Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin (2023) s01e05 Episode Script

1
Ever since I began
exploring ancient history,
I've come to realize that
those early civilizations
can provide us with important
lessons for the challenges
that we face today.
Especially when those
civilizations came face to face
with a devastating
natural disaster.
And somehow, survived.
Watch the edge, okay?
This could
crumble at any second.
You see how unstable it is.
Ok, you ready?
Somewhere in this giant canyon,
there's evidence of a
catastrophic megadrought.
I think this is
what we're looking for.
This has to be it.
Oh, look at this.
Look at that band right there.
Boom.
That white layer
right there, that's salt.
That represents a drought.
This could be the megadrought.
This geological phenomenon,
is a sign of what devastated the
Middle East, 4,000 years ago.
That's just year after
year after year of drought.
I might be touching
what changed the world.
2000 BCE.
A century long megadrought,
is ravaging the
Mediterranean region.
Crops fail and ancient cities
and civilizations collapse.
Think about what was happening
at this time in history.
We're seeing the rise of
our first state societies,
the old kingdom of Egypt.
The Mesopotamian world with
Sumerians and the Akkadians.
And then all of
a sudden, boom!
Across the globe,
everything changes.
It was a shift in the
entire Earth's climate,
it was catastrophic.
Some think that it might have
caused the beginning of the end
of all those
different civilizations.
But one civilization survived
and rose from the ashes
of the megadrought.
The Canaanites.
What can we learn
from the Canaanites?
What was it about them,
that let them survive?
If I can find their lost city,
then hopefully I can discover
the secret of how
they made it through.
History books tell us almost
nothing about the Canaanites,
but they are
mentioned in the Bible.
The Old Testament says, the
Canaanites were descended from
Noah's grandson, Canaan,
settling in an area that
we now know as Israel.
Recently, archeologists have
begun to learn more about
how they got there.
As the megadrought caused
inland settlements to dry up,
many people migrated towards
what is now Israel's coastline,
in the hope that
the sea might provide
a means of survival.
Archeologists have discovered
signs of the Canaanites
along Israel's coast.
So, my search for the
lost city begins in the
ancient fishing village
of Jisr al-Zarqa.
I think just up here.
It's always uphill
with you Albert.
I'm hoping my scanning
team, Joe and Duncan,
will help me solve the mystery
of how the Canaanites survived.
Wow, what a spot.
This is amazing.
We know that
4,000 years ago,
sea levels were much lower.
So, if there is an ancient
settlement, it could be hidden
under the sea.
The water was about
two meters lower.
So, we want to
try and get a look at,
get under the water.
How are we
going to scan it?
Maybe we can use a
polarized lens to uh,
remove the reflections
from the water.
So, like really
fancy sunglasses on the drone.
Exactly.
That's exactly it.
You got it.
The polarizing lens
will allow us to see beneath
the surface, at what the
ancient landscape
would have looked like.
All right let's get started.
Ok you ready?
All right.
Starting props.
Yep.
There we go.
Awesome.
While the LiDAR drone
scans the coastline from above,
I'm starting
my search under water.
Alright, jump over. Yep.
I'm using a sub-bottom profiler,
with the help of
geophysicist Guy Lang,
to search the sea
floor for clues
that might lead
to a lost city.
I've been waiting to use one
of these my whole career now,
you know?
It's like a speaker floating
on the surface, isn't it?
Exactly.
Alright, let's
get this thing rigged up.
This technology sends soundwaves
down to the sea floor,
which bounce back,
and our on-board sensor
creates a picture
of what's below.
This is like our version of
dolphin sonar, basically?
Yeah.
We're scanning for
anomalies, in particular,
we're looking for unnatural,
man-made objects,
that could provide clues to
Canaanite activity here.
Lowering away.
We're going hunting
for the Canaanites now.
So that's the
sea floor, right?
We got the reflection
coming on from the signal?
I can see it. Yeah.
There's some
noise over here.
