Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin (2023) s01e03 Episode Script
The Cloud Warriors
1
Ah, radio check,
do you guys' copy?
This is Albert.
Yeah,
copy that, Albert.
Since I was young,
Peru's mighty Inca empire,
and that iconic stone
complex of Machu Pichu,
have fascinated me.
And
still we're climbing.
Roger that.
But what if I was to
tell you that there was
another, mighty culture?
Who ruled Peru's Northern
highlands for nearly
1,000 years before the
Inca even arrived?
And built an even
larger, older, stone complex.
This place must be
up in the clouds.
Copy you.
The Inca called these
people, The Cloud Warriors.
Why don't we just stop
right over this ridge and
see if we can see Kuelap?
Today the giant stone complex
of Kuelap is the best clue
we have to the Cloud
Warriors forgotten world.
That's got to be it,
right there.
But tragically, the future
of this amazing site,
is under threat.
You wouldn't believe
what happened here.
The rain just soaked all the
land, and then this happened.
Look at this.
-Wow.
-Woah, oh my god.
That is
soul destroying.
Can you believe it?
Just disappearing
before our eyes.
The place is in danger.
Landslides are slowly destroying
this 1,000 year old monument.
Yeah, let's get up there.
Let's go.
As Kuelap disintegrates,
so too does the story of
The Cloud Warriors.
They're huge.
That's incredible.
Talk about altitude,
8,500 feet.
You start to hear it
in your breathing.
This may be my last chance
to find their lost world.
Look at this place.
I mean, Kuelap, built
by the Cloud Warriors,
on top of this mountain,
these are the remains
of their buildings.
But where are the people?
Kuelap is one of the largest
structures of its kind in
all of South America,
a religious and
administrative hub
that served a vast community.
Archaeologists estimate
the Chachapoya population
at half a million.
Yet sites, including Kuelap,
account for just a
fraction of these people.
This culture almost disappeared,
and now we know virtually
nothing about them.
In the 15th century,
in what is now Peru,
the Inca expands their empire
along the Pacific coast.
In the high mountains of
the Chachapoya region,
Inca warriors face such
fierce resistance from the
ruling tribe that they called
them, the Cloud Warriors.
But after around
60 years of fighting,
the scale and sophistication
of the Inca military,
finally defeat the Chachapoya.
There's a story of a people,
The Chachapoya,
who built their world up here in
the clouds, that remains hidden.
Hidden in the
whispers of these rocks.
You know, there's not even a
written record that remains
by their own people.
Somewhere in the
vast cloud forest,
must be the remains of a
lost Chachapoya world.
That is what I hope to find.
Oh my God!
Yoo! You see that
drop over the edge?
Ha ha ha, woo!
Cloud forest!
Chachapoya were climbers.
This is their territory.
This is their land, they
lived in the mountains,
they lived in these cliffs.
I'm headed with my tech
team from Kuelap to the
remote village of
San Jeronimo
and the ancient Chachapoya
burial site of El Tigre.
.
If I can find where the Cloud
Warriors buried their dead,
it may lead us to
where they lived.
-Que Juan?
-Juan.
Yes, they're over there
Let's just
be a bit gentle,
it's all about respect, right?
Because even if we're gonna
get access to do the scans,
this has never
been scanned before.
This person is going to be the
one that gives us access, so.
Hello. Juan?
Nice to meet you
Welcome to San Jeronimo
Is it possible
that we can actually
go to the sarcophagi?
We don't always allow
visitors this kind of access
because it's a special
place for our community
We actually were
hoping that we could scan
some of the site with
our different tools.
Like LiDAR and photogrammetry.
If we can scan it, then maybe
we can share it with the world
when it's, even though
it's so difficult to get to
they can see it virtually.
Would you be willing
to take us to the site?
We can send it to
you to educate everyone
Yes, I
think that's great
Many thanks
Do we need
all this stuff?
It's
fairly light as it is.
Juan can see the
value in our scanning mission.
It's five kilometers.
But he has shown a
lot of trust in us by granting
access to such a sacred site.
Muchas gracias.
I hope we don't
disappoint him.
Si.
We're about to
get to the most difficult part
Si, si.
You guys doing
okay back there?
Yeah, we're
getting there.
I'm starting
to feel the altitude.
The tombs?
There they are
Yes, that's it
Right up there.
See way up there on the edge?
On the left side
of the escarpment.
That is incredible.
-Si.
-Unbelievable.
It's difficult from here,
we've still got a long way to go
ALBERT: OK.
This is as
far as the horses can go.
Ok let's
set up down here.
We'll unload the horses.
We're losing light,
let's set that camp up.
What a place to
spend the night.
Tomorrow, I climb
the mountain.
No idea what I'm going to see.
I just feel this big
sense of, responsibility,
to be reverent.
I'm here among the
spirits of the past.
Time to get some sleep.
That's them.
That's amazing.
Maybe the first step
is I get up there somehow,
scramble out there with Juan
and then give you a spot and
we get a full scan of that,
and then we go and do
a bit more exploration beyond.
Perfect.
Ok, let's go.
See you guys.
As we follow the river deeper
the environment becomes
more challenging.
This terrain gave the
Chachapoya natural protection
from their enemies.
This way
Let's go
ALBERT: OK.
It's slippery?
-Uh Huh.
-OK. Alright.
Go slowly
Careful, it's slippery
Can we go around?
There's no other way
Let's, let's see.
I have a rope! I have a rope.
I'll go up first
Of course
And I'll tie off the
rope, and then I'll pull you up.
Ok.
Wait!
You good?!
I got you.
Ha ha!
We did it Albert
You see
We made it
Wow!
Let's keep going.
Oh man.
That's how
the monkeys climb
Now I just feel like I'm
in some other worldly magic.
Ahh!
Where are we?
Is it ancient?
