In Search Of... (2018) s01e09 Episode Script

The legend of Atlantis.
It's a magical and terrifying tale of a highly advanced society wiped off the map in a single day.
Tangible evidence of this ancient civilization has long eluded explorers.
But could that be about to change? Historian Andrew Gough believes he may be closing in on the whereabouts of the world's most coveted lost civilization.
I believe it's about 60% historical fact and about 40% embellishment.
But that 60% points us towards a certain location.
This is a physical place on the globe.
However, it's not whereyou think it is.
If Atlantis were ever found, it would change everything we know about our evolution.
It would show that history has been progressing in cycles and not a straight line.
Did this ancient mythical city really exist? And can it actually be found? My search begins now.
My Name is Zachary Quinto.
As an actor, I've played many supernatural characters that blurred the line between science and fiction.
I'm drawn to the unknown, the otherworldly, and those experiences so beyond belief, they call everything into question.
I'm exploring some of the most enduring mysteries that continue to haunt mankind in search of the truth wherever it leads me.
For all of recorded history, Atlantis has reigned supreme as the holy grail of legendary lost civilizations.
The story of Atlantis has been around longer than Jesus.
Twenty-three hundred-plus years, we're still talking about Atlantis.
That makes it real in every way possible, except I can't take you to the ruins.
If Atlantis truly is more than a myth, then where is it? Could this ancient empire be hiding in plain sight today? I'm embarking on an epic journey around the globe to find out for myself whether Atlantis is real and can be found once and for all.
Most of us know Atlantis as a fable about a magical city under the sea.
This idea has been reinforced throughout pop culture in movies, such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire, TV shows like theMan from Atlantis, and comic books like theSub-Mariner.
But the real story is much more mysterious and may be plausible.
The only written record of Atlantis was penned in 360 BC by the classical Greek philosopher Plato.
He wrote about an advanced ancient island empire that was inhabited by an isolated yet highly evolved race of people.
As the legend goes, Atlantis was ultimately destroyed by a cataclysmic natural disaster and it disappeared without a trace.
Ever since Plato's account, the search to find Atlantis has become a worldwide obsession.
In the 20th century, the prolific author Edgar Cayce kept the tale alive with his detailed prophesies and visions.
At the same time, Hitler's Third Reich spent several years and countless resources on a quest to prove that the Aryan population were somehow descendants of the Atlanteans.
In order to break new ground on this age-old quest, I need to start at the place where the story began in Greece.
My guide for this journey is former U.
S.
military intelligence specialist and Atlantis historian, Robert Ishoy.
Hey, man.
I'm Zach.
Zachary.
Nice to meet you.
He's spent decades searching for the lost island of Atlantis, and I've flown halfway around the world to meet with him because he claims to have the key to finding Atlantis once and for all.
We only have one historical true record of Atlantis, and that was by Plato.
Right.
So that's where I started.
I went back to the original writings of Plato and started my research.
And what did you find? Plato gave a whole list of items to look for Uh-huh.
that I actually have written down in this book.
I am convinced there is some truth to it.
So, from his writing, you're able to draw 51 specific qualities that the city would've had.
That's correct.
Plato's ancient writings about Atlantis have been distilled into a checklist of key features to search for throughout my journey.
The Atlanteans were technologically advanced far beyond their contemporaries.
An expansionist empire, complete with an island headquarters organized in concentric circles.
They worshipped the water god Poseidon and had a thriving port on the Mediterranean Sea.
How many people do you think would have inhabited Atlantis? I believe it was a very large empire, actually.
Not just a single island, but he tells us it controlled many islands in other parts of the Mediterranean.
It may even have rivaled Ancient Egypt in size.
Mm.
So that's big.
Yes.
And how was Atlantis destroyed, according to Plato? He says it was destroyed by an earthquake and flood.
The gods punished Atlantis because of their imperialistic, uh, motives.
So this now ties in, I think, what a lot of people associate with Atlantis, which is that it's underwater.
Exactly.
Robert, I think, has a sense that there's a historical reality to Atlantis.
It is strange that Plato would write in such detail about a civilization and not acknowledge it as a myth, if it was.
He wrote about an ancient civilization that was destroyed and lost to the sea.
If Atlantis was washed away, then my quest to find the ancient empire must begin in the depths of the ocean.
