All language subtitles for Secrets in the Ice S02E05 Mystery of Glacier Mummy 1080p WEB h264-KOMPOST_track3_[eng]

[man speaking]

[narrator] A mysterious
frozen mummy is discovered

on one of California's
most treacherous glaciers.

[Anthony C] They can tell
it's a male body,

it's lying face down,
arms spread out.

But when they got closer,

they saw that he was even
missing a leg.

[narrator] A lagoon
on a harsh remote island

holds the clue to solving

a bizarre World War II mystery.

Two of their planes crashed,

including the one found
by the Norwegian scientists.

[narrator] Hikers make
a strange discovery

lurking behind a rocky
snow-capped peak.

[Anthony M] If these
are body bags,

this would have been a massacre.

Did something horrible
happen here?

[narrator] These are
the strangest mysteries

trapped in the coldest places.

Lost relics...

forgotten treasures...

dark secrets...

locked in their icy tombs
for ages.

But now, as ice melts
around the world,

their stories
will finally be exposed.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] The Sierra Nevada,

the spine of California's
rugged interior.

This is Kings Canyon State Park,

home to several mountains
over 13,000 feet tall,

attracting extreme adventurers
from all over the world.

There's only one road
in and out of Kings Canyon,

and it's closed for most
of the year due to snow.

So only the most
experienced climbers

should venture into the area.

[wind howling]

[narrator] In October 2005,

two backcountry ice climbers
make their way

to the base
of the Mendel Glacier,

just over 1,000 feet
below the summit.

A piece of fabric fluttering
near a mound of rubble

attracts their attention.

As they get closer to the mount,

they see something
that they can't unseen.

[suspense music playing]

[narrator] It's a corpse

partially buried
in the ice and snow.

They can tell it's a male body,

it's lying face down,
arms spread out.

[tense music playing]

[Anthony C] His head
had been crushed.

But when they got closer,

they saw that he was even
missing a leg.

[narrator] Over time,

his face has become
unrecognizable,

but his head is still covered
in thick blond hair.

The ice climbers wondered
if this was once a hiker

who met an unfortunate end.

Who was this person?

Then they see his knapsack...

and realized that
it's not a knapsack.

It's a parachute.

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator]
On closer inspection,

they see the words
"US Army Air Corps"

stenciled on the fabric.

US Army Air Corps
is an old name.

It's a forerunner
of the US Air Force.

But back then,

before the attack
on Pearl Harbor,

it was called
the US Army Air Corps.

[narrator] When the hikers
brushed the snow

off the body, it's confirmed.

His uniform is clearly
from the Second World War.

World War II serviceman
in California?

That's strange.

But we do know
that top secret activities

were carried out
during World War II

all over the American West.

Was this soldier
involved in a mission

that has never been revealed?

[narrator] The climbers
alerted local law enforcement

to their bizarre discovery.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Within days,
a specialized

military response team
is on the scene.

The first order of business
in an investigation like this

is obviously to get
the remains back to the lab.

Because they didn't want
to damage the body

and it was encased in ice,

they ended up taking
a block of ice

with the body back to the lab.

That's where forensic
anthropologists

will gently thaw him out
by spraying him with water.

They need to go slowly
to minimize

any damage to tissues.

The forensic
anthropologists of course

begin to look through
his personal effects...

and they find a nameplate.

But unfortunately,
it's terribly corroded

and unreadable.

[narrator] Investigators turn
to the same tools

employed at crime scenes,

an ultraviolet light
helps tease out

faint details on the nameplate.

Inscribed in the metal
are the letters

E, O, A, M.

They searched through
the military records,

but there's no names
that matched those letters.

[narrator] But the pockets
of the dead man's uniform

offers several clues.

Eleven coins, a fountain pen,
and a scrap of paper.

What was written down
on that note

that he was carrying with him?

Was he bringing
some kind of secret message?

[narrator] This time,
they used a high resolution

video spectral comparator.

It's actually the same
technology that the FBI uses

to investigate
suspicious documents.

[narrator] The comparator
is able to decipher

the faded words.

Could it be coded,
classified information?

[Anthony C]
It turned out to be

a few lines from a limerick.

And given the kind of songs
and stories

that lighten the mood
for military members

going off to war,

you can imagine what kind
of a limerick it was.

[narrator] If he wasn't
on a secret mission,

why was he there?

The skies over
the Sierra Nevada were busy

during the war years.

