All language subtitles for The UnXplained S04E22 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Massive stone circles
that date back

thousands of years...

Rows of perfectly
positioned pillars

that stretch on for miles.

And huge statues with secrets

buried deep underground.

All over the world,
there are giant monoliths

that our ancient ancestors
carved out of solid rock,

but what was the purpose
of these huge stone monuments?

Did they serve some kind
of ritual function?

Were they intended
to honor the gods?

Or is it possible that,
as some believe,

certain monoliths
were actually designed to

conduct energy?

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

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
Here, sitting atop
a grassy clearing

in the English countryside,

about 80 miles west
of the city of Plymouth,

is a set of three monoliths
that stand out

from the natural landscape.

In the language
of ancient Britain,

the site was named Mên-an-Tol,

which translates to

"the stone of the hole."

RONALD HUTTON:
There’s nothing else on Earth
quite like the Mên-an-Tol.

It consists
of a big, round stone

with a big, round hole
in the middle of it.

It’s a couple of feet across.

You can crawl through it
quite comfortably.

Uh, there’s a straight stone
on either side.

It’s highly visible
in the landscape

and bafflingly mysterious.

SHATNER:
Archaeologists believe
that Mên-an-Tol

was constructed around
the year 2000 BC.

It is also thought that there
were once additional monoliths

that encircled the center stone,

which have been lost to time.

There’s something
very melodramatic

about the Mên-an-Tol.

There has to be a reason

why ancient people
had put up a big stone

with a big hole in it.

And the real thing to do
with a stone with a hole

is crawl through it, so there
must be a good reason for that.

Local folklore says that
crawling through the center

of the Mên-an-Tol
is really good for you.

Diseased children
can get better,

especially
if they’ve got rickets.

And if you put
a couple of brass pins

on the top of the holed stone,

the way in which they fall off

can predict your future.

HUGH NEWMAN:
When it comes to
Mên-an-Tol in Cornwall,

we have to question
what is going on here?

Is this really a magical place?

Is it just ancient traditions?

Or is there some reality to the
power of these ancient stones?

SHATNER:
Mên-an-Tol is just one
of approximately 1,300

ancient monoliths
that are scattered

throughout the British Isles.

It may sound outlandish
to think that Mên-an-Tol

and other standing stone sites

can have a mystical affect
on people, but

who can say for sure
that they don’t?

Because even after
centuries of study, these

remarkable structures
remain shrouded in mystery.

HUTTON:
Stonehenge gets all the fame
and the recognition,

but there are thousands
and thousands

of other prehistoric monuments
that are worth attention

up and down the British Isles.

For example,
Avebury is absolutely stunning

because it’s a very big place.

What you’re looking at there
is an enormous bank

with a ditch inside it,

and inside this enormous
circular enclosure

was originally
100 stones in a circle,

and inside this
enormous circle of stones

are the remnants of two other
enormous stone circles.

I mean, the place is so big
that about half

of a village
was built inside it.

It was an entire community.

ANDREW COLLINS:
The largest standing stone
in Britain

is known as
the Rudston Monolith.

It’s around
25 to 26 feet in height,

but there is just as much
of it under the ground,

creating this huge,

great monolith

almost 60 feet in length.

The significant thing
about this is that

the type of stone
that it’s made from

can only be sourced
about 30 miles to the north.

That meant that it was
dragged in some way

to its position
in the village of Rudston,

and we have to ask ourselves,

is there a greater purpose
behind all of this?

And if so,
what is that greater purpose?

ED BARNHART:
In the U.K., right now, we have
thousands of known monuments,

but there were probably
thousands more, originally.

We do know that

the people who built
the megaliths in the U.K.

were early farmers,
they were from

4000 to about 2000 BCE.

But we really don’t know
what language

they spoke, we don’t really know

how they socially organized
themselves or their politics.

So, it’s still very much
a question

exactly why they built them.

SHATNER:
Why would prehistoric people
go to the trouble of erecting

heavy standing stones
that weighed, in some cases,

as much as 40 tons?

