Lost Cities with Albert Lin (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Inca Island in the Sky - full transcript

[music]

ALBERT: Ever since I first
saw this, the magical
city of Petra in Jordan,

it just hasn't left my mind.

It's one of the most
beautiful, unusual and
iconic cities in the world.

And I've learned
something surprising.

Petra is not the
beginning of the story.

It's the end.

There's another lost city
carved into the rock,
somewhere near here.

I'm hoping to find the hidden
origins of one of the greatest
cities the world's ever seen.

My name is Albert Lin.

And I look at the
world in a unique way.



I use twenty first
century technologies to
look back into the past.

Check that out, I can
actually fly through the
secret ancient world.

Lasers that scan deserts.

Strip away dense jungle canopy.

And scour the oceans
to uncover the hidden
worlds beneath.

We're wading into
unchartered waters.

That's what a real
lost city looks like.

New discoveries in the most
awe inspiring places on earth.

MALE: That's where
pixels become reality.

ALBERT: That fill the gaps
in our story.

Who we are. Where
we came from.

And the wonders
we can achieve.

MALE: Here we are in
the thirteenth century.

ALBERT: This is carved
out of the earth huh?



This is the new golden
age of exploration.

We know their secrets.

[music]

The people who lived
here, in this city, they
were originally nomads.

Travelling, trading
across the Arabian Desert.

Living in tents.

And then in a leap
they built this.

What happened?

I wanna find out who they
were, where they came from.

And what came before all this.

New clues about them are
being discovered in the
desert rocks.

My journey has taken me
to the deserts of Jordan.

Once home to the
buildings of Petra.

The nomadic tribe
known as the Nabateans.

Today deserts are still
travelled but by their
distant cousins, Bedouins.

Mohammed Domeian
is one of them.

[fast music]

Wuuu. Oh!

MOHAMMED: Oh la la.

ALBERT: Very good.

This is the most epic
car I've ever been in.

We don't have brakes.

The door doesn't work and
you have only wires as keys.

MOHAMMED: We don't travel
brake. Maybe we [inaudible].

[laughs]

ALBERT: Mohammed is the
antiquities supervisor
for an area that covers

two hundred and eighty
square miles of desert
called Wadi Rum.

ALBERT: Is this it?
MOHAMMED: Yeah here.

ALBERT: He's helping me find
clues about the ancient
civilization who travelled

and traded here around
four hundred BC.

MOHAMMED: This one,
Nabatean writing here.

ALBERT: That's Nabatean?
MOHAMMED: Yeah.

ALBERT: What does it say?

MOHAMMED: He would write
his name regards from.

ALBERT: Regards like
welcome or.
MOHAMMED: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ALBERT: So this is a welcome
message form the Nabateans.

MOHAMMED: Yeah. From this guy.

ALBERT: The Nabatean
merchants who crossed
this dessert

two and a half thousand
years ago left signs for
each other in the rocks.

They're incredible. Camels.

MOHAMMED: Yeah.

This like a sign for
kind of a like you see
this camel like this?

They go to the south.

They tell you where the
direction to go to the water.

ALBERT: Ancient signposts.

Out here in the desert.

Mohammed scans the
ancient rock art into
an app on his phone.

This allows him to build
a database in the Cloud.

MOHAMMED: Now I take a
picture for rock art. And I

ALBERT: And that picture as
a geo-spacial tag on it?

MOHAMMED: Yeah, I keyed it.

ALBERT: So they you
collect the geo-tags across
the entire landscape,

and bring to life the
Nabatean trade route.

Each one of these walls is
like the pages of a book,

telling a story
of the Nabateans.

- They're names, how they lived.
- Yeah, yeah. Everything.

[engine stars]

ALBERT: We're in business.

We follow the direction the
ancient camel's pointing.

And head for the
nearest water source.

Wuuu [laughs]

Like the Nabateans
before him,

Mohammed and his fellow
Bedouin set up camp around
water holes in the Wadi Rum.

[singing foreign language]

We upload the scans of the
geo-tagged rock markings.

And a pattern
begins to emerge.

This is actually the
spot that we were.

So you collected all of those
point.

MOHAMMED: Yeah, yeah, I have
everywhere, place you have a
lot of inscription,

you will find settlement
or spring of the water.

ALBERT: Wow.

You know looking at my
GPS tracker the sites that
Mohammed showed me today,

There's a clear link.

Signs carved into rock,
pointing to water.

That's how the Nabateans
worked. That was their
secret source.

They knew where
the water was.