There's something here.
Right there?
What is that?
Yeah.
Oh that, that's a prominent
one, yeah, I mean
-It kind of curves down.
-Yeah.
That's right here?
That's below us right now?
We just passed it, yeah.
-What is that?
-Woo.
Oh, that's a nice anomaly.
Let's mark this one.
These are
the coordinates.
1-2-1-0, and that's on
1-2-5-1 dot 1.
All right. Got it.
Entered. Perfect.
All right let's go diving.
My dive partner is
world-renowned archeologist,
and Canaanite specialist,
Professor Assaf Yasur-Landau.
Okay, I think I'm ready.
Do you have the point?
Yeah, I got
the point right here.
Then we can follow our
compass heading right to
the first anomaly.
You ready?
Absolutely.
-Three, two, one, go!
-Two, one, go!
Wow
Into another world
It's beautiful
Here we go
According to this
the first anomaly
Let's start our trek this way
That sounds
very good, following you
The anomaly that
we're picking up should be
somewhere around here
What is this? What is this?
I see something right here
What is that? Is it metal?
This may actually
be a part of an iron anchor
An anchor?
It may belong to a vessel
which is much later
not the Bronze Age
we're looking for
Not at
the right era, right?
Well let's keep
looking around here
There could be
something still, I hope
This isn't working
anymore down here
'Cos it can't get
a satellite read
It's gotta be here somewhere
Strong tides cause
constant shifting sands,
so objects appear and
disappear all the time.
It's like looking
for a needle in the haystack
A very small needle
in a very large haystack
Let's go this way
Albert, let's check
these stones over there
Albert
I think I've found something
Where?
Look where the crab nests
Is this what
I was looking for?
I think so
Do you think this came
from the time of the Canaanites?
This is absolutely
what we were looking for
This is a real
Bronze Age anchor
It's amazing,
a real Bronze Age anchor
Bronze Age, wow
Sorry, little guy
This little guy
made a home out of it
At first it looks
just like a rock
from the symmetry of these
holes here and here,
and this big hole
and this kind of like
triangle shape
You can tell that it was
shaped by human hands
These holes
are for the spikes
that fasten the
anchor to the sand
No way
This one is for the rope
I'm touching
a Canaanite anchor
Wooo!
Amazing
Well done
We did it
Amazing find
The beginnings
of a maritime history
Amazing
Time to go.
Let's go up, slowly, slowly
-Ahhh!
-That was amazing!
That was amazing.
That's incredible,
that's an incredible anchor.
Oh, you can only, you can only
imagine that, that anchor was
attached to a massive ship.
So, it looks like the Canaanites
were seafaring pioneers.
It's an incredible
thought, the Canaanites,
migrants from the interior,
ancient refugees
of the megadrought,
figured out how to survive,
by embracing the sea.
But it still doesn't
tell us where they lived.
Just heard the fishing
boat motors turn on.
It's dawn, 5:30 in
the morning, roosters.
For the last hour and a half,
I've heard this one rooster
say hello.
Cock-a-doodle-doo,
thank you rooster.
This is a pretty incredible
place to wake up though.
To fully understand the anchor
we discovered yesterday,
I need to study it
in more detail.
So, I've called my old college
professor and mentor,
Tom Levy, who has been studying
ancient civilizations in
Israel for over 40 years.
Okay, here's our boat.
Tom's a pioneer of high-tech
archeology and a world-leading
specialist in underwater
3D photography,
known as photogrammetry.
Okay, three two one.
I need my camera
Albert, lead on
This way
Here it is, here it is
I see it again
Look at that
Oh, it's fantastic
Albert, that is awesome
Look at this,
what is this?
What is this?
Is that a piece of pottery?
Oh my god
Is that a piece of a pot?
It's a handle
Yeah, see this
is part of a storage jar
it goes with the shipwreck
Four thousand years old.
Look at that,
Tom, it fits back together
That is so cool
Awesome
In my wildest dreams
I didn't imagine that
we'd find that here today
Oh, how incredible.
