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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,500 2 00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:02,832 [MUSIC PLAYING] 3 00:00:02,832 --> 00:00:06,608 4 00:00:06,608 --> 00:00:09,910 >>Why were the ancients so interested in the motion 5 00:00:09,910 --> 00:00:10,934 of the stars? 6 00:00:10,934 --> 00:00:13,740 7 00:00:13,740 --> 00:00:16,260 Why was cosmology sacred to the ancients? 8 00:00:16,260 --> 00:00:19,500 9 00:00:19,500 --> 00:00:22,470 Pondering the history of Ancient Egypt, 10 00:00:22,470 --> 00:00:25,960 we typically think of the mysteries of the pyramids 11 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,870 and the grandeur of the temples. 12 00:00:28,870 --> 00:00:32,260 But where did it all start? 13 00:00:32,260 --> 00:00:35,100 Do we know how long ago the ancients 14 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:38,522 began tracking the stars? 15 00:00:38,522 --> 00:00:41,830 Could there be lost worlds buried beneath the sands? 16 00:00:41,830 --> 00:00:45,323 17 00:00:45,323 --> 00:01:22,748 [MUSIC PLAYING] 18 00:01:22,748 --> 00:01:25,250 19 00:01:25,250 --> 00:01:29,020 >>Cosmology is the study of the universe in its totality. 20 00:01:29,020 --> 00:01:33,530 21 00:01:33,530 --> 00:01:36,440 We think of cosmology as science, 22 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:39,008 whereas the Egyptians considered it sacred. 23 00:01:39,008 --> 00:01:43,590 24 00:01:43,590 --> 00:01:46,100 >>There's one thing we know about the ancient Egypt 25 00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:51,300 for certainty, is that they observed the star Sirius. 26 00:01:51,300 --> 00:01:54,890 We are sure when they speak of that star. 27 00:01:54,890 --> 00:01:57,100 >>Everything that comes out of the ancient world 28 00:01:57,100 --> 00:02:00,045 has to have a spiritual and metaphysical base. 29 00:02:00,045 --> 00:02:03,400 30 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,990 >>The ancients-- and the ancient Egyptians, 31 00:02:05,990 --> 00:02:08,419 in particular, but probably ancient civilizations, 32 00:02:08,419 --> 00:02:13,530 more generally-- saw themselves-- humanity, us-- as 33 00:02:13,530 --> 00:02:15,365 tied in with the bigger environment, 34 00:02:15,365 --> 00:02:17,260 the cosmos, the bigger picture. 35 00:02:17,260 --> 00:02:20,030 >>They built monuments in alignment. 36 00:02:20,030 --> 00:02:21,050 But what for? 37 00:02:21,050 --> 00:02:27,264 And do their belief systems have validity today? 38 00:02:27,264 --> 00:02:30,680 >>If we want to decode Egyptian symbolism, 39 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,580 we should look for clues in the ancient language 40 00:02:33,580 --> 00:02:37,250 that Hakim learned as a child from his elders 41 00:02:37,250 --> 00:02:41,000 living along the Band of Peace. 42 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,450 Looking at the many images left by the Egyptians, 43 00:02:44,450 --> 00:02:49,080 we have assumed that they were obsessed with death. 44 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,015 Turning to the ancient Suf language, 45 00:02:51,015 --> 00:02:53,840 however, we learn that they didn't even 46 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,230 have a word for death. 47 00:02:56,230 --> 00:02:59,325 They called it "westing." 48 00:02:59,325 --> 00:03:05,080 >>We have no word the death in our culture-- no word "death." 49 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:11,220 And to express this operation of death, 50 00:03:11,220 --> 00:03:16,860 we say "westing"-- going towards west, 51 00:03:16,860 --> 00:03:20,900 like the Sun rise from the east, and westing. 52 00:03:20,900 --> 00:03:24,340 So there is no word "death" here. 53 00:03:24,340 --> 00:03:25,950 Well, they believe in resurrection. 54 00:03:25,950 --> 00:03:28,630 If the Sun sets in the west, the resurrection 55 00:03:28,630 --> 00:03:31,686 happen the next day, when the Sun rise in the next day. 56 00:03:31,686 --> 00:03:36,950 So the deceased believe that it's just like the Sun. 57 00:03:36,950 --> 00:03:40,440 >>The Egyptians obviously had a very different world view 58 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,700 from ours today. 59 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:46,905 They believed in the afterlife and the soul's immortality. 60 00:03:46,905 --> 00:03:49,670 >>Was it possible at all that they 61 00:03:49,670 --> 00:03:53,686 had found some sort of science of immortality, for example, 62 00:03:53,686 --> 00:03:55,170 we call it. 63 00:03:55,170 --> 00:03:57,770 As crazy as it may seem, they seem 64 00:03:57,770 --> 00:03:59,740 to be very, very convinced that they 65 00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:06,130 knew how to send the king to his cosmic world. 66 00:04:06,130 --> 00:04:10,470 Those stellar gods-- of whom the king believed 67 00:04:10,470 --> 00:04:13,720 that he, himself, would become one stellar god 68 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:19,620 after his death-- constructed monuments and performed rituals 69 00:04:19,620 --> 00:04:23,790 that mimicked the events that they saw in the sky. 70 00:04:23,790 --> 00:04:29,250 It sounds against all the tenets of our scientific beliefs. 71 00:04:29,250 --> 00:04:34,610 But we have to see why they were so convinced. 72 00:04:34,610 --> 00:04:37,670 The ancient Egyptians perceived the land 73 00:04:37,670 --> 00:04:43,690 as a cosmic environment, that it followed 74 00:04:43,690 --> 00:04:45,150 the activities of the sky. 75 00:04:45,150 --> 00:04:50,440 Because they believed them to be running in parallel. 76 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,400 And they had reasons to believe that. 77 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,010 One of the main reasons was the cycles of the Nile. 78 00:04:55,010 --> 00:04:57,870 The Nile was the lifeblood of Egypt, 79 00:04:57,870 --> 00:05:01,240 and it performed a cycle, which followed 80 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,315 the cycle of the Sun and the stars. 81 00:05:04,315 --> 00:05:06,720 It's not surprising at all that they associated 82 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,790 the reappearance of the stars with the rebirth of the Nile. 83 00:05:10,790 --> 00:05:15,010 Essentially, this star religion, if you like, 84 00:05:15,010 --> 00:05:19,605 boiled down to one important aspect-- 85 00:05:19,605 --> 00:05:26,490 that it somehow could help the king become a spiritual being 86 00:05:26,490 --> 00:05:30,230 and return to the cosmic world in a specific place 87 00:05:30,230 --> 00:05:31,470 with Orion, and so forth. 88 00:05:31,470 --> 00:05:34,310 89 00:05:34,310 --> 00:05:36,042 How they thought they were going to do 90 00:05:36,042 --> 00:05:38,934 it is by looking very, very carefully at what 91 00:05:38,934 --> 00:05:41,550 happened to the stars. 92 00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:46,170 The stars perform a annual cycle that those 93 00:05:46,170 --> 00:05:48,360 who've seen this in Orion give us 94 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:53,103 a curious cycle in that they disappear. 95 00:05:53,103 --> 00:05:57,510 Or they appear to disappear. 96 00:05:57,510 --> 00:06:01,040 But if you watch a star over the course of the year, 97 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,420 you'll find that there comes a time when 98 00:06:03,420 --> 00:06:08,075 it is very low in the west at time of sunset. 