Airmen would train
in several nearby bases.

Unfortunately, but
not surprisingly,

aviation cadets often crashed

and there were lots
of crashes in that vicinity.

Since World War II,
nearly 50 aircraft

had been listed as missing

in the area
around Kings Canyon Park.

Some of the planes
in the backcountry

have never been found,
so how do you match

this airman to his plane?

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] The coins
in the man's pockets

may help narrow down
the timeline.

The most recent coin
is from 1942,

so obviously
that was the earliest year

he might have crashed.

A search through
the military archives for 1942

finally offers a clue.

November 18th, 1942...

seven military aircraft
took off from Mather Air Base

outside of Sacramento
on a training flight.

Only six aircraft returned.

These planes were Beech AT-7s...

a twin-engine aircraft used
for navigational training.

[narrator] Air Force recovery
records show that two years

after the end of the war
in 1947,

the wreck was found
in the vicinity

of where the airman's body
was located.

[ominous music playing]

But something doesn't add up.

Official documents already
list a place of burial

under a single headstone
for the four-man crew

that was aboard.

[narrator] If the four men
are already buried,

who is this fifth mystery man?

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] High up in California

Sierra Nevada Mountains,

the remains
of a World War II airman

have been discovered.

But instead of solving
the mystery of his identity,

the investigation team is met
with more questions...

and a deepening mystery.

The team then catches a break,

they find the flight manifest
of the airplane.

One of the names on the manifest

is Leo M. Mustonen,

a 22-year-old cadet
from Minnesota.

The letters of his name
are close to the letters

found on the corpse's ID tags.

But they'll need more evidence
to get a definite match.

They turned to DNA analysis.

The sample is mitochondrial DNA,

a molecule that's passed
from mother to son.

And it's this kind
of information

that they need in order
to make the identification

of this airman.

[narrator] But when the team
tracks down

the Mustonen family,
they discovered

that there are no maternal
relatives alive

to provide a sample
for comparison.

But then the investigation
team realizes

that there's another way
that DNA

can help with this case,

it's called
process of elimination.

[narrator] Investigators
trace the families

of the other three airmen

known to be on board the flight.

Luckily, those families
are able to provide

DNA samples that can be compared

to the DNA
of the mystery airman.

None of them is a match.

So the investigators
can conclude

that these have to be
the remains

of air cadet Leo Mustonen

who was only 22 years old
when he died.

[narrator] The mystery of the
Sierra airman's identity

is solved.

[Marina] So what about
that name tag?

Why was there no match?

Well, it turns out
the investigation

was thrown off by a misspelling.

[narrator] Leo Mustonen's
middle name was Arvid.

Leo A. Mustonen,

not Leo M. Mustonen.

The report incorrectly reported

his middle initial as M.

But one thing
still doesn't add up.

The military said
that there were four bodies

in that grave,

so who is the fourth body
if Leo Mustonen

was actually buried in the ice?

It turned out that the military

hadn't been entirely
forthcoming about the burial,

and the reasons are actually
quite understandable.

When the crash was discovered,

no bodies were found to bury.

But the military thought
it'd be easier on the families

if they had a grave,
if they had a place to visit.

And so, they told them
that the bodies were found,

but just not identifiable.

And they staged a mock burial
in that grave.

[narrator] In 2007,

two years after the discovery
of Leo Mustonen's body,

searchers found the body
of another crew member,

Glenn Mun.

The other two crewmen
are still out there,

resting in the Sierra Nevada.

[narrator] The Chilkoot Pass,

a high mountain pass
that runs from Alaska

into the northernmost corner
of British Columbia,

on the border with Canada's
Yukon Territory.

Snowstorms and icy winds
rage year round,

and avalanches come out
of nowhere.

[suspenseful music playing]

The Chilkoot Trail
is rocky, it's icy,

and it can be very dangerous.

One misstep could lead
to disaster.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] In 2012,
a group of hikers

stopped near the trail summit.

Not far off the path,

something strange lurks behind
a rocky snow-capped peak.

It's a pile of large
salmon pink bundles.

There are dozens
and dozens of them.

At first glance,
these bundles look like

pink body bags.

It's a disturbing sight.

If these are body bags,

this would have been a massacre.

Did something horrible
happen here?

[narrator] They counted
approximately 80 bundles

in total scattered across
the summit plateau.

