America Unearthed (2012–…): Season 4, Episode 5 - Phoenicians in America - full transcript
Scott Wolter wants to know if an inscribed rock found in Wyoming is a good-luck charm left by Phoenician explorers more than 2,000 years ago.
♪♪
Wolter: The story of our past
hinges on present day finds.
This is a crazy, weird chamber,
And it is in the
middle of nowhere.
The landscape hides
the unexpected.
Do you think that
giants built this wall?
That's for you
guys to figure out.
And the unexplored.
That could be the
entrance to the treasure.
My job is to explain
the unexplainable.
The only question I have is,
"where am I going next?"
The history that we were
all taught growing up is wrong.
My name is scott wolter,
and I'm a forensic geologist.
There's a hidden history in this
country that nobody knows about.
There are pyramids here,
Chambers, tombs, inscriptions.
They're all over this country.
We're gonna investigate
these artifacts and sites,
And we're gonna
get to the truth.
Sometimes, history
isn't what we've been told.
AMERICA UNEARTHED - SEASON 4
EP - 5 - Phoenicians in America
♪♪
Kids have long been taught
that the first european
To reach america was
christopher columbus in 1492,
But that's not true.
We now know the
vikings beat him,
But I think other explorers
did too, centuries earlier.
I'm always looking for
more definitive proof,
And today I'm feeling lucky.
I'm heading to rock springs,
wyoming,
Where a husband and wife want
to show me a good luck charm
That they believe
proves the phoenicians,
Famous ancient sailors
of the mediterranean,
Came here to the cowboy state
Over 1,000 years
before columbus.
If they're right, it'll rewrite
the history books forever.
- Hi, guys.
- Hey, hi.
- You must be patrice.
- I am patrice.
- And don.
- Yep, good to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
So I understand you
have an artifact.
Can I take a look at it?
- She's got it with her.
- Okay.
Wow, this is awesome!
So who found this?
My mom did, years ago.
Like what, 75 years ago?
It's a sandstone for sure.
There's definitely
carved characters here.
This is definitely manmade,
no doubt about that.
My mom, she was 12 years
old when she found it.
Come upon it, and knew it was
Something more than
just an ordinary rock.
Where was it found?
Somewhere up here, right?
It was. I can take you
to the general area.
Well, I would like to see
roughly where it came from.
- All right. Let's do it.
- Okay.
Wolter: Rock springs is known as
the home of 56 nationalities
Because an influx of
immigrants came to work
In the coal mines here
in the late 1800s,
But if this artifact proves
the phoenicians came here
2,000 years ago, they
might have to start
Calling it the home of 57.
First and foremost, I want
to look at the geology.
♪♪
The question is, "could this
rock have come from this area?"
The answer is, "yes."
This is a sandstone,
this is a sandstone,
And if you look at them,
the size of the sand grains
In this sandstone
look very similar.
Wolter: If the carved stone
don's mom found
Was something other
than sandstone,
We'd know it could
have come from afar,
But because more than
half the exposed rock
In the phoenician's home
base, modern day lebanon,
Is sandstone just like this,
Which is a trademark of
the city's architecture,
I need more evidence to
figure out if this rock
Was carved here in wyoming
or half a world away.
Wolter: Why was
your mother up here?
Don: She was up
here horseback riding.
Wolter: Lorene bolen was a
coal miner's daughter,
Who moved from rural indiana
to wyoming when she was young.
After losing her dad to a
freak accident at age 9,
Lorene was a kid who
could use a lucky break.
She was up here by
some water tanks,
And she stopped there and
just happened to notice it.
What happened next?
Well, she took it home.
She had it with her
a lot of the time,
And showed it to
a lot of people,
But nobody could
tell her what it was.
She sent pictures of it to
the university of wyoming,
And they didn't
know what it was.
She just always was
trying to find out.
She was curious.
- She was very curious.
- Very much so.
Did she go to anyone else?
She sent a copy of the
picture to the smithsonian.
They sent a letter back
saying it's really nothing.
They didn't want anything
to do with it, basically,
And so she got mad and
threw the letter away.
Well, that doesn't surprise me.
The smithsonian doesn't
particularly care for anybody
Who brings something forward
That might change the
historical narrative.
Besides the smithsonian,
Did anybody else look
at the inscription?
Yes.
Here's the letter
from dr. Barry fell
Who was immediately able
To identify and
translate the script.
Barry fell, he was a
scholar from harvard.
He was one of the
first guys to come out
Who was an academic
to say that, "yes,
There were people that came
here long before columbus."
In fact, people had been coming
here for thousands of years.
It mentions phoenician
people in there.
The way he explained it
is it starts and goes,
It goes vertically
first, start at the top,
And do an s-shape
on the way down.
And here's the translation.
Keep safe.
Do not break the stone.
Misfortune it turns away.
It protects against evil.
Strikes harm and turns it aside.
Wolter: We know the phoenicians
were merchant sailors.
You see their ships
and exploits depicted
In the art of their neighbors,
the egyptians and the greeks.
And herodotus, known as the
world's first historian,
Wrote about the
phoenician's claim
To have circumnavigated africa.
Maybe a phoenician sailor
left behind an inscribed rock
That later became lorene bolen's
good luck charm.
I'm open to the idea,
because of everything
I know about the phoenicians.
Basically what
barry fell is saying
Is that this is an amulet
or a good luck charm.
Something to keep
bad spirits away.
Does that make sense?
We think so.
It does with my
mom's life, yeah.
With your mom's life,
what do you mean by that?
There was a time when she
went to jackpot, nevada,
When she was down to her
last couple of quarters,
Put them in a slot
machine, and won $48,000.
She hit it big!
Let me guess, she attributed it
To this good luck charm, right?
I think in a lot
of ways, she did.
Wolter: This isn't the first
time I've investigated
The possibility that the
phoenicians made it to america.
A while back, I met a
professor in new England
Who theorized there
was a map of the world
Hidden on the back
of a phoenician coin
Minted in 350 b.C.
♪♪
Wolter: The question is,
"could the phoenicians
Have gotten here and
carved that stone?"
The oceans and rivers
were not barriers
Like many people think.
I mean, they were
highways, super highways,
Especially going back
thousands of years.
Wolter: I've seen evidence of
pre-columbian contact
All over the americas.
Ancient mariners like the
vikings, the early irish,
And the polynesians left
behind rock formations,
Language, and canoe
building technology.
In the case of the polynesians,
They even brought back
foods like the sweet potato.
Now, there's a little more
That I'd like to
do with the stone.
I've got a microscope.
Is it okay if we take a look?
- Let's do it.
- That would be awesome.
Okay.
Wolter: The growth of
microscopic organisms
Or evidence of erosion can help
me date artifacts like this.
Okay, here we go.
That's coming up
pretty good there.
You can see the carved lines.
Focus it just a
little bit there.
♪♪
Huh.
I'm seeing something
I don't like.
Has somebody messed
with this at all,
Or done something to it?
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
I see something
here I don't like.
Has somebody been
messing with this?
Yeah. My mom, naive,
Tried to get a picture of it
And it didn't show up very
well, so she took a nail to it.
So she recut the carvings?
She went in deeper so it
would photograph better.
Wolter: If someone scratches
over old marks,
They might as well
be fresh ones.
She was trying to be helpful,
but unfortunately for me,
A lot of the evidence that is
the most helpful in aging this
Would be in the grooves,
And if she scratched it
out, that evidence is gone.
Wolter: Since lorene ran a nail
across the original inscription,
There's no way to see
the natural weathering,
And no microorganisms left
inside for me to date.
When someone uses
something sharp
To clean out an inscription,
I can no longer tell
How naturally weathered and worn
The edges of the
inscription were,
Meaning there's
no way to evaluate
How long ago it was carved.
You know this is unfortunate,
but I think I have a plan,
Another way that we can
get to the bottom of this.
♪♪
Wolter: It's too bad I won't be
able to accurately date
Lorene bolen's carving,
But I know of a secret
shoshone site here in wyoming
That might support phoenician
contact with this area
As long as 2,000 years ago.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Well, linea,
I just recently looked at an artifact
That has been interpreted
to be phoenician script.
