Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 13, Episode 3 - Carthage's Lost Warriors - full transcript

NARRATOR: Coming up,
Carthage was a mighty empire

known for its powerful
sailing fleet.

When the empire fell,
did these seafarers

sail to the New World
long before Columbus?

WOMAN: The Amazon Basin has been
settled for 11,000 years,

but 2,000 years ago, there was
a population explosion.

MAN: Fortresses like Kuelap are
not found anywhere in America,

but archeologists
have never considered

its origin might be found
outside America.

NARRATOR:
"Carthage's Lost Warriors"

on "Secrets of the Dead."



"Secrets of the Dead"
NARRATOR:
was made possible in part"

by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting

and by contributions
to your PBS station from...

NARRATOR: Deep within
the jungles of South America,

a Celtic-style bronze ax
is found,

an ancient relic predating
the arrival Columbus

into the New World.

Is it possible warriors
from the Old World

left it behind 2,000 years ago

as they journeyed as far as Peru
to eventually end up

in this fortress atop the Andes?

Professor Hans Giffhorn
believes the mummies

of the legendary
Chachapoya warriors

conceal a baffling mystery.



[Giffhorn speaking German]

Over the course of time,
I've come across

such a large amount of evidence
from a wide variety of areas

which all points
towards one theory,

that in ancient times,
people from the Old World

reached Peru and joined forces
with the Chachapoya.

NARRATOR: By 539 B.C., Carthage,
a powerful city state,

controlled much
of the Mediterranean

from the coast of North Africa.

With its fortresslike location
and secure natural harbor,

it is an important
trading metropolis

at the center
of the ancient world.

Precious resources
and luxury goods arrived here

from Carthaginian colonies
in a ceaseless flow,

laying the foundation
for incredible wealth.

The harbor at Carthage
was a port of call

for merchant vessels
and warships alike.

Warships with 170 oarsmen
or more set sail from here.

The earliest of these ships
were triremes

with 3 rows of oars,

but with each new
and more powerful ship,

some believe, the Carthaginians
could have sailed

further out into the Atlantic.

They ventured along
the west coast of Africa

as far south as Cameroon
to control the trade and gold.

They obtained copper and tin
from trading colonies in Iberia,

even voyaging
to the Atlantic side of Spain.

Even the Spanish
Balearic Islands

provided their
most fearsome warriors.

For many years, Hans Giffhorn
of Hildeshein University

near Hanover, Germany,
has studied the ancient history

of the Spanish islands.

The German professor
takes a keen interest

in the ancient legends,

valuable sources
of lost knowledge.

Giffhorn does not think
the Carthaginians

could have simply vanished
after their empire collapsed,

defeated by the Romans
in 146 B.C.

He believes the survivors
could have started

a new life somewhere else.

He is convinced of this
and begins searching

for clues here
on the Balearic Islands.

GIFFHORN: Phoenicians
and Carthaginians

often journeyed to Majorca,
establishing trading settlements

as they did in the Mediterranean
and further afield.

NARRATOR: Commerce was key
to Carthaginian power.

So were the thousands
of soldiers from Iberia

who fought
in the Carthaginian army.

The stone slingers
from the Balearic Islands

were a much-feared
mercenary force.

Giffhorn finds it unlikely
that all of the Carthaginians

would have been enslaved...

but what alternatives
were open to them?

Did they flee far across
the ocean to South America?

Are the dead at Kuelap,
the mountain fortress in Peru,

the descendants of
these Celts and Carthaginians,

as Giffhorn believes?

The key element
in Giffhorn's hypothesis

starts at Carthage itself

on the southern coast
of the Mediterranean.

The cargo port at Carthage
was open to all ships,

but only Carthaginian warships

were allowed
through the inner gate.

Behind this gate, secret
boathouses were constructed,

each 20 feet wide
and 100 feet long,

space for 350 warships
with a crew of 100,000 men.

On land, too, the superpower
spread fear and terror.

Its war elephants
were a feared weapon.

Their powerful grip
on the region

provoked bitter resistance.

The up-and-coming Rome
soon became a dangerous rival.

After 3 bloody wars,

the Roman Empire
was able to defeat Carthage.

Hundreds of thousands died
as the city burned.

Countless more were enslaved,

but many must have been
able to flee.

Professor Giffhorn believes
that some elite seafarers

managed to escape
to their trading posts

in northern Spain.

