Secrets in the Ice (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Alien Ice Towers - full transcript
When strange towers of ice are found growing from in a barren, water-starved desert, experts speculate why these structures have uncanny similarities to extraterrestrial formations recently discovered on Pluto's alien landscape.
♪♪
Narrator: A horrific
discovery is retrieved
from the bowels
of a frozen peak in the andes.
Rose: Why are these children
buried so high up on a mountain?
What on earth could they
possibly be doing up here?
All the signs point to these
children being selected
and groomed for some very
special purpose.
Narrator: Debris from
a passenger plane found
buried in a glacier
in the french alps
raises new suspicions.
Clarke: If the crash had,
in fact,
been an act of sabotage,
you have to ask,
"how did they do it?"
was there a bomb onboard?
Rose: What are
classified documents
doing amongst the debris
of a passenger plane crash?
Narrator: And strange
towers of ice
in the middle of
a subzero desert.
Irving: It's really confusing.
To make ice, you need water.
So how did all this ice
end up in a desert?
Narrator: These are
the strangest mysteries,
trapped in the coldest places.
Lost relics,
forgotten treasures,
dark secrets,
locked in their icy tombs
for ages.
But now as ice melts
around the world,
their stories
will finally be exposed.
[ wind whistling ]
♪♪
♪♪
High in the argentinean andes,
amidst the icy peaks,
archeologists find a site that
leads to a ghastly discovery.
♪♪
Irving: When most people
picture the andes,
they think of peru
or machu picchu,
but there are also
the snow-covered mountains
of argentina.
They tower over
the atacama desert,
one of the driest places
on the planet.
Rose: This mountain is over
20,000 feet in elevation.
♪♪
And it's home to the highest
archeological site in the world.
Narrator: Archeologists braved
several days of driving winds
and freezing temperatures
to reach the summit
of llullaillaco
before they could begin
excavations of three burials
lying under 5 feet
of rock and earth.
One of the burial platforms
had been placed
in a naturally formed hole
in bedrock so narrow
that the archeologists
were forced to lower a man
by hand into the pit
to retrieve its contents...
The body of a young girl.
It's a disturbing sight.
Narrator: It appears as if these
bodies are all children,
three of them, which had been
mummified by the cold.
Rose: Why are these children
buried so high up on a mountain?
What on earth could they
possibly be doing up here?
Narrator:
It's an unsettling discovery,
even for this group
of seasoned archeologists,
and they're compelled to
find out what happened to them.
♪♪
The tombs date back
to the inca empire.
The incas were a sophisticated
and powerful civilization
that ruled over a large portion
of south america
from 1438 to 1533 a.D.
From what we know
of inca traditions,
people were buried
where they lived,
not on top of a mountain.
This isn't a settlement,
and there's no larger
burial site up here.
It's just these three bodies.
Narrator: Due to the extremely
cold, arid environment,
their bodies froze
before they dehydrated,
so the organs never shriveled
and desiccation never occurred.
This resulted in making them
the most well-preserved
mummies ever found.
♪♪
Scientists begin
analyzing the bodies
and quickly
determine their ages.
The smaller children,
a boy and a girl,
are both around 4 or 5.
The older girl is around 13,
and they discover
that she was likely
suffering from tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is highly
contagious and deadly.
Putting infected people
high on a mountain
would be an effective method
of preventing
the spread of disease.
Maybe this was their way
of stopping an epidemic.
Narrator: But when scientists
examined the remains
of the two other children,
they showed no signs
of the disease.
Maybe the other two were
siblings of the sick child
and quarantined as a precaution.
Narrator:
But it just doesn't make sense.
There had to be other places
to isolate sick people
that weren't so hard to reach.
This was a sophisticated
civilization.
♪♪
Archeologists analyze
their clothing and conclude
that these children were members
of a high social class.
When the spanish invaded
in 1532,
they were known to capture
important members
of the inca nobility
and hold them ransom as a means
to exert influence
over the entire society.
Could these children
have been taken hostage?
Rose: The young boy
was found tied up,
which could be evidence
of a kidnapping.
And the high elevation
would have allowed them to spot
any rescue force
coming from a distance.
Billson: Maybe these were
hostages who were eliminated
when nobles didn't cooperate
or when they weren't
needed anymore.
Narrator: But why would they go
to all this trouble
to bury disposable hostages
on the top of the mountain?
And that's not the biggest
problem with this theory.
Scientists perform radiocarbon
testing on the mummies
to determine their age.
Irving: Examinations
of the remains suggest
that the bodies are, at the
very least, 500 years old.
Rose: The spanish didn't arrive
in the area until 1532.
These mummies were buried
decades before that.
So these children probably
weren't political hostages.
♪♪
Narrator:
More research into the bodies
offers yet another
surprising discovery.
Tests show
that each of the children
had high levels of alcohol
and coca in their system
at the time of death.
The fact, the older girl
had a chunk of it lodged
in between her teeth
and her cheek.
These intoxicants were used
by inca of all ages.
The alcohol was a corn-based
spirit known as chicha,
and coca leaves were known
to alleviate altitude sickness.
Narrator: Could the alcohol
and coca provide a clue
to what led these children
to die high up in the mountains?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Three frozen mummies
of inca children
are discovered on top
of a mountain in the andes.
Their bodies reveal
that they were given
a large amount of alcohol
and coca prior to their deaths.
Do these intoxicants give us
any clues into the cause
of the children's death?
By modern western standards,
it sounds disturbing,
but the incas viewed
these things very differently.
Rose: To be drunk or in
a state of intoxication
was considered to be a spiritual
or holy experience
for the incas.
Coca was an integral part
of their society.
♪♪
And it still remains
an important part
of andean culture, even today.
Billson: Inca silver miners
chewed coca leaf
to help overcome pain, fatigue,
and respiratory problems.
But why give coca
and alcohol to children?
Narrator: Researchers
turn back to the bodies,
looking for answers.
They analyze the older girl's
hair with the understanding
that hair grows
1 centimeter per month.
Irving: The girl's hair
was braided so tight
that it retained
environmental evidence
that gives us a timeline
of the girl's health.
Narrator: They deduce
that her diet had changed
dramatically about 12 months
before her death.
Studies of the hair showed
that her diet
changed from mostly potatoes
to a much richer diet
of meat and maize.
Irving: It would have been one
of the most luxurious diets
you could imagine at that time.
Bellinger: All the signs point
to these children being selected
and groomed for some very
special purpose.
Narrator: Could they have been
selected for ritual sacrifice
to the gods?
♪♪
The incas participated
in human sacrifices.
Child sacrifice
was called capacocha.
Bellinger: It was a great honor
to be sacrificed in this manner.
The inca chose children from
the far corners of their lands
to underscore the unity
of their empire.
Narrator: In fact, there was
a caste of inca groomed
especially for this great honor.
They were called the aclla.
And the older girl
fits the description.