Yes, pre Inca
As we reach 9,000 feet,
there are signs of life,
and death all around us.
It's a deceiving
drop, ok buddy?
It goes, it's just a cliff
and then you got trees,
but the cliff keeps going so,
make sure you don't fall.
Amigo Alberto.
It's difficult here
I'm going to stay here
It's up to you if
you want to climb
It's up there?
Mmm Hmm.
Ok, well ok.
Ok.
There's definitely a
sense of anticipation.
I'm exploring the most intimate
parts of someone's story.
There's hair.
That's hair, that's hair.
I'm just a few
feet from human hair.
This is the remains
of the Chachapoya.
This is a person.
Oh my.
I've never seen
anything like this.
I don't know why; I just
feel like I have to whisper.
You know, it feels
like something so sacred.
Unbelievable.
I think I have
I think I can see the skull,
of one of the
inside one of the sarcophagi.
Oh, it's incredible!
It looks like it's
made of mud and hay.
But look at those faces, each
one of the faces has eyes,
and smiles and teeth,
noses and face paint.
Ah, you got to wonder,
you got to wonder
whether or not that's what,
the faces of
those entombed within
looked like, you know?
If these were supposed to
be representations of the
personalities of
the people within?
I've just come face to
face with the Chachapoya.
Joe, Duncan, do you copy?
Copy that.
Why don't you get
the drone up right now then?
Awesome.
Copy that.
Taking off!
Our drone cameras
can shoot hundreds of
super high-resolution
images, in minutes.
And the LiDAR technology
will map this remote site
and scan for evidence
of any nearby city.
We're getting close?
That's an affirmative.
I mean, that's the point of
all this, to try and tell the
forgotten story of the
Chachapoya and reveal
where they might have lived.
So now dropping down.
Yeah roger,
you're clear right now.
Copy
and moving left now.
Is that OK?
You are
OK to move left.
Copy.
The team now
scans the surrounding area.
-We can see like pretty much
99% of the area from here.
It's really hard.
It's really hard to see.
No matter how much
we search, we can't find
any evidence of a
significant human settlement.
I think
we're gonna have to rethink,
relocate, ok?
That's an affirmative.
Juan!
You're finally here!
I thought you'd died up there,
that you wouldn't come back
Fantástico.
So cool right?
We might not have
discovered a lost city,
but I do want to share what we
have found with the villagers.
Some of whom have never visited
the tomb site of
their ancestors.
Zoom in.
So, this is, yeah right there.
Yeah, I
haven't seen that.
That's incredible.
There we go, see?
And then there's
the sarcophagi.
-Right.
-See?
And then you can rotate out.
-Look at this.
-Woah!
More.
One there,
there's one there,
this whole mountainside's
covered in them.
All this vegetation's
growing over these ones.
There's more
Yeah mas, right here.
In addition to the main site,
our technology has revealed
other burial grounds
hidden in even more remote
parts of the cliffs.
Look, look at that!
So, this is new?
Have you seen this before?
-No.
-No?
It's been an honor for us to
come here to learn more about
the Chachapoya, to learn who
they were and now we can see
their faces across
the whole mountain.
Thank you for
showing us where to go.
And I can't believe
we found new ones.
I'm really happy
for us too, for our culture
Thank you
Thank you
Si mi amigo.
Ahhh this is why
you do these things.
I've been traveling the
world for many years now,
looking for lost cities,
lost worlds.
But moments like that,
what just happened there
in that town, that's why.
That's why.
We're connected.
My time here has allowed
me to understand more about
who the Chachapoya
were as a people.
But I'm still no closer to
finding where they lived.
My mission to find a
Lost City of the Cloud Warriors
has taken me 100 miles south
of Kuelap to Chacanto
on the Marañón River,
believed to be a
critical trading route
for the ancient Chachapoya.
This goes into the Amazon?
It's an ancient river
-Luigi!
-Albert!
Thanks for meeting us.
Welcome to the Marañón.
I've met up with local
archaeologist Jeff Contreras,
who has spent many years
exploring this isolated area,
and river navigator,
Luigi Marmanillo.
I've been dreaming about this
y'know since I was a boy,
you hear about the Amazon,
you hear all the legends,
and now we're here.
Now we're here.
So, Jeff
said you had a map.
Yes here.
This is where we
are, Chacanto.
-Ok.
-And this is Tuen.
Ah, there's no
roads here, at all right?
There's no roads.
How far is this,
pretty far right?
This is
like 18 kilometers.
What I'm hoping
we find is some of the
ancient Chachapoya trails.
The mission is to try and
see if there's any roads,
you know, old Chachapoya
roads that would have
led towards Kuelap.
There are very
old paths that connect the
archaeological sites to Kuelap
Many of these paths
have been lost
And we have to find them
We have to find the sites
That's
what we're here for.
We're probably the
first to explore them
Well, great
let's get started.
Yes.
The Rio Marañón is
the western most border
of the Chachapoya region.
By rafting from Chacanto,
I'm hoping to follow
ancient trade paths, and
maybe find a Chachapoya
lost city between
here and Kuelap.
Hola amigos!
How bad is the river
in terms of rapids?
There's
some big rapids.
We have some big waves,
some ah, some big holes.
Ok.
Well maybe what we do is we take
as slow of a float as we can.
This is amazing.
The landscape looks different
but the weather's so dramatic,
you know I thought it was
gonna be so hot this morning.
But it's not.
What did you say earlier?
"In the tropics"?
Nothing is, what?
Everything is likely,
nothing is certain.
Watch out for
the shallow here.
Forward!
Ok, woah!
-It's not safe.
-Go backwards.
Go backwards!
Go backwards!
Watch out
watch out watch out.
Woah, my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
It's good,
it's good, it's good.
Oh my gosh.
Hold on, hold on!
It's good, it's good.
Watch out here.
Okay?
One, Two.
I got you.