99 00:06:08,075 --> 00:06:09,823 So the Sun sets. 100 00:06:09,823 --> 00:06:12,158 And as it gets dark, the star appears just 101 00:06:12,158 --> 00:06:14,025 for a few seconds over the west. 102 00:06:14,025 --> 00:06:18,190 If you come the next day, you would not see that star. 103 00:06:18,190 --> 00:06:22,670 And for 70 days or so, the star has gone. 104 00:06:22,670 --> 00:06:26,100 It seems to have gone under the Earth. 105 00:06:26,100 --> 00:06:30,317 But after those 70 days, it appears by this time at dawn, 106 00:06:30,317 --> 00:06:34,002 rising just before the Sun, which we call the heliacal 107 00:06:34,002 --> 00:06:35,750 rising, whereas the Egyptian called 108 00:06:35,750 --> 00:06:37,856 it the rebirth of the star. 109 00:06:37,856 --> 00:06:40,680 So in their mind, something happened. 110 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:45,780 In their mind, the star went in the underworld, stayed 111 00:06:45,780 --> 00:06:50,576 in the underworld for 70 days, and then, by magic, popped 112 00:06:50,576 --> 00:06:53,722 up again-- was reborn again in the east. 113 00:06:53,722 --> 00:06:55,174 That's the Pyramid Texts. 114 00:06:55,174 --> 00:06:58,562 The Pyramid Texts mimic this cycle. 115 00:06:58,562 --> 00:07:01,220 >>At the ancient site of Saqqara, 116 00:07:01,220 --> 00:07:05,880 we find the Pyramid Texts, the oldest known religious texts 117 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:06,445 in the world. 118 00:07:06,445 --> 00:07:09,770 119 00:07:09,770 --> 00:07:12,720 Covering the inner walls of these small pyramids 120 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:15,410 are thousands of hieroglyphs showing knowledge 121 00:07:15,410 --> 00:07:18,890 of celestial mechanics and cycles of time. 122 00:07:18,890 --> 00:07:26,140 123 00:07:26,140 --> 00:07:28,890 Although we've come a long way in our understanding 124 00:07:28,890 --> 00:07:32,880 of hieroglyphs, it is possible that many layers 125 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,790 of meaning in the symbols remain hidden-- until now. 126 00:07:37,790 --> 00:07:40,340 127 00:07:40,340 --> 00:07:42,510 When we approach hieroglyphics, we 128 00:07:42,510 --> 00:07:45,800 do so from our own point of view. 129 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,370 And we assume that the letters of our alphabet 130 00:07:48,370 --> 00:07:52,340 correspond with certain hieroglyphs. 131 00:07:52,340 --> 00:07:56,250 There are 4,000 Egyptian hieroglyphs, but only 132 00:07:56,250 --> 00:07:59,370 26 letters. 133 00:07:59,370 --> 00:08:01,830 In order to crack the code, we need 134 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:06,310 to open our minds to different levels of meaning. 135 00:08:06,310 --> 00:08:09,290 >>I think it's just a familiarity with the way 136 00:08:09,290 --> 00:08:10,490 modern languages work. 137 00:08:10,490 --> 00:08:13,630 No one expects that a word would work differently. 138 00:08:13,630 --> 00:08:17,780 Our mindset is that a letter is the carrier of a kinetic value, 139 00:08:17,780 --> 00:08:20,910 and that a word is a carrier of a concept. 140 00:08:20,910 --> 00:08:22,562 To understand the Egyptian words, 141 00:08:22,562 --> 00:08:24,020 you have to start from the approach 142 00:08:24,020 --> 00:08:27,520 that the letter is the carrier of the concept. 143 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:29,760 And the word is an extended sentence. 144 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,820 145 00:08:32,820 --> 00:08:36,330 There are nuances of meanings to the words 146 00:08:36,330 --> 00:08:38,220 that you don't get if you don't understand 147 00:08:38,220 --> 00:08:41,086 what the individual glyphs mean. 148 00:08:41,086 --> 00:08:42,669 For instance, there's an Egyptian word 149 00:08:42,669 --> 00:08:46,300 that is translated as "diving duck." 150 00:08:46,300 --> 00:08:48,000 But when you read the glyphs, it really 151 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:53,420 reads, "pool of water, place of diving duck." 152 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:58,550 >>In 1822, French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion 153 00:08:58,550 --> 00:09:01,130 and British scientist Thomas Young 154 00:09:01,130 --> 00:09:05,330 deciphered the hieroglyphics from the Rosetta Stone. 155 00:09:05,330 --> 00:09:09,766 The stone was created in 196 BC. 156 00:09:09,766 --> 00:09:13,850 It showed the same text in hieroglyphic, Greek, 157 00:09:13,850 --> 00:09:18,050 and demotic Egyptian on the one tablet. 158 00:09:18,050 --> 00:09:21,500 Scholars have used Champollion's translations 159 00:09:21,500 --> 00:09:25,570 as the basis for deciphering hieroglyphs. 160 00:09:25,570 --> 00:09:29,620 Could Champollion have missed subtleties or even withheld 161 00:09:29,620 --> 00:09:30,650 some information? 162 00:09:30,650 --> 00:09:32,770 >>One biographical study of Champollion 163 00:09:32,770 --> 00:09:37,910 said that he delayed for a very long period of time 164 00:09:37,910 --> 00:09:40,880 before producing his translation because 165 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:46,090 in the words of the study, he clung stubbornly to the idea 166 00:09:46,090 --> 00:09:49,550 that an Egyptian glyph might mean something more 167 00:09:49,550 --> 00:09:51,186 than just a phonetic value. 168 00:09:51,186 --> 00:09:54,970 >>Laird Scranton is a computer software engineer 169 00:09:54,970 --> 00:09:59,680 who has interpreted a new aspect of hieroglyphics. 170 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:03,330 His research is revolutionizing the way hieroglyphic 171 00:10:03,330 --> 00:10:04,690 is understood. 172 00:10:04,690 --> 00:10:07,000 >>Basically, Egyptian hieroglyphic words 173 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:12,690 work more like an acronym in English-- like the phrase FYI 174 00:10:12,690 --> 00:10:16,440 or an acronym such as CIA or CBS-- 175 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:18,680 where anyone who reads English understands 176 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:21,190 that you don't try to pronounce this word. 177 00:10:21,190 --> 00:10:24,000 This is not a word that you're going to read for its meaning, 178 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,960 in terms of the letters all put together. 179 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,317 It's one letter at a time stands for one word at a time. 180 00:10:30,317 --> 00:10:32,400 And you put the words together to get the meaning. 181 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:34,640 >>If we think of each hieroglyphic word 182 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:39,230 as an acronym, rather than having a phonetic value, 183 00:10:39,230 --> 00:10:43,450 a new layer of interpretation appears. 184 00:10:43,450 --> 00:10:47,160 Hieroglyphs reveal in symbolic terms the way 185 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,060 the ancient Egyptians thought the universe works. 186 00:10:51,060 --> 00:10:54,500 >>I can show that certain key glyph shapes came out 187 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:59,790 of cosmology, which describes how the universe was created. 