Original subtitles

Narrator: Deep in the iraqi desert,

A huge structure rises From the sands,

The great ziggurat of ur.

Narrator: It towers over the remains

Of the first civilization Ever known,

The sumerians of mesopotamia,

Rulers of what the bible calls The garden of eden.

The ziggurat symbolizes The dawn of civilization.

Narrator: long off limits In a violent war zone,

Now our cameras have exclusive

Access to explore This extraordinary structure

And follow experts as they Solve the great ziggurat's

4,000-year-old mysteries.

Incredibly exciting -- There's a lot more to discover.

Narrator: where is The lost city that ancient

Writings say once surrounds The great ziggurat?

What does it take to forge A civilization here?

In a quest for answers, We digitally rebuild

The city at the height of Its glory.

We unearth the treasure of Lost kings

And reveal the real marvels of Engineering that made this

One of the first and greatest Cities on the planet.

Nasiriyah, iraq,

200 miles south of baghdad,

A huge ancient pyramid-like

Structure looms over The barren desert.

This is a ziggurat,

A massive 210-foot-wide Brick monument,

Constructed centuries before The ancient egyptians

Build their greatest temples And tombs.

Today, It lies abandoned.

But 4,000 years ago, This is

The heart of the world's First civilization,

The sumerians of mesopotamia.

In 2100 b.C., The great ziggurat towers over

A complex of temples And grand palaces.

Ancient writings say this Inner sanctum is surrounded

By a sprawling maze of Workshops and houses,

All ringed By a defensive city wall.

This is ur, A place believed to be

One of the world's first Great cities.

Is ur a pioneering metropolis, A vast city,

As the legends say?

How do the sumerians create A blueprint for urban life here?

For over 40 years, The dangers of war have

Restricted the hunt For the truth

About this legendary city.

But today, our cameras have Been granted exclusive

Access to follow Abdulameer hamdani and his team

As they explore This remarkable complex.

Abdulameer thinks This ziggurat is

The epicenter of one of The world's oldest cities.

At the base of the ziggurat,

The team discovers traces of Ancient pottery

That can be used to date The site.

Narrator: If the legends are true,

Traces of a vast metropolis Should surround the ziggurat.

Abdulameer has been given Exclusive permission to fly

A drone to investigate The desert landscape

Encircling The great monument.

Narrator: as the drone flies Further from the ziggurat,

An incredible lost urban Landscape comes into view.

Destroyed temples and palaces Are exposed on the surface.

A huge cemetery lurks Beneath the desert sands,

And at the edges of the city,

The remains of grand public Buildings stand near

A sprawling labyrinth of Workers' quarters

And private houses,

Stretching for thousands of Square feet.

This is a true city, Buried in the dirt.

Beyond, the ruins of The city wall,

The team spots a crater In the ground,

Evidence of catastrophic Damage caused by explosive

Fighting here back when Saddam hussein rules iraq.

Narrator: the crater exposes Archaeological evidence almost

A mile away from the ziggurat,

Revealing the true scale of The ancient city.

Narrator: the rare finds here Support the legend.

By 2100 b.C., The ziggurat is

The epicenter of the world's Largest city.

Why are the sumerians The first

To build an urban landscape Like this?

Abdulameer thinks They are pioneers of

Ancient construction.

To prove it, He wants to explore how

The night sky could be used to Orient their buildings.

He returns to the ziggurat At dusk

To plot its position Within the landscape.

Narrator: When the sumerians rule ur,

The moon rises to its highest And fullest

At 56 degrees north.

This is what's known as A major lunar standstill.

At this moment, After 18 years

Of rising higher In the night sky,

The moon appears To stand still

Before it begins a cycle of Lower orbits.

Abdulameer uses a compass to Investigate if

This phenomenon inspires The construction

Of the great ziggurat.

Narrator: 4,000 years ago,

A structure coated In glistening

White lime plaster crowns The summit.