The reason I am here
is to see if this site
Potentially has a connection
To the phoenicians coming
here to the new world.
If there is a connection, we
can look for it right here.
♪♪
Wolter: I'm told there is
evidence of a shoshone legend
Called the "water ghost woman"
on this stone outcrop
In the middle of nowhere.
Sundstrom: Why don't you tell me
What you think
you're seeing here.
This one here looks like a
female, am I right about that?
Mm-hmm.
She's a ghost, and
she lives in the water
So she's called
the "water ghost woman."
Okay.
The eastern shoshone
who lived around here,
This is an important figure
in their belief system.
She's depicted as either
very beautiful and young,
Or as a hideous old hag.
And she can go from one
to the other rapidly.
Ah, are those tears?
You can very plainly see the
tear streaks on her face.
When you hear her crying,
you feel sorry for her
And you want to help, so
you approach the sound
Of this crying woman,
and the next thing
You know, you've been drowned.
Wolter: This legend is eerily
similar to that of the sirens,
Characters from greek mythology
the phoenicians believed in.
The sirens were dangerous
creatures,
Whose enchanting songs
Drew unsuspecting
sailors to shipwreck.
Wolter: Maybe this indicates
that there was some type of contact
Between the phoenicians
and the shoshone.
Now that doesn't mean that
it does, but it could.
How would they have gotten here?
Well, if they sail across
the atlantic ocean,
They could come into the
gulf, sail up the mississippi,
Then they could have taken
either the arkansas river,
Or the platte river
with a portage
Not too far to the east here,
And it would put you
right into this area.
How old do you think
these petroglyphs are?
This type of rock
art was probably made
Within the last 2,000 years,
maybe a little bit older,
Maybe 3,000 years from now.
2 to 3,000.
That's an educated guess.
Well, I like those numbers.
I like those numbers a lot,
Because if we are
gonna make the argument
That the phoenicians could
possibly be connected here,
You got to go back
at least 2,000 years
And 2 to 3,000 years would
be right in the wheelhouse
That actually does make sense.
Doesn't prove it, but I
really like those numbers.
Wolter:
The idea that the phoenicians
Exchanged myths with the
shoshone is fascinating.
If it's true, it
would go a long way
Towards supporting the
idea that lorene bolen
Found a genuine phoenician
good luck charm.
Before I can buy
into that theory,
I need to figure out if the
phoenicians were even capable
Of sailing to america
in the first place.
♪♪
♪♪
I need to see a phoenician boat,
And there's only one
good seaworthy example
In the entire world.
♪♪
♪♪
- Philip?
- Hi, welcome to phoenicia.
Well, thank you. Wow
so this is it, huh?
This is it.
Well, this is pretty impressive.
Tell me a little big about
this ship. It's really cool.
Well, she's a great ship.
Phoenicia has the only
phoenician sailing ship
In existence as a working ship,
a proper seagoing ship,
And it was built
as near as possible
As an exact replica as
one could possibly have.
Wolter: What are some
of the features here
That are unique to the
phoenician ship builders?
The phoenicians created the
first rigid hulled boats.
Up until that point,
The ships had literally
been sewn together.
So this stiff design was to
Withstand the large waves
on the oceans, right?
That's it.
That's what enabled the
phoenicians to trade
More successfully
than anyone else.
Wolter: Wherever they went,
the phoenicians
Brought the phoenician alphabet,
And their most
famous trade item,
A dye known as tyrian
purple, named after tyre,
One of their four
mediterranean kingdoms.
More valuable than gold,
it started the tradition
Of royals wearing purple robes
And earned the phoenicians
the name the "purple people."
♪♪
Look at the craftsmanship.
It's all handwork, right?
Yeah, all done by hand.
What's really impressive
Are these little dowel marks
there that you can see.
- Oh, right here?
- Yep.
The romans called it
the phoenician joint,
And I've got a little
model of it here.
So here are the two planks.
This is the peg, and
these are the dowels
That are locking it in place.
So it's a really
rigid construction.
Watertight joint
right here, right?
And then not only that,
But the phoenicians
did one better.
They were the first to use
iron nails in the construction.
So this was what helped
make the phoenician ships
Undoubtedly the strongest ships
ever produced at that time.
The way it's built, I mean
this thing looks like a tank,
Which brings me to a question
I want to ask you back up top.
Sure.
♪♪
So, one sail and one mast.
I'm a little
skeptical that a ship
Could navigate the open
oceans with one sail.
Certainly one sail makes
sailing a real challenge.
However, the phoenicians
were clever people.
They knew which way the winds
and currents were flowing.
The open ocean
would have presented
No fears for the phoenicians.
Wolter: There's good reason to
believe the phoenicians
Circumnavigated africa.
They made a statement
that, as they sailed,
They had the sun on their
right to northward of them.
That's only possible
if they rounded
The cape of good hope
while heading west,
Which no one had
ever done before.
Then in 1990, in senegal, the
most western point in africa,
French anthropologists
studied 14 unfamiliar letters
Found on cattle brands and
determined the closest match
Was phoenician,
not greek, latin,
Chinese, or any african
language, but phoenician.
Wolter: How far have you
taken this out on the open ocean?
We've been around some
of the toughest points,
Like going around the
cape of good hope.
But in the atlantic, you
know, we got pushed right out,
And at one point we were just
700 miles from
the florida coast.
So we spent 80-odd
days in the atlantic.
Okay, if you got within
700 miles of florida,
How many days if you wanted to
go to florida would it take?
It would have taken probably
Another 10 or 12 days to
get to america from there.
Well philip, I'm very impressed,
And you've pretty much
answered all my questions,
But let me ask you point blank.
Do you think the phoenicians
made it to north america?
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Let me
ask you point blank.
Do you think the phoenicians
made it to north america?
Yeah, I believe that
they did make it there.
They had the ability,
they had the means,
And undoubtedly, they had the
ships that could have done it.
What we need to
find is the proof.
I have a hunch the
key to this mystery
Lies in what the phoenicians
Brought back from their voyages.
The ships that herodotus
Talks about
circumnavigating africa,
They would have been
trading vessels.
Right. So they were
carrying big loads.
Copper is one thing
that I think about.
They were certainly
huge metal traders,
And the middle east was
always short of metal.
Wolter: Historians struggle to
explain
Where all the copper used in
europe's bronze age came from.
It's got me wondering,
"could the phoenicians
Have brought it back
with them from wyoming,
Where copper mining
was once big business?"
Wolter: Basically,
you're telling me
They could have
made it to the gulf.
The question I want to
know is could your ship
Go up a river,
and if so how far?
A ship like this could certainly
Navigate up a river
quite a long way.
I've always believed
that science one day
Will prove that the
phoenicians got to america.
Well, you and I are on
the same page there.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Now that I have no
doubt the phoenicians
Could have sailed
to north america
And through rivers
in its interior,
I need to take this
investigation to the next level.
I'm back in wyoming to check out
An old copper mine
with a local historian.
My goal?
To find a representative
sample of native copper
So I can compare it to the
copper the phoenicians used.
You really think that
the phoenicians
Came all the way
out here to wyoming?
Well, I'm not saying
that they did come.
I'm saying that
they could've come.
If they did come, they had to
have had strong motivation,
And in my mind the
strong motivation
Would have been copper,
But I want to investigate it,
And I think I have way we
might be able to test it
To really bring some strong
evidence, if it works out.
Wolter: If I can find some
copper from the area,
I can compare it to copper
the phoenicians used
To create bronze to see if
it's of the same purity.
But first, I have
to get to the mine,
And that's not gonna
be a walk in the park.
♪♪
Because of the mining industry,
both past and present,
Wyoming is crisscrossed
with rugged roads
Used to haul everything
from coal to gems and metals
Like the copper
I'm going to find.
♪♪
♪♪
And look at these ruins here.
This is the
ferris-haggarty mine.
They discovered
copper here in 1897.