An aclla was a young girl
schooled in the art of weaving
and chicha-making.
Narrator:
When acllas reached puberty,
they were either married off
to a dignitary
or offered up
as a sacrifice to the gods.
If she was chosen for sacrifice,
she would be led
through a series of rituals
involving large quantities
of alcohol and coca
during a months-long journey
from the inca capital of cusco
to her final resting place.
Researchers still don't know
how she died,
but typical methods of ritual
killing were strangulation,
live burial,
and blows to the head.
As barbaric as it sounds,
we need to understand this
in the context of inca belief
and tradition.
This was one of the greatest
honors bestowed on anyone,
whether child or adult.
Their sacrifice literally
was to ensure the survival
of their entire people.
Narrator: While the oldest girl
seems to fit into the story
of this tradition,
the younger two children do not.
Until more conclusive evidence
comes to light,
experts continue
to explore theories
as to why they were also part
of this sacrifice to the gods.
♪♪
♪♪
Resting on the border
between Italy and France,
towering at an elevation
of over 15,000 feet,
lies the tallest mountain
in the alps... mont blanc.
Bellinger:
You're way up in the alps,
in the most pristine wilderness,
and then you look around
and you see there's debris
and carnage everywhere.
Rose: The debris is scattered
all over the glacier.
It covers the landscape,
half-buried in snow and ice.
How did all this end up
on the top of a mountain?
Narrator:
The debris field is scattered
for miles along the glacier
and includes mechanical parts,
pieces of luggage, and fragments
of human remains.
Given the size and the scale
of the debris field,
this looks like it came
from a large aircraft,
probably a commercial airliner.
Based on this, it leads you
to think of one plane crash
in particular.
Narrator: On the morning
of January 24, 1966,
air india flight 101,
a boeing 707,
was en route from bombay
to london
with stops in delhi,
beirut, and geneva.
Before landing in geneva,
contact was lost with the plane.
It suddenly and mysteriously
went down over the alps,
killing all of the 106
passengers and 11 crew members.
♪♪
The flight recorder
was never found.
The black box would have
revealed some evidence
of what happened to the plane,
but without it, there's been
a lot of controversy
surrounding the tragedy.
Narrator: As the mountaineers
scour the glacier
inspecting the debris,
they make
an intriguing discovery.
At first glance, it appears
to be a plain canvas bag
poking out of the snow.
Narrator:
But this is no ordinary bag.
Inside, they found newspapers,
calendars, and a letter
from the ministry
of external affairs to india
labeled "top secret."
what are classified documents
doing amongst the debris
of a passenger plane crash?
Narrator: Onboard the plane was
india's top nuclear scientist,
homi j. Bhabha.
He was the head of the country's
atomic energy commission
and commonly known as the father
of indian nuclear power.
Bellinger: Bhabha was on his way
to vienna to attend meetings
at the international
atomic energy agency.
[ indistinct shouting ]
narrator:
Just four years earlier,
india had been at war with china
over disputed territory
in the himalayas,
and there was also
simmering tensions with pakistan
due to the recent
indo-pakistani war of 1965.
O'keefe: As a result of
all these political tensions,
india was looking to grow
its military strength
and develop a competitive
nuclear-weapons program,
and homi bhabha was the man
who was going to make it happen.
India had also been
strengthening its ties
to the soviet union in hopes of
purchasing military equipment.
It was poised to become
the world's next nuclear power.
Narrator: Could the crash have
been an attempt to stop india
from producing an atomic bomb?
Rose: If homi bhabha
was suddenly killed,
it would definitely inhibit
india's aspiration
of becoming
a nuclear-armed nation.
If the crash had, in fact,
been an act of sabotage,
you have to ask,
"how did they do it?"
was there a bomb onboard?
Some other kind of explosion?
Narrator: But if the plane
was destroyed by a bomb,
the debris field
would be much larger.
For example, if you take a look
at the lockerbie bombing
in 1988...
♪♪
The wreckage was spread
over 845 square miles.
Narrator: In the case
of lockerbie,
large parts of the plane
were found strewn
across the debris field.
In fact, the side
of the entire front end
of the plane was found intact.
But on mont blanc,
the debris found
is much smaller in size
and more mixed.
♪♪
Researchers then make
an unexpected discovery
that raises even more questions
about what happened
to the plane.
Clarke: Not only did they
find wreckage
from the air india flight,
but in the debris, they also
discovered a radio console
from an italian fighter jet.
Narrator: It appeared to be
from a lockheed martin
f-104g fighter jet
belonging to
the italian air force.
It was entirely unexpected.
Everyone had been assuming
they were looking at parts
from one plane, not two.
O'keefe: So, what's
a radio console
from an italian fighter jet
doing at the crash site
of another plane?
[ engine whirring ]
was it just a coincidence,
or was there
something more going on?
It all just makes you think
that something suspicious
is going on here.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: In January 1966,
air india flight 101 crashed
near the peak of europe's
tallest mountain... mont blanc.
After finding a radio console
from an italian fighter jet
among the wreckage,
some are questioning
exactly what happened that day.
O'keefe: One theory is
that the italians were
spying on the french
and that the italian
fighter jet collided
with the air india flight
on one of these
clandestine missions.
Clarke:
According to the crash report
issued by the french government,
eyewitnesses report
having seen huge clouds of smoke
above mont blanc.
Narrator: But there's just one
problem with this.
If there had been
a mid-air collision,
you'd expect to see
a lot more debris
from the italian fighter jet,
not just the radio console,
but we don't.
Narrator: While the
conspiracy theories
are certainly intriguing,
the real answer of what happened
to the air india flight
might be much simpler.
As part of the inquiry,
investigators pored
through the air traffic
communication logs
to try to figure out
what happened.
Bellinger: Before takeoff,
one of the plane's navigational
instruments wasn't working.
So the pilot had to stay
in constant contact
with the control tower
to keep track of his position.
Narrator: The weather conditions
that day were white-out,
so the communication between
air traffic control
and the pilot
was even more important.
O'keefe: In those crucial
final minutes of the flight,
it sounds like there was
a critical misunderstanding
between the air traffic
controller and the pilot.
Over the radio, the pilot said
that he was passing abeam
mont blanc, meaning
alongside the mountain.
But this was not the case.
He was actually heading
directly for it.
It seems the air traffic
controller missed
or misunderstood
the word "abeam"
and replied to the pilot,
"you have 5 miles
to the mont blanc,"
by which he meant,
"mont blanc is 5 miles
directly in front of you."
narrator: The controller,
thinking the pilot understood
that he needed to change course,
did not alert him.
♪♪
O'keefe: There's no way
of knowing for sure
what happened to the plane,
but it appears that
the air india flight crashed
due to faulty equipment
and a misunderstanding
between the pilot
and air traffic control.
Bellinger: It's still strange
that the debris
from the italian fighter jet
was found.
Maybe there are still
some unanswered questions there.