At 100 feet, this is the highest Point for hundreds of miles.

Archaeologists believe it is A sacred shrine room

Where priests worship The night sky.

And every 18 years, The great staircase leading

To its entrance aligns

Perfectly with the moon As it reaches

Its highest point in the sky.

Why do the sumerians build This monumental

Ziggurat temple

Around the movement of The moon?

Abdulameer searches For clues among layers of

Ancient bricks used to build The great staircase.

Inscribed on the bricks is The first writing system

Ever known.

Narrator: cuneiform is a script Invented by the sumerians.

For the first time, Humans can record the world

As they see it.

Abdulameer thinks It can reveal why

The people of ur build This gigantic monument.

Narrator: unlike the ancient Egyptians who worship the sun,

For the people of ur, The moon god,

Nanna, is one of the most Powerful deities.

The great ziggurat is Constructed in his honor.

At the shrine room on top of The great ziggurat,

Priests observe The moon and stars.

They predict Their movements and read

Them as signs from the gods.

A lunar eclipse Is a sinister omen

Spelling disaster for the king,

Forcing him into hiding.

A substitute king takes His place,

Dressing and behaving like The real king

To fool the moon god.

When the danger has passed, The substitute king

Is sacrificed To placate the moon god.

Narrator: 4,000 years ago, The great ziggurat is built as

A giant temple to worship The almighty moon god.

With it at ur, the sumerians Change civilization forever.

They build a great metropolis,

Develop astronomy, And invent the first writing.

But shocking evidence Could reveal how

All this comes At a gruesome cost.

Who are the rulers of ur,

And what does it take to keep Them in power?

Narrator: 4,000 years ago, The world's first civilization,

The sumerians, Build a city called ur.

It's the largest, Most important city in

The world.

At its core, The great ziggurat is

A pyramid-like structure,

The sacred nucleus of Power built

To honor the almighty Moon god.

Who are the rulers of ur?

What does it take to sustain Their growing civilization?

Buried 20 feet Beneath the sand,

Archaeologists unearth A gigantic graveyard.

Inside the mud tombs,

They find royal burials With golden treasure,

Hoards of silverware,

And elaborate headdresses.

Surrounding these regal Burial chambers,

They discover hundreds Of other skeletons

Neatly lined up With damage to their skulls.

Who are these people?

Why are they buried here?

Abdulameer thinks identifying

The mysterious bodies Discovered here

Can reveal how Sumerian royalty

Builds and sustains This great city.

He hunts for clues inside The tomb of king shulgi,

The man responsible for Completing the great ziggurat.

Narrator: These chambers would have been

As lavish as the tombs of Egypt's great pharaohs,

Built around the same time.

But opposite The king's tomb is

A structure unlike anything Found in egypt,

Another monumental brick Chamber that, when discovered,

Is packed with mysterious Human skeletons.

Abdulameer thinks He can shed light on

The mystery of Their identities

By figuring out How they died.

He's convinced they are Brutally murdered in

The same way as the bodies In the death pits.

Narrator: holes puncturing The victims' skulls are gruesome

Evidence of fatal blows To their heads.

This is shocking proof of Human sacrifice.

Abdulameer thinks These skeletons could

Be the remains of Important people.

He searches for clues On excavation maps

That show the location of Royal treasure

And each of the 2,000 bodies In the death pits.

Narrator: Intricately-designed instruments

Suggest the king's Entertainers are entombed here,

Together with soldiers,

Weaponry, and even A warrior's chariot.

These are high-ranking members Of sumerian society.

Why are they all murdered And buried here?

Abdulameer searches For clues on the walls

Inside the cemetery.

Narrator: Royal inscriptions cover

The walls of this structure.

These clues lead abdulameer to Believe this building is

A funerary chapel where The victims are sacrificed

During a mysterious Ritual ceremony.

Narrator: When the king or queen dies,

The royal household Honors the death

With days of feasting And revelry.