But journeying into this world is likely to be fraught with unknown dangers.
So I've enlisted the advice of experienced experts like Josh Warren to guide me along the way.
Josh is an author and internationally recognized paranormal investigator who has seen his fair share of perilous situations.
Based in the Bermuda Triangle and only available remotely via Skype, he knows all too well what happens when adventurers go too far and get more than they bargained for.
There are places out there that just want to be left alone.
If you tamper with them, you're opening a Pandora's box.
And if there is an Atlantean-type civilization that's below the ocean, don't probe too much, don't take objects from there.
Because no matter how profound the discovery may be, you may still have to pay a very dire and terrible price.
Despite these ominous warnings, my quest must continue.
So, with Robert's list in hand, I'm headed just north of Crete to the Laconia region of Greece, where a mysterious sunken city may hold new clues.
Archaeologists named this area Pavlopetri when they discovered it.
However, there's no written record of what the city was actually called, nor do we know anything about its inhabitants.
What we do know is that this area checks off many of the key features described in Plato's writings about Atlantis.
Notably, archaeologists believe this sunken settlement was once an advanced and thriving Mediterranean port that dominated the region for nearly 2,000 years before it was ultimately destroyed when the massive Thera volcano erupted on the island of Santorini in 2000 BC, causing powerful earthquakes and tsunamis in the process.
Experts say this massive cataclysmic event was one of the largest in Earth's history.
Now the mysterious Pavlopetri remains one of the only places in the region where ancient relics may still lie.
So, now, this is a cemetery here, right? The remains? Yes.
So I'm teaming up with a local archaeologist to understand more about how these sunken ruins might prove Atlantis was a real empire.
First, understand that from here to the island, all this was land.
All the way here.
All the way here.
It was a nice village, say, with streets, with houses, with courtyards.
This would've been a thriving community here.
Yes.
So, the impact of the natural disasters of this region could've destroyed and wiped out whole areas, as we're gonna see when we get in the water.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's terrifying to think about how this community could have been wiped off the map so quickly.
But there's only one way to get a closer look at what's left behind.
Shall we go diving? Yeah.
Let's go.
I'll be throwing myself in the choppy waters of the Mediterranean to see if I can find any more clues that this might actually have been Atlantis.
You know, I don't really spend a lot of time in the open water.
I don't love it.
But you have to go into the ocean to explore a lot of these settlements.
It's a little scary for me, but if there's proof Atlantis existed in these waters, I'm gonna find it.
But journeying into the past can come with many perils.
And on top of my trepidation, Mother Nature has added a healthy dose of wind, which means choppy seas making this dive more treacherous.
Yes.
Oh, my God.
Okay.
Now go.
Now go.
Quinto.]
I'm diving into the heart of the Med on a dangerous quest for proof that Atlantis may have been a real empire.
Yes.
With a colorful list derived from Plato's ancient writings, I want to know if this mysterious sunken settlement, Pavlopetri, could hold new clues to the whereabouts of the ultimate lost civilization.
But the great risks that come with unearthing ancient civilizations may put this dive in peril.
Okay.
And I'm afraid to see what we might discover.
Just moments into my dive, trouble is already erupting.
Be careful.
Yes, be careful, be careful.
We're really close! No, no, no, no, no! The captain of the boat has lost control in the harsh undertow Too close, too close, too close! and I am helpless in their path.
No, no! Too close! Too close! It's okay.
It stop.
It stop.
Okay.
O Okay.
Okay.
But it seems the god of the sea, Poseidon, has decided to spare me today.
Safely away from the dive boats and the power of the currents, signs of an ancient civilization begin to emerge.
Relics of pottery, a small grave, and a long stretch of rock that looks like a wall, extending several meters all traces of a once-thriving and advanced civilization, just as Plato described on our checklist.
As the secrets of Pavlopetri reveal themselves, I can't help but wonder, could these clues help me prove that Atlantis was a real place? What I know for certain is that whatever existed here before has long been destroyed by great floods and Mother Nature's fury.
There we go.
Here.
Okay.
It was weird.
I mean, you definitely got a sense that you were in a place that was settled at one point.
And the sheer size of Pavlopetri makes me wonder if it could have been part of the kind of vast, sprawling empire that Plato described.