Well, one theory suggests
that these monoliths

served as a connection
to a higher plane of existence.

In many cases,
these standing stones

seem to be orientated
towards celestial events,

such as the rising
and setting of the sun

at the equinoxes
and the solstices.

And so, these monoliths
are very clearly

a reflection of this belief

of contact with higher forces

that would’ve taken place
through the ceremonies

and the rituals that would go on
once, maybe twice a year.

SHATNER:
Were these monolithic sites
built for ceremonial purposes?

It’s an intriguing theory,

and some researchers suggest
that England’s

standing stones were also
connected to each other.

Because, as it turns out,
many of these monoliths

appear to be
geographically aligned

on what are commonly
referred to as ley lines.

Ley lines, or leys,
were first visualized

by a thinker
and visionary called

Alfred Watkins in the 1920s.

He wrote a book called
The Old Straight Track,

which said that a whole range
of prehistoric monuments

are connected
by extremely long lines,

even corridors,
that stretch across

the length
and breadth of Britain.

SHATNER:
Alfred Watkins theorized

that the straight lines
which connect

Britain’s monoliths
were ancient trade routes.

But some researchers disagree

and claim that
the massive stones

were placed along ley lines

to serve a more
energetic purpose.

COLLINS:
It would seem that the whole
long lines of monuments

are connected with the
geomagnetic fields of the Earth,

and that the peoples of Britain

created these stone circles
and standing stones

to enhance this natural energy
of the landscape.

SHATNER:
Is it possible
that ancient people,

who did not even have
written language,

figured out how to use monoliths

to harness the energy
of the Earth?

And if so, for what purpose?

If prehistoric people
believed that

there were currents
of Earth energy,

then prehistoric monuments
may have been

put where they were
in the landscape

because they would have
amplified prayers,

invocations, chants, drumming,
singing, and that would’ve

considerably enhanced
ceremonies.

It’s going to create
a very impressive effect

for religious purposes.

SHATNER:
Although numerous intriguing
theories have been put forward,

ultimately, no one has been able

to explain the purpose,

placement, and construction
of Britain’s

remarkable monoliths.

BARNHART:
There’s a lot of things

we don’t know about
these megalithic structures.

We really don’t know
how they did it,

why they did it.
These are important questions,

and we have certain hints,
but most of it

is still pretty much a mystery.

What we can say is that
there was a unified effort

around building these monoliths,

and that they are certainly

cornerstone and symbolic of

ancient Britain’s culture.

The massive stone circles
found throughout

the United Kingdom
are astonishing.

But how were ancient people,
with limited technology,

able to carve and transport
such huge blocks?

Perhaps the answer
can be found by examining

a number of large statues
located on an island

in the Mediterranean Sea.

Statues that may be depicting

real-life giants.

NEWMAN:
There was this giant stone head

gazing back at him
with these obsidian eyes.

MATTHEW LACROIX:
The classical Greeks and Romans

discussed how there was
an ancient giant bloodline

on the island of Sardinia.

SHATNER:
On this island,
located off the coast of Italy,

a farmer in a region
known as Mont’e Prama

is tilling his fields,

when he strikes what appears
to be a large rock.

But upon closer inspection,
he realizes that his plow

has revealed something
far more amazing.

It’s the head of a massive,
ancient statue.

The farmer started
digging around it,

brushing away the mud,
pulled it out,

and there was this giant
stone head gazing back at him

with these obsidian eyes.

And so, this became
quite a sensation at the time.

It was one of the most
important archaeological

discoveries of the decade.

BARNHART:
Subsequently, archaeologists

entered the area,
and through the late ’70s,

they dug, and they found
over 5,000 fragments

of these giant statues.

We have archers,
we have warriors,

we have boxers.

They are, generally speaking,
about eight feet tall,

and approach a ton in weight,

and they are unique
in the regard that,

for their time, there was

no other statuary
that was in human form

and size

and that level of detail
and sophistication.