188 00:10:59,790 --> 00:11:01,810 And because the shapes came out of cosmology, 189 00:11:01,810 --> 00:11:05,470 it makes sense that the meanings that attach to the shape 190 00:11:05,470 --> 00:11:07,385 are associated with cosmology, also. 191 00:11:07,385 --> 00:11:09,540 They would have meanings related to the creation 192 00:11:09,540 --> 00:11:11,590 of the universe. 193 00:11:11,590 --> 00:11:14,580 Once you agree that the Sun glyph means what it means-- 194 00:11:14,580 --> 00:11:17,080 and that's all traditional meanings-- it's 195 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,390 hard to argue that the word "month" doesn't say, 196 00:11:19,390 --> 00:11:20,862 the moon makes an orbit. 197 00:11:20,862 --> 00:11:23,720 198 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,035 Or it's hard to argue that the word "year" doesn't say, time 199 00:11:27,035 --> 00:11:28,625 of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. 200 00:11:28,625 --> 00:11:41,170 201 00:11:41,170 --> 00:11:44,680 >>The ancient Egyptians were almost obsessive keepers 202 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:46,310 of records. 203 00:11:46,310 --> 00:11:50,700 And one thing that they observed most was the celestial objects. 204 00:11:50,700 --> 00:11:55,700 But we'd expect them to pay attention and record. 205 00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:59,970 Now how far back-- that's a big question. 206 00:11:59,970 --> 00:12:02,660 Well, we now have some sites that go at least 6,000 207 00:12:02,660 --> 00:12:07,180 or 7,000 years before. 208 00:12:07,180 --> 00:12:10,170 There's a megalithic site that has 209 00:12:10,170 --> 00:12:13,930 been found in the early '70s, but not 210 00:12:13,930 --> 00:12:18,704 understood until lately, that has astronomical language. 211 00:12:18,704 --> 00:12:22,762 And strangely, the astronomical language that it has 212 00:12:22,762 --> 00:12:27,420 are precisely the ones you find in the Pyramid Age. 213 00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:31,210 So Orion, Sirius, the summer solstice-- they're all there. 214 00:12:31,210 --> 00:12:32,840 It's no more theory. 215 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:34,774 We have evidence that they did it. 216 00:12:34,774 --> 00:12:39,450 217 00:12:39,450 --> 00:12:41,830 >>For decades, author Robert Bauval 218 00:12:41,830 --> 00:12:45,370 has been studying the alignment of Egyptian monuments 219 00:12:45,370 --> 00:12:46,485 to key stars. 220 00:12:46,485 --> 00:12:51,317 221 00:12:51,317 --> 00:12:53,290 >>Muhammad's out guide. 222 00:12:53,290 --> 00:12:55,160 We've come here. 223 00:12:55,160 --> 00:13:01,000 And what we're trying to do is get to the Nabta Playa. 224 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:02,856 The most important thing is we get there. 225 00:13:02,856 --> 00:13:04,520 >>Yeah. 226 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,930 >>He is now planning an expedition across the desert 227 00:13:07,930 --> 00:13:13,670 to a site called Nabta Playa, 100 kilometers west of the Nile 228 00:13:13,670 --> 00:13:17,910 and 30 kilometers north of the Sudanese border. 229 00:13:17,910 --> 00:13:21,570 It is the location of Egypt's oldest astronomical measuring 230 00:13:21,570 --> 00:13:22,070 device. 231 00:13:22,070 --> 00:13:24,750 232 00:13:24,750 --> 00:13:26,972 >>And when we're there, how do you know we're there? 233 00:13:26,972 --> 00:13:28,840 It's all desert. 234 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,914 >>Yes, it's desert. 235 00:13:30,914 --> 00:13:32,830 Every place here in Western Desert, I know it. 236 00:13:32,830 --> 00:13:35,154 >>If you can, we're going to need a GPS. 237 00:13:35,154 --> 00:13:35,653 >>Yeah. 238 00:13:35,653 --> 00:13:36,575 >>If you can get one. 239 00:13:36,575 --> 00:13:38,210 >>Yes, I have one. 240 00:13:38,210 --> 00:13:40,800 >>That makes me feel a lot happier. 241 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,850 >>The team finds out that permits from Cairo 242 00:13:43,850 --> 00:13:46,440 have been delayed. 243 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:47,700 >>Now we wait. 244 00:13:47,700 --> 00:13:51,540 You tell us we wait for the answer from Cairo. 245 00:13:51,540 --> 00:13:54,050 So in the meanwhile, let's go and see the sights. 246 00:13:54,050 --> 00:13:55,950 Let's go and see some of the temples here. 247 00:13:55,950 --> 00:13:56,450 >>OK. 248 00:13:56,450 --> 00:13:57,782 >>Let's do it. 249 00:13:57,782 --> 00:14:02,021 [MUSIC PLAYING] 250 00:14:02,021 --> 00:14:05,840 >>The key to decoding Egypt is in the alignments 251 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:10,260 of the temples, which changed in different epochs 252 00:14:10,260 --> 00:14:14,470 to match the majestic drift of the procession of the stars. 253 00:14:14,470 --> 00:14:18,060 >>We're now here at the Karnak Temple in Luxor. 254 00:14:18,060 --> 00:14:21,290 On this wall, we can see the ritual 255 00:14:21,290 --> 00:14:23,580 of the stretching of the cord. 256 00:14:23,580 --> 00:14:26,110 On the right-hand side is the goddess, Seshat. 257 00:14:26,110 --> 00:14:31,460 She's represented by a priestess holding a rope and a mallet. 258 00:14:31,460 --> 00:14:34,110 On the other side is the pharaoh. 259 00:14:34,110 --> 00:14:35,997 There's the cord looking between them. 260 00:14:35,997 --> 00:14:37,580 And what they're doing is that they're 261 00:14:37,580 --> 00:14:39,600 aligning the monuments to the stars. 262 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,890 263 00:14:42,890 --> 00:14:46,010 >>We know from inscriptions at the Temple of Karnak 264 00:14:46,010 --> 00:14:49,710 that they aligned monuments with the circumpolar stars, 265 00:14:49,710 --> 00:14:50,930 principally, the Big Dipper. 266 00:14:50,930 --> 00:14:53,900 267 00:14:53,900 --> 00:14:57,550 >>They also aligned to the stars of Orion, very similarly 268 00:14:57,550 --> 00:14:59,396 to what we also have at Nabta. 269 00:14:59,396 --> 00:15:01,930 The Karnak Temple, the very center 270 00:15:01,930 --> 00:15:05,360 of Egyptian religious activity, is 271 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,190 aligned to the sunrise at the winter solstice. 272 00:15:08,190 --> 00:15:12,050 So as we look down the axis this way, on the winter solstice, 273 00:15:12,050 --> 00:15:14,670 the Sun will rise along the axis. 274 00:15:14,670 --> 00:15:17,360 And in the summer solstice, it will 275 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,960 be aligned with the sunset of the summer. 276 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,700 So as we have at the Nabta Playa, 277 00:15:23,700 --> 00:15:27,200 and the circle of the calendrical circle, where there 278 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,320 is the summer solstice alignment, 279 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:32,820 here we have another example of the similar alignment 280 00:15:32,820 --> 00:15:35,920 3,000 years later. 281 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,510 >>On the expedition into the open desert, 282 00:15:38,510 --> 00:15:41,510 Robert Bauval hopes to see for himself 283 00:15:41,510 --> 00:15:44,790 that these alignments exist in the remote region of Nabta 284 00:15:44,790 --> 00:15:47,140 Playa. 285 00:15:47,140 --> 00:15:53,392 The team prepares by mapping a route they will access via GPS. 286 00:15:53,392 --> 00:15:56,340 Jeeps are equipped with supplies for the dangerous journey. 