I got you. I got you.
Ready? I got you.
I'm gonna get you up.
One, two, three.
Okay?
Yeah but, I
just couldn't get up.
I couldn't, I just did this,
in the end, just to get up.
We just lost a boat.
One of the boats flipped, the
main camera boat flipped,
all the camera gear
went in the water.
We hit the wall.
One boat went under the
other, and it flipped.
This is not what you
want to have happen
when you're in the most
remote part of the world.
Mother Earth,
guide them, show them, I beg you
Your blood, that is where
your children will flow
Mother Earth, guide them
We've come back,
faced our fears,
and now, we go on.
It's really weird being
back here on this river.
Following the
moment we capsized,
all sorts of things
started to happen.
Phone calls, plans,
medical assessments.
Cameras lost, storms brewing,
all that building up to a
final decision that said,
look, we can't keep going.
But that's in the past.
Now we go beyond.
Ready to find the
story of the Chachapoya.
I can't wait to
see what we find.
Woo!
All the rapids are done.
Ha ha ha ha!
-Woo!
-We did it.
Wow, look at that.
Who made this?
These paths, is it Chachapoya?
-They're Chachapoya.
-Where are they going?
From Balsas,
Chacanto, Tuen, Kuelap
The people would walk,
llamas would walk here,
taking their produce
Wow.
Chachapoya roads.
At the very top of the
ridge, and the ruins up there.
You can see, in between
those cuts there's walls.
Yeah I see
it right there, yeah.
Look.
Let's go.
Any of these pathways could
hold clues that lead us
to a lost city.
It's pretty incredible to
think that we're walking on
the road that Chachapoya
traders would have walked
thousands of years ago.
Pottery
-No.
-Si.
What?
You found it right here?
Yes.
Unbelievable.
There's just
pottery everywhere.
Is this Chachapoya?
-Yes.
-The serpent.
Yeah.
Oh look at these
walls. Is this a home?
It's circular,
so it's the Chachapoya style
Yeah.
I saw some very
similar over at Kuelap.
I mean it seems that the
Chachapoya who lived here,
they were at the frontier.
That takes, that
takes courage.
-Courage.
-Courage, si.
Shall we follow
the road a little further?
There's another place
-Oh, look at that one.
-Si.
Has this
place been documented?
No, it has not
been documented
Wow look at this site.
We just got up
to the top here.
What do you think it is Jeff?
A way-station,
an Incan way-station
-An Inca site.
-Yeah.
By way-station
do you mean for storage?
No, it was just a
small place to control the pass
They lived here?
As well, but
mainly to control the pass
Si.
Well we thought it was
going to be a Chachapoya site,
but these
rectangular structures?
Rectangles mean Inca.
Circles down there
mean Chachapoya.
Jeff thinks that these huts
might be evidence of a time
when the two societies
coexisted, side by side.
Before war broke out.
Y el camino.
Oh, that's the road.
Yes, yeah.
The following day we
tackle a four mile trek on
horseback, up old Chachapoya
trails, to meet one of the
only people in Peru who
still has knowledge of the
Chachapoya language.
Let's stop here yah?
Yah.
Jairo?
-Hi.
-Good to see you.
There's Mama Rosa. Yes.
Come on sir, come here.
Hola!
Hola Mama Rosa.
Mi nombre, my name's Albert.
My name is Rosa
-Rosa.
-Rosa.
I'm making bread.
Wow.
Ooh, look at this bread.
I came just in time.
It smells good.
Yes.
Lovely smell of bread.
Mmmm, I'm hungry.
It's not ready and
it won't be tasty yet
Oh, it's OK.
Let's sit down
while we wait
It's so beautiful to
hear your voice Mama Rosa.
To hear your words,
it's beautiful.
I'm hoping Mama Rosa's
deep understanding of her
native culture can
help me locate clues
to ancient
settlements on my map.
Mama Rosa has
evidence of a previous language
We find fragments of
Chachapoya there
Well how
about place names?
I was on the Maranon.
Here's Kuelap.
Kuelap is a
Chachapoya word.
The truth is I learned
everything from my grandmother
She said that they are
from the Chachapoya.
She spoke of Kuelap
and of Huiquilla.
"I've walked
through Huiquilla" .
That's how my
grandfather spoke.
-Huiquilla?
-Uh-uh.
Her grandparents
told her about sites like
Kuelap, Huiquilla
Her grandparents told her that
those places actually existed
Then that's where
I should go, right?
Huiquilla.
-Si, si.
-I will, I will.
May God repay you
Thank you
I'm very emotional
I'm so surprised, you've come
all the way from another country
I never dreamed this
would happen in my life
Gracias.
Mamma Rosa's knowledge of the
ancient Chachapoya language
is a bridge
into a lost world.
Could the mysterious
'Huiquilla' be the site
of the lost city that
we're looking for?
José, how are you?
Parker, it's a
pleasure to see you again.
Hello.
Albert, it's a pleasure.
Nice to meet you.
Huiquilla is a two-day
trek into dense cloud forest.
Local landowner Jose La Torre,
and my old friend, archaeologist
Parker Van Valkenburgh,
an expert on Andean Peru,
are here to help guide us.
After a grueling jungle hike,
we make camp.
What a journey this has been.
I don't know if we're
gonna find a city or,
or uh, small homes.
All I know is that right now,
I'm sleeping in the same forest
to the Chachapoya
families of the past.
Okay, listo.
Ready, let's go
Chachapoya, Chachapoya.
Our search for a lost
Chachapoya city is now focused
on an area west of Kuelap,
over 86 million square feet of
dense cloud forest,
called Huiquilla.
Hey Albert
are you on comms?
Yeah copy that, we're
just making our way further in
and the jungle is very dense.
But if you can find a
clearing we should
definitely survey this ridge.
Standby.
Starting props.
Look at this place.
