Original subtitles

SHATNER: Ancient Biblical scrolls

that point to the location of a sacred treasure.

A curious mechanism recovered at the bottom of the sea

that was centuries ahead of its time.

And a shepherd's staff transformed by God

that is said to have parted the Red Sea.

Ancient legends and texts are filled with stories

of objects so powerful,

they could change the course of history.

Many of these artifacts have been lost for centuries,

like the Ark of the Covenant,

but there are some that have actually been found.

Certain relics are believed to hold the energy

of great spiritual leaders, while others

are extraordinary feats of engineering.

So what exactly gives these objects their remarkable power?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

(Shatner reads on-screen text)

SHATNER: While tending his flock of goats in the rocky hills

just northwest of the Dead Sea,

Bedouin shepherd Muhammed ed-Dib

spies the entrance to a long-forgotten cave.

Inside, he finds an assortment of dusty clay jars

containing fragments of parchment and papyrus

with writing in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

They are the ancient Jewish manuscripts

we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls.

ROBERT R. CARGILL: The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest copies

of the Hebrew Bible that we have

by a thousand years.

Prior to their discovery, the oldest copies of the Bible

that we had were from about 1100 AD.

So, these scrolls were arguably

the greatest discovery of the 20th century.

SHATNER: Over the course of the ten-year excavation project,

archeologists recovered more than 15,000 scroll fragments

from 12 separate caves.

And as scholars painstakingly pieced the writings together,

what they deciphered was a lost history of biblical proportions.

AMIR HUSSAIN: The Dead Sea Scrolls are really fascinating because some of them

are books that didn't make it into the Bible.

Like the Book of Tobit, the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Enoch.

So, this is a brand-new set

of other information about the Bible.

CARGILL: The Dead Sea Scrolls fundamentally changed

the way we read the Bible, because it shows us that

there was another group of sectarian Jews

who had books in their Bible

that didn't end up making it into the Hebrew Bible.

And so now, we ask the questions, well,

why do these guys believe something that's so different?

And so, we probably have just as many new questions

now that we've discovered them than we had before.

SHATNER: The creation of the Biblical canons,

along with their carefully chosen hiding places,

seems like a clear indication that these manuscripts

were considered very important,

at least for as long as time

and the fragile parchment would allow.

But perhaps the most intriguing discovery in the Qumran desert

was an extraordinarily well-preserved scroll

created to endure the test of time

because this document was intentionally made of copper.

The Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls,

but it's unlike all the others.

It was actually discovered in what's called Cave 3,

the third cave around Qumran.

This scroll is entirely written

on a sheet of copper alloy.

It's about eight and a half feet long,

and it had been rolled up after it was engraved in antiquity

and set into the caves.

So, this is really an astonishing find.

Obviously, there was a lot of thought

into making this particular scroll out of copper.

They wanted something that could go through all kinds of

catastrophes and still be able to convey

the information that it has inside it.

SHATNER: When it was first discovered,

the Copper Scroll was sealed shut

by thousands of years of corrosion,

preventing scholars from unraveling

the secrets it held inside.

But in 1955, English archaeologist John Allegro

and engineers at the University of Manchester

were able to carefully cut the scroll into sections,

and reveal its ancient Hebrew inscriptions.

What Allegro discovered was nothing short of astonishing.

His translations revealed that the Copper Scroll

is actually a treasure map.

CARGILL: The Copper Scroll is an inventory of treasure,

63 locations

of a massive amount of treasure.

We're talking, like, $300 billion worth

of treasure in today's money.

ROY FISHER: The Copper Scroll is a list of locations

where one can expect to find all sorts of riches.

Gold coins, artifacts.

So, many people have viewed it as

kind of an ancient treasure map.

Unfortunately, we've not found

any treasure associated with the Copper Scroll,

because a lot of the vocabulary is strange,

and the geographical places are unknown to us.

SHATNER: Instead of ancient scripture,

the Copper Scroll lists 63 different

treasure locations in the Judean Desert.

But as with any great treasure hunt, there's a hook.

The locations listed on the scroll

either no longer exist,

are completely unknown to scholars,

or are just too vague to figure out.

CARGILL: This is the big mystery about the Copper Scroll.

It's very nondescript.

It'll give a location,

and then it'll tell you how far down to dig.

For instance, it'll say something like...

(Cargill reads on-screen text)

And it does this 63 times.

So, the question is, where is this place?

But we just don't know.

SHATNER: Could the Copper Scroll lead to a massive fortune

buried throughout the Judean Desert?

