All language subtitles for Secrets in the Ice S02E07 1080p WEB h264-KOMPOST_track3_[eng]

[narrator reading]

[narrator] The gruesome parts
of a mummified body

are found trapped in a glacier
on Europe's tallest mountain.

[Wakefield] The crushing
weight of the glacier

may have ripped his body apart.

Who is this mysterious
frozen person?

[narrator] An abandoned town
in remote Greenland

surrounds the rim of
an ominous crater.

[MacFerrin] What is this
hole in the ground?

Could it have caused the town
to be abandoned?

[narrator] Strange ivory carvings are
discovered belonging to an Arctic people

who disappeared without a trace.

Inuit oral histories describe a group of
huge people who were taller and stronger.

They seem to
have truly vanished.

[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.

[narrator] The Caucasus
mountains, Russia.

Stretching for hundreds of miles

between the Caspian
and the Black seas,

this forbidding mountain range spans
the border between Europe and Asia.

In the center, rises the
tallest mountain in Europe.

The imposing peak of
Mount Elbrus.

[Clarke] At 18,510 feet,
it's one of the Seven Summits,

the highest peaks
on each continent.

[Wakefield] Mountain storms can
cause bitterly cold temperatures,

plunging down to
minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

And brutally high winds
have been clocked in

at 60 miles per hour.

[narrator] In 2013, an
expedition on Mount Elbrus

done by members of the
Russian Ministry of Defence,

make an unusual discovery.

Deep in a glacial crevasse
exposed by melting ice,

they find the scattered
remains of a frozen human body.

They find two arms, a hand,

a leg,

and what looks like
a mangled torso.

This must have been
extremely unnerving to find.

I mean, can you imagine?

And trying to figure out
what happened to the body,

it's even harder in
a situation like this.

Who could this person be?

[narrator] The Russian
military examine the body

and determine that they are
the remains of a young man.

Upon closer inspection,

they realize the body is displaying
the tell-tale signs of mummification.

[Cantor] Natural mummification
is possible at this high elevation

and in these prolonged
cold temperatures.

[Wakefield] It's likely that years in
the snow have mummified his body.

While the crushing weight
and movement of the glacier

may have ripped his body apart.

[narrator] Further inspection of the
body deepens the gruesome mystery.

Remnants of the clothes are
little more than a coat

and the body
has been decapitated.

[Wakefield] There's no evidence
of climbing gear near the body.

No crampons, no rope,
no cold-weather gear,

You wouldn't last long in these kinds
of conditions with only a wool coat.

[narrator] The military widen their search
to look for clues and find the missing head.

While part of the military team

scans the crevasse
with a metal detector,

another group searches
higher up the mountain.

It's surprising how wide a
search you sometimes have to do

in order to
pull together evidence

to make sense of something
that is this out of the ordinary.

Could the frozen body
be a hiker who lost their way?

[narrator] In the early 1900s, avid
hikers began climbing Mount Elbrus.

A temporary shelter was
established to escape frigid

and dangerous conditions
on the mountain.

The first climbers to stay
there were a group of 11 people.

So they called it Shelter 11.

[Wakefield] The climbing route
grew so popular,

that by the 1930s, a famous
Russian zeppelin builder

built a unique three-story,
luxury accommodation

and scientific research center.

It became one of the highest hotels
in Europe, able to accommodate

100 mountaineers and scientists,

heated rooms with
electricity and hot showers.

It would have been a luxury
to stay there.

[narrator] Could
the mysterious body have been

a visitor at this famous hotel?

People often went missing and got
into trouble on such a daunting climb.

Even today,

dozens of climbers die
each year on this mountain.

The body looks like it's been
on the mountain a long time.

So it's possible they disappeared
in the early days of Shelter 11.

But they need a way to
narrow down the time period.

[narrator] After scanning
the area with a metal detector,

the Russians discover
more evidence,

a shoulder harness
and a handgun holster.

The holster is of
an older design.

One used in the late '30s and
early '40s during World War II.

If the holster belonged to the
person who wore the wool coat,

maybe they were in the military.

[narrator] By the early 1940s,
World War II was raging,

and the climbing route up Mount
Elbrus was too dangerous to travel.

But Nazi troops were drawn to the
symbol of Europe's tallest mountain

as a metaphor
for conquering Europe.

[Cantor] In August 1942,

the Nazis' elite 1st Mountain
Division was deployed to the area.

