All language subtitles for Discovered.By.Disaster.S01E09.Lost.Treasures.and.Resilient.Civilizations.1080p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-Dooky_track1_[eng]

A massive earthquake
triggers a devastating tsunami

on the island of Jamaica,

submerging large sections
of a thriving port city.

But the church
rector's response

to this tragedy was
a little strange.

And that he hoped
the disaster would lead

to some kind of moral reform
for the town.

After having experienced
something so horrible,

why would you react like this?

A volcanic eruption
in El Salvador

buries an ancient
Mayan village,

preserving its structures and
artifacts for over 1,400 years.

The eruption and
devastation of this village

happened during the time
of the ancient Maya,

a people indigenous
to Central America.

The village sits at
about 1,500 feet above sea level

and covers an area
of 12 square miles,

which makes it a little over
half the size of Manhattan.

So we know it's pretty big,
but what kind of village was it?

A wildfire raging
across Yorkshire, England,

reveals large craters
and stone structures.

All over the world incredible
discoveries are being revealed

by devastating events.

Floods, earthquakes,

droughts, hurricanes,

volcanic eruptions.

Trails of destruction
expose extraordinary history.

This is Discovered by Disaster.

On June 7, 1692, disaster
struck Port Royal, Jamaica.

Although the town's residents
were used to earthquakes,

as the ground began to shake,

a church rector
quickly realized

this one was different.

With the ground
shaking violently,

he ran into the streets
where he immediately observed

the earth literally
splitting open,

swallowing both
buildings and people.

The rector later
wrote that the sky turned red,

landslides rocked the mountains,

and geysers erupted
from the ground.

After three minutes,
the earthquake stopped,

and he described the town as
shaken and shattered to pieces.

And just when they thought
the worst was behind them,

the tsunami hit.

When the giant wave
rolled in over Port Royal,

it left over half the town
underwater.

Along with the catastrophic
damage to the town,

2,000 people were killed
either by the earthquake

or in the ensuing tsunami,
while in the days following,

another 3,000 would die as
a result of injury or disease.

But the church
rector's response

to this tragedy was
a little strange.

In his recollections
of the disaster,

he wrote that some of the people
of the town were ungodly,

and that he hoped
the disaster would lead

to some kind of moral reform
for the town.

After having experienced
something so horrible,

why would you react like this?

It really does
seem as if the city

had some sort of curse over it,

because in
the following decades,

hurricane after hurricane,
and earthquake after earthquake

battered the town
to such an extent

that its residents
eventually had no choice

but to abandon it for good.

Almost 300 years later,

amateur archaeologists
decided to explore the area

and see if they could find any
evidence of the long-lost city.

Searching underwater,
they used a suction pump

to remove sediment
from the seafloor.

After bringing up approximately
four to six feet

from beneath
the surface of the ocean,

they started finding things.

Over the course
of subsequent excavations,

divers found these beautifully
made white stone sculptures

coated in a thick white glaze
emerging from the seafloor.

They're quite ornate,

featuring a lion or a dog
bearing its teeth.

The craftsmanship here
is extremely sophisticated.

Meaning that these things would
have been incredibly expensive

at the time.

And not just that,
stylistically,

you can tell that these
are of Chinese origin,

because the animal is
similar to what we see

on other Chinese
ceramics and imagery.

These particular
statues were prized home decor

for wealthy Europeans
at the time.

In total, there are 28 similarly
valuable Chinese ceramics

found on the seafloor.

When you consider how much time
has passed since the earthquake,

you have to figure that
a whole bunch of those things

have been lost to time, so there
must have been even more of them

before the earthquake hit.

Even though the trade

for this kind of
Chinese porcelain

peaked in the 18th century,

they were very hard
to come by in the 17th.

So how did these incredibly
expensive, luxury items end up

in such a small, out-of-the-way
place like Port Royal?

At the time
of the earthquake,

Port Royal was a little
English outpost

surrounded by mostly
Spanish colonies.

Nearby to Port Royal was
the former Spanish colony

of Saint Domingue, which was on
its way to becoming the richest

and most important colony
in the region.