It's an incredible notion.

But if it is true, then where did this treasure come from?

When you look at the treasure inventory

in the Copper Scroll,

and it describes, like, 160 tons of gold and silver,

you have to be thinking about, well, who would have

160 tons of gold and silver?

The only place that would have that is Solomon's Temple,

and so, the idea is that, is this a list

of the treasure of the temple?

Because the temple, of course, has gold and silver.

What about the things in the temple,

including the most sacred object,

the Ark of the Covenant?

Is, potentially, the Ark of the Covenant

one of the things that is hidden

in this, uh, location of treasures?

SHATNER: According to the Hebrew Bible,

the sacred chest said to hold

the Ten Commandments' stone tablets

was once kept in a secret chamber

beneath King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.

But at some point, the Ark disappeared,

and nobody has seen it for thousands of years.

Could the Copper Scrolls reveal its hidden location?

The idea that the Copper Scroll

could lead us to,

say, the Ark of the Covenant

is a tantalizing, maybe even a seductive idea.

The Ark of God is probably the most powerful relic

in ancient Israel,

and it's reported to have tremendous power.

I guess if somebody finds treasure,

then the mystery will be solved,

but until then, it's still in that mysterious realm.

Is the Ark of the Covenant

hidden somewhere in the Judean wilderness? We don't know.

SHATNER: Will copper scrolls unearthed from the Dead Sea

point us to the illustrious Ark of the Covenant?

It's a heavenly thought.

But there's another intriguing object

that experts have been trying to decipher.

It's a curious, 4,000-year-old device

that may actually be the world's first computer.

SHATNER: The Aegean Sea. 1900.

Just off the coast of the small Greek island of Antikythera,

a group of Greek divers are hunting for sea sponges

when they come across

the remains of an ancient shipwreck.

MIKE EDMUNDS: What they discovered was the wreck

of a Roman-era trading ship.

And soon, it was apparent that there was a lot

of archaeological stuff on board.

And during the years 1900 to 1902,

a major expedition was mounted

from Greece to pull up everything they could find.

There were statues,

there were marbles,

beautiful glassware.

And it was clear from what else was on the ship

that this was a-a ship that had gone down in the classical era.

SHATNER: Dozens of priceless artifacts were salvaged from the wreckage,

including one object that defied explanation.

It was the remains of a coral-encrusted

wooden and bronze box that, curiously,

looked like a clock.

EDMUNDS: They looked, and there were gear wheels inside this bronze.

It was obvious from the rest of the stuff on the wreck

that this was from the classical world,

but the gear wheels were not known from the classical world.

And it was then that they realized

that this particular piece of bronze was something special.

SHATNER: The artifact was sent to the National Museum

of Archaeology in Athens.

Archeologists dated it to the second century BC,

along with the other relics found in the wreck,

but they were unable to determine

what function the geared object served.

For more than 50 years, its purpose remained a mystery.

But in 1951, British physicist Derek John de Solla Price

began a careful examination of the artifact

and found something astonishing.

The box contained the workings

of a highly sophisticated device.

By this point, the mechanism was in a bunch of different pieces.

There are seven major fragments labeled A through G,

and there are 75 other, smaller fragments.

Derek de Solla Price took a renewed interest

in the mechanism,

and he was able to put the major fragments

into their correct position for the first time.

EDMUNDS: The Antikythera mechanism, as it became known,

is made predominantly of bronze.

It would probably have been in a wooden case, originally,

possibly with bronze plates on the front and the back.

It was about the size of a shoebox, essentially.

There are two main display faces--

there's the front face and the back face--

and probably a handle on the side

that you would've turned in order to make the thing work.

On the front of the mechanism,

there's something looking rather like a clock face,

would be the best way to describe it.

SHATNER: In June 1959, Price published his findings

in the journal Scientific American,

and described the Antikythera mechanism

as being "an Ancient Greek computer."

KAKU: This was a spectacular device.

It's an analog computer.

It doesn't use digital. It uses wheels and gears.

This was a device that we wouldn't see again

for another 2,000 years, until the 1800s.

SHATNER: But if the Antikythera mechanism really was an ancient computer,

then what was it designed to do?

Well, in 2005, an international team of researchers

known as the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project

used cutting-edge scanning technology

to obtain a detailed 3D image

of the device's inner workings for the very first time.

And the results were even more remarkable

than anyone could've imagined.

EDMUNDS: The X-ray tomography clearly laid out

what the gear trains must've been.

And also, a complete reading of basically

all the surviving inscriptions

on the device, both inside and out.