287 00:15:56,340 --> 00:16:07,380 288 00:16:07,380 --> 00:16:10,300 The team arrives at the first stop on their journey 289 00:16:10,300 --> 00:16:11,142 through history. 290 00:16:11,142 --> 00:16:17,750 291 00:16:17,750 --> 00:16:20,590 In the heart of the El Kharga Oasis 292 00:16:20,590 --> 00:16:23,590 lies a Christian settlement dating back 293 00:16:23,590 --> 00:16:27,450 to the third century AD. 294 00:16:27,450 --> 00:16:30,930 Original paint graces the ceiling of the chapel, 295 00:16:30,930 --> 00:16:33,210 telling the stories of Adam and Eve. 296 00:16:33,210 --> 00:16:38,030 >>What is important here is that at Nabta, we 297 00:16:38,030 --> 00:16:43,910 have a settlement that is 6,000 BC, at least. 298 00:16:43,910 --> 00:16:47,340 And here, we have a Roman settlement, 299 00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:51,730 which is of the first-- second century. 300 00:16:51,730 --> 00:16:54,280 Surely, the people here were aware of some sort 301 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,618 of origins in the desert. 302 00:16:56,618 --> 00:17:00,020 They must've moved around here. 303 00:17:00,020 --> 00:17:01,964 And this is a big world that anthropologists 304 00:17:01,964 --> 00:17:04,394 have to get into-- cultural anthropologists-- people who 305 00:17:04,394 --> 00:17:09,390 understand how to look for clues within a lost culture. 306 00:17:09,390 --> 00:17:10,930 We're looking for a lost culture. 307 00:17:10,930 --> 00:17:12,930 And it could be the origins of our civilization. 308 00:17:12,930 --> 00:17:15,398 That's what we're talking about here. 309 00:17:15,398 --> 00:17:20,318 310 00:17:20,318 --> 00:17:23,349 >>Off in the distance, the Christian settlement 311 00:17:23,349 --> 00:17:25,329 can be seen. 312 00:17:25,329 --> 00:17:28,220 In the valley below, we can see the old riverbed 313 00:17:28,220 --> 00:17:34,470 of the Nile, which has migrated over 60 kilometers to the east. 314 00:17:34,470 --> 00:17:36,520 How many thousands of years would it 315 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,560 take to wind back the geological time 316 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,393 clock to when the Nile flowed here? 317 00:17:43,393 --> 00:17:44,866 >>The Nile we know there was here. 318 00:17:44,866 --> 00:17:46,170 >>Yeah. 319 00:17:46,170 --> 00:17:47,885 >>Before, we didn't know. 320 00:17:47,885 --> 00:17:49,620 Realize what this is. 321 00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:51,640 Almost surely, the ideas of these people-- 322 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,930 their beliefs, the way they look at the stars, the way 323 00:17:53,930 --> 00:17:56,360 they look at the Sun, the way they buried people-- 324 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,428 comes from here through. 325 00:17:59,428 --> 00:18:02,322 Influenced the following civilization. 326 00:18:02,322 --> 00:18:07,100 Imagine 2,000 years ago. 327 00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:11,200 It was a Roman garrison, with Centurians walking about, 328 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:16,340 and priests, and Roman ladies in carriages. 329 00:18:16,340 --> 00:18:18,830 And it's amazing to think that this was like this. 330 00:18:18,830 --> 00:18:21,190 People have been here for thousands of years. 331 00:18:21,190 --> 00:18:22,473 We know that. 332 00:18:22,473 --> 00:18:23,995 But now you have to show us caves. 333 00:18:23,995 --> 00:18:26,245 You're going to show us prehistoric caves, where there 334 00:18:26,245 --> 00:18:28,860 are drawings that tell us that people were here 335 00:18:28,860 --> 00:18:31,780 even longer than we thought-- maybe 10,000, maybe 15,000 336 00:18:31,780 --> 00:18:33,074 years ago. 337 00:18:33,074 --> 00:18:34,535 And that's incredible. 338 00:18:34,535 --> 00:18:42,360 339 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,292 [MUSIC PLAYING] 340 00:18:44,292 --> 00:18:54,873 341 00:18:54,873 --> 00:18:59,480 >>Now we're on a 30-40-meter-high dune, 342 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,300 right in the middle of the path of the road. 343 00:19:02,300 --> 00:19:04,600 The old road, as you can see-- it's quite amazing. 344 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:06,702 The old road actually strikes a dune. 345 00:19:06,702 --> 00:19:08,050 This is a new dune. 346 00:19:08,050 --> 00:19:12,190 It's been formed, what, in the last 30 years or so. 347 00:19:12,190 --> 00:19:15,370 It shows you how the sand moves fast. 348 00:19:15,370 --> 00:19:18,360 >>The team test the Jeeps in the open desert 349 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:20,345 by heading off to an ancient desert monastery. 350 00:19:20,345 --> 00:19:39,850 351 00:19:39,850 --> 00:19:42,930 Along the way, the team stumbles across a large outcropping 352 00:19:42,930 --> 00:19:47,765 of stone with obviously layers of stratification. 353 00:19:47,765 --> 00:19:51,074 The guide tells the team that the area is an ancient ocean 354 00:19:51,074 --> 00:19:52,930 bed. 355 00:19:52,930 --> 00:19:56,780 There is water-like ripples, and seashells are still 356 00:19:56,780 --> 00:19:59,570 embedded in the hard rock, indicating 357 00:19:59,570 --> 00:20:02,670 a vast change in geology and climate 358 00:20:02,670 --> 00:20:06,123 over the past several thousand years. 359 00:20:06,123 --> 00:20:08,980 >>That is very petrified timber that's 360 00:20:08,980 --> 00:20:10,255 from a much later period. 361 00:20:10,255 --> 00:20:12,400 But you can see the shells here. 362 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:14,405 The shell is encrusted. 363 00:20:14,405 --> 00:20:18,160 They're millions of years old. 364 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,920 We're walking on terrain that is millions of years old. 365 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:28,570 366 00:20:28,570 --> 00:20:31,680 >>The Western Desert today is rainless. 367 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:35,670 But in the past, it received as much as 500 millimeters 368 00:20:35,670 --> 00:20:38,550 of precipitation per year. 369 00:20:38,550 --> 00:20:41,790 There were permanent lakes, large springs, 370 00:20:41,790 --> 00:20:44,730 and seasonal streams. 371 00:20:44,730 --> 00:20:50,850 The most recent wet period was between 130,000 and 70,000 372 00:20:50,850 --> 00:20:53,360 years ago. 373 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:57,120 Then, it was thorn brush savanna. 374 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:00,420 At that time, the area supported many large animals: 375 00:21:00,420 --> 00:21:05,510 gazelles, giraffes, buffalo, camels, and antelopes. 376 00:21:05,510 --> 00:21:10,990 377 00:21:10,990 --> 00:21:18,260 After that period, it was hyper arid until 12,000 or 13,000 BC. 378 00:21:18,260 --> 00:21:22,480 Before 12,000 years ago, the summer tropical monsoons 379 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,470 reached southern Egypt. 380 00:21:25,470 --> 00:21:28,650 Precipitation was limited and fell mostly 381 00:21:28,650 --> 00:21:31,180 during the summer months. 382 00:21:31,180 --> 00:21:35,360 It was sufficient to support small animals and cattle. 383 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:39,100 The small animals could live off the dew. 384 00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:42,546 The climate resulted in highly mobile human populations. 