This was a while before
the British really managed

to control large parts
of North America.

They had made some inroads
into the Caribbean,

but these were remote
colonial outposts

that by no means boasted
the ostentatious wealth

that we can see existed
in Port Royal.

So what was going on?

As the archaeologists
are excavating

a section of the seafloor
that appears to have been

the remains of an old wall,

they find a small, circular,
egg-shaped object.

The egg shape
is a result

of years of accumulated coral.

But once this was removed, you
can see that it's made of metal

and it hasn't really
corroded at all.

This indicates that it's made
of a precious metal.

There does appear to be
something inside,

but the opening and closing
mechanism is not made of silver.

In order to determine
what's inside,

the archaeologists send
the object to be x-rayed.

The images reveal
a series of Roman numerals

ranging from one to 12
in a circle.

The three and the nine are
at right angles to the 12,

so there's only one thing
that this could be,

and that's a pocket watch.

Not only would this
have been a luxury item

of the time,
but thanks to the x-ray,

we can actually see exactly when
the clock stopped ticking

at 11:43.

This not only corresponds
to when the rector said

the disaster occurred,
but it's also the first time

that we have
archaeological proof

of the actual time
that a disaster struck.

The excavation
records reveal that in total,

the town of Port Royal
consisted of approximately

2,000 buildings, half of which
remain underwater.

These buildings would have
housed a population

of up to 10,000 people.

We're talking about
an English colony in 1692 here.

So 2,000 buildings is
a seriously large amount,

far more than
anyone would expect.

To put this into perspective,
at this same time,

the city of Boston had
a population of 6,000 people.

And this was a port city
vital to British interests.

So could Port Royal have been
equally as important?

As more and more
features of the old town

come to light,
so do new objects.

Outside what the archaeologists
initially think

is another dwelling, round
glass containers are brought up

from the bottom of the ocean.

The shape of these
artifacts is unmistakable.

Their onion-based shape
and their long neck

tells us immediately what
they are: they're onion bottles.

And there are a lot of them.

They were first manufactured
in the late 17th century,

and they were meant for storing
and drinking wine.

Some of these wine bottles
were even monogrammed,

meaning someone had
the money and the audacity

to have their own bottles
made for them.

But it's not just old
wine bottles found in this area.

There's also a ton
of white clay pipes

which would have been used
for smoking tobacco.

Considering the number of
bottles and smoking pipes here,

I think we're looking
at a tavern.

There's also a fair
amount of pipes and bottles

distributed across
the entire town,

so perhaps this is what the
church rector was referring to

when he said this was
a godless place.

Smoking and especially drinking
tend to go hand in hand

with quite a few other vices.

With excavations
nearly complete,

the archaeologists bring up
an old 15th century cannon

from the seafloor.

The cannon is smaller
than the typical one

you'd see at that time.

It's made of wrought iron,
and it has this piece

that allows it to be
mounted on a swivel,

so you can quickly
pivot this thing

across a 180-degree range.

This kind of gun
was used on ships.

And it was particularly useful
for clearing the enemy's deck

in order to prepare
for boarding.

And by clearing enemies' deck,

that just means firing
indiscriminately at anyone

unfortunate enough
to be there at the time.

But Port Royal wasn't
really a primary port

for the British Navy;

at least not yet, that didn't
happen until later.

So why was this place
so extraordinarily rich

and equipped with
such special guns

specifically designed
for offensive actions?

Let's consider
these artifacts in light

of what the church rector
said about Port Royal.

In his testimony
describing the disaster,

he said that he was at church
reading prayers,

which he had to do
in order to, quote,

"keep some show of religion

among a most ungodly
and debauched people."

Historical records
from the time

show that the Catholic Church
condemned Port Royal

as the wickedest town
in Christendom.

So, at Port Royal,
they were debauched, wicked,

and they were
filthy stinking rich.

Much more so than your other
English New World towns.

In those places,
wealth was defined

by the amount
of commodities they had,

like sugar, for example,

but at Port Royal you can
measure the wealth

in consumer goods.