Narrator: Unless more evidence
reveals itself
within the melting glacier,
the mysterious fighter-jet
debris found on mont blanc
will likely continue to stoke
the embers of conspiracy
and speculation
for years to come.
♪♪
♪♪
In the ladakh region
of northern india,
a cold desert stretches
for miles between the himalayas
and neighboring
kunlun mountain range.
♪♪
Macferrin: Hardly any rain
falls in this desert.
The himalayas are the highest
mountain range in the world
and block almost all
of the monsoon rains
that come in from india.
It leaves a very high,
arid plateau behind.
It's one of the driest regions
of the world.
Irving:
It sits at such a high altitude
that it's still freezing cold
all year long.
These extreme temperatures
and lack of water
means that there's
very little plant life.
It's a frozen desert.
♪♪
Narrator: Hikers trekking
through the lowland
between the mountains come
across a strange spectacle...
Giant spires that appear
to be made of ice.
♪♪
Clarke: I've never seen
anything like this before.
It's highly unusual to see these
vertical structures of ice
in the middle of a desert.
♪♪
It's really confusing.
To make ice, you need water.
So how did all this ice
end up in a desert?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: In the middle
of a cold, dry desert
in northern india,
strange towers of ice
jet out of the
otherwise barren landscape.
How did they come to be?
Examples of vertical
ice formations
have been recorded elsewhere
on the planet.
In antarctica and the arctic,
small towers of ice
can be found.
It's a phenomena
called sastrugi.
♪♪
Sastrugi form when wind
blows the snow
into these hard-packed ridges
over the surface
and form much like sand dunes
do in a desert.
[ wind whistling ]
billson: When the wind picks up,
it erodes the softer snow
around the solid ridges,
creating these peaks.
Narrator: Could these ice spires
be a type of sastrugi?
When sastrugis form,
they get to be, at most,
a few feet high,
and they shift around
in the wind.
You need vast fields of snow
in order to form them.
These enormous towers
isolated by themselves
with no snow on the landscape
couldn't have possibly
been sastrugi.
♪♪
Narrator: Scientists believe
they have seen
something like this before,
just not on our planet.
♪♪
In 2015, nasa scientists
found evidence
of unusual ice formations
on pluto,
resembling giant knife blades.
Could these formations on the
other side of the solar system
provide answers to
the ice formations in ladakh?
Clarke: The spires we see on
pluto are up to 1,600 feet tall,
2 to 3 miles apart.
So although they're a lot bigger
than what we see in india,
they are of similar shape.
Narrator: In order to understand
whether the formations on pluto
offer any explanations
for the ice towers in ladakh,
we need to understand how
the spires on pluto were formed.
Nasa scientists used
weather-prediction techniques
to analyze how the formations
on pluto came to be.
These formations on pluto
were formed by sublimation.
It's when the sunlight
vaporizes the ice,
and then it re-condenses to
slowly form these giant towers.
Narrator: Sublimation is
the process of turning
a solid substance to gas
without liquefying it first.
In the case of pluto, the vapors
then immediately refreeze,
creating 1,600-feet-tall
towers of ice.
Could the same process that
formed the giant spires on pluto
have created these giant
ice spires in india?
It's plausible,
if it weren't
for one glaring issue.
Macferrin: You would need
vast amounts of snow
in order to sublimate
enough water
to form ice towers of this size.
There's no snow around,
so these towers couldn't have
been formed by sublimation.
♪♪
Narrator: Based on the size
of the formations,
the climate, and geography,
there doesn't appear to be
any explanation
for how these structures
could have been made naturally,
which begs the question,
could they have been man-made?
Clarke: Some of the ice towers
are adorned with prayer flags,
which could lead one to believe
that they're for religious
or spiritual purposes.
Narrator: Their shape appears
to be architecturally similar
to the buddhist temples
found in the area,
called stupas.
A stone stupa
is a domed structure
used as a place of meditation.
Often, they'll be topped
with a tall steeple
and a private interior chamber
to house religious relics
or even act as a burial chamber.
The ladakh region is home
to a large number
of tibetan buddhists,
and there are the remains
of about 4,000 or 5,000
stone stupas in the area.
But the aerial and satellite
imaging of the area
appears to contradict
this theory.
Macferrin: Satellite images show
us that these structures melt
in the summer, and most of them,
by the end of the summer,
have completely disappeared.
Narrator:
Why would you build a temple
that only lasts
for half of the year?
♪♪
When the structures do melt
in the summer,
the key to their mystery
reveals itself.
Clarke: As the ice towers melt,
a system of pipes is revealed
that runs right through
the middle of the structure.
Irving: The pipes appear
to be able to pump water
from higher up in the mountains
to the center
of the frozen spires.
Narrator: This confirms
they are man-made.
Irving: But why would someone
create a giant ice tower
in the middle
of a freezing desert?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: In the freezing arid
desert between the himalayan
and kunlun mountains stand
dozens of bizarre icy spires
with pipes running
through the center of them.
Who built them, and why?
The answer may be linked
to the village farmers
whose crops can grow
in a barren desert.
Billson: Once the meltwater
from the winter has run out.
There is little drinking water
left for the villagers
or water for
the crops in the valley.
Irving: Sonam wangchuck,
a local engineer,
attempted to address
the water shortages
that threatened
the villagers' way of life.
He came up with the ice stupas
as a way of storing
millions of gallons of water
for various communities
that would last into the spring.
Narrator: Ice stupas are
created in the winter
using runoff spring water
that's been piped underground
and down slope.
When the temperatures
drop below zero,
the water is sprayed up
into the air, where it freezes.
Over the season, elaborate
conical structures take shape,
reaching up to the height
of a 10-storey building.
They start melting in March
and can last all the way
through July.
Macferrin: In the summers, these
towers melt away and form rivers
that actually feed and
sustain the local towns,
that irrigate
the crops and sustain life
up in the high desert.
Narrator: The ice stupas aren't
temples but, rather,
an imaginative way of overcoming
irrigation problems.
They're human ingenuity
at its finest.
♪♪
♪♪
In western alaska
on the bering sea
lies the small coastal town
of quinhagak.
O'keefe:
It's a small community
with a population
of about 700 people,
and the only way to get in there
is to fly in.
[ engine rumbling ]
rose: It's completely surrounded
by miles and miles of sea
and frozen tundra.
This place really
is the end of the earth.
Narrator:
In early spring 2007,
the town was experiencing
unusually warm weather.
As a result, the permafrost
was turning into swampland.
Bellinger: Local teens were
out enjoying the weather
and quad-biking on the beach
when they came across a strange
wooden object in the sand.
When you first see it,
it's hard to tell what it is.
Narrator: The village elders
knew what it was.
It appeared to be an ancient
ceremonial mask
associated with
the yupik people.
Narrator: The yupik
have lived in this area
for hundreds of years
and still do.