Albert, let's
do the photogrammetry
Okay, I am gonna shoot this.
Tom takes multiple
overlapping photographs,
from various angles,
to create a High Definition,
3D model of the anchor.
From this, we hope to learn
more about the vessel it was
attached to and the
origins of the anchor itself.
Did you guys process the
photogrammetry data
from Tom yet?
We have managed
to take a look at it.
There it is.
Wow.
-That's, that's lovely.
-Yeah.
That's really,
really lovely.
This type of anchor began
in the later phase of the
middle Bronze Age,
very common in Cyprus.
So this is a
Cyprus style anchor?
Just so I can understand.
Yes.
This style anchor,
are stylistically,
from another part of the world?
This anchor is very
likely not, not from here,
but probably from Cyprus.
Ooh, so, how far
away is Cyprus from here?
It's something like
more than 200 kilometers.
That would be
almost a week at sea.
The 3D model of the
anchor allows us to estimate
the rough dimensions
and size of the ship.
-Oh, wow. Oh wow!
-Oh wow. Wow. Oh!
Oh wow!
Oh, that is awesome!
That's
So, so we can
move it around.
This is, this
is very, very nice.
By adding the model of
the boat, to the LiDAR data we
collected along the coastline,
we may be able to see how the
ancient mooring system worked.
This is the land-based
bit of the surveying which
provides kind of
like a bedrock.
What I've done then is combine
this data with the aerial LiDAR.
That is so beautiful.
Can we take the
water down two meters exactly?
Yep, absolutely.
By lowering the level
of the sea, we can reveal what
the 4,000-year-old coastline,
would have looked like.
Let's see it.
-Wow!
-Oh yeah!
Oh my! This is amazing.
Amazing, amazing.
-I'll zoom in too.
-Wow!
So, we're seeing this
coastline for the first time.
Yes.
That's all the basins.
Honestly, I have
not seen it like this.
This is unbelievable.
What you've actually
exposed is how beautiful each
basin can, can provide safe
haven for, for the boats.
So, you have one basin,
a second basin,
a third basin, a fourth basin.
It's sort of like
It's, it's almost
like a dockland.
This is like the
Middle Bronze Age marina
that you guys have found.
Wow.
The LiDAR scan
reveals evidence of an
extensive harbor network.
A 4,000-year-old,
Canaanite port-system.
It's telling me that after
the megadrought that
changed everything
in this region,
you're still seeing boats
from all over the world,
all over the Mediterranean
at least
-Yes.
-Arrive to these shores.
So, what were they doing here?
Why were they coming here?
This is the place in
which, after the megadrought
and after the beginning
of Canaanite culture,
people began to trade
with other places
and this maritime commerce
actually gave them another
buffer against climate change.
It gave them, it gave
them another, let's say,
economic security in case
that the crops will fail.
That's profound.
So, an event that was so
catastrophic that it shifted
the lives of everybody in this
landscape, actually led to the
concept of global trade.
Absolutely, global trade,
global economy,
a global, more globalized way
of life in order to, to, to
be more resilient.
The Canaanites adapted
to the threat of climate change,
by taking to the seas,
and pioneering an
international trading network,
with anchorages all
along this coastline.
So, if there was a
port-system here,
then there must have
been a city nearby.
I'm headed for the
remains of a Canaanite outpost,
located on a remote cliff top,
in the mountains to the north.
My journey takes me
from the fishing village,
through the city of Haifa,
inland towards the mountains.
The ancient site I'm looking
for is called Ein Tamir.
It's very slippery.
If the outpost defines
the outer edge of the
Canaanites coastal realm,
then it may help me triangulate
the location of their lost city.
Supposed to be another
Canaanite Bronze Age site,
up at the top here.
Okay.
Maybe they were climbers.
Really solid rock, but
little bits can fall off.
It's like climbing up a
crumbly rock face with a bunch
of spikes sticking
you in the face.