The wealth you see
on exhibit here

is more like what
you'd expect to see

in a European capital
of the time,

not a colonial
Caribbean backwater.

So what's going on here?

According to
the rector's account,

when he was running
for his life,

he said that he headed
towards Morgan's Fort.

Roughly 20 years
before the earthquake,

the British and the Spanish had
signed the Treaty of Madrid,

which outlawed
piracy and privateering,

which is basically another word
for legal piracy.

But just because
you outlaw something

doesn't mean it actually stops.

Especially when it's such
a lucrative practice.

Despite the treaty,
the British Crown continued

to tolerate,
if not outright sanction,

the plundering of Spanish and
French ships by privateers.

After all,
it was to their own benefit.

And Captain Henry Morgan

was one of the most
infamous of privateers.

He was the scourge
of the Spanish,

raiding and looting across
their domains in the Caribbean,

becoming filthy rich
in the process.

But when we look at Port Royal,
we can see very clearly

that he wasn't the only one
that got rich.

Looks like everyone did.

Privateering was
incredibly lucrative.

For example, the destination for
the thousands of tons of silver

stolen by the Spanish in Peru
transited through Portobelo,

in today's Panama.

Captain Morgan's 1668 raid
on Portobelo

yielded almost 100,000 pounds.

So you had Morgan and a

whole bunch of other privateers

terrorizing the region,

looting and pillaging
in the name of the Crown.

Apparently half of
the population of Port Royal

made their living in this way,
and the other half

probably serviced them
in one way or another.

Which is why taverns and
brothels were a dime a dozen.

In the end,
the rector, pray as he may,

couldn't get the citizens
of Port Royal to behave

in what he thought was
a good Christian way.

But in what could be construed
as divine intervention,

the enormous earthquake
that struck the city

marked the beginning of the end

for its role as the Caribbean
capital of piracy.

[Narrator In around 600 CE,
one of El Salvador's volcanoes

violently erupted.

Lava spewed from its vent

and ash rained down
on the little villages

of the surrounding area.

As the lava poured down
the face of the volcano,

it came into contact
with a river,

which instantly
vaporized the water.

This created
a dangerous cloud

of superheated steam, fine
volcanic ash and toxic gases

that descended on a village

just under half a mile
south of the volcano.

The villagers
abandoned everything in place

and escaped their homes
as quickly as they could,

which was pretty smart,
because over the next few hours

the village was covered
in up to 23 feet of ash.

Their homes and
most importantly, fields,

were completely devastated
by the volcanic eruption,

so the people were never
able to return,

and the village was
abandoned for good.

In 1976,
a site earmarked

for a grain storage silo
was being built

just to the south
of the volcano,

when suddenly a bulldozer
unearthed earthen architecture

and several ceramic artifacts.

So 1,400 years
after this volcano blew,

the village that was
lost to history

all of a sudden became visible.

It's pretty incredible.

The state of preservation
of the earthen architecture

is on a par with that
of Pompeii.

That means that it's
basically as perfect

as we could ever hope for.

So the big question is,
what can we learn from this?

The eruption and
devastation of this village

happened during the time
of the ancient Maya,

a people indigenous
to Central America,

who continue to occupy
large parts of Mexico,

Guatemala and Belize.

Before the Spanish
conquest of the region,

the Maya had developed one
of the most sophisticated

civilizations of antiquity.

Their monuments, pyramids and
cities can still be seen today

and are the subject of intense
study and curiosity

by people the world over.

But what we know about
the ancient Maya civilization

is largely a reflection
of the experiences

and perspectives of the elite.

They were the ones
who commissioned pyramids

and had priests write
down their stories.

The layman's life
has gone largely unstudied,

simply because there hasn't been
much archaeological evidence

that could provide insight
into their lives.

But maybe this village can
provide some answers.

The village sits
at about 1,500 feet

above sea level.

It's located in
the Zapotitan Valley,

one of the major valleys
of El Salvador,

and covers an area
of 12 square miles,

which makes it a little over
half the size of Manhattan.

So we know it's pretty big,
but what kind of village was it?

