Original subtitles

[narrator] Archaeologists uncover mysterious remains

within a crypt in Israel.

Four of the rings were around the individual's neck,

and there were others around the arms and the legs.

Who was this person?

And why were they buried wrapped in metal rings?

An astonishing discovery is unearthed in the sands

of the Egyptian desert.

They noticed strangely smooth limestone blocks

on the cliff's facade, carved right into the landscape.

But what was it?

In the Jordan Desert,

researchers unearthed a strange structure

with remarkable carved features.

But the most striking thing inside the round rock formation

was two standing vertical stones called steles,

each with a human face carved into them.

So what were they for?

And how long have they been standing here

in the middle of nowhere?

Ancient lost cities.

Forgotten treasures.

Mysterious structures.

As new technology uncovers remarkable tales

hidden beneath the deserts of the world.

The "Secrets in the Sand" will finally be revealed.

Just a few miles due north of the Jerusalem city center,

lies the settlement of Ramat Shlomo, Israel.

During the summer months, this area is blisteringly hot,

with temperatures sometimes reaching

almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's also extremely dry,

averaging just under two inches of rain per month,

most of which falls during the wet season

from October to April.

Ramat Shlomo is part of East Jerusalem.

It was once part of Jordan, but came under Israeli control

after the Six-Day War in 1967.

Jerusalem is one of the world's oldest cities,

with a history going back over 5,000 years.

Its origins trace back to roughly 3000 BCE,

with the first settlement near the Gihon Spring.

The oldest mention of Jerusalem is from Egyptian texts,

dating to around 2000 BCE,

where it's referred to as Rusalimum.

Given this rich history,

it's no surprise that the area

is of keen interest to archaeologists.

A team of archaeologists

from the Israel Antiquities Authority

are excavating an ancient complex

known as Khirbat el-Masani

in advance of construction work near Ramat Shlomo,

when they unearth a surprise.

Two burial crypts were uncovered

containing the scattered skeletal remains

of several individuals,

including children, women, and men.

But the real shock came when a third tomb was found.

Inside were skeletal remains

that appeared to be wrapped in metal rings.

Four of the rings were around the individual's neck,

and there were others around the arms and the legs.

But unfortunately, the bones were so severely degraded,

they were only able to recover fragments of the cranium,

a small finger bone, and parts of a femur.

The poor condition of the remains

makes establishing things, like the sex of the person

or age at death very difficult.

So the question is, who was this person?

And why were they buried wrapped in metal rings?

The first thing that springs to mind

is that maybe they were a prisoner,

a criminal bound with chains and then executed,

or possibly an enslaved person.

In 2015, construction workers

in the village of Great Casterton,

in the East Midlands of England

discovered the ancient remains

of a man with heavy iron shackles

and a padlock around his ankles.

[Anthea] Radiocarbon dating placed the remains

to between 226 and 427 CE,

during the Roman occupation of Britain.

The man was likely

between the ages of 26 and 35 when he died,

and the body showed evidence of a life

of physically demanding labor.

It's historical fact that slavery

was an accepted practice throughout the Roman Empire,

and they were known

to chain some of their agricultural slaves.

So the shackled man was probably a farm laborer.

So is it possible that the individual discovered

at Khirbat el-Masani was also an enslaved person?

Maybe, but there's one key difference.

The slave's body discovered in England

was not properly laid out.

It was found at a strange angle,

lying somewhat on its right side

with the left arm raised up on a slope.

This indicates that maybe the man was thrown into a ditch,

rather than given a proper burial.

On the other hand, the body at Khirbat el-Masani

was carefully buried

in a grave resting on its back.

So if they likely weren't an enslaved person

or a prisoner,

there has to be another explanation

for why this individual was buried laden with metal rings.

Maybe it's something a little strange

or involving superstition.

In 2022, a team of archaeologists

from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland,

were excavating an ancient castle

when they uncovered something truly bizarre.

On a riverbank adjacent to the castle,

they noticed human bones sticking out from the ground.

But here's where it gets really weird.