It caused this entire
area to absolutely boom.
Over 5,000 people
migrated to this area
For the copper mining boom.
If this was such a booming
heyday at one time,
Copper everywhere,
what happened?
Around 1908, copper
prices plunged.
They absolutely plunged.
On top of that, there were a
series of fires at the smelter,
And so it becomes very difficult
to keep the profits going.
Well, actually, that makes
a lot of sense, you know.
It was like a perfect
storm of bad luck.
What I'd like to do
is see if we can find
A good piece of native copper
Or a rock that has
native copper in it,
And I'd like to test
it with some copper
That we know came from europe
That's associated
with the phoenicians
Because we can look for trace
elements in both pieces.
These trace elements are
like a dna fingerprint,
And the copper here is gonna
have its own dna fingerprint.
If we can get a match, well,
now we're cooking with gas.
The guy who finds the
best piece buys the beer.
- Deal.
- All right, man.
Let's go!
Wolter: To find copper, I'm
looking for green.
There's a fancy name
for it... verdigris.
That's the color you get
when copper's weathered
And exposed to air or
sea water over time.
All the copper in this mine
will have the same purity,
But I'm looking for a piece
with a solid copper vein
Running through it that's
big enough to test.
- See all this stuff?
- Yep.
This is the stuff
I wanted to see.
What it tells you is there's
definitely copper here,
So it's obviously it's
coming out of the water.
Wolter:
My goal is to connect the dots
From lorene bolen's
good luck charm
To the phoenicians who
may have carved it
To the copper they may have
come to wyoming to mine.
Once I find a good-sized
sample of wyoming copper,
I'll test it to see if it has
the same elemental fingerprint
As copper used in
phoenician artifacts.
If it does, it might
be strong evidence
That the phoenicians came here,
And brought this
copper back home.
Wolter:
So, this is one of the
main shafts, I assume.
Yes, it is.
Okay.
"bad air." - yep.
- "keep out."
- yep.
- Skull and crossbones?
- I'm not going near there.
I'm not going in there either.
Clearly the water's flowing out
And it's coloring the rocks.
There's got to be some
copper specimens here.
♪♪
There's some.
Most copper is not
gonna be visible, right?
But I bet you
there's some in here.
Oh, yeah, I can see it.
If you look close, you can
see it with the naked eye,
But yeah, it's peppered
all through there.
- Can I see?
- Yeah, absolutely.
Can I take that one?
- Absolutely, it's yours.
So, remember what I said
About the guy who
finds the copper?
Yeah, that he's the
one who buys the beers.
That's not what I remember.
- No?
- But I tell you what.
Either way, we both win.
Okay, sounds good.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: What I need to do
next is figure out
If the copper in this
sample from wyoming
Matches the purity of the copper
found in phoenician artifacts.
And I'm back in minnesota
to do just that.
If it has the same
elemental fingerprint,
Then I'll have even
more reason to believe
The phoenicians
made it to america,
Took the copper back home,
and possibly left behind
The inscription lorene bolen
found when she was a kid.
Lori, the reason I'm here is
I was recently at a
copper mine in wyoming,
And I collected a sample,
And what I'd like
you to help me with
Is to test it for its
trace element content.
Definitely, we're gonna
be able to image it
And get elemental information.
I'm investigating the
possibility that phoenicians
Came to north america
over 2,000 years ago.
If its trace element profile
will match known samples
That have already been tested,
That will go a long way to
proving that the phoenicians
Came to north america,
collected copper,
And then brought it back.
Sound like something we can do?
Yeah, absolutely.
I've got the sample right here.
One concern that I've got,
between extracting this
And everybody looking
at it, handling it,
That the surface
could be contaminated.
So it might be better if
we can get a fresh cleave
Off of this to have a
pristine surface to analyze.
Well, it's certainly
been handled,
So I understand the
contamination possibility.
Let's take a look.
You know what, we have
a fracture right here.
Oh, perfect.
Actually, we have a crack
that goes all the way around.
If we pop this thing with
your chisel and hammer,
I bet we'll probably be
able to get two pieces.
Okay.
♪♪
I'm gonna hit it
right along there.
Let's see how it goes, ready?
Perfect.
Wolter:
Now we have two uncontaminated
surfaces to examine,
So we fire up the scanning
electron microscope
To take a close look.
It magnifies what we're
seeing 10,000 times.
- So we've got the sample here.
- Okay.
Then we'll get this
in the instrument.
♪♪
Lavanier:
There's an electron beam
That's going to be striking
the surface of the sample,
And that's what
we're actually using
To detect the elemental
composition of the sample.
Okay, so you're gonna be
hitting it with electrons,
And it will record those and
give us the quantity, right?
- Yes.
- Perfect.
- Well, let's turn the beam on.
- All right.
Wolter: We're going to zap our
copper sample with an electron beam.
When that happens, elements
will fly off our rock.
The scanning electron microscope
Will catch those pieces
and analyze them.
That's how we figure out exactly
what this rock is made of.
We're looking for a fleck
of copper to zoom in on.
That's a nice shot.
Can we grab that photo?
- Yep.
- That's beautiful...
...As rocks go.
[ both laugh ]
Wolter: Now that we're
zeroed in, we can see
What this rock is made of.
You can see things are moving
and glowing a little bit.
So the heavier the element,
the brighter it'll appear
On the screen.
So copper on this should
appear somewhat brighter.
This brightest region here
might be the area of interest
So let's take a scan in here.
- Yeah, let's zoom
In there and see what we get.
Ah, very interesting.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: As lori zooms in on
the copper sample,
I can tell she sees
something important.
Ah, very interesting.
Are you getting a pretty
strong peak for copper.
It's fairly strong, but
equally as strong with iron.
Okay, so those are
in there together?
Yes.
Copper, iron, sulfur,
silicon, aluminum, magnesium.
Okay.
Wolter:
My sample isn't pure copper,
and neither is the rest
Of the copper at the
ferris-haggarty mine.
It doesn't even come close.
So we're talking 41,
almost 42% copper.
It has lots a copper in it,
but it has lots of other stuff.
Unfortunately lori, that's
just not gonna do it.
That is not a high
enough concentration
Because the samples
that I wanted
To compare it with were
98% and 99% pure copper.
We're a long way from that.
Wolter: I did a little more
digging and found out
There aren't any
ultra-pure copper deposits
In wyoming or anywhere
else in the u.S.,
Except for michigan's
upper peninsula.
A few years back, I investigated
the perplexing mine pits
In the great lakes region.
Someone pulled
copper out of there,
And the big mystery has
always been, "who did it?"
I gave credit to the minoans,
an earlier sailing culture
Who disappeared mysteriously
from the island of crete
In 1200 b.C.
Now, I feel strongly
that phoenicians went
To the great lakes, too.
The copper in wyoming
wouldn't have satisfied them.
That's not anywhere
near what I think
The phoenicians
would be looking for.
Back then, if they came up
to this part of the country,
In the saint lawrence river
to the great lakes area,
You're gonna find copper that,
After the glaciers had
melted away,
Was just laying on the ground.
99% plus pure copper.
And to me, that would make
a heck of a lot more sense
Than trying to mine this
material that you would have
To smelt to
concentrate the copper.
And that's expensive,
time consuming.
They wouldn't have
done that over here.
They would go for
the easy pickings.
Wolter:
Bottom line, this copper isn't
What the phoenicians
were using in europe.
This doesn't prove that
the phoenicians didn't come
To wyoming, it just
doesn't help our case.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: I'll admit it, I'm
disappointed the copper
In wyoming isn't pure
enough for the phoenicians
To bother with.
That doesn't mean that they
didn't come to wyoming,
Or that lorene bolen didn't find
An authentic
phoenician artifact.
My new theory?
That minoans handed
copper and their knowledge
Of the new world to their
neighbors, the phoenicians.
It's a pretty narrow window.
The minoans vanish
around 1200 b.C.,
And that's when phoenician
script first appears.
Still, the ancients knew a lot,
More than we give
them credit for.
Sometimes knowledge
gets lost over time.