Archaeologists
survey the area,

looking to understand
who lived there

and what the lives of
your average Maya citizen

looked like 1,400 years ago.

They discover a building
and begin excavating it

and the surrounding area.

This type
of construction

is what's known as a bajareque.

It's a traditional way
of building homes,

where sticks or reeds
are interwoven

and then covered with mud.

This mud then dries,

resulting in a durable
and stable building.

The house is built on
a platform about waist height.

The walls are about
five and a half feet high,

and were probably made higher

with the use of perishable
materials that supported a roof.

But that evidence is
all long gone.

There are two rooms
that together measure

about 130 square feet.

There are also broken pottery
handles embedded in the walls

which we can assume were used
to hang things on.

Quite a practical use of
otherwise broken material.

In a little niche
built into one of the walls,

archaeologists find
three ceramic bowls,

a shell from a mollusk
and a painted object.

The ceramics are sent
to the lab for analysis.

The bowls have
food residue in them,

and there are still even marks
in the bottom of them

where you can see that
someone's fingers pressed

when they were picking up food.

This may seem inconsequential,
but it's interesting

simply because it shows how
someone ate or served food.

It's evidence of a mundane,
everyday movement

that was frozen in time, and
it's something that we all do.

Just to the south
of this house,

there's another building
that's just a little smaller.

Inside are five
large storage jars

and a serious amount
of firewood.

The jars have carbonized seeds
in the bottom of them,

including the remains
of some beans,

so they were probably
used to store food.

There are also some
very large ceramic ollas.

These were traditionally
used to store water.

So they were storing a lot
of both water and firewood.

Nearby this
storehouse is another building

that's similar to the other
two structures.

It's oriented
the same way

and has the same
solid clay walls,

but the roof is
entirely different.

There's also a pretty small
opening to get inside,

so if you're big
or relatively inflexible,

there's no way
you could pass through.

So what could this thing
have been for?

The roof here is
really interesting, too.

It's actually a dome,
which is fascinating,

because Western historians and
architects have long claimed

that the dome was brought to the
Americas by European colonizers.

But here we can see
this simply isn't true.

The Maya were building
domed ceilings

hundreds of years
before Europeans arrive.

Inside this structure
the ceiling is anywhere

from three to six feet high,
so if you manage to get in,

it's either really cramped
or somewhat comfortable

depending on where
you're standing.

The walls are
blackened by fire,

and there's a lot of wood
waiting to be used.

Also, some of the rocks
on the ground

have been fractured by heat.

Because there isn't that much
volcanic ash on the ground here,

it doesn't appear that
the volcanic eruption

broke up those rocks, so what
else could have done it?

Surrounding the building

is a little stone platform.

It's the perfect height
to sit on,

so this has to be a bench.

But why put a bench around
this strange structure?

The evidence shows
that the Maya

were tending a fire
inside this building.

The heat in here would
have been really intense

when the fire was going.

Because the Maya were
trying to keep the heat

and humidity inside,
this must have been a sauna.

The bench outside would
have been used for resting

after the intensity of the heat,

and the ollas found in the
storage room were probably used

to douse themselves
in water to cool off.

And all the firewood?

Some of it was probably
used for cooking,

but the rest must've been
for heating the sauna.

The building
is quite large,

so it's likely that the sauna
was for the entire community,

and that the people living
next to it were its stewards.

Even today, the Maya people
still use the sauna

for both physical
and spiritual purposes,

so it makes sense
that this tradition

would also have existed
over 1,000 years ago.

To the south and east
of the house,

the storage room and the sauna
are ancient fields

that were preserved
by volcanic ash.

Lying under the layer of ash,

archaeologists find five
corn plants tied together.

Corn is
fundamental to the Maya.

According to
their creation myth,

the gods fashioned the Maya
people from corn flour,

so it's more than
just a staple crop,

it forms the essence and the
foundations of their culture.

The fields are
so well preserved

that you can see how they went
about growing their crops.

The plants are still exactly
where they were 1,400 years ago.

Archaeologists
continue to excavate the area

and come upon a structure
that measures 570 square feet,

bigger and more complex

than many of the buildings
excavated so far.