But then the killing starts.

The entire royal household Staff is sacrificed.

Their bodies are doused with Mercury to slow them rotting.

Then they are dressed for Their roles in the underworld.

Musicians are buried With lyres,

Charioteers With mummified oxen,

And fully armed soldiers Guard the entrance.

Why does the king order The deaths

Of so many of His closest subjects?

To hunt for clues, Sumerian specialist

George heath-whyte examines An ancient cylindrical stamp

That contains an image Of sumerian royalty.

They would be used To seal or authenticate

A document, just like A signature might be today.

Narrator: He rolls out the image,

Pressing it into wet clay,

Just as The sumerians would have done,

To reveal A 4,000-year-old scene.

Heath-whyte: we see two Goddesses leading the owner

Of the seal towards this Seated person, and this seated

Figure is the king, Ur-nammu, and here,

Ur-nammu has put himself There with the moon god

Next to him, saying,

"I am a god, worship me," And that's exactly what

The goddesses are shown doing In this scene.

Narrator: Ur-nammu is one of

The most powerful mesopotamian Kings ever known.

Behind him are symbols,

Ancient cuneiform writing That helps george

Unlock the hidden messages In the scene.

The text reads, "Ur-nammu... [speaks foreign language]"

And that translates as, "Ur-nammu,

Powerful man, king of ur,

The governor of ishkun-sin, Your servant."

Narrator: this ancient writing Reveals the king's desire

To project an image of power And dominance.

George thinks these texts Serve the same function

As the mass sacrifices Discovered in the royal tombs.

Heath-whyte: both could Have been a way of

Controlling the population.

It's an immense display Of power.

When the king dies, You may well die, as well,

As a sacrifice, So you better obey the king.

Narrator: Through sinister rituals,

The god kings of ur Rule thousands

Of obedient citizens without Fear of rebellion.

But in order to survive here,

They need to build a city

Without access To stone or wood.

How do the sumerians Construct a huge metropolis in

The middle of what today Is a barren desert?

Narrator: in the deserts Of southern iraq,

Archaeologists reveal A lost world --

The city of ur, Unlike anything seen before.

A dominant royal regime rules A growing civilization,

But without access to stone, Timber, or metal,

How do the sumerians Construct a bustling

Metropolis here?

The secrets of The sumerian engineers could

Lie within the greatest Structure they ever build,

The towering ziggurat.

The first temple On this site

Is a much smaller Mud brick structure.

Exposed to the elements,

Within decades, It crumbles.

But the sacred ruins Are used as foundations

For a new temple,

Slightly bigger and taller Than the last.

Over centuries, The mound of ruins grows

Until it's a 100-foot colossus

Made from hundreds of Thousands of bricks.

How does this massive Mud brick monument survive

For millennia?

To investigate,

Abdulameer examines The 4,000-year-old

Bricks used to build The original ziggurat.

Narrator: kiln-fired Mud bricks encase

The ancient ziggurat to give It a tough exterior.

But mud bricks alone can't Keep a structure this size

Standing for thousands Of years.

Abdulameer thinks The sumerians developed new ways

To hold the giant banks Of mud in place.

Narrator: bitumen is A tar-like substance

That wells up naturally From the ground.

The sumerians import tons of It from hundreds of miles away

And use it as An ancient form of cement

To lock the fired mud brick Walls in place.

But abdulameer is convinced The ziggurat engineers

Develop a final innovation to Keep the structure standing.

He searches among the ziggurat's Ancient brick work for

Traces of a material put down In between the layers.

Narrator: the organic material Decomposed long ago,

But abdulameer finds Evidence of reeds

On ancient pieces of bitumen.

Narrator: this innovative use Of plant life is key

To how the ziggurat Stands the test of time.

Without the reed mats, The walls would

Strain under their own weight And collapse.

The reeds act like steel In reinforced concrete,

Strengthening the mud,

Allowing the sumerian Engineers to build tall.