That's why I'm going to
check out the map collection
At the world-class library
here in minneapolis.
They have an ancient map that
I think has a hidden detail
To help prove the
phoenicians came here
Long before columbus.
- Hello, marguerite.
- Hi, scott.
Nice to meet you.
Welcome the james
ford bell library.
Well, thank you.
I understand that you have some
of the oldest surviving maps
In the world, is that true?
That's true.
The bell library has more
than 40,000 items dating back
To the year 400. - Amazing.
What I'm specifically
looking for is a copy
Of claudius ptolemy's
"geographia."
I pulled two from
the late 15th century
For you, so let's
go take a look.
Wolter: Claudius ptolemy
was a 2nd century
Greco-roman geographer
famous for creating
An atlas called "geographia."
This is a ptolemy
atlas printed in 1490.
If this is late-15th
century, ptolemy lived back
In the 2nd century, right?
- That's correct.
Wow! Look at that.
So this is over 500 years old.
- It is!
It's amazing!
Wolter: It's amazing,
but I have to admit, it barely resembles
A world map of today, and I
can't tell what I'm looking at.
This one is only
a few years later.
It's in color, so it's a
little bit easier to see.
Help me understand
what's going on here.
What am I looking at?
- This is the known world.
The world of ptolemy
didn't really understand
That the ocean goes any further.
So that's the extent
of the known world
As far as he was concerned.
Wolter: There are only three
continents on ptolemy's map...
Europe,
Africa,
And asia.
And they are a total different
shape than you'd expect.
Compared to a modern-day map,
Countries like Italy
look horizontal.
But why?
Ragnow: He actually
calculated the circumference
Of the earth too small.
And then, to make his theory
work, ptolemy sort of fudged
The way he fit things in so
that he can get everything
To work within the two
points that he says are
The limits of the known world.
Wolter: Not long ago,
an italian researcher
Named lucio russo made
A startling claim that this
map actually does show more
Of the world than
anyone ever considered.
And that's what I
came here to see.
What I'm interested
in now is looking here
At these islands right here.
So those are labeled
the fortunate islands,
Which we believe ptolemy
meant the canary islands.
But we don't know
that for sure, right?
We don't.
Wolter: Taking into account
ptolemy's mistake
In his latitude calculation,
lucio russo deduced
That these islands pictured
off the coast of africa are not
The canary islands, as
historians long believe,
But actually,
the lesser antilles.
Islands like dominica,
st. Lucia, and trinidad
In the new world.
Wolter: Russo says
that they are the antilles.
Ragnow: He's arguing
that these aren't the canaries
That these are
actually the antilles
That ptolemy just puts way
too close to the continent.
If these are really
the antilles,
Than somebody must
have discovered them
And communicated
that information
Back to ancient greece.
Somebody had to have been there.
Somebody had to have been there.
Somebody knew about the
new world, going back
To ptolemy's time and before...
Probably before.
And really, the only
candidate we have,
The most logical
candidate, would have
To be the phoenicians.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Is it possible that an
ancient phoenician sailor left
Behind an artifact in wyoming?
If so, they had to get here.
And according to italian
researcher lucio russo,
An ancient greek map by
claudius ptolemy suggests
They may have done just that
more than 2,000 years ago
On a ship like the one
philip beal recreated.
♪♪
I'm on my way to wyoming to
follow up on one last thing
That could tell me whether
lorene bolen's artifact is
The proof that's
long been missing.
Early translations from
1982 suggested it said,
"keep safe.
Do not break the stone.
Misfortune it turns away.
It protects against evil,
Strikes harm
and turns it aside."
But I think I need a
present-day scholar to weigh in,
Someone who has the
benefit of more knowledge
That's been collected about
the culture and the language.
Well, brian, help me
understand phoenician script
A little bit.
It's safe to say at a minimum
that the phoenicians had
A very heavy influence
on the development
Of written language, right?
The alphabet is one of the
great cultural achievements
In all of world history, period.
And the phoenicians
played a massive role
In making that work.
Wolter: Before the phoenicians,
cultures in the mediterranean
Were using a lot of different
Cuneiform symbols
to communicate.
It made it hard to trade
goods with other cultures.
The phoenicians came up
with 22 letters based
On egyptian hieroglyphics
in the 12th century b.C.,
Which they encouraged
other cultures to adopt
And which inspired
our alphabet today.
They can't be credited
with inventing
The alphabet from scratch.
They can be credited
with popularizing it.
And the phoenicians were
really the pioneers.
They did a magnificent
cultural service
With their alphabet.
We know that that
the phoenicians were,
In a word, amazing.
And we know that the
phoenicians went all
Throughout the mediterranean.
We know that they broke
across the top of africa
And down, maybe
circumnavigated africa,
Maybe were the first
people from the region
To break out into
the atlantic ocean.
Well, we'll see here.
It's moment of truth. - Yes.
Here is the stone.
Ah, very nice.
Barry fell was somebody
they considered
To be an expert.
He said it was
definitely phoenician.
I'm honored that you asked
me to take a look at it.
I love things like this.
It's a great little piece.
I mean, when I look
at it, clearly
Somebody was doing
something on this, right.
So you agree it's manmade?
Somebody was inscribing
something on this.
I mean, these are very
distinctive marks.
I wanted to get an opinion
of an expert today.
Somebody who has the benefit
of new knowledge.
And so, I ask you,
Is this a legitimate
phoenician inscription?
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: I'm speaking to an
expert in ancient languages
To see if the artifact
lorene bolen found
In rock springs, wyoming,
is the proof
That's long been
missing that suggests
Phoenicians made it to
america 2,000 years ago.
Is this a legitimate
phoenician inscription?
♪♪
I have some bad news.
I would say no.
I would say it's not.
What do you see that tells you
That this is not phoenician?
The phoenician script
was standardized.
Wolter: Real phoenician
script, which dates
To the 8th century b.C.,
has known letters.
And while lorene bolen's
inscribed rock has a few marks
That could be phoenician, the
rest of it is unrecognizable.
Dork: This triangular shape,
a very clear horizontal one,
But a dalet, or a letter d,
pretty much like our letter d.
A triangle, this is
where we get this from.
I mean, this is clearly
something, right?
- Oh, yeah.
- This isn't nothing.
Somebody incised these
markings in here.
The question is what is it
and what were they trying
To do, and at what time period?
There are too many
letters, though,
That have no correspondence
to any phoenician character.
Unfortunately, I'm
gonna have to deliver
Some bad news to
don and patrice.
But in the end, the
data's the data.
The results are the
results, and thanks
For helping me get there.
- My pleasure, thank you.
♪♪
Wolter: In the case of the
bolen's good luck charm being
An authentic phoenician
artifact, it is bad news.
But in the case of
proving how likely it is
Phoenicians made it to america,
I think I did get lucky.
I now have more evidence
than before suggesting
They could've made it here
and back in ancient times.
♪♪
♪♪
First things first, I told you
I'd bring the artifact back.
And there it is. - Thank you.
I just met with a linguist,
and his conclusion is
This is not a genuine
phoenician artifact.
[ chuckles ]
I wish it was real
from that time.
Not more than me.
A little disappointed, but
we know it's something,
We just don't know
what it is yet.
This still begs the question,
"could the phoenicians have
come to north america,"
And specifically, "could
they have come to wyoming?"
The answer is "yes."
I still think it's a
great story, and I wish
That your mother was
here to hear this.
I'd love to meet her
and I'd like a little
Of that good luck
hopefully to rub off on me.
Wolter: Well, tell you what,
I would like to propose a toast
To your mom, lorene,
and continued good luck
To your family going forward.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, cheers.
Cheers.
♪♪
Wolter: Like I've always said,
"you make your own luck."
It's only when you examine
things from all sides
That you find what
you're looking for.
In this case, I'm convinced
it's entirely possible
The phoenicians, with
their game-changing ability
To sail the open seas, came
to the new world millennia
Before christopher columbus.
And I think proving it
is just a matter of time.