With that knowledge they
create a huge network of
trade routes.

Crossing the harshest
landscapes on earth.

They import exotic goods
from Africa and India.

To see to the Greeks,
Egyptians and Romans.

They're most profitable
product is this.

Frankincense.

The Romans alone, buy the
modern equivalent of a
hundred and eighty million

US dollars' worth every year.

As the money rolled in,
their desire to settle
seems to have grown.

But I'm told that Petra might
not have been the first place
they put down roots.

We're now flying over
the Jordanian desert.

In a Black Hawk.

Now I have the military
helping me find lost cities.

Bob Bewley is an
ariel archaeologist.

He traces the ancient water
sources and trade routes of
the Nabateans from above.

ROBERT: So what we're
looking at is connection
of these blue dots.

We wanna see how
they all join up.

You know every time
we fly we see things.

So on the end of that hill
you can see something.

The whole landscape is
full of archaeology.

What we have to try and do
is find out which bits are
Nabatean and which aren't.

And that's the hardest thing.

[radio dialogue]

ALBERT: Okay let's
open up the door right.

ROBERT: That's when it
gets windy.

[radio dialogue]

[laughs]

[laughs] Oh man.

ROBERT: Can you see the
track there, along the
left hand side?

- Where?
- along the ridge there.

ALBERT: Right there.
ROBERT: Yeah, yeah.

And although we're looking
at a modern road, it's
built on the ancient road.

And now we're gonna follow it.

ALBERT: Ancient writings
suggest that somewhere
along this highway

lies a Nabatean city,
hidden in the mountains.

One that pre-dates Petra
by hundreds of years.

Oh it's gotta be this.

I can see the modern highway.

But you see the ancient
highway running right
next to it.

ROBERT: Level off, level
off straight ahead.

That's it, lovely.

So that's the track
running up the hill there.

ALBERT: So that'd be the road?

ROBERT: Yeah yeah,
yeah yeah. Yeah.

ALBERT: We approach a
barren mountain top.

Surrounded by steep valleys.

ROBERT: That's lovely.
ALBERT: Eleven o'clock.
Right here?

ROBERT: Yeah.
ALBERT: Okay I see it.

This rocky plateau doesn't
look like any lost city
I've ever seen before.

But the ancient Greek writings
describe the nomadic Nabateans
setting up home here.

Possibly for the first time.

ROBERT: Happy to land?
Yeah, yeah. Fantastic.

ALBERT: The city is
called Sela.

Hebrew for rock. Incredible.

ROBERT: That's amazing
isn't it? Look at that.

ALBERT: We've just landed
on the ancient highway.

Sela has never been
scanned by lasers before.

I'm launching an
expedition to the summit.

Three thousand feet above sea
level. With my LIDAR team.

To uncover the secrets
of this mysterious place.

I'm one mile west now
of the old highway.

And I've hit a wall.
Literally.

Deep within that
mountain range, high up
on one of the plateaus

is the ancient city of Sela.

And the only way in is up.

The scanning kit is
being loaded up ready
for the expedition.

The LIDAR team and I are
heading to one of the last

fully unexplored
Nabatean sites.

And Jordan's acclaimed
archaeologist,
Mohammed Najjar,

Is leading the ascent.
[foreign dialogue].

How are you my friend?
NAJJAR: Good to see you.

ALBERT: Yeah it's
been too long.

It's a treacherous
hike to the top.

Mohammad has assembled
a team with local
knowledge to help us.

Including surveyor
Admad Marafi.

- Admad, pleased to meet you.
MARAFI: Nice to meet you
too Albert.

MALE: Do you reckon
it's gonna bow?

MALE: Dunno.

ALBERT: Hey Joe.

JOE: Hey man, how's it going?
ALBERT: Good to see you. Wow.

MALE: I've never carried
LIDAR kit on a donkey before.

Or on a horse.

ALBERT: This is high
tech meets ancient tech.
NAJJAR: Yeah, yeah.

[laughs]

ALBERT: Are you ready?
Let's go.

[Foreign dialogue].

I don't know what to
expect at the top.

What I do know is we're
heading to three thousand
feet above sea level

and it's gonna be a
tough climb.

It's like a maze.

NAJJAR: Yes it is.

ALBERT: Those steps, are those.

NAJJAR: Yes that's our way up.

MARAFI: This is the only
way to climb to Sela.

There's no other way.

ALBERT: The steps are the first
hint that this bare mountain
has been shaped by people.

Gotta be ninety degrees
out here right now.

