Hey there! If you’re into ancient mysteries and cool old stuff buried in the ground, you’ve gotta check out When the Earth Gives Up Its Oldest Secrets. It’s all about jaw-dropping archaeological finds that have been hidden for thousands of years. You’ll see how tiny clues turn into big discoveries that change what we thought we knew about history. The stories are wild, the science is fascinating, and honestly—it’s just super fun to watch. Whether you're a history buff or just curious, this is one of those shows that totally pulls you in. Don’t miss it! Animation is created by Bright Side.
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00Humanity has been looking to the stars, searching for secrets that outer space is hiding.
00:05But deep underground, within the soil of our own planet,
00:09there are literal troves of fantastic things just waiting to be discovered.
00:16How can you talk about excavations and not mention Egypt?
00:20In 2019, archaeologists uncovered a tomb of a high official in South Saqqara,
00:26who lived about 4,400 years ago.
00:28His name was Koui, and the hieroglyphs on the walls of the tomb recited his many titles,
00:35one of which was the sole friend of the pharaoh of the time.
00:39The discovery could have been pretty usual for Egypt, if not for the tomb's interior.
00:44The walls, the ceiling, and even parts of the floor were covered in hieroglyphs, pictures, and intricate patterns.
00:52But what surprised the scientists the most was how well-preserved the colors of those images were.
00:57Despite the cracks and chips on the walls and the ceiling, they were still bright and vivid,
01:03almost as if they had been painted recently.
01:05In Israel, a whole city was discovered by archaeologists in 2019.
01:14It dated back 5,000 years to the early Bronze Age and was home to about 6,000 people.
01:20Millions of tools, fragments of pottery items, and stone vessels were found at the site.
01:26Scientists say the city was so huge, it could be called the New York of the period.
01:30The megalopolis was carefully planned, with dozens of streets, alleyways, and public and residential areas.
01:39Archaeologists state that the citizens used to live and trade not only with different regions,
01:44but also with various cultures and kingdoms.
01:46Bar Hill is an Iron Age settlement in eastern England,
01:53and archaeologists suddenly stumbled upon a very unusual thing there.
01:58As they were scouting the area, they looked inside one particular ditch and found thousands of frog bones.
02:05Later calculations showed more than 8,000 bones belonged to frogs and toads.
02:11There were no signs of damage.
02:13The bones lay in heaps and piles.
02:16Scientists have no idea what could have drawn so many frogs and toads to a single place.
02:21It's known that local people of the time ate frogs,
02:24so the settlement's inhabitants could have brought them there.
02:27Other versions state that the frogs could have come for the large amounts of insects feeding on the crops,
02:33or they may have been looking for a body of water and got trapped in the ditch.
02:38As for now, the frog mystery remains unsolved.
02:43Not so much mysterious as amusing.
02:46A nearly 1,800-year-old insult was found carved in stone, not far from Hadrian's Wall in England.
02:54An ancient Roman fort just south of the wall had a lot of writing tablets,
02:58but this particular one was especially curious because of its contents.
03:02The stone mentioned some secondinus and said a pretty nasty thing about him.
03:08In fact, this is the first stone graffiti ever found that indicates Romans did have quarrels amongst themselves.
03:15A rancher in Wyoming, not far from the town of Newcastle, was going about his ranching business
03:23when he suddenly stumbled upon a weird bone sticking out from the soil.
03:28As he carefully dug it out, he realized the bone belonged to a huge creature.
03:33It was larger than a bear.
03:35But even so, there were no bears in the area.
03:38The rancher called scientists to figure out what it was all about.
03:42When they excavated the parts, they ended up with three skeletons of dinosaurs.
03:47Triceratops, to be precise.
03:50Researchers were astounded by the discovery for two reasons.
03:53First, the skeletons were surprisingly complete.
03:56They were limb bones, skull parts, feet, and parts of tails.
04:00Second, Triceratops had been considered loners because all the previously found skeletons were found alone.
04:08In this case, there were three of them.
04:11One seemed to be a youth, while the two others were probably its parents.
04:15Judging by the tooth marks on the bones of the largest of the three,
04:18a T-Rex attacked the family, and they couldn't escape from the huge predator.
04:23The catacombs of Paris are yet to be fully charted, and strange things keep coming up down there.
04:32One of them was found in August of 2004.
04:35The local police were having a routine training exercise in the caverns not far from the Eiffel Tower,
04:41when they unexpectedly came upon a large cave transformed into a fully equipped movie theater.
04:46The chamber had an arena where the viewers would sit, a full-sized screen, a projector, and many movies to watch.
04:54Interestingly, they were all regular ones, featuring 50s noir films and more recent pictures.
05:01There was also a second, smaller cavern adjacent to the first one, which was used as a restaurant.
05:07Someone installed an electricity system and at least three phone lines in the underground cinema.
05:11But the most sinister thing happened when the officers returned to the site three days later to further investigate the matter.
05:19They found that all the power cables and phone lines had been cut,
05:22and a mysterious handwritten note was lying in the middle of the floor, saying,
05:27Do not try to find us.
05:29Nobody still knows who built that underground movie theater and why.
05:32In 1948, the first report came about a puzzling 93-mile-long wall built in Jordan.
05:42It's still unknown who made it, when, and why.
05:45Its purpose is not defensive.
05:47It was too low and narrow to have protected anything from anyone.
05:51It lies in ruins today, of course, but when it was still quite new.
05:56Most of it was about three feet tall and one and a half feet wide.
05:59The most popular theory explains that the strange wall might have served as a farmland boundary.
06:06Researchers found traces of ancient agricultural lands to the west of the wall.
06:11The boundary might have protected those from hungry goats emerging from the east with nomadic tribes.
06:18While we're still in Jordan, there's one more mystery here.
06:22Stone circles that date back 2,000 years.