♪♪
If you have a mysterious
artifact or site I need to see,
I wanna know about it.
Go to travelchannel. Com/
americaunearthed.
Wolter: The story of our past
hinges on present day finds.
This is a crazy, weird chamber,
And it is in the
middle of nowhere.
The landscape hides
the unexpected.
Do you think that
giants built this wall?
That's for you
guys to figure out.
And the unexplored.
That could be the
entrance to the treasure.
My job is to explain
the unexplainable.
The only question I have is,
"where am I going next?"
The history that we were
all taught growing up is wrong.
My name is scott wolter,
and I'm a forensic geologist.
There's a hidden history in this
country that nobody knows about.
There are pyramids here,
Chambers, tombs, inscriptions.
They're all over this country.
We're gonna investigate
these artifacts and sites,
And we're gonna
get to the truth.
Sometimes, history
isn't what we've been told.
AMERICA UNEARTHED - SEASON 4
EP - 5 - Phoenicians in America
♪♪
Kids have long been taught
that the first european
To reach america was
christopher columbus in 1492,
But that's not true.
We now know the
vikings beat him,
But I think other explorers
did too, centuries earlier.
I'm always looking for
more definitive proof,
And today I'm feeling lucky.
I'm heading to rock springs,
wyoming,
Where a husband and wife want
to show me a good luck charm
That they believe
proves the phoenicians,
Famous ancient sailors
of the mediterranean,
Came here to the cowboy state
Over 1,000 years
before columbus.
If they're right, it'll rewrite
the history books forever.
- Hi, guys.
- Hey, hi.
- You must be patrice.
- I am patrice.
- And don.
- Yep, good to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
So I understand you
have an artifact.
Can I take a look at it?
- She's got it with her.
- Okay.
Wow, this is awesome!
So who found this?
My mom did, years ago.
Like what, 75 years ago?
It's a sandstone for sure.
There's definitely
carved characters here.
This is definitely manmade,
no doubt about that.
My mom, she was 12 years
old when she found it.
Come upon it, and knew it was
Something more than
just an ordinary rock.
Where was it found?
Somewhere up here, right?
It was. I can take you
to the general area.
Well, I would like to see
roughly where it came from.
- All right. Let's do it.
- Okay.
Wolter: Rock springs is known as
the home of 56 nationalities
Because an influx of
immigrants came to work
In the coal mines here
in the late 1800s,
But if this artifact proves
the phoenicians came here
2,000 years ago, they
might have to start
Calling it the home of 57.
First and foremost, I want
to look at the geology.
♪♪
The question is, "could this
rock have come from this area?"
The answer is, "yes."
This is a sandstone,
this is a sandstone,
And if you look at them,
the size of the sand grains
In this sandstone
look very similar.
Wolter: If the carved stone
don's mom found
Was something other
than sandstone,
We'd know it could
have come from afar,
But because more than
half the exposed rock
In the phoenician's home
base, modern day lebanon,
Is sandstone just like this,
Which is a trademark of
the city's architecture,
I need more evidence to
figure out if this rock
Was carved here in wyoming
or half a world away.
Wolter: Why was
your mother up here?
Don: She was up
here horseback riding.
Wolter: Lorene bolen was a
coal miner's daughter,
Who moved from rural indiana
to wyoming when she was young.
After losing her dad to a
freak accident at age 9,
Lorene was a kid who
could use a lucky break.
She was up here by
some water tanks,
And she stopped there and
just happened to notice it.
What happened next?
Well, she took it home.
She had it with her
a lot of the time,
And showed it to
a lot of people,
But nobody could
tell her what it was.
She sent pictures of it to
the university of wyoming,
And they didn't
know what it was.
She just always was
trying to find out.
She was curious.
- She was very curious.
- Very much so.
Did she go to anyone else?
She sent a copy of the
picture to the smithsonian.
They sent a letter back
saying it's really nothing.
They didn't want anything
to do with it, basically,
And so she got mad and
threw the letter away.
Well, that doesn't surprise me.
The smithsonian doesn't
particularly care for anybody
Who brings something forward
That might change the
historical narrative.
Besides the smithsonian,
Did anybody else look
at the inscription?
Yes.
Here's the letter
from dr. Barry fell
Who was immediately able
To identify and
translate the script.
Barry fell, he was a
scholar from harvard.
He was one of the
first guys to come out
Who was an academic
to say that, "yes,
There were people that came
here long before columbus."
In fact, people had been coming
here for thousands of years.
It mentions phoenician
people in there.
The way he explained it
is it starts and goes,
It goes vertically
first, start at the top,
And do an s-shape
on the way down.
And here's the translation.
Keep safe.
Do not break the stone.
Misfortune it turns away.
It protects against evil.
Strikes harm and turns it aside.
Wolter: We know the phoenicians
were merchant sailors.
You see their ships
and exploits depicted
In the art of their neighbors,
the egyptians and the greeks.
And herodotus, known as the
world's first historian,
Wrote about the
phoenician's claim
To have circumnavigated africa.
Maybe a phoenician sailor
left behind an inscribed rock
That later became lorene bolen's
good luck charm.
I'm open to the idea,
because of everything
I know about the phoenicians.
Basically what
barry fell is saying
Is that this is an amulet
or a good luck charm.
Something to keep
bad spirits away.
Does that make sense?
We think so.
It does with my
mom's life, yeah.
With your mom's life,
what do you mean by that?
There was a time when she
went to jackpot, nevada,
When she was down to her
last couple of quarters,
Put them in a slot
machine, and won $48,000.
She hit it big!
Let me guess, she attributed it
To this good luck charm, right?
I think in a lot
of ways, she did.
Wolter: This isn't the first
time I've investigated
The possibility that the
phoenicians made it to america.
A while back, I met a
professor in new England
Who theorized there
was a map of the world
Hidden on the back
of a phoenician coin
Minted in 350 b.C.
♪♪
Wolter: The question is,
"could the phoenicians
Have gotten here and
carved that stone?"
The oceans and rivers
were not barriers
Like many people think.
I mean, they were
highways, super highways,
Especially going back
thousands of years.
Wolter: I've seen evidence of
pre-columbian contact
All over the americas.
Ancient mariners like the
vikings, the early irish,
And the polynesians left
behind rock formations,
Language, and canoe
building technology.
In the case of the polynesians,
They even brought back
foods like the sweet potato.
Now, there's a little more
That I'd like to
do with the stone.
I've got a microscope.
Is it okay if we take a look?
- Let's do it.
- That would be awesome.
Okay.
Wolter: The growth of
microscopic organisms
Or evidence of erosion can help
me date artifacts like this.
Okay, here we go.
That's coming up
pretty good there.
You can see the carved lines.
Focus it just a
little bit there.
♪♪
Huh.
I'm seeing something
I don't like.
Has somebody messed
with this at all,
Or done something to it?
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
I see something
here I don't like.
Has somebody been
messing with this?
Yeah. My mom, naive,
Tried to get a picture of it
And it didn't show up very
well, so she took a nail to it.
So she recut the carvings?
She went in deeper so it
would photograph better.
Wolter: If someone scratches
over old marks,
They might as well
be fresh ones.
She was trying to be helpful,
but unfortunately for me,
A lot of the evidence that is
the most helpful in aging this
Would be in the grooves,
And if she scratched it
out, that evidence is gone.
Wolter: Since lorene ran a nail
across the original inscription,
There's no way to see
the natural weathering,
And no microorganisms left
inside for me to date.
When someone uses
something sharp
To clean out an inscription,
I can no longer tell
How naturally weathered and worn
The edges of the
inscription were,
Meaning there's
no way to evaluate
How long ago it was carved.
You know this is unfortunate,
but I think I have a plan,
Another way that we can
get to the bottom of this.
♪♪
Wolter: It's too bad I won't be
able to accurately date
Lorene bolen's carving,
But I know of a secret
shoshone site here in wyoming
That might support phoenician
contact with this area
As long as 2,000 years ago.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Well, linea,
I just recently looked at an artifact
That has been interpreted
to be phoenician script.