Joe and Duncan go to work.
Scanning for signs of ancient
settlements and primed to
deliver us GPS coordinates.
We're here
and ready, ready to go.
Hey, hey Joe!
Joe says
he's just spotted something
in the data, might
wanna check it out.
Do you
have the coordinates?
You need to go to
six degrees, 22 minutes
and 12 seconds south.
Have you
seen anything yet?
Yeah, I'm getting to
a little bit of a ridge, uh,
does the data show that we're
following the ridge line
all the way up?
Yeah, there
should be like, what looks like
an ancient path that leads
you all the way to the top.
Yeah, there's
no path here is there?
Let's find that path.
Ok copy that.
It's almost
impossible to see anything.
You know and to be honest I
don't know if I'm going to be
able to get a GPS read on my
watch 'cos there's no line of
sight to the sky.
It sounds
really difficult going for you
but the drone flying here's
really tricky as well,
with getting the drone Lidar to
hug the tree canopy at the
right height is
really difficult.
Whatever data we get,
it will be better than
what I'm seeing in here.
Yeah, copy that.
Wait, look
there's big stones here.
Big stones.
There's more and more rock.
Yeah.
Getting a glimpse
of a potential site,
just a kilometer west of
where you are now.
The first
part of a wall huh?
Ah, there is
something up here after all.
We're on our own.
But it says that the
waypoint they sent me,
is right around here,
I'm completely
lost my GPS signal now.
Ah, woo!
Oh wow, look at this one.
Look at that,
all these pieces.
Intricate masonry.
Oh wow.
Someone's home.
When's the last time you
think somebody stood here?
600 years maybe?
Wow.
Circular walls, terraced
into the hilltop,
it must be Chachapoya.
But if this is a city,
there's got to be more.
Oh, there's an
entrance over here.
Stairs!
You don't
see stairs like this.
You don't see
stairs like this normally?
Oh, that's awesome.
What do you think
we're standing on right now?
The higher you get,
the more sacred or the more
elevated the space becomes in
kind of a social sense too,
so, this could have been the
place where the leaders
of the society lived.
It's amazing you know,
Parker, to know that you're
standing on top of something
that's been hidden in this
jungle for the last 600 years.
I mean, look, we
didn't know that this was here
until we started today.
There's just so much
undocumented heritage and
culture in indigenous Peru.
And these societies were so
successful, I mean thousands
of years they managed to
live on tops of mountain tops.
So, this is new to
Chachapoyan archaeology,
in terms of knowledge?
Yeah, this site's
never been mapped before.
This has
never been mapped before?
No, it's brand new.
Woo!
It just
keeps going huh?
Check this out.
Wow! Look at that!
A spout!
A Chachapoyan, this is
Chachapoya irrigation huh?
Have you seen anything
like this anywhere else?
-No.
-Really?
No, seriously.
No, it's unique
It's an honor for
me to have you here.
It's an
honor to have you here.
An honor for me too.
And you, Parker,
thank you for being here
We are drinking from
the water of the ancients.
Look it just
doesn't stop, what?
Did you count
the number of walls?
I mean, I lost track.
The walls and
ancient water systems are
entirely new discoveries.
But when we process the scans,
will they prove to be part
of a lost Chachapoya city?
So, do you think that
that is the datum over there?
It is.
Let's put on the
projector, let's go big.
We brought our projector so
we can see it in full glory.
Where were we camping?
We were coming up
this ridge, right?
Yeah, that's right, that's
La Iglesia in the middle.
Alright Joe, let's
see it without the trees.
Yeah.
Here we go.
Woo! Oh wow.
Wow, that's great guys.
This is
completely weird to me.
I've never seen
anything like that.
So, this is with the
trees completely deleted,
this is the bottom most
layer of the LiDAR.
Ah you can see 'em right there,
you can see all the terraces.
Yep, right there you see it?
All the way up the ridge.
Almost every mountain we
scanned in Huiquilla is
covered in terracing,
a classic sign of
human occupation.
So, we've got some
kind of settlement on the
ridges with these circles.
So, we scanned one of
the huts and you can see
they fit perfectly in
these circles here.
-These are brand new
discoveries at Huiquilla.
Each circular indent represents
the location of a hut,
so we can use scaled
scans to bring these
settlements back to life.
See, they fit there.
Ha ha ha ha!
Ah, that's amazing.
You can use an
algorithm to populate
every single circular feature.
Oh no way.
Ah ha ha,
look at that! Wow!
Look at the top there!
Bringing
the Chachapoya back!
A town!
There's a town there!
As our software
tracks each circular site
on every ridge,
the true extent of this
Chachapoya society is revealed.
It's amazing guys.
We're back there.
Back in the moment of
the Cloud Warriors.
So, these are here and
Kuelap's right beyond.
They must be connected right?
Because when you
stand here now
as an ancient
Chachapoya homeowner,
part of this community,
your view line is
not limited to just
those around you
but across these valleys,
across the way.
Right?
You feel like you're part
of a larger metropolis.
This is evidence of a vast web
of Chachapoya settlements,
all within view of each other.
An interconnected,
sophisticated Chachapoya world.
It is a world in
the clouds, isn't it?
If we LiDAR'ed
the entire landscape,
we would see potentially
the same pattern repeated
over and over again
for miles and miles.
It's incredible, no?
Totally incredible
I really do feel proud
I feel identified
that my roots are
from so many years ago.
Sometimes you forget
just how meaningful
these surveys can be.
It's not just a story,
it's someone's story.
Ha!
I came to Peru in
search of a lost world,
almost entirely erased by
the Inca 600 years ago.
What we've uncovered here,
illustrates the scale and
sophistication of
the Cloud Warriors.
Thousands of Chachapoya,
developing complex
trading routes
from rivers and over land,
to thrive on the slopes
of these valleys.