Bitumen waterproofs The exterior when it rains,

But the mud core sucks up Water from the ground,

Expanding like a water balloon.

The sumerians build hundreds Of holes into their brickwork.

They expose The core to the air

And allow any water inside To evaporate.

Narrator: The ziggurat is the pinnacle

Of sumerian architecture,

But to build a civilization,

Ur needs more than just Huge temples.

They need homes for the city's Tens of thousands of people.

Abdulameer explores The remains of the building in

The shadow of the ziggurat

To investigate how The sumerians construct

Their smaller structures.

Narrator: The arch is revolutionary.

It's used All over the world to help

Create some of the most iconic Structures ever known.

From the gates of babylon

To rome's coliseum, Here,

The remains of a temple Preserve one of the first ever

Uses of an arch.

But 4,000 years ago, The sumerian architects use this

Feature across the city

To expand the number of people That can live and work

Within ur's city limits.

Narrator: groundbreaking Ancient building technology

Helps ur grow huge.

Tens of thousands of people Arrive here in search

Of a new way of life In the city's

Pioneering urban landscape.

How do so many people Survive here in what

Today is in the middle Of a barren desert?

Could the answers make ur The richest city in the world

And inspire the bible's garden Of eden?

Narrator: 4,000 years ago,

Pioneering technological Innovation helps

The sumerians build

A vast metropolis here in The desert of southern iraq.

Today, The landscape is dominated

By endless dirt and sand.

When you go to ur now, It looks very desolate,

But we know from the size of Ur that literally tens of

Thousands of people Lived there.

Narrator: how does the city Of ur thrive here

Thousands of years ago?

In its prime, Ur is a bustling metropolis.

65,000 people live, work, And worship here.

Legend says he surrounding Landscape is a lush paradise.

The bible calls it The garden of eden.

Is there any truth To these stories?

Abdulameer thinks That long ago, the city

Of ur stands in a radically Different landscape.

To investigate,

He hunts for traces of How the sumerians could

Have produced food For thousands

In this remote location.

Buried in the dirt, he finds The evidence he needs.

Narrator: These shells are deposited here

After an ancient waterway Dries up.

It's evidence that The sumerians

Could grow vital Vegetation here.

But how do they produce food On an industrial scale?

Abdulameer believes They turned the land

Surrounding ur into A natural food factory.

He searches for evidence Of a massive ancient

Landscaping project at The edge of the city.

Narrator: these are traces Of manmade canals

Created in antiquity.

Plants still grow here,

All that remains of A lush landscape that

Could have inspired stories of The garden of eden.

But crops alone can't Fuel the rise of ur's

Powerful metropolis.

At england's cambridge University, sumerian specialist

Augusta mcmahon

Investigates a tablet Discovered in the landscape

Surrounding the ziggurat.

She thinks it can shed light On how the city's

Lost waterways once connect Ur with other powerful

City states.

It's an incredible Vision of what

The landscape around ur Was like.

Narrator: the lines mark out A network of ancient canals

Dug by sumerians

That weave for miles Across the region.

There's also some settlements, And, in some of the other areas,

The names of individual fields Or field owners,

And they're clearly Calculating how much they need

To feed the population.

Narrator: Augusta thinks the sheer scale

Of the winding canals could be

A clue that they are used for More than just irrigation.

Mcmahon: the larger ones could Also be used for transportation.

So some of them, you know, They're almost like a -- sort of

A four-lane motorway,

Big enough for boats To pass each other.

You can think of it as, In fact, a roadmap.

Narrator: Like venice today,

Evidence of A sophisticated system of

Marine transport exists in The land around ur.

But to make it rich, Ur needs direct contact

With other cities.

Where do these ancient Waterways lead?

To find out, Augusta examines

A high-resolution Satellite image

Of the region surrounding ur.

Mcmahon: The dark area that you can see

Is really the very, Very densely occupied core.