And those inscriptions are an instruction book

on what the mechanism is and what it does.

And it's clear from those inscriptions

that it was intended that the mechanism

should display the positions of the planets,

as well as the Sun and the Moon.

IVERSEN: The Antikythera mechanism

is an astronomical computing device

that also visualized

the revolutions and the time periods of the Sun,

the Moon, and the five planets that were visible in antiquity,

which are Mercury, Venus, Mars,

Jupiter, and Saturn.

So, via the gear work, it mimics the rotation

of the Sun and the Moon and the planets.

EDMUNDS: It displays many different things at a given time.

Where the planets are in the sky,

where the Moon is in the sky,

and what the phase of the Moon is,

are there going to be any,

uh, eclipses this month, and so on.

We've done some computer calculations

to work out how accurate the device would've been,

taking into account the shape of the teeth,

the slop in the gears, and so on.

And the answer is, it shows very accurately

the sort of behavior of these things.

The Greeks were thinking really deeply about the universe,

how it worked,

what it means to have a universe

that's in some way mechanical, that is predictable.

The Greek astronomers and philosophers

were very interested in explaining the cosmos.

The idea is that the stars and the planets

and the Sun and the Moon, where they are in the sky

affects what happens to our lives.

Just like the modern tradition of astrology.

STEPHEN BURROWS: The ancient people who created the Antikythera mechanism

could see the cycles that things occurred,

and they wanted a way to actually predict them.

And that's what this machine did.

It predicted the future,

and it's a brilliant piece of mathematics.

SHATNER: To this day, no one knows who the ancient genius was

that invented the Antikythera device, or when.

And since there's no written record of its creation,

it is doubtful that we will ever know for certain.

But its existence raises an intriguing question.

Could there be other ancient technologies

out there waiting to be found?

BURROWS: We think that this is maybe hundreds of years

ahead of its time, but what we're missing

are all the predecessors that just didn't last that long.

I think there are a huge number of engineering feats

that we will never know about

or that we haven't yet discovered.

SHATNER: Who built this mysterious device

that appears centuries ahead of its time?

Is it really capable of predicting the future?

As unbelievable as that may sound,

it's amazing that an ancient object can survive

over the course of so many centuries.

And the same can be said about a powerful walking stick

that is claimed to have been wielded by Moses himself.

(Shatner reads on-screen text)

SHATNER: Among the gilded daggers

and precious jewels on display here,

there are a number of objects

that allegedly date to Biblical times.

These include a sword supposedly used by King David

to kill the giant Goliath,

hairs from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad...

...and a wooden rod which is claimed to be

the actual Staff of Moses.

LEWIS: This palace used to be the residence

of an Ottoman sultan,

and he was given many precious gifts over the years.

And one of the things that evidently he was given

was the Staff of Moses.

The Staff of Moses is mentioned in association

with Moses in the Book of Exodus.

And the first time that we hear about it,

it seems to just be a walking stick,

but as time goes by in the story of Exodus,

it really seems kind of like a magic wand.

SHATNER: Could the wooden rod on display in the Topkapi Museum

be the actual Staff of Moses?

As incredible as it sounds,

many people believe the answer is yes,

which makes the claim even more extraordinary, because,

according to Biblical tradition,

the Staff of Moses was imbued with miraculous powers.

MULLINS: The Staff of Moses first is used in Exodus

chapter seven, when Moses confronts Pharaoh

about letting the Israelites go.

He casts down his staff.

It turns into a serpent.

The second instance it's used is when we have the ten plagues.

And in the first of these plagues,

Moses uses the tip of his staff, dipped into the Nile,

and turns the Nile into a red color like blood.

SHATNER: But perhaps the most awesome display

of the staff's divine force occurs in Exodus 14,

when Moses raises the rod above his head

and parts the Red Sea.

HUSSAIN: In the Exodus narrative, the Israelites

are there at the Red Sea.

They're being chased by the Egyptians.

And God basically says, "Moses, take your staff,

hold it over the waters, and the waters will part."

And the minute that the Israelites start walking,

the waters of the Red Sea part.

The minute the Egyptians come after them,

the waters of the Red Sea collapse upon them.

There's a really interesting question of, you know,

if you have this staff,

does the staff in and of itself have this power?

Or is the staff sort of a-a vessel or a vehicle

through which the power of God works?

And you need God's hand behind this.

SHATNER: Is it possible that the unassuming wooden rod

displayed in the Topkapi Museum is the same staff

that Moses used to free the Israelites?