I was surprised at how vast it is down there.
I mean, it's a pretty big ruin.
Right.
And that's the thing that is so impressive that there was this kind of destruction.
Yes.
Atlantis might be a memory of real place, of real city that was submerged.
Right.
After talking to Despina, you begin to understand how much natural disaster affected ancient Greek life.
And Plato wrote of the civilization of Atlantis being destroyed by earthquakes and floods.
So, there are these, kind of, connectors that brought me somehow closer to the idea of Atlantis as a real place.
But I want to keep searching.
I want to keep looking.
I need to know more.
How exactly does Pavlopetri fit into the larger Atlantis puzzle? The mystery of Atlantis is massive.
To help me piece it together, I've asked Professor Richard Freund of Hartford University to help me out.
He's been studying the lost civilization for decades and believes he may have some key insights.
I am convinced that they created an Atlantean civilization that spread.
In order to have a civilization, you have to have what I call the "mother ship" the place where it all began.
And then you have to have support cities in the area.
There were all these different satellites Interesting.
They all were like 7-Elevens, all built in the sa Right.
All built in the same way.
So it was almost this global empire at the time, right? Right.
It seems like one incredibly powerful civilization could have colonized other parts of the world, and that the destruction the earthquake and the flood that are referred to as destroying the central power nucleus of this civilization could have left all these satellites out to dry.
Right.
If I'm going to get closer to the truth, I need to find the heart of the ancient civilization itself.
Pavlopetri offered a few clues, but now I'm going to a place with even more in common with the Atlantis described by Plato.
I'm heading to the Palace of Knossos on the island of Crete, where I'll be reuniting with Robert Ishoy.
The impressive palace was at the heart of the ancient Minoan civilization, once believed to be nothing more than a myth.
Robert has brought along a famed archaeologist who has studied the mysterious Minoan civilization and its striking similarities to Atlantis her entire career.
They believe there is evidence here to suggest that the Minoans were Atlanteans.
One hundred and 30 years ago, nobody believed that these people actually existed.
Wow.
They were part of the myth, part of the legend.
Exactly as we talk today about Atlantis.
Like Plato's Atlantis, the only record of the Minoans' existence had been in theIliad, the ancient Greek epic poem by Homer, so the Minoans were considered fictional characters.
But in the early 1900s, a British archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans, excavated the Palace of Knossos, confirming Homer's story, and fiction became fact.
So, how advanced were the Minoans compared to other civilizations that were existing at the same time? They were even more advanced than later civilizations.
More advanced than people that came 1,000 years later than them.
Wow.
These are the very first people in Europe that have very elaborate architecture, and the very first writing system in Europe.
Indoor plumbing.
Drainage system.
You never see that before the Minoans on European soil, in anyplace.
Wow.
That makes them the first advanced civilization in Europe.
But still, archaeologists have been unable to decipher the Minoans' ancient writing, which means that much about who they were and how they lived remains unknown.
They are wrapped around in mystery, exactly like Atlantis.
Would you like to see something really amazing now? Yeah.
Of course.
Could these mysterious people be the ancient citizens of Atlantis? And is it possible that clues about Atlantis could be hiding in plain sight, in the ruins of another ancient civilization? Take a look at this symbol carved on the walls of this palace.
Oh, no kidding.
Oh, my goodness.
Coming up, I'm in Greece, on the island of Crete, where I'm looking among the ruins of the mysterious Minoan civilization, searching for clues that Atlantis may have existed in this very spot.
Take a look at this symbol carved on the walls of this palace.
Could I be staring at the heart of an ancient empire? And were these advanced Minoan people actually the citizens of Atlantis? Tridents carved all over the place.
Wow.
You surprised me with that.
Oh, yes.
Oh, my goodness.
So what do the tridents signify? That's a symbol of Poseidon.
Of course.
Poseidon was the Greek god of the seas, who is the key player in Plato's story.
Poseidon created Atlantis and blessed it with many natural gifts that included abundant metals and lush flora and fauna.
In turn, the Atlanteans built a temple to honor their patron deity in the center of their island.
Could these tridents signify the temple that paid tribute to Poseidon? There's clear evidence of Poseidon right here.
Wow.
We have it.
Amazing.
Inspired by this incredible connection to Plato's writing, I want to dig deeper.