And if we go out a little bit Further, then

You can see this big gray band Coming quite near the site.

Narrator: viewed from The air, a faint

Band appears etched into The ground's surface.

Augusta thinks this could be Evidence that ur

Once sits near the banks of A great river.

Mcmahon: in the past, Ur was essentially

Right next to The euphrates river.

The river has shifted away,

But you can see the sort of Agent water courses.

So the river and the canals Connected to the rest of

Mesopotamia, also connected Down to the gulf,

Which gave it access To the indus valley.

So it's really at the hub Of this huge transport

Network to bring in really Unparalleled riches.

Narrator: 4,000 years ago, ur sits on

The banks of the great Euphrates river.

It brings riches into the city

And sustains acres of Lush vegetation,

A green oasis Inspiring stories

About a prosperous Garden of eden.

For thousands of years,

The people of ur enjoy A bountiful

Existence on the banks of The euphrates.

But shocking evidence Reveals a sudden,

Violent end to the reign Of the sumerians.

What does it take to wipe out The world's first civilization?

At the mesopotamian city of Ur, the sumerians master

Their natural environment to Unleash a creative explosion

In technology, Astronomy, and literature.

But in 2004 b.C., Traces of

Their civilization vanish From the archaeological record.

How does the great city of Ur fall?

Man: the fall of ur is A huge moment.

Narrator: 4,000 years ago, It's believed looters

Break into the tomb Of king shulgi.

They tunnel down to His lavishly

Painted burial chamber And destroy the decoration.

They steal all the treasure to Leave nothing but

A collection of strange stones Sourced from hundreds of

Miles away.

A hand-sized rock with Flecks of gold leaf

Sits next to a collection Of pebbles cut in half

And a handmade clay pellet.

What are These strange stones for?

And why do the robbers Leave them behind?

When the stones are excavated,

Archaeologists believe They are a clue to the end of

The sumerian civilization.

Augusta uses replicas To explore their possible

Role in the fall Of ur.

You have a hammer stone that Has little flecks of gold,

Potentially breaking apart

Something that had metal On it, maybe treasures.

Then there were a lot of Broken half stones

That might have been Used to weigh out

The loot in these tombs.

Narrator: the stones date To the last days

Of the sumerian civilization.

They could be tools left Behind by looters, using

Them to break up And distribute king shulgi's

Stolen treasure.

But the handmade clay Pellet matches

Hundreds more found across The city,

Leading excavators To believe this could

Be more than An ancient crime scene.

The clay pellets could Actually be sling bullets

Or sling pellets Used in slingshots

That represent The remains of a battle.

Narrator: Traces of weaponry could be

Evidence of violence.

But is this A looter's skirmish?

Or is the whole city Under siege?

Abdulameer hunts For clues that could

Reveal the true scale of The onslaught.

Narrator: Charred fragments of pottery

Have fallen from An exposed layer of deposits

That date to the same time as The stones found in the tomb.

They form part of a layer

Of destruction that runs Right through ur.

Narrator: the ash is evidence Of a great fire

That rips through ur,

An arson attack led by Plunderers who break

Into the royal tombs and steal The king's gold,

Leaving only their tools And weapons.

Who are these Mysterious invaders?

George heath-whyte searches For clues on an ancient

Tablet that contains shocking Details of how ur falls.

Re-inscribing The ancient symbols

Helps him decode The poetic script.

The painstaking process Gradually reveals the true

Horror of the last days of ur.

So the text reads...

[speaking foreign language]

And that translates as, "In ur, weapons

Smashed the heads Like pottery."

And the next line --

[speaks foreign language]

Fire approached.

Narrator: The archaeological evidence

For fire and destruction At ur

Matches up with The ancient texts.

As george deciphers The rest of the writing,

He finds what he's Looking for --

The identity of The invaders.

Final line --

[speaks foreign language]

And it translates as, "From the south,

The elamites came up, Killing."