But as the hikers drawn nearer,

they see that the bags
don't contain

human remains at all.

Instead, they appear
to be full of wood.

[Alison] Some of the wooden
slats are rotten,

and the canvas
wrapped around them

is sun-bleached and moldy.

It's evidence that these bundles

have been here for years,
if not decades,

so what could they be?

[narrator] There are
no markings, or labels,

or any other clues
about where they came from

or what they were meant for.

It's more than 3,000 feet
above sea level.

It's unforgiving terrain.

Why would people
carry these heavy packages

all the way up here?

And why would they leave them?

[narrator] The materials
themselves may provide

the first clue.

When you see canvas
and wood together

on a dangerous mountain,
you might think Alpine rescue.

So, could these be stretchers

or some sort
of other rescue gear?

[narrator] Landslides,
avalanches, and accidents

can all leave hikers
in need of medical evacuation.

A simple stretcher
is a really good way

of moving people
across tough terrain

where vehicles and aircraft
can't reach

like the side of a mountain.

Maybe this is the remains
of the old cache

safety equipment that would
have allowed rescue teams

to respond faster to accidents
on the mountain.

The problem with this theory
is the bundles themselves.

[Alison] A canvas
for a stretcher

would only need to be
about 6 feet long

and a couple of feet wide,

but this canvas is much
bigger than that.

And stretchers need slim,
strong poles for good grip.

But the wooden slats
are lumber rectangles,

way too bulky to carry.

This just isn't practical
for rescue gear.

[narrator] So, if they aren't
stretchers, what are they?

Hoping to learn the answer,

researchers extracted
a dozen bundles

from the mountain and selected
two for examination.

As the heavy canvas
is slowly unpeeled,

they noticed that the
material is tacky or sticky.

That's a good indication
that this canvas

was covered by some kind
of waterproof layer.

We're in the mountain,
we're on a hiking trail,

could we be looking
at some kind of tent?

[narrator] The Chilkoot Trail

has been a popular
hiking route for decades.

It's 33 miles long

and can take up to a week
to complete,

requiring hikers to make camp
along the way.

The canvas bundles
are 2 1/2 feet by 5 feet

and contain exactly
72 wooden slats.

Once the canvas is unrolled,

the sheet stretches more than
17 feet long

and 5 feet wide.

That is what I would call
a party tent.

This thing could sleep
like 15 people.

Who would have been trekking
the Chilkoot Trail

in a group that big

that they would need
that kind of sleeping space?

[whimsical music playing]

[narrator] From 1896 to 1899,

gold fever gripped the region.

Prospectors swarm
to Dawson City,

Canada's Yukon Territory,

to stake their claim
in the Klondike Gold fields.

When news
of the gold strike broke,

it was a spectacular story.

It made headlines
around the world.

Gold fever is serious business.

It makes people
do all kinds of things,

take all kinds of risks,

and the Klondike Gold Rush
is a prime example of that.

[narrator] The port
of Skagway, Alaska

suddenly boomed
as prospectors found

the quickest route
to the gold fields.

At the summit, they'd crossed
the border into Canada,

and onto the shores
of Lake Lindeman.

From Lindeman,
a series of waterways

connect to the Yukon River
that flows to Dawson City.

[Jamie] Snow, ice fog,
and to top it all off,

the trail could be
incredibly unstable.

In April 1898,

at least 65 people
were killed by avalanche.

So taking the Chilkoot Pass
may have been faster,

but it was a big risk.

[narrator] For many,
the promise of gold

was worth dying for.

At its peak,
a thousand people per day

queued up in the ice and snow
to make the dangerous journey.

Could the bundles left
on top of the Chilkoot Pass

be the camp of a large group
of Gold Rush prospectors?

[tense music playing]

[narrator] High atop
a rugged mountain pass,

on the border between Alaska
and Canada's British Columbia,

hikers stumble across
a perplexing discovery.

Researchers investigate
the 80 canvas bundles

that are each wrapped around
a pile of wooden slats.

The age and condition
of the materials

certainly makes it plausible

that they were made
in the late 1890s.

[Anthony M] But tents
were supposed to be

easy to set up.

Putting together
72 wooden slats,

that's a lot of time,

work, tools...

not exactly a time saver.

[narrator] Researchers decide
the only way to discover

the bundles' purpose
is to assemble one.

They arrange and rearrange
the wooden pieces.

Eventually, a shape takes form.