After an excavation,

they found that the individual was buried

with a semicircular sickle pinned around their neck.

And that's not all.

The skeleton's big toe, on the left foot,

had a rusted old triangular padlock attached to it.

Analysis of the remains revealed that they belonged

to a female between the ages of 17 and 21.

She had the Kimmerle anomaly,

which is a condition where an extra piece of bone

forms on the first cervical vertebra.

This could have led her to fainting regularly

or having mental health issues,

which could have been seen as evil behavior.

[Dr. Anthony] Reports of vampire sightings and attacks

became widespread across medieval Europe,

and unusual measures were taken to ensure

that suspected vampires could not rise from the dead.

Some individuals were buried

with large stones around their necks.

Others were buried face down,

and some, like the woman in Poland,

were pinned down with metal objects

and secured with locks.

So could this explain the body found at Khirbat el-Masani

that was chained with metal rings?

It's possible,

but the timeline and location are problematic.

Most vampire burials took place in Europe,

during the Middle Ages right up until the 18th century.

We know from the grave goods and the geology

of the site at Khirbat el-Masani

that the bodies there

are likely from the 5th century CE,

almost 1,000 years before the vampire scare in Europe.

So there has to be another reason

for the rings on the body.

The team at Khirbat el-Masani

investigates the gravesite further

and makes another surprising discovery.

Along with the rings, iron plates were found

where the stomach would have been.

This person was effectively covered in metal,

which could suggest that it was

some kind of crudely-made body armor.

So maybe this is a warrior's grave?

[Dr. Dan] That's a possibility,

but all that metal would have been really cumbersome.

It would have been heavy.

I can't see somebody being able to move around

or fight effectively with metal rings

weighing down their arms and legs.

Plus, if this person was gonna get a warrior's burial,

you would expect to find things like swords

or arrows or spears with them, at least a helmet.

There's nothing like that here.

As the excavation nears completion,

the scope of the complex at Khirbat el-Masani

comes into view...

This place is huge.

They unearthed three apses

assumed to be part of a church or monastery

built with finely-cut limestone blocks.

There are also rooms believed to have been an inn,

which makes sense,

given that the site is near the main road

that led from Jaffa and Lydda to Jerusalem.

[Dr. Anthony] The complex is believed to have been built

between 350 and 650 CE,

when Christianity was becoming

the dominant religion in the region

and Jerusalem was a spiritual center,

attracting pilgrims from far and wide.

This period also saw the spread of monasticism,

a devout way of life

where people detached from the world

to focus on spiritual concerns,

and lived in monasteries

like Khirbat el-Masani.

This period also saw the growth of asceticism.

Basically, that's avoiding anything pleasurable.

Asceticism is a word that's sometimes used interchangeably

with monasticism, but it's not the same.

Ascetics, perhaps, extreme self-denial,

whereas monks isolate themselves from the world.

Neither of them sound very fun.

The most stringent ascetics practiced self-inflicted pain

and voluntary suffering.

And one of these practices was to limit mobility

by wrapping themselves in heavy metal chains,

like the ones found with the remains

at Khirbat el-Masani.

So given this,

the grave likely belonged to an ascetic

who also happened to be a monk

and probably lived in isolation at the monastery.

But who was he?

Searching for answers at Khirbat el-Masani.

the team salvages what little remains of the skeleton

and turns it into the lab for analysis.

The results are startling.

[Anthea] They recovered a single tooth,

and analysis of the enamel showed the presence of AMELX,

which is a protein encoded on the X chromosome.

Also notable was the absence of AMELY,

which is present only in males,

meaning this was a woman.

[Dr. Anthony] While the use of chains by male ascetics

from this era is widely known,

this is the first archaeological evidence

that women engaged in self-torture

during the Byzantine period.

An amazing discovery.

Females tended to practice

less extreme forms of asceticism

by fasting, meditating, and praying.

So just who was this woman

that took her beliefs to such lengths?

Historical records indicate that women in the Roman Empire

began practicing asceticism as early as the 4th century CE,

as a spiritual pursuit

that likely began with the nobility.