Here, they would have found
safe harbor

in what is present-day Galicia,

but soon, the Roman victors
would occupy the city.

They would build
the Tower of Hercules,

the famous lighthouse

based on one of the 7
Wonders of the World.

For 2,000 years, its light
has shone out over the water

into the dreaded Bay of Biscay

and toward the Atlantic
sea routes to the Americas.

During ancient times,
the harbor at Coruna

was an important staging post

for ships heading
to northern shores.

Here, seafarers from Carthage
and throughout the Mediterranean

came into contact
with Celtic Iberians

who had been sailing
the northern ocean

for thousands of years.

In Coruna,
business is conducted.

The riches of the country
are traded

for precious goods
from overseas,

a practice that continues today
among the descendents

of the Celts
and the Carthaginians.

Trade brings the world together.

Information is passed on,
all the latest news.

[People shouting in Spanish]

NARRATOR: Maybe there
was even talk of Carthaginians

voyaging across the ocean

as far as the distant shores
of present-day Brazil.

Even if it were
theoretically possible

for the Carthaginians
to have reached Brazil,

this doesn't indicate,
by any means,

that they really got there.

More evidence will be required,
and such evidence is found

in the writings
of ancient historians,

such as Diodorus.

NARRATOR:
The Greek historian Diodorus

reported in his history
of the world

that the Carthaginians
had discovered paradise

far beyond all known
inhabited countries,

a land with wild animals,

rivers that could be
navigated by ship,

and high mountains.

As sailors of all nations did,

they kept this discovery
a secret.

Giffhorn believes
the Carthaginian refugees

and their Celtic allies
set out from Spain.

GIFFHORN: It seems to me
that without the nautical skills

of the Carthaginians, it would
hardly have been possible

for the Celtic Iberians and
the stone slingers of Majorca

to cross the Atlantic.

NARRATOR: Carthaginian
sea captains perfected

the nautical legacy
of their Phoenician forefathers.

They could determine
their latitude

by the length of the shadow
cast by the midday sun.

At night, they would navigate
by the polar star

in the constellation
of the Little Bear,

known as the Phoenician Star
in ancient times.

As has always been the case,
ships are propelled

by the winds and ocean currents

to the northeastern coast
of Brazil.

Janice Jakait
has also crossed the Atlantic

entirely by herself.

This woman from Heidelberg
covered the 4,000 miles

from southern Portugal
to the Caribbean islands

in 90 days
in a high-tech rowboat

carried byby the currents,
proof that it may be possible.

JAKAIT: Of course, it wasn't
like a lake in the park.

There were some
critical situations--

waves up to 8 or 9 meters high,

collisions or near misses
with fishing trawlers,

and getting caught
in their nets.

Naturally, the main problem
is that you need fresh water

and food.

Of course, you're constantly
exposed to the sun, the heat,

but you're permanently
soaking wet.

Once you're in the boat,
you can't turn back

and row against the current,
against the wind.

So, in other words,
you just have to make it.

Even in ancient times,
large boats rowed by strong men

must somehow have been
able to do it.

Once they were on the water,

they would have
had to get there.

NARRATOR: Giffhorn thinks
the Carthaginian ships

could have reached
the tropical coastline

and discovered the New World
1,500 years before Columbus.

The island of Itamaraca
lies off the coast of Brazil

and would have been
an ideal landing site

for the Carthaginians.

In the 17th century,
Dutch explorers chose

to build Fort Orange here
because it was easy to defend.

Ceramic fragments found here

suggest an ancient
indigenous settlement

lay underneath the fortress.

The sand is littered
with curious fragments

of white clay.

[Speaking Portuguese]

These are the remains
of Dutch clay pipes.

We found more than
5,000 of them.

They certainly smoked a lot
here at Fort Orange.

NARRATOR: Up to now,
the archeologist

has not found any traces
of Carthaginians

and little remains
of the original inhabitants.

In ancient times,
exhausted seafarers

would have found conditions here
extremely difficult

after crossing the Atlantic.

The archeologist
is convinced of that.

In the 16th century,
mercenary Hans Staden

wrote about being taken prisoner
by cannibals

on the coast of Brazil.

He was witness
to how these people

slaughtered their enemies,
cut them into pieces,

and then ate them.

While the natives were fearsome,
they were also traders,

and that was exactly the
strength of the Carthaginians.