We already know the Palace of Knossos was once the heart of the technologically advanced Minoan civilization.
And we know at one time, the Minoan story was also considered a myth.
And now we have a connection to the god Poseidon.
But could we find even more evidence that this place may have actually been the heart of the Atlantean population? So, what is this? This is one of the most important symbols of the Minoan religion horns of the bull.
Throughout the palace, we could see, everywhere, how the Minoans paid tribute to the bull in sculptures and frescoes, and what importance it held in their culture.
They're not worshipping the animal itself.
We do not have a bull god.
But they're celebrating the power of the bull.
They do the bull-leaping game with it.
They play with it.
And then, of course, they sacrifice it.
So, what is this room? This is the only lens to the Minoan past that we actually have.
They left us nothing in their written language that we can decipher.
So, this is the only thing that we can see and actually get some ideas of their society and how they perceive themselves.
For example, in this fresco, you actually see a Minoan festival in action.
You can see women dancing in a very slow, solemn way.
Wow.
That's so incredible.
I noticed red and black and white.
Now, those things are definitely a connection.
Plato clearly states the Atlanteans decorated their buildings in those three exact colors.
Wow.
As we walk through this place, I feel like we see more and more parallels.
So many things about the Minoan civilization line up with Plato's description of the Atlanteans.
That is amazing to me, that some civilization could exist that's so powerful, so advanced, and then be wiped out with no record of it for thousands of years.
It becomes more tangible, being here.
I can see how the civilization of Atlantis very likely could have been someplace that actually existed and was very akin to the way the Minoan civilization existed.
But I'm curious to get Robert's take on whether Knossos could be the real Atlantis.
Well, so far, I think what we've seen today, Zach, is that we have a number of things that show that the Minoan civilization does have a relationship to Plato's description of Atlantis, as far as the culture goes.
We have the bull cult, we have the three colors that are prominent here, an advanced civilization.
He said Atlantis was the most advanced civilization in the world, and we have that here.
Those things are definitely a connection.
Now, as far as the geographical location and the description of the island itself, there's no match.
So, personally, I don't think this is Atlantis.
But I am convinced I have found a location that matches perfectly.
over finding Atlantis.
Now it's my turn.
I'm using a checklist based off Plato's ancient writings to prove that this elusive civilization was a real place and perhaps a vast and powerful empire with influence throughout the Mediterranean.
In order to have a civilization, you have to have what I call the "mother ship," and then you have to have support cities Along my journey, leading Atlantis expert Richard Freund is helping me stay on track.
So, we started our travels in Greece, at a place called Pavlopetri, which was a really interesting underwater Right archaeological site.
We were at the Palace of Knossos Right.
talking about the Minoan civilization.
How advanced that civilization was.
It felt like there was this real connectivity between the two, and it just further supports this notion that maybe it wasn't just in one place, but that it had outreached to regions around, as you call it, the mother ship.
Right.
The idea that Atlantis may have had far-reaching influence is a theory supported by scholars around the world.
And many experts, such as author Robert Sarmast, suggest it could be the missing link to explain how other great civilizations gained their ancient knowledge.
At a time when the rest of the world was really living in abject ignorance and living very primitive lives, civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia have reading and writing.
They have amazing architecture.
They have music musical instruments.
They have art.
They have medicine.
They have surgeons.
There's no explanation for where these civilizations got their knowledge.
We still don't know today.
We don't have an answer for the missing link.
The missing link is still missing.
But the evidence points to one story.
They based their civilizations, their laws, their belief system, on this very unique island Atlantis.
Whether Atlantis truly is the missing link, I, for one, remain convinced that it can be found.
So I'm headed to the fabled island of Sardinia, off the coast of Italy.
At one time, this island was home to the ancient Nuraghe civilization, which existed from the 18th century BC to the second century AD precisely within the time period that Plato drafted his checklist about Atlantis.
There's no written record of this civilization anywhere, but Robert Ishoy has studied the history of this island extensively throughout his career, and he is convinced that Sardinia checks off more boxes on Plato's list than any other location in the Mediterranean.
Could this ancient island have been the heart of Atlantis? Perhaps here we can find more clues hiding in plain sight.
Zachary.
Robert.
Welcome to the island of Atlantis.
