temples measurements and proportions its axes and orientations and the symbolism and placements of its bow reliefs a along with his accompanying studies of related medicinal and mathematical papyri swaller de Lube is described how advanced the ancient Egyptian civilization was and that it possessed exalted knowledge and achievements both materially and spiritually the temple walls were made of mud bricks in order to symbolize the separation between the world of the Egyptians and their deities one of the main functions of the temple focused on the annual opet festival an event in which statues of mut con su and emmalin would travel from Carnac to the temple unlike many other ancient constructions in Thebes luxor temple still stands and is visited to this day it is also used as a place of worship the Luxor Temple is easily identified from the front because it only has one obelisk but as stated above ramses ii originally erected two obelisks at its entrance the other obelisk was given to king louis v in 1874 in exchange for a clock that no longer works and now stands in the conquered square in paris the obelisk that remained was also included in the deal but it turned out to be too much trouble to move it the temple of karnak was known as i petit su or most sacred of places by the ancient Egyptians it is a city of temples built over 2,000 years and dedicated to the feeb intri out of amman mut and con su the derelict place is still capable of overshadowing many wonders of the modern world and in its day must have been inspiring for the largely uneducated ancient Egyptian population this could only have been the place of the gods it is the largest religious building ever made covering about 200 acres and was a place of pilgrimage for nearly 2,000 years the area of the sacred enclosure of a man alone is 61 a KERS and could hold ten average European cathedrals the great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big that st. Peter's Milan and no Troodon cathedrals would fit within its walls the hippo style hall at 54,000 square feet 16450 nine meters and featuring 134 columns is still the largest room of any religious building in the world in addition to the main sanctuary there are several smaller temples and a vast sacred lake 423 feet by 252 feet 129 by 77 meters the sacred barges of the Theban Triad once floated on the lake during the annual open festival the lake was surrounded by storerooms and living quarters for the priests along with an aviary for aquatic birds the Egyptians believed that towards the end of annual agricultural cycle the gods and the earth became exhausted and required a fresh input of energy from the chaotic energy of the cosmos to accomplish this magical regeneration the opet festival was held yearly at Karnak and Luxor it lasted for 27 days and was also a celebration of the link between the Pharaoh and the god Amun the procession began at Karnak and ended at Luxor Temple one and a half miles 2.4 kilometers to the south the statue of the god Amun was bathed with holy water dressed in fine linen and adorned in gold and silver jewelry the priests then placed the God in a shrine and on to the ceremonial bark supported by poles for carrying Pharaoh emerged from the temple his priests carrying the bark on their shoulders and together they moved into the crowded streets a troop of Nubian soldiers serving as guard beat their drums and musicians accompanied the priests in song as incense filled the air after looking at the construction of Stonehenge you may wonder how this prehistoric monument was built without advanced engineering knowledge nor sophisticated tools this same question has been baffling historians and archaeologists alike for centuries Stonehenge took nearly 1500 years to build and was believed to be constructed between 3,000 and 2,000 BC the construction of Stonehenge begins with the outer ring consisting of sarsen sandstone slabs excavated from local quarries in England Salisbury Plain while the inner ring being built with smaller bluestone rocks that scientists have tracked back to presley hills in wales nearly 200 miles away from the construction site of stonehenge how were these Neolithic peoples able to transport boulders weighing four tons over such a vast distance while also taking into consideration that its construction was nearly 5000 years ago seeing as there is no definitive answer to how Stonehenge was engineered by these Neolithic peoples researchers have wondered if they were solely responsible for its creation anything is possible even the possibility of ancient aliens proponents such as author Erich von däniken among others developed a modern take on the Merlin hypothesis this modernized hypothesis was developed by advocates of the ancient alien theory otherwise known as the ancient astronaut theory considering that extraterrestrial beings with superior knowledge of science and engineering arrived on earth thousands of years ago sharing their expertise with early Neolithic civilizations author Erich von Daniken considered the primary proponent of the ancient alien theory suggested the creation of Stonehenge in the Neolithic period was a model of our solar system serving as the solar and lunar calendar bear in mind supporting evidence has been found upon observing the circulatory position surrounding the trench of Stonehenge connecting at a point that then extends hundreds of metres away from the side with an extending pathway pointing directly upon the position the Sun would lie during the summer solstice in turn Rep presenting a believed model of the Neolithic solar system they believe consisted of nine planets from this early representation of our solar system Daniken proposed that the stone circle served as a landing pad for spaceships or as an observatory for extraterrestrial activity among the skies it was also believed that the excavation of the trenches directed outward pointed towards ancient historical science another branch of this belief advocates the idea that they served as identifies for extraterrestrial beings acknowledging that the planet is inhabited with it advanced to life Donegan further claims that ancient art and iconography throughout the world depicted air and space vehicles non-human intelligent creatures along with artifacts of advanced technology that worked seemed to fit amongst the Neolithic period the question then appears as to how these anachronistic objects were found amongst periods preceding the technology of their period were ancient aliens the helping hand that guided civilizations to advance technologically and intellectually pushing the development of our known world slowly over thousands of years modern scientific explanations cannot yet give an explanation as to how boulders weighing nearly four tons were transported over such great distances to Stonehenge without adequate technology therefore until proven wrong the speculation around Stonehenge is to be consumed with endless possibilities of its mystifying construction along with the role it played in the Neolithic period in which it arose the Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC tombs were constructed for the kings and powerful Nobles of the new kingdom the valley stands on the west bank of the Nile across from Thebes within the heart of the theban necropolis the wadi consists of two valleys east Valley and West Valley the area has been a focus of concentrated archaeological and egypt illogical exploration since the end of the 18th century and its tombs and burials continue to stimulate research and interest in modern times the valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world in 1979 it became a