Many churches and monasteries were founded in Jerusalem

by wealthy women from the Roman aristocracy

looking for a spiritual connection

as a way of atoning for their lavish lifestyles.

But some of them took it a step further.

[Anthea] Two well-known ascetics were Melania the Elder,

a Christian saint from a noble family,

and her granddaughter Melania the Younger,

who founded convents in the Kidron Valley

and on the Mount of Olives,

located near Jerusalem's Old City.

Melania the Younger was known for her extreme practices,

which included confining herself in a wooden box

that restricted all movement.

Some female ascetics from the time

even went so far as to disguise themselves as men.

Pelagia the Penitent,

recognized as a saint by several churches,

was a former sex worker who turned to Christianity,

and led a life of self-denial,

fasting, and prayer disguised as a man.

This, at least, suggests that monastic life

was sometimes simply not available for women.

[Dr. Dan] As for who the chained woman

found at Khirbat el-Masani was,

that is still a mystery.

And there may be more forgotten female ascetics

hidden beneath ancient monasteries.

The discovery of the female remains

at Khirbat el-Masani

challenges traditional historical narratives

by showing that women engaged

in extreme religious practices

in the Byzantine era,

and hints that female asceticism

may have been much more widespread

than previously believed.

Just over four miles from the modern city of Sohag,

on the Western Bank of the Nile,

the cliffs of Athribis rise up

from the desert floor.

When you think of Egypt, you think of the desert.

And that's because 96% of that country is exactly that.

But if you know where to look,

you can also find huge swaths of fertile land there.

And one of those places is an area surrounding Athribis.

This is because the Nile River carries sediment

thousands of miles northwards,

through Egypt, towards the Mediterranean.

And when the river floods,

these sediments are dispersed across the valley,

turning the sand into rich soil.

Today, 95% of Egyptians

live within a few miles of the Nile's banks,

a pattern that stretches back thousands of years

to ancient Egyptians

who built their largest cities along the river.

A group of archaeologists

is investigating the cliff's base

as part of an ongoing excavation

when they spot something strange.

They noticed strangely smooth limestone blocks

on the cliff's facade.

On closer inspection,

they realized they were actually looking

at the remains of a structure,

carved right into the landscape.

But what was it?

As the team brushes away centuries of sand,

they reveal figures carved into the limestone.

Two stand out as particularly unusual.

These two figures have human bodies

and the heads of animals.

One is an ibis and one is a falcon.

They're surrounded by carvings of Egyptian gods.

And at first, you might think that they're gods, too.

But they're actually beings known as decans.

[Dr. Dan] In ancient Egypt,

decans represented 36 small constellations of stars.

Each decan corresponded to about 10 degrees of sky.

So with 36 sections of 10 degrees each,

you got a full 360-degree panorama.

And by tracking the decans as they moved through the sky,

Egyptians were able to keep track to keep track

of what the date was.

[Dr. Alison] Each of the 36 decans was associated

with a particular deity.

In the case of the decans of Athribis,

the falcon-headed god may have been linked

to the sky god, Horus,

while the ibis head might evoke Thoth,

god of writing and wisdom.

Though we can't be sure,

but we're left wondering, why were they carved here?

320 miles from Athribis,

in the northern reaches of the Nile Delta,

a team of archaeologists working on the ruins

of the ancient city of Kafr El-Sheikh,

come across the work

of some of Egypt's earliest astronomers.

They found a vast complex

built from mud bricks,

spanning more than 10,000 square feet,

that contained a huge limestone sundial

built out of 15-foot blocks.

This sundial acted like a clock,

allowing the ancient Egyptians

to track the time throughout the day.

[Dr. Anthony] Researchers also found several other tools

that indicated that this building

was also used at night.

One of them was a merkhet,

which was essentially a weight attached to a wooden handle

that helped ancient astronomers track the alignment

of the decans across the night sky.

Researchers were able to date the site

to the 6th century BCE,

making it the oldest known observatory

in all of ancient Egypt.

