TryShadowing
Shadow YouTube. Speak English.
Home
Browse
Dictation
NEW
My Library
en
0
days
Sign in
Secret Sunken Cities (Ful… — National Geographic shadowing | TryShadowing
TryShadowing
Shadow YouTube. Speak English.
Home
Browse
Dictation
NEW
My Library
en
0
days
Sign in
Home
Browse
National Geographic
Secret Sunken Cities (Full Episode) | Drain the Oceans Compilations | National Geographic
Secret Sunken Cities (Full Episode) | Drain the Oceans Compilations | National Geographic
National Geographic
·
44:24 · May 17, 2026
Start Shadowing
0:00
0:00
Record
×1
1x
VI
EN
JA
KO
ZH
FR
PT
TH
IT
DE
IPA
Pronunciation scoring isn't supported on this browser — you can still record and listen back.
Lost
civilizations.
Mysterious
sunken
cities.
Translating…
Turn on Record to capture your voice and get scored
Smart
Karaoke
Original
Line
1
/792
0:01
Lost civilizations. Mysterious sunken cities.
0:07
And legendary Atlantis itself.
0:16
Vanished beneath the waves.
0:19
>> There is a huge
0:20
amount of unrecorded human history
0:23
beneath the ocean surface
0:25
that we don't know very much about at
0:28
>> Are these just rocks?
0:30
Or the remains of an ancient
0:33
>> Parts of this are just beginning to be revealed for the first time.
0:39
>> Can scientists solve the mystery
0:41
of Alexandria's lighthouse and recreate
0:44
one of the ancient
0:46
wonders of the world?
0:49
And is the real
0:50
site of Atlantis finally
0:52
about to be revealed?
0:54
>> People want to believe in places like Atlantis.
0:56
They want to believe in other
1:21
>> Stories of sunken cities
1:24
have fascinated for millennia.
1:30
The most tantalizing of all.
1:43
First described by ancient philosopher Plato.
1:49
A dazzling civilization destroyed
1:52
by the gods as punishment for human pride.
2:06
>> People connect to that story,
2:08
and it's because of this idea
2:09
of an ancient civilization,
2:11
a utopia, that we've evolved from.
2:15
>> 2,000 years later, the idea
2:17
of Atlantis continues to fascinate
2:20
A-list and the producers of B-list movies.
2:26
>> Atlantis is the story of those who, like today,
2:29
would use the marvels of science
2:31
to conquer and enslave.
2:33
Atlantis, a world that worshipped strange gods of science,
2:37
a science gone berserk
2:39
in >> Plato would have loved this, okay?
2:40
He would have had a great time.
2:41
He would have said, "At last,
2:43
you know, people are listening to me.
2:44
People are taking my story seriously."
2:46
And he would have He would have enjoyed this immensely.
2:49
>> Using science, not science fiction,
2:52
draining the oceans exposes
2:54
new evidence about Atlantis
2:56
and other stories of great sunken cities around the world.
3:03
As the waters around Greece drain away,
3:06
an extraordinary underwater vista is
3:11
Could these patterns on the seafloor
3:13
be remnants of an ancient city?
3:21
The village of Elafonisos
3:23
sits on a small
3:24
island just off the Greek coast.
3:32
At first glance, an ordinary
3:34
fishing But in 1967,
3:39
less than 100 yards out to sea,
3:41
something attracts the attention
3:43
of a visiting maritime archaeologist.
3:47
Snorkeling in 13 feet of water,
3:50
Nicholas Fleming catches a glimpse
3:52
of regular shapes on the seafloor.
3:58
Then, exploring deeper, he sees what he thinks
4:01
is evidence of human activity.
4:04
>> I looked at these rows of stones,
4:07
and I I just had no idea what it was, but I realized
4:10
immediately uh that it was man-made,
4:13
that we were looking at a large part of a town,
4:16
and I mean, I would just went crazy.
4:19
>> Fleming is convinced he has found something special.
4:23
But, could these simply be natural
4:25
formations mimicking human structures?
4:29
The following year, Fleming returns
4:31
with a team of surveyors
4:33
to discover the truth.
4:37
Using tape measures, they document what they find.
4:41
And the results are astonishing.
4:45
The site is strewn
4:46
with signs of human
4:50
Pots, storage vessels, and tools
4:52
lie across a huge
4:54
area of the seabed.
4:56
There can be no doubt.
4:58
Fleming has discovered the remains
5:00
of an ancient town.
5:03
It's named Pavlopetri after a nearby
5:08
But, who built it? And when? >> Okay. Check all that.
5:13
>> These questions inspire a generation
5:15
of >> Well, I've always been interested
5:18
in submerged settlements, and
5:20
submerged towns, and I read about Pavlopetri
5:23
as a boy, and this idea
5:24
of a an intact
5:26
prehistoric town underwater just seemed, you know, incredibly romantic, incredibly exciting.
5:39
>> Henderson can now fulfill
5:40
a childhood dream and explore
5:43
this haunted underwater world for himself.
5:47
>> And here we have a a quern stone.
5:49
Now, you can see it's got a very concave
5:52
concave surface there, and that's for
5:55
grinding whatever it was that you were turning into, you know, flour.
6:00
That's quite clear after fact.
6:01
Very There is a huge amphora.
6:12
One amphora, two amphora, four, five.
6:18
This gives you a real example
6:19
of what's coming out of the sand, what's eroding out of the sand.