Could this have been
their chance at survival?

There are no accounts
of a transatlantic expedition

to Brazil at any time
before Columbus,

but not far from the coast
at Rio Paraiba,

there is an archeological site

which could be
extremely significant--

the legendary Pedra do Inga.

Countless figures and symbols

have been engraved
into the monolith.

Experts are still unable
to decipher their meaning.

MAN: Here in Paraiba
a very long time ago,

the Itacotiera culture existed.

Many engravings in stone
remain from this period,

such as here
at the Rock of the Inga,

but we don't know
how these people thought

or how they behaved.

We simply are not able
to understand

the messages they've left.

How were they created?

Which people
immortalized themselves

at the Rock of the Inga?

It's a mystery.

However, does it seem likely
that the people who did this

were not simple natives?

Maybe it was
a completely different culture

2,000 years ago.

At an early stage,
local archeologists noticed

that many of the petroglyphs
of the Rock of the Inga

displayed similarities
with writing

from the Old World
in classical times.

I've studied this.

Only similarities with
individual letters were found,

not with complete words.

However, similarities
were mainly with letters

from a Celtic Iberian alphabet.

NARRATOR: 4 symbols
engraved on the stone

resemble letters
from ancient European languages.

We know their phonetic value,
but so far,

it has not been possible
to translate the engravings

into a meaningful text.

Merchants or settlers would have
hardly considered

the Rio Paraiba
a Garden of Eden.

Once up river,
the tropical region

quickly gives way
to a parched hinterland

of rock and dust.

Hitting this dead end,
any seafarer or explorer

would have been forced to return
to the Atlantic coast...

but to the northwest,
there was a river

of dimensions that
must have been beyond belief

for sailors from the Old World--
the Amazon.

Tropical rainforests would
hardly have been a new sight

for seafarers from Carthage--

they could have seen
similar vegetation in Africa--

but how would the jungle
have struck their Celtic allies?

No account exists...

and we can only imagine
their first contact

with native tribes
from vivid accounts

written 1,500 years later
by explorers

who followed Columbus
into the New World.

Despite the explorers'
superior weaponry,

the natives would have had
the advantage over intruders

who didn't know
the laws of the jungle.

Spanish and Portuguese invaders
told tragic stories

of their attempt to colonize
the Amazon in the 16th century.

To them, everything was hostile,
and death lurked everywhere.

It would have been no different
for the Carthaginians

1,500 years earlier.

As a matter of survival,
explorers knew

never to venture too far
from the shelter of their ship.

The conquistadors exchanged
colorful gifts with the locals.

For a tribal chief,
perhaps a Carthaginian metal ax

would be appropriate.

The Portuguese established
Belem, their first base,

in 1616
close to the Amazon delta.

From here, they would
exploit the tropical wealth

as they attempted to convert
the wild heathens.

In Belem today, archeologists
are studying Indian culture.

The Goeldi Institute
has gathered evidence

about Amazonian tribes
who were neither wild

nor nonreligious.

[Camera shutter clicks]

For thousands of years,

there was a developed
civilization here.

[Camera shutter clicks]

They've even found
a ceramic version

of the Brazilian cult garment
known as the tanga.

[Camera shutter clicks]

Dr. Maura da Silveira
curates a collection

of archeological treasures
of the Amazon,

everyday objects
from thousands of years ago.

Special cult objects were made
from precious materials.

This valuable spearhead
made from rock crystal

is a highlight
of the collection.

Terracotta idols painted
in rich colors

bear witness to the complex
religious beliefs

of the Marajoara.

[da Silveira
speaking Portuguese]

This is a phallus symbol,
a terracotta cult object

from the Marajoara.

The Amazonian culture
at that time

was highly developed.

The people lived
on manmade islands

that had been constructed
in the marsh.

It was also used as a rattle.

[Rattling]

NARRATOR: The very first people
to excavate this area

were staggered by
the extraordinary finds

dating back
to the Marajoara civilization.

These funeral urns painted
in a variety of colors

are reminiscent
of classical forms

found in the Mediterranean,

Greek vases
with Celtic spiral patterns.

The Amazon Basin has been
settled for 11,000 years,

but for a long time,
the population here was small,

but 2,000 years ago, there was
a population explosion,

and this growth took place
extremely quickly.