Good to see you again.
You too.
How's it going? Good.
Good.
It's beautiful here.
Yes.
It's kind of mystic with the fog.
So, what is unique about Sardinia? Why are we here in our pursuit for the lost civilization of Atlantis? Well, you remember that checklist I gave you on Crete? I do.
Well, on that checklist, Plato gives us a very specific geographical location Uh-huhof the island of Atlantis.
He says that the island was surrounded by a great continent.
And here, we're surrounded by Spain, France, Italy, North Africa, and Sicily.
Sure.
Yeah.
And then he also says that there was a chain of violence to the west of Atlantis.
And here we have the Balearic Islands.
So, the geographical location that Plato gives us matches Sardinia perfectly.
Interesting.
We came to this site because there was a massive civilization that existed here Huh.
that date back about 2,000 years BC and even older.
They refer to it as the "Nuraghe," if I say it right in Italian.
"Nur-ah-gay.
""Nur-ah-gay," yes.
What is this? Uh, it looks like caves.
These are all tombs.
Oh.
All alongside this entire mountainside.
Wow.
They brought their dead up here and built these elaborate cave tombs.
We don't have any historical records of the civilization that was on this island Mm-hmmso we come to the grave sites Surelooking for clues.
Throughout history, expeditions into ancient tombs have led to groundbreaking revelations about the past.
From King Tut's tomb in Egypt to the catacombs of Rome, and the terra-cotta army in China, grave sites can provide a stunning window into the beliefs and values of long-forgotten culture.
But disturbing sacred burial grounds can be risky.
In 1922, the Earl of Carnarvon was one of the first to enter King Tut's tomb a site that many believed to be cursed by the ancient pharaohs.
During the expedition, the earl suffered from a mosquito bite that became severely infected, and he died two weeks later, becoming the first in a long line of explorers to meet a similar fate.
We're gonna go in, and we're gonna look for clues, because how a civilization buries their dead can tell you a lot about their culture.
Robert has heard of these caves for decades, but he has never had access until now.
Will these ancient, mysterious caves help us unravel the mysteries of Atlantis? We're looking for signs that at one time, these ruins could have been the heart of a vast Atlantis empire.
Creepy, huh? Yeah.
Very elaborate.
They put a lot of effort into burying their dead.
Yeah.
Clearly, there's something very ceremonial about it here, right? That looks charred, like those are marks of flames.
Right? That roof? Yes.
It makes you wonder if they actually did cremations.
I kind of imagine a body being passed through here, like this.
Almost like it's going from one world to another.
So this would be less of a grave and more of a crematorium in that scenario.
Oh, that's a good way to put it.
Yes.
And you kind of picture this front room as being the ceremony room Uh-huh.
where the family or friends would gather.
Lot of mysteries here.
So, what are the rest of the tombs along this ridge like? Well, the main thing we're gonna look for are the petroglyphs, because petroglyphs could tell us a lot about the civilization and may even connect this civilization to Atlantis.
Petroglyphs were used by prehistoric people and indicate some of the earliest forms of symbolic communication.
They're often confused with hieroglyphs stylized pictures of an object which were developed thousands of years later.
The earliest known hieroglyphs appeared in 3200 BC, whereas some petroglyphs date back much farther, more than 30,000 years ago.
I don't see any in here.
Uh-huh.
But I think if we continue looking, we're gonna find some direct links to Plato's Atlantis.
Great.
Let's take a look.
It's amazing.
We have an opportunity to find some definitive proof of an actual civilization that is Atlantis.
I feel really excited that we're able to dig deeper.
Right now, Robert and I are on the hunt for another mysterious grave site that he's only heard about and has never seen with his own eyes.
He believes that this grave site may contain petroglyphs that could provide clues to the real Atlantis.
This is what we've been looking for.
So, what have we here? I was told there was some kind of markings in here, but I don't know exactly where they are.
Some speculate that this ancient site may contain an actual written connection to Atlantis.
And Robert's ultimate goal is to bring in a team of experts to analyze the area.
I mean, this looks like something around here, right? You know, it does.
Well, there's different colors here, definitely.
I think you're right.
There's something there.
It's been obscured by maybe weather or natural erosion.
I wonder if this could give us a deeper insight into where we are or how it might relate to Atlantis.