385 00:21:42,546 --> 00:21:46,750 386 00:21:46,750 --> 00:21:50,910 There are ancient cave paintings in a remote location that 387 00:21:50,910 --> 00:21:53,410 may provide clues to human settlements 388 00:21:53,410 --> 00:21:56,790 from the distant past. 389 00:21:56,790 --> 00:21:59,630 Is this crucial evidence being protected 390 00:21:59,630 --> 00:22:00,685 by Egyptian authorities? 391 00:22:00,685 --> 00:22:03,780 392 00:22:03,780 --> 00:22:05,470 >>It's terrible. 393 00:22:05,470 --> 00:22:09,585 It's priceless prehistoric evidence. 394 00:22:09,585 --> 00:22:10,320 Look here. 395 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:14,006 396 00:22:14,006 --> 00:22:14,780 What's this? 397 00:22:14,780 --> 00:22:15,740 A dog or a gazelle. 398 00:22:15,740 --> 00:22:18,290 A man-- do you see the man here? 399 00:22:18,290 --> 00:22:20,290 He's wearing pharaonic clothes. 400 00:22:20,290 --> 00:22:23,890 401 00:22:23,890 --> 00:22:29,580 It's terrible what scribbles are over. 402 00:22:29,580 --> 00:22:31,290 The evidence that we're looking for 403 00:22:31,290 --> 00:22:35,580 is being destroyed by irresponsible people coming 404 00:22:35,580 --> 00:22:36,700 here. 405 00:22:36,700 --> 00:22:38,480 The site is unprotected. 406 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,775 And the irony is that people who are responsible 407 00:22:40,775 --> 00:22:43,440 are prevented from coming here and driven crazy 408 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:50,220 with licenses, and papers, and-- look here. 409 00:22:50,220 --> 00:22:52,285 Oh, there's a beautiful Hathorian cow. 410 00:22:52,285 --> 00:22:52,990 Look at this. 411 00:22:52,990 --> 00:22:54,485 This is an artist. 412 00:22:54,485 --> 00:22:57,790 This is not a primitive carver. 413 00:22:57,790 --> 00:23:03,850 414 00:23:03,850 --> 00:23:06,450 >>Predynastic Egyptian belief systems 415 00:23:06,450 --> 00:23:12,000 originated with cattle cults linked to the Nile. 416 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,320 A cow was seen as the mother of the the Sun. 417 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,020 Cattle were deified and were considered 418 00:23:18,020 --> 00:23:22,480 earthly representatives of the gods, an enduring 419 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,010 ideology with Hathor as the center figure. 420 00:23:27,010 --> 00:23:31,200 Images of bulls were shown with depictions of stars. 421 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,020 And this dates to before predynastic Egypt. 422 00:23:34,020 --> 00:23:36,990 423 00:23:36,990 --> 00:23:39,800 Cattle pasturalists were in the Sahara 424 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,330 several thousand years before predynastic Egypt. 425 00:23:43,330 --> 00:23:47,910 426 00:23:47,910 --> 00:23:51,280 Gilf Kebir, which means "large plateau," 427 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:55,450 is another large ceremonial center a further 600 kilometers 428 00:23:55,450 --> 00:24:01,370 west, near the borders of Libya, the Sudan, and Egypt. 429 00:24:01,370 --> 00:24:04,235 The cave of the swimmers-- made famous by the movie, 430 00:24:04,235 --> 00:24:09,230 "The English Patient," is located here. 431 00:24:09,230 --> 00:24:14,390 Prehistoric rock art shows people and their cattle. 432 00:24:14,390 --> 00:24:17,810 Since Gilf Kebir is 600 kilometers away, 433 00:24:17,810 --> 00:24:19,820 it seems as though cattle cults were 434 00:24:19,820 --> 00:24:24,130 prevalent throughout North Africa in ancient times. 435 00:24:24,130 --> 00:24:26,780 Could this be another clue that the nomadic tribes 436 00:24:26,780 --> 00:24:28,280 were connected? 437 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,020 Could they have influence the ancient Egyptians? 438 00:24:31,020 --> 00:24:35,620 439 00:24:35,620 --> 00:24:37,630 Arriving at the monastery, we can 440 00:24:37,630 --> 00:24:41,810 see it has never been accessible by road. 441 00:24:41,810 --> 00:24:45,850 Once occupied by Christians, it lies upon an ancient camel 442 00:24:45,850 --> 00:24:49,756 trail, 40 days from its closest neighboring site. 443 00:24:49,756 --> 00:25:02,160 444 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:06,110 It still shows evidence of having been an oasis, 445 00:25:06,110 --> 00:25:11,350 with a huge acacia tree that is more than 800 years old. 446 00:25:11,350 --> 00:25:14,180 The team has a picnic on a carpet of yellow acacia 447 00:25:14,180 --> 00:25:16,510 flowers. 448 00:25:16,510 --> 00:25:19,020 >>This is a wonderful oasis. 449 00:25:19,020 --> 00:25:20,140 I'm very pleased. 450 00:25:20,140 --> 00:25:21,250 We tested the cars. 451 00:25:21,250 --> 00:25:23,700 Everything's working fine. 452 00:25:23,700 --> 00:25:25,490 The drivers are fine. 453 00:25:25,490 --> 00:25:29,562 And it was a good idea to come and rest here. 454 00:25:29,562 --> 00:25:30,640 I needed the rest. 455 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,590 Because after all this tense of waiting for the permits, 456 00:25:33,590 --> 00:25:34,433 everything is ready. 457 00:25:34,433 --> 00:25:35,349 The permits are ready? 458 00:25:35,349 --> 00:25:38,062 >>Yeah, but you must be to leaving now, 459 00:25:38,062 --> 00:25:41,565 this place, to go to the hotel, and stay overnight. 460 00:25:41,565 --> 00:25:48,062 And then we start tomorrow up early at 3 AM morning. 461 00:25:48,062 --> 00:25:49,456 >>I'm ready. 462 00:25:49,456 --> 00:25:50,580 >>Yes, I know you're ready. 463 00:25:50,580 --> 00:25:53,610 But you don't know it's a hard way, hard, hard way 464 00:25:53,610 --> 00:25:55,220 to arrive to Abu Simbel. 465 00:25:55,220 --> 00:25:57,135 >>Let's do it. 466 00:25:57,135 --> 00:25:58,090 We wait a long time. 467 00:25:58,090 --> 00:25:58,715 Let's do it. 468 00:25:58,715 --> 00:26:00,572 Let's have a good night's sleep. 469 00:26:00,572 --> 00:26:05,018 470 00:26:05,018 --> 00:26:06,994 [MUSIC PLAYING] 471 00:26:06,994 --> 00:26:12,200 472 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:16,410 >>The team gets an early start, armed with long-awaited permits 473 00:26:16,410 --> 00:26:19,265 granted by the Supreme Council of Antiquities 474 00:26:19,265 --> 00:26:21,715 and the Egyptian Army. 475 00:26:21,715 --> 00:26:25,090 They will enter the dangerous region of the Western Desert, 476 00:26:25,090 --> 00:26:26,880 to the south of El Kharga Oasis. 477 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,895 478 00:26:29,895 --> 00:26:34,870 >>Well, after days of waiting and of uncertainty, 479 00:26:34,870 --> 00:26:36,700 we're finally on the road. 480 00:26:36,700 --> 00:26:38,310 We've got the permits. 481 00:26:38,310 --> 00:26:43,710 And we're ready to go out in the desert to Nabta. 482 00:26:43,710 --> 00:26:45,226 [MUSIC PLAYING] 483 00:26:45,226 --> 00:27:05,826 484 00:27:05,826 --> 00:27:08,730 >>[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] 485 00:27:08,730 --> 00:27:10,056 >>[SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE] 486 00:27:10,056 --> 00:27:52,064 487 00:27:52,064 --> 00:27:55,740 >>After driving south for hours along an old road covered 488 00:27:55,740 --> 00:28:00,010 by occasional sand dunes, there is nervousness in the air. 489 00:28:00,010 --> 00:28:03,120 The team will be traveling blind in the open desert 490 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:07,150 for the last part of the journey, relying solely on GPS 491 00:28:07,150 --> 00:28:11,216 equipment to locate the ancient site of Nabta Playa. 