NARRATOR: In 1541,
according to an eyewitness,

a Spanish expedition
ventured up the Amazon

in search of the legendary
City of Gold.

The chronicler reports that
they were suddenly attacked.

Arrows rained down upon them

from a densely populated
river settlement.

Naked, light-skinned women
were fighting on the front line.

ReReports about these
fearless Amazons

led to the river being given
its present name.

Such accounts were considered
untrustworthy by many...

but decades
of archeological work

has shown that the jungle was
filled with large settlements.

Thousands of residents
were supported

by lush fields of maize

tended with special
agricultural techniques.

One of their plants will conquer
the entire world--

cacao, used to make chocolate.

Today experts have rediscovered
the extensive civilization

that once flourished
along the Amazon.

They have no doubt
that a cultural revolution

took place there
2,000 years ago.

Ceramics found by researchers
show how techniques evolved

in leaps and bounds
during that time.

Did these new styles reflect
the influence of outsiders?

[Schaan speaking Portuguese]

This special ceramic style
is really fascinating.

It was first developed
in Marajoara.

Funeral urns
in such a range of colors

only appeared
in the Upper Amazon region

much later than this.

That's why I believe
that the development

began on Marajoara

and influenced
the other regions later.

[Speaking Portuguese]

It's often suggested
that this new style

might come
from outside the region.

NARRATOR: The similarities
of the artifacts

to Mediterranean objects
raise a fascinating possibility.

Could seafarers have brought
new ideas from the Old World?

For amateur archeologist
Heinz Budweg,

these artifacts
can only mean one thing--

foreign explorers
landed in Brazil

long before Columbus--

and he's found more evidence--
an ancient ax.

[Budweg speaking German]

The merchant told me it came
from Rio Guapore,

the river that forms the border
between Brazil and Bolivia,

and he said he bought it direct
from a Bolivian Indian.

The thing has to be genuine.

Even the wooden handle
was still quite damp.

NARRATOR: A rich patina
that developed over many years

covers the metal ax,

and there is a curious figure
on the head of the blade.

BUDWEG: The head of a bull,

or it could perhaps be
an antelope,

but in any case,
it's an animal

that didn't exist
in South America.

NARRATOR: Budweg
has done everything he can

to shed light on the mysterious
find from the jungle.

At the University of Sao Paulo's
Institute for Geosciences,

scientists examine the ax

using the latest
laboratory technology.

The result comes as a surprise.

[Woman speaking Portuguese]

The ax head is 61% copper
and 39% zinc,

and metal alloys like this
didn't exist in America

before the arrival
of Europeans.

[Budweg speaking German]

Another important point
is that the wooden handle

comes from the forest
in the Pantanal,

a marshy region
around to Rio Paraguay,

and this wood has been dated
by scientific methods.

It's about 1,500 years old.

NARRATOR: Evidence points
to an extensive trading network

along the rivers
of the Amazon Basin.

Could this have been how the ax

got to the interior
of the continent?

Did Celts and Carthaginians
simply follow the river

from the coast, heading
further and further upstream?

It has been reported
that Indians escaping

from slave traders fled as far
as the Chachapoyan region.

They would have covered
a distance of almost 2,500 miles

by boat and on foot
inland from the coast.

So Giffhorn thinks
it is possible

very determined
Celtic Iberians

could have made
the same journey...

but could these emigrants
have made their way

through the biggest jungle
in the world

threatened by wild animals
and unknown diseases?

And even if that made it
through the jungle,

they would ultimately have faced

a seemingly insurmountable
roadblock--

the Andes.

Could the Celts
and Carthaginians

have made it as far
as Kuelap,

the giant fortress
built by the Chachapoya

in the mountains at 10,000 feet?

This computer reconstruction
reveals that,

in terms of the mass
of stone used,

Kuelap is even bigger than
the Cheops Pyramid in Egypt.

The Chachapoya
were fantastic masons,

but where did they
obtain the knowledge

to build structures like this?

For over 25 years,
archeologist Warren Church

of Columbus State University
has studied the Chachapoya.

He does not see the
Celtic-Carthaginian influence

in the ruins of Kuelap
as Giffhorn does.

He sees the heritage
of a powerful Andean culture.

CHURCH: They're really best
known for their architecture,

but that is what we see now.

That's the best-preserved thing
that sits on the surface

as we, as visitors, walk around,

and some of it
is really quite spectacular.