They climbed Elbrus, and
took control of Shelter 11,

easily overpowering a handful
of Russian meteorologists.

[narrator] The Nazis planted
their flag at the top of Mount Elbrus,

and renamed it Hitler's Peak.

This move was widely
publicized by Nazi propogandists,

as a symbol of
Germany's dominance.

Could this soldier be a member
of the 1st Mountain Division?

[Clarke] The German division
that took over Elbrus

was very well trained
in alpine combat.

And in the photos of the time,
we can see

they had state-of-the-art
camouflage equipment

and were well prepared to travel
and fight in snowy mountain conditions.

[Wakefield] If he was German, this soldier
was not out on a mission or exercise

when he died in this uniform.

It would not have provided
enough protection from the elements.

[narrator] As the team
continues to scour the glacier,

additional artifacts emerge
from the melting snow.

They unearth automatic weapons
and ammunition.

Near the body they find a kubar,

a type of pin that would have
been worn on a military uniform

to signify a person's rank.

A pin with this specific
pattern of lines on it,

indicates that the wearer was a
lieutenant in the Soviet Red Army.

This could mean that the
soldier was out here doing more

than just going for a hike.

But he doesn't seem prepared for
this type of freezing environment.

Something must have gone
horribly wrong.

[narrator] A mummified
Russian soldier of World War II

has been discovered in the Caucasus
Mountains on Europe's highest peak.

Found near a legendary climbing
outpost known as Shelter 11,

researchers struggle to
identify his remains.

He appears severely
underequipped for mountain warfare.

The Russian were furious when they
learned the Nazis took Mount Elbrus.

And decided to send a company
of men to take back Shelter 11.

Could this body be connected
to the mission?

The Red Army was stretched
very thin all along the Eastern Front.

They had to hastily assemble
a unit for the attack.

It was composed of 102 men, unprepared
and untrained for mountain fighting.

They were poorly equipped,

with only light weapons,

coats, leather boots and
little chance of success.

[narrator] In September 1942, the
Russian unit made the ascent to Shelter 11.

But a fog that was covering
their position

close to the shelter,
suddenly lifted.

And their position was exposed.

[narrator] The German artillery
easily gunned them down.

Only three men
survived the ordeal.

It looks like this mummified
body could be a lieutenant

from the company
of fallen Soviet soldiers.

[Leonard]
But without the head,

it's very difficult to match
someone to any medical records

that might exist from that time.

[narrator] The researchers look
at army records of the mission

and discover three
lieutenants served in the unit.

Georgy Belozerov.

Pavel Kiselev.

And Guren Grigoryants,

who was rumored to have been
patched up by German doctors.

Researchers believe they have likely found
the remains of one of the two missing men.

But which one?

[Clarke] The torso of
the mummified remains

is not in recognizable shape.

But other parts
are well-preserved.

[Leonard] On one arm, there are a
number of tattoos visible on the skin.

Finding tattoos, piercings or other
physical markings is always exciting.

They're a really useful way
to identify people.

[narrator] The tattoos running
along the forearm

appear to be the black outline
of a nude woman and a gun.

Could the tattoos provide a clue
to the identity of the frozen body?

These tattoos are fascinating.

They're crudely drawn,
but highly distinctive.

[Leonard] In the early
20th century,

the imagery of tattoos
was usually significant.

They were only normally
done if you were a sailor,

part of a gang,
or if you'd been to prison.

In which case,

that could be a good indication
of someone's criminal career.

In the Soviet Union, tattoos were
common in the criminal underworld.

And they were highly symbolic.

A star on a particular location

could mean that the person
was a criminal leader.

And the gun was often associated

with having committed a murder.

Whoever the soldier was, it looks like
he might have done time behind bars.

[narrator] The investigators
scan the records of the men

to see if they can shed
any light on their past.

Army personnel details
reveal little.

But investigators get
a break in the case.

It turns out that one of
the three officers

had spent a number of years in
prison before joining the army...

Lieutenant Grigoryants,

the man who allegedly survived.

[Leonard] According to
his registration card,

prior to the war, he served a jail
sentence for the murder of his wife.

[narrator] Experts believe this
body is Lieutenant Grigoryants'.

Can you imagine this man, probably
knowing his odds of survival are near zero,

yet he still runs into battle to
fight to protect this special place.

But he was gunned down
and died on this mountain,

where he remained, buried in
snow and ice for over 70 years.