With the extraordinary Kuelap,
like a beacon, above.
Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.
Ah, radio check,
do you guys' copy?
This is Albert.
Yeah,
copy that, Albert.
Since I was young,
Peru's mighty Inca empire,
and that iconic stone
complex of Machu Pichu,
have fascinated me.
And
still we're climbing.
Roger that.
But what if I was to
tell you that there was
another, mighty culture?
Who ruled Peru's Northern
highlands for nearly
1,000 years before the
Inca even arrived?
And built an even
larger, older, stone complex.
This place must be
up in the clouds.
Copy you.
The Inca called these
people, The Cloud Warriors.
Why don't we just stop
right over this ridge and
see if we can see Kuelap?
Today the giant stone complex
of Kuelap is the best clue
we have to the Cloud
Warriors forgotten world.
That's got to be it,
right there.
But tragically, the future
of this amazing site,
is under threat.
You wouldn't believe
what happened here.
The rain just soaked all the
land, and then this happened.
Look at this.
-Wow.
-Woah, oh my god.
That is
soul destroying.
Can you believe it?
Just disappearing
before our eyes.
The place is in danger.
Landslides are slowly destroying
this 1,000 year old monument.
Yeah, let's get up there.
Let's go.
As Kuelap disintegrates,
so too does the story of
The Cloud Warriors.
They're huge.
That's incredible.
Talk about altitude,
8,500 feet.
You start to hear it
in your breathing.
This may be my last chance
to find their lost world.
Look at this place.
I mean, Kuelap, built
by the Cloud Warriors,
on top of this mountain,
these are the remains
of their buildings.
But where are the people?
Kuelap is one of the largest
structures of its kind in
all of South America,
a religious and
administrative hub
that served a vast community.
Archaeologists estimate
the Chachapoya population
at half a million.
Yet sites, including Kuelap,
account for just a
fraction of these people.
This culture almost disappeared,
and now we know virtually
nothing about them.
In the 15th century,
in what is now Peru,
the Inca expands their empire
along the Pacific coast.
In the high mountains of
the Chachapoya region,
Inca warriors face such
fierce resistance from the
ruling tribe that they called
them, the Cloud Warriors.
But after around
60 years of fighting,
the scale and sophistication
of the Inca military,
finally defeat the Chachapoya.
There's a story of a people,
The Chachapoya,
who built their world up here in
the clouds, that remains hidden.
Hidden in the
whispers of these rocks.
You know, there's not even a
written record that remains
by their own people.
Somewhere in the
vast cloud forest,
must be the remains of a
lost Chachapoya world.
That is what I hope to find.
Oh my God!
Yoo! You see that
drop over the edge?
Ha ha ha, woo!
Cloud forest!
Chachapoya were climbers.
This is their territory.
This is their land, they
lived in the mountains,
they lived in these cliffs.
I'm headed with my tech
team from Kuelap to the
remote village of
San Jeronimo
and the ancient Chachapoya
burial site of El Tigre.
.
If I can find where the Cloud
Warriors buried their dead,
it may lead us to
where they lived.
-Que Juan?
-Juan.
Yes, they're over there
Let's just
be a bit gentle,
it's all about respect, right?
Because even if we're gonna
get access to do the scans,
this has never
been scanned before.
This person is going to be the
one that gives us access, so.
Hello. Juan?
Nice to meet you
Welcome to San Jeronimo
Is it possible
that we can actually
go to the sarcophagi?
We don't always allow
visitors this kind of access
because it's a special
place for our community
We actually were
hoping that we could scan
some of the site with
our different tools.
Like LiDAR and photogrammetry.
If we can scan it, then maybe
we can share it with the world
when it's, even though
it's so difficult to get to
they can see it virtually.
Would you be willing
to take us to the site?
We can send it to
you to educate everyone
Yes, I
think that's great
Many thanks
Do we need
all this stuff?
It's
fairly light as it is.
Juan can see the
value in our scanning mission.
It's five kilometers.
But he has shown a
lot of trust in us by granting
access to such a sacred site.
Muchas gracias.
I hope we don't
disappoint him.
Si.
We're about to
get to the most difficult part
Si, si.
You guys doing
okay back there?
Yeah, we're
getting there.
I'm starting
to feel the altitude.
The tombs?
There they are
Yes, that's it
Right up there.
See way up there on the edge?
On the left side
of the escarpment.
That is incredible.
-Si.
-Unbelievable.
It's difficult from here,
we've still got a long way to go
ALBERT: OK.
This is as
far as the horses can go.
Ok let's
set up down here.
We'll unload the horses.
We're losing light,
let's set that camp up.
What a place to
spend the night.
Tomorrow, I climb
the mountain.
No idea what I'm going to see.
I just feel this big
sense of, responsibility,
to be reverent.
I'm here among the
spirits of the past.
Time to get some sleep.
That's them.
That's amazing.
Maybe the first step
is I get up there somehow,
scramble out there with Juan
and then give you a spot and
we get a full scan of that,
and then we go and do
a bit more exploration beyond.
Perfect.
Ok, let's go.
See you guys.
As we follow the river deeper
the environment becomes
more challenging.
This terrain gave the
Chachapoya natural protection
from their enemies.
This way
Let's go
ALBERT: OK.
It's slippery?
-Uh Huh.
-OK. Alright.
Go slowly
Careful, it's slippery
Can we go around?
There's no other way
Let's, let's see.
I have a rope! I have a rope.
I'll go up first
Of course
And I'll tie off the
rope, and then I'll pull you up.
Ok.
Wait!
You good?!
I got you.
Ha ha!
We did it Albert
You see
We made it
Wow!
Let's keep going.
Oh man.
That's how
the monkeys climb
Now I just feel like I'm
in some other worldly magic.
Ahh!
Where are we?
Is it ancient?
Yes, pre Inca
As we reach 9,000 feet,
there are signs of life,
and death all around us.