Some of it is monumental.
It speaks power.

NARRATOR: Peter Lerche
has been living in Peru

for more than 30 years.

He was even mayor
of the provincial capital.

He is completely captivated
by the people here,

the living and the dead.

LERCHE: How can we
explain Kuelap?

All the C-14 analyses
we've performed so far

suggest that it's not
really very old.

It dates from around 800 A.D.

The exception is here
at the main entrance--500 A.D.

[Giffhorn speaking German]

The first time
I encountered Kuelap,

I was particularly puzzled
because no other fortress

in the whole of America displays
similar construction techniques,

but I knew fortresses like this
were quite common

in the Mediterranean region
during classical times.

NARRATOR: One detail
in the main temple at Kuelap

appears to support
Giffhorn's theory.

The head engraved in the wall
is reminiscent

of a gruesome practice on
the other side of the Atlantic.

The Celts would
decapitate their prisoners

and hang their heads as
a proud demonstration of power.

Did the Chachapoya
also practice this ritual?

[Giffhorn speaking German]

The Celtic custom
of using human heads as trophies

is connected with their belief

that the soul resides
in the skull.

That's why they treated the head
as hugely important,

and this also explains why they
were masters of trepanation,

but they weren't the only ones.

NARRATOR: Both the Celts
and the Chachapoya

would make a hole in the skull
of a sick person

to relieve pressure on the brain
and drive away evil spirits.

[Man speaking German]

In the case of the Chachapoya,
we know they used this technique

because it's described
in Hippocratic accounts

dating back to about 500 B.C.,

and trepanation was also
practiced later by the Celts,

which we know from archeological
finds in Lower Austria.

So this represents
a very interesting parallel

between the cultures.

NARRATOR: Is the use
of the same healing method

more evidence of contact
between the two cultures,

as Professor Giffhorn believes?

The decisive proof may well be
hidden at Kuelap.

CHURCH: The Chachapoya
were special in the sense

that they did these kinds
of very intricate stonework.

The building is supercharged
with power,

whatever those symbols mean,

and they meant something and
very powerful to the Chachapoya.

NARRATOR: Who were the
inhabitants of this fortress?

Where did the population live?

Peter Lerche.

LERCHE: Here we have
a particularly large

Chacha roundhouse.

We can see holes in the walls
where beams were placed

to support the second floor
to form the floor above.

Two-story houses
were required in Kuelap

to make maximum use
of the space available

because 3,000 people lived here.

NARRATOR: To his day, the
natives of the Andean highlands

tend their fields using methods
and implements

handed down
from their forefathers.

Agriculture in the days
of the Chachapoya

would not have looked
very different

in this landscape
of steep slopes

and rugged canyon walls.

CHURCH: The Maranon Canyon
is deeper and wider

than the Grand Canyon
in the United States.

This is a hard place to live,

and, really, it's been very hard
for many archeologists

to accept that anybody
would want to live there--

"What are they doing here?

Why do they want
to live there?"--

and it sets up the mystery.

"OK. Clearly, they didn't
choose to live there."

NARRATOR: The massive citadel
of the Chachapoya

still conceals many puzzles,
but Professor Giffhorn believes

he is close to finding
solutions.

GIFFHORN: Fortresses like Kuelap

are not found anywhere
in America,

but archeologists
have never considered

that an explanation
of its origin might be found

outside America.

NARRATOR:
On the Atlantic coast of Spain,

the remains of a fortress city
can be found

on manmade terraces.

Iberian Celts
constructed the city

more than 2,000 years ago,

just before or after
the destruction of Carthage,

and, just as in Kuelap,
the houses were built

on round stone foundations.

Here, too, the people
who built the city

chose an extraordinary location
for protection.

The similarities between
the Celtic Iberian settlement

in Spain

and the mountain fortress
in the Andes

support Professor Giffhorn's
theory.

Is there a link?

The mystery can only be
explained in South America.

There is still
no conclusive proof

that Celts and Carthaginians
were ever present in Peru.

Even for the Incas,
the kingdom of the Chachapoya

was simply too remote.

Hardly any chroniclers from
the Spanish colonial period

ventured this far, either.

Today the Chachapoya settlements
are ghost towns

hidden on steep rock faces.

Funereal figures bear witness
to their strange ancestral cult.

Archeologists are exploring
a burial site

that was erected
at a dizzying height.