NAJJAR: Yeah.

Watch what you do.

[music]

ALBERT: This is like an
ancient skyscraper up here.

[music]

You know it's funny, when
you walk through here you
can almost sense the path

of somebody walking through
the same little canyon.

The exact same stairs.
NAJJAR: Exactly.

ALBERT: as two thousand
years ago. Or more.

NAJJAR: So we can smell
the history right?

ALBERT: Well I smell
donkey farts but.

[laughs]

This would be an intense
commute for a Nabatean.

One thousand steps
and we're only halfway
up the vertical climb.

The terrain is brutal.

And the questions
keep coming.

It just seems like an
unbelievable amount of
effort to build your

world on top of a
mountain, in the middle
of an arid desert.

Shall we take a break and
drink some water guys?

Stay away from the
mean donkey.

You know water is like,
it's how you live.

But this desert is so dry.

How do you survive
on top of a mountain?

Surrounded by dirt
and no rivers nearby?

Nothing to farm.

How could you hold out?

[music]

[music]

Feels like we're
getting close.

This way huh?

Finally we reach the top.

These steps huh?

MARAFI: Yeah. Ancient.

ALBERT: [laughs]
That's incredible.

A three sixty view point
for the entire area.

You could imagine that
somebody stood here
thousands of years ago,

keeping an eye out for the
rest of their community.

NAJJAR: That's why it's
a natural fortress.

ALBERT: If this is
the place named in the
ancient Greek texts,

then it was once a treasury
for Nabatean silver worth

ten million US dollars
in today's money.

It's location a
formidable stronghold.

But how did this lifeless
crop, with no water source,

become home to a
city of people?

To hunt for clues we plan to
LiDAR scan the whole plateau.

NAJJAR: The access to so
much of it is virtually
impossible.

ALBERT: It also looks
like sheer drops here.

Deadly basically to explore.
NAJJAR: Absolutely.

ALBERT: So hopefully we
can go places that wouldn't
be safe to go otherwise.

MALE: Okay we're good to go.

ALBERT: This is a very
dangerous place to fly.

MALE: It's a risky location
yeah. We're gonna have to
have all eyes

on the ground at all times.

ALBERT: This is like super
advanced drone flying.

MALE: Yeah.
- [laughs]

ALBERT: This is super,
super expert model.

MALE: This is level ten sure.

ALBERT: It's hard to
believe this barren place
was once home to hundreds,

even thousands of people.

If they left any
evidence I'm banking on
my technology to find it.

Thirty miles north of
Petra, I'm laser scanning
the ancient city of Sela,

for the very first time.

I'm looking for clues that
the nomadic Nabateans
settled here.

Look at this.

This pottery just like
falling out of the ground.

NAJJAR: That's the indication
for people living here.

ALBERT: This is
somebody's finger print.
NAJJAR: Yes exactly.

ALBERT: My finger
fits perfectly.

So somebody this is crazy.

You can just feel somebody's
finger print right here.

Locked in time.
Unbelievable.

The pottery proves
people were here.

But it's not clear who.

It could simply be the guards
charged with protecting the
Nabateans treasure.

Look at this.

You got a staircase.
Where does it go?

Up.

NAJJAR: Probably it's a place
to pray. Yes. Absolutely.

ALBERT: You think so?
NAJJAR: Yeah.

Well look for a high place
to be closer to the gods.

ALBERT: So far all I've found
is a piece of pottery and an
ancient stairway to heaven.

- I guess this is all
sandstone right?
NAJJAR: Yes it is.

ALBERT: So over two thousand
years the landscape has sort
of melted away.

The desert winds and winter
rains are eroding the soft
sandstone into strange shapes.

But I can just make out
curious, regular
markings in the rocks.

Wow, look at that.

What are these
little holes up here?

NAJJAR: Well actually
this is the traditional
Nabatean house.

So they were living here.

And you can see the marks
of the axe that they
been using to carve in.

These are chisel marks.
Yes exactly.

ALBERT: I mean they're just
sitting here chiselling away,

creating a space for
their family meeting.

Carving caves into dwellings
suggests that they spent
long stretches of time here.

NAJJAR: Look at the
beautiful view here.

It's unbelievable.

This is the east.
The sun will come up.

It will be sunny in this spot.

ALBERT: The cave's position
reveals the reason for the
strange regular markings

above the entrance.

They're post holes
for their tent poles.

NAJJAR: You have this,
you know, shelter in
front of your house.

ALBERT: So they've gone
from living in tents to
combining tents

with living in stone then?