It's a deceiving
drop, ok buddy?
It goes, it's just a cliff
and then you got trees,
but the cliff keeps going so,
make sure you don't fall.
Amigo Alberto.
It's difficult here
I'm going to stay here
It's up to you if
you want to climb
It's up there?
Mmm Hmm.
Ok, well ok.
Ok.
There's definitely a
sense of anticipation.
I'm exploring the most intimate
parts of someone's story.
There's hair.
That's hair, that's hair.
I'm just a few
feet from human hair.
This is the remains
of the Chachapoya.
This is a person.
Oh my.
I've never seen
anything like this.
I don't know why; I just
feel like I have to whisper.
You know, it feels
like something so sacred.
Unbelievable.
I think I have
I think I can see the skull,
of one of the
inside one of the sarcophagi.
Oh, it's incredible!
It looks like it's
made of mud and hay.
But look at those faces, each
one of the faces has eyes,
and smiles and teeth,
noses and face paint.
Ah, you got to wonder,
you got to wonder
whether or not that's what,
the faces of
those entombed within
looked like, you know?
If these were supposed to
be representations of the
personalities of
the people within?
I've just come face to
face with the Chachapoya.
Joe, Duncan, do you copy?
Copy that.
Why don't you get
the drone up right now then?
Awesome.
Copy that.
Taking off!
Our drone cameras
can shoot hundreds of
super high-resolution
images, in minutes.
And the LiDAR technology
will map this remote site
and scan for evidence
of any nearby city.
We're getting close?
That's an affirmative.
I mean, that's the point of
all this, to try and tell the
forgotten story of the
Chachapoya and reveal
where they might have lived.
So now dropping down.
Yeah roger,
you're clear right now.
Copy
and moving left now.
Is that OK?
You are
OK to move left.
Copy.
The team now
scans the surrounding area.
-We can see like pretty much
99% of the area from here.
It's really hard.
It's really hard to see.
No matter how much
we search, we can't find
any evidence of a
significant human settlement.
I think
we're gonna have to rethink,
relocate, ok?
That's an affirmative.
Juan!
You're finally here!
I thought you'd died up there,
that you wouldn't come back
Fantástico.
So cool right?
We might not have
discovered a lost city,
but I do want to share what we
have found with the villagers.
Some of whom have never visited
the tomb site of
their ancestors.
Zoom in.
So, this is, yeah right there.
Yeah, I
haven't seen that.
That's incredible.
There we go, see?
And then there's
the sarcophagi.
-Right.
-See?
And then you can rotate out.
-Look at this.
-Woah!
More.
One there,
there's one there,
this whole mountainside's
covered in them.
All this vegetation's
growing over these ones.
There's more
Yeah mas, right here.
In addition to the main site,
our technology has revealed
other burial grounds
hidden in even more remote
parts of the cliffs.
Look, look at that!
So, this is new?
Have you seen this before?
-No.
-No?
It's been an honor for us to
come here to learn more about
the Chachapoya, to learn who
they were and now we can see
their faces across
the whole mountain.
Thank you for
showing us where to go.
And I can't believe
we found new ones.
I'm really happy
for us too, for our culture
Thank you
Thank you
Si mi amigo.
Ahhh this is why
you do these things.
I've been traveling the
world for many years now,
looking for lost cities,
lost worlds.
But moments like that,
what just happened there
in that town, that's why.
That's why.
We're connected.
My time here has allowed
me to understand more about
who the Chachapoya
were as a people.
But I'm still no closer to
finding where they lived.
My mission to find a
Lost City of the Cloud Warriors
has taken me 100 miles south
of Kuelap to Chacanto
on the Marañón River,
believed to be a
critical trading route
for the ancient Chachapoya.
This goes into the Amazon?
It's an ancient river
-Luigi!
-Albert!
Thanks for meeting us.
Welcome to the Marañón.
I've met up with local
archaeologist Jeff Contreras,
who has spent many years
exploring this isolated area,
and river navigator,
Luigi Marmanillo.
I've been dreaming about this
y'know since I was a boy,
you hear about the Amazon,
you hear all the legends,
and now we're here.
Now we're here.
So, Jeff
said you had a map.
Yes here.
This is where we
are, Chacanto.
-Ok.
-And this is Tuen.
Ah, there's no
roads here, at all right?
There's no roads.
How far is this,
pretty far right?
This is
like 18 kilometers.
What I'm hoping
we find is some of the
ancient Chachapoya trails.
The mission is to try and
see if there's any roads,
you know, old Chachapoya
roads that would have
led towards Kuelap.
There are very
old paths that connect the
archaeological sites to Kuelap
Many of these paths
have been lost
And we have to find them
We have to find the sites
That's
what we're here for.
We're probably the
first to explore them
Well, great
let's get started.
Yes.
The Rio Marañón is
the western most border
of the Chachapoya region.
By rafting from Chacanto,
I'm hoping to follow
ancient trade paths, and
maybe find a Chachapoya
lost city between
here and Kuelap.
Hola amigos!
How bad is the river
in terms of rapids?
There's
some big rapids.
We have some big waves,
some ah, some big holes.
Ok.
Well maybe what we do is we take
as slow of a float as we can.
This is amazing.
The landscape looks different
but the weather's so dramatic,
you know I thought it was
gonna be so hot this morning.
But it's not.
What did you say earlier?
"In the tropics"?
Nothing is, what?
Everything is likely,
nothing is certain.
Watch out for
the shallow here.
Forward!
Ok, woah!
-It's not safe.
-Go backwards.
Go backwards!
Go backwards!
Watch out
watch out watch out.
Woah, my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
It's good,
it's good, it's good.
Oh my gosh.
Hold on, hold on!
It's good, it's good.
Watch out here.
Okay?
One, Two.
I got you.
I got you. I got you.