SHATNER:
The monolithic statues
came to be known as

the Giants of Mont’e Prama.

According to archaeologists,
they were carved by

the Nuragic people,
a mysterious civilization

that lived on Sardinia
nearly 4,000 years ago.

The Nuragic people were
the Indigenous population

of Sardinia,

beginning around 1750 BCE or so,

and they were not
the kind of society

that would have writing.

So, we don’t know a lot
beyond their everyday lifestyle,

which would be in many ways
similar to what was going on

throughout the Mediterranean
at the same time.

SHATNER:
Incredibly,
some researchers claim

that the reason
why the Nuragic people

carved statues
that were eight feet tall

is because these monoliths

were created in the image
of an actual race

of giants.

NEWMAN:
One of the strange things
about these statues

is that they appear

to be buried underneath
these kind of slabs of stone

in this elongated grave,

as though they were
almost like ancestors

being buried in the ground.

Why they did this,
we don’t know.

But there are many legends
of giants

all over Sardinia and
the stories go on and on and on.

So, these could be
the same giants

who were memorialized
in these particular statues.

SHATNER:
Could the monoliths
of Mont’e Prama

really be evidence
that a civilization of giants

once inhabited the island
of Sardinia, as some believe?

Many researchers
think that it’s possible

and claim that there
are additional clues in folklore

throughout the Mediterranean.

LACROIX:
Diodorus,
an ancient Greek historian,

discussed how there was
an ancient bloodline

of the Athenian civilization
known as the 50 sons of Hercules

that mated with
a mortal race of women

to create a giant bloodline

that built these
monolithic statues

on the island of Sardinia.

NEWMAN:
This story really put the idea

into different
philosophers’ heads

that this was actually
a very advanced culture

that kind of led up to the time
of the Nuragic people

and culminated in the era
of the Mont’e Prama giants.

SHATNER:
The massive monoliths
of Mont’e Prama

and stories from folklore aren’t
the only pieces of evidence

to suggest that giants
once lived on Sardinia.

Because there are also
mysterious tombs

located throughout the island
that may have been

where their oversized
bodies were buried.

TYKOT:
What we see at Mont’e Prama,

are totally separate structures

for where they buried
their deceased,

and these are called the giants’
tombs, Tomba dei giganti.

They are typically made
of one very large stone

that have a semi-hemispherical

entry area, or front,

that curves inward

with the center part having
a small hole down at the bottom,

which is where the skeleton
would have been interred.

NEWMAN:
As you see these giants’ tombs,
what you realize

is that it’s entirely
made of large blocks

with a small opening
in the base.

In tradition,
these were the burial places

designed for giants.

They would actually
build the tomb around it.

This is one of the clues that

kind of links with the legends

that giants did exist
in Sardinia.

But there is
further evidence that

actual skeletons have been found

in some of these giants’ graves.

We have accounts from 1901,

where there’s a report
of four nine-foot skeletons

being unearthed in the vicinity
in northern Sardinia.

And even relatively recently,
there are reports of

three skeletons being dug up
in an area called

Torralba, in southwest Sardinia.

However, the problem is,
is that most of the evidence

has now disappeared.

They’ve just gone missing,
basically.

And so, you have to question,

why is this?
Is there a cover-up?

SHATNER:
Is it possible
that the bones of giants

have actually been hidden
from the public?

It’s an intriguing theory,

and it deepens the mystery
surrounding

the strange, towering statues

uncovered at Mont’e Prama.

BARNHART:
The Giants of Mont’e Prama

are very unique and enigmatic,

and Sardinia’s myths
and stories about

who these people were
typically talk about giants,

but there’s a lot of things
we don’t know

about who these people were.

And so, these giant statues

are the mystery
within that mystery.

Were the statues
of Mont’e Prama built to honor

a society of actual giants?

The fact that some
of the statues

are more than eight feet tall
definitely makes you wonder

whether it could be possible.