The evidence is stacking up.

That homes were
created at Sela.

But it's hot, exposed
and desert dry,

without a single water source
on the whole outcrop.

No-one can survive
without water.

So how did the Nabateans?

I'm hoping my LiDAR data
can help solve the mystery.

So we hiked up here. Right?

NAJJAR: Yes. Right there.

ALBERT: It's a lot easier
from a computer isn't it?

NAJJAR: Yeah it is
actually yeah it is.

I think this is the way
to look at the side

because you look at small
parts you cannot understand.

We need to look at the
whole site together.

And then you can
understand the dynamics.

ALBERT: Looks like it's
starting to be shaped
by human hands.

NAJJAR: That's true. That's
true. I mean look at that.

Look at this picture.

ALBERT: The LiDAR data
reveals water tanks
cut into the rock.

Almost invisible
to the naked eye.

After three days of scanning
we've logged an incredible
fifty one underground tanks.

Here at Sela it's the first
time anyone has uncovered

the extent of rain
water harvesting.

NAJJAR: We have to channel
the water, the rain water
that run off from the face

of the rock to the systems.

ALBERT: We can now estimate
that these man made tanks
contained about

two hundred thousand
gallons of rain water.

Plenty to sustain over a
thousand permanent settlers.

It's an exciting discovery.

NAJJAR: They were nomads
at the beginning.

They were like wind you know.

And then they, there was a
shift in their consciousness.

I mean they started to
be attached to the land.

So that's very important
moment when they moved
from tents to caves.

ALBERT: They're turning
the landscape into a home.

A permanent home.

Our LiDAR data transforms
what we know of Sela.

The Nabateans ingenuity
and knowledge of water
enables them to settle,

living together in a
permanent city here in
the dry, rocky desert.

It's a stepping stone
to Petra.

The journey has begun.

You know I really feel like
on this journey of discovery

I'm connecting back in time
with the Nabatean people.

They're travels
across shifting sands.

Well eventually they settled,
carved a home into solid rock,
with that added security,

gave 'em a new layer of life.

Life in the city.

And here at Amman, at the
Jordan museum, I'm told
that there's a lot more

evidence of that evolution
from nomad to Petra.

Inside the museum are relics
that reveal a spectacular,

unexpected leap in
the Nabatean story.

Finally carved statues that
look ancient Greek and Roman.

Yet these are Nabatean.

Gathered from a city
that boomed after Sela.

These carvings suggested
their architecture is
shifting from survival.

To opulence.

Scanning the relics will
allow us to fit them
back where they belong.

[laughs] So cool.

Instantaneously I can create
a 3D model of this façade.

But just getting up close
here I mean you can actually
see the chisel marks.

And it feels like you can,
you almost sense the moment
that the Nabateans

were coming into their age,
they're renascence.

Now let's get the Gemini.

So what I have to do is
I just have to do a
really steady scan.

Now I'm actually
using the camera

on the iPad that's
creating something
called structured light.

So if I can do it steady
enough from that little sweep,

general a match and see
as to look at that.

Wow.

It'll add up a series of
these different models
to one awesome model.

But the Nabateans
never thought this
would be happening.

To reunite these relics with
their original buildings,

I'm back on an ancient
Nabatean trading route.

One that leads to the ruins
of Khirbet Edh-Dharih.

Archaeologists are still
excavating this city.

But it's clear
something extraordinary
was happening here.

My guide is surveyor
Admad Marafi.

MARAFI: Here Albert, this
is the Nabatean city.

ALBERT: Wow. This is
a new thing.

This was a design and
layout that was created
by somebody's mind,

to try something new.

We're gonna build walls.

Somebody's gonna be over
here and they're gonna
have a house over there.

And then somebody's
gonna have a place to
cook over here.

Somebody's sitting in a
bathhouse right over here.

MARAFI: That's true. And I'm
sure they were very happy.

ALBERT: This is a
completely new idea.

It seems like they were,
you know incrementally
moving forward right?

You start out as
a nomadic society.

And then Sela, that's
step one.

Then this.

There's another innovation.

This city has a central focus.

A temple.

In the temple we go.

MARAFI: The Nabatean kings.
They sacrificed the animals,
here on this alter.

- Right there?
- Yeah, right there.

ALBERT: Walk me through the
process. I'm a Nabatean king.

I stand here in front of this
alter. What happens next?

MARAFI: First you have to
walk around the holy place.

ALBERT: Up here now?
MARAFI: Yeah, up.