[narrator] After
this disastrous defeat,

the Russians did not immediately
make another attempt at Mount Elbrus.

When the frontline situation
changed in 1943,

the Russians took back control
of Mount Elbrus,

replacing the flag at
the top of the mountain.

[Leonard] Grigoryants' remains are
finally returned to his descendants.

But what happened to Shelter 11?

Was it destroyed in the battle?

Or did the Nazis destroy it
when they left?

[narrator] After the war,
the shelter was abandoned.

But over the years, tourists and
climbers slowly started to come back.

Shelter 11 was modernized.

And became an important stop for any
climber who was ascending Mount Elbrus.

Shelter 11 survived
Nazi occupation,

but accidentally burned down
in 1998.

Rumor has it that
a confused climber

put a pot of gasoline on the
stove, thinking that it was water.

[narrator] Despite solving the
mystery of the mummified soldier,

Shelter 11 continues to stand
as a testament

to the many hidden bodies
of fallen soldiers

still trapped inside
its haunting glaciers.

[narrator] Greenland's coast is a vast
maze of inlets, fjords and peninsulas.

In the southwest,
the Arsuk Fjord

is accessible only
by air or by sea.

[MacFerrin] Southwest
Greenland is a unique glacial area

of strategic importance for
superpowers vying for world dominance.

[narrator] Upon closer inspection,
the Arsuk Fjord is also home

to a mysterious cluster
of small buildings.

[Morgan] There are houses,
townhalls, storefronts,

some dating as far back
as 100 years.

All abandoned.

It's called Ivittuut
and it's a ghost town

that's been clearly ditched
for decades.

[narrator] Stranger
still, the buildings

are perched dangerously close
to the edge of a huge crater.

An imperfect circle, 750
feet long and 650 feet wide.

This crater really shouldn't be
there. It looks completely out of place.

What is this hole in the ground?

Could it have caused the town
to be abandoned?

[Leonard] This crater is right
on the edge of the coast.

Separated from the deep fjord by a tiny
sliver of land about the width of a footpath.

It almost looks
extraterrestrial.

This crater, it's full of water
that freezes every winter.

And it's so black, it's
like staring into the abyss.

[Morgan] Its cliff-like walls rise
20 to 30 feet above the water

which is pretty unusual because
there is no geological formation

anything like it anywhere
else in Greenland.

[Leonard] Our planet's surface is
pockmarked with thousands of meteor strikes.

The biggest ones have left
giant, jagged holes

and wreaked havoc
on Earth's ecosystem.

[narrator] In Mexico,

the Yucatan Peninsula bears the
scar of a meteorite as big as Manhattan

that crashed to Earth
66 million years ago.

It left a crater roughly
100 miles in diameter.

And wiped out more than
half of life on Earth.

[Leonard] When a meteorite
slams into the ground,

there's a massive
displacement of earth

that causes what's called
an impact rim.

But the Ivittuut crater
doesn't have a rim.

It just has cliffs.

[MacFerrin] Plus,
the Arsuk Fjord

looks to be shaped
by slow glacial activity,

not by a giant impact
from outer space.

I really don't think this
is a meteor crater.

[narrator] Researchers then wonder if
it was created from the ground beneath.

Sinkholes are known to form
in the Arctic region.

And when they do, they can
just suddenly appear.

They're one of the planet's great
unexplained natural phenomena.

[Morgan] Since 2014,
in Siberia's Yamal Peninsula,

at least 16 sinkholes
have been discovered.

And what's strange is, we're not
100% sure why they're happening.

[narrator] The leading theory is

a buildup of methane gas
under the permafrost,

pushes the ground up
like a bubble.

That creates a void underneath.

When the expanding ground
bursts, it sinks deep into the Earth.

Sinkholes that appear
in populated areas

have been known to swallow
cars and houses.

[Leonard] But the Siberian
sinkholes are inland,

on relatively soft permafrost.

Coastal Greenland is
more or less solid rock.

And much less likely
to release methane gas.

The Ivittuut crater doesn't quite
fit the definition of a sinkhole.

So, what is it?

[narrator] As researchers
explore the town,

they find a memorial for the
American troop ship, the SS Dorchester.

In 1943, the Dorchester
was in a convoy heading for

a newly-built US Army base
near Ivittuut.

When the convoy was attacked,

the Dorchester was sunk
by a German U-boat,

about 135 miles south
of Greenland.

