Unearthed (2016–…): Season 2, Episode 2 - Curse of the Blood Pyramids - full transcript

Teotihuacán, Mexico... a
2,000-year-old megacity

built around one of the largest
pyramids on the planet.

Teotihuacán
is remarkable and unique.

The scale of it,
its degree of planning

are really phenomenal.

Today, teams are investigating

inside the city's many pyramids,

revealing
gruesome discoveries...

We think they are buried alive.

...and unearthing
hidden treasures.

But what were
these massive pyramids for?



Who built them?

And why was
this once-great city abandoned

just 900 years
after it was built?

Blowing the pyramids apart,

we'll reveal the hidden clues

inside these ancient wonders...

their secret tunnels

and sacrificial burial chambers,

exposing the dark secrets

at the heart
of this mysterious city.

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the ancient city
of Teotihuacán...

an archaeological gem
in the heart of Mexico.

Incredibly, this single site was
once home to 100,000 people.



Giant pyramids tower
over the city center,

lined up along a central Avenue.

The remains of government
buildings sit alongside,

surrounded by the homes
of the elite.

And in the fields beyond
lies evidence of ancient suburbs

that stretch out for miles.

This sprawling Metropolis
was built 1,000 years

before the ancient Aztecs
Rose up.

But nobody knows for sure
who the Teotihuacáno were

or why, just 900 years later,

this civilization
seemingly vanished.

Teotihuacán was the biggest city
in the Americas

in the first half
of the first millennium.

But there's still a lot
we have to learn

about the Teotihuacános.

Today, teams of archaeologists

use advanced scanning
and forensic technologies

to reveal hidden clues

and unearth
Teotihuacán's deepest secrets.

David Carballo has been studying
this ancient civilization

for 18 years.

He believes the best way
to understand

who the Teotihuacáno were

is to explore
the city's ritual landscape

that flanks its main road...

the street of the dead.

You have to imagine,
back in classic period times...

1,500 years ago or so...

there probably would have
been people gathered

in the street of the dead,

and from just about anywhere
in the city,

you could see rituals.

The most important
ritual structures on the street

are Teotihuacán's
three massive pyramids.

The largest is also the oldest.

The ancient Mexicans
built this vast shrine

around the time Jesus was alive,

and some believe
they dedicated it to the sun.

The pyramid of the sun
is a man-made mountain

clad in a layer
of cement and stone

which gives shape
to its rough heart.

Millions of tons
of earth and sand

pile up layer upon layer.

On the outside,
248 cut stone steps

lead all the way
to its towering peak

over 200 feet above the city.

The sheer scale
of this stone Goliath

shows just how important

religion was
to the mysterious civilization

that founded this city.

David believes

the ancient Mexican priests
climbed the pyramid

at key times
in the celestial calendar

so they could be closer
to their sun god.

So, we are now at
the summit of the sun pyramid.

We're on top of the world,
as far as that goes,

right here
in the Teotihuacán valley.

The sun pyramid would have been

one of the most spectacular
monuments of the ancient world.

We have a lot of imagery
that's suggestive

of fire rituals happening
in the sun pyramid...

the sorts of rituals

which would not only
commemorate big calendar endings

but also some sort
of accession-to-office events.

So, it would be a real place
of spectacle and pomp.

The earliest Teotihuacáno

needed height
to worship their god,

but, surprisingly,

the pyramids built
by later generations

were relatively short.

Why?

David believes
that the Teotihuacáno

were a civilization capable
of significant cultural change,

including the invention
of a new cult

to worship a different god.

This is the feathered serpent,

which gives the pyramid
its name.

You can see the rattle elements,

telling you that
this is a rattle snake,

and then also the feathered
elements on the body,

that this is
the feathered serpent.

The Teotihuacáno came to believe

that the feathered serpent
created the world.

And in 200 a.d., to honor
their newly-elevated god,

they constructed a work
of unsurpassed complexity.

Teotihuacán
is the origins of this god,

at least as a primary god,

who completely
decorated a pyramid.

And what it really represents
is a new effort

on part of the Teotihuacán
to highlight this god.

The outside of the feathered
serpent pyramid is stunning,

but it's the inside that
truly takes the breath away.

Instead of a simple pile of mud,

the core of this building

is a complex, man-made honeycomb
of rock and mortar.

Five distinct layers
of construction

are bound by thick walls.

Rubble fills the spaces between,
creating modular cells.

They come together to make huge,
solid building blocks.

This advanced design suggests

the Teotihuacáno's
building skills were evolving

in step
with their changing religion.

But why did they create
such complexity

in a part of the pyramid
that would never be seen?

David believes the reasons
were practical, not ceremonial.

The geometric design

made the core of the pyramid
super strong.

The ancient Mexicans
could then cement

over 400 giant, carved heads
to the outside

without the whole structure
collapsing.

These are beautiful sculptures,

and the fact that
there are so many of them

on all four facades
of this building

attest to the immense amount
of labor

that went into constructing
this monument.

The feathered serpent pyramid
displays precision engineering.

To build
this complex modular design,

the Teotihuacáno had to create

a completely new way
of constructing their pyramids,

using four distinct
building materials.

The first material
was wooden posts,

used to Mark out
a precisely aligned grid

and create a sturdy scaffold.

Then they clad
this wooden skeleton

with mud, mortar,
and volcanic stone

to build a honeycomb
of strong structural walls.

They packed the cells
with more volcanic rock...

super strong,
but too rough to be used

on the outside of the building.

Finally, the reserved
their finest material

for the exterior...
high-quality slabs of stone

decorated
with elaborate sculptures.

This new religion
of the feathered serpent

was ground-breaking
and incredibly significant,

going on to influence
both the Mayan

and Aztec civilizations.

It is at Teotihuacán
where we see the major origins

of this cult to this deity,

who then becomes important
within mesoamerica.

Invigorated
by their new religion,

the Teotihuacáno put
their advanced building skills

to good use.

They provided
their growing population

with a perfectly geometrical
city grid

of buildings and homes.

And deep below the pyramids,

archaeologists have also
discovered secret tunnels.

Could these be evidence
of a bloody ritual practice?

In Mexico,

investigators
are unraveling the secrets

of a 2,000-year-old mystery...

why was the ancient pyramid city
of Teotihuacán built?

Archaeologist
Sergio Gómez Chávez

is searching the city's
giant pyramids for clues.

He believes one key
is to understand

how they were used.

The largest pyramid
in Teotihuacán

hides a surprising secret.

Directly beneath
the pyramid of the sun,

archaeologists unearthed
a tunnel in the bedrock.

First, they thought
it was a natural cave,

until they hit
a carved-out chamber

and beyond it, the remnants
of 17 thick, man-made walls

built to block access
to the tunnel.

At the very end of the tunnel,

they found an elaborate chamber

carved in the shape of a clover.

Whatever this subterranean vault
was designed to hold,

it was meant to be locked away
for eternity,

buried under
millions of tons of rock.

Now the tunnel lies empty.

Ancient robbers most likely
stripped it bare

hundreds of years ago.

But the discovery
under the sun pyramid

was just the beginning.

Hola.

Today,
Sergio is exploring a tunnel

he's recently uncovered

under
the feathered serpent pyramid.

This time, the tunnel appears
untouched by thieves.

Sergio and his team

have had to remove
1,000 tons of soil.

It was probably put there
by the Teotihuacáno

to seal the tunnel.

But the effort
has been worth it,

because, under the debris,

he's found a treasure trove
of ancient artifacts.

Today, the team
is carefully removing soil

from two ancient pots.

After 2,000 years in soil,

the ceramic
is incredibly fragile.

Sergio has already uncovered

thousands of artifacts
like this one.

Marks on the pots
offer tantalizing hints

of how they were carried.

Sergio believes

that all these rare objects
are offerings to the gods.

But was this tunnel a tomb...

like those inside
the ancient Egyptian pyramids...

or a shrine?

So far, Sergio has found
no evidence of human burials.

And dark marks
at the very end of the tunnel

suggest this apparent dead-end

looked very different
in the past.

The first section of the tunnel

runs nearly 50 feet
under the pyramid

to a cross-shaped chamber
beneath the steps.

But then it cuts down again,
into the bedrock,

towards the center
of the pyramid,

and opens out into
a second, much deeper chamber.

Sergio believes the marks reveal

this chamber
was once filled with water,

making it a religious shrine,

a gateway to the gods
of the underworld.

Today, the water table
is over 50 feet below ground.

2,000 years ago,
it was much higher,

filling the final chamber
with water,

forming a subterranean lake...

a replica
of the mythical underworld...

where the Teotihuacáno would
make offerings to the gods.

The ancient Mexicans

even placed fool's gold
in the walls of the tunnel,

which re-created the night sky

when they passed
with their torches.