So we are now on the alter.

ALBERT: So you lay your animal
here. Then what happens?

MARAFI: Cut the throat
to let the blood go
inside these holes.

ALBERT: These little holes?
These are blood holes?

MARAFI: Yeah this
is blood holes.

ALBERT: Blood
spilled from animals.

Went down these holes.

MARAFI: That's true.

ALBERT: The statues I scan
at the museum once adorned
the façade of this temple.

To create a complete vision
of this new Nabatean site,
requires a full digital scan.

It's the first time
this has ever been done.

It's a complex undertaking.

Demanding detailed
scanning from the air
and on the ground.

[music]

Merging the data creates a new
vision of this spectacular
long, lost temple.

[music]

[music]

Crowning the temple are
the museum relics, back
in their original home.

This place reveals the
evolution from their
starter city at Sela.

Forty miles away in Petra,
Nabatean builders take city
design to a whole new level.

I'm heading back to the
ancient wonder that is Petra.

Here the Nabateans put
everything they had learned

about creating
cities to the test.

Look at that.

Just like at Sela.

These are post holes.

Where a veranda with
the wood structures,
beams coming out here,

maybe with some cloth and
something to create shade.

With time as more set
up home here, the city
swells in size.

The money flows
in and the architecture
becomes more elaborate,

incorporating styles
seen on their travels.

It's like I'm witnessing the
transition of the Nabateans
through time right here.

By the time of Christ Petra
was the beating heart of
a thriving Nabatean empire.

[music]

From here they controlled
the trade routes
from south to north.

And east to west.

Their wealth soared.

And in Petra they
flaunted it.

[music]

Hidden in an upscale part
of town called Little Petra,
is a show home for the time.

To get in there I need
special permission.

And a special guide.

Her Royal Highness
Princess Dana Firas.

I've never been showed one
of wonders of the world

by a real life princess.

[laughs]

Amazing.

I think that should be
our new series together.

PRINCESS FIRAS: Yes I'm game.
[laughs]

Don't look you cannot look.
Just, I'll lead you.

ALBERT: Tucked away in a
rock cut villa is
tantalizing evidence

of a Petra that once was.

- I'm not looking.
I'm not looking.
PRINCESS FIRAS: Don't look.

ALBERT: Okay.

There's something
right above me.

I'm not allowed
to look at it yet.

PRINCESS FIRAS: This
is very special.

Now.

ALBERT: Okay. Keep my eyes
shielded.

PRINCESS FIRAS: Take a step up.

Take a step up. Okay.

Turn. Come back.
ALBERT: Alright.

PRINCESS FIRAS:
Okay now look up.

[music]

Isn't that wonderful?

ALBERT: It's beautiful.

PRINCESS FIRAS:
Look at the colors.

ALBERT: Wow. This
changes everything.

Recent restoration of
this portrays Petra as
lush, fertile and green.

PRINCESS FIRAS: You
have grape vines.

You have ivy.

You have all sorts of fruit.

Look at the birds. Can
you see the birds?
ALBERT: It's magnificent.

PRINCESS FIRAS: This
one's flying in.

ALBERT: It's everywhere. It's
everywhere on every wall.

PRINCESS FIRAS: Yeah you can
find, look there, you know,

the birds, the fauna,
the flora.

ALBERT: The flues, the.
PRINCESS FIRAS: The flutes.

ALBERT: Is that
person holding a bow?

Looks like a little bow
PRINCESS FIRAS: Yes.

ALBERT: That almost looks
like a little Valentine.

For me up until now
Petra was just sandstone.

And then all of a sudden.

There's a whole
another face to it.

What I'm looking at isn't
a description of a desert.

This looks like.

PRINCESS FIRAS: Paradise.
[laughs]

ALBERT: It does.

Carbon dating places
this fresco in the
first century AD.

When some thirty thousand
people were living in Petra.

Transforming their desert
city into the lush oasis
her Royal Highness showed me

must have required
vast water reserves.

Far greater than
those at Sela.

I see all these they
almost look like staircases.

But they seem a little too
steep on all the

PRINCESS FIRAS: These would
have been water channels.

They would have been man made,
carved channels to direct the
water during the rainy season.

Water harvesting was
critical for the Nabateans.

They were really good
at water engineering.

They were able to direct the
water, find collection points.

Keep it in cisterns
throughout the rainy season.

ALBERT: These tanks once
contains over ten million
gallons of water.

PRINCESS FIRAS: They
were master engineers,
master traders.

And fantastic
politicians as well.