And there’s another group
of monoliths,

located some 800 miles
away in Western France,

that is also associated
with a lost civilization,

a civilization whose mastery
of mathematics and engineering

was centuries ahead of its time.

Carnac is a unique phenomenon
from any other Neolithic sites.

Right around 4000 BCE, engineers

were creating these
in a very exacting way.

SHATNER:
This peaceful countryside,

located in the northwest
part of France,

is known for its rustic farms
and wide fields.

But jutting out
from the green hills

is something rather striking.

It’s a formation

of more than 3,000
stone monoliths

that stretches
across the landscape

for an astonishing two miles.

These monoliths
are collectively known as

the Carnac stones.

Carnac is like
enormous stationary giants,

or needles plugged
into the Earth,

stretching as far
as the eye can see.

It’s a unique phenomenon

from any of the ancient sites,
because none of the others

have these marching
processions of stones

in pretty straight lines
running on for miles.

There’s no other place
in Europe or the U.K.

that we see
this kind of arrangement.

Within Carnac is Europe’s

largest single megalith.

It was called
the Menhir of Er Grah.

Now, it’s fallen over,
broken, and it’s in four pieces.

But it was originally 60 tall
and over 300 tons.

At Carnac, there are thousands
and thousands of stones,

but the real draw
are these alignments,

with neat rows
of megalithic stones

going in a single direction.

ERIN KAVANAUGH: Carnac has
three main alignments,

one of which
is particularly interesting.

It consists of 1,050 stones

across ten different rows.

And these are aligned
east to west,

and they decrease in size
towards the east.

So, there was definitely
some sort of plan

going on with the alignments.

But what that plan is
remains a mystery.

SHATNER:
According to archaeologists,

the Carnac stones
were positioned

in approximately 4000 BC,

making them older than
the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

But who constructed
this extraordinary array

of monoliths and aligned them

with such incredible precision

remains a mystery.

There’s a huge amount
of folklore about Carnac.

The monoliths are often
seen as sinners

who are turned to stone
by the Almighty for breaching

a whole range
of, uh, religious rules.

Some see them as
an army of the dead

that rose up and began marching
and then got turned into stone

as death reclaimed them.

KAVANAUGH:
There’s also a theory
that involves Merlin,

the wise man,

and that there was
an invading Roman army,

and to protect
the local peoples,

Merlin cast a spell
upon the Roman soldiers,

and turned them all into stone.

And that’s why you have
nice, neat alignments.

SHATNER:
The fantastic legends
surrounding the Carnac stones

may suggest that they had
a mystical origin.

But many historians believe
the ancient monoliths

are so perfectly aligned
not because of magic,

but rather mathematics.

The alignments in Carnac
are spectacular and elaborate.

The scope of them
is astonishing,

but also, the alignments
are geometrically perfect,

in that there are
Pythagorean theorems

built within
the stone alignments.

SHATNER:
For decades, some historians
and archaeologists

have argued
that there appears to be

precise triangles within
the monolithic structure.

Historians find this
extraordinary because

the Greek philosopher Pythagorus

developed this geometric concept

in the 6th century BC,

more than 3,000 years after

the Carnac stones were erected.

MICHIO KAKU:
When you take a look at
the location of the stones,

you can say, "Well, yeah,

there’s a Pythagorean
triangle there."

And, just remember, these
monoliths date back 6,000 years.

So, the ancients
were much more advanced

than we give them credit for.

SHATNER:
If the builders
of the Carnac stones

used the Pythagorean theorem
thousands of years

before it was first defined,

then how did they obtain such
advanced mathematical knowledge?

It’s a profound mystery.

One that Alexander Thom,

a professor of engineering
at Oxford University,

tried to answer in the 1950s.

BARNHART:
Alexander Thom really was

on the quest to

show us just how sophisticated

these megalithic engineers
and builders were.

And he determined that--
by measuring

about 600 different stones--

that there was basically
a megalithic yard,

and by yard, he meant yardstick.

It was basically 2.7 feet,
is what he thought

was the unit of measure
used to create these stones.