06:25They're pretty big, with a diameter of about 1,300 feet or more.
06:30So far, scientists have discovered 11 of these big circles.
06:34Yes, that's their official name.
06:36Still, they're just a couple of feet high, making them even more puzzling.
06:41Originally, researchers believed they were huge corrals for animals,
06:46but there are no openings between the stones the circles are made from to let people or cattle in or out.
06:51Currently, no one knows who built these ancient structures or why.
06:59Archaeologists in Glasgow excavated a 5,000-year-old stone slab in 2016 and then buried it again.
07:07The slab is called the Cockno Stone and has been known to the locals since the 19th century.
07:12The stone is large and flat, measuring 43 by 26 feet,
07:16and has swirling decorations that had been found at many other prehistoric sites across the globe.
07:22The stone was first fully excavated in 1887,
07:26but within the following decades, it was covered in graffiti by unknown people.
07:31So, to avoid further damage, a group of archaeologists buried it in the ground again in 1965.
07:37And then, in 2016, another group of researchers unearthed the Cockno Stone again
07:42to record the artwork using modern photography and surveying techniques.
07:49You've heard all about Stonehenge, but what about the Superhenge?
07:54In 2015, archaeologists couldn't believe their eyes when they discovered a whole number of stone monoliths
08:01just a couple of miles away from Stonehenge.
08:03They had once stood upright, but about 4,500 years ago,
08:07the wind and erosion of the ground must have pushed them over,
08:11which is why nobody had discovered them earlier.
08:13Their purpose remains unknown, but scientists have a few theories.
08:17It could have been a giant Neolithic monument,
08:20or it could have formed a C-shaped arena leading down to the Avon River nearby.
08:25The springs and a valley completed the picture,
08:28so the Superhenge might have served as some sort of a decoration
08:32or even as part of a larger structure combined with the Stonehenge not far away.
08:40Okay, what if I tell you that the extraterrestrials we all imagine as little green men
08:46may actually look like very normal earthlings and chill in Europe?
08:52This is the Iberian Peninsula.
08:55And people living there are under suspicion.
08:58Ooh.
08:59Here's the reason.
09:01Somehow, parts of the most important artifacts
09:03that the Iberian civilization called Treasure of Valena
09:07are made of metal that simply can't be found on Earth
09:10because it's metal from a meteorite.
09:13Now, let's tackle this step by step.
09:15This is the artifact itself,
09:17and it's composed of 59 different objects.
09:21Bowls, bottles, and bracelets.
09:23Hmm, is there a pattern there with all those Bs?
09:27In total, the fine weighs around 20 pounds,
09:31of which 18 pounds are 23 and a half carat gold.
09:35Now, if you're not a metal specialist, I'll clarify it for you right away.
09:39For comparison, 23 karat gold is 95.8% pure gold.
09:45So, 23 and a half carat is even purer.
09:49The remaining percentage goes to other metals to help add strength and durability to the precious alloy.
09:54There was also silver, iron, and amber in that set.
09:59The artifact could have been pretty straightforward.
10:02But for these two, let's call them imposters.
10:05Look at this wrought iron bracelet and this hollow hemisphere.
10:09Can you see that?
10:10Those rusty lines on the hemisphere
10:12and the overall weird color of the bracelet do stand out,
10:16since everything else is made of purest gold.
10:20This all started back in 1963,
10:23when a researcher noticed a dark leaden metal among the shiny bowls and bottles.
10:28The metal was shiny in some areas,
10:30and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that was mostly cracked.
10:34Now, just so you understand, gold does not usually act this way.
10:38Gold is one of the least reactive of all metals,
10:41so it won't even tarnish, let alone rust.
10:44To figure out where this suspicious iron came from,
10:48researcher turned to mass spectrometry,
10:50which checks out the mass-to-charge ratio of molecules.
10:55Their findings showed that the nickel in the iron
10:57is similar to that found in meteoritic iron.
11:01Simply put, the bracelet and the hemisphere are of extraterrestrial origin.
11:06Ooh!
11:08Now, the exact age of the trove is hard to determine,
11:11yet it's crucial.
11:12We need to know the exact age
11:14to see if it coincides with the start of the Iron Age in the Iberian Peninsula.
11:19If it does, then no further questions here.
11:22But if it doesn't,
11:24well, it's, at the very least, weird, if not suspicious.
11:29So, there's this three-age system.
11:31It comprises the Stone Age,
11:33then the Bronze Age,
11:34and then the Iron Age.
11:36The Stone Age is of no importance here.
11:39So, let's compare the Bronze and the Iron Ages.
11:42The Bronze Age began when it was realized that combining copper and tin
11:47produced a material that was more durable than either metal alone.
11:51This era was all about major upgrades in tools and weapons.
11:55But two standout inventions were riding systems and the wheel.
12:00Then came the Iron Age.
12:03This time was all about slowly bringing iron into everyday life.
12:08Iron was way easier to shape into cool designs than bronze.
12:11Now, this was a big deal because iron, especially transformed into steel,
12:17provided significant improvements in all aspects of life.
12:20Tools became lighter, cheaper, and stronger compared to their bronze equivalents.
12:25You get it?
12:26Good.
12:28So, researchers have long debated whether the treasure dates back to the post-Argaric era
12:33or the latter part of the Bronze Age.
12:36The most recent study claims that those artifacts were created in 1400 to 1200 BCE.
12:43And something really doesn't add up.
12:45First off, the Iron Age began around 500 years after these artifacts were crafted.
12:50Plus, ancient craftsmen couldn't know back then how to work with metals that landed on Earth
12:55approximately 1 million years ago.
12:58And while the dates are really hard to explain, there is a logical explanation for the craftsmanship.
13:04The theory here is that those metal workers simply had access to the fallen meteorite.
13:09And thus, they could study it well and discover its properties before using it for decorative purposes.