It was part of why they
became such an influential
and wealthy civilization.

ALBERT: And this
extraordinary civilization

went on to attempt
the impossible.

To turn the mountains and the
sand sea that surrounded them,
into vast tracks of farm land.

To feed a booming population.

New evidence coming from the
wind swept beyond Petra is
beginning to reveal

how they greened the desert.

Two thousand years ago Petra
is as big as Beverley Hills.

With a population of around
thirty thousand people.

Today archaeologists Sarah
Newman and Felipe Rojas are
unearthing intriguing clues

that reveal how the
surrounding desert fed
the people of Petra.

It's baking now.

So this is one of 'em.

NEWMAN: Yeah.

Well you can see now that's
above ground is only about

maybe a third of what's
actually there.

So we excavated sort of
behind it, in front of it

and it goes down another
sort of two meters or so.

ALBERT: So it goes six feet
further down into the ground.

ROJAS: At least.
NEWMAN: At least year.

ROJAS: At some point
this is extended from
bedrock to bedrock.

ALBERT: This recently
discovered wall is
around ten feet high.

And almost one
thousand feet long.

Sarah and Felipe think it's a
tiny part of an epic Nabatean
water distribution system.

So it's a huge, it's
a dam basically?

NEWMAN: Yeah what used
to happen is the water

would come through the
mountains and be spread
out by the terraces.

ALBERT: It's like stow line
backers for rushing water.

NEWMAN: Yeah.

ALBERT: But this is not
just a flood defense.

Slowing the rushing water
creates another advantage.

NEWMAN: It sort of serves a
dual purpose in both kind of
slowing the flower of water.

But they also catch the
sediment that the water
is bringing

from the mountains
all the way down.

ALBERT: So this soil, it
wasn't originally here?

This was up there, is
that what you're saying?

Got kind of pushed
down with time?
- Yeah.

ALBERT: It seems like they've
figured out how to make
nature work for them right?

Because by putting
these blocks here,

the rain waters move the
earth down here and essential
terraform for them.

These terraces filled
with rich, moist soil

make them perfect for
cultivating olives,

wheat, fruit trees and vines.

Sarah and Felipe want to know
how far the terraces stretch.

Using LIDAR to scan
the terrain could help
uncover new information.

For the archaeologists
it's a battle against time.

Erosion is destroying
the evidence.

For us it's a battle
against the elements

with two days of flying in
over ninety degree heat.

NEWMAN: This is
the dam we were at.

ALBERT: So zoom
further up please.

NEWMAN: Can you see it? It's
this, it's this. Can you see.

MALE: Ah yeah, yeah.
Let's try and look at it
in different way.

NEWMAN: Yeah.
MALE: Sort of manipulate
the light.

You can't see them with
the naked eye so you
have to use 3D.

ALBERT: These are the
terraces? These are
ancient terraces?

NEWMAN: Yeah so I mean
you can see there's a
bunch of terracing here.

Looks like there's some
also coming down here.

This makes them
show up really well.

This is great.

ALBERT: So this is the
first time you've seen it?

ROJAS: Yeah.
NEWMAN: Yeah absolutely.

ALBERT: So do you see
that here where we've
done this scan,

it follows a natural river
bed and it would seem likely

that they would do that
across all the natural river
beds across this plateau?

NEWMAN: Yes, there's
terraces all the way up
the water's head.

There's terraces all the
way down. And this is
just one water site.

I mean we know this is kind
of a tiny part of the scale

of the management
around this at Petra.

ROJAS: I mean that shows the
site of mini well water.

ALBERT: So what we're
seeing here is the
reach of that thinking?

Turning the whole of
this landscape into
an engineered oasis.

Today our LIDAR data
continues to help Sarah
and Felipe discover

more and more terraces. In
the hinterlands of Petra.

So far archaeologists have
mapped thirty two thousand
acres of ancient groundworks.

Seventy cisterns and
twenty eight dams have
been uncovered.

Eight miles away snaking
their way through the
mountains are channels

and catchments that once fed
rain and nutrients to Petra.

Two thousand years ago the
desert bloomed green through
the genius of the Nabateans.

[music]

I just can't ever get over
the beauty of this place.

And to think it was
built by people

who were just wandering
the desert a few
centuries before.

[music]

From surviving on barren
outcrops, to trading
across deserts,

ternate monuments
and fresco's,

I have witnessed the
ingenuity of the Nabateans.

It's their mastery of
water that allowed them to
thrive and ultimately

create the ancient
wonder that is Petra.

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