KAVANUGH:
According to Alexander Thom,

the megalithic yard
was precise to the millimeter,

and that this was used to make

the mathematical judgements

inherent within these
stone configurations.

And he considered it to be
a very serious scholarly idea.

Alexander Thom believed
that people across

time and distance, such as
between Stonehenge and Carnac,

were using this megalithic yard.

And we can see this
in the evidence

that they leave behind,

with the alignments
and enormous monoliths.

McGOWAN:
There’s certainly a connection
between the standing stones

in Britain
and the alignments in Carnac.

However, that is just
scratching the surface.

I don’t think we even have
the first idea

of how extraordinary
the intelligence was

that created
these alignments in Carnac.

And Carnac needs and deserves
so much more study

to understand how exceptional

these ancient monoliths
actually are.

Is it possible that there is
a connection between

the Carnac stones
and other monoliths

scattered throughout Europe?

Some researchers believe

that it’s a distinct
possibility,

and they also claim

that these monoliths

were part of an ancient network
of sites that stretched

not just across Europe

but all over the world.

TERRY HUNT:
Why did the ancient islanders

invest so much
in these giant statues,

and why are they here?

LACROIX:
Some of these moai were built

by a much more ancient
civilization than the Rapa Nui.

SHATNER:
2,300 miles
off the coast of Chile,

an island rises from the waters
of the Pacific Ocean.

Called "Rapa Nui" by the locals,

the island is perhaps better
known by the name given to it

by Dutch explorer
Jacob Roggeveen,

when he landed here on
Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722

and dubbed it "Easter Island."

Today, some 5,000 people
make their home here,

most of whom are the descendants

of Easter Island’s
original inhabitants,

who were also named
the Rapa Nui.

But its most famous residents

are the hundreds of massive,
ancient monolithic statues,

known as moai,

that are scattered
across its grassy cliffs.

Easter Island is famous
for its moai statues.

They are these human depictions.

Their faces are very long,
and their chins are long,

and there are over 900
of them on the island.

About 95% of them

were quarried at a crater
called Rano Raraku,

and there are a number
of failed or just

given up on moai still carved
into the crater’s face.

The moai vary quite a bit
in size,

but the average moai

is about 12 to 13 tons
and about 13 feet tall.

So, people are really
fascinated by this

and continue to beg
for an explanation

of why did the ancient islanders

in this remote location
invest so much

in these giant statues,
and why are they here?

SHATNER:
Archaeologists estimate
that the moai

were created between
1400 and 1600 AD.

For centuries,
experts have been confounded

as to what these
massive headstones

were intended to represent.

But then, in 2010,
archaeologists uncovered

an important clue, when a series
of excavations revealed

that there was more to the moai
than meets the eye.

ROBERT SCHOOCH: They discovered
the moai have torsos,

and they have very long,
thin arms and hands.

They’re huge statues,

and they’re buried
up to their necks,

literally,
in sediment and debris.

HUNT:
The moai have details
on the body.

Some have petroglyphs
on the body.

And people are really
fascinated by this

because the common
misperception of the moai

comes from the really

iconic photos of

the heads alone.

And so, people see that,
and they just call them heads,

but it’s correct to really
refer to the moai as statues.

SHATNER:
The discovery of the full-sized
moai statues only deepens

the mystery surrounding them.

The revelation
that some of these monoliths

are more than twice as big
as previously believed

naturally begs the question,

how did the Rapa Nui move
these massive stones into place?

The transport
of these giant statues

has been a continuing mystery.

For example, the largest
moai ever transported

goes by the name of Paro.

Paro is about 33 feet tall,

and he’s estimated to weigh
about 75 to 80 tons.

Paro was transported
from the quarry

to the platform
where he was displayed,

and it’s over three miles.

So, it’s an amazing
accomplishment.

BARNHART:
The mystery of how they moved

these giant statues

has been a-a perennial question.

When the first Europeans
showed up

and asked the local people
how they did it,

they said, "Well, the statues
walked there themselves.