Ready? I got you.
I'm gonna get you up.
One, two, three.
Okay?
Yeah but, I
just couldn't get up.
I couldn't, I just did this,
in the end, just to get up.
We just lost a boat.
One of the boats flipped, the
main camera boat flipped,
all the camera gear
went in the water.
We hit the wall.
One boat went under the
other, and it flipped.
This is not what you
want to have happen
when you're in the most
remote part of the world.
Mother Earth,
guide them, show them, I beg you
Your blood, that is where
your children will flow
Mother Earth, guide them
We've come back,
faced our fears,
and now, we go on.
It's really weird being
back here on this river.
Following the
moment we capsized,
all sorts of things
started to happen.
Phone calls, plans,
medical assessments.
Cameras lost, storms brewing,
all that building up to a
final decision that said,
look, we can't keep going.
But that's in the past.
Now we go beyond.
Ready to find the
story of the Chachapoya.
I can't wait to
see what we find.
Woo!
All the rapids are done.
Ha ha ha ha!
-Woo!
-We did it.
Wow, look at that.
Who made this?
These paths, is it Chachapoya?
-They're Chachapoya.
-Where are they going?
From Balsas,
Chacanto, Tuen, Kuelap
The people would walk,
llamas would walk here,
taking their produce
Wow.
Chachapoya roads.
At the very top of the
ridge, and the ruins up there.
You can see, in between
those cuts there's walls.
Yeah I see
it right there, yeah.
Look.
Let's go.
Any of these pathways could
hold clues that lead us
to a lost city.
It's pretty incredible to
think that we're walking on
the road that Chachapoya
traders would have walked
thousands of years ago.
Pottery
-No.
-Si.
What?
You found it right here?
Yes.
Unbelievable.
There's just
pottery everywhere.
Is this Chachapoya?
-Yes.
-The serpent.
Yeah.
Oh look at these
walls. Is this a home?
It's circular,
so it's the Chachapoya style
Yeah.
I saw some very
similar over at Kuelap.
I mean it seems that the
Chachapoya who lived here,
they were at the frontier.
That takes, that
takes courage.
-Courage.
-Courage, si.
Shall we follow
the road a little further?
There's another place
-Oh, look at that one.
-Si.
Has this
place been documented?
No, it has not
been documented
Wow look at this site.
We just got up
to the top here.
What do you think it is Jeff?
A way-station,
an Incan way-station
-An Inca site.
-Yeah.
By way-station
do you mean for storage?
No, it was just a
small place to control the pass
They lived here?
As well, but
mainly to control the pass
Si.
Well we thought it was
going to be a Chachapoya site,
but these
rectangular structures?
Rectangles mean Inca.
Circles down there
mean Chachapoya.
Jeff thinks that these huts
might be evidence of a time
when the two societies
coexisted, side by side.
Before war broke out.
Y el camino.
Oh, that's the road.
Yes, yeah.
The following day we
tackle a four mile trek on
horseback, up old Chachapoya
trails, to meet one of the
only people in Peru who
still has knowledge of the
Chachapoya language.
Let's stop here yah?
Yah.
Jairo?
-Hi.
-Good to see you.
There's Mama Rosa. Yes.
Come on sir, come here.
Hola!
Hola Mama Rosa.
Mi nombre, my name's Albert.
My name is Rosa
-Rosa.
-Rosa.
I'm making bread.
Wow.
Ooh, look at this bread.
I came just in time.
It smells good.
Yes.
Lovely smell of bread.
Mmmm, I'm hungry.
It's not ready and
it won't be tasty yet
Oh, it's OK.
Let's sit down
while we wait
It's so beautiful to
hear your voice Mama Rosa.
To hear your words,
it's beautiful.
I'm hoping Mama Rosa's
deep understanding of her
native culture can
help me locate clues
to ancient
settlements on my map.
Mama Rosa has
evidence of a previous language
We find fragments of
Chachapoya there
Well how
about place names?
I was on the Maranon.
Here's Kuelap.
Kuelap is a
Chachapoya word.
The truth is I learned
everything from my grandmother
She said that they are
from the Chachapoya.
She spoke of Kuelap
and of Huiquilla.
"I've walked
through Huiquilla" .
That's how my
grandfather spoke.
-Huiquilla?
-Uh-uh.
Her grandparents
told her about sites like
Kuelap, Huiquilla
Her grandparents told her that
those places actually existed
Then that's where
I should go, right?
Huiquilla.
-Si, si.
-I will, I will.
May God repay you
Thank you
I'm very emotional
I'm so surprised, you've come
all the way from another country
I never dreamed this
would happen in my life
Gracias.
Mamma Rosa's knowledge of the
ancient Chachapoya language
is a bridge
into a lost world.
Could the mysterious
'Huiquilla' be the site
of the lost city that
we're looking for?
José, how are you?
Parker, it's a
pleasure to see you again.
Hello.
Albert, it's a pleasure.
Nice to meet you.
Huiquilla is a two-day
trek into dense cloud forest.
Local landowner Jose La Torre,
and my old friend, archaeologist
Parker Van Valkenburgh,
an expert on Andean Peru,
are here to help guide us.
After a grueling jungle hike,
we make camp.
What a journey this has been.
I don't know if we're
gonna find a city or,
or uh, small homes.
All I know is that right now,
I'm sleeping in the same forest
to the Chachapoya
families of the past.
Okay, listo.
Ready, let's go
Chachapoya, Chachapoya.
Our search for a lost
Chachapoya city is now focused
on an area west of Kuelap,
over 86 million square feet of
dense cloud forest,
called Huiquilla.
Hey Albert
are you on comms?
Yeah copy that, we're
just making our way further in
and the jungle is very dense.
But if you can find a
clearing we should
definitely survey this ridge.
Standby.
Starting props.
Look at this place.
Joe and Duncan go to work.