It was absolute chaos.

Narrator: in 2004 b.C., The elamites are in emerging

Civilization from a region In what today is iran.

Knowing they face A formidable foe,

They strike when ur Is at its weakest.

In the 21st century b.C.,

The sumerians are hit by A severe famine,

Leaving ur's residents To slowly starve.

Taking advantage of The weakened city,

The elamite tribe Lays siege to ur

And finally conquers it.

They loot The sumerian treasure

And ransacked the city, Driving away its people.

They capture the king, Taking him

To a distant town to die,

Leaving ur to turn to dust.

The invasion and destruction Of ur by

The elamites triggers the end Of the sumerian civilization.

Gradually, ur's Mud metropolis crumbles.

Only the ziggurat remains Standing as

A monument to This once great city.

But now, incredible evidence Could reveal how the sumerians

Live on through legend,

When their city is rebuilt By a mysterious people.

Thousands of years later,

How does ur rise From the ashes?

Narrator: at ur, the sumerians Build a revolutionary city.

But after centuries Of expansion,

It burns to the ground in A wave of brutal violence.

Their civilization crumbles,

But its legacy Gives rise to legend.

The legend of ur lives on as The location of where abraham

Was born, The location where

The first flood Could be identified,

And also where the garden Of eden might be located.

Narrator: after their city Falls into ruin,

How does The sumerian world survive

To forge a lasting legacy?

Evidence in the walls of The ziggurat itself could

Reveal how This pioneering metropolis

Rises from the abyss.

Abdulameer examines The brickwork of

The outer layers of The ziggurat.

Narrator: these bricks date to The second babylonian era,

1,500 years after the end of The sumerian civilization.

After the city first falls to Invaders, ur rises again in

The hands of a new people.

They reclaim the remains of ur From squatting tribes

And rebuild the city And the great ziggurat.

The legacy of sumerian Kings also lives on,

Hailed as legendary leaders Centuries after they die.

How does their supremacy Survive the ages?

George hunts for clues On fragments of a statue

Discovered among the remains Of a babylonian temple at ur.

You can kind of work out --

We have an arm, A shoulder here,

And it would have originally Looked like a man standing tall

With his hands clasped together In front of him.

Narrator: george thinks This could be one of

The greatest kings of The sumerian civilization.

To investigate, He decodes

A broken piece that Contains sumerian script.

And the text reads, This legible bit here,

"Shulgi,

Powerful man,

King of ur," So we know that this

Is a statute of The famous king shulgi of ur.

Narrator: why is a sumerian Statue of the great king shulgi

Discovered inside A babylonian temple

Built 1,500 years later?

George thinks This is no accident.

This could be evidence of An astonishing link between

Two ancient civilizations that Lived thousands of years apart.

These neo-babylonians knew The significance of these

Ancient artifacts -- They're ancient for us,

But they were ancient For them, as well,

So they brought them up out of The ruins of this temple

And put them In a collection.

The people doing this work were

Potentially the world's First archaeologists.

Narrator: the babylonians Restore the ziggurat

At the heart of ur,

Returning it to what they Believe is its original state,

With seven levels.

They unearth ancient sumerian Objects from beneath the city,

Revealing its rich 2,000-year history.

They put The artifacts on display,

Saving them From the ravages of time

By curating the world's First museum.

And clay tablets Found near the temple

Contain students' Writing on one side,

Revealing how sumerian stories Also survived the ages.

The babylonians rebuild Ur and communicate

Its history to The civilizations

That follow them,

Turning stories of This ancient city

Into legend -- Across 1,000 years,

The sumerians at ur build A revolutionary metropolis

That transforms the way Humans live forever.

Ruled by powerful Priest kings,

The people of ur build mega Mud monuments

Aligned with the moon,

They master their landscape To inspire stories

Of a garden of eden,

And forge the largest city On the planet,

Ur, home of the world's first Great civilization.

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