"They walked from the quarry

to these platforms
they stand on, called ahu."

And so, if we listen
to the Rapa Nui,

there was a magical quality
to creating these moai.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that
the moai somehow

walked into place?

Of course, it sounds impossible,

but according to tests conducted
by archaeologists in 2012,

there may be some truth
to this legend.

What we showed in experiments,

with a replica
of an actual moai,

is that the statues
have a lower center of gravity

that makes them lean forward,

and if you attach ropes
to the head,

and rock the statue...

...the pendulum effect
takes over,

allowing it to fall forward,

and the statue actually walks.

BARNHART:
It turns out that it looks like,
in the end,

the Rapa Nui may well be right.
Maybe they did walk there.

SHATNER:
Were the moai statues moved
by an ingenious use of ropes?

It’s just one of the many
intriguing theories

about these giant stone statues.

But, ultimately,
how they were transported

and became buried up
to their necks

remains unknown.

The moai of Easter Island really
have come to represent mystery.

Huge stone sculptures

on a grassy, windswept island...

people wonder
who made these and why.

And so, the mystery continues.

Even after centuries of study,

the origins and true purpose
of the amazing moai statues

of Easter Island
remain shrouded in mystery.

But there have been monoliths
created in modern times

that are no less mysterious,

including a nine-foot-tall
metal pillar

that was discovered in a remote
desert canyon in Utah.

A pillar that seems
to have appeared

out of thin air.

KAVANAUGH:
Monoliths appeared
around the world,

and so it attracted
the public imagination.

BARNHART:
The sighting of this
odd metal monolith was

a shot heard ’round the world.

SHATNER:
In the remote sandstone canyons
of the Utah desert,

a team of biologists tracking
sheep make a shocking discovery.

They come upon
a gleaming, 12-foot-tall

metal monolith.

It’s just a completely
unearthly image.

It’s this big, triangular prism,

about 12 feet tall,

firmly embedded
in the desert ground

in this incredibly remote place
where there are no roads.

GRADY:
It’s very difficult to get

anything out there, let alone

a 12-feet-tall slab of metal.

But what’s very weird
about it is,

using Google Earth
satellite imagery,

they eventually figure out
that it has been there

for four to five years
without being discovered.

BARNHART: The sighting
of this odd metal monolith,

looking like some kind of

otherworldly portal,

was a shot heard
’round the world.

In some regards,
it was not a monolith

because "lith" means "stone,"

and this is a metal thing.

But, still,
it attracted everyone’s eyes.

I think part of it was the-the
mystery. How did it get there?

SHATNER:
Numerous theories
were put forth as to who

might’ve created
the so-called "Utah monolith."

And then,
during the following months,

the mystery took another twist,

as similar monoliths
started popping up

all over the world.

GRADY:
Other people became inspired

by this monolith
in the Utah desert,

and started copycatting
from that.

And so,

another monolith
appears in India.

Shortly after that,
one shows up in Italy.

You get one showing up
in Pittsburgh,

right outside of a candy shop.

There’s one that shows up
in San Francisco

that is made out of gingerbread.

In the end, between November
of 2020 and May of 2021,

over 200 monoliths
around the world just appear.

SHATNER:
While some wrote off
the worldwide

monolith phenomenon
as a cultural fad,

historians were quick
to disagree

and claimed that something
more profound was occurring

that dates back
to the dawn of history.

Because, curiously,
about 6,000 years ago,

upright stones known as menhirs

that bear a striking resemblance
to the Utah monolith,

were inexplicably erected

all over Europe.

When we look at
this menhir phenomenon,

there’s a time
right around 4000 BCE

where these sites pop up

all over the place,
at least in Europe.

The most well-known are the ones
that are in the U.K.

and in France
and Portugal and Spain,

but it’s actually a much larger
and more expansive tradition.

They started
creating these everywhere.

In Germany,
we have the Wotan stone.

In Sweden,
one of their most famous

standing stones
is the Menhir of Grandson.