The building has two
rooms and only one entrance.

Inside one of the rooms
are the remains of a fire,

as well as bowls,
jars and a grindstone.

The jar was found
on top of the hearth,

as if something was
cooking inside of it.

So was this some form
of communal kitchen?

The adjacent room is
painted a brilliant red,

which for the Maya represents
not just the color of blood

but also symbolizes life.

The room contains a headdress
made of the antlers

and skull of
a white-tailed deer,

which is a ceremonial object.

So maybe this building had

some sort of ritualistic
function, too.

Archaeologists
also find

obsidian blades on a shelf.

They send them to the lab
for analysis

to see if they can learn
what they were used for.

One of the blades has
traces of human blood on it.

The Maya believe that blood
is the most sacred

of the human fluids, and that
it's the best way to access

and communicate with the
supernatural or spiritual world.

The way
they would do this

is by cutting into
their own flesh,

letting the blood drip
onto flammable material,

and then burning it.

This blood smoke is
what would call the gods,

allowing the Maya
to communicate with them.

So this obsidian blade
was probably used

to cut into earlobes, lips,
nostrils, and tongues

to offer up blood to the gods,
as a way to ask their favor.

And the building
where it was found was likely

the center of this community's
spiritual life.

They probably hosted
ceremonies here,

as evidenced by the hearth
and headdress.

It appears that everything was
abandoned in order to escape

the danger posed
by the volcanic eruption.

And so what we see here is just
a normal day in the village,

frozen in time.

What's incredible is how
the Maya tradition and culture

remains strong even today,
despite the intervening years

and the devastating impact
of colonization

on the region and its people.

Here we have a view into some
of the habits and practices

of your average
ancient Maya individual,

which makes it truly unique.

Since its discovery,
archaeologists have found

a total of 18 structures

in the village now known
as Joya de Cerén.

As they continue
to be excavated,

more invaluable insight
and knowledge about the life

and times of the ancient Maya
may come to light.

Roughly 3,500 years ago,

a catastrophic
volcanic eruption

rocked the Greek island of
Thera, now known as Santorini.

The Santorini volcano
has erupted at least 12 times

over the past 250,000 years,
with the last one being in 1950.

But this eruption
was the big one.

And it's thought to have been

one of the most explosive
volcanic events

ever witnessed by any humans.

Debris from that eruption
has been found

as far away as Israel and Egypt.

And to make matters worse,

it's believed that a massive
earthquake shook the region

at the same time,

possibly precipitating
the volcanic eruption.

The ancient city of Knossos
on the island of Crete,

roughly 70 miles south
of Santorini, was devastated,

as were other settlements
on the island's northern shores.

Crete was home
to the Minoans

at the time of the disaster,

an important civilization
in world history

that peaked during
the Bronze Age.

The island has countless
ancient archaeological sites

and has been the subject
of intense study

for over 100 years.

In 1989,
two archaeologists conducting

an excavation on Mochlos,
a small island situated

just east of the Gulf
of Mirabello in eastern Crete,

uncover something astounding.

They find sandstone
blocks that appear to be

the foundations of an ancient
structure, possibly Minoan.

But what kind of building is it?

It could be
a religious site,

some kind of temple.

Several have been
discovered nearby.

Just over 40 miles
west of Mochlos

at the northern end
of Mount Juktas

are the ruins of the temple
of Anemospilia.

It's believed that
this temple was only in use

for about 50 years or so
before it was destroyed

by an earthquake
about 3,700 years ago.

The site's unique, though,
in terms of Minoan structures,

because it's largely symmetrical

with three large,
rectangular rooms in a row

and a corridor
that spans across them.

Other Minoan sites
from this period

were all sort of maze-like,
sort of like labyrinths

with intricate, interconnected
hallways and rooms.

Anemospilia is
controversial among historians

because some have claimed
there's evidence

of human sacrifice at the site.

The skeleton of a young man
was found lying

on what appeared to be
a low, altar-like platform

with a knife resting
on the remains.