I'd like to know what it is.
I just can't make it out with the naked eye.
Yeah.
Could these ancient markings be the key to finding the empire of Atlantis? And could it prove that a technologically advanced society existed here in Sardinia? To get the truth, Robert is bringing in Greg Heyworth and Ken Boydston, two of the world's leading experts in the field of spectral imaging.
Heyworth and Boydston have recovered several of the world's most treasured artifacts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, and text from a burnt copy of the Magna Carta from the 13th century.
They'll be the very first to attempt to recover this image using a multispectral imaging technique.
We're gonna be using multispectral imaging, which is a process of photographing in 16 wavelengths, including UV and infrared.
The idea is to try to see what we can't see.
To bring out contrast between these pigments and the background, and try to complete what looks like some kind of pattern here.
All wavelengths of light fall into the electromagnetic spectrum.
The visible spectrum, which are eyes can detect, only makes up two percent a tiny sliver.
And just tighten those lasers down.
So I'll tighten the laser down.
Use of infrared and UV lights can allow cameras to capture red, green, and blue pigments that have degraded beyond what the eye can see, perhaps allowing us to uncover new clues about Atlantis.
This wall has never been analyzed in this way, so there is a strong possibility of making a discovery.
Sweet.
We got picture.
Okay.
We hope that with the multispectral technology, the pigment that we can't see will actually be visible in the image, and we'll have a more complete image of the pattern that used to be there.
Six twenty-five.
Okay, now we're at 700.
Oh, those are looking really beautiful.
To be able to find some definitive proof of an actual civilization where Atlantis might have existed that would be pretty incredible.
See this pattern of three? It looks like shark's teeth.
That's the weirdest thing.
I feel really excited that we might see something that maybe no one's ever discovered before.
Look at it now.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
using sophisticated digital imaging technolo, and then analyzing the data overnight, Greg and Ken believe they've found something What? that could alter the way we look at history and Atlantis forever.
We did some imaging, and these are preliminary results.
Ken can describe our basic findings.
One of the things that we did was to combine those colors together into a very accurate representation of the color that you see on the wall, and then overlay on that the various bands Mm-hmm with various kinds of information in them.
And one of the things we see is that you see hints of black Mm-hmm.
that's kind of obscured by this white stuff.
Mm-hmm.
Well, what we discovered is that the infrared light penetrates this white stuff on top and clearly reveals the dark pigments underneath.
Oh, yeah.
We're just on the verge of beginning to separate the different layers.
Right.
Do you have any indication at all what type of hieroglyphics we're looking at? I don't think it's hieroglyphics.
I think it's an alphabet.
An actual alphabet.
I think it's an alphabet.
What would that mean? Well, there's been no writing discovered so far in this ancient culture, so if they actually found writing, that's huge.
Wow.
To this day, historians still don't know much about the Nuraghe civilization who used these grave sites.
But we know, from Plato's account, that the Atlantean population was highly advanced.
What we really want to figure out is how complex these pigments are.
If it is a complex black pigment which isn't soot, then it's not traditionally Neolithic.
This is something quite more sophisticated.
So this is an indication that this was a more advanced civilization? Yes.
If it is writing, absolutely.
And confirmation that these writings are an ancient, undiscovered alphabet might just prove that the heart of Atlantis was once here on the island of Sardinia.
So, then, we've really found something in our search.
Yes.
The big question is if we can have it deciphered.
We won't have any definitive proof until Greg and Ken crunch more data.
In the meantime, Robert and I will continue our quest to uncover the real location of Atlantis anywhere we can find it, and by any means necessary.
Now, there's one more really important cave I wanna show to you.
Great.
It's incredible.
In the spirit of adventure.
All right.
Let's do it.
I'll follow you.
All right.
Proper cave down there, huh? Yeah.
We're gonna Is this also a tomb? Uh-huh.
This is a tomb also, yes.
There's some things I need to show you in here.
Okay.
But we're gonna have to crawl down in there to see them.
As I stare down this dark portal to the past, I'm struck by all the explorers who have come before me in this elusive quest to find Atlantis.
So I gotta go down.
You do.
All right.
Let's do it.
All right.
Will this ancient abyss bring me closer to proving Atlantis was real once and for all? And where else might this epic journey lead me?