Tunnels under the pyramids

have taught historians much

about the religion
of the Teotihuacáno

and perhaps why
the pyramids were built.

But high above the tunnels,

excavations into the main body
of the pyramids

have revealed a darker secret...
human remains.

Who were these people,

and could they be proof
of ritual sacrifice?

Archaeologists at
Mexico's largest ancient city

are slowly assembling the pieces
of a monster puzzle.

The once-powerful civilization

that built
these 2,000-year-old pyramids

disappeared without a trace.

They left little evidence of who
they were and how they lived.

Anthropologist Saburo Sugiyama
is examining bones

unearthed from
the ancient city of Teotihuacán.

Saburo believes these bones

may be evidence
of gruesome human sacrifice.

The biggest clue comes
from how these bones were found.

Archaeologists
stumbled across them

while tunneling deep inside
the body of the pyramids.

Within
the feathered serpent pyramid,

inside the central cell,
is a dark secret...

20 skeletons,
almost completely intact,

carefully arranged in what
looks like a symbolic pattern.

And they're not alone.

In total, over 260 bodies

are built into the fabric
and foundation of the building.

The pyramid is a mass grave.

A truly gruesome find.

But the dead
can yield valuable clues

to the civilization
that lived here 2,000 years ago.

Who were these people
built into the pyramid?

Saburo hunts for telltale traces
among the bones.

Saburo believes the jaw-bone
necklace is a war trophy...

...and marks the man
as a soldier.

The skeleton was found
with a further 89 soldiers

split up into groups of 18.

And there's more.

At the center of the pyramid

lie the 20
carefully arranged bodies.

They are surrounded
by precious possessions,

suggesting they were members
of the social elite.

In long trenches on either side

lie two rows of 18 soldiers

flanked by rows of eight women.

The pattern repeats around
the edge of the pyramid...

rows of necklaced soldiers,
bordered by rows of women.

A cross-section of society

entombed in what looks
like a sacred symmetry.

But is this simply a graveyard,

or were these people
ceremonially murdered?

Saburo searches the bones
for evidence

of human sacrifice
at Teotihuacán.

Incisions on the jaw show
that the Teotihuacános

slit the throat
of this sacrifice.

And there's evidence

of even more gruesome
execution practices.

Some of these victims
may have been buried alive.

260 people in total
were sacrificed

to build
the feathered serpent pyramid.

But were these people local
or outsiders?

Saburo finds answers

by analyzing
the bones of the dead.

Throughout our lives,

the water we drink
is locked inside the chemistry

of our growing teeth and bones.

And because water alters
from place to place,

Saburo can extract
the ancient chemicals

to work out exactly where
these people grew up and lived.

Some of
the high-status skeletons

seem to be from Michoacán,
250 miles away,

the soldiers
with jaw-bone necklaces

from Guatemala, 900 miles away.

Saburo believes that these
victims may have been sacrificed

because they were outsiders.

So, why would anyone travel
up to 1,000 miles to Teotihuacán

with the threat
of bloody sacrifice

waiting for them?

But what was the source
of this city's immense wealth?

Strange artifacts arranged
alongside the sacrificed

could offer clues.

2,000 years ago,

Mexico was home to
a thriving, Cosmopolitan city.

But where did
the wealth come from

to build its pyramids
and vast urban spread?

Archaeologist David Carballo

finds fragments of an unusual
volcanic glass called obsidian

all over the city.

Today, he's hunting down
a local source

for this rare rock.

It has this beautiful,
golden-green hue to it.

It's a tremendous
volcanic glass,

and the Teotihuacános used it
for making tools, weapons.

This was their primary
cutting stone.

The massive amount of obsidian
found in Teotihuacán

suggests it was
a hugely important commodity.

Buried within
the feathered serpent pyramid,

alongside the hundreds of bodies
sacrificed here,

archaeologists found
thousands of obsidian objects...

arrow points and spearheads
and razor-thin blades.

Perhaps workmen's tools,
but none show any signs of use.

And, at the center,

a collection
of mysterious figurines.

These obsidian pieces

weren't the personal possessions
of the dead,

but ritual items made especially
as an offering...

a clue that this civilization
prized obsidian above all else.

David suspects
the city's economy

was boosted
by a vast local supply

of top-grade obsidian glass.

His colleague,
Alejandro Pastrana,

is tracking down evidence
of ancient passages

inside
this modern obsidian mine.

So, these were carved out
a long time ago?

Yes.

Like in Teotihuacán times?

- In Teotihuacán times.
- Uh-huh.

Alejandro guides David
to an obsidian seam

he believes was mined
by the Teotihuacáno.

Wow, that's a great piece.

A block.

Yeah, so,
it's that green-gold hue,

and just look
where it's freshly struck.

Perfect glass.

Can you find this quality
all across Mexico?

Mm-hmm. so, this is one
of the major sources of obsidian

for Teotihuacán?

David believes
the obsidian found here

produced the finest blades
in mesoamerica.

The Teotihuacáno had
exclusive access to the source

and grew rich by mining
and crafting the rare glass

into valuable tools for export.

One, two...

So, this is
very brittle and sharp,

and you can see how clean
these edges are.

The Teotihuacáno used rocks
to tap obsidian blocks.

Get the angles right,
and the glass fractures off

into smaller
and sharper sections.

And, eventually, you could
make something like a knife

or a really large spearpoint
out of this.

This is the sharpest edge
that you can get in nature.

Just cutting leather like that.

It's like
a knife through butter.

So, this is sharper
than surgical steel.

The ancient Mexicans didn't know
how to forge metal.

They relied on obsidian
for simple blades and weapons.

There's no question that
this was part of the backbone

of Teotihuacán's economy.

David believes
Teotihuacán was a trading hub

for the mining and manufacture
of obsidian blades.

But this miracle blade
did have a limitation...

one that made the people here
even richer.

The fact that it's brittle
and it loses its edge quickly

means that there was
continually a market for it.

Obsidian's fragile nature
super-charged the market

for this precious resource.

David has found evidence

that suggests obsidian workshops
operated right across the city.

Craftsmen would have been
in constant production,

making a steady stream

of replacement
obsidian tools and weapons.

The Teotihuacáno
had so much obsidian,

they could export their tools
and weapons far and wide.

They started building roads
to reach distant cities,

always choosing the fastest path

and letting nothing
stand in their way.

They established
a huge trade network,

spreading their obsidian
over 1,000 miles

from the Atlantic
to the pacific.

As demand for obsidian grew,

more and more people
came to the city,

and its population exploded.

Obsidian bankrolled
the city of Teotihuacán.

But who were
the local ruling kingpins,

filling their coffers with cash?

This recent discovery...
a bizarre family of statues...

offers a vital new clue.

Mexico's mysterious pyramid city
is slowly giving up its secrets.

Grisly finds have revealed

this place was built
on human sacrifice,

and thousands
of locally crafted blades

show how
the city was bankrolled.

But for decades,
archaeologists were stumped

as to who ruled
the Teotihuacáno.

Were they a monarchy,
like the Aztecs and Maya?

For archaeologist Julie Gazzola,

local design
suggests a different story.

Teotihuacán imagery

shows religious icons
and everyday life,

but there are no
images of royalty.

So, who was in charge here
if it wasn't a monarch?

Julie believes a recent find

from under
the feathered serpent pyramid

could be a crucial clue
to solving this mystery.

Buried under
1,000 tons of rubble,

40 feet beneath the pyramid,

in the heart of the most
sacred place in Teotihuacán,

archaeologists found
four green stone statuettes...

three women
and a small naked man.

Two of the figures stood
under the apex of the pyramid,

looking up towards the sunrise.

These simple statues

are priceless pieces
in an archaeological puzzle.

Perhaps they are direct links
to the rulers of Teotihuacán.

Julie believes the ritual
location of the statues

suggests they are offerings
to the gods of the underworld.

The figures are unique.

More treasures were found
alongside the statues.

Julie believes
all these ancient relics

were commissioned
and placed in the tunnel

by the leaders of Teotihuacán

to celebrate
the birth of the city

out of the sacred underworld.

For Julie,
it's the exotic green stone

used to produce
these luxury objects

that gives her the biggest clue
to who the rulers were.

The Teotihuacáno made
many of their ritual pieces

from foreign green stones.

Julie believes
these imported goods

prove that an elite group
of Teotihuacán traders

got so rich they were able
to take control of the city.

The entire place was ruled
by businessmen and women

in place of kings and queens.

Buildings
surrounding the pyramids

give an indication

of the extravagant life
of the city's leaders.

This elite lived and governed

among the many pyramids
and temples

at the very heart
of Teotihuacán.

Single-level structures built
around a central courtyard

provided spacious accommodation
for wealthy traders.

The elite could afford
to cover the rough stone walls

in expensive lime plaster

and decorate them
with elaborate murals.