The position of the bones
led some to conclude

that he had been tied up
and drained of blood,

but others have argued
that there isn't enough

concrete proof
to say conclusively

that he was a victim
of human sacrifice.

If you look
at the stone blocks

that make up the ruins
of the temple,

they are similar in appearance

to what was discovered
at Mochlos.

So it's possible that it, too,
was a religious site.

Maybe this is part
of a bigger complex

that hasn't been uncovered yet.

Maybe it's a palace,
because if there's one thing

the Minoans love to make,
it's palaces.

Just south
of Heraklion,

the capital city
of modern-day Crete,

lies one of the ancient world's
most impressive sites:

the Palace of Knossos.

The first palace was
built around 1900 BCE,

but it was destroyed
by an earthquake

around 200 years later.

So it was then rebuilt on
a much more impressive scale,

covering over 215,000 square
feet over three stories

surrounding a central courtyard.

It was the religious, cultural
and administrative center

of Minoan society, rather than
a true royal residence.

There's too many
impressive features to list,

but some of the elements were
well ahead of their time.

A theater that held 400 people;

complex drainage
and water supply systems;

light wells, porches,
and verandas

that kept rooms cold in the
summer and warm in the winter.

While Knossos is
the largest and most important,

there are four other Minoan
palace ruins on Crete:

Phaistos, Malia,

Zakros, and Kydonia.

So given the Minoans'
propensity for building

these impressive complexes,
it's certainly possible

that the structure
discovered on Mochlos

could be another example.

But Mochlos is
a pretty small island.

It doesn't make a lot of sense
to build a giant palace complex

in such a small place.

And geographically, it's
isolated from the rest of Crete.

I mean, it's an island.

Plus, when you get to
the mainland right there,

it's all mountains,
I mean, it's really cut off.

If you look at where
the other palaces are situated,

they're all way more accessible
than Mochlos island.

As the archaeologists
continue to excavate,

several features
of the structure

catch their attention.

Only the front,
the top, and the bottom sides

are smoothed off
of the sandstone blocks.

That's a masonry style
called ashlar.

And there's a slab
of green limestone

that looks to be the entryway,

and evidence of a switchback
U-shaped staircase.

All of these elements
are typical

of Minoan architecture,

so we're definitely looking at
a Minoan-era building.

Probably a simple house, maybe
part of a larger settlement.

But when was it built?

Looking for answers,
the archaeologists dig deeper

and make a surprising
discovery.

They find a layer
that contains crystals

and tiny glass fragments, which
that can only mean one thing:

volcanic ash, probably from
the Santorini eruption.

This is a big discovery
because it's the first time

that ash from the cataclysmic
event has been found on Crete.

Under the ash layer
is a pavement of stone slabs

and pottery in the Marine Style
of the late Minoan period

decorated with nautilus
and octopus designs.

This isn't really a surprise
because it's always been known

that the Minoan civilization
existed

at the time of the eruption.

But what is surprising is that

the originally
discovered structure

is on top of the ash layer.

For the last 80 years or so,

conventional belief among
historians held that

the Minoan civilization
essentially disappeared

around 1450 BCE

because of the Santorini
eruption and earthquake.

But the fact that
this structure was built

on top of the ash layer
tells us otherwise.

Radiocarbon dating
of seeds and wood

found in volcanic ash
on Santorini

confirms what
the archaeologists

have begun to suspect.

The eruption occurred
around 1600 BCE.

That's 150 years earlier
than previously believed.

So not only did it not
wipe out the Minoans,

it means they continued
to thrive on Crete

for 150 years
after the disaster.

But if it wasn't
the eruption

that spelled the end
of the Minoan civilization,

what caused them
to all but vanish

from the historical timeline

after over 500 years of
prominence in the Mediterranean?

It's hard to say exactly,

but it was probably
a combination of factors.

While the eruption didn't cause
a complete collapse,

it certainly would've had
a significant impact

on the Minoans
in terms of climate.

A volcanic winter likely
occurred, affecting agriculture,

livestock, and even
the water supply,

generally making life
much more difficult.

These stresses may have
caused a fragmentation

of Cretan society
over a few generations,

smaller and smaller communities
breaking away

from those palace centers
and becaming more independent.