Well, it may come as no surprise that many experts

doubt its authenticity.

It is simply not possible to follow the provenance

of the Staff of Moses.

And the staff that is in the museum in Istanbul,

there's just no way, there's just no way

of authenticating this as the Staff of Moses.

All we have is legend and tradition.

LEWIS: One real mystery is that we don't know

what happens to the staff after the end of Moses.

One story is that it gets passed down

through the Davidic line.

King David has the staff, he uses it as a scepter.

And at that point, we kind of lose sight of it.

SHATNER: If it's true that the mystical artifact

disappeared from history, then what happened to it?

Author and relic hunter Graham Phillips has a theory.

He's been researching the Staff of Moses for decades,

and according to his research, there's a wooden rod

in the Birmingham Museum in England

that was said to be found in the ancient tomb where Moses

was supposedly laid to rest.

We're told that Moses was buried at a place called Petra.

So, somewhere in Petra, in this valley,

there's something there called the Snake Monument,

and it dates from the right time, from Moses' period.

And in the middle of the 19th century,

a couple of archaeologists went there,

excavated a cave beneath it,

and believed that they had found the tomb of Moses.

The problem was there was no body in it.

It had been robbed at some point,

but there was, all covered in dust and debris, a staff.

Eventually, this staff ended up

in the Birmingham Museum.

And there, in this glass case, was this staff

exactly as described by these guys who had found it,

dark-colored, about four feet long

with Egyptian hieroglyphics in white on them.

I couldn't believe it.

SHATNER: According to the Bible,

before Moses became a Hebrew leader,

he was a prince of Egypt.

And the hieroglyphics on the Birmingham Museum staff

says it belonged to a member

of the royal Egyptian court named "Tuthmosis."

A name that bears an undeniable similarity

to the legendary prophet Moses.

PHILLIPS: Says in Egyptian hieroglyphics on this staff...

(Phillips reads on-screen text)

So, you've got a person whose name

could've been Moses,

who had been a prince in Egypt.

I mean, if that's not Moses' staff, I don't know what is.

Has the legendary Staff of Moses

really withstood the ravages of time

and is now sitting in a museum display?

If so, how amazing is that?

But there's an equally fascinating object

found in India,

a looming metal monument that, after nearly 1,000 years,

shows no signs of corrosion.

It's called the Iron Pillar.

(Shatner reads on-screen text)

Built in 1889 as an homage

to the industrial strength of France,

this striking achievement in metalworks

has held its iconic stance in the City of Light

for nearly 150 years.

Once the tallest structure in the world,

the Eiffel Tower has endured,

in part due to a fresh coat of paint

that's applied every seven years

to protect the structure from rust and corrosion.

And 4,000 miles away in India,

on the southern fringe of New Delhi,

stands another tall iron monument.

But this soaring column

presents one of the greatest mysteries in ancient metallurgy.

It's called the Iron Pillar of Delhi.

COLLINS: The Iron Pillar of Delhi is located

within a religious complex

that was originally constructed

as a Hindu temple to the god Vishnu.

It's obviously made of iron,

but it has not corroded in any way,

and yet, it has stood in its current position

for at least 800 years, and before that, elsewhere

for another several hundred years.

Where it had originally stood in the Madhya Pradesh region

of India, it would almost seem

as if a new technique was invented

to preserve it from corrosion for thousands of years.

And so far, it has quite literally done that job.

So what is the secret?

Why has this iron not corroded in a way

which iron normally does?

So, this would seem to be a technology

that was completely lost,

because if it wasn't lost,

we'd have been using it today.

SHATNER: So how did ancient people invent iron that doesn't rust?

India's humid climate is supposed to accelerate

the process of corrosion.

And the Iron Pillar's cryptic ancient origins

only make this miraculous invention

even more confounding.

What we have here is a pillar

that was originally created to be special.

It was put there in pride of place,

very close to this huge minaret tower.

The minaret tower is 238 feet tall,

and the Iron Pillar is 23 feet eight inches,

which is exactly one-tenth of the tower,

showing that there is some kind of relationship between the two.

But what it is remains a true mystery.

We really do not know who this

iron pillar belongs to or who built it.

There are inscriptions on the pillar itself.

It is attributed to King Chandragupta,

and he ruled around fourth to fifth century CE.

But there is also controversy about that name

because there is only a name "Chandra" on the pillar.

It does not say "Chandragupta."

So, it could also mean another king called

Ramachandra, which is a legendary king.

And if it is true, then that goes back

to some 12,000 BCE.