In America's worst-ever
troop ship disaster,

675 lives were lost
in the icy waters.

During World War II, Greenland
had huge strategic value

and if the Germans were to
gain a foothold in Greenland,

it would theoretically put North
America within bombing range

of the German Air Force.

[MacFerrin] This American troop ship
had been sunk by Germans in Ivittuut.

Could this crater have been
formed by a German bomb attack?

[narrator] A strange crater
sits perched on the edge

of an abandoned town
in remote southwest Greenland.

Could it be evidence
from a World War II

German bomb attack
on Allied forces?

[Morgan] The crater
is almost 200 feet deep.

A bomb that size would have
flattened the town.

Ivittuut is run-down,
but not blown up.

And the hole is just too
close to the edge of the fjord

for it not to have collapsed
into the water.

This was a deliberate,
man-made crater, not an explosion.

[narrator] When researchers
inspect the perimeter,

they find it scattered
with unusual debris.

It looks like strange chunks of muddied ice
left behind by some weird glacial phenomenon.

It's an amazing semi-translucent
rock that almost looks like ice.

But it's not.

[narrator] The rock is a
rare mineral called cryolite,

which is a Greek word
meaning "ice stone."

Finding such a rare mineral means the
strange crater might have been a quarry.

That could explain why there
are different types of buildings

built around its edges.

[narrator] Could the US Navy
have been secretly mining cryolite?

And if so, why?

By 1940, conflict spread
across Europe and the Pacific.

Britain, America,
Germany and Japan

all embraced a new kind of war.

Battles once fought
on the ground,

would now be won or lost
in the sky.

[Cantor] The massive increase
in warplane production

demanded huge quantities
of aluminum.

[Leonard] Aluminum is valued for
its strength, durability and lightness.

It's the perfect material
for planes.

[Morgan] The increased demand
for aluminum

also fueled an increased
demand for cryolite.

[Leonard] Cryolite was critical
to the production of aluminum.

Because it helped reduce
the melting temperature

of bauxite ore from
which it was extracted.

[Cantor] In 1940, Ivittuut had the
world's largest deposit of cryolite.

One of only a handful
on the planet.

As German forces
swept across Europe,

the Americans wasted no time in protecting
the remote, but highly valuable quarry.

[narrator] In June 1941, six months
before the attack on Pearl Harbor,

American troops were sent to
Ivittuut with anti-aircraft guns.

In 1942, hundreds more troops
built a base three miles up the fjord,

complete with a naval port.

Their mission was to keep
cryolite out of German hands.

At its peak in 1942,
85,000 tons of cryolite

were shipped to smelters
across North America.

[Cantor] Without all
that cryolite,

the Allies might not have been
able to accelerate airplane production

which gave them air
superiority in World War II.

But if Ivittuut was so important,
why did it become a ghost town?

[narrator] After the war, demand
for aluminum radically dropped.

The mining operation continued for
another 40 years in a limited capacity,

But in 1987, the cryolite
quarry was declared empty.

Cryolite is now considered
to be the only mineral

to have ever been mined
into commercial extinction.

[MacFerrin] One by one, the miners
left the town until there was nobody left.

And now the secrets of this
place are really only known

to a small population of
Greenlanders who live in the area.

[Cantor] It's absolutely incredible
that in this forgotten place

at the edge of the Arctic
lies a secret central

to the Allied victory
in World War II.

[narrator] At the head
of Antarctica's Weddell Sea,

floats an ice shelf the size
of California.

On its surface stretches
endless ice a mile thick.

In January 2020,

a team of geologists begin drilling
down into the desolate frozen shelf.

This camp is about 160 miles
from the edge of the ice shelf.

There's no shelter
from fierce polar storms.

Even in 24-hour summer sun,
it's a bleak place to work.

[narrator] Conditions below
the crushing ice shelf

are not believed
to support life.

And the open ocean only
reaches the coastal edge.

But hidden below
its monumental area,

scientists are not so sure
what lies beneath.

Their goal is to go
where few have gone before.

Where the ocean floor
is a barren wasteland

that has been entombed by an
endless roof of ice for thousands of years.

[Leonard] They're hunting
for samples in the seabed

to find out what used to be
trapped in this Antarctic ice.

[narrator] What can be down
there that can shed new light

on how these massive
ice sheets affect the Earth?

After 20 painstaking hours, the team
bores through more than half a mile of ice.