The slats are ribs for the hull

of a boat.

When the canvas is stretched
neatly around it,

it forms a vessel
over 17 feet long

and 5 feet wide.

This is really quite bizarre,

because the last thing
I'd expect to see

in a summit of a mountain
is a boat,

let alone 80 of them.

[Alison] But now, there's
a whole new mystery to solve.

Why were 80 of these
bulky boat kits

abandoned at the top
of the Chilkoot Trail?

It just doesn't make sense.

[narrator] The end
of the Chilkoot Trail

is at Lake Lindeman,

15 miles north
of where the bundles lay.

By the Spring of 1898,

a bustling tent city
had sprouted

at the end of the trail.

After crossing
the Chilkoot Pass,

thousands waited
for the ice to break,

then they could connect
to the Yukon River

and complete a 500-mile
journey to Dawson City.

Back then,
there were rough rapids

and there were huge sections

you had to get out and portage.

Prospectors needed boats
for two to three people

plus all their supplies.

The trouble was prospectors

aren't exactly
expert boat makers,

so thousands and thousands
of boats were made

right there in Lindeman.

[narrator] In May of 1898,

7,000 boats prepared
to sail up to the Yukon River,

to the Klondike gold fields.

It was a perilous journey,

hundreds never made it.

But then you have to wonder,

if all the boats were
being made down in Lindeman,

why were 80 of these boat kits

found 10 miles away
at a top of a mountain?

[narrator] The Canadians
were worried about the number

of Americans pouring across
the Chilkoot Pass,

so they enforced a new law.

Anyone crossing the border

had to bring a year's worth
of supplies,

which back then
cost an average of a $1,000,

around $27,000 today.

Takes a lot of wooden expertise

to build these boats
and they were expensive.

These prospectors, though,

they weren't exactly flush
with cash.

[narrator] Were the boat
kits designed

for prospectors
cutting back on costs?

Well, today,
we know it's much cheaper

to buy pre-fab furniture
and assemble it ourselves,

so you can imagine
that was probably the plan

with the stash of boat kits.

In 1898,
flyers in the camp advertised

lightweights DIY canvas boats,

and those boats looked
a lot like the boat built

from the bundles
on the mountain.

[Anthony C] The flyers
were produced by

an American freight business,

Flowers, Smith & Company.

They wanted to be the supplier
for the Klondike Gold Rush

and they actually had a wharf
and a warehouse in Lindeman.

[narrator] Their kits
were designed to be bought

and assembled close to the lake,

requiring no more experience
of building boats

and the ability
to swing a hammer.

They were supposed to be
as easily broken down

as they were to assemble,

that's why they were nicknamed
knockdown boats.

[narrator]
But at the end of 1898,

Flowers, Smith & Company's time

at Lake Lindeman
screeched to a halt.

The Canadians seized the land
claimed by Americans

and shut down their businesses.

So it's possible
the company just grabbed

whatever they could,
including these 80 boats

and hauled them
to the Chilkoot Pass.

Carrying boats up a mountain
like this is crazy difficult,

so they probably
just ditched them.

[Alison] So the boat kits
were neatly tucked away,

just off the main path.

It's entirely plausible
that Flowers, Smith & Company

intended to come back for them,

but they never did.

[narrator]
Whether the company intended

to collect the boats or not
remains a mystery.

The bundles stayed hidden
behind a rocky nook

under the ice and snow.

Frozen in time
for over a century.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] The storm-battered
island of Jan Mayen,

a territory of Norway,

Jan Mayen is a volcanic island

that was thrust out
of the frigid waters

of the Arctic Ocean
500,000 years ago.

Jan Mayen is a hard,
harsh climate.

Early explorers
called it terra nullius

which means nobody's land.

It's a place
of subzero temperatures,

impenetrable fog, driving snow,

it's the kind of place
that you have to be very brave

or very crazy
to go hiking around in.

[narrator] In 2015, a group
of Norwegian geologists

journey to Jan Mayen
to map the bottom of a lagoon.

They used what's called an AUV,

an automated underwater vehicle

which has cameras,
and lights, and arms

to collect samples
with underwater.

[narrator] As the AUV roves
through the murky water

near the lagoon floor,

the camera picks up
a shadowy object.

[tense music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] On a remote
volcanic island

in the middle
of the Arctic Ocean,

a team of geologists
set out to map

the bottom of a lagoon

using an automated
underwater vehicle or AUV.