Fearing that the artifacts
from their ancestors
could be in danger
of being lost forever,
the yupik elders
invited archeologists
from the university of aberdeen
to investigate the area.
O'keefe: When the team began
to explore the area,
they discovered a treasure trove
of valuable artifacts...
Hundreds of wooden masks,
bowls, dolls, and figurines,
as well as ivory
and wood carvings
all buried deep
in the permafrost.
Narrator: It's not just
a collection of artifacts.
It's an entire village
that's been frozen in time
for hundreds of years,
dating back to the 15th century.
But at the site,
something seemed off.
Narrator: As the archeologists
excavated further,
they made a gruesome discovery.
Melting out of the permafrost,
they find the skull
of a young woman.
As archeologists uncover
the rest of the body,
they find that she is located
just outside of what used to be
a sod house with multiple rooms
branching off
in every direction.
Bellinger: Usually,
human remains
are buried in one specific area
of a village,
but what we have here
really doesn't make sense.
They're right outside a house.
Narrator:
And it's not just one body.
More remains are found,
one after another after another.
28 people in total
emerged from the icy ground
in the immediate vicinity
of the house.
Rose:
In this part of the world,
you would not expect
to find human bones
associated with
a residential structure.
Billson: There's something
really off here.
Finding a body positioned
like this and not in a tomb
or in a grave site
is quite strange.
These bodies weren't buried.
They appear to have just fallen
and been left on the ground
outside their homes.
O'keefe: These bodies
are found lying down,
some with their faces
in the mud,
others with hands outstretched,
there's a clear suggestion
of extreme distress.
Narrator: It soon becomes clear
that these are the victims
of some sort
of cataclysmic event.
What could have caused
the annihilation
of this entire yupik village?
Rose: 28 people
is a lot to die all at once.
Something truly terrible
must have happened here.
Narrator: Scientists take
a closer look at the bones.
Bone-structure analysis
identifies most as women,
children, and old men.
Only one was a male
of fighting age.
Could it have been
a natural disaster?
O'keefe: Historical remains
from ancient settlements around
the world show it's possible
for a catastrophic event
to bring life in an entire city
to an abrupt end.
Narrator: The most famous
example of this is pompeii.
Pompeii was a large roman town
that was entirely destroyed
in 79 c.E.
When the nearby volcano,
mount vesuvius, erupted.
Billson: The vesuvius eruption
covered the town
in at least 19 feet
of volcanic ash and debris.
The intense heat
of the eruption killed people
right where they stood,
preserving their last moments,
wherever they were in town,
whatever they were doing.
In many ways,
the sight of quinhagak
is very similar to pompeii.
Everything is just left
where it was.
Narrator: It's clear
quinhagak wasn't subject
to a volcanic eruption,
but could some other
natural disaster
have brought life in the village
to an equally abrupt end?
Rose: The village
is on the coast,
so is it possible that a flood
or some other tidal event
could have killed these people?
Narrator: In 1964,
an earthquake known as
the great alaskan earthquake
rocked south central alaska.
The ground split open,
buildings collapsed,
and a massive tsunami swelled
and crashed onto the shoreline,
killing 131 people, all told.
Could the same thing
have happened
hundreds of years
earlier here in quinhagak?
♪♪
Narrator: In quinhagak,
southwestern alaska,
archeologists uncover
the remains of 28 members
of the ancient yupik people,
preserved in the permafrost
since around 1650 c.E.
Could they have been wiped out
en masse by a massive flood
or even a tsunami?
If it was a flood,
you wouldn't expect
to find any
biological specimens intact.
Any wooden artifacts
would have rotted in the water.
Narrator: In addition,
the sedimentary layers
of the archeological site
would have been destroyed.
The force of the tide
would have moved things,
but that's not the case here.
What we're seeing is
that everything was just left
as it was,
totally frozen in time.
Narrator: If it wasn't an
earthquake, could it have been
a sudden and deadly plague
that wiped out this community?
Rose: In the ancient city
of thebes in egypt,
there was a horrific plague,
around 250 a.D.
Archeologists
have found bonfires
containing human remains
and pits where bodies
were covered with lime
in an attempt to stop
the spread of the disease.
Bellinger: If it were an
epidemic, we would expect to see
the remains at a safe distance
from the village,
not left right outside
their houses.
O'keefe: You'd also expect to
see adult males among the dead.
However, the majority
of the remains found at the site
belong to women, children,
and the elderly.
Narrator: The answer to what
deadly events happened here
may lie within
the buildings themselves.
Archeologists find a layer
of ash in the site.
The ash is in a thick layer
across all of the walls,
which indicates that the main
building completely burned down.
They even discovered
the charred remains
of a dog inside a building.
Bellinger: Examining the roof
more closely,
it turned out that it was
just studded with arrowheads,
so many, in fact, that it looked
like a pincushion.
Narrator: As they dig further,
they find grass ropes.
O'keefe: A lot of these
bodies were burned
and partially dismembered,
some of them even tied up
with the same grass rope
and executed.
Narrator: Out of respect for the
dead and their descendants,
the archeologists chose
not to release
any images of the human remains.
Rose: There are arrows
everywhere.
Something truly tragic
happened here.
Narrator: All signs point
to a nightmare scenario.
The ancestors of this village
were clearly the victims
of a terrible massacre.
What could have led
to this tragedy?
♪♪
Bellinger: Local elders
tell of an ancient story
that might hold the answer.
Billson: Yupik legends
describe a conflict
that was started during
a game of darts.
Narrator: It all began when one
boy accidentally hit another boy
in the eye with a dart.
The father of the injured boy
was so furious,
he knocked out both eyes of
the boy who caused the injury.
O'keefe: Then a relative
of that boy retaliated,
and the conflict escalated.
Narrator: Legend has it,
the people of quinhagak
put together a war party
and set out to attack
the other village,
but it didn't go as planned.
Rose: The people
of the other village
had prior warning of the attack
and ambushed the fighters,
killing all of their warriors.
Narrator: After the ambush,
the warriors from the other
village descended on quinhagak,
killed the women and children,
and burned it to the ground.
O'keefe: The dart game
eventually caused
a series of wars across alaska
and the yukon.
Narrator: It was known as
the bow and arrow wars,
and stories of this period
have been passed down
in yupik oral tradition
for generations.
Some, however,
have another theory of why
the wars may have started.
O'keefe: They believed it was
the result of scarce resources
after a cold-weather pattern
known as the little ice age
hit the region.
[ wind blowing ]
narrator: The little ice age is
believed to have taken place
between 1400 through
to the mid-19th century.
The ice age catastrophically
changed the environment.
Many plant species were
made extinct,
and animal migration
patterns changed.
Local populations had to compete
over what few resources
were left.
Narrator: Regular food sources
would have been scarce,
and their normal hunting areas
may not have yielded
enough meat.
This could have motivated
the yupik to wage a vicious war
on their neighbors
for their own survival.