13:16They could have figured it out through trial and error.
13:19And once they knew exactly how to work with this extraterrestrial metal,
13:23they proceeded to adorn the artifacts with it.
13:25Plus, there were the Phoenicians, who contributed to their craftsmanship.
13:31Now, it's true that the Iberian people have been processing metal and making pottery
13:35long before the Phoenicians settled on the peninsula.
13:39But the arrival of new metalworking techniques
13:42and the introduction of the potter's wheel
13:44enabled them to produce better quality goods much faster than before.
13:50So, we've figured out the extraterrestrial origins of the Iberian artifacts.
13:54But guess what?
13:56This area is still under suspicion.
13:59The reason for that is the language they spoke.
14:03You see, for most modern languages people use today, there will always be some proto-language.
14:10Say, for Italian, Spanish, and French, it's Latin, hence their similarities.
14:15But wait!
14:16Iberian was largely spoken where modern Spain is.
14:20So why isn't Spanish similar to it?
14:22Well, the truth is, no language today is similar to the Iberian.
14:28Maybe only the Basque language, but it's because of some similarities found in their numerical systems.
14:34Basque is classified as a language isolate, or simply unrelated to any other known languages,
14:40and the only language isolate in Europe.
14:42The Iberian language is unclassified.
14:46While the scripts written in it have been deciphered to various extents,
14:51the language itself remains largely unknown.
14:54And look at the alphabet the Iberians had.
14:57Looks like it doesn't really belong to our planet.
14:59But hold up.
15:01This one might be a bit of a stretch.
15:02When the Phoenicians came to the peninsula, they brought along their alphabet to the Iberians.
15:08But honestly, the Iberians probably weren't keen on just copying someone else's writing system.
15:15So they tweaked it until it looked completely different.
15:18Let's just say they took some inspiration and ran with it.
15:21While linguists can guess to some extent how most characters sounded,
15:27actually translating the language is still completely impossible.
15:32The Iberian language was non-Indo-European and faded away over 2,000 years ago.
15:38And there aren't any similar languages left to help us out.
15:42Super frustrating, right?
15:43Yeah.
15:44We got over 2,000 Iberian inscriptions from tombs, coins, potteries, lead plates,
15:51and even cave wall carvings.
15:53But aside from a handful of words, we're totally in the dark about what they mean.
15:59Now, if we could understand their language,
16:02we might have learned that they were great thinkers and all.
16:04But we can only contemplate the works of art they left.
16:08Iberian culture has a lot of amazing stuff made by talented artisans.
16:13We're talking about not just metalwork and ceramics,
16:16but also detailed sculptures, textiles, jewelry, and other personal bling.
16:22But here's the catch.
16:24Making all those luxury items depended a lot on a big farming class.
16:30At the heart of Iberian society,
16:32most folks were involved in farming and taking care of livestock.
16:36Depending on where you were, the types of farming varied.
16:39For example, up in the north, they were all about growing grains,
16:44while down in Valencia, they focused on producing olive oil and other agricultural aspects.
16:49In the west, raising animals was the name of the game.
16:53Still, we don't have much information about the day-to-day lives
16:57of the many people doing this essential work.
17:00Yet, on the flip side,
17:02we know a lot about the upper class of Iberian society
17:05who controlled these agricultural resources and hired the artisans.
17:10By the 7th century BCE,
17:12we start to see a group of Iberian princes
17:15who were living the good life,
17:17trading with the Phoenicians,
17:18and enjoying fancy luxury items.
17:21You can spot this elite class in their burial practices.
17:26Cremation was the go-to method for funerals among the Iberians,
17:30and wealthy individuals were often found in cemeteries
17:33with all sorts of lavish goods and funerary sculptures
17:36that give us a peek into the fashion and hairstyles of the rich.
17:41Interestingly, starting in the 6th century BCE,
17:45there was a noticeable drop in the number of recognizable burials,
17:49which suggests that these elaborate funeral customs
17:52became more exclusive to a small elite.
17:55Meanwhile, the fate of the majority—
17:57farmers, artisans, soldiers, and laborers—
18:00who made up a big chunk of the population—
18:02remains a bit of a mystery.
18:05It used to be a pretty advanced civilization,
18:08but it vanished without a trace.
18:11Researchers think it could have been due to some massive earthquake.
18:14But so far, we don't know for sure.
18:17Miles and miles of yellow sand, treeless mountain ridges,
18:25and scorching hot sun over your head.
18:27And suddenly, something you'd never expect to come across in a barren desert.
18:32A small group of overexcited people.
18:35They're as happy as you would be if you'd won a lottery.
18:38They've just found an ancient tomb,
18:40once flooded with its walls in bad shape.
18:42But the stuff they discovered inside
18:45proves that this is the burial site
18:48of one of Egypt's most mysterious pharaohs.
18:51Historians have been hunting for his tomb for years,
18:54but no one expected it to hide ancient treasures.
18:58Fast forward.
19:00After careful examination of the site,
19:02Egyptian officials have announced the discovery
19:05of the tomb of King Thutmose II.
19:07It's the last missing tomb from Egypt's 18th dynasty.
19:11And this is also the first royal tomb found
19:14since King Tutankhamen was discovered in 1922,
19:18in more than 100 years.
19:20A team of Egyptian and British archaeologists
19:23found the tomb in the Theban Mountains area,
19:26west of Luxor, near the famous Valley of the Kings.
19:30Before this, the site was only known as Tomb C-4.
19:34But during their excavation,
19:35the team found clear evidence
19:38proving it belonged to King Thutmose II.
19:41Archaeologists actually found the entrance
19:43and main tunnel leading to the tomb in 2022.
19:46But at first, they thought it belonged to a queen
19:49because it was near the graves of Thutmose III's wives.
19:53It was also close to Queen Hatshepsut's tomb.