Do you think they could
have come all the way up here?
Wow, look at that.
Look at it, loose.
Oh my god.
Are you alright?
Are you okay?
Please can you
bring me that first aid kit
here immediately.
that was terrifying.
hell,
that was terrifying.
Pardon my French.
.
That was,
that was a huge piece.
-Want a hand?
-I'm alright.
That was a close call.
-Wow.
-My foot broke.
-Do you feel okay?
-Well, it's gone.
It fell under the, I
got crushed under there.
Woah.
Guys, be careful
as you go past
stones have fallen down here
ALBERT:.
That was as close as you can get
to getting crushed by a rock.
That was horrible.
There's only a handful of
moments in my life where
I remember time slowing down.
They're always the moments
where everything can change.
I can remember six years
ago the feeling of the car
as it started to roll.
In the aftermath,
I would lose my leg.
In that moment it felt
like time stopped,
and then just now,
I knew I had to
get out of the way.
What a near miss huh?
Look at that.
Look how heavy this thing is.
Yeah, like, this is.
This is half a ton of rock.
This would have killed me.
We got within, we got within,
moment, like just
Alright, let's just
get out of here,
I don't wanna think
about this right now.
Everybody's pretty shooken up.
Trying to make sense
of what just happened.
I mean, look at this,
carbon-fiber's
completely destroyed.
It was me, that boulder,
and then my foot
on the other side,
so that means I just
barely made it through.
That's too close.
I got a spare.
At least I had a spare.
Let's keep going.
To get to the top,
I've adapted my
plan to find a safer route.
The one thing I have learned
through my life is that
you don't get to choose
what happens all the time
and you don't get to
choose when it happens.
But when you face a
moment that shifts everything.
The one thing you can
control is how you respond.
-Put one hand on the bed,
and one hand on the walker.
-Ready guys?
Okay Albert, first steps.
-Argh.
-Looking good.
-Ahh.
Just stand right there,
no walking yet, just
And in a lot of ways,
that's at the heart
of the story here.
The story of the Canaanites,
it's a story of
the human spirit,
of our desire to survive.
It's a story of
bravery of courage,
of hope, of adaptability.
It's a story of resilience.
Man, look at this place.
There must have
been something here.
Carbon dating and pottery
remains discovered here,
verify this site to be
around 3,700 years old.
The same period that this
region was beginning to recover
from the megadrought.
Archeologists believe that this
may have been a watch tower,
guarding Canaanite territory.
Perhaps a bird's eye
view will help reveal
its strategic purpose?
Wow. Look at this.
Look at this.
That's the coastline.
That's where we were
finding the anchors.
Then this.
Wow.
Maybe this was a whole
thoroughfare of travel,
of trade.
Goods from all over
the Mediterranean,
making their way up
this valley maybe,
and over the mountains beyond.
And this was an outpost, a
watchtower, built on the
side of a cliff to keep a
lookout over trade that way.
And what I'm seeing here
between this watchtower
and the anchors is
that they thrived.
And this is happening
all during a time when
the rest of the world is just
coming out of the megadrought.
When everything else was
falling apart, they kept the
trade routes alive for what
would become the Holy Lands.
It's incredible.
So, if this was a
Canaanite watchtower,
monitoring goods coming
in and out, then surely,
they must have lived
within sight of here.
Maybe they were there.
Right between me
and the coast.
I've gotten in touch
with an archeologist
from Haifa University.
Who's told me about a
site with Canaanite remains,
located right between
the outpost and the coast,
at Kabri.
Dr Alexandra Ratzlaff
began working on this site,
an ancient Canaanite
Palace, in 2005.
We could be
over the palace right now.
We just don't know how big
it is and where it ends.
But she hasn't
been able excavate here for
over three years,
and the site has become
overgrown and dangerous.
Did you say there was a
bunch of snakes up here?
There's snakes.
There's scorpions here.
And wild boars.