It's a tragic discovery,
but one that gives us insight
into what happens when
environmental conditions
force human survival
to the brink.
♪♪
Narrator: A horrific
discovery is retrieved
from the bowels
of a frozen peak in the andes.
Rose: Why are these children
buried so high up on a mountain?
What on earth could they
possibly be doing up here?
All the signs point to these
children being selected
and groomed for some very
special purpose.
Narrator: Debris from
a passenger plane found
buried in a glacier
in the french alps
raises new suspicions.
Clarke: If the crash had,
in fact,
been an act of sabotage,
you have to ask,
"how did they do it?"
was there a bomb onboard?
Rose: What are
classified documents
doing amongst the debris
of a passenger plane crash?
Narrator: And strange
towers of ice
in the middle of
a subzero desert.
Irving: It's really confusing.
To make ice, you need water.
So how did all this ice
end up in a desert?
Narrator: These are
the strangest mysteries,
trapped in the coldest places.
Lost relics,
forgotten treasures,
dark secrets,
locked in their icy tombs
for ages.
But now as ice melts
around the world,
their stories
will finally be exposed.
[ wind whistling ]
♪♪
♪♪
High in the argentinean andes,
amidst the icy peaks,
archeologists find a site that
leads to a ghastly discovery.
♪♪
Irving: When most people
picture the andes,
they think of peru
or machu picchu,
but there are also
the snow-covered mountains
of argentina.
They tower over
the atacama desert,
one of the driest places
on the planet.
Rose: This mountain is over
20,000 feet in elevation.
♪♪
And it's home to the highest
archeological site in the world.
Narrator: Archeologists braved
several days of driving winds
and freezing temperatures
to reach the summit
of llullaillaco
before they could begin
excavations of three burials
lying under 5 feet
of rock and earth.
One of the burial platforms
had been placed
in a naturally formed hole
in bedrock so narrow
that the archeologists
were forced to lower a man
by hand into the pit
to retrieve its contents...
The body of a young girl.
It's a disturbing sight.
Narrator: It appears as if these
bodies are all children,
three of them, which had been
mummified by the cold.
Rose: Why are these children
buried so high up on a mountain?
What on earth could they
possibly be doing up here?
Narrator:
It's an unsettling discovery,
even for this group
of seasoned archeologists,
and they're compelled to
find out what happened to them.
♪♪
The tombs date back
to the inca empire.
The incas were a sophisticated
and powerful civilization
that ruled over a large portion
of south america
from 1438 to 1533 a.D.
From what we know
of inca traditions,
people were buried
where they lived,
not on top of a mountain.
This isn't a settlement,
and there's no larger
burial site up here.
It's just these three bodies.
Narrator: Due to the extremely
cold, arid environment,
their bodies froze
before they dehydrated,
so the organs never shriveled
and desiccation never occurred.
This resulted in making them
the most well-preserved
mummies ever found.
♪♪
Scientists begin
analyzing the bodies
and quickly
determine their ages.
The smaller children,
a boy and a girl,
are both around 4 or 5.
The older girl is around 13,
and they discover
that she was likely
suffering from tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is highly
contagious and deadly.
Putting infected people
high on a mountain
would be an effective method
of preventing
the spread of disease.
Maybe this was their way
of stopping an epidemic.
Narrator: But when scientists
examined the remains
of the two other children,
they showed no signs
of the disease.
Maybe the other two were
siblings of the sick child
and quarantined as a precaution.
Narrator:
But it just doesn't make sense.
There had to be other places
to isolate sick people
that weren't so hard to reach.
This was a sophisticated
civilization.
♪♪
Archeologists analyze
their clothing and conclude
that these children were members
of a high social class.
When the spanish invaded
in 1532,
they were known to capture
important members
of the inca nobility
and hold them ransom as a means
to exert influence
over the entire society.
Could these children
have been taken hostage?
Rose: The young boy
was found tied up,
which could be evidence
of a kidnapping.
And the high elevation
would have allowed them to spot
any rescue force
coming from a distance.
Billson: Maybe these were
hostages who were eliminated
when nobles didn't cooperate
or when they weren't
needed anymore.
Narrator: But why would they go
to all this trouble
to bury disposable hostages
on the top of the mountain?
And that's not the biggest
problem with this theory.
Scientists perform radiocarbon
testing on the mummies
to determine their age.
Irving: Examinations
of the remains suggest
that the bodies are, at the
very least, 500 years old.
Rose: The spanish didn't arrive
in the area until 1532.
These mummies were buried
decades before that.
So these children probably
weren't political hostages.
♪♪
Narrator:
More research into the bodies
offers yet another
surprising discovery.
Tests show
that each of the children
had high levels of alcohol
and coca in their system
at the time of death.
The fact, the older girl
had a chunk of it lodged
in between her teeth
and her cheek.
These intoxicants were used
by inca of all ages.
The alcohol was a corn-based
spirit known as chicha,
and coca leaves were known
to alleviate altitude sickness.
Narrator: Could the alcohol
and coca provide a clue
to what led these children
to die high up in the mountains?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Three frozen mummies
of inca children
are discovered on top
of a mountain in the andes.
Their bodies reveal
that they were given
a large amount of alcohol
and coca prior to their deaths.
Do these intoxicants give us
any clues into the cause
of the children's death?
By modern western standards,
it sounds disturbing,
but the incas viewed
these things very differently.
Rose: To be drunk or in
a state of intoxication
was considered to be a spiritual
or holy experience
for the incas.
Coca was an integral part
of their society.
♪♪
And it still remains
an important part
of andean culture, even today.
Billson: Inca silver miners
chewed coca leaf
to help overcome pain, fatigue,
and respiratory problems.
But why give coca
and alcohol to children?
Narrator: Researchers
turn back to the bodies,
looking for answers.
They analyze the older girl's
hair with the understanding
that hair grows
1 centimeter per month.
Irving: The girl's hair
was braided so tight
that it retained
environmental evidence
that gives us a timeline
of the girl's health.
Narrator: They deduce
that her diet had changed
dramatically about 12 months
before her death.
Studies of the hair showed
that her diet
changed from mostly potatoes
to a much richer diet
of meat and maize.
Irving: It would have been one
of the most luxurious diets
you could imagine at that time.
Bellinger: All the signs point
to these children being selected
and groomed for some very
special purpose.
Narrator: Could they have been
selected for ritual sacrifice
to the gods?
♪♪
The incas participated
in human sacrifices.
Child sacrifice
was called capacocha.
Bellinger: It was a great honor
to be sacrificed in this manner.
The inca chose children from
the far corners of their lands
to underscore the unity
of their empire.
Narrator: In fact, there was
a caste of inca groomed
especially for this great honor.
They were called the aclla.
And the older girl
fits the description.
An aclla was a young girl
schooled in the art of weaving
and chicha-making.