Could the site at Athribis

have been built around the same time

as part of that society's curiosity about the stars?

[Dr. Alison] The decans aren't the only figures

carved into the limestone.

The team also spotted the silhouette of a pharaoh,

known as Ptolemy VIII,

one of ancient Egypt's most volatile rulers.

[Dr. Amma] Ptolemy VIII's reign was incredibly chaotic

and led to the empire's economic collapse.

He was constantly at odds with his siblings,

driving his own brother out of the country

to keep the throne.

He married his older sister, but they feuded constantly

and he went so far

as to kill their own son out of spite.

But the real tipping point

came when he decided to marry his niece,

a move that sparked a full-blown civil war.

Ptolemy hung onto his position by the skin of his teeth,

often relying on diplomatic support from Rome

to keep him in power.

Experts date the structure at Athribis

to the second century BCE,

during the reign of Ptolemy VIII,

hundreds of years after the observatory

at Kafr El-Sheikh was built.

So why did the pharaoh leave his mark

on this particular structure?

As work continues on the ruins,

the archaeologists realize for the first time

the true extent of what they have uncovered.

[Dr. Dan] This structure is enormous.

It's over 150 feet wide.

And it's made up of these two symmetrical columns.

Unfortunately, both of those columns

have been damaged by a nearby limestone quarry.

So today,

they're only about 15 feet tall,

but it's believed

that they once towered up to 60 feet above.

We know that ancient Egyptian pharaohs

frequently commissioned grand architectural projects

to showcase their power

and demonstrate their devotion to the gods.

Massive structures

that took decades to complete,

and were often initiated

at the very start of a pharaoh's reign.

Could the site of Athribis represent

a continuation tradition?

Is it possible that this was intended to serve

as the tomb of Ptolemy VIII himself?

A short distance from Athribis,

a local police station receives a call

that leads to a shocking discovery.

Police learn that a small gang

is illegally excavating a small mound

near a known archaeological site.

When they investigate, they're astonished

to find an exceptionally well-preserved tomb.

Inside, they find a central lobby

and a small burial room

with detailed funerary rites,

depicted on every single wall.

In the burial room,

there are two limestone sarcophagi,

each containing a mummy.

[Dr. Dan] These mummies were likely a married couple,

and probably really important in the area,

because they were surrounded by dozens of grave offerings,

including more than 50 mummified animals.

They also had cats,

they had dogs, they even had eagles.

And they had hundreds of fragments of pottery.

And all of it

was just meant to travel with that couple

into the afterlife.

Researchers are able to date this extraordinary tomb

back more than 2,000 years,

to the tail end of the Ptolemaic period.

The graves are evidence

that high-profile Ptolemaic burials

took place extremely close to Athribis.

Based on this, it's even more likely

that the structure buried in the cliff face

is another impressive tomb.

But there are problems with this theory.

For one, many believe that Ptolemy VIII

is likely buried closer to Alexandria,

which was the capital at the end of his reign

and the resting place for many of his relatives.

Another theory suggests

that Ptolemy was buried in Cyrene,

a Libyan colony that he once ruled.

In the ancient city of Ptolemais,

a grand tomb was discovered,

that some believe may have been intended

as his final resting place.

[Dr. Dan] Ultimately, we still don't know where Ptolemy is buried.

So, if the structure at Athribis

probably isn't Ptolemy's tomb,

what else could it be?

As researchers finally unearth the full facade

buried in the cliffside,

the building's striking silhouette

points to fresh possibility.

The two towers, joined by a shorter building,

is an iconic staple of ancient Egyptian architecture,

known as a pylon.

These pylons were built to symbolize the horizon.

The towers each represented a huge mountain,

and the space between the two,

showed the valley in which the sun set.

They also share a close resemblance

to the hieroglyph Akhet,

which translates to horizon,

and shows a sun setting between two large hills.

[Dr. Amma] The ancient Egyptians were obsessed

with the concept of the horizon.

In part because it represented a constant threat

to one of their oldest and most important gods,

Ra.