But their attention
is quickly drawn

to a strange object
that appears on the bottom.

It's not immediately apparent
what it is.

Is it some sort of creature?

After several minutes,

the object reveals
its true identity.

It's a rowboat,

but what's it doing
at the bottom of this lagoon?

This is a wooden boat,

and wood normally decays
in water.

But very cold water
can actually preserve wood,

so they don't know.

This wooden boat could have
been down there for decades

or could have been down there
for centuries.

[Anthony M] If the boat
had been found on the shore,

it means it could have just
floated there from anywhere.

But the fact that it was found

in this landlocked lagoon

means that somebody
must have brought it there

for a very specific purpose.

Finding an unidentified rowboat

in this remote arctic island

raises all kinds of questions,

and it teases answers
to historical mysteries

ranging from the 6th Century

to World War II, to the present.

As remote as it is,

Jan Mayen has been
on navigational maps

since the early 16th Century.

And its human history
may go back

even farther than that.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
Possibly the first person

to set foot on Jan Mayen

was a 6th Century monk

known as Brendan The Navigator.

He sailed through
the North Atlantic

searching for the promised
land of the saints.

Saint Brendan
was an extraordinary monk,

and stories
of his extensive travels

were passed down
from generation to generation,

and recorded over the centuries.

And it's possible that
Jan Mayen was part of that.

[Anthony C] He described
the black fiery island

where he heard
tremendous noises,

were there were sulfuric gasses,

fire, ash, volcanic activity.

He thought it might be
the gates of hell.

[narrator]
Did Brendan The Navigator

land on Jan Mayen

and take a boat inland
for some reason?

[Anthony C] If you look at
historical depictions

of Brendan's ship,

you'll see that
it has a round bottom,

and that actually
tells us something.

That's typical of Irish
boat building.

It's shaped like a canoe
and it has square sails.

What's also notable
is that the hull

is wrapped in leather
to create a water tight fill.

[narrator] The researchers
estimate that the boat

at the bottom of the lagoon

is between 12 and 20 feet long,

and between 3 and 5 ft. wide.

Its aft is square
rather than round

shows no signs of a mast
to support a sail

nor any remnants of leather
on the hull.

Brendan's boat was primitive.

He had a lot of knowledge
but limited technology.

He was doing a lot
with a little,

and the boat was small,

too small to carry another boat,

and definitely too small
to be the boat

at the bottom of that lagoon.

So that boat
is not Brendan's boat.

[dramatic music playing]

Brendan wasn't the only sailor

in these freezing waters.

The Vikings were also
sailing there

attempting to set up
colonies in the far north.

The Book of Settlements
records their activities

in the 9th and 10th centuries.

One entry reports a place,
a two-day sail from Iceland,

called [indistinct]
or Cold Coast.

[Anthony C] Jan Mayen
is 340 miles

northeast of Iceland.

A sailing ship can cover that
in two days

with favorable winds.

So it's definitely
in the zone of possibility.

However, when the Vikings
went somewhere, you know it.

They left a mark
wherever they went.

And there's no physical evidence

of Viking activity on Jan Mayen.

Plus the boat in the lagoon

is unlike any known
type of Viking vessel.

[narrator]
But Jan Mayen itself

may offer more clues
to the puzzle.

When the scientists hike
over a rocky glacial hill,

they come upon a chilling site.

It's a plane.

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Determined to solve
the mystery of a rowboat

found at the bottom of a lagoon,

on a remote island
in the Arctic Ocean,

a team of Norwegian geologists

have brought in their search
of the island.

As they climb a nearby hill,

they're amazed to find
another clue, a plane.

But not just any plane...

a Nazi bomber.

The aircraft is a Junkers Ju 88,

a twin-engine bomber
flown by Germany's Luftwaffe

during the Second World War.

The Junkers 88
was an all-purpose aircraft.

It was a bomber,
it was a night fighter,

it was used for reconnaissance.

But Jan Mayen
is a long way from Germany.

What was it doing there?

[narrator] And does the plane
hold the key

to the mystery
of the sunken rowboat?

Just when things
couldn't get any stranger,

the scientists discover

another curiosity
on this island,

the remains of
a World War II era outpost,

including a weather station.

The key thing for me
is that this rowboat

was found at an island

where there was
a weather station.

That's a key piece of evidence.

We think of
controlling the weather

as something for a super
villain in a comic book.