The reason I am here
is to see if this site
Potentially has a connection
To the phoenicians coming
here to the new world.
If there is a connection, we
can look for it right here.
♪♪
Wolter: I'm told there is
evidence of a shoshone legend
Called the "water ghost woman"
on this stone outcrop
In the middle of nowhere.
Sundstrom: Why don't you tell me
What you think
you're seeing here.
This one here looks like a
female, am I right about that?
Mm-hmm.
She's a ghost, and
she lives in the water
So she's called
the "water ghost woman."
Okay.
The eastern shoshone
who lived around here,
This is an important figure
in their belief system.
She's depicted as either
very beautiful and young,
Or as a hideous old hag.
And she can go from one
to the other rapidly.
Ah, are those tears?
You can very plainly see the
tear streaks on her face.
When you hear her crying,
you feel sorry for her
And you want to help, so
you approach the sound
Of this crying woman,
and the next thing
You know, you've been drowned.
Wolter: This legend is eerily
similar to that of the sirens,
Characters from greek mythology
the phoenicians believed in.
The sirens were dangerous
creatures,
Whose enchanting songs
Drew unsuspecting
sailors to shipwreck.
Wolter: Maybe this indicates
that there was some type of contact
Between the phoenicians
and the shoshone.
Now that doesn't mean that
it does, but it could.
How would they have gotten here?
Well, if they sail across
the atlantic ocean,
They could come into the
gulf, sail up the mississippi,
Then they could have taken
either the arkansas river,
Or the platte river
with a portage
Not too far to the east here,
And it would put you
right into this area.
How old do you think
these petroglyphs are?
This type of rock
art was probably made
Within the last 2,000 years,
maybe a little bit older,
Maybe 3,000 years from now.
2 to 3,000.
That's an educated guess.
Well, I like those numbers.
I like those numbers a lot,
Because if we are
gonna make the argument
That the phoenicians could
possibly be connected here,
You got to go back
at least 2,000 years
And 2 to 3,000 years would
be right in the wheelhouse
That actually does make sense.
Doesn't prove it, but I
really like those numbers.
Wolter:
The idea that the phoenicians
Exchanged myths with the
shoshone is fascinating.
If it's true, it
would go a long way
Towards supporting the
idea that lorene bolen
Found a genuine phoenician
good luck charm.
Before I can buy
into that theory,
I need to figure out if the
phoenicians were even capable
Of sailing to america
in the first place.
♪♪
♪♪
I need to see a phoenician boat,
And there's only one
good seaworthy example
In the entire world.
♪♪
♪♪
- Philip?
- Hi, welcome to phoenicia.
Well, thank you. Wow
so this is it, huh?
This is it.
Well, this is pretty impressive.
Tell me a little big about
this ship. It's really cool.
Well, she's a great ship.
Phoenicia has the only
phoenician sailing ship
In existence as a working ship,
a proper seagoing ship,
And it was built
as near as possible
As an exact replica as
one could possibly have.
Wolter: What are some
of the features here
That are unique to the
phoenician ship builders?
The phoenicians created the
first rigid hulled boats.
Up until that point,
The ships had literally
been sewn together.
So this stiff design was to
Withstand the large waves
on the oceans, right?
That's it.
That's what enabled the
phoenicians to trade
More successfully
than anyone else.
Wolter: Wherever they went,
the phoenicians
Brought the phoenician alphabet,
And their most
famous trade item,
A dye known as tyrian
purple, named after tyre,
One of their four
mediterranean kingdoms.
More valuable than gold,
it started the tradition
Of royals wearing purple robes
And earned the phoenicians
the name the "purple people."
♪♪
Look at the craftsmanship.
It's all handwork, right?
Yeah, all done by hand.
What's really impressive
Are these little dowel marks
there that you can see.
- Oh, right here?
- Yep.
The romans called it
the phoenician joint,
And I've got a little
model of it here.
So here are the two planks.
This is the peg, and
these are the dowels
That are locking it in place.
So it's a really
rigid construction.
Watertight joint
right here, right?
And then not only that,
But the phoenicians
did one better.
They were the first to use
iron nails in the construction.
So this was what helped
make the phoenician ships
Undoubtedly the strongest ships
ever produced at that time.
The way it's built, I mean
this thing looks like a tank,
Which brings me to a question
I want to ask you back up top.
Sure.
♪♪
So, one sail and one mast.
I'm a little
skeptical that a ship
Could navigate the open
oceans with one sail.
Certainly one sail makes
sailing a real challenge.
However, the phoenicians
were clever people.
They knew which way the winds
and currents were flowing.
The open ocean
would have presented
No fears for the phoenicians.
Wolter: There's good reason to
believe the phoenicians
Circumnavigated africa.
They made a statement
that, as they sailed,
They had the sun on their
right to northward of them.
That's only possible
if they rounded
The cape of good hope
while heading west,
Which no one had
ever done before.
Then in 1990, in senegal, the
most western point in africa,
French anthropologists
studied 14 unfamiliar letters
Found on cattle brands and
determined the closest match
Was phoenician,
not greek, latin,
Chinese, or any african
language, but phoenician.
Wolter: How far have you
taken this out on the open ocean?
We've been around some
of the toughest points,
Like going around the
cape of good hope.
But in the atlantic, you
know, we got pushed right out,
And at one point we were just
700 miles from
the florida coast.
So we spent 80-odd
days in the atlantic.
Okay, if you got within
700 miles of florida,
How many days if you wanted to
go to florida would it take?
It would have taken probably
Another 10 or 12 days to
get to america from there.
Well philip, I'm very impressed,
And you've pretty much
answered all my questions,
But let me ask you point blank.
Do you think the phoenicians
made it to north america?
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Let me
ask you point blank.
Do you think the phoenicians
made it to north america?
Yeah, I believe that
they did make it there.
They had the ability,
they had the means,
And undoubtedly, they had the
ships that could have done it.
What we need to
find is the proof.
I have a hunch the
key to this mystery
Lies in what the phoenicians
Brought back from their voyages.
The ships that herodotus
Talks about
circumnavigating africa,
They would have been
trading vessels.
Right. So they were
carrying big loads.
Copper is one thing
that I think about.
They were certainly
huge metal traders,
And the middle east was
always short of metal.
Wolter: Historians struggle to
explain
Where all the copper used in
europe's bronze age came from.
It's got me wondering,
"could the phoenicians
Have brought it back
with them from wyoming,
Where copper mining
was once big business?"
Wolter: Basically,
you're telling me
They could have
made it to the gulf.
The question I want to
know is could your ship
Go up a river,
and if so how far?
A ship like this could certainly
Navigate up a river
quite a long way.
I've always believed
that science one day
Will prove that the
phoenicians got to america.
Well, you and I are on
the same page there.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Now that I have no
doubt the phoenicians
Could have sailed
to north america
And through rivers
in its interior,
I need to take this
investigation to the next level.
I'm back in wyoming to check out
An old copper mine
with a local historian.
My goal?
To find a representative
sample of native copper
So I can compare it to the
copper the phoenicians used.
You really think that
the phoenicians
Came all the way
out here to wyoming?
Well, I'm not saying
that they did come.
I'm saying that
they could've come.
If they did come, they had to
have had strong motivation,
And in my mind the
strong motivation
Would have been copper,
But I want to investigate it,
And I think I have way we
might be able to test it
To really bring some strong
evidence, if it works out.
Wolter: If I can find some
copper from the area,
I can compare it to copper
the phoenicians used
To create bronze to see if
it's of the same purity.
But first, I have
to get to the mine,
And that's not gonna
be a walk in the park.
♪♪
Because of the mining industry,
both past and present,
Wyoming is crisscrossed
with rugged roads
Used to haul everything
from coal to gems and metals
Like the copper
I'm going to find.
♪♪
♪♪
And look at these ruins here.
This is the
ferris-haggarty mine.
They discovered
copper here in 1897.
It caused this entire
area to absolutely boom.
Over 5,000 people
migrated to this area
For the copper mining boom.