It was believed that at night,

Ra would descend below the horizon,

where he entered the underworld

and was forced to battle a giant serpent,

known as Apophis.

Only if he won, would the sun rise again.

Pylons like the one at Athribis

were a literal representation of a boundary,

and were positioned at the entrance

to some of Egypt's grandest temples.

Most of these temples were built to house Egyptian gods

who were channeled through sacred sculptures

and rituals.

Priests would tend to these temples,

conducting ceremonies throughout the year,

to appease the gods

in an effort to maintain peace.

So, if the temple at Athribis

is one of these houses,

the question becomes,

which god was it built for?

Having revealed the entirety of the temple facade,

researchers are drawn to one last set of figures

etched into the stone.

[Dr. Alison] Alongside the pharaoh and the decans

is the figure of a man holding a flail.

This is Min, the god of male fertility,

one of the most important deities of ancient Egypt,

which relied heavily on agriculture.

Each year before the harvest season,

images of Min would be brought out of the temples

and into the fields to bless the crops.

[Dr. Amma] The cult of Min grew extremely strong

in the area surrounding Athribis,

and enormous festivals

would have been held in his honor.

You would think this would make him the star attraction

of the hidden temple, but this isn't the case.

[Dr. Anthony] There are two other gods etched into the reliefs.

One is a woman with the head of a lion,

and the other is a young boy.

These are Min's wife and son, Repyt and Kolanthes.

In fact, it's Repyt that appears to be taking center stage,

with the pharaoh making offerings to her and her son,

rather than to her husband.

It's unclear exactly what kind of role

Repyt or her son would have played

in the local community,

but it likely would have been related

somehow to fertility.

What is known,

is that before the Greeks labeled this place Athribis,

Egyptians called it Hut-Repyt, or Domain of Repyt.

So it may well be that this temple

once stood at the center of an entire town

dedicated to that lion-headed goddess.

Today, the Athribis site

stretches over 75 acres.

Most of the area is still covered

by a layer of limestone rubble,

but researchers are confident

that their ongoing efforts

will one day uncover the entirety of this stunning,

long-forgotten complex.

The unrelenting Syrian Desert

spans more than 200,000 square miles of West Asia,

including parts of Saudi Arabia, Syria,

and 85% of Jordan's land mass.

The Syrian desert is one of the most arid

and hottest deserts in the world,

with summer temperatures frequently reaching

over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The dry landscape in Southeastern Jordan

is made up of sandy plateaus,

occasionally broken up by mountain ranges

and river valleys, called wadis.

While there's evidence of human activity in Jordan

going back to the Paleolithic Period,

large sections of the country were first settled

by nomadic tribes like the Canaanites and Shasu

in the Bronze Age, between 3200 and 1200 BC.

These settlements were consolidated into kingdoms

for hundreds of years until the Classical period,

When Jordan came under Greek and Roman influence.

Not surprisingly,

there's been a wealth of discoveries

found beneath the sand of Jordan's deserts.

The most famous is the Rose City of Petra,

made up of rock-cut tombs and advanced water systems.

In the north, the Roman city of Jerash

was revealed to contain a hippodrome

and the Temple of Artemis.

A team of archaeologists is busy at work

in the southwestern Badia region of Jordan,

when they come across a surprising discovery.

[Dr. Amma] They were surveying an area between the Al-Jafr Basin

and a nearby mountain range,

in a fairly open and flat section of the desert

and discovered a circular enclosure

made from rocks and stones

with an altar-like formation in its center,

as well as a stone hearth

with traces of burnt charcoal.

In addition to the altar and hearth,

there were several smaller stones

in the shape of animal figurines

placed around the perimeter.

But the most striking thing inside the round rock formation

was two standing vertical stones called steles,

each with a human face carved into them.

The first one stood around two feet, three inches tall,

and bore a simple set of eyes, nose, and mouth.

The taller one, at over three and a half feet,

displayed a larger human face,

along with a number of vertical lines,

carved beside it in a unique design or pattern.

So what were they for?