The warriors buried here
were headhunters,

making them unique in the entire
Andean highlands.

German archeologist
Klaus Koschmeider

is also fascinated
by the Chachapoya.

[Koschmeider speaking German]

Burying people in houses
is actually quite normal

for the Chachapoya.

We find quite frequent evidence
of burials in the roundhouses.

However, this might
indicate an origin

in the Amazon Basin region

because it's still
the custom there

to bury people in houses.

NARRATOR: The ritual sites
are decorated with paintings,

and--despite
the tropical climate,

since they are protected
by the steep rock faces--

they can still be made out
quite clearly.

There are figures
in splendid costumes

crowned with clumps of feathers
or wreaths of light.

Another excavation also reveals

a being with
a magnificent headdress.

In the Celtic mythology
of ancient Europe,

the god Cernnunos was depicted
with similar antlers,

as can be seen here
on the silver cauldron

of Gundestrup in Denmark.

KOSCHMEIDER: Here, we have
an extraordinary image

of a boat with a person
sitting inside it.

On the other side is
a very simple similar example.

NARRATOR: Klaus Koschmeider
also thinks the Chachapoya

moved here from the east,
although his east

is only a few hundred miles away
in the Amazon region.

Only the dead know the truth.

Every storm reveals
more skeletons

and destroys other traces
of the Chachapoya.

For days on end,
the rain in the mountains

continues without a break.

The sources of the Amazon
are transformed

into raging torrents.

In Limabamba, the people are not
the only ones who have learned

to come to terms
with these natural forces.

Everybody makes the best
of the situation

which is likely to be
repeated many times

during the rainy season.

CHURCH: Probably,
one of the biggest concerns

was just the severe weather--
tremendous hailstorms there,

great rainstorms
unlike any rainstorms

I'd ever experienced
anywhere in the world.

I've seen in Chachapoyas
it just seems

like the sky
is absolutely falling,

and the ground under your feet
turns into liquid.

It's, from one rainstorm
to the next,

valleys transformed
with landslides.

It's a very dynamic environment,
and it makes perfect sense

that they lived
on the top of the mountain

just for that very reason.

NARRATOR: Several years ago,

ethnologist Peter Lerche
was alarmed.

Grave robbers were plundering
a pre-Columbian burial site,

and many of the mummies had been
left in the rain unprotected.

With no time to lose, Lerche
organized a rescue expedition,

and they set off up the mountain
from Limabamba,

their destination--
Laguna de los Condores,

the Lagoon of the Condors,
where local farmers

had discovered a previously
unknown burial site

at an altitude of 8,500 feet,
and the team,

headed by
the German-Peruvian Lerche,

raced to preserve it.

The grave robbers had been busy,

and the site was
in shocking disarray.

Many of the sarcophagi
had been smashed,

the graves devastated,
and fragments

of Chachapoya mummies
scattered about.

With the rescuers performing
an emergency excavation,

they managed to transport
more than 200 mummies

to the provincial capital.

Today the dead
from the Lagoon of the Condors

are kept in Limabamba.

Their bodies were originally
sewn inside sacks

in a crouching position.

After the excavation,
some of the mummies

were examined
at the University of Vienna.

The remains were of people who
died before the Spanish arrived.

Surprisingly, they showed
traces of diseases

which had been assumed
to arrive in South America

with the Europeans.

In Goettingen,
Professor Schultz,

a paleopathologist,
attempts to get information

from the remains
of our ancestors

about the illnesses
they suffered from

and the causes of their deaths.

He's able to identify cases
of tuberculosis

among the Chachapoya mummies.

[Schultz speaking German]

Here, we have a lesion which
is typical for tuberculosis.

The structure is ulcerated
and eaten away,

and these typical changes
in bone structure

caused by tuberculosis
were found in skeletons

and mummies of the Chachapoya,
which is, of course,

extremely curious because we now
have evidence that the disease

was present
in the Chachapoya population

to a significant degree, even
in the time before Columbus.

[Speaking German]

NARRATOR: Unfortunately, the
evidence of tuberculosis alone

does not prove there was
transatlantic contact

with the Chachapoya
before Columbus.

Ancient traces of the disease
have also been found

in other areas
of South America.

[Schultz speaking German]

The cases of tuberculosis we've
so far been able to prove

among the Chachapoya
really do correspond to cases

that we know
from the classical period.