[MacFerrin] Places where
the ice is this thick,

it's hard to get
to the seafloor.

The total amount of area
they've explored under there,

is probably the size of
a tennis court.

[Tait] To collect the
sediment, they need to lower

the sample collection kit on a
rope through a hole in the ice

and all the way
to the ocean floor,

[narrator] But at the bottom,
they hit something unexpected

that will shatter their
understanding of this secret world.

[MacFerrin] The camera
hits a boulder.

It's the only large rock
within at least 20 feet.

What are the odds?

So they've drilled all
the way through the ice

right over the one spot where
they can't get through to the seafloor.

[narrator] After a few
tense moments,

they free the kit from the rock.

And the camera
swings around the boulder.

[Leonard] Clinging to the
boulder are tiny tentacle-like things

that look like enoki mushrooms.

On the other side are what
look like sponge-type organisms.

And covering parts of the rock is a thin
layer of bacteria known as a microbial mat.

It's life.

[narrator] The existence
of life at this spot,

so far from the coast,
stuns experts.

How can sea creatures be living
in such an uninhabitable place?

[narrator] After sending
a camera down 4,600 feet

to the bottom of an ice shelf,

Antarctic experts are shocked
to find sea creatures

living where they thought
no life exists.

And recognize
the larger creatures

as types of marine sponge.

Beneath other ice shelfs,

researchers have found
rare mobile creatures.

But the creatures on this rock
can't move.

For this reason,
they were previously thought

to be the first type of organisms
to disappear under an ice shelf.

What could they possibly
feed on?

These sponges and bacteria,
they're filter feeders.

The rely on phytoplankton, and the
creatures that eat phytoplankton for food.

[narrator] Filter feeders eat
these microscopic pieces of food

suspended in the water
by filtering them through gills

or a specialized diffusion
system in their cells.

[Tait] The phytoplankton are microscopic
plants that need light for energy.

And this boulder is 160
miles from any trace of light.

[Leonard] Phytoplankton
can't survive here.

This severely limits marine
ecosystems' chances of survival.

So you have to wonder, what is keeping
the creatures on this boulder alive?

[narrator] At the edge of the ice
shelf, where the water is shallow,

an alien world of sea spiders sea
stars and urchins carpet the seafloor.

But sunlight more easily
penetrates this environment

feeding an entire ecosystem
of plants and algae.

This in turn feeds
larger wildlife

like fish, penguin,
whales and seals.

[Tait] As you travel further under
the ice shelf, there's less and less light.

And consequently,
less and less life.

But life in the pitch-black
isn't totally impossible.

[narrator] Deep into the
Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench,

26,000 feet below sea level,
there is absolutely no light.

And water pressure
is so intense,

human bones
would literally implode.

And yet, Mariana snailfish
still eke out an existence.

Very little can survive

and the ecosystem
is very limited at this depth.

So what do snailfish eat?

[narrator] Many marine
creatures that live on the seafloor

get their nutrients from
something called marine snow.

When marine creatures die,
they sink to the bottom.

Along the way, they're
eaten by other creatures.

Bodies are torn apart and they get
broken into smaller and smaller pieces.

Eventually they fall down
to the ocean floor,

becoming food for other
creatures thousands of feet below.

So, those snailfish at the
bottom of the Mariana Trench

are eating marine snow that could
have fallen as far as seven miles.

The fish, urchins and sea stars,

they can move around
and find their food.

But the sponges on this rock,
they're stuck there. They're immobile.

Their food has to find them.

And scientists have seen nothing
capable of creating marine snow

under the ice shelf.

How do they survive there?

[narrator] If nutrients aren't falling
from above, where are they coming from?

Hoping to shed light on the
creatures' uncanny survival,

they share the video footage
with colleagues

at the British Antarctic Survey.

[MacFerrin] So sometimes
as a scientist, you have to

flip your whole perspective
to uncover the truth.

So then they have to wonder

if the marine snow isn't
falling on the boulder vertically,

could it be drifting
in horizontally?

[narrator] The researchers
consult maps,

and pinpoint ocean
currents in the Ross Sea

capable of carrying marine
snow deep under the ice shelf.

But some currents are
a staggering 930 miles away.

In some cases a single
microscopic piece of plankton

could take years
to travel the distance.

That means the sponges and bacteria
on this boulder are being nourished

by materials that potentially
travelled up to 1,000 miles.

It's astonishing.