world heritage site along with the rest of the theban necropolis the Valley of the Kings also had tombs for their favorite nobles and the wives and children of both Nobles and Pharaohs around the time of Ramses the first circa 1300 BC the valley of the queens was begun although some wives were still buried with their husbands most of the tombs were cut into the limestone following a similar pattern three corridors an antechamber and a sunken sarcophagus chamber these catacombs were harder to rob and were more easily concealed the switch to burying the Farrell's within the valley instead of the pyramids was intended to safeguard against tomb robbers in most cases this did not prove to be effective many of the bodies of the pharaohs were moved by the Egyptian priests and placed in several caches during the political upheaval of the 21st dynasty the Valley of the Kings has two components the East Valley and the West Valley it is the East Valley which most tourists visit and in which most of the tombs of the New Kingdom pharaohs can be found by the end of the New Kingdom Egypt had entered an extended period of political and economic decline the priests at Thebes grew in power and effectively administered Upper Egypt while Kings ruling from Tanis controlled Lower Egypt the valley began to be heavily plundered so the priests of Ammon during the 21st dynasty decided to open most of the tombs and move the mummies into three tombs to better protect them later most of these were moved to a single cache near Deir el-bahri during the later third intermediate period and after intrusive burials were introduced into many of the open tombs almost all of the tombs have been ransacked including Tutankhamun's though in his case it seems that the robbers were interrupted so very little was removed the valley was surrounded by steep cliffs and heavily guarded in 1090 BC or the year after the hyena there was a collapse in Egypt's economy leading to the emergence of tomb robbers because of this it was also the last year the valley was used for burial the valley also seemed to have suffered an official plundering during the virtual civil war which started in the reign of Ramses the 11th the tombs were opened all the valuables removed and the mummies collected into two large caches one the so-called Deir el-bahri cache contained no less than 40 royal mummies and their coffins the other in the tomb of M on tip the second contained a further 16 another perplexing site is what is called the Serra pium at saqqara containing massive granite boxes which many academics believed were created during dynastic times however the boxes in the Serra pium are examples of what engineers such as Chris Dunn and members of the Kemet school have major problems with regarding the conventional Egyptologists explanations according to the latter in the 13th century BC Khayyam wasit ordered that a tunnel be excavated through the solid limestone bedrock with side chambers designed to contain a large granite sarcophagi weighing at least 70 tons each to hold the mummified remains of prized APIs bowls manufacturer Chris Dunn is a man who knows what precision surfaces look like as he has been involved in making complex metal parts for the aviation industry for decades he has studied the boxes of the Serra pium many times and has been able to measure the flatness of their granite and limestone surfaces using precise gages their characteristics show that their creators used the same tools and were last with the same skill and knowledge as those who created khafre's pyramid moreover the boxes in both locations are evidence of a much higher purpose than mere burial sarcophagi they are finished to a high accuracy their corners are remarkably square and their inside corners worked down to a dimension that is sharper than what one would expect to find in an artifact from prehistory all these features are extremely difficult to accomplish and none of them necessary for a mere burial box the manufacturers of these boxes in the Serra pium not only created inside surfaces that were flat when measured vertically and horizontally they also made sure that the surfaces that were created were square and parallel to each other with one surface the top having sides that were 5 feet and 10 feet apart from each other but without such parallelism and squareness of the top surface the squareness noted on both sides would not exist while it may be argued that modern man cannot impose a modern perspective on artifacts that are thousands of years old an appreciation of the level of precision found in these artifacts is lacking in archaeological literature and is only revealed by an understanding of what it takes to produce this kind of work nobody does this kind of work unless there is a very high purpose for the artifact even the concept of this kind of precision does not occur to an artisan unless there is no other means of accomplishing what the artifact is intended to do the only other reason that such precision would be created in an object would be that the tools that are used to create it are so precise that they are incapable of producing anything less than precision with either scenario we are looking at a higher civilization in prehistory than what is currently accepted clearly the techniques used to produce these features have been lost to modern science yet it is good evidence that an advanced ancient civilization existed worldwide on this planet are these ancient energy towers located high up in sillustani Peru the official version of sillustani is that it's a pre incan Cemetery on the shores of Lake Ohio near puno in Peru the tombs which are built above ground in tower like structures called Chiapas are the vestiges of the kula people who are Amara conquered by the Incan Empire in the 15th century many of the Chiapas at sillustani shall pre-inca characteristics that were later redressed with Inca stone blocks similar Chiapas are found throughout the entire south central Andes with the above ground burial styles going back at least to the mature to guanaco period circa 500 to 950 the insides of the tombs were built to hold entire groups of people most likely extended families of the Aymara elite corpses were not intentionally mummified but in the dry environment created by the closed tomb they survived for centuries most mummy bundles indicate burial in a fetal position some of the tombs also have various animal shapes carved into the stone the only openings to the buildings faced east where it was believed the son was reborn by mother earth each day the architecture of the site is often considered more complex than typical Incan architecture in contrast with the Inca who used stones of burying shapes Nakula used even rectangular edges while chullpas are not unique to sillas Trani and are found across the Altiplano the site is considered the best and most preserved example of them these findings are disputed by researcher Brian Forrester stating clearly this work was beyond the capability of the Bronze Age Inca so who made them and when the towers are constructed with tight-fitting stone with no mortar or cement like what we see at puma punku-- and many other sites in South America where it advanced technology is evident after discovering energy lines running through the towers Forrester postulated these could be high altitude energy devices but the purpose of these energy towers remains a mystery for now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
2 hours and 25 minutes!
Actually the picture quality and replicas of artefacts make this a great watch, even though there’s a tonne of adverts. Just fast forward.....
3 hrs no thanks