Narrator:
When acllas reached puberty,
they were either married off
to a dignitary
or offered up
as a sacrifice to the gods.
If she was chosen for sacrifice,
she would be led
through a series of rituals
involving large quantities
of alcohol and coca
during a months-long journey
from the inca capital of cusco
to her final resting place.
Researchers still don't know
how she died,
but typical methods of ritual
killing were strangulation,
live burial,
and blows to the head.
As barbaric as it sounds,
we need to understand this
in the context of inca belief
and tradition.
This was one of the greatest
honors bestowed on anyone,
whether child or adult.
Their sacrifice literally
was to ensure the survival
of their entire people.
Narrator: While the oldest girl
seems to fit into the story
of this tradition,
the younger two children do not.
Until more conclusive evidence
comes to light,
experts continue
to explore theories
as to why they were also part
of this sacrifice to the gods.
♪♪
♪♪
Resting on the border
between Italy and France,
towering at an elevation
of over 15,000 feet,
lies the tallest mountain
in the alps... mont blanc.
Bellinger:
You're way up in the alps,
in the most pristine wilderness,
and then you look around
and you see there's debris
and carnage everywhere.
Rose: The debris is scattered
all over the glacier.
It covers the landscape,
half-buried in snow and ice.
How did all this end up
on the top of a mountain?
Narrator:
The debris field is scattered
for miles along the glacier
and includes mechanical parts,
pieces of luggage, and fragments
of human remains.
Given the size and the scale
of the debris field,
this looks like it came
from a large aircraft,
probably a commercial airliner.
Based on this, it leads you
to think of one plane crash
in particular.
Narrator: On the morning
of January 24, 1966,
air india flight 101,
a boeing 707,
was en route from bombay
to london
with stops in delhi,
beirut, and geneva.
Before landing in geneva,
contact was lost with the plane.
It suddenly and mysteriously
went down over the alps,
killing all of the 106
passengers and 11 crew members.
♪♪
The flight recorder
was never found.
The black box would have
revealed some evidence
of what happened to the plane,
but without it, there's been
a lot of controversy
surrounding the tragedy.
Narrator: As the mountaineers
scour the glacier
inspecting the debris,
they make
an intriguing discovery.
At first glance, it appears
to be a plain canvas bag
poking out of the snow.
Narrator:
But this is no ordinary bag.
Inside, they found newspapers,
calendars, and a letter
from the ministry
of external affairs to india
labeled "top secret."
what are classified documents
doing amongst the debris
of a passenger plane crash?
Narrator: Onboard the plane was
india's top nuclear scientist,
homi j. Bhabha.
He was the head of the country's
atomic energy commission
and commonly known as the father
of indian nuclear power.
Bellinger: Bhabha was on his way
to vienna to attend meetings
at the international
atomic energy agency.
[ indistinct shouting ]
narrator:
Just four years earlier,
india had been at war with china
over disputed territory
in the himalayas,
and there was also
simmering tensions with pakistan
due to the recent
indo-pakistani war of 1965.
O'keefe: As a result of
all these political tensions,
india was looking to grow
its military strength
and develop a competitive
nuclear-weapons program,
and homi bhabha was the man
who was going to make it happen.
India had also been
strengthening its ties
to the soviet union in hopes of
purchasing military equipment.
It was poised to become
the world's next nuclear power.
Narrator: Could the crash have
been an attempt to stop india
from producing an atomic bomb?
Rose: If homi bhabha
was suddenly killed,
it would definitely inhibit
india's aspiration
of becoming
a nuclear-armed nation.
If the crash had, in fact,
been an act of sabotage,
you have to ask,
"how did they do it?"
was there a bomb onboard?
Some other kind of explosion?
Narrator: But if the plane
was destroyed by a bomb,
the debris field
would be much larger.
For example, if you take a look
at the lockerbie bombing
in 1988...
♪♪
The wreckage was spread
over 845 square miles.
Narrator: In the case
of lockerbie,
large parts of the plane
were found strewn
across the debris field.
In fact, the side
of the entire front end
of the plane was found intact.
But on mont blanc,
the debris found
is much smaller in size
and more mixed.
♪♪
Researchers then make
an unexpected discovery
that raises even more questions
about what happened
to the plane.
Clarke: Not only did they
find wreckage
from the air india flight,
but in the debris, they also
discovered a radio console
from an italian fighter jet.
Narrator: It appeared to be
from a lockheed martin
f-104g fighter jet
belonging to
the italian air force.
It was entirely unexpected.
Everyone had been assuming
they were looking at parts
from one plane, not two.
O'keefe: So, what's
a radio console
from an italian fighter jet
doing at the crash site
of another plane?
[ engine whirring ]
was it just a coincidence,
or was there
something more going on?
It all just makes you think
that something suspicious
is going on here.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: In January 1966,
air india flight 101 crashed
near the peak of europe's
tallest mountain... mont blanc.
After finding a radio console
from an italian fighter jet
among the wreckage,
some are questioning
exactly what happened that day.
O'keefe: One theory is
that the italians were
spying on the french
and that the italian
fighter jet collided
with the air india flight
on one of these
clandestine missions.
Clarke:
According to the crash report
issued by the french government,
eyewitnesses report
having seen huge clouds of smoke
above mont blanc.
Narrator: But there's just one
problem with this.
If there had been
a mid-air collision,
you'd expect to see
a lot more debris
from the italian fighter jet,
not just the radio console,
but we don't.
Narrator: While the
conspiracy theories
are certainly intriguing,
the real answer of what happened
to the air india flight
might be much simpler.
As part of the inquiry,
investigators pored
through the air traffic
communication logs
to try to figure out
what happened.
Bellinger: Before takeoff,
one of the plane's navigational
instruments wasn't working.
So the pilot had to stay
in constant contact
with the control tower
to keep track of his position.
Narrator: The weather conditions
that day were white-out,
so the communication between
air traffic control
and the pilot
was even more important.
O'keefe: In those crucial
final minutes of the flight,
it sounds like there was
a critical misunderstanding
between the air traffic
controller and the pilot.
Over the radio, the pilot said
that he was passing abeam
mont blanc, meaning
alongside the mountain.
But this was not the case.
He was actually heading
directly for it.
It seems the air traffic
controller missed
or misunderstood
the word "abeam"
and replied to the pilot,
"you have 5 miles
to the mont blanc,"
by which he meant,
"mont blanc is 5 miles
directly in front of you."
narrator: The controller,
thinking the pilot understood
that he needed to change course,
did not alert him.
♪♪
O'keefe: There's no way
of knowing for sure
what happened to the plane,
but it appears that
the air india flight crashed
due to faulty equipment
and a misunderstanding
between the pilot
and air traffic control.
Bellinger: It's still strange
that the debris
from the italian fighter jet
was found.
Maybe there are still
some unanswered questions there.
Narrator: Unless more evidence
reveals itself
within the melting glacier,
the mysterious fighter-jet
debris found on mont blanc
will likely continue to stoke
the embers of conspiracy
and speculation
for years to come.
♪♪
♪♪
In the ladakh region
of northern india,
a cold desert stretches
for miles between the himalayas
and neighboring
kunlun mountain range.
♪♪
Macferrin: Hardly any rain
falls in this desert.
The himalayas are the highest
mountain range in the world
and block almost all
of the monsoon rains
that come in from india.
It leaves a very high,
arid plateau behind.
It's one of the driest regions
of the world.
Irving:
It sits at such a high altitude
that it's still freezing cold
all year long.
These extreme temperatures
and lack of water
means that there's
very little plant life.
It's a frozen desert.
♪♪
Narrator: Hikers trekking
through the lowland
between the mountains come
across a strange spectacle...
Giant spires that appear
to be made of ice.
♪♪
Clarke: I've never seen
anything like this before.
It's highly unusual to see these
vertical structures of ice
in the middle of a desert.
♪♪
It's really confusing.
To make ice, you need water.
So how did all this ice
end up in a desert?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: In the middle
of a cold, dry desert
in northern india,
strange towers of ice
jet out of the
otherwise barren landscape.
How did they come to be?
Examples of vertical
ice formations
have been recorded elsewhere
on the planet.
In antarctica and the arctic,
small towers of ice
can be found.
It's a phenomena
called sastrugi.
♪♪
Sastrugi form when wind
blows the snow
into these hard-packed ridges
over the surface
and form much like sand dunes
do in a desert.
[ wind whistling ]
billson: When the wind picks up,
it erodes the softer snow
around the solid ridges,
creating these peaks.
Narrator: Could these ice spires
be a type of sastrugi?
When sastrugis form,
they get to be, at most,
a few feet high,
and they shift around
in the wind.
You need vast fields of snow
in order to form them.
These enormous towers
isolated by themselves
with no snow on the landscape
couldn't have possibly
been sastrugi.
♪♪
Narrator: Scientists believe
they have seen
something like this before,
just not on our planet.
♪♪
In 2015, nasa scientists
found evidence
of unusual ice formations
on pluto,
resembling giant knife blades.
Could these formations on the
other side of the solar system
provide answers to
the ice formations in ladakh?
Clarke: The spires we see on
pluto are up to 1,600 feet tall,
2 to 3 miles apart.
So although they're a lot bigger
than what we see in india,
they are of similar shape.
Narrator: In order to understand
whether the formations on pluto
offer any explanations
for the ice towers in ladakh,
we need to understand how
the spires on pluto were formed.
Nasa scientists used
weather-prediction techniques
to analyze how the formations
on pluto came to be.
These formations on pluto
were formed by sublimation.
It's when the sunlight
vaporizes the ice,
and then it re-condenses to
slowly form these giant towers.
Narrator: Sublimation is
the process of turning
a solid substance to gas
without liquefying it first.
In the case of pluto, the vapors
then immediately refreeze,
creating 1,600-feet-tall
towers of ice.
Could the same process that
formed the giant spires on pluto
have created these giant
ice spires in india?
It's plausible,
if it weren't
for one glaring issue.
Macferrin: You would need
vast amounts of snow
in order to sublimate
enough water
to form ice towers of this size.
There's no snow around,
so these towers couldn't have
been formed by sublimation.
♪♪
Narrator: Based on the size
of the formations,
the climate, and geography,
there doesn't appear to be
any explanation
for how these structures
could have been made naturally,
which begs the question,
could they have been man-made?
Clarke: Some of the ice towers
are adorned with prayer flags,
which could lead one to believe
that they're for religious
or spiritual purposes.
Narrator: Their shape appears
to be architecturally similar
to the buddhist temples
found in the area,
called stupas.
A stone stupa
is a domed structure
used as a place of meditation.
Often, they'll be topped
with a tall steeple
and a private interior chamber
to house religious relics
or even act as a burial chamber.
The ladakh region is home
to a large number
of tibetan buddhists,
and there are the remains
of about 4,000 or 5,000
stone stupas in the area.
But the aerial and satellite
imaging of the area
appears to contradict
this theory.
Macferrin: Satellite images show
us that these structures melt
in the summer, and most of them,
by the end of the summer,
have completely disappeared.
Narrator:
Why would you build a temple
that only lasts
for half of the year?
♪♪
When the structures do melt
in the summer,
the key to their mystery
reveals itself.
Clarke: As the ice towers melt,
a system of pipes is revealed
that runs right through
the middle of the structure.
Irving: The pipes appear
to be able to pump water
from higher up in the mountains
to the center
of the frozen spires.
Narrator: This confirms
they are man-made.
Irving: But why would someone
create a giant ice tower
in the middle
of a freezing desert?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: In the freezing arid
desert between the himalayan
and kunlun mountains stand
dozens of bizarre icy spires
with pipes running
through the center of them.
Who built them, and why?
The answer may be linked
to the village farmers
whose crops can grow
in a barren desert.
Billson: Once the meltwater
from the winter has run out.
There is little drinking water
left for the villagers
or water for
the crops in the valley.
Irving: Sonam wangchuck,
a local engineer,
attempted to address
the water shortages
that threatened
the villagers' way of life.
He came up with the ice stupas
as a way of storing
millions of gallons of water
for various communities
that would last into the spring.
Narrator: Ice stupas are
created in the winter
using runoff spring water
that's been piped underground
and down slope.
When the temperatures
drop below zero,
the water is sprayed up
into the air, where it freezes.
Over the season, elaborate
conical structures take shape,
reaching up to the height
of a 10-storey building.
They start melting in March
and can last all the way
through July.
Macferrin: In the summers, these
towers melt away and form rivers
that actually feed and
sustain the local towns,
that irrigate
the crops and sustain life
up in the high desert.
Narrator: The ice stupas aren't
temples but, rather,
an imaginative way of overcoming
irrigation problems.
They're human ingenuity
at its finest.
♪♪
♪♪
In western alaska
on the bering sea
lies the small coastal town
of quinhagak.
O'keefe:
It's a small community
with a population
of about 700 people,
and the only way to get in there
is to fly in.
[ engine rumbling ]
rose: It's completely surrounded
by miles and miles of sea
and frozen tundra.
This place really
is the end of the earth.
Narrator:
In early spring 2007,
the town was experiencing
unusually warm weather.
As a result, the permafrost
was turning into swampland.
Bellinger: Local teens were
out enjoying the weather
and quad-biking on the beach
when they came across a strange
wooden object in the sand.
When you first see it,
it's hard to tell what it is.
Narrator: The village elders
knew what it was.
It appeared to be an ancient
ceremonial mask
associated with
the yupik people.
Narrator: The yupik
have lived in this area
for hundreds of years
and still do.
Fearing that the artifacts
from their ancestors
could be in danger
of being lost forever,
the yupik elders
invited archeologists
from the university of aberdeen
to investigate the area.
O'keefe: When the team began
to explore the area,
they discovered a treasure trove
of valuable artifacts...
Hundreds of wooden masks,
bowls, dolls, and figurines,
as well as ivory
and wood carvings
all buried deep
in the permafrost.
Narrator: It's not just
a collection of artifacts.
It's an entire village
that's been frozen in time
for hundreds of years,
dating back to the 15th century.
But at the site,
something seemed off.
Narrator: As the archeologists
excavated further,
they made a gruesome discovery.
Melting out of the permafrost,
they find the skull
of a young woman.
As archeologists uncover
the rest of the body,
they find that she is located
just outside of what used to be
a sod house with multiple rooms
branching off
in every direction.
Bellinger: Usually,
human remains
are buried in one specific area
of a village,
but what we have here
really doesn't make sense.
They're right outside a house.
Narrator:
And it's not just one body.
More remains are found,
one after another after another.
28 people in total
emerged from the icy ground
in the immediate vicinity
of the house.
Rose:
In this part of the world,
you would not expect
to find human bones
associated with
a residential structure.
Billson: There's something
really off here.
Finding a body positioned
like this and not in a tomb
or in a grave site
is quite strange.
These bodies weren't buried.
They appear to have just fallen
and been left on the ground
outside their homes.
O'keefe: These bodies
are found lying down,
some with their faces
in the mud,
others with hands outstretched,
there's a clear suggestion
of extreme distress.
Narrator: It soon becomes clear
that these are the victims
of some sort
of cataclysmic event.
What could have caused
the annihilation
of this entire yupik village?
Rose: 28 people
is a lot to die all at once.
Something truly terrible
must have happened here.
Narrator: Scientists take
a closer look at the bones.
Bone-structure analysis
identifies most as women,
children, and old men.
Only one was a male
of fighting age.
Could it have been
a natural disaster?
O'keefe: Historical remains
from ancient settlements around
the world show it's possible
for a catastrophic event
to bring life in an entire city
to an abrupt end.
Narrator: The most famous
example of this is pompeii.
Pompeii was a large roman town
that was entirely destroyed
in 79 c.E.
When the nearby volcano,
mount vesuvius, erupted.
Billson: The vesuvius eruption
covered the town
in at least 19 feet
of volcanic ash and debris.
The intense heat
of the eruption killed people
right where they stood,
preserving their last moments,
wherever they were in town,
whatever they were doing.
In many ways,
the sight of quinhagak
is very similar to pompeii.
Everything is just left
where it was.
Narrator: It's clear
quinhagak wasn't subject
to a volcanic eruption,
but could some other
natural disaster
have brought life in the village
to an equally abrupt end?
Rose: The village
is on the coast,
so is it possible that a flood
or some other tidal event
could have killed these people?
Narrator: In 1964,
an earthquake known as
the great alaskan earthquake
rocked south central alaska.
The ground split open,
buildings collapsed,
and a massive tsunami swelled
and crashed onto the shoreline,
killing 131 people, all told.
Could the same thing
have happened
hundreds of years
earlier here in quinhagak?
♪♪
Narrator: In quinhagak,
southwestern alaska,
archeologists uncover
the remains of 28 members
of the ancient yupik people,
preserved in the permafrost
since around 1650 c.E.
Could they have been wiped out
en masse by a massive flood
or even a tsunami?
If it was a flood,
you wouldn't expect
to find any
biological specimens intact.
Any wooden artifacts
would have rotted in the water.
Narrator: In addition,
the sedimentary layers
of the archeological site
would have been destroyed.
The force of the tide
would have moved things,
but that's not the case here.
What we're seeing is
that everything was just left
as it was,
totally frozen in time.
Narrator: If it wasn't an
earthquake, could it have been
a sudden and deadly plague
that wiped out this community?
Rose: In the ancient city
of thebes in egypt,
there was a horrific plague,
around 250 a.D.
Archeologists
have found bonfires
containing human remains
and pits where bodies
were covered with lime
in an attempt to stop
the spread of the disease.
Bellinger: If it were an
epidemic, we would expect to see
the remains at a safe distance
from the village,
not left right outside
their houses.
O'keefe: You'd also expect to
see adult males among the dead.
However, the majority
of the remains found at the site
belong to women, children,
and the elderly.
Narrator: The answer to what
deadly events happened here
may lie within
the buildings themselves.
Archeologists find a layer
of ash in the site.
The ash is in a thick layer
across all of the walls,
which indicates that the main
building completely burned down.
They even discovered
the charred remains
of a dog inside a building.
Bellinger: Examining the roof
more closely,
it turned out that it was
just studded with arrowheads,
so many, in fact, that it looked
like a pincushion.
Narrator: As they dig further,
they find grass ropes.
O'keefe: A lot of these
bodies were burned
and partially dismembered,
some of them even tied up
with the same grass rope
and executed.
Narrator: Out of respect for the
dead and their descendants,
the archeologists chose
not to release
any images of the human remains.
Rose: There are arrows
everywhere.
Something truly tragic
happened here.
Narrator: All signs point
to a nightmare scenario.
The ancestors of this village
were clearly the victims
of a terrible massacre.
What could have led
to this tragedy?
♪♪
Bellinger: Local elders
tell of an ancient story
that might hold the answer.
Billson: Yupik legends
describe a conflict
that was started during
a game of darts.
Narrator: It all began when one
boy accidentally hit another boy
in the eye with a dart.
The father of the injured boy
was so furious,
he knocked out both eyes of
the boy who caused the injury.
O'keefe: Then a relative
of that boy retaliated,
and the conflict escalated.
Narrator: Legend has it,
the people of quinhagak
put together a war party
and set out to attack
the other village,
but it didn't go as planned.
Rose: The people
of the other village
had prior warning of the attack
and ambushed the fighters,
killing all of their warriors.
Narrator: After the ambush,
the warriors from the other
village descended on quinhagak,
killed the women and children,
and burned it to the ground.
O'keefe: The dart game
eventually caused
a series of wars across alaska
and the yukon.
Narrator: It was known as
the bow and arrow wars,
and stories of this period
have been passed down
in yupik oral tradition
for generations.
Some, however,
have another theory of why
the wars may have started.
O'keefe: They believed it was
the result of scarce resources
after a cold-weather pattern
known as the little ice age
hit the region.
[ wind blowing ]
narrator: The little ice age is
believed to have taken place
between 1400 through
to the mid-19th century.
The ice age catastrophically
changed the environment.
Many plant species were
made extinct,
and animal migration
patterns changed.
Local populations had to compete
over what few resources
were left.
Narrator: Regular food sources
would have been scarce,
and their normal hunting areas
may not have yielded
enough meat.
This could have motivated
the yupik to wage a vicious war
on their neighbors
for their own survival.
It's a tragic discovery,
but one that gives us insight
into what happens when
environmental conditions
force human survival
to the brink.
♪♪