[Tait] That's hundreds of times
further than most marine snow travels.

Even in the deepest,
darkest parts of the ocean.

How does food travel
that kind of distance?

[narrator] As the far away currents bring
warmer seawater further under the ice shelf,

the water cools
and sinks to the bottom,

displacing the seawater
that was there before.

And that creates
a suction of sorts,

that moves a slow current that
can drag nutrients hundreds of miles,

to the sponges on this rock.

[Tait] So this accidental discovery is
an unexpected reminder that life on Earth

can thrive in extremely
nutrient-deprived environments.

[narrator] What other
creatures could be hidden

beneath the ice shelf
of the Weddell Sea?

Living in an otherworldly place

that was previously thought
unable to support life.

[narrator] Around 700 miles
from the North Pole,

along Greenland's
northwestern coastline,

ice floes collide into a long
desolate fjord called Foulke.

On the northern shore
of the Foulke fjord,

sits a remote windblown area
known as Etah.

In the winter,
Greenland is a place

only for those who know
what they're doing.

When the wind blows across
a barren landscape like that,

it can feel like a harsh
and alien world.

[narrator] In 2005, researchers
noticed something unusual

on a stretch of coast
usually hidden by snow.

They spot a dark out of place
pattern on the barren shore.

Once on the ground,

researchers find the eerie
remnants of an ancient people.

The oval foundations and tools
they unearth,

belong to the ancient Thule,

who were ancestors
of today's Inuit.

They began to arrive
in Greenland around 1100 AD.

Like the Inuit, the Thule
hunted and raised families

in the harshest
of Arctic conditions.

[Clarke] Almost everything they had was
repurposed from large animals they hunted

like polar bear,
the walrus, the seal.

They used the bones for tools,
the skin for clothes and boats,

and walrus oil for lamps.

[Leonard] They built dogsleds,

and had a simple drill
technology for making holes.

[narrator] But as researchers dig down
further on the desolate Thule settlement,

they uncover
something unexpected.

A cluster of four, strange ivory
carvings beside a pair of harpoons.

Experts think the four
carvings are of a sculpin fish,

a polar bear, and two
abstract-looking harpoons points.

But they are found at a depth that
predates the age of the Thule in this area.

[Elliott] They find them just
below the Thule settlement level.

This puts them at a time before it
became an established Thule site.

[narrator] Experts are at a
loss to explain their existence.

Who could have buried these
out of place carvings?

[narrator] While digging
on the settlement

of an ancient Arctic people
known as the Thule,

experts find a rare set
of carvings below the dig site

that they are
unable to identify.

[Clarke] Thule-carved objects are almost
exclusively female figurines, or objects

pertaining to their daily tasks
in a hunter-gatherer society.

[Leonard] But these carvings
use more traditionally male themes.

Harpoons and fish and bears would have
been within the male domain of hunting.

[narrator] Researchers decide
to continue their dig

in the hopes of finding
more clues.

[Leonard] Finding four carvings
close together is very rare.

It's almost like they've been
placed there as a group on purpose.

Not just dropped by accident.

[narrator] At the same level
as the strange carvings,

researchers find the telltale sign
of an even more mysterious people.

They discover unmistakable
tools and objects,

belonging to a legendary group
of Arctic inhabitants

known as the Late Dorset.

Inuit oral histories describe
a group of huge people

who were taller and stronger than
the Thule and wanted no contact.

It would be eerie and unsettling to
be in such a barren and harsh place

and to come across somebody and
they just want to keep to themselves?

Who are these people?

[narrator] The Late Dorset people
first arrived in Greenland around 800 AD,

before the Thule.

But over 400 years later,
all traces of them vanish.

The weird thing is,
scientists still don't know

if the Thule and the Dorset
ever coexisted,

even though their settlement
dates do seem to overlap.

It's very strange.

Some believe the Thule assimilated
the Dorset into their culture.

While others believe the two
groups never encountered each other.

The Late Dorset people vanish around
the same time that the Thule people appear.

So it's suspicious.

But there must be something
special about this place

that makes both peoples
want to live in this location.

[narrator] Researchers scour
the area for clues

and realize that for a people
living off the land,

the location of Etah
could have been an oasis.

Etah sits near a polynya,

a place that has open water
year-round, but is surrounded by sea ice.

Polynyas attract a variety
of wildlife.

Not just sea mammals, but land
mammals and birds, like the little auk.