If these people were
the descendants of people

who came from the Old World,

that would be
a possible explanation,

and we could go further,

suggesting that maybe
the disease found its way

to the New World by this route
at a relatively early stage.

NARRATOR: Wherever the people

who constructed Kuelap
came from,

why did they build
such a massive fortress here?

Peter Lerche suggests
that Kuelap was a bulwark

against invaders
from the lowland regions

to provide protection
against neighboring tribes

who suffered from starvation
during the regular droughts.

[Lerche speaking German]

Archeologists have found
more than 50 skeletons here

with skulls
that were smashed in.

NARRATOR: Were the victims
attackers or defenders?

The fatal injuries
could have been caused

by axes or slingshots.

One thing is certain--
they died violent deaths.

CHURCH: That frontier
can be, often, a place

of lots of jockeying
for position

for who gets to trade with who,
who gets the wealth,

who gets to occupy the site
at the trailhead,

who gets this much take,
who gets to be the middleman,

and so I'm sure that there was
a great deal

of internal politicking,
shuffling, squabbling,

and probably bloodshed.

NARRATOR: Today
the administrative center

of the province of Chachapoya
deals with modern questions

of politics and commerce...

[Whistle blows]

while in the nearby
archeological museum,

anthropologists are gathering
important information

about the fate of the Chachapoya
and about their origin.

[Woman speaking Spanish]

This mummy is one of a family.

It's a 25-year-old woman
with her 6-year-old child

and her husband.

The holes in the skull,

3 in the back of the head
and one in the forehead,

appear to have been made
during wartime.

NARRATOR: Again and again,
they find indications

of unnatural causes of death,

suggestions of murder
and violence.

LERCHE: The Chachapoya
had the reputation

of being an extremely
warlike people,

and they used slingshots
as their main weapon,

both to defend themselves
against attack

and to attack their enemies.

NARRATOR: Their weapon of choice
differed completely

from those used
by other Peruvian tribes.

Once again, the trail
leads us back to the Old World,

to Majorca.

Here, we find
a stone slinger champion

on his way
to a training session.

Juan Caballero
is the Balearics' champion

with the record
for most direct hits.

Professor Giffhorn
has brought the champion

a reconstructed original
Chachapoya slingshot from Peru.

Las palas
son identicas.

NARRATOR: When this is compared
with a traditional slingshot

from Majorca,
Juan is startled to discover

that the two
are practically identical.

Even the unique way
of fastening the loop

around the projectile
is exactly the same.

Juan remembers
that his ancestors

used to wrap the slingshots
around their heads...

much like the Chachapoya
had proudly worn theirs,

though now this custom
has died out.

However, in Peru's
Huancas community,

some traditions
have been maintained.

Many of the inhabitants here

still have typical
Chachapoya names,

as has been the case
for centuries.

Clotilde Alva, a potter,
is one of those

who is proud
of her legendary ancestors.

ALVA: Pottery
is an ancient tradition

from the time
of the Chachapoya.

It has outlasted the arrival
of the Spaniards.

CHURCH: We do know
that Chachapoya

were actually
very active traders.

They're in the perfect position
of middlemen.

Everybody wants to be
a middleman.

That's the most lucrative,
really, position.

So they had maximum exposure
to all of these things,

which really is one reason
why they have

so many different influences
in their art

and their architecture
and their culture.

They really have
the best of all worlds

at their fingertips
like New York City

in the sense that they were
almost a port of trade,

geographically speaking,
very strategic.

NARRATOR: Their women
were also highly prized.

A painting from the Inca period
shows captured Chachapoya women

with light skin
and reddish blond hair.

The Inca rulers would often
choose the most beautiful girls

for themselves.

Even today there are blonds,
like Cecilia Flores,

who lives at the edge
of a village in Huancas

with her family.

In appearance, it is easy
to distinguish her

from the dark-haired,
brown-skinned neighbors,

but Cecilia lives the life
of a typical villager.

Each day, she takes her husband
something to eat and drink

at his workplace,
as has always been the custom.

She can't explain why her
appearance is so distinctive.

[Flores speaking Spanish]

I'm one of 4 children,
and 3 of us have blond hair.

Two of my cousins do, as well--

they live in the city
of Chachapoya--

and also one of their daughters

while the others
are all dark-haired.

[Speaking Spanish]

My father couldn't explain to us
why we are so blond.