Overall, in Europe,
there are over 35,000

standing menhirs still today,

in almost every country.

SHATNER:
The number of ancient menhirs
located throughout Europe

is staggering, and many
historians have wondered

why were so many monoliths

created during
the same time period?

Travel and trade had been
standard for thousands of years.

People are observant,
and they like to remember

and replicate and interpret
and represent.

So, if somebody’s
traveled to, say,

Rudston in East Yorkshire,

and then they go back
to Germany,

and they say, "Oh,
I saw these amazing stones.

Let’s have a go at making them."

It’s not impossible that people
may have just observed this

and then imitated it.

SHATNER:
Is it possible
that the phenomenon

surrounding the Utah monolith

was actually history
repeating itself?

And that humans have actually
been imitating each other

by building monoliths
for thousands of years?

BARNHART:
It’s interesting that

people don’t want to take credit
in modern times

for creating these monuments,

and that may give us
some insight

into the mentality of the people

that built ancient monoliths.

They didn’t carve
their names in there,

and it perhaps
was not about them, either.

It was about
the human compunction

to make a piece of immortality.

Are human beings
hardwired to create

and then replicate monoliths?

Well, if that’s true,
then it’s intriguing to think

that we share this instinct
with our ancient ancestors.

And based on the number
of monoliths

being constructed today,

it seems that
humanity’s compulsion

to build these
mysterious structures

shows no signs of stopping.

SHATNER:
Each year, around
150,000 people celebrate

the oldest arts festival
in all of Europe,

which is known as
the National Eisteddfod.

Since 1176 AD,

the Eisteddfod has been
an annual celebration

of Welsh culture
that includes music,

poetry, dancing,

and more.

The most curious part of the
festival is that, every year,

a set of 12 monoliths,

known as Gorsedd Stones,

are carved and then
carefully placed in a circle.

Although most of
the Gorsedd Stone circles

have been built
in the last 200 years,

they closely resemble

the thousands
of ancient monoliths

that can be found
throughout the British Isles.

COLLINS:
At each of these Eisteddfods,

a Gorsedd Stone circle,
uh, was created,

so that there are now

quite a number of them
throughout Wales.

And each one was resurrecting

the beliefs and practices

of a very ancient tradition

to celebrate Welsh history

and culture and tradition.

SHATNER:
Unlike the Utah monolith
phenomenon,

which was
a modern interpretation

of standing structures,

the Gorsedd Stones
are a literal recreation

of the monoliths of the past.

But what inspires the residents
of modern-day Wales

to erect pillars of stone?

Well, some historians
believe that

people remain fascinated
by ancient monoliths

because these
giant standing stones

that were laid
thousands of years ago

are still part
of our world today.

BARNHART:
Everywhere in Europe,

there is some sort of
megalithic architecture that

modern communities
are identifying themselves with.

Sometimes, monoliths

are actually just right along
a country road.

People pass it every day,
like it’s an everyday object,

but it’s thousands of years old.

And it’s become part
of that community.

In some regards,
perhaps that was the intention

of the people who built it
thousands of years ago.

KAVANAUGH:
Standing stones are striking,

awe-inspiring, inexplicable,

and this is a very
compelling combination.

It doesn’t matter whether
they were built this year

or 6,000 years ago,

they’re fascinating, but why?

Well, why are we fascinated
by anything out of the ordinary?

Because it’s magnificent.
It’s humbling.

It fills us with wonder.

HUTTON:
The great thing about monoliths

is that they are enduring.

And once it’s there,

it’s highly visible
in the landscape,

and it goes on forever,

but they are enigmatic.

Because, at the last analysis,

the big,
eternal question remains:

why were they built?

And that is a mystery

which we may never solve.

Was Stonehenge created to
harness the energy of the Earth?

Were the statues of Mont’e Prama

actually based
on real-life giants?

Was there a global network
of interconnected,

ancient stone monuments?

Perhaps.

But while mysterious monoliths

around the world were built
to stand the test of time,

their purpose and their power

remain unexplained.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS