Unearthed (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Mayan City of Blood - full transcript

Chichen Itza,

a spectacular ancient Maya city

shrouded in mystery and myths.

It's the greatest
ancient city in the world.

It's a jungle Metropolis

with a hidden underworld
and dark secrets.

What happened
to this lost civilization?

The big question that drives us
is why people were here.

How and why
was this vast city built?

And did the people living here
practice human sacrifice?

The only way to
solve these mysteries



is to go deep into
the heart of the Mayan city.

Exploring its structures
stone by stone

will help us unearth
the astonishing secrets

at the heart
of this ancient wonder.

captions paid for by
discovery communications

Chichen Itza, Mexico.

A thousand years ago, this was
a powerful working city...

Home to 30,000 people...
the ancient Maya...

a civilization known for
their remarkable skill

in astronomy, mathematics,
and architecture.

And for their blood-curdling
religious rites.

Archeologist memo de anda
has spent much of his lifetime

trying to make sense of
this mysterious jungle city

and it's awe-inspiring
buildings.



We're just scratching
the surface.

That's literally
what we're doing.

I'm sure this building
is still hiding

many, many secrets inside.

The ruins of more
than 30 ancient structures

and temples lie hidden here
amongst the trees,

including this immense pyramid.

The castillo,
or temple of kukulkan,

one of the new
seven wonders of the world.

Built from tens of thousands
of limestone blocks,

it towers 100 feet high...
as tall as a 10-story building.

At its peak, a sacred temple

dedicated to
the serpent god kukulkan.

On each side, steep steps
that reflect he Maya calendar.

And at the base, serpent heads
linked to the equinox.

This 60,000-ton structure is
a marvel of ancient engineering.

This is one of
the most wonderful buildings

from the ancient world.

It's a demonstration of power,

a demonstration of spirituality,

a demonstration of science.

It's an important building.

Why did the ancient Maya

build this spectacular city
in the jungle?

And how did they source
the many thousands of tons

of stone needed to build huge
temples and pyramids like this?

One-third of a mile
from the main pyramid,

memo is searching for clues.

It seems this is
no ordinary jungle.

The Maya didn't have to
really go far away

to find the material
to build their big cities.

Limestone... it's everywhere.

The material is
beneath their feet...

all this material
is right there.

The limestone
lay within very easy reach.

The soil is very, very thin.

It's not even
two centimeters of soil

that's laying over
the huge limestone bedrock.

It's limestone all around us.

It's actually
the whole peninsula.

It's a big limestone platform.

Limestone was
the crucial ingredient

that allowed the Maya
to construct Chichen Itza's

great buildings.

Workers mined it in this quarry

just 500 yards
from the castillo pyramid.

Memo uncovers some extraordinary
evidence to prove it.

Right here,
we can see a pre-form.

It's a huge piece of rock...
of limestone...

that they started working.

'Cause, see,
this is perfectly round,

and we can see on one side
the start of the formation

of a mouth of a snake.

But somehow, they leave it here.

Maybe because it got broken.

A remarkable clue
carved by a Maya craftsman

a thousand years ago.

And it shows us by being here

is that they obtained
the material,

and they work it right here.

They take it when it was
finished up to the city.

So that's pretty amazing.

The local geology
provided Chichen Itza's builders

with an endless supply
of limestone.

But there's a further mystery.

The ancient Maya
had no access to metal tools.

How did they get this stone
out of the ground?

It is interesting,

and it's amazing
at the same time.

How can they build
these fantastic cities

only with stone tools?

The resourceful Maya

came up with
an ingenious solution.

They used shards of
razor-sharp stones like chert,

sometimes attaching them
to wooden sticks.

They gouged deep channels
into the ground,

carving a checkerboard pattern
into the limestone rocks.

The workers dug down
until they reached

a natural break
in the limestone bedrock.

This way,
the checkerboard blocks

would crack away
from the ground.

Then they used wooden levers
to pry the blocks out.

How much effort did it take
to remove heavy limestone blocks

without modern machinery?

To find out, memo is heading to
a stone masons yard in Merida,

about 70 miles
from Chichen Itza.

The stone masons
attempt an experiment.

They use wooden levers
to try to extract

a two-ton limestone block,

just as the ancient Maya
would have done.

All the stones they
put there to make a lever.

I think we put
a little bit too many.

So we need space
for the big lever.

These guys are extraordinarily
skillful and strong.

I mean, they're great.

So far, so good.

Shifting the limestone
the old fashioned way

clearly required both technique
and plenty of manpower.

Today, that I have
the opportunity

to move this relatively
small stone

and it was so hard.

And there were a lot of people,

I realized how hard it was.

And I'm getting more and more
and more respect for the Maya,

for what they do.

It's amazing.

Wow, that was great.

These guys are great.

Wow.

Moving one stone
was back-breaking work.

Yet this pyramid is made
of tens of thousands

of limestone blocks.

How did the ancient Maya
build it?

The secret to constructing
this amazing temple

lies hidden inside

because this pyramid
isn't quite what it seems.

Concealed beneath the smooth
facade is a layer of rubble.

Under that, an older pyramid,

roughly half
the castillo's size.

Its staircase leads to a sacred
temple with two chambers.

At their heart, a throne
in the shape of a Jaguar

with Jade stone eyes
and white flint teeth

and a mysterious reclining
statue known as a chac mool.

Building on top of this
existing temple

was an ingenious way
to build big

as a new era in the life
of the city dawned.

The ancient Maya,
they did not destroy a building

to build another one.

They just go ahead and built
on top of the old building.

And built something
majestic like this.

But why did the ancient Maya

build a great city here
in the middle of dense jungle?

In the vast
landscape of the Yucatan,

why did the ancient Maya
choose this location

for their city?

To find out,
geophysicist Rene Chavez

is 75 miles
west of Chichen Itza city.

Using a new technique to see
beneath ancient Maya pyramids,

he believes the answer
may lie underground.

This is one of dozens
of ancient pyramids

hidden in the Mexican jungle.

It may look very different
from the famous castillo,

but it's what many
Maya pyramids look like

before archeologists
restore them.

We have to deploy the electrodes
on top of the pyramid...

Rene's team
lays a web of electrodes,

which they will use to send

an electrical current
through the ground.

The team will measure
how easily the current travels.

Their readings will reveal
if any structures

or strange natural formations
lie beneath the rocks and soil.

It takes time to process
the data from today's survey.

Rene can only hope
it provides results

as spectacular
as his recent findings

from a similar investigation

at Chichen Itza's
great castillo pyramid.

In this model,
each color represents

a different geological material.

Rene's results reveal
something extraordinary.

Hidden directly beneath
the castillo pyramid,

below a five-yard-thick
layer of limestone

sits a giant underground cave
full of water...

a formation known as a cenote.

The cave contains as much water
as six olympic swimming pools.

It extends
over 65 feet underground.

Building a pyramid
right on top of a cave

full of water
might seem surprising,

but its existence here
has dramatic implications

for our understanding
of this iconic temple.

Without digging, there's no way
to access the cenote

hidden under the castillo.

So archeologists memo de anda

is visiting
another nearby cenote

to investigate what may lie
beneath the pyramid.

Isn't this wonderful?

It's one of the many cenotes

we have
in the Yucatan peninsula.

It's a wonder of nature.

Huge cavern, this is
essentially what cenotes are.

It's a huge cavern that got
flooded with lots of rain

for thousands of years.

And you can really feel
the magic of being here.

There's one crucial difference

between this cenote
and the one under the castillo.

At this cenote,
the roof has fallen in,

making it look more like
a lake than a cave.

The one below El castillo

probably is going
to collapse one day.

We don't know when.

It has been there for centuries.

So, hopefully,
not for a long time.

Underground lakes
like this are the reason

the great city of Chichen Itza
was built in this area.

There are no surface rivers
in this part of Mexico.

The only source
of drinking water

was hidden underground
in cenotes.

But these weren't
just a source of water.

They were places for worship,

and sometimes people
don't understand,

but when you stand here
and see this beauty

and feel this magic,
you understand.

Cenotes had deep
religious significance

and were seen as a physical link
to the Maya underworld.

Is it possible the ancient Maya

knew about the cenote
hidden under the castillo?

Did they build
on top of it on purpose?

Memo believes the must have

because the castillo
has a remarkable relationship

with four other important
underground lakes

that are visible
on the Chichen Itza site.

This is El castillo
or kukulkan temple.

One of the things that's
amazing about this building

is that it's situated right
in the middle of four cenotes.

It's the sacred cenote
to the north,

the xtoloc cenote to the south,

sagrado cenote to the east,

and holtun cenote to the west.

The ancient Maya
divided their universe

into quadrants.

These were aligned with
the four points of the compass.

Could Chichen Itza's layout be

a physical representation
of the Maya universe?

So if you draw two lines,

the center of those lines
is El castillo.

El castillo was built there

because the orientation
of those four cenotes.

How those ancient Maya knew

about the fifth cenote under
the castillo remains a mystery,

but memo believes they did,

and that the great pyramid
was built on this site

because it symbolized
the center of the Maya universe.

When they said there is
a cenote under the castillo,

and you see it's the center
of these sacred alignment,

it makes a lot of sense.

The layout of these cenotes

created a location
with deep religious meaning.

But the sacred significance
doesn't end here.

During excavations
at the castillo pyramid,

archeologists make
an astonishing discovery.

At the base
of the castillo pyramid,

archeologists make
a surprising discovery.

Digging more than
six feed underground,

they unearthed a dark secret.

Amongst the rubble,
they found shards of bone,

skull fragments, and even teeth

that prove
these remains are human.

Archeologists unearthed
over 900 pieces

belonging to over 100
different individuals.

Who were these people?

And why were they buried here?

These mysterious finds
tell an extraordinary story.

At her lab in Merida,
bio-archeologist Vera tiesler

forensically analyzes the bones.

She's uncovering
the remarkable secrets

of who these people were

and why they weren't given
a proper burial or cremated.

These remains were found
at one side of the castillo's,

and there was a high incidence
of different forms

of a nutritional deprivation,

everything that has to do
with suffering, hunger,

not being nourished adequately,

or suffering from many, many
episodes of infectious disease,

for example.

These bones come from people

on the fringes of society,

individuals in poor health

who were not valued
or who were expendable.

In this skull cap,

what we see are these
distinctive pores.

They mostly stem from episodes
of anemia during infancy.

If we take a closer look
at these teeth,

we can see these
distinctive grooves

that cross over the surface.

And these basically tell us
that a person suffered

from several episodes
of physiological stress.

Vera finds evidence
that the surrounding flesh

was deliberately removed
from some of these bones.

The bony remnants
that we recovered

around El castillo show
distinctive cut marks.

It's no normal burial.

What these remains show
is basically practices

that relate to flaying
to de-fleshing...

body processing, so to speak.

Very believes these bones

are evidence of gruesome
sacrificial rituals.

They're remnants
that probably stem

from ritual actions involving
animal and human sacrifice.

But these were part of practices

conducted by
elite practitioners,

elite priests from Chichen Itza.

This is a remarkable claim.

How can Vera even be certain
that remains like these

belong to the ancient Maya?

Some truly compelling evidence
comes from the sacred cenote...

one of the four
underground lakes

that surround the castillo.

This skull comes from the sacred
cenote of Chichen Itza.

It's cast from a child's skull.

One crucial clue reveals

that this cannot
be a modern skull...

its shape.

This head form
has been called top flattening.

It's a sort of artificial shape

that has been produced
with boards

and adapted to make the top
of the head more flattened.

Head shaping
was a common Maya practice,

and archeologists have found
many more skulls like this

in the sacred cenote.

This head is one out of more
than a hundred infant skeletons

that were found
in the sacred cenote.

The presence of so many bones

can be no accident.

They must have been placed
in the cenote intentionally...

probably as offerings
to the Maya gods.

Archeologist memo de anda

is now investigating
this astonishing theory.

Why would a sophisticated
society like the ancient Maya

have practiced human sacrifice?

New clues lie at the bottom
of this deep abyss.

Chichen Itza...

This mysterious ancient city

is slowly giving up its secrets.

Investigations are shedding
dramatic new light

on its spectacular buildings
and religious rituals.

The remains of hundreds
of victims of human sacrifice

have been found inside
Chichen Itza's sacred cenote.

Could this dark practice have
happened at other cenotes, too?

Archeologist memo de anda
is conducting

a major new investigation
at underground lakes

across the Yucatan peninsula.

He's investigated
hundreds of cenotes

over his 25-year career.

Memo wants to know more about
the part human sacrifice played

in Maya's sacred rites.

He's creating
three-dimensional modeling

of the offerings he finds
to hunt for clues.

Today, this work has brought him

to another of the four cenotes

that surround
the castillo pyramid.

We are at cenote holtun
inside Chichen Itza.

And the ancient Maya
carved the entrance.

It's spectacular,
it's so beautiful.

It's a huge dome.

Ready to go.

The only way
to explore this hidden lake

is to dive.

But the only way
to reach the water

is a nearly 80-foot
vertical abseil into the dark.

This is not
for the fainthearted.

This vast cavern
extends over 225 feet down.

It contains a large
underground lake

over 160 feet deep.

Going down in a cenote

is one of the best
experiences in the world.

Rainwater carved
this immense cavern

into the limestone bedrock
over thousands of years.

We're about
eight, nine meters down.

And can see the cultural
richness of this place.

And I don't want
to approach too close

because it can destroy
everything in a second.

Memo is making
some shocking discoveries...

ceramic offerings,

a knife,

animal bones,

and human remains.

Each time he dives
into this cenote,

memo takes
high-resolution photographs

of his finds from all angles.

But exactly what happened
in this mysterious cavern?

Memo has found
a remarkable clue.

Right in front of me,
you can see a shelf.

It's a natural shelf,
ideal to make a ritual deposit.

More bones, other offerings,

and even traces of charcoal
remain on this shelf.

Amazingly, it appears
this platform

was once a sacred altar.

This is part of
the spiritual world.

Cenotes are silent witnesses

of a very important part
of the ancient Mayan life.

This is a very important
part of their universe.

Memo has found some
truly extraordinary evidence

about the rites
conducted in this cenote.

It was a very, very nice dive.

And I think we get
what we needed.

Memo has been
photographing this site

for five years.

A custom-made
computer program

has processed the photos
taken so far...

And turned them into amazing
three-dimensional models

of his discoveries.

What I'm looking at right now
is a bird's eye view

of the whole shelf.

This is an amazing,
amazing image.

I can tell you without any doubt

it's unique in the world.

There's no other archeological
project that is doing this.

The models provide
an incredible permanent record

of the cenote's
mysterious contents.

It's the next best thing
of having an object in my hand.

And the beauty of this
is that we leave them there.

This model allows memo

to study the shelf
in more detail.

It even shows stingray spines,

another item associated
with Maya religious rituals.

Stingray spines were used
in ceremonies, rituals...

rituals to attract rain.

They used to be, like,
self-sacrifice.

Bloodletting... a lot of blood
could mean a lot of fertility,

especially if this blood
comes from the penis.

Is it possible rituals

like bloodletting
were carried out here?

And if so, how did the Maya
utilize this underwater place

without modern diving equipment?

Archeologist
memo de anda is uncovering

how the Maya constructed

a sacred altar
on a shelf deep underwater

without the use
of diving equipment.

Perhaps they didn't have to.

Memo believes
the water level in the cenote

must have been much lower when
the offerings were left here,

thanks to a terrible
natural phenomenon

that threatened the entire
future of Chichen Itza...

drought.

This shelf, probably, was above
water some 1,200 years ago,

when this place was dry.

And maybe it was dry
because of this big drought.

So this shelf, this ledge
should have been exposed.

The shelf lies
nearly 100 feet down,

tucked away at the far edge
of the cavern.

As droughts hit, the water level
in the cenote dropped,

exposing the shelf.

The Maya probably climbed
down into the cenote

using a ladder built from
pieces of tree trunk

tied together
with flexible branches.

They could descend
into the cenote

to leave their offerings,

perhaps reaching
the shelf by canoe.

Many years later,
with the droughts over,

the water level rose again,

covering the artifacts
and preserving them to this day.

Why did the ancient Maya
conduct these elaborate rituals?

The mostly god that they
were offered to was chaac,

the rain god.

I think they make these
offerings to encourage rains.

Cenotes lay
at the heart of Chichen Itza.

They provided life-giving water.

They had immense
religious importance,

especially when drought hit.

And they even dictated
the location

of the great castillo pyramid.

But could the castillo's
distinctive shape

hold hidden meaning, too?

Could there be more
to its outer appearance

than first meets the eye?

It's much more than a building.

You see the perfection
in the lines.

But when you know
a little bit more about,

it's... you know,
it's a mathematical building.

It's related to astronomy.

It's related to
the agricultural cycles.

This pyramid
contains another secret.

It's also a monumental
calendar for the city.

18 stone terraces represent
the 18 Maya months of the year.

91 steps on each side,
plus the top platform,

give 365 steps...

one for each day of the year.

And twice a year on the equinox,

the sun casts a shadow
so perfectly aligned,

an immense snake appears
to slither down the main steps.

This is the serpent god
kukulkan,

to whom the temple is dedicated.

It's hard to understand

how they could master
the technique

not only to build
this fantastic building,

but to make it so beautiful,
so interesting,

and relate it to the sun,

to relate it to
the changes of seasons.

It's great.

The ancient Maya
were so dedicated

to tracking the movements
of the planets and stars

that they even
constructed this building...

an extraordinary observatory.

Well, this is El caracol.

It's a wonderful building.

It received that name
because of the spiral form.

"Caracol" means snail
or sea shell in Spanish

because hidden inside
the observatory

is a spiral staircase.

This one in particular
served the purpose

of gazing the skies
and mapping them.

And they were
very good astronomers.

They have a very good knowledge

of the movement
of the celestial bodies.

The ancient Maya
didn't have telescopes,

but that didn't stop them

from making incredibly detailed
observations with the naked eye.

This building, it's
on top of several platforms,

and stands out maybe to avoid
the canopy of trees.

Just high enough for
the ancient Mayan astronomers

to look all around,

even when the sun
is rising or it's setting.

Due to
the caracol's ruined condition,

few of the observatory windows
remain.

There is actually three of them.

They're
very interestingly aligned.

The Maya aligned
the caracol with the heavens.

The main staircase faces
the setting point of Venus,

one of the most important
objects in the Maya sky.

The tower on the top
has windows that line up

with Venus' northern
and southernmost positions.

And a third window is aligned
with astronomical south.

The corners of the base platform
align with the sun's shadow

on the solstice
sunrise and sunset.

Incredibly, at least
20 astronomical events

are incorporated
into this structure.

The Maya used their observations
to predict harvests, deaths,

and even good times
to go to war.

Chichen Itza...

A city shaped by the earth,

by water,

and by the movements
of the planets.

Where the buildings
are molded by beliefs,

where sacred meaning
is never far away.

But how did this city
become so successful

and so powerful?

An investigation 125 miles away
reveals startling clues.

Chichen Itza, Mexico.

This abandoned city was once
one of the most powerful

political and religious centers
in the americas,

drawing pilgrims from far
and wide to its sacred sites.

How did people travel across
the city, through dense jungle

and sometimes
waterlogged ground?

The solution...
sacbes, a unique kind of road.

This amazing road
we're walking on now,

it's one of the sacbes
or wide roads.

You can see it's pretty wide.

And it's high.

This might not look
like anything special,

but a miracle of engineering
lies hidden beneath the surface.

Raised high above
the jungle floor

to escape the swampy ground
of the rainy season,

these sophisticated causeways

are a marvel
of ancient engineering.

At the base, large stones
are fixed in place

with ancient mortar
to create a solid foundation.

Tiny stones level the surface,

and masonry walls
enclose the sides.

Ancient plaster made from
powdered limestone

forms the top layer,

creating a fortified,
smooth path to allow

Chichen Itza's citizens

to travel across the city
with ease.

I think they had
a lot of functions.

Communicating...
that's for sure one of them.

That's the main use of roads.

This is like an umbilical cord,

just pulling the site together.

But there were a lot of reasons,

just practically
or symbolically,

or to extend
the political boundaries.

Archeologists are constantly

finding new causeways.

The scale of those discovered
so far at Chichen Itza is vast.

Sacbes causeways
crisscrossed over the city,

connecting the main
temples with quarries

and outlying communities.

One led to the sacred cenote
over 300 yards away,

through the jungle.

Others even stretched
out of Chichen Itza

to distant settlements
over four miles away.

More than 90 of these white
roads have been discovered,

revealing the complex network
of this great Metropolis.

They all led back
to the center of Chichen Itza.

In its prime, a bustling city

with a population
of more than 30,000.

These sacbes were
really important.

They really helped
the cities to thrive.

But causeways on their own

were not enough to ensure
Chichen Itza's success.

There were no nearby rivers.

It would be hundreds of years

before the first horses
arrived in Mexico.

And the Maya had not
invented the wheel.

How could people travel
longer distances

or move goods fast?

125 miles
northwest of Chichen Itza,

archeologist Jeffrey glover
and his team

are searching for clues.

Water became
the highway, you know.

You would have hundreds,
thousands of these canoes

annually traveling
up and down the coast.

Home, sweet home.

This is vista alegre,

the site of a mysterious
long-abandoned,

coastal settlement.

Jeffery believes vista alegre
was once a sea port

with connections
to Chichen Itza.

He's trying to find evidence
to link the two sites.

So far, Jeffrey and his team

have found the remains
of ancient structures,

shards of obsidian...
a rock used in tools...

and fragments of pottery.

But a key clue comes from

a particular variety of pottery

known as balantun
black on slate.

So this
is balantun black on slate.

It has that
lovely trickle design

that was really popular
across the Yucatan

from the classic period.

You know, the cool thing
about this, right, is that

it's a domestic ware
that's very common at chichen.

It's what you typically would
find in households at chichen.

Yeah, I mean, it doesn't
seem like much.

It's just a bit
of broken pottery.

But it clearly
demonstrates a link

between our region
and the chichen region.

From the pottery evidence,

we know that this settlement
was linked to Chichen Itza.

But what exactly was this place?

A port to provide traders

en route to chichen
with food and provisions?

Or something more?

An official outpost
that Chichen Itza created

to control sea trade?

Jeffrey hopes his work here
will one day solve this riddle.

Either way, it appears
vista alegre was one cog

in a highly efficient
trading machine

that served the great city
of Chichen Itza.

Long-distance trade
was conducted by sea

and based around the Maya canoe.

Each canoe was
up to 60 feet long

and could carry
several tons of cargo.

Each port was about
25 miles from the next...

the distance that could be
traveled by canoe in one day.

This powerful trade network
stretched all around the coast.

The stepping stones led
to Chichen Itza's main port...

Isla cerritos.

Up to 400 canoes
traded here at one time.

This lucrative port strengthened
Chichen Itza's power

over the whole peninsula.

That's what would have
really fueled the city,

that it grew into a huge city,

I think, through
the religious significance

as a pilgrimage center
was important.

But it being an economic
juggernaut was, I think,

probably more important
to its success.

Trade helped
Chichen Itza to thrive.

The city grew rich selling salt,
cacao, and textiles,

and brought in precious stones

such as obsidian
used to create tools.

But, soon, the might would fall.

By the end of the 11th century,

Chichen Itza
was in major decline.

What could have caused this
powerful city-state to collapse?

Memo believes the answer lies

in the cenotes
that were so important

to the ancient people
of this region

and in the evidence
they contain of drought.

We had found that the site

had to overcome a huge drought,

5, 10, or maybe
15 years without rain.

They had no agriculture.

So no way to feed the people.

We have found
this evidence in cenotes

where we could see
how the water level lowered.

Underground lakes
with their seemingly

bottomless supply of fresh water
had been the key

to Chichen Itza's success.

Now as that water ran low
and the harvests failed,

Chichen Itza's glory days
had come to an end.

The rulers, the kings
of the Mayan area,

they called themselves
descendents of the gods.

So they attributed
themselves a divine origin.

So when they cannot,
could not produce water,

people must have been
very, very angry.

Some people moving away,

some others trying
to get the power and to control.

Chichen Itza
was gradually abandoned

and reclaimed by the jungle.

Its secrets were
almost lost forever.

But thanks to investigations
by archeologists and scientists,

the mysterious city
of Chichen Itza is beginning,

little by little,

to give up
its best-kept secrets.

The ingenious structure
of its sacbes causeways,

the ancient pyramid
hidden inside the castillo,

and the human remains
in its very foundations.

These make Chichen Itza

one of the most awe-inspiring
ancient wonders ever built.