But over a mile away,
on the outskirts of the city,

the poor built
their own dwellings

using only
the cheapest materials.

Graves discovered
underneath these workers' huts

reveal a life of extreme poverty

for those at the bottom
of the social pile.

Horrendous living conditions
likely caused malnutrition,

infection,
and early death among the poor.

In this city of traders,
the wealthy had the power,

and the poor
were starving and desperate...

the perfect cocktail
for civil unrest.

Could these scorch marks...

recently discovered on the
city's wealthiest buildings...

finally reveal the secret
to the fall of Teotihuacán?

2,000 years ago,

Teotihuacán was
the largest and busiest city

in the Americas.

Over 100,000 people lived here,

from the super-rich
ruling traders in the center

to the dirt-poor workers
in the outskirts.

Investigators dating artifacts
found inside the city

believe that
this once-great civilization

shut down suddenly
after just 900 years.

But why?

Archaeologist David Carballo

believes a crucial clue
can be found

at the most ornate building
in Teotihuacán,

the feathered serpent pyramid.

Here, we have feathered-serpent
heads sculpted out of stone.

They're tenons,
meaning they would have stuck

into the facade of the building.

Originally, there
were over 400 pristine heads.

But at the back of the pyramid,

the sculptures
look very different today.

So here, on this one,

you can see
that it's been defaced

by knocking the snout off.

So, this one, too, seems
to have been heavily damaged

in the snout.

David believes
the damage to the heads

is so similar, it's suspicious.

This damage
doesn't look accidental.

It's always the snouts
that are knocked off,

and so if you expect these to
have sort of fallen haphazardly,

you would expect
breakage on other sides.

So, that suggests that there was
some sort of cataclysmic event,

like some sort
of factional dispute,

conflict,
or maybe even a civil war.

But was this conflict limited

to a religious feud at
the feathered serpent pyramid?

David searches the ruins
of nearby elite buildings

for further clues
of destruction.

Well, if you look over here,

this has the original
white-and-red stucco motifs...

these interlocking-scroll
motifs.

But then you see the soot marks
right here in the corner

that would have been
from burning these structures.

David is convinced

these scorch marks are
clear signs of deliberate arson,

and he finds them
on just about every building

in this part of town.

This is where there likely
was some sort of wooden beam...

a support beam for the roof.

And since that was wood,
with the burning,

you ended up
with this blackening

with soot in the stucco.

The layers of ash and burnt wood

suggest a massive fire raged
in the center of the city.

The fire consumed all the elite
and religious buildings.

There's burning
in multiple rooms,

in multiple palatial
and temple compounds.

It suggests that this was
a planned and coordinated event.

I think this
is really compelling evidence

that those structures

that were most associated
with state power...

be that religious
or political...

were targeted disproportionately

in the burning of the city.

If this destruction was
deliberate, who did it?

Was it an invasion
by a rival civilization,

or was this an inside job?

A crucial clue lies a mile
from the center of Teotihuacán,

in a field of scattered debris

that was once
the workers' suburbs.

What we found out here
in our excavations

is that there's no evidence
of the sort of burning

that we see
in the center of the site.

So that, to us, suggests

that this isn't an attack
from the outside.

Rather, the collapse happens
from the inside out.

David believes
the impoverished workers

Rose up against their rulers
in a social revolution.

These people, who were
the working-class backbone

of the city's economy,

felt like the system
was failing them,

and so because of that,
they rejected the system,

and they took up arms

and decided to sack
their own city.

In the 7th century,

the disenfranchised poor
rebelled.

They burnt the city center

in an inferno
of heat and destruction.

With the ruling elite of traders
wiped out,

the city quickly fell
into decline

and was eventually abandoned.

Teotihuacán is remarkable
in terms of world history.

It was a huge political capital,
a huge economic hub,

and also a pilgrimage center.

And after the collapse,

there's really nothing like
Teotihuacán in mesoamerica.

Although the city had died,

the legend of Teotihuacán
lived on.

It influenced
the famous Maya civilization,

and the Aztecs were
so in awe of this place,

they believed
it could only have been made

by the gods themselves.

Today, archaeologists are
slowly uncovering the secrets

of this ritual landscape,
with its hidden chambers,

ceremonial tunnels,
priceless buried artifacts,

and gruesome pits
filled with the bones

of immigrants tragically drawn
to this city of dreams.

What amazing secrets

could still lie locked inside
the heart of this...

the oldest megacity
in the Americas?