And how long have they been standing here,

in the middle of nowhere?

Samples from the structure in the southwestern Badia

region of Jordan are taken for radiocarbon dating.

Over 15 samples were collected from the charcoal remains

found among the hearth's rocks and stones.

The results were uniformly consistent,

putting the site at around 7000 BC,

which falls in the early Neolithic period.

[Dr. Anthony] The Neolithic era spans more than five millennia,

from 10,000 to 4500 BCE.

so it encompasses a lot of change in human activity.

In Jordan, just like in other places,

there was a slow transition

from tribal hunter-gatherer societies

to cultures with domesticated animals

and agricultural settlements.

Further examination of the strange formation

reveals a possible clue.

[Dr. Amma] The circular arrangement of the structure,

plus the altar-like formation in the center

suggested it may have been connected

to an ancient ritual or ceremony.

And that line of thinking was supported

by the anthropomorphic nature of the two stone carvings.

The practice of giving human characteristics

to non-human entities has been around for millennia,

whether it's animals, deities, or completely inanimate objects,

such as rocks and stones.

Many ancient cultures imposed human traits

as a form of storytelling,

to pass down myths and folklore,

but it also had a deep spiritual and religious significance.

One of the earliest examples of this

was found at Göbekli Tepe,

a settlement in Mesopotamia in what we now call Turkey.

It was inhabited from roughly 9500 to 8000 BC,

also the Neolithic period.

and it featured a large stone circle

with pillars decorated with carvings of human features

like arms, hands, and clothing.

The carvings provided archaeologists

with rare insights into a possible prehistoric religion,

as well as the iconography of the period.

[Dr. Anthony] Since the stone circle at Göbekli Tepe

didn't appear to have a function

connected to hunting, farming, or dwelling,

it was believed to be a communal or spiritual gathering place.

If that were the case, it would make it

one of the world's first known temples.

So is it possible

that the strange discovery in Jordan,

served a similar purpose?

A detailed analysis of the two stone carvings

leads to a surprising connection.

The human faces depicted were carved in simple, clean lines,

consistent with other carvings of that period.

But it was the curious pattern etched

beside the face of the largest stone

that became the focus.

Two lines in a V-shape

coming together to create an enclosed circle,

like a keyhole.

What could it mean?

[Teddy] Well, given that the stone structure

was carbon dated to 7000 BC,

the keyhole shape was ultimately identified

as being the same shape

as a Neolithic hunting trap called a desert kite.

Desert kites were stone walls,

often hundreds of feet long,

that converged into a round contained space.

They were built by nomadic tribes

during the hunter-gatherer phase of the early Neolithic period,

and used to trap animals like deer and gazelles.

Hunting parties would drive herds

into the open end of the kites

and down into the confined space,

where other members of the party

corralled the animals for slaughter.

[Dr. Anthony] They were named in the 1920s

by British Royal Air Force pilots

flying across the region.

They were marked on their resemblance to kites,

and the name stuck.

To date, there have been over 6,000

of these ancient animal traps,

identified across the Middle East.

But were any of them connected

to the Southeastern Badia rock circle?

A larger survey is conducted

to include the surrounding area,

and it doesn't take long to find answers.

Sure enough, the surrounding desert landscape

showed evidence of multiple desert kites,

shaped much like the one carved next to the face on the stone.

So there's a strong connection

between the items found inside the rock circle

and the hunting methods

of the Neolithic nomads who built it.

[Dr. Amma] The bigger picture that emerged

was of a hunting campsite,

featuring several large desert kites.

The rock circle served as the spiritual center

for the hunters,

a place to engage in ceremonies or rituals,

connected to the upcoming hunt.

[Teddy] The presence of the altar, hearth,

and smaller carved animal figurines,

likely all played a role in these rituals,

[thunder rumbling]

[Teddy] whether it was to invoke supernatural forces

for a successful hunt,

or to bring out an abundance of prey to capture.

This remarkable Neolithic stone altar

discovered in the Jordan Desert

represents a critical link between mass hunting

and ritual performance,

and may be one of the earliest examples of art

as an expression of faith.