His grandparents
also had hair like this.

[Speaks Spanish]

CHURCH: There's no statement
that says

all the Chachapoya were white.

Cieza de Leon remarked
after travels throughout Peru

and throughout the Indies,
as they were known,

and Panama and the areas
that he walked through,

he said, "These people,
these Chachapoya,

"are the whitest people
I have seen.

"They are very agreeable,
graceful.

"The women are beautiful

and often taken
as concubines or wives,"

and he described
how they were dressed,

sometimes with a slingshot

wrapped around the head
of the males,

woolen clothing
or cotton clothing,

but he was clearly
impressed with them

and thought they were
attractive people.

NARRATOR: Some report
there have always been

a lot of light-skinned,
blond locals

in the village of Limabamba,
although originally,

it was mostly populated
by Indians.

Just as in Huancas,
nobody has any information

about ancestors of any sort
from Europe.

[Singing in Spanish]

NARRATOR: A visit
to an elementary school

confirms a significant number
of the children here

have light-colored skin
and blond hair.

Now saliva samples are being
taken from these children

in order to establish
their genetic fingerprint.

In this Y-chromosome study,

nonrelated male donors
are tested,

but Valentina
also provides a sample.

She comes from a native family,
but none of her relatives

can recall any ancestors
from a non-Indian background.

[Boy singing]

NARRATOR: Juan has given
a saliva sample, too.

His red hair makes him
an ideal test subject.

However, as with
the other pupils,

this could be caused
by a genetic mutation

from exclusively
Indian ancestors.

Lab tests
at the University of Rotterdam

in the Netherlands
are intended to suggest

where the blond gene
may have originated.

Here, an international
team of experts

awaits the samples from Peru

in the Molecular
Genetic Institute.

Under the supervision
of Professor Kayser,

the scientists succeed
in identifying

a special marker for hair color
in the human genome.

KAYSER: So now we have
the first genetic results

from the lab
of the Indian samples,

and the first thing
we looked for is the question,

is the red hair color
of European origin,

or is it
not of European origin?

We used DNA analysis
to basically classify

the people according
to their geographic origin.

So what we see there is that
these individuals

are of mixed ancestry.

So we indeed see between 10%
and 50% European origin,

which does coincide
with the red hair,

but the remaining part
of their genome,

as far as we can say
from our analysis,

is of Native American origin.

NARRATOR: The genetic analysis
also identifies

the part of Europe that gave
birth to the ancestors

of the test person.

Did seafarers from Europe
really get as far as America

in ancient times?

Did they venture up the Amazon
2,000 years ago

to reach Peru
and the Chachapoya homeland?

[Boy speaking Spanish]

NARRATOR: The answer may lie
in the genes of these children.

KAYSER: All the evidence we have
at this moment

really points
to the western part of Europe.

We detected a type
of Y chromosome called R1b

that has its highest frequency
on the British Isles

and in the northern part
of the Iberian Peninsula.

NARRATOR: Coruna,
once settled by the Celts,

is in northern Spain.

The destiny of the people here
is determined by fishing

and sea trade.

Did the forefathers
of these present-day Galecians

take their biological
and cultural legacy with them

to Peru almost 2,000 years ago?

Celts did have the ability
to sail in the open ocean--

we know that, at least--

as did the survivors of the
defeated superpower Carthage,

who were force to flee
from the Roman legions.

These were seafarers
with the courage

of those who had nothing to lose
and the desperation

of those searching
for a new home.

Did they leave traces
of the Old World--

roundhouses
and fortress walls...

an ax decorated with an animal
unknown to South Americans...

funereal urns
with Mediterranean patterns,

and highly developed
medical treatments?

Opinions about
these theories differ.

CHURCH: I do not see
a break in the sequence.

I don't see a cultural turnover.

I don't see an invasion
of foreign styles,

foreign elements,
something that indicates to me,

"Whoa, wow, everything changed
right here in this date."

Obviously because
they are unique,

they attract a lot of attention.

NARRATOR: Hans Giffhorn
is also convinced

that his idea is correct

and hopes for new
scientific evidence.

GIFFHORN: There's been
very little work

on exploring
the Chachapoya culture.

So I'm expecting
lots of surprises.

NARRATOR: So far, however,
there are only suggestions

that support
the professor's vision,

but as yet, no smoking gun.

rets of the Dead"
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