If this was such a booming
heyday at one time,
Copper everywhere,
what happened?
Around 1908, copper
prices plunged.
They absolutely plunged.
On top of that, there were a
series of fires at the smelter,
And so it becomes very difficult
to keep the profits going.
Well, actually, that makes
a lot of sense, you know.
It was like a perfect
storm of bad luck.
What I'd like to do
is see if we can find
A good piece of native copper
Or a rock that has
native copper in it,
And I'd like to test
it with some copper
That we know came from europe
That's associated
with the phoenicians
Because we can look for trace
elements in both pieces.
These trace elements are
like a dna fingerprint,
And the copper here is gonna
have its own dna fingerprint.
If we can get a match, well,
now we're cooking with gas.
The guy who finds the
best piece buys the beer.
- Deal.
- All right, man.
Let's go!
Wolter: To find copper, I'm
looking for green.
There's a fancy name
for it... verdigris.
That's the color you get
when copper's weathered
And exposed to air or
sea water over time.
All the copper in this mine
will have the same purity,
But I'm looking for a piece
with a solid copper vein
Running through it that's
big enough to test.
- See all this stuff?
- Yep.
This is the stuff
I wanted to see.
What it tells you is there's
definitely copper here,
So it's obviously it's
coming out of the water.
Wolter:
My goal is to connect the dots
From lorene bolen's
good luck charm
To the phoenicians who
may have carved it
To the copper they may have
come to wyoming to mine.
Once I find a good-sized
sample of wyoming copper,
I'll test it to see if it has
the same elemental fingerprint
As copper used in
phoenician artifacts.
If it does, it might
be strong evidence
That the phoenicians came here,
And brought this
copper back home.
Wolter:
So, this is one of the
main shafts, I assume.
Yes, it is.
Okay.
"bad air." - yep.
- "keep out."
- yep.
- Skull and crossbones?
- I'm not going near there.
I'm not going in there either.
Clearly the water's flowing out
And it's coloring the rocks.
There's got to be some
copper specimens here.
♪♪
There's some.
Most copper is not
gonna be visible, right?
But I bet you
there's some in here.
Oh, yeah, I can see it.
If you look close, you can
see it with the naked eye,
But yeah, it's peppered
all through there.
- Can I see?
- Yeah, absolutely.
Can I take that one?
- Absolutely, it's yours.
So, remember what I said
About the guy who
finds the copper?
Yeah, that he's the
one who buys the beers.
That's not what I remember.
- No?
- But I tell you what.
Either way, we both win.
Okay, sounds good.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: What I need to do
next is figure out
If the copper in this
sample from wyoming
Matches the purity of the copper
found in phoenician artifacts.
And I'm back in minnesota
to do just that.
If it has the same
elemental fingerprint,
Then I'll have even
more reason to believe
The phoenicians
made it to america,
Took the copper back home,
and possibly left behind
The inscription lorene bolen
found when she was a kid.
Lori, the reason I'm here is
I was recently at a
copper mine in wyoming,
And I collected a sample,
And what I'd like
you to help me with
Is to test it for its
trace element content.
Definitely, we're gonna
be able to image it
And get elemental information.
I'm investigating the
possibility that phoenicians
Came to north america
over 2,000 years ago.
If its trace element profile
will match known samples
That have already been tested,
That will go a long way to
proving that the phoenicians
Came to north america,
collected copper,
And then brought it back.
Sound like something we can do?
Yeah, absolutely.
I've got the sample right here.
One concern that I've got,
between extracting this
And everybody looking
at it, handling it,
That the surface
could be contaminated.
So it might be better if
we can get a fresh cleave
Off of this to have a
pristine surface to analyze.
Well, it's certainly
been handled,
So I understand the
contamination possibility.
Let's take a look.
You know what, we have
a fracture right here.
Oh, perfect.
Actually, we have a crack
that goes all the way around.
If we pop this thing with
your chisel and hammer,
I bet we'll probably be
able to get two pieces.
Okay.
♪♪
I'm gonna hit it
right along there.
Let's see how it goes, ready?
Perfect.
Wolter:
Now we have two uncontaminated
surfaces to examine,
So we fire up the scanning
electron microscope
To take a close look.
It magnifies what we're
seeing 10,000 times.
- So we've got the sample here.
- Okay.
Then we'll get this
in the instrument.
♪♪
Lavanier:
There's an electron beam
That's going to be striking
the surface of the sample,
And that's what
we're actually using
To detect the elemental
composition of the sample.
Okay, so you're gonna be
hitting it with electrons,
And it will record those and
give us the quantity, right?
- Yes.
- Perfect.
- Well, let's turn the beam on.
- All right.
Wolter: We're going to zap our
copper sample with an electron beam.
When that happens, elements
will fly off our rock.
The scanning electron microscope
Will catch those pieces
and analyze them.
That's how we figure out exactly
what this rock is made of.
We're looking for a fleck
of copper to zoom in on.
That's a nice shot.
Can we grab that photo?
- Yep.
- That's beautiful...
...As rocks go.
[ both laugh ]
Wolter: Now that we're
zeroed in, we can see
What this rock is made of.
You can see things are moving
and glowing a little bit.
So the heavier the element,
the brighter it'll appear
On the screen.
So copper on this should
appear somewhat brighter.
This brightest region here
might be the area of interest
So let's take a scan in here.
- Yeah, let's zoom
In there and see what we get.
Ah, very interesting.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: As lori zooms in on
the copper sample,
I can tell she sees
something important.
Ah, very interesting.
Are you getting a pretty
strong peak for copper.
It's fairly strong, but
equally as strong with iron.
Okay, so those are
in there together?
Yes.
Copper, iron, sulfur,
silicon, aluminum, magnesium.
Okay.
Wolter:
My sample isn't pure copper,
and neither is the rest
Of the copper at the
ferris-haggarty mine.
It doesn't even come close.
So we're talking 41,
almost 42% copper.
It has lots a copper in it,
but it has lots of other stuff.
Unfortunately lori, that's
just not gonna do it.
That is not a high
enough concentration
Because the samples
that I wanted
To compare it with were
98% and 99% pure copper.
We're a long way from that.
Wolter: I did a little more
digging and found out
There aren't any
ultra-pure copper deposits
In wyoming or anywhere
else in the u.S.,
Except for michigan's
upper peninsula.
A few years back, I investigated
the perplexing mine pits
In the great lakes region.
Someone pulled
copper out of there,
And the big mystery has
always been, "who did it?"
I gave credit to the minoans,
an earlier sailing culture
Who disappeared mysteriously
from the island of crete
In 1200 b.C.
Now, I feel strongly
that phoenicians went
To the great lakes, too.
The copper in wyoming
wouldn't have satisfied them.
That's not anywhere
near what I think
The phoenicians
would be looking for.
Back then, if they came up
to this part of the country,
In the saint lawrence river
to the great lakes area,
You're gonna find copper that,
After the glaciers had
melted away,
Was just laying on the ground.
99% plus pure copper.
And to me, that would make
a heck of a lot more sense
Than trying to mine this
material that you would have
To smelt to
concentrate the copper.
And that's expensive,
time consuming.
They wouldn't have
done that over here.
They would go for
the easy pickings.
Wolter:
Bottom line, this copper isn't
What the phoenicians
were using in europe.
This doesn't prove that
the phoenicians didn't come
To wyoming, it just
doesn't help our case.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: I'll admit it, I'm
disappointed the copper
In wyoming isn't pure
enough for the phoenicians
To bother with.
That doesn't mean that they
didn't come to wyoming,
Or that lorene bolen didn't find
An authentic
phoenician artifact.
My new theory?
That minoans handed
copper and their knowledge
Of the new world to their
neighbors, the phoenicians.
It's a pretty narrow window.
The minoans vanish
around 1200 b.C.,
And that's when phoenician
script first appears.
Still, the ancients knew a lot,
More than we give
them credit for.
Sometimes knowledge
gets lost over time.
That's why I'm going to
check out the map collection
At the world-class library
here in minneapolis.