And that would have meant
more competition for resources

among those communities.

There's even evidence to suggest
that a huge wave of fires

swept over the island,

which may mean that this
once glorious, unified society

just descended into anarchy.

While internal strife
may have triggered

the fall of
the Minoan civilization,

external forces most likely
finished the job.

Between 1600 and 1200 BCE,

the city of Mycenae
on mainland Greece flourished.

At one point it was ruled
by Agamemnon,

who according to legend led
the Greeks in the Trojan War,

and this spawned
the heroic exploits

of Achilles and Odysseus.

With the Minoans
on Crete infighting,

there might have been
a power vacuum,

one that the Mycenaeans were
more than happy to fill.

So the most likely scenario
was that the Minoans

were finally finished off
by a Mycenaean invasion,

and absorbed into their culture.

But here's the thing.

The Mycenaeans were pretty
fanatical about their mythology,

as evidenced by the tales
of the Trojan War,

but nowhere in Greek mythology
is there any mention

of conquering the Minoans.

And some scholars believe
that even though the Minoans

were in decline, they still
would've been stronger

than the Mycenaeans at the time
the civilization disappeared.

So who knows what
really happened?

It's a bit of a mystery that's
certainly still up for debate.

Whatever fate
befell the Minoans,

the calamitous eruption
of the Santorini volcano

and the corresponding
earthquake

probably hastened their demise.

The seat of power
in the Mediterranean

passed from Crete
to the mainland,

and the Mycenaeans
eventually gave way

to the golden age
of ancient Greece.

In the late summer of 2003,

the moors of Yorkshire,
England, burned.

The dry heather went up
like a torch.

The heat was intense, and fires
raged across an extensive area,

burning up ancient peat bogs

undisturbed since
time immemorial.

In the end,
the fires burned up

more than 2.5 square miles
of moor.

This destroyed
the sensitive ecosystem

vital to several species
of ground nesting birds.

Because of the extensive
fields of heather

that form the habitat
of the red grouse,

curlew, and golden plover,

the area has been designated

as a site of special
scientific interest.

When the fires finally stopped,
much of their habitat was gone.

This part
of the Yorkshire moors

is also of interest to
scientists because it's so old.

Some of the coastline here dates
to the Jurassic period,

which ended
145 million years ago.

The fires had burned
away much of the vegetation,

exposing features
in the landscape

that had long gone unnoticed.

Running across the moors is a
long, dilapidated railway line.

The railway was
abandoned a while ago,

as the area was given
protection status in 1952.

If they built tracks
out here, it could be

that they were for bringing
something out of the moors,

and not bringing people in.

Yorkshire is famous
for its coal mines.

Could they have been
mining something here?

Under the surface,

the ground is composed of
three layers of gray shale.

The middle layer is less chalky

and inflected with shades
of pale gray and yellow.

This middle layer
actually consists of alum,

a chemical compound with a wide
variety of industrial uses.

This is interesting because alum
was an essential ingredient

in the Industrial Revolution
and the establishment

of British economic power
in the 19th century.

Prior to
the Industrial Revolution,

the economy of England was based

around the production
of wool and linen.

Naturally, people wanted to add
color to these textiles.

The way to do this
was to use alum.

The only dyes
available at the time

were made from
plants and minerals,

but these dyes would bleed out
when the material was washed.

The way to fix the dye,

so that it wouldn't bleed out
in the wash,

was to soak the textiles
in alum.

Until King Henry VIII
assumed the throne of England

in the early 16th century,

all of the alum had to be
sourced from Italy.

But when he decided
to break from the pope

and create
the Church of England,

all that alum
became unavailable.

So they had to find
their own source of it,

and they found it in Yorkshire.

So they mined alum here,

transporting it to factories
all across England.

The industry collapsed when
in the late 19th century,

synthetic dyes were created.

But until then,
this area was vital

to one of the largest industries
in an industrializing England.

And these tracks are
reminders of that.

As more people
explore the burned moors,

large craters
pockmarking the land

become visible
to the naked eye.