But controlling
knowledge of the weather,

especially in an era
before satellites,

that's of tremendous
strategic importance.

[tense music playing]

At the outbreak
of the Second World War,

the UK and the Soviet Union

depended on convoys
of supply ships.

The weather
in the North Atlantic

could be as dangerous
as German U-boats.

So you needed to be able
to predict the weather.

These ships needed
accurate weather forecast.

[Anthony M] Strong winds,
rough seas,

dense fog, cloud cover,

all these things
could have been disastrous

for the invading forces.

When the Germans
occupied Norway,

they wanted to rely
on Norwegian weather station

such as the one on Jan Mayen

which had become known
as Island X.

That was the codename
the allies gave it

so that if their communications

were intercepted,

it wouldn't be immediately clear

what place
they were talking about.

But the Norwegians manning
the weather station resisted

and actually passed on
the information to the British.

Now, surprisingly,
the Germans decided

to punish the Norwegians
on Island X.

[narrator] They expanded
their battle to the skies.

The Germans continued bombing

and harassing
the Norwegian meteorologists.

But this handful of Norwegians
on Jan Mayen

stuck it to Hitler.

[narrator] On May 19th, 1942,

a German bomber
attacked Jan Mayen.

The Norwegians at the station
responded by shooting back.

After an hour of combat,

they heard an explosion
and saw a smoke.

Two of their planes crashed

including the one found

by the Norwegian scientist
in 2017.

[Anthony C] And that boat
at the bottom of the lagoon,

the Norwegians figured it out.

In 1940,
a Norwegian naval vessel

ran aground on Jan Mayen...

and the sailor saved themselves

by rowing the shore
in that boat.

The wreck lay there for years,

then in the early 1950s,

a protracted windstorm
hit the island.

The wind was so strong
that it grabbed the lifeboat

and tossed it into the lagoon.

[narrator] The boat
remains there to this day.

It's fascinating to think
that this little island

in the middle
of the Arctic Ocean,

far away from everything else

is actually connected
to political

and military
and meteorological events

all over the world.

[narrator] Zhokhov Island.

A tiny isolated island

in Russia's freezing
East Siberian Sea.

This is an inhabited
and treeless island.

It's ravaged by storms
and bad weather,

and it's surrounded by sea ice
for most of the year.

[Alison]
Since the early 1990s,

researchers have been
excavating the remains

of an 8,000-year-old
settlement on the island.

So far, they've recovered
more than 19,000 stone tools

as well as hundreds of bone,
and with artifacts.

[narrator] But now,
buried in the permafrost,

they find something they've
never seen here before.

A beautiful shining
shard of black glass.

This material is called obsidian

and it's an absolutely
extraordinary find.

[Anthony M]
Obsidian is pretty cool.

I mean, what if their blade
could stop a White Walker?

Also known as Dragonglass.

You got it.

[narrator] Obsidian
is an igneous rock,

forms when lava
with a high silicon content

erupts from a volcano

and cools so rapidly,
it turns into glass.

[Kim]
It's just slightly harder

than your run-of-the-mill
window glass.

Obsidian can be sharpened
into very fine edges

which can be very useful

for making knives
and arrowheads.

But my question is

how did it wind up here
on this island?

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
These archeologists excavate

an 8,000-year-old settlement,

buried in the permafrost
on Siberia's Zhokhov Island.

They make
an extraordinary discovery.

Obsidian.

Obsidian needs
a high silica content.

And the ground
on the island of Zhokhov

is mainly made of basalt.

So wherever
these pieces came from,

it wasn't from here.

[narrator] All together,
the researchers unearth

79 blades and fragments.

All made from the same
lustrous material.

Obsidian is interesting.

Each rock has its own
geochemical signature

which corresponds to exactly
where it comes from

on this planet.

[narrator] The researchers
perform analysis

on the blades from Zhokhov

to determine the elements
of composition

of the ancient glass.

By comparing the results
to obsidian

from known sources
in Northeastern Siberia,

they are able to pinpoint
the exact source of the rocks.

A volcano near Lake Krasnoye
in eastern Russia

over 900 miles away.

That is the distance
from Miami to New Orleans.

That's a long way to go
for a piece of rock.

[Anthony C] These blades were
being used about 8,000 years ago.

So obviously,
there were no roads,

there were no cars,
there were no planes.

The wheel was still
about 3,000 years

from being invented.