They have an ancient map that
I think has a hidden detail
To help prove the
phoenicians came here
Long before columbus.
- Hello, marguerite.
- Hi, scott.
Nice to meet you.
Welcome the james
ford bell library.
Well, thank you.
I understand that you have some
of the oldest surviving maps
In the world, is that true?
That's true.
The bell library has more
than 40,000 items dating back
To the year 400. - Amazing.
What I'm specifically
looking for is a copy
Of claudius ptolemy's
"geographia."
I pulled two from
the late 15th century
For you, so let's
go take a look.
Wolter: Claudius ptolemy
was a 2nd century
Greco-roman geographer
famous for creating
An atlas called "geographia."
This is a ptolemy
atlas printed in 1490.
If this is late-15th
century, ptolemy lived back
In the 2nd century, right?
- That's correct.
Wow! Look at that.
So this is over 500 years old.
- It is!
It's amazing!
Wolter: It's amazing,
but I have to admit, it barely resembles
A world map of today, and I
can't tell what I'm looking at.
This one is only
a few years later.
It's in color, so it's a
little bit easier to see.
Help me understand
what's going on here.
What am I looking at?
- This is the known world.
The world of ptolemy
didn't really understand
That the ocean goes any further.
So that's the extent
of the known world
As far as he was concerned.
Wolter: There are only three
continents on ptolemy's map...
Europe,
Africa,
And asia.
And they are a total different
shape than you'd expect.
Compared to a modern-day map,
Countries like Italy
look horizontal.
But why?
Ragnow: He actually
calculated the circumference
Of the earth too small.
And then, to make his theory
work, ptolemy sort of fudged
The way he fit things in so
that he can get everything
To work within the two
points that he says are
The limits of the known world.
Wolter: Not long ago,
an italian researcher
Named lucio russo made
A startling claim that this
map actually does show more
Of the world than
anyone ever considered.
And that's what I
came here to see.
What I'm interested
in now is looking here
At these islands right here.
So those are labeled
the fortunate islands,
Which we believe ptolemy
meant the canary islands.
But we don't know
that for sure, right?
We don't.
Wolter: Taking into account
ptolemy's mistake
In his latitude calculation,
lucio russo deduced
That these islands pictured
off the coast of africa are not
The canary islands, as
historians long believe,
But actually,
the lesser antilles.
Islands like dominica,
st. Lucia, and trinidad
In the new world.
Wolter: Russo says
that they are the antilles.
Ragnow: He's arguing
that these aren't the canaries
That these are
actually the antilles
That ptolemy just puts way
too close to the continent.
If these are really
the antilles,
Than somebody must
have discovered them
And communicated
that information
Back to ancient greece.
Somebody had to have been there.
Somebody had to have been there.
Somebody knew about the
new world, going back
To ptolemy's time and before...
Probably before.
And really, the only
candidate we have,
The most logical
candidate, would have
To be the phoenicians.
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: Is it possible that an
ancient phoenician sailor left
Behind an artifact in wyoming?
If so, they had to get here.
And according to italian
researcher lucio russo,
An ancient greek map by
claudius ptolemy suggests
They may have done just that
more than 2,000 years ago
On a ship like the one
philip beal recreated.
♪♪
I'm on my way to wyoming to
follow up on one last thing
That could tell me whether
lorene bolen's artifact is
The proof that's
long been missing.
Early translations from
1982 suggested it said,
"keep safe.
Do not break the stone.
Misfortune it turns away.
It protects against evil,
Strikes harm
and turns it aside."
But I think I need a
present-day scholar to weigh in,
Someone who has the
benefit of more knowledge
That's been collected about
the culture and the language.
Well, brian, help me
understand phoenician script
A little bit.
It's safe to say at a minimum
that the phoenicians had
A very heavy influence
on the development
Of written language, right?
The alphabet is one of the
great cultural achievements
In all of world history, period.
And the phoenicians
played a massive role
In making that work.
Wolter: Before the phoenicians,
cultures in the mediterranean
Were using a lot of different
Cuneiform symbols
to communicate.
It made it hard to trade
goods with other cultures.
The phoenicians came up
with 22 letters based
On egyptian hieroglyphics
in the 12th century b.C.,
Which they encouraged
other cultures to adopt
And which inspired
our alphabet today.
They can't be credited
with inventing
The alphabet from scratch.
They can be credited
with popularizing it.
And the phoenicians were
really the pioneers.
They did a magnificent
cultural service
With their alphabet.
We know that that
the phoenicians were,
In a word, amazing.
And we know that the
phoenicians went all
Throughout the mediterranean.
We know that they broke
across the top of africa
And down, maybe
circumnavigated africa,
Maybe were the first
people from the region
To break out into
the atlantic ocean.
Well, we'll see here.
It's moment of truth. - Yes.
Here is the stone.
Ah, very nice.
Barry fell was somebody
they considered
To be an expert.
He said it was
definitely phoenician.
I'm honored that you asked
me to take a look at it.
I love things like this.
It's a great little piece.
I mean, when I look
at it, clearly
Somebody was doing
something on this, right.
So you agree it's manmade?
Somebody was inscribing
something on this.
I mean, these are very
distinctive marks.
I wanted to get an opinion
of an expert today.
Somebody who has the benefit
of new knowledge.
And so, I ask you,
Is this a legitimate
phoenician inscription?
♪♪
♪♪
Wolter: I'm speaking to an
expert in ancient languages
To see if the artifact
lorene bolen found
In rock springs, wyoming,
is the proof
That's long been
missing that suggests
Phoenicians made it to
america 2,000 years ago.
Is this a legitimate
phoenician inscription?
♪♪
I have some bad news.
I would say no.
I would say it's not.
What do you see that tells you
That this is not phoenician?
The phoenician script
was standardized.
Wolter: Real phoenician
script, which dates
To the 8th century b.C.,
has known letters.
And while lorene bolen's
inscribed rock has a few marks
That could be phoenician, the
rest of it is unrecognizable.
Dork: This triangular shape,
a very clear horizontal one,
But a dalet, or a letter d,
pretty much like our letter d.
A triangle, this is
where we get this from.
I mean, this is clearly
something, right?
- Oh, yeah.
- This isn't nothing.
Somebody incised these
markings in here.
The question is what is it
and what were they trying
To do, and at what time period?
There are too many
letters, though,
That have no correspondence
to any phoenician character.
Unfortunately, I'm
gonna have to deliver
Some bad news to
don and patrice.
But in the end, the
data's the data.
The results are the
results, and thanks
For helping me get there.
- My pleasure, thank you.
♪♪
Wolter: In the case of the
bolen's good luck charm being
An authentic phoenician
artifact, it is bad news.
But in the case of
proving how likely it is
Phoenicians made it to america,
I think I did get lucky.
I now have more evidence
than before suggesting
They could've made it here
and back in ancient times.
♪♪
♪♪
First things first, I told you
I'd bring the artifact back.
And there it is. - Thank you.
I just met with a linguist,
and his conclusion is
This is not a genuine
phoenician artifact.
[ chuckles ]
I wish it was real
from that time.
Not more than me.
A little disappointed, but
we know it's something,
We just don't know
what it is yet.
This still begs the question,
"could the phoenicians have
come to north america,"
And specifically, "could
they have come to wyoming?"
The answer is "yes."
I still think it's a
great story, and I wish
That your mother was
here to hear this.
I'd love to meet her
and I'd like a little
Of that good luck
hopefully to rub off on me.
Wolter: Well, tell you what,
I would like to propose a toast
To your mom, lorene,
and continued good luck
To your family going forward.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, cheers.
Cheers.
♪♪
Wolter: Like I've always said,
"you make your own luck."
It's only when you examine
things from all sides
That you find what
you're looking for.
In this case, I'm convinced
it's entirely possible
The phoenicians, with
their game-changing ability
To sail the open seas, came
to the new world millennia
Before christopher columbus.
And I think proving it
is just a matter of time.
♪♪
If you have a mysterious
artifact or site I need to see,
I wanna know about it.
Go to travelchannel. Com/
americaunearthed.