19:56Originally, it was prepared for her
19:57when she was just a royal wife.
20:00But everything changed when she became pharaoh.
20:03But we'll talk about this twist of fate a little later.
20:05But soon, they realized that their discovery
20:10was much more significant.
20:12They found alabaster jars with Thutmose II's name
20:15and the words,
20:17Deceased King, written on them.
20:19That's when they realized
20:20that the tomb was actually his final resting place.
20:24Sadly, Thutmose II's tomb has seen better days.
20:28According to the head of Egypt's antiquity sector
20:30and the leader of the Egyptian excavation team,
20:34the tomb suffered major damage from ancient floods
20:37not long after the pharaoh's death.
20:40Water swept through the burial chamber,
20:42likely destroying or displacing
20:44many of the original artifacts.
20:46Much of what had been once inside the tomb
20:48was moved elsewhere in an attempt to salvage it.
20:52The researchers found out that the tomb
20:54had a basic design,
20:55with an entrance,
20:57a sloping main corridor,
20:58and a burial chamber.
21:00The corridor was coated in white plaster
21:02and rose about 4 1⁄2 feet
21:04above the floor of the burial chamber.
21:06A large staircase
21:07and a very large descending corridor of the tomb
21:10indicated its grandeur.
21:13It took the team a long time
21:14to navigate through, though,
21:16as the tomb was blocked by flood debris
21:18and collapsed ceilings.
21:19Only after crawling through a 32-foot passageway
21:23with a small 16-inch gap at the top,
21:26the worst nightmare for those of us with claustrophobia,
21:29were they able to reach the burial chamber.
21:32There, they were in for another surprise.
21:35They cleared the debris,
21:37expecting to find the crushed remains
21:39of a burial beneath.
21:40But the tomb turned out to be completely empty.
21:43And it was not due to robbery.
21:45It had been deliberately empty.
21:48The researchers soon realized
21:49that the tomb had been flooded
21:51since it had been built underneath a waterfall.
21:54It happened just a few years
21:55after the king's burial,
21:57so the contents of the tomb
21:58were moved to another location.
22:00That's why there was a second corridor in the tomb.
22:03It was most likely made to help remove
22:05King Thutmose II's body from his flooded tomb.
22:10Despite the damage,
22:11the excavation team made some really exciting discoveries.
22:15They found traces of mortar,
22:17decorated with blue inscriptions,
22:19yellow stars,
22:20and fragments from the Book of Amduat,
22:22one of the most significant funerary texts
22:25in ancient Egypt.
22:26The book was meant to guide the deceased
22:28through the underworld,
22:29ensuring a safe journey to the afterlife.
22:32Now, how about we sneak a peek
22:35at ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty?
22:37It was all about conquering lands,
22:39expanding the empire,
22:40and building jaw-dropping monuments.
22:43Some of the biggest names from that era,
22:45Thutmose I and Thutmose III,
22:48both legendary warrior kings
22:50who left their mark in history.
22:53Thutmose I was a fierce fighter
22:55who led major military campaigns,
22:57pushing Egypt's border further south
23:00than ever before,
23:01all the way to the fourth cataract of the Nile.
23:04His victories gave Egypt access
23:06to new trade routes,
23:07stronger political times,
23:09and more wealth.
23:10His conquests were so significant
23:12that they were recorded
23:13in the tombs of his top officials.
23:17Thutmose III,
23:18sometimes called Thutmose the Great,
23:21took things even further.
23:22He was not only an incredible military strategist,
23:25but also the commander
23:27of Pharaoh Hatshepsut's armies
23:28before becoming king himself.
23:31He led between 17 and 20 military campaigns,
23:35winning every single one
23:36and expanding Egypt's empire to its peak.
23:39He even created the world's first navy.
23:43Thutmose III is often remembered
23:44as Egypt's greatest warrior pharaoh.
23:49And sandwiched between these two powerhouses
23:51was Thutmose II,
23:53a pharaoh who doesn't get nearly as much attention.
23:56Hey, the middle child, right?
23:58His reign lasted only about five years
24:00before he passed away at around age 30
24:02in 1479 BCE.
24:05He is kind of a mystery.
24:07No one really knows what he accomplished.
24:10For the longest time,
24:11even the location of his burial site
24:13was totally unknown.
24:15His body was actually found in the 19th century.
24:18It was just lying around
24:19in the mortuary temple of Deir el-Bahari,
24:22in a secret chamber
24:23where priests used to hide royal mummies
24:25centuries after their original tombs
24:28were looted by grave robbers.
24:30In other words,
24:31Thutmose II's body
24:32must have been moved
24:33from his original resting place
24:35at some point in history
24:36to protect it.
24:39During his lifetime,
24:40Thutmose II made
24:42at least one major impact
24:43on Egyptian history.
24:45He married his half-sister,
24:46Hatshepsut.
24:48That might not sound like a big deal,
24:50but it helped her become
24:51Egypt's greatest female pharaoh
24:53after he passed.
24:54The catch?
24:55She kept her stepson,
24:57Thutmose III,
24:58off the throne for decades.
25:00When he finally took power,
25:01he erased her name
25:03from history out of spite.
25:05And still,
25:06Hatshepsut is one of Egypt's
25:08greatest pharaohs,
25:09no matter if you're talking
25:10about a man or a woman.
25:12She brought a lot of wealth
25:13and art to Egypt.
25:15She led a big trading trip
25:16to a place called Punt,
25:18where she brought back
25:19things like gold,
25:20ebony,
25:21and incense.
25:22She also made sure
25:23her name lasted
25:24by building amazing structures
25:26that we can still see today.
25:28At Karnak,
25:29she added huge obelisks.
25:31One of them is still standing tall.
25:33She also was the one
25:34to build the temple
25:35of Deir al-Bawre,
25:36with its countless columns.
25:38She was buried there.