492 00:28:11,216 --> 00:28:12,601 >>Yeah, I would-- 493 00:28:12,601 --> 00:28:13,600 >>No, this is very good. 494 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:14,641 This is going to tell us. 495 00:28:14,641 --> 00:28:15,850 >>See, we can do this. 496 00:28:15,850 --> 00:28:17,791 >>No. 497 00:28:17,791 --> 00:28:18,290 >>I'm sure. 498 00:28:18,290 --> 00:28:19,268 >>That's good. 499 00:28:19,268 --> 00:28:24,158 500 00:28:24,158 --> 00:28:26,890 >>What clues will be uncovered at Nabta Playa? 501 00:28:26,890 --> 00:28:30,790 502 00:28:30,790 --> 00:28:32,940 How have these influences drifted 503 00:28:32,940 --> 00:28:34,350 across the African continent? 504 00:28:34,350 --> 00:28:39,030 505 00:28:39,030 --> 00:28:43,340 More than 3,000 kilometers further west in Mali, 506 00:28:43,340 --> 00:28:47,380 there is a living culture with a surprisingly similar world 507 00:28:47,380 --> 00:28:49,246 view to that of the ancient Egyptians. 508 00:28:49,246 --> 00:28:52,780 509 00:28:52,780 --> 00:28:59,010 The Dogon live in Mali, largely in isolation. 510 00:28:59,010 --> 00:29:02,430 Studies of the Dogon culture mirror the ideology 511 00:29:02,430 --> 00:29:07,069 of the ancient Egyptians with uncanny precision. 512 00:29:07,069 --> 00:29:08,610 >>I realized through my Dogon studies 513 00:29:08,610 --> 00:29:11,500 that there were relationships between Dogon words 514 00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:12,600 and Egyptian words. 515 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,270 And I noticed that Dogon drawings turned up 516 00:29:15,270 --> 00:29:17,350 as glyphs in those Egyptian words. 517 00:29:17,350 --> 00:29:20,320 >>Laird Scranton's radical reinterpretation 518 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,350 of Egyptian hieroglyphs came directly 519 00:29:23,350 --> 00:29:28,330 from his studies of Dogon cosmological symbols. 520 00:29:28,330 --> 00:29:32,610 Their priests use cosmological drawings-- symbols 521 00:29:32,610 --> 00:29:36,290 they have used for thousands of years. 522 00:29:36,290 --> 00:29:39,160 While it is impossible to ask the ancient Egyptians 523 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,980 to explain their beliefs, Dogon priests 524 00:29:42,980 --> 00:29:45,690 can explain their cosmology and how 525 00:29:45,690 --> 00:29:48,892 their symbols are written and pronounced. 526 00:29:48,892 --> 00:29:52,210 >>The Dogon lay things out in such detail 527 00:29:52,210 --> 00:29:53,760 that it's like having the teacher's 528 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:55,805 copy of the manual of the book you're 529 00:29:55,805 --> 00:29:58,430 studying, with the answers to the questions written down 530 00:29:58,430 --> 00:29:59,420 in the back. 531 00:29:59,420 --> 00:30:00,920 You can go to a Dogon priest, or you 532 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:02,820 can go to the anthropological studies that 533 00:30:02,820 --> 00:30:05,340 were taken in relation to the Dogon priests, 534 00:30:05,340 --> 00:30:09,600 and they flat out tell you what their symbol means 535 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,740 and what they're trying to talk about. 536 00:30:11,740 --> 00:30:19,080 537 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,510 The general pattern I could say is that Dogon cosmology 538 00:30:23,510 --> 00:30:28,480 tells us how a concept should be expressed-- 539 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,790 how the words should be pronounced, 540 00:30:31,790 --> 00:30:33,860 what multiple levels of meaning the word 541 00:30:33,860 --> 00:30:36,560 should be associated with, and what kind of a drawing 542 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,430 it should be associated with. 543 00:30:39,430 --> 00:30:43,180 That predicts for us what we ought to find in Egypt. 544 00:30:43,180 --> 00:30:45,560 And so when I go to Egyptian studies, 545 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,650 I look at the Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary, 546 00:30:47,650 --> 00:30:51,490 or go to a book about Egyptian cosmology, 547 00:30:51,490 --> 00:30:54,720 sure enough, I find the same word 548 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:56,620 expressing the same meanings, written 549 00:30:56,620 --> 00:30:59,620 with the same drawing or the same drawn character. 550 00:30:59,620 --> 00:31:01,260 And I say, I've got a match. 551 00:31:01,260 --> 00:31:04,020 552 00:31:04,020 --> 00:31:06,660 >>How is it possible that the Dogon culture 553 00:31:06,660 --> 00:31:11,660 in present-day Mali is connected to the ancient Egyptians? 554 00:31:11,660 --> 00:31:14,310 What is the link? 555 00:31:14,310 --> 00:31:17,770 >>The Dogon seem to have come out of a class of priests 556 00:31:17,770 --> 00:31:19,990 who had very specialized knowledge 557 00:31:19,990 --> 00:31:22,080 and who, for one reason or another, 558 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,330 were not happy with the way things were going in Egypt 559 00:31:24,330 --> 00:31:25,980 and deliberately left. 560 00:31:25,980 --> 00:31:27,800 I would say that sounds like it's true. 561 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,510 I can't prove it's true, but it doesn't 562 00:31:30,510 --> 00:31:31,829 contradict anything I know. 563 00:31:31,829 --> 00:31:34,120 The fact that there's a match between the Dogon drawing 564 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,410 and the Egyptian glyph in the context of the same word-- 565 00:31:38,410 --> 00:31:41,520 pronounced the same way, carrying the same meanings-- 566 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,152 is just another level of validation 567 00:31:43,152 --> 00:31:45,360 that I'm on the right track-- that these words really 568 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:46,660 do correspond to each other. 569 00:31:46,660 --> 00:31:49,560 570 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,840 >>Using this new interpretation of hieroglyphic, 571 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,250 what can we learn about the ancient Egyptian view 572 00:31:56,250 --> 00:31:57,215 of sacred cosmology? 573 00:31:57,215 --> 00:32:02,460 574 00:32:02,460 --> 00:32:04,940 [MUSIC PLAYING] 575 00:32:04,940 --> 00:32:08,910 576 00:32:08,910 --> 00:32:11,530 >>I had some concerns originally, 577 00:32:11,530 --> 00:32:13,100 as I began writing some of the books, 578 00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:16,300 about what right did I have to be revealing secrets that 579 00:32:16,300 --> 00:32:19,040 had been kept for 3,000 years. 580 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,230 But when I realized that cosmology is about science-- 581 00:32:22,230 --> 00:32:25,640 it's about the creation of matter and things like that-- 582 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,090 and I realized how close our science is right now 583 00:32:29,090 --> 00:32:35,390 to being caught up with what the ancient cosmology seemed 584 00:32:35,390 --> 00:32:37,585 to know, I realized that if anybody's going 585 00:32:37,585 --> 00:32:39,850 to get any benefit out of it at all, 586 00:32:39,850 --> 00:32:41,210 that it has to come out now. 587 00:32:41,210 --> 00:32:42,690 It can't wait any longer. 