SHATNER: The true age of the Iron Pillar is a matter of debate,

but if it really does date back to 12,000 BC,

that would mean it was forged 10,000 years

before iron was even discovered.

And while many believe the structure is more likely

1,600 years old,

what can explain the lack of corrosion and rust?

How was this achieved?

In 2003, scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology

performed an analysis on the Iron Pillar

in an attempt to find some answers.

SHIMKHADA: Scientists have analyzed

all the elements that went into building this iron pillar.

They found it is 98% iron and one part is phosphorus.

That has produced what they call misawite.

And the misawite is a kind of film that is coated the pillar.

That is what protects from corrosion and rust.

The Delhi Iron Pillar

is the evidence of lost technology.

No one has been able to replicate the same iron pillar.

PRAVEEN MOHAN: Rust slowly starts eating into iron,

and it can destroy anything.

This is how iron and moisture are normally supposed to behave,

but the Iron Pillar of India

does something very, very different.

When moisture comes into contact with the Iron Pillar,

it basically converts that moisture

into a very unique compound,

forming a protective coating,

making it even more resistant to rusting.

SHATNER: The remarkable theory that the ancient column

creates its own protective layer

to shield it from the elements begs the question,

how did the ancient inventors do it?

Iron is a major element for bridges and buildings.

And eventually, you know, they catch a corrosion

and they rust, and eventually, they collapse.

And we have seen lot of examples,

you know, around the world.

The builders who build the Iron Pillar

did not leave the knowledge behind other than the example,

which is still standing,

but it has not been replicated by anyone else.

The builder knew the secret formula

to make it corrosion-free,

but the knowledge is lost forever.

SHATNER: Did the secret to the Iron Pillar's construction

die with some ancient alchemist?

And why is its incredible composition

impossible to replicate even today?

It's a fascinating mystery.

And the same can be said for another powerful object

of a very different kind.

It's a sacred relic,

protected by the faithful, that is known as

the Buddha's tooth.

(Shatner reads on-screen text)

SHATNER: Nestled on the serene shores of a large lake

rests a sprawling Buddhist temple called

the Temple of the Sacred Tooth.

It is known by this unusual name because, inside the temple...

...there is an elaborate shrine,

which for more than 1,500 years

has held one of the most important

Buddhist relics in the world.

However, the relic cannot be seen by the public

because it is encased within seven gleaming caskets

made out of solid gold.

At the center of those protective layers

is a human tooth that, according to the faithful,

belonged to the Buddha himself.

The Buddha's tooth is a sacred relic,

and it is, uh, venerated three times a day

by Buddhists on the island of Sri Lanka.

It is offered prayers and worship

morning, noon, and evening.

Praying to this tooth, it's like being in the presence directly

of the founder of your religion,

the historical Buddha.

Buddhism was founded by Shakyamuni Buddha,

who lived, uh, over 3,000 years ago.

He was a fully enlightened being.

So, he attained perfect level of wisdom.

And his mission was to teach others

how to end their suffering and

to continue his teachings after he was gone.

STEAVU: Upon passing, the relics that remained of the Buddha

were distributed amongst his followers.

One of them made its way to Sri Lanka

in the fourth century, and this was the Buddha's tooth.

Once a year, there is a massive celebration,

the procession of the tooth.

♪ ♪

And this is a humongous festival.

There's music, fire dances.

The Buddha's tooth

is carried on the back of a very old, noble elephant.

The pageantry is just overwhelmingly beautiful

at this very large festival

that takes place once a year

in honor of the sacred tooth.

SHATNER: Although most practicing Buddhists

are not allowed to see the sacred tooth,

they genuinely believe that it retains the life essence

of the Buddha himself.

In fact, some people claim that being in the presence

of this tiny relic is an extraordinary experience.

STEAVU: The sacred tooth, it has the power, allegedly,

to heal anyone who comes in contact with it.

There's the weekly ritual in which it's bathed,

and the water is then distributed

to people in order to cure them of various illnesses.

JIE: Many people have experienced powerful energy,

positive energy from the Buddha's tooth.

It's a phenomenon that inspires people's faith.

As Buddhists, we believe that the Buddha

is still in the world.

SHATNER: The sacred tooth that is kept in Sri Lanka is incredible,

but it is hardly the only relic of its kind.

In fact, there are reportedly more than 80,000

small fragments of the Buddha's remains

that are kept in shrines all over the world.

One of the biggest collections of Buddha relics can be found at

the Wei Mountain Temple located in Rosemead, California,

which houses some 10,000 relics of the Buddha.