25:41Interestingly,
25:42Hatshepsut was often shown
25:44in art as a man,
25:46with muscles and a beard,
25:48like how pharaohs
25:49were usually depicted.
25:50But she made sure
25:51there was always something
25:53in the artwork
25:53that reminded people
25:55she was a woman,
25:56like calling herself
25:57Daughter of Re,
25:58or His Majesty Herself.
26:01When she passed away
26:02in 1458 BCE,
26:05Egypt wouldn't have
26:06a female ruler
26:06as powerful as her
26:08until Cleopatra,
26:10about 1400 years later.
26:14According to Egypt's
26:15Supreme Council of Antiquities
26:17Secretary General,
26:18isn't that a mouthful?
26:20Hatshepsut's name
26:21actually appears
26:22in Thutmose II's tomb,
26:24meaning she might have
26:25even handled his burial.
26:27As for their final
26:28resting places,
26:29well,
26:30Hatshepsut was buried
26:31in the Valley of the Kings,
26:33and Thutmose II's mummy
26:34is now in the National Museum
26:36of Egyptian Civilization,
26:38alongside other
26:39ancient Egyptian rulers.
26:41It gives visitors
26:41a rare chance
26:43to see the remains
26:44of a nearly forgotten pharaoh.
26:46Now, experts consider
26:47the discovery of his tomb
26:49to be one of the most
26:50significant in recent years.
26:52The artifacts found there
26:53add important details
26:55to our understanding
26:56of the history of the region
26:57and Thutmose II's rule.
27:00And even though
27:00the tomb's design
27:01is fairly simple
27:02and follows the same
27:04architectural style
27:05preferred by later
27:06Egyptian rulers,
27:07its historical importance
27:09is undeniable.
27:11In any case,
27:12the mission isn't over yet.
27:14Archaeologists are now
27:15focusing on solving
27:16another mystery.
27:18Where did the rest
27:19of the tomb's contents
27:20end up?
27:21The team is determined
27:22to continue their search.
27:24Who knows
27:24what other secrets
27:25they will uncover
27:26that have remained hidden
27:28beneath the sands
27:29for thousands of years.
27:31No man shall ever
27:32find my tomb.
27:34That's what,
27:34according to rumors,
27:35Cleopatra once said.
27:37Rumor has it,
27:38it really wasn't
27:39about the gender.
27:40She wanted no living soul
27:41to disturb her.
27:43And I think she meant
27:43that no human
27:44would ever discover
27:45the location of her grave.
27:47But, surprisingly,
27:48it was indeed a woman
27:50who was closer
27:50than anyone before
27:52to finally discovering
27:53the queen's resting place.
27:55Meet Kathleen Martinez-Berry,
27:57a criminal lawyer
27:58turned archaeologist.
28:00She got so intrigued
28:01with Cleopatra's story
28:03that she packed her bags
28:04and went to Egypt
28:05with no official support
28:07and even no permission
28:08from the authorities.
28:09All she had
28:10was pure determination
28:11to find the queen's tomb.
28:14Now, you could say
28:15Kathleen had always
28:16been ahead of the game.
28:17She skipped grades in school,
28:19mastered piano,
28:20chess, swimming,
28:21and martial arts,
28:22and grew up listening
28:23to top intellectuals
28:24debating in her home.
28:26And she even got
28:27her law degree
28:27at just 19.
28:29And archaeology
28:30was her side passion.
28:31She had never actually
28:32been to Egypt,
28:34never dug up
28:34a single artifact.
28:36But her fascination
28:37with Cleopatra
28:38went all the way back
28:39to an argument
28:40with her father
28:41in 1990.
28:43That day,
28:44she walked into
28:44his library
28:45looking for a copy
28:46of Antony and Cleopatra
28:47by Shakespeare.
28:49Her dad,
28:50Fausto Martinez,
28:51a professor
28:52and legal expert,
28:53casually called
28:54Cleopatra a seductress.
28:56Kathleen wasn't having it.
28:58She fired back,
28:59arguing that history
29:00had been totally unfair
29:01to Cleopatra.
29:03The Romans,
29:03she said,
29:04wanted to destroy
29:05her reputation.
29:06And for centuries,
29:08people had just believed
29:09their version of the story.
29:11The debate went on
29:12for hours,
29:12and in the end,
29:13her father admitted
29:14maybe he had judged
29:16Cleopatra too harshly.
29:18That conversation
29:19changed everything
29:20for Kathleen.
29:22From that day on,
29:23she read every ancient text
29:24she could find,
29:25especially Plutarch's account
29:27of Cleopatra
29:28and Mark Antony.
29:29The more she learned,
29:30the more convinced
29:31she became
29:32that Cleopatra
29:33wasn't just some queen
29:34who fell for the wrong guy.
29:36She was a genius,
29:37playing a dangerous
29:38political game
29:39to keep Egypt independent.
29:41And the more she read,
29:42the more she started thinking,
29:44what if everyone
29:45had been looking
29:46for Cleopatra's tomb
29:47in the wrong place?
29:49That thought stuck with her.
29:51When she was caring
29:52for her second child,
29:53she earned a master's
29:54in archaeology.
29:56Multitasking.
29:57That reignited an obsession
29:58that would take over her life,
30:00uncovering the truth
30:01about Cleopatra.
30:03Even though most experts
30:04believe that Cleopatra's tomb,
30:06along with the final resting place
30:08of 13 other Ptolemaic rulers,
30:10lies somewhere beneath
30:12modern-day Alexandria,
30:13Dr. Martinez
30:14has a different idea.
30:16She believes Cleopatra
30:17was buried at Tapasiris Magna,
30:20an ancient temple
30:21dedicated to Osiris,
30:23the Egyptian deity
30:24of the afterlife.
30:25But she still needed
30:26an ancient foundation plate.