If anybody sees a snake,
we just walk away from it.
If somebody gets, you know,
actually bit by a snake,
try to get eyes on
what the snake is and
take a picture of it,
if you have the,
like the mind for it.
Because then we can
know what anti-venom
we got to try to answer.
It sounds horrendous. Haha.
So, Yosef, Atum.
Machete time?
Okay, let's go.
Yeah, it's real spiky.
We just gotta get
all of this cleared.
Argh it's really thick brush.
It's all this, like,
thorny stuff, right?
Like
That's horrible.
It's cutting up my hands.
Woah, is that a
look at that right there.
Wow, look at that.
Yeah, we gotta get as much
of this down as possible.
Is this the main excavation?
Yep, this is the
uh, the edge of the palace.
You can see some of the
walls that we've exposed,
but there's a lot
left that's unknown.
Yosef and Hadi,
if you guys can just
clear out this area.
So that we can start to move
methodically across the site.
And then we extend out the
LiDAR and clear out some of
the brush digitally and
we'll have all these different
layers of resolution,
and maybe you see the
full extent of this place.
I think
that'd be amazing.
Okay,
yalla, let's do it.
Our team strips back the
overgrowth in order to
expose the palace foundations.
Everything's
scratching me to pieces.
-This is so thick.
-Watch out.
I think I've got half of
this down my trousers.
Meanwhile, I asked
Joe and Duncan to begin a
comprehensive aerial
LiDAR scan of the palace,
and surrounding area,
to try to establish the
true scale of the site.
Ready for a take-off.
We've got everybody now.
You got the drones in the air.
We got the
machetes in the field.
Let's reveal this palace.
Our scan should reveal the
full extent of the palace,
but will it reveal evidence
of a lost Canaanite city?
With the palace site now
cleared, archeologist Alexandra
and I can start to examine
it in more detail.
Look at this. Wow.
It's a whole different place.
So much more
visible with all the walls now.
I'm hoping I can
learn something here,
that will help me understand
how the Canaanites went from
megadrought refugees to
palace builders in just
a few hundred years.
Walk me through the palace.
Right, so, if we
go through this corridor,
we're entering the
main feasting rooms,
like a feasting banquet hall.
Banquet hall?
So, somebody ate here, or
a lot of people ate here.
One of the rooms, Alexandra
and the team discovered here,
was crammed full of
ancient wine jugs.
Oh, look at that.
-You can see it.
-Wow.
How many jugs are there?
There's 40
in just this room alone.
That's about
3,000 modern bottles.
About 2,000 liters of wine.
I mean they must have
been preparing for a party.
Exactly!
They're bringing in maybe
other foreign dignitaries
coming from other places in
the Mediterranean to Kabri.
You know, maybe deals took
place where somebody was,
like negotiating.
Well, you just made this
journey all the way to Cyprus,
and I hear that you've
got some good stuff.
Maybe you can, you know,
hook me up with a boat and
we can go back again.
Where would the
chief or the leader have sat?
Well,
that's the thing.
It's rectangular.
It's not like it necessarily
leads to, like, a throne or
an elevated place.
Think about it, like if the
palace was only used for
a few elites, why would you
need the big ceremonial halls.
It makes more sense that the
palace is being used for a lot
more people than just like a
king and his family or the
upper elites that this was
for, you know, a pretty
-A community.
-Exactly.
A community.
This is a community hall.
Think of it like
a community gathering,
like a block party.
You could see it, right.
You could feel it.
You can imagine the food
that they ate in this room.
You can imagine the
stories that were shared.
The singing, the music,
the, all of it. Right?
Absolutely.
The people who spent
their time here in this room,
they were the
ones who made it.
They're the ones who survived
that megadrought,
who built the world
that they wanted
out of the ashes of that event.
And this was their world.
A big party.
The story of the Canaanites
is a story of survival.
But maybe how we survive is less
in the bricks and the stones.