But it's not just that;
there are also these holes

dug into the ground

that look like they're
made for protection.

And there are also these
long slit trenches,

but what really clenches it is
a set of abandoned tank tracks

that are rusted out
on the ground

as well as spent
cartridge cases.

There seems to have been

some heavy military
activity here.

The holes dug into the ground
are foxholes,

and the trenches are
firing positions.

So what was going on here?

There's a Royal
Air Force base pretty close by,

and it's a radar and listening
station.

But the spy plane and
radar stations of the RAF

don't conduct
exercises like this,

which are more the signs
of army and infantry.

Considering the fact
that this area became protected

in the early '50s, this was
probably a training area

for the British Army during
the Second World War.

With so many finds
popping up

across the burned moors,
more interest around

what they may be hiding
leads to more discoveries.

Not far from where a road cuts
across the moorland,

a round, flattened
piece of stone

with strange shapes and lines
is uncovered by archaeologists.

This stone has zigzags
and lines all across it,

and at first it just kind of
looks like a random pattern.

But when you pay more attention,
you can see that it really looks

like every line has been drawn
with a specific intent.

So what is this thing?

There's also a smaller
stone right next to it

with many little round
circles on it.

It almost looks as if a cup has
been pressed into the stone,

creating all these little
circular features in the stone.

These zigzags and circles
are definitely not

the result of any
natural process.

Both of these
patterned stones

are lying next to
a ring of boulders.

It's a little more obvious

what this ring of boulders is:
it's a cairn,

which is usually what people use
to mark a specific spot.

So not only is this
ancient rock art,

but someone has built
the cairn here as well

in order to communicate to
passersby that the art's here.

Our human ancestors
have been creating rock art

going back at least
40,000 years,

probably well before that.

It's hard to know what this rock
art is meant to communicate.

Is this a map of the area?

Is it a grave cover with
symbolic shapes and lines on it?

Whatever it is,
for the people of the time,

it was made with care.

It had to be important.

Although humans have
been creating rock art

in different parts of the world
for millennia,

when we talk about rock art
in England,

we're mostly looking at the
Paleolithic and Mesolithic ages,

which means that they're 4,300
years old, at the youngest.

So it's highly likely
that people hunted out here.

It's not ideal for living

considering how exposed
you are to the elements,

but for a Stone Age hunter,

this would have been
prime hunting grounds.

As the archaeologists
continue exploring,

the complete lack of vegetation
reveals yet more

interesting rock formations
all across the moors.

There are three
large stones

with numerous cup-like marks.

A few of the cup markers
have concentric rings,

whereas some are connected
by a carved channel.

These marks are very distinctive
but are still quite similar

to the ones seen on
the big, flattened stone

with the zigzag lines
all across it.

What's going on here?

Stones like this
had several purposes.

Generally speaking, they appear
at specific places

in the landscape where there is
or was something significant.

So for example,
to ancient hunters,

a hill would have been
an important feature

in the landscape, because
it would been from here

they could observe animals.

Or it could be a sacred site,
like a burial,

or even where
a natural spring was.

So this place was probably
sacred to them,

whether because it was
a good place to hunt

or maybe conduct ceremonies.

The importance
of the site is reflected

in these people's desire
to leave something behind,

in a sense documenting
its existence.

In many ways this is
not that different

from how humans are today.

We like to photograph everything
we think might be important.

It's funny how we haven't really
changed in thousands of years.

Just think of this.

British soldiers training
for World War II,

lying in these foxholes,
unaware that they're surrounded

by stone artifacts that predate
them by thousands of years.

And then you go
half a century later,

and we're fighting fires here.

It really drives home
how this landscape has seen

so much different human activity

over the thousands of years
that we've been there.

If these bogs could talk,
they would have so many stories.

But bogs can't talk,
so we have to go digging.

After exploring
the entire area,

archaeologists discover a vast
number of standing stones,

cairns and burial mounds that
date to the last 3,000 years,

indicating how the moors
have been in continuous use

from the Stone Age
to the Second World War.

As important as the moors
were in the past,

they remain so to the ecology
of the region today.