Scanning for signs of ancient
settlements and primed to
deliver us GPS coordinates.
We're here
and ready, ready to go.
Hey, hey Joe!
Joe says
he's just spotted something
in the data, might
wanna check it out.
Do you
have the coordinates?
You need to go to
six degrees, 22 minutes
and 12 seconds south.
Have you
seen anything yet?
Yeah, I'm getting to
a little bit of a ridge, uh,
does the data show that we're
following the ridge line
all the way up?
Yeah, there
should be like, what looks like
an ancient path that leads
you all the way to the top.
Yeah, there's
no path here is there?
Let's find that path.
Ok copy that.
It's almost
impossible to see anything.
You know and to be honest I
don't know if I'm going to be
able to get a GPS read on my
watch 'cos there's no line of
sight to the sky.
It sounds
really difficult going for you
but the drone flying here's
really tricky as well,
with getting the drone Lidar to
hug the tree canopy at the
right height is
really difficult.
Whatever data we get,
it will be better than
what I'm seeing in here.
Yeah, copy that.
Wait, look
there's big stones here.
Big stones.
There's more and more rock.
Yeah.
Getting a glimpse
of a potential site,
just a kilometer west of
where you are now.
The first
part of a wall huh?
Ah, there is
something up here after all.
We're on our own.
But it says that the
waypoint they sent me,
is right around here,
I'm completely
lost my GPS signal now.
Ah, woo!
Oh wow, look at this one.
Look at that,
all these pieces.
Intricate masonry.
Oh wow.
Someone's home.
When's the last time you
think somebody stood here?
600 years maybe?
Wow.
Circular walls, terraced
into the hilltop,
it must be Chachapoya.
But if this is a city,
there's got to be more.
Oh, there's an
entrance over here.
Stairs!
You don't
see stairs like this.
You don't see
stairs like this normally?
Oh, that's awesome.
What do you think
we're standing on right now?
The higher you get,
the more sacred or the more
elevated the space becomes in
kind of a social sense too,
so, this could have been the
place where the leaders
of the society lived.
It's amazing you know,
Parker, to know that you're
standing on top of something
that's been hidden in this
jungle for the last 600 years.
I mean, look, we
didn't know that this was here
until we started today.
There's just so much
undocumented heritage and
culture in indigenous Peru.
And these societies were so
successful, I mean thousands
of years they managed to
live on tops of mountain tops.
So, this is new to
Chachapoyan archaeology,
in terms of knowledge?
Yeah, this site's
never been mapped before.
This has
never been mapped before?
No, it's brand new.
Woo!
It just
keeps going huh?
Check this out.
Wow! Look at that!
A spout!
A Chachapoyan, this is
Chachapoya irrigation huh?
Have you seen anything
like this anywhere else?
-No.
-Really?
No, seriously.
No, it's unique
It's an honor for
me to have you here.
It's an
honor to have you here.
An honor for me too.
And you, Parker,
thank you for being here
We are drinking from
the water of the ancients.
Look it just
doesn't stop, what?
Did you count
the number of walls?
I mean, I lost track.
The walls and
ancient water systems are
entirely new discoveries.
But when we process the scans,
will they prove to be part
of a lost Chachapoya city?
So, do you think that
that is the datum over there?
It is.
Let's put on the
projector, let's go big.
We brought our projector so
we can see it in full glory.
Where were we camping?
We were coming up
this ridge, right?
Yeah, that's right, that's
La Iglesia in the middle.
Alright Joe, let's
see it without the trees.
Yeah.
Here we go.
Woo! Oh wow.
Wow, that's great guys.
This is
completely weird to me.
I've never seen
anything like that.
So, this is with the
trees completely deleted,
this is the bottom most
layer of the LiDAR.
Ah you can see 'em right there,
you can see all the terraces.
Yep, right there you see it?
All the way up the ridge.
Almost every mountain we
scanned in Huiquilla is
covered in terracing,
a classic sign of
human occupation.
So, we've got some
kind of settlement on the
ridges with these circles.
So, we scanned one of
the huts and you can see
they fit perfectly in
these circles here.
-These are brand new
discoveries at Huiquilla.
Each circular indent represents
the location of a hut,
so we can use scaled
scans to bring these
settlements back to life.
See, they fit there.
Ha ha ha ha!
Ah, that's amazing.
You can use an
algorithm to populate
every single circular feature.
Oh no way.
Ah ha ha,
look at that! Wow!
Look at the top there!
Bringing
the Chachapoya back!
A town!
There's a town there!
As our software
tracks each circular site
on every ridge,
the true extent of this
Chachapoya society is revealed.
It's amazing guys.
We're back there.
Back in the moment of
the Cloud Warriors.
So, these are here and
Kuelap's right beyond.
They must be connected right?
Because when you
stand here now
as an ancient
Chachapoya homeowner,
part of this community,
your view line is
not limited to just
those around you
but across these valleys,
across the way.
Right?
You feel like you're part
of a larger metropolis.
This is evidence of a vast web
of Chachapoya settlements,
all within view of each other.
An interconnected,
sophisticated Chachapoya world.
It is a world in
the clouds, isn't it?
If we LiDAR'ed
the entire landscape,
we would see potentially
the same pattern repeated
over and over again
for miles and miles.
It's incredible, no?
Totally incredible
I really do feel proud
I feel identified
that my roots are
from so many years ago.
Sometimes you forget
just how meaningful
these surveys can be.
It's not just a story,
it's someone's story.
Ha!
I came to Peru in
search of a lost world,
almost entirely erased by
the Inca 600 years ago.
What we've uncovered here,
illustrates the scale and
sophistication of
the Cloud Warriors.
Thousands of Chachapoya,
developing complex
trading routes
from rivers and over land,
to thrive on the slopes
of these valleys.
With the extraordinary Kuelap,
like a beacon, above.
Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.