30:28These plates,
30:29about the size of a smartphone,
30:31were placed beneath
30:32important temple structures
30:33and often contained inscriptions
30:35explaining when and why
30:37the temple was built.
30:38If she could find a plate
30:40that confirmed the temple
30:41was dedicated to Isis,
30:43Cleopatra's patron deity,
30:45she'd have solid proof
30:46that this was the right place
30:48to look.
30:49Nothing could deter Martinez.
30:51She excavated the entire temple site,
30:54digging deeper than anyone
30:55before her.
30:56Her team found coins
30:57with Cleopatra's name
30:58and face stamped on them.
31:00It meant Cleopatra
31:02had a direct connection
31:03to this site.
31:04Then, they uncovered
31:05something even more interesting.
31:07A tunnel used to bring water
31:09to people,
31:10leading straight from the temple
31:12into the Mediterranean Sea.
31:14So, if parts of the temple
31:15had already sunken into the water,
31:18could Cleopatra's tomb
31:19be down there too?
31:21Martinez needed proof
31:22to convince Egyptian authorities
31:24to let her search underwater.
31:26And, against all odds,
31:28she found the missing foundation plate.
31:30On it, the pharaoh offered
31:32a large area of Nubia
31:33to deity Isis.
31:35That was it,
31:36the confirmation she needed.
31:38The temple was indeed
31:39dedicated to Isis,
31:41proving her theory
31:42wasn't just speculation.
31:44If one temple was on land,
31:46Martinez suspected
31:47the second temple,
31:48possibly Cleopatra's tomb,
31:50had collapsed into the sea.
31:52She needed help from experts
31:54in underwater archaeology.
31:56So, she reached out
31:57to Robert Ballard,
31:58the guy who discovered
31:59the Titanic.
32:00With support from
32:01the Egyptian authorities,
32:02she and her team
32:04began exploring the waters
32:05off the coast of Alexandria.
32:07And what they found
32:08was mind-blowing.
32:10Underwater,
32:11they discovered
32:12massive stone structures,
32:14some standing
32:146 to 10 feet tall,
32:16right where the coastline
32:17would have been
32:18thousands of years ago.
32:20They also found
32:21basalt blocks,
32:22the same material
32:23used in the statues
32:24from the first temple.
32:26That meant one thing.
32:27Those weren't just
32:28random rocks.
32:29They were the remains
32:31of a lost city,
32:32buried beneath the sea
32:33for centuries.
32:35Now, we can only wait
32:36and see whether
32:37Martinez and her team
32:38will be able to unravel
32:39one of the greatest
32:40mysteries of the past
32:41left by the outstanding woman
32:43that was Cleopatra.
32:45Here's some backstory.
32:47After her father,
32:49Ptolemy VII,
32:50passed away,
32:51Egypt's throne
32:52went to both
32:52Ptolemy VIII
32:53and Cleopatra,
32:55or so it seemed.
32:56Cleopatra,
32:57just 18 at the time,
32:58allegedly married
33:00her 10-year-old brother.
33:01Yeah, ancient royalty
33:02had some different customs,
33:04though there's no
33:05solid proof of that.
33:06But sibling love
33:08didn't last long.
33:09Young Ptolemy decided
33:10he wanted all the power
33:12for himself
33:12and tried to push
33:14Cleopatra out.
33:15Forced to flee the country,
33:17she didn't just sit around
33:18feeling sorry for herself.
33:20She raised an army,
33:21ready to march back
33:22and take what was hers.
33:24That's how,
33:25at 21,
33:26she was already
33:27in the Sinai Desert,
33:28leading an army
33:29and planning her return
33:30to the throne.
33:32Now, by that time,
33:33Cleopatra had already
33:35been locked
33:35in a powerful political,
33:37and not only political,
33:39alliance with Julius Caesar.
33:41In June,
33:4147 BC,
33:43she gave birth to a son,
33:44Ptolemy Caesar,
33:46better known as Caesarian,
33:47who, many believe,
33:49was Caesar's child.
33:50But that didn't stop her
33:51from playing by
33:52Egyptian royal rules.
33:54And her husband number two,
33:56her other brother,
33:57Ptolemy XIV.
33:59Yep,
34:00despite her ongoing affair
34:01with Caesar,
34:02Cleopatra married
34:03yet another sibling.
34:04Because,
34:05in her world,
34:06keeping the throne
34:07in the family
34:08was the name of the game.
34:10Now,
34:10marriage aside,
34:11Cleopatra's bond
34:12with Caesar
34:13stayed strong.
34:14She even traveled to Rome
34:16with Ptolemy XIV
34:17for a state visit.
34:18But instead of playing
34:20the role of a dutiful queen,
34:21she stayed in Caesar's
34:23private villa
34:24by the Tiber River.
34:25But after Julius Caesar
34:27lost his life
34:28in 44 BCE,
34:30on the Ides of March,
34:31Cleopatra's political standing
34:33became shaky.
34:34To make matters worse,
34:36her brother-husband,
34:37Ptolemy XIV,
34:38passed away soon after.
34:40And some suspect
34:41Cleopatra had a hand in it,
34:43leaving her
34:44as the sole ruler of Egypt.
34:47Meanwhile,
34:47back in Rome,
34:48Mark Antony
34:49was rising to power
34:50as Caesar's presumed successor.
34:53Wanting to size up
34:54the queen of Egypt,
34:55he summoned Cleopatra,
34:57and she did not disappoint.
34:59Sailing into town
35:00on the lavish barge,
35:02dressed as a deity,
35:03Cleopatra made
35:04quite an entrance.
35:05Antony was instantly
35:07mesmerized.
35:08So much so,
35:09that he left his third wife
35:10back in Rome
35:11and followed Cleopatra
35:13to Alexandria,
35:14where their relationship
35:15turned into a full-blown
35:16royal affair.
35:17The two had three
35:19children together.