588 00:32:42,690 --> 00:32:45,671 We're only about 50 years away from discovering all the things 589 00:32:45,671 --> 00:32:49,910 that I've found in the Dogon and Egyptian cosmology. 590 00:32:49,910 --> 00:32:53,110 >>Is it possible the ancient Egyptian cosmology 591 00:32:53,110 --> 00:32:56,930 was more advanced than today's science? 592 00:32:56,930 --> 00:33:01,366 >>I'd say there is information in the ancient cosmology that 593 00:33:01,366 --> 00:33:03,700 would be a benefit to the string theorists 594 00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:07,920 and to the modern cosmologists if they'd pay attention to it. 595 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,800 I think the Dogon and the Egyptians 596 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:14,200 explain to us how it is that a mere act of perception 597 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,850 can cause the wavelike behavior of matter 598 00:33:16,850 --> 00:33:20,820 to turn into particles, that scientists don't know. 599 00:33:20,820 --> 00:33:24,755 When you ask Stephen Hawking how many fundamental particles 600 00:33:24,755 --> 00:33:27,650 there are, he says, more than 200. 601 00:33:27,650 --> 00:33:33,800 If you ask a Dogon priest, he says 266. 602 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,620 >>Science is on the verge of understanding things 603 00:33:36,620 --> 00:33:41,760 that ancient civilizations seemed to know long ago. 604 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,216 How is this possible? 605 00:33:43,216 --> 00:33:52,806 606 00:33:52,806 --> 00:33:57,972 >>You're very, very close-- within a couple 607 00:33:57,972 --> 00:33:59,230 of hundred meters. 608 00:33:59,230 --> 00:34:01,770 >>The excitement builds for the real destination 609 00:34:01,770 --> 00:34:06,218 of the expedition-- the ancient site of Nabta Playa. 610 00:34:06,218 --> 00:34:16,259 611 00:34:16,259 --> 00:34:16,800 >>Is that it? 612 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:17,300 >>Yeah. 613 00:34:17,300 --> 00:34:24,409 614 00:34:24,409 --> 00:34:26,019 [MUSIC PLAYING] 615 00:34:26,019 --> 00:34:41,506 616 00:34:41,506 --> 00:34:44,350 >>Here we have this bunch of huge megaliths 617 00:34:44,350 --> 00:34:50,530 that they dragged from God knows where and placed in a pattern-- 618 00:34:50,530 --> 00:34:54,817 a sort of center point of the whole area. 619 00:34:54,817 --> 00:34:57,090 It's essential that we do not disturb 620 00:34:57,090 --> 00:34:59,020 the stones-- we not touch anything. 621 00:34:59,020 --> 00:35:00,040 We just look at them. 622 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:01,555 Because the alignments are there, 623 00:35:01,555 --> 00:35:05,476 and they've been there for thousands of years undisturbed. 624 00:35:05,476 --> 00:35:08,066 And we can use them to date this place. 625 00:35:08,066 --> 00:35:11,312 >>A group of archaeologists led by Fred Wendorf, called 626 00:35:11,312 --> 00:35:14,150 the Combined Prehistoric Expedition, by chance 627 00:35:14,150 --> 00:35:16,865 found some pottery shards at Nabta Playa. 628 00:35:16,865 --> 00:35:21,010 629 00:35:21,010 --> 00:35:25,046 They thought that the megaliths were just outcrops of rock. 630 00:35:25,046 --> 00:35:26,670 And then they started to realize, well, 631 00:35:26,670 --> 00:35:29,620 these are sitting on top of playa sediments-- sediments 632 00:35:29,620 --> 00:35:33,670 that were built up during the Neolithic time. 633 00:35:33,670 --> 00:35:35,724 And so how did they get there? 634 00:35:35,724 --> 00:35:38,110 So they had to get there from man. 635 00:35:38,110 --> 00:35:42,090 These are man-made objects, these megaliths. 636 00:35:42,090 --> 00:35:45,800 One of the possible links to Egypt before the pharaohs 637 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,800 is that Nabta Playa became climatically hyper 638 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:54,210 arid, like it is today, around 3800 BC, 639 00:35:54,210 --> 00:35:57,604 and it has not been lived at or used since. 640 00:35:57,604 --> 00:36:00,620 >>It has been assumed by historians 641 00:36:00,620 --> 00:36:05,920 that Egypt borrowed its complex society from Mesopotamia. 642 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,590 However, it is now generally recognized 643 00:36:08,590 --> 00:36:11,880 that a process of social complexity 644 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,100 is not diffused from one location to another 645 00:36:15,100 --> 00:36:17,175 but, rather, develops locally. 646 00:36:17,175 --> 00:36:22,560 647 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,810 >>3400 BC is when you see predynastic cultures building 648 00:36:27,810 --> 00:36:33,010 up on the Nile Valley, just 100 kilometers east of Nabta Playa. 649 00:36:33,010 --> 00:36:35,440 If that's the case, then a lot of 650 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:39,750 the great dynastic Egyptian stuff we're all familiar with 651 00:36:39,750 --> 00:36:43,880 had some aspect of origin in the Nabta Playa people's 652 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,190 cultural development. 653 00:36:47,190 --> 00:36:50,050 >>Dr. Nicole Douek is an Egyptologist 654 00:36:50,050 --> 00:36:52,080 who lectures at the British Museum 655 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:56,290 and at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. 656 00:36:56,290 --> 00:36:58,840 By strange coincidence, she happened 657 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:03,600 to be at Nabta Playa on the same day as our team. 658 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,090 >>From what I understand from her, 659 00:37:05,090 --> 00:37:07,980 she also believes that this could 660 00:37:07,980 --> 00:37:11,320 be the source of Egyptian civilization. 661 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:13,533 >>This is just amazing. 662 00:37:13,533 --> 00:37:16,660 I've wanted to come here since the first publications came 663 00:37:16,660 --> 00:37:17,359 out. 664 00:37:17,359 --> 00:37:19,317 >>What are the odds of meeting on the same day? 665 00:37:19,317 --> 00:37:19,817 >>None. 666 00:37:19,817 --> 00:37:20,766 >>Exactly. 667 00:37:20,766 --> 00:37:23,870 >>The coincidences, for me, are astonishing. 668 00:37:23,870 --> 00:37:28,740 Last year, the same people-- we went to Gilf Kebir and Uweinat. 669 00:37:28,740 --> 00:37:31,420 We spent two days roaming around Karkur Talh 670 00:37:31,420 --> 00:37:36,020 and looking at the graffiti, and all the bovids, and the cattle, 671 00:37:36,020 --> 00:37:39,570 and the people moving around with their animals. 672 00:37:39,570 --> 00:37:41,770 And it's the same dates as here. 673 00:37:41,770 --> 00:37:47,284 >>These people had what today we'd call a calendar. 674 00:37:47,284 --> 00:37:49,060 They'd use the position of the Sun 675 00:37:49,060 --> 00:37:51,710 to mark the specific days of the year. 676 00:37:51,710 --> 00:37:54,590 And the main stations of the year, of course, 677 00:37:54,590 --> 00:37:56,980 are the summer solstice, the winter solstice, 678 00:37:56,980 --> 00:37:58,530 and the two equinoxes. 679 00:37:58,530 --> 00:38:01,050 No doubts they tracked the Sun through the year. 680 00:38:01,050 --> 00:38:03,910 And therefore, they had a calendar. 