Maybe it's more in
what's in here,
how we relate to each other,
how we build family
in the larger world,
how we become a community that
can make it through events that
are so catastrophic that they
wipe out the rest of the world.
Maybe that's what's
happening in this room,
3,000 years ago or more,
the coming together of many
people from many places.
It's beautiful really.
If this is where the
Canaanites came to party,
it stands to reason they
must have lived close by.
There we go.
Joe and Duncan have
completed their LiDAR scan.
It's the moment of truth and
if my hunch is correct,
there is more to this palace
than we first thought.
Thanks for everything
the last couple of days.
So, let's see it.
What did you guys pull up?
Okay, so deep breath.
This is all the um,
aerial and terrestrial data.
Do you want me to
remove the trees, Albert?
Yeah, let's do it.
Okay.
-Wow.
-Look at that.
Oh, my. Wow.
This is so data rich.
And where's the palace?
Can you, can you
zoom in, just a
-There you are.
-Wow.
That's amazing.
That's where we are.
We've never seen
the site like this before.
Really?
Oh!
You did get the whole thing.
Argh, ohhh!
You can see the walls.
Like it was in the
middle Bronze Age.
Wow.
This is something which
is, was never seen by anybody.
That's lovely, that's
really really lovely.
So, let's pull up
all the LiDAR data of the area
surrounding this palace.
Okay.
So there's the site.
Is that one connected
site, this whole rise?
If we go down from here,
the whole
the whole site seems elevated.
Is this one big,
elevated plateau?
Yes, It's
one connected site.
You can see the boundaries.
That's, that's amazing.
It's huge.
It's absolutely huge.
I'm very, very happy.
-Wow.
-Wow.
It's
really, really large.
That's fantastic.
Amazing.
The site is so much
bigger than previously thought.
It's a palace, surrounded
by a massive Canaanite city.
This is the
essence of community,
building something this
big is a symbol of the
cooperative labor
together to build this.
It's impressive.
And it's also a
demonstration of the power of
the, of the community, a
community that can build
something like this.
Other communities
will not mess with them.
Wow.
Or maybe they'll come
and exchange with them.
Hopefully, yes.
Then this must
have been like a,
like a multicultural hub.
You know, you can almost
imagine a metropolitan of
the ancient world here.
And, and people moving
along the coast, coming from
the coast, coming from the
ports and moving here
and then doing business
with the people here.
So, so, the power is not,
is not necessarily,
maybe not a power, of a force,
of military force,
but a power of trade
and a power of, of networks.
This vast,
4,000-year-old lost city,
that we've just revealed,
is more than 50 times bigger
than the palace.
This was the hub of their
global trading operation that
helped them, not only survive
the megadrought, but thrive,
when others couldn't.
Arrrrrrgh.
Hahaha!
Thanks, guys.
It's amazing.
Good work, guys.
Let's go to get some avocados
and party in that
palace like it's
Like there's
no tomorrow.
Like it's 1999.
We
should bring the wine.
This Canaanite world we've
discovered is testament to the
extraordinary resilience and
fortitude these people showed,
in the face of a
biblical climate apocalypse.
The resources, materials
and goods they needed,
arrived at their
port-system on the coast,
and from there
were transported to
the epicenter of their universe,
a magnificent city.
Where Canaanites came together,
first as a community,
then by reaching out
to the wider world,
where they were able
to survive, and thrive,
as the world around
them changed.
I started out on this journey
trying to find out what was
at the heart of the Canaanites.
What was it about them,
that let them survive.
But along this journey what
I've really realized is that
who they are, it's
embedded within all of us.
We are the combination of
generations of adaptation,
of resilience, of bravery,
of innovation and imagination.
4,000-years-ago, someone
stood at this coastline,
and they decided they
would build a ship
that would carry them
across the horizon.
When we stand today
at our own horizon,
we must learn from
those stories,
because if we're gonna
make it through,
maybe it will be as
the Canaanites did,
it will be by coming together,
as a community.
Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.