If you live here, it gives you a
fighting chance to survive year-round,

when existence elsewhere
could be pretty grim.

It could easily be that this place had
a ton of food so it's worth fighting for.

[narrator] Could there
have been a conflict

between the Thule and the
Dorset for nearby resources?

There was a lot of evidence of
toolmaking at the site

from both the Dorset
and the Thule.

So we know that they both spent time in the
area in both temporary and stone shelters.

But researchers have found
no evidence at Etah of a battle.

No weapons of war, no piles of
bodies, no violently broken bones.

[narrator] They haven't found evidence of
Late Dorset battles anywhere in Greenland.

But if it wasn't a battle, how else
could the population collapse so quickly?

[narrator] Experts
are unable to explain

how a mysterious Arctic people
known as the Late Dorset,

just disappeared after living
in the area for 400 years.

Sometimes, when an ancient people
just vanish from an area like this,

the explanation can be
as simple as disease.

[Leonard] The Vikings were known
to be in Greenland at that time.

Could they have contracted a disease
to which they had little immunity?

It's possible.

[Elliott] But there's no proof.

Almost no Dorset DNA
has been found anywhere.

There are no bodies to study.

Which leads researchers
to think the Dorset did not

follow the custom
of burying their dead.

[Leonard] They seem to
have truly vanished.

And the archeological record
just doesn't provide enough clues.

[narrator] Faced with
scant evidence,

researchers turn to the
mysterious cluster of four carvings

to help shed light on
why the Dorset vanished.

[Clarke] Maybe the two carved
harpoon points found in the cluster

can give us a clue as to
their hunting techniques.

In some senses the
Dorset lived quite differently

from other Arctic hunters
that came before or after them.

Researchers are baffled that they
didn't use bow and arrow technology.

[Clarke] Instead of using bows, they
would hunt primarily with harpoons.

So a lot like polar bears,
they would hunt in ice holes,

looking for prey like seals
and walrus.

As opposed to the Thule, they
didn't develop drilling technology,

build boats or dogsleds.

[narrator] Maybe their lack of boat
technology limited their harvesting of animals

they otherwise
could have hunted.

When you're an Arctic hunter
living essentially hand-to-mouth,

if you have a month of bad luck,

things can quickly
get desperate.

[narrator] The carvings may
hint at something more sinister.

Despite living in an area
teeming with wildlife,

could the Late Dorset
have died from starvation?

In the summer months,
sea ice is often inaccessible,

or too thin to be reliable.

So maybe hunting sea
mammals became too difficult.

[Elliott] For whatever reason,
boats and bows and arrows

are innovations that
the Dorset just didn't adopt.

And that could have contributed
to their inability to find enough food.

[narrator] But when
researchers compare

the mysterious set of carvings
to another find,

they are stunned.

The four Etah carvings,

along with the harpoons
recovered beside the cluster,

parallel another cluster
of carvings

and harpoon found on at site on
Canada's Little Cornwallis Island,

about 400 miles south.

Even though they're found so far
apart, they look practically identical.

How can this be?

[narrator] On close
inspection, experts establish

they were not made
by the same person.

When they look at the carvings
under magnification,

they can tell from the marks
and the tools used

that different artists
made them.

But stylistically,

the carvings are almost
identical in practically every detail.

They're even similar in size.
It's incredible.

[Morgan] The carvings could be some
kind of standardized religious objects.

Or could they be relics used during
sacred rituals to ensure good hunts?

The bear carving might actually
represent the stalking pose

that polar bears use
when hunting seals on the ice.

They often lie flat
in order to hide themselves

so that when a seal pops up
for air or for a rest,

they can pounce.

Maybe this technique was
revered and standardized.

Then it was passed on
to other Dorset communities

by shamans during rituals
to ensure success.

For the Dorset, these objects
may have been

a very powerful way
to summon supernatural forces.

[Elliott] That might
seem far-fetched.

But if you look around,
all cultures have ways

that they try to
influence the future.

Or the real meanings of the carvings
could be staring at us right in the face.

Saying, "This is who we are.

We hunt like bears,
but with harpoons."

The disappearance of the
Dorset people is a real mystery

that perhaps might never
be understood.

[narrator] The finds of the
Late Dorset carvings in Etah,

give tantalizing clues
of an isolated people

surviving and thriving in the harshest
elements the world has to offer.

But what happened to them

still remains
a secret in the ice.