Set in the heart of south central New Mexico,

White Sands National Park extends over 275 square miles,

dazzling hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

Most of the world's desert sand is made of quartz grain,

tiny pieces of rock weathered by years

of exposure to the elements.

But here, the sand is almost all composed of pure gypsum,

a bright white mineral

that can be almost blinding in the sun.

Gypsum is quite a common mineral,

but gypsum sand is extremely rare,

because it's water-soluble.

Like salt or sugar, it dissolves in water

and won't solidify again, unless the moisture evaporates.

But White Sands National Park lies at the bottom of a basin,

surrounded by the San Andres and Sacramento Mountains.

These mountains are made up of layers of gypsum,

so when it rains,

the minerals wash down into the basin,

and when the water eventually evaporates,

the sand is left behind.

A national park biologist,

exploring the sands after a rainstorm

notices something strange.

He spotted sets of disappearing footprints.

When the ground was wet,

he could clearly make out several tracks,

which seemed to belong to a range of different animals.

But then when the earth dried up again,

they just vanished.

[Dr. Alison] Today, we know them as ghost tracks,

but they baffled experts for almost a century.

In the 1930s, a local trapper

described finding huge, comma-shaped prints

up to 20 inches long.

At first, many believed

these were the first confirmed evidence of Bigfoot.

But now we know that these tracks,

actually belonged to a giant ground sloth

that roamed North America tens of thousands of years ago.

Here's where it gets odd.

Inside one of the sloth tracks was what appeared to be

a human footprint.

Dozens more of these prints

were scattered throughout the desert,

but there are no other clues to tell us

who they might have belonged to.

There are no remnants of ancient human settlements

anywhere in White Sands.

No arrowheads, stone tools, or traces of buildings.

Who were these mysterious people?

As interest in the footprints grows,

some experts wonder whether they could have been left

by one of North America's oldest people,

known as Clovis culture.

[Anthea] Clovis culture was first discovered

300 miles northeast of White Sands National Park

on the outskirts of a village called Folsom.

A local rancher was riding along a gully

when he spotted the bones of Ice Age bison and mammoths

buried in the embankment.

Cut marks on the bones suggested

that these animals hadn't died of natural causes.

They'd been butchered.

[Dr. Dan] Twenty years later,

an archaeologist working near the city of Clovis

began to uncover exquisitely crafted stone points.

The points had been carved

with grooves along their edges

to make them as sharp as possible,

and they became known

as Clovis points.

[Dr. Alison] Over the last century,

more than 10,000 Clovis points

have been found scattered across North America,

dated between roughly 9500 and 9000 BCE.

They're often associated with the bones of large animals,

indicating that the Clovis culture thrived

on butchering big game.

So, could the mysterious White Sands footprints

be from this period?

Was the giant sloth they were following

intended as prey?

In order to confirm

whether these prints could belong

to the Clovis hunters,

a team begins an elaborate effort to date the footprints.

They identified 61 human tracks in total,

trapped in multiple layers of earth.

But these prints aren't physical objects,

which makes them impossible to date.

So they searched the sediment layers for organic material

and found dozens of preserved Ruppia cirrhosa seeds,

also known as ditch grass.

By dating the seeds directly above

and below the footprints, they were able to establish

that the prints were far too old to belong to the Clovis culture.

In fact, these were far too old to belong to any known culture.

These tracks were left between 21 and 23,000 years ago.

The staggering results sent shockwaves

through the archaeological world.

This discovery changes everything.

For decades,

the Clovis First theory was widely accepted.

The idea that the Clovis were the very first humans

to arrive in North America

and that they did that no more than 13,000 years ago.

But here we have evidence

of a far older group

making that journey much earlier.

[Dr. Alison] The Clovis First theory

suggested that humans reached America

by crossing the Bering Strait,

a land bridge that formed

between modern-day Russia and Alaska.

They would then have spread southwards,

following an ice-free corridor,

as massive ice sheets

covering much of modern-day Canada

gradually receded.