[Alison] Covering that
distance would have taken

at least a couple of months
on foot.

You think that would be
an impossible journey

for someone to undertake.

So it's highly unlikely
that one person

traveled that distance
on their own.

It's a real mystery.

[narrator] For centuries,
trade routes

such as the Silk Road
where the primary way

far-flung communities
could acquire

and exchange materials
and goods.

[Alison] The Silk Road
was really important.

It was the main connector

between a number
of different cultures,

trading goods, sharing ideas,

getting a number of items

that they didn't normally
have access to.

[narrator]
Did the island inhabitants

obtain the obsidian
from a Silk Road trade route?

The only problem
with this theory is that

the Silk Road didn't even exist

until about the 2nd Century BC.

This obsidian is from
6,000 years before that.

Is it possible that trade routes

had been active in this area
thousands of years earlier

than previously thought?

[narrator]
Determined to find the answer,

the archeologists on
Zhokhov Island continue to dig.

One discovery stands out
from the rest.

A long wooden shaft.

[Kim] It's an unusual shape

and one edge
has been rubbed smooth

from repeated use.

This tells us whatever it is,

it was important enough
to be used constantly.

[narrator] Based on the size
and shape,

they conclude that
it is a sled runner.

At nearly four feet long,

this fragment would have been
part of a much larger sled.

This is really interesting.

Sleds are known to have been
used around this time

in Northern Europe

but the engineering on this sled

is much more advanced
than what was known

to have been used there
in this era.

[narrator] European sleds
were traditionally flatter,

but this one contains
uprights and bracing

that is similar
in construction to sleds

used by local communities
in Northern Siberia today.

Using this kind of sled,

it would have been pretty easy

to transport things
across huge distances.

But a sled this big still

would have been pretty heavy
even on snow or even ice.

So you would have to put
a lot of muscle

behind something like this.

[Kim] Walking on foot
would have been nearly

an impossible task.

What do people do
when they need extra power?

Humans use animals.

[narrator] When horses
were domesticated,

it enabled people to travel
much longer distances

and transport more goods.

[Anthony C]
The Ancient Scythians

living on what is now
Central Asia

and Southwestern Russia
were excellent horsemen.

And they used those horses
to travel great distances.

But horses would have struggled

in the freezing climate
and snowy condition.

And they weren't
even domesticated

in the western part
of the Eurasian Steppe

until about 6,000 years ago.

[narrator]
An unexpected discovery

at the site provides a new clue.

Bones.

From the bones,

archeologists
are able to identify

the remains of 13 dogs.

But it's important to know
that these dog bones

were found
in the center of the camp

which means that these dogs

weren't just roaming
around wildly.

They were part of the community.

[narrator] Analysis of
the dog's body type and size

indicates that they were
likely similar

to modern day Siberian huskies.

Siberian huskies are famous

for their strength
and endurance.

The modern day Iditarod
in Alaska uses them

for its roughly
1,000-mile dog sled race.

[narrator] Were the dogs
kept in the community

to pull the sleds long distances

back and forth to the island?

Is this how the obsidian
was obtained?

[Alison] It's definitely
a viable theory.

This may be an example
of the oldest known

dog sled on record.

Early Russian explorers
reported gatherings

and springtime fairs for people

from across Northern Siberia.

It's not improbable
that these community networks

had been in existence
for thousands of years.

The Zhokhov community
could also have traded

goods and knowledge
at these spring gatherings.

So it's quite likely
that those obsidian tools

made several small journeys
from their point of origin

before they were traded
one last time

and brought to Zhokhov Island.

[narrator]
But the researches still

had one unanswered question.

Zhokhov Island is about
270 miles out the sea.

How did the small community
reached the mainland?

[Alison] When you look at
the geological record,

8,000 years ago,

Zhokhov wouldn't have been
an island.

It would have been attached
to the mainland

at the end a low peninsula.

[narrator]
It wasn't until 7,800 BC

that the land
between Zhokhov Island

and the mainland
was inundated with water

separating from the rest
of the continent.

It's amazing
that while these people

were living so remotely,

they were still connected
to community

and technology.

[Anthony C] It turns out that
these ancient northern communities

actually had the technology
and the ability

to travel quite extensively.

This discovery of this obsidian

reveals that the ancestors

of today's indigenous peoples
in Eastern Russia

had a sophisticated
trade network millennia

before the establishment
of the Silk Road.