681 00:38:03,910 --> 00:38:07,940 >>This structure may not appear significant above ground. 682 00:38:07,940 --> 00:38:11,860 Looking beneath the surface reveals an enigma. 683 00:38:11,860 --> 00:38:16,440 >>These complex structures are the most enigmatic remaining 684 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:17,629 aspects of Nabta Playa. 685 00:38:17,629 --> 00:38:19,170 When they estimated the central one-- 686 00:38:19,170 --> 00:38:23,640 the largest one-- underneath the surface, down in the playa 687 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:27,610 sediments-- the playa sediment is about 10 feet deep-- 688 00:38:27,610 --> 00:38:29,350 they found this megalithic sculpture. 689 00:38:29,350 --> 00:38:31,260 Some people call it the Cow Stone. 690 00:38:31,260 --> 00:38:33,890 It has, perhaps, a vague resemblance to a cow. 691 00:38:33,890 --> 00:38:37,990 But it also seems, maybe, to have an astronomical meaning, 692 00:38:37,990 --> 00:38:40,166 because it's in this astronomical complex. 693 00:38:40,166 --> 00:38:41,790 And then underneath the sculpted stone, 694 00:38:41,790 --> 00:38:44,500 on the bedrock-- underneath all the sediments 695 00:38:44,500 --> 00:38:46,810 that were laid down earlier-- they 696 00:38:46,810 --> 00:38:49,520 found another sculpture sculpted out of the living bedrock, 697 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:50,695 sort of like the Sphinx is sculpted out 698 00:38:50,695 --> 00:38:51,770 of the bedrock itself. 699 00:38:51,770 --> 00:38:54,080 >>The bedrock sculpture was carved, 700 00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:57,990 and sediment filled it in over thousands of years. 701 00:38:57,990 --> 00:39:01,426 Then the Cow Stone was carved and placed there. 702 00:39:01,426 --> 00:39:04,600 And then sediment filled it in again. 703 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:09,140 We are looking at three subsurface layers of sediment. 704 00:39:09,140 --> 00:39:12,660 This is a clue to the extreme age of Nabta Playa. 705 00:39:12,660 --> 00:39:20,120 706 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,610 >>What makes all this far more exciting 707 00:39:22,610 --> 00:39:26,002 is that they also align to stars. 708 00:39:26,002 --> 00:39:28,560 Now that's a totally different ballgame here. 709 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:32,275 Because aligning to stars means that they tracked the seasons. 710 00:39:32,275 --> 00:39:35,800 The climatic conditions were very important to them. 711 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,190 There was the beginning of the monsoons. 712 00:39:38,190 --> 00:39:40,810 And therefore, the stars would be the signal to them 713 00:39:40,810 --> 00:39:43,580 that the monsoons had started. 714 00:39:43,580 --> 00:39:45,456 They would start migrating here. 715 00:39:45,456 --> 00:39:47,830 And they would arrive here when the water-- the monsoons, 716 00:39:47,830 --> 00:39:50,350 the rainfalls-- had filled the lakes. 717 00:39:50,350 --> 00:39:54,100 It was essential that they get here when the lakes have water. 718 00:39:54,100 --> 00:39:57,190 It would have been a fatal mistake had they come here 719 00:39:57,190 --> 00:40:00,906 20 or 30 days before the event. 720 00:40:00,906 --> 00:40:02,595 From the central complex radiates 721 00:40:02,595 --> 00:40:11,640 three series of lines east and a series of lines north. 722 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:17,112 According to Wendorf and the check-ups by Rophie, 723 00:40:17,112 --> 00:40:21,410 we've got alignments to the rising of certain stars 724 00:40:21,410 --> 00:40:23,450 here and here. 725 00:40:23,450 --> 00:40:28,150 >>A double alignment of blocks 250 meters long 726 00:40:28,150 --> 00:40:32,750 points to the brightest stars in the belt of Orion. 727 00:40:32,750 --> 00:40:37,890 The second line points to the rising position of Sirius. 728 00:40:37,890 --> 00:40:41,285 Another long line of stones aligns to the brightest star 729 00:40:41,285 --> 00:40:45,270 of the Big Dipper, which later Egyptians represented 730 00:40:45,270 --> 00:40:48,960 as a cow thigh or leg. 731 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,310 The stelli faced the circumpolar region 732 00:40:51,310 --> 00:40:55,120 of the heavens, which the Pyramid Texts describe 733 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:57,500 as a place where the stars never die. 734 00:40:57,500 --> 00:41:01,120 735 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:07,110 >>They've got Orion's Belt and Sirius. 736 00:41:07,110 --> 00:41:10,306 What's interesting is that they seem to be tracking them, 737 00:41:10,306 --> 00:41:11,574 not just aligning to. 738 00:41:11,574 --> 00:41:13,740 But they seem to be tracking them over the movement, 739 00:41:13,740 --> 00:41:15,620 over the long period of time. 740 00:41:15,620 --> 00:41:17,600 >>So they knew the stars moved. 741 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:21,140 And they knew that the Sun moved the same every year, 742 00:41:21,140 --> 00:41:22,410 on an annual cycle. 743 00:41:22,410 --> 00:41:24,000 Maybe the whole ceremonial complex 744 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,890 had something to do with the Age of Gemini and transition 745 00:41:26,890 --> 00:41:28,410 to the Age of Taurus. 746 00:41:28,410 --> 00:41:32,970 >>The constellation of Taurus is represented by a bull. 747 00:41:32,970 --> 00:41:35,250 If we are talking about the transition 748 00:41:35,250 --> 00:41:38,640 to the Age of Taurus, was the symbolism 749 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:41,390 of cows in Ancient Egypt connected 750 00:41:41,390 --> 00:41:45,270 to the nomadic cattle cults prevalent in the area? 751 00:41:45,270 --> 00:41:48,785 >>So astronomy is telling us that there's a link. 752 00:41:48,785 --> 00:41:51,610 Now we need the anthropologists and the Egyptologists 753 00:41:51,610 --> 00:41:52,857 to find that link. 754 00:41:52,857 --> 00:41:55,370 >>The problem is that most of these disciplines 755 00:41:55,370 --> 00:41:58,905 are so entrenched in their own little world 756 00:41:58,905 --> 00:42:02,184 that it's very difficult to move people one side or the other. 757 00:42:02,184 --> 00:42:04,176 I don't know how it is in the United States, 758 00:42:04,176 --> 00:42:08,450 but in Britain, everyone is in his own little world. 759 00:42:08,450 --> 00:42:11,110 And people who deal with texts won't 760 00:42:11,110 --> 00:42:14,612 talk to people who deal with sites in the same discipline. 761 00:42:14,612 --> 00:42:19,094 762 00:42:19,094 --> 00:42:21,090 >>It's becoming more than obvious now-- 763 00:42:21,090 --> 00:42:22,055 >>I think it is. 764 00:42:22,055 --> 00:42:23,010 >>That there are-- 765 00:42:23,010 --> 00:42:24,010 >>There are connections. 766 00:42:24,010 --> 00:42:24,470 >>Connections. 767 00:42:24,470 --> 00:42:25,390 >>Of course there are. 768 00:42:25,390 --> 00:42:27,265 And they're very, very important connections. 769 00:42:27,265 --> 00:42:30,430 Because there are no other answers, for the moment, 770 00:42:30,430 --> 00:42:31,250 anyway. 771 00:42:31,250 --> 00:42:32,536 And this is as good as any. 772 00:42:32,536 --> 00:42:33,036 >>Yeah. 773 00:42:33,036 --> 00:42:33,536 >>Better. 774 00:42:33,536 --> 00:42:42,090 775 00:42:42,090 --> 00:42:44,240 [MUSIC PLAYING] 776 00:42:44,240 --> 00:44:26,411 59676

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