This theory relies on the idea

that this wave of migration to the Americas,

led by Clovis culture,

was the first of its kind.

But these ancient footprints challenge that notion.

So, were there people here already?

Nearly 3,000 miles away,

a team of archaeologists

working along Alaska's Tanana River

make their own astonishing discovery,

unearthing yet more traces

of some of the earliest Native Americans.

[Anthea] They were conducting surveys

in a heavily-wooded, remote area

when they found the remains of an ancient campsite.

It included a residential structure

and a central hearth

that was likely built to cook food.

Inside the hearth,

they uncovered the cremated remains

of a young child

who had died around three years old.

[Dr. Dan] Below the hearth, two more infants were uncovered.

This time, they were buried, but not cremated.

Now, these children were much younger than the first,

with the oldest being no more than seven months old.

They had been buried in graves

filled with offerings,

including decorated antlers and a set of stone tools.

In order to date these burials,

the researchers carefully extract DNA

from one of the infants

and begin a detailed analysis.

The results proved these infants

were buried at the end of the Paleolithic Era,

around 11,500 years ago.

This alone marks an incredible discovery,

because DNA this ancient is really rare.

But these samples also allowed us

to look back even further into the past

and form a detailed picture

of these children's genetic ancestry.

[Teddy] Up until this discovery,

two main groups of Native Americans

had been identified,

Southern and Northern Native Americans.

But these infants belonged to neither.

Instead, they proved the existence

of a third, previously-undiscovered group.

Today, this group is known as the Ancient Beringians.

[Anthea] We now believe that the Ancient Beringians

began to split from their East Asian ancestors

around 25,000 years ago.

Based on this genetic evidence,

it's possible that these ancient Native Americans

formed one of the earliest known waves of migration

to North America,

thousands of years before Clovis culture appeared.

The discovery of the Ancient Beringian population

presents fascinating possibilities

for the researchers investigating

the White Sands footprints.

[Dr. Dan] Finding an entirely new ancient American group

means humans didn't reach North America

in one large wave of migration like we previously thought.

Instead, they appear to have arrived

as a bunch of small, genetically-distinct groups,

many of which may still be undiscovered.

So now the question becomes,

could the people who left their footprints in the desert

have been one of these unidentified groups

of ancient Native Americans?

And, if so,

what's the story of how that population

made its way to what is now the southwestern U.S.?

[Dr. Alison] The truth is, we don't know how

these ancient humans reached New Mexico.

It's possible they may have traveled by boat,

following the Siberian and Alaskan shoreline south

before traveling inland on foot.

Or they may have found a different passage,

one we still don't know about.

To this day, the White Sands footprints

remain shrouded in mystery.

But while they may not be able to tell us

who these people were,

they do paint a vivid picture

of the environment in which they lived.

Today, White Sands National Park

is a true desert, but it wasn't always.

The ditchweed seeds

that were found trapped in layers of sediment

are actually aquatic plants.

Tens of thousands of years ago,

these plants grew on the banks of an enormous body of water

called Lake Otero.

Lake Otero was huge.

It covered roughly 1,600 square miles,

transforming this desert landscape

into a thriving wetland.

Then around 23,000 years ago,

the region became drier and the lake receded,

leaving behind a soft surface

covered by gypsum sand and silt.

This was the surface

that ended up preserving the White Sands footprints.

We don't just see humans stalking giant sloths here.

Other fossilized tracks prove

that there was a whole range of animals

passing through the shores of Lake Otero.

You've got mammoths,

you've got camels.

I mean, they're traveling in herds as families.

In one spot,

there is even footprints that show a baby mammoth

spinning around and maybe even playing

next to its parents.

In almost all cases, the interactions

between individuals and different species

seem to have been peaceful.

It's even possible

that humans would have followed animals here,

traveling in one large, extended community

from one lake to another.

The extraordinary tracks in White Sands National Park

serve as a fascinating time capsule,

bringing a long-gone world to life

using little more than footprints in the sand,

while possibly rewriting the history

of North America's first inhabitants.