35:20Together,
35:21they waged war
35:22against Caesar's
35:23adopted son,
35:24Octavian,
35:24in a battle
35:25for control
35:26of the Roman Empire.
35:27The last time
35:28the queen was seen,
35:30she was in her mausoleum,
35:31dressed in full
35:32royal splendor,
35:34diadem on her head,
35:35lying on what Plutarch
35:36called a golden couch.
35:38When Antony
35:39and Cleopatra
35:40lost at Actium,
35:41Octavian's forces
35:42marched into Alexandria.
35:45Cleopatra apparently
35:46knew the end was near,
35:48so she locked herself
35:49inside her mausoleum,
35:51surrounded by gold,
35:52silver,
35:52pearls,
35:53and priceless art.
35:55Those were the treasures
35:56she threatened to burn
35:57rather than let the Romans
35:58take them.
35:59Antony,
36:00meanwhile,
36:01wasn't going to let
36:02the Romans capture him alive.
36:04He wounded himself
36:05with his own sword,
36:06but before he passed away,
36:08he was carried
36:09to Cleopatra's side.
36:11She held him
36:11as he took his last breath
36:13in her arms.
36:14A little over a week later,
36:16Cleopatra made her own choice.
36:18Rather than face humiliation
36:20as Octavia's prisoner,
36:22she ended her life.
36:23Legend says
36:24it was the bite
36:25of a deadly asp,
36:26though history
36:27isn't quite clear on that.
36:29At the time,
36:30Cleopatra was only 39.
36:33Sounds like a rather
36:34full life to me.
36:35In 1936,
36:38British Egyptologist
36:39Walter Bryan Emery
36:41found a small object
36:42in the desert
36:43that made people debate
36:44whether it was
36:45an elaborate stone model
36:47of a flying saucer
36:48or even a hyperdrive
36:50from a spaceship
36:51that belonged
36:52to some advanced civilization
36:54that visited the Earth.
36:57Emery spent years
36:58excavating sites
36:59along the Nile River Valley,
37:00especially in the huge
37:02ancient necropolis
37:03of Saqqara.
37:05He found countless treasures
37:06from ancient Egypt
37:07and the most bizarre one
37:09was definitely
37:09from the tomb
37:10of a high official,
37:11Sabu.
37:13Historians don't know
37:14exactly who he was
37:15for sure.
37:16Some sources say
37:17he was a king's son.
37:19His burial at Saqqara
37:20means he was an important figure
37:22in the royal court.
37:24There are no records
37:24from this early period
37:26he lived in,
37:26so Sabu's role
37:28and fate
37:29are still a mystery.
37:32Inside his tomb
37:33scientists found
37:34seven funerary chambers
37:35each filled with
37:37traditional grave goods,
37:39animal bones,
37:41flint tools,
37:42pottery,
37:44ivory objects,
37:46and stone bowls.
37:48And then
37:48there was a strange
37:50broken artifact
37:51that became famous
37:52as the disc
37:53of Sabu.
37:55It resembles a shallow
37:56round bottom bowl,
37:58but with three
37:58delicately carved
37:59curved lobes
38:01spaced roughly
38:02120 degrees apart
38:03around its perimeter.
38:06These lobes
38:06are separated
38:07by three holes,
38:09and at the center
38:10there's a thin tube.
38:12The material used
38:14to build the disc
38:15is meta-siltstone
38:16or schist.
38:18This type of rock
38:19is fragile,
38:20highly porous,
38:21and super difficult
38:22to carve.
38:23It flakes easily
38:24and crumbles
38:25under pressure.
38:27So how they made
38:28the disc out of it
38:29with rather simple
38:30stone and copper
38:31tools from 3000 BCE
38:33is still a mystery.
38:36The next big question
38:38is why they decided
38:39to bury Sabu
38:40with it.
38:42Perhaps if we knew
38:43its true purpose,
38:44it would make more sense.
38:46When it was first
38:47discovered,
38:47archaeologists thought
38:48it was nothing more
38:49than a vase,
38:50an incense burner,
38:51or a ceremonial decoration.
38:53But those who took
38:54a closer look
38:55from the point of view
38:56of an engineer
38:57decided it could
38:58actually be
38:59a component
39:00of a larger mechanism.
39:03An amateur historian
39:04made an exact copy
39:05of the artifact
39:06with a 3D printer,
39:08and it turned out
39:09that the disc of Sabu
39:10was an ancient impeller,
39:11a crucial part
39:13of a centrifugal pump.
39:15When they put it
39:15in a housing
39:16and span at high speeds
39:18using the small central shaft,
39:20the disc was able
39:21to displace water.
39:23When it was tested
39:24without a housing,
39:26the disc created
39:27a powerful vortex.
39:29It became clear
39:30that the curved lobes
39:31and slightly concave shape
39:33of the disc
39:33weren't random.
39:35It was probably
39:36all engineered
39:37to move water
39:38with remarkable efficiency,
39:40like a powerful pump mechanism.
39:41ancient Egypt's entire civilization
39:45depended on irrigation.
39:48Later dynasties
39:49perfected basin irrigation
39:50and managed to control
39:51the rise and fall
39:53of the Nile
39:53to take the most
39:55from agriculture.
39:57So,
39:57the engineers
39:58of the first dynasty
39:59may have been experimenting
40:01with advanced irrigation techniques
40:03thousands of years earlier
40:05than scientists
40:05previously thought.
40:07But then again,
40:09some people have doubts
40:11schist is strong enough
40:12to be used
40:13for a pumping mechanism.
40:15They suggest
40:15that artisans
40:16from Egypt's
40:17first dynasty
40:18were trying to recreate
40:19an even older object
40:21using whatever tools
40:22and materials
40:23they had.