JIE: At Wei Mountain Temple, we have a finger bone of the Buddha,

as well as a wrist bone

and a knee bone from the Buddha.

We make these relics available for people

to benefit from being in their presence.

SHATNER: Wei Mountain Temple's collection also includes

a tooth of the Buddha that can be seen by the public

on special occasions

and appears to possess an extraordinary quality.

Because even though the Buddha died thousands of years ago,

this tooth is actually growing.

COLLINS: This tooth is of immense size.

Today, it is over three inches in length.

And allegedly, across the past 3,000 years,

it's been growing, and is continuing to grow to this day.

Now, this in itself is surely a miracle.

JIE: The tooth relic has been growing since the time of the Buddha.

It's well-known among Buddhists that the relics

can multiply and grow.

These are not dead objects. They're actually still living.

They're still, uh, part of the Buddha's body.

SHATNER: According to current measurements,

this Buddha's tooth is more than twice

the size of a normal human tooth.

But what could be causing this unusual growth?

Well, in 2012, a group of scientists

conducted an experiment to try and find out

whether mysterious relics of the Buddha

have any unusual characteristics.

STEAVU: This study attempted to measure

the power of, uh, Buddha relics on reality.

And so, they placed a vessel of water

next to some Buddha relics,

and lo and behold, the pH of the water actually changed,

and it, uh, went up by, uh, 2.5 units, which is significant.

Now, are these relics actually imbued with sacred power?

This is a hard question to answer,

but whether that's a result of their faith, or

a result of the actual sacred relic,

the effects are still there.

(Shatner reads on-screen text)

SHATNER: The year 2000.

Archaeologists unearth the mummified remains

of a Roman noblewoman and her 18-year-old son.

There, on the woman's hand, is a 2,000-year-old ring

with a remarkably life-like portrait of her beloved son.

LANCE GEIGER: This very unique ring, it's set in gold,

and it's got a crystal, it's a cabochon crystal,

which means that, instead of being faceted

like you might see with a gemstone,

it's been polished smooth.

And it has inside a likeness of her son

that is remarkably like a modern hologram.

And it really gives that feeling that this ring is-is magic.

SHATNER: Modern holograms are advanced three-dimensional images

created by projecting light, often by laser beams.

Rudimentary hologram technology wasn't invented

until 1948 by the Hungarian physicist Dennis Gabor.

So how was this holographic ring created

almost 2,000 years ago?

TOK THOMPSON: It's often called a hologram ring.

It's not a hologram, of course,

but it follows the same idea that

you're actually seeing a 3D image.

Crystals refract light in interesting ways,

and the artisanship behind this was really fabulous, to be able

to put a reflective face in the back.

This is what gives it its kind of eerie, 3D effect.

And this is the only example of this that we currently have.

GEIGER: The ring certainly leads you to wonder

was this just one technology, one person,

and then it was lost?

But it also leads to this strange idea.

Why is there only one of them?

It almost feels as if, I mean, who was this artist?

Why didn't the artist make more of them?

How did the artist find the skill that

no one else had found?

Uh, and why was it only used in one place?

Someone could probably try to duplicate it today,

but maybe this was this piece of technology from someone

who was very special in their art and who-who's gone.

SHATNER: We may never know who created the holographic ring

or how exactly they fashioned this intricate relic,

but its mere existence is proof that the inventors

of the ancient world were capable of far more

than we give them credit for.

It's always a fascinating moment in archaeology when we realize

how advanced some of the techniques and the knowledge

were from some of these ancient civilizations.

I think a big part of the puzzle is

we understand where we get our knowledge from,

but we look back at some of these amazing inventions,

these displays of knowledge,

and we have a hard time imagining, before science,

before universities,

how did these societies build all of this body of knowledge?

KAKU: When you think of modern technology,

we say to ourselves, "Yeah, we invented that.

"Yeah, we're the ones who pioneered

this breakthrough in technology."

And then we realize there were antecedents.

There were other versions of this very same technology

that the ancients were toying with.

When you begin to understand the technology of the ancients,

begin to realize the ancients had their own wisdom,

a wisdom that is parallel to the wisdom of today.

Do certain objects really possess

special powers or contain divine energy?

And do the remarkably engineered relics we have found

offer any clues about how

technically advanced our ancient ancestors were?

Who created these amazing wonders?

How did they survive the test of time?

And is it within our ability to truly understand them?

For now, the answers to these questions

continue to fascinate us and remain...

...unexplained.

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