40:24It could be
40:25a stone replica
40:26of something
40:26originally made
40:27from metal,
40:29possibly belonging
40:29to a civilization
40:30far older
40:32and more advanced
40:33than ancient Egypt itself.
40:35One Swiss author
40:37takes this idea
40:38even further
40:39and proposes
40:40that the disk
40:40is a copy
40:41of a component
40:42from an extraterrestrial
40:43spaceship's hyperdrive
40:45or stone model
40:46of a flying saucer.
40:49One French researcher
40:50believes the disk
40:51of Sabu
40:52was part of a secret
40:53massive factory system
40:54to manufacture
40:55sodium carbon
40:56inside pyramids.
40:57Some people suggest
41:00that the disk
41:00may have been
41:01a primitive tool
41:02for weaving ropes.
41:04The lobes held
41:05strands of silk
41:06or fiber
41:06that were twisted
41:07into twine
41:08when it was spun.
41:10Or it may have been
41:11a gigantic lamp.
41:15Another historical mystery
41:16is a map
41:17from 1513
41:18that is believed
41:19to be the oldest
41:20surviving detailed map
41:21showing the Americas.
41:23The author of the map
41:25is a Turkish captain,
41:26Piri Reis.
41:27He never crossed
41:29the ocean himself
41:30and put together
41:31this map
41:31from 20 regional maps.
41:34He used an Arab map
41:35of India,
41:37four Portuguese maps
41:38showing India
41:39and China,
41:40and a map of America
41:42by Christopher Columbus
41:43as he saw it.
41:45This last map
41:46was lost
41:46for many years,
41:48so Reis' map
41:49gave us an idea
41:50of what Columbus
41:51must have recorded
41:52during his third voyage
41:53to the New World.
41:54A historian
41:56who studied the map
41:58suggested that it
41:59showed Antarctica
42:00in prehistoric times
42:01because it strangely
42:03resembled Antarctica's
42:04true coastline
42:05the way it looked
42:06when it was free
42:07of ice.
42:08But it was later
42:09proven that this idea
42:10wasn't right.
42:13Another idea
42:14that rocked the science world
42:15was Klerksdorp's spheres.
42:17They were found
42:18in deposits
42:18of mineral paraphthalate
42:20in South Africa
42:21and looked like
42:22tiny ancient cricket balls
42:24with lines
42:24around the middle.
42:26Back in the 1980s,
42:28there was a theory
42:29that some super-advanced
42:30pre-flood civilization
42:32we know nothing about
42:33had made these spheres.
42:35One journalist
42:36shared stories
42:37about how they rotated
42:38on their own
42:39in a display case.
42:42There was also
42:43a TV show
42:44that invited a psychic
42:45who was telling everyone
42:47the spheres
42:47were pieces
42:48of an ancient spaceship.
42:49But, according to geologists,
42:52these spheres
42:53are pretty regular
42:54spherical objects
42:55formed from different minerals
42:57than the surrounding rock.
42:59The seam-like lines
43:01on them
43:01are just imprints
43:02from the host rock's layers
43:04building up over time.
43:06The Klerksdorp spheres
43:07come in different shapes,
43:08from flattened spheres
43:09to distinct disks.
43:12As for that episode,
43:13when one of these spheres
43:14spun on its own,
43:16the curator
43:17of the Klerksdorp Museum
43:18cleared that up too.
43:20He said that
43:21when he put one sphere
43:22on its glass shelf
43:23when the journalist
43:24came to visit,
43:25the sphere rotated a bit
43:26because it's round.
43:28There are some gold mining
43:29activities going on nearby,
43:31so the land
43:32where the museum stands
43:33often experiences
43:34earth tremors.
43:36In a remote part of China,
43:38there are some bizarre
43:39pipe-like formations
43:41known as the
43:42Beigon Pipes.
43:43A local explorer found them
43:46back in 1996
43:47protruding from Mount Beigon
43:50and along the shores
43:51of Tosan Lake nearby.
43:54Some people thought
43:55they were the work
43:56of ancient guests
43:57from other planets.
43:59When scientists tested samples
44:01of the pipe material,
44:03they found out that
44:03they contained
44:04mostly common minerals,
44:06but there was a mysterious
44:078% of unknown stuff.
44:09Some extra tests
44:11showed that these pipes
44:12had been there
44:13before humans.
44:15Chinese geologists
44:16later visited the site
44:17and suggested that
44:18these pipes
44:19were formed
44:20naturally over time.
44:21It was probably
44:23fossilized tree roots
44:24from the area's
44:25super green past.
44:27It's still a real mystery
44:28with no clear-cut answer.
44:31While digging a trench
44:32along a river in Romania,
44:34workers found a wedge,
44:37which is now famous
44:38as the Aluminum Wedge
44:39of Ajude
44:40or the Object of Ajude.
44:43Right next to it,
44:44there were some
44:45mastodon bones.
44:46Those distant relatives
44:47of elephants
44:48lived 11,000 years ago.
44:50So some people
44:52concluded the wedge
44:53is of the same age.
44:55The cool part
44:56is that it's made
44:56of aluminum,
44:58but this metal
44:58wasn't discovered
44:59until the 1800s.
45:01This material
45:02requires serious heat
45:04to produce.
45:06The wedge is said
45:06to be covered
45:07in a thick layer
45:08of oxide
45:08that's been sitting there
45:10for hundreds of years.
45:12Some folks believe
45:13this wedge
45:14must have crash-landed
45:15here on a spacecraft
45:16from some other planet.
45:18Some scientists
45:19think it's
45:20all a hoax,
45:21and others suppose
45:22it might be
45:23a human-made object
45:24with an unknown purpose.
45:28That's it for today.
45:29So hey,
45:30if you pacified
45:31your curiosity,
45:32then give the video
45:33a like
45:33and share it
45:34with your friends.
45:34Or if you want more,
45:35just click on these videos
45:37and stay on the bright side.