6:21
Look, that's the base of an amphora.
6:24
There's the amphora shape there.
6:25
It's on its side.
6:27
There's another one next to it, and another one there.
6:33
>> And further into the bay,
6:35
more evidence of human life and death.
6:40
>> So, here's a cist grave. Edge-set slabs.
6:46
A very small one,
6:48
possibly for a baby.
6:51
There are about 40 of these on the site.
6:58
>> Diving gives intriguing glimpses
7:00
of objects lying upon the seabed.
7:04
But, it's impossible to gain a complete
7:11
To do this, it must be mapped with the latest
7:14
in underwater scanning Using this data,
7:30
it's now possible to drain away the waters above Pavlopetri
7:36
and bring sunlight back to a forgotten
7:40
and a true sunken city.
7:49
With the entire bay drained away, everything becomes clear.
7:58
The lines are the foundations
8:00
of buildings laid out in clear streets.
8:06
At the heart of the town is a large
8:08
open perhaps an ancient marketplace.
8:16
And nearby, the remnants
8:19
of a huge structure,
8:20
perhaps an important civic
8:26
The remains cover 20 acres,
8:28
and the town could have housed 4,000 people.
8:33
A thriving ancient settlement once existed here.
8:39
The next challenge is to discover
8:42
who built it and when.
8:47
>> We know how old the occupation
8:49
of the site is because we've got pottery.
8:52
And and pottery particularly in this part of the world is very well dated.
8:56
What was really exciting is we actually found evidence of pottery from the end
8:59
of the Stone Age.
9:02
So, we've actually got occupation
9:03
here from about 5,500 years ago.
9:06
And then we've got every single bit of pottery you would expect after about 1,100 BC.
9:10
There's no gaps in that.
9:11
So, the place seems to have been continuously
9:13
occupied throughout the Bronze Age.
9:17
>> Pavlopetri was occupied for 2,400
9:21
years during a revolutionary
9:23
period of human At its peak
9:28
in the Bronze Age, around 1,700
9:30
BC, it looked like this.
9:33
A perfect example of the time when Europeans
9:36
start to live in stone-built
9:38
towns with regular laid-out streets.
9:43
But, one question remains.
9:46
Why did the builders
9:47
of this town choose this particular
9:49
location in a remote
9:51
part of ancient Greece?
9:55
Exploring the drained landscape
9:57
around the ancient city
9:59
reveals an all-important clue.
10:03
At its edge, a huge
10:05
sandbank stretches out into the ocean.
10:08
During the Bronze Age,
10:10
people don't build ports out of stone.
10:13
They bring ships up to the shore
10:15
and then beach them.
10:18
And Pavlopetri's location means it can exploit
10:21
the trade routes that boom during the Bronze Age across
10:25
the Evidence of early commercial activity is everywhere.
10:34
>> The interesting thing is you've clearly got a lot of material coming in.
10:37
We've found thousands and thousands of shards of very large
10:39
storage vessel, which have been used here for storing
10:42
um olive oil, wine,
10:44
that kind of thing. And generally anything.
10:45
They were like the containers of the day.
10:48
>> And that's not all.
10:50
Pavlopetri is also a hub
10:52
for >> We've got a lot of evidence for
10:56
um loom Thousands of loom weights, way more than you would need for domestic production.
11:01
So, it seems like maybe
11:02
textiles were something that were being produced on the site and perhaps exported.
11:07
>> Pavlopetri is an extraordinary,
11:09
bustling, vibrant port city.
11:12
And an important center of trade.
11:15
So, how did such an advanced
11:17
metropolis meet its end?
11:26
An ancient submerged city
11:28
off the coast of Greece.
11:31
How it came to lie on the seafloor
11:33
is a >> One of the interesting things about Pavlopetri
11:36
and its submergence is there's actually no historical
11:39
references to it at all.
11:40
It sunk into the waves and then it was out of sight, out of mind.
11:43
And there's certainly no classical
11:44
sources that refer to its sinking
11:46
and there's nothing until its discovery
11:48
really in the 20th century.
11:52
>> Scanning the drained bay
11:55
could reveal what happened to Pavlopetri.
12:00
At the edge of the town,
12:01
it's possible to make out three mysterious lines.
12:07
These are strips of beach rock
12:09
formed by the action of sunlight on salt water.
12:13
They form only near the shoreline.
12:17
It can mean only one thing.
12:19
Earthquakes caused this land to subside into the sea.
12:24
>> So, there was a big earthquake.
12:26
Perhaps parts part of the remains went under the water and part of them
12:28
is still surviving then there was another earthquake it was pushed under then there
12:31
was a third and it was gone.
12:36
>> Pavlopetri is one of the most important
12:38
Bronze Age sites in the world.
12:41
And the oldest submerged town ever discovered.
12:47
But it's not alone.
12:59
>> A lot of the major finds
13:00
in the next couple of decades are going to come from the sea.
13:03
I think we have the potential
13:04
to to to rewrite
13:06
what we know about human history.
13:08
>> 2,000 years ago, Rome has grown far beyond its Italian homeland.
13:15
Its legions control a vast
13:17
area from North Africa to Northern Europe.
13:21
From Spain to the Black Sea.
13:24
And the Roman navy
13:26
dominates the from its port
13:29
next to the city of Baiae
13:32
in the shadow of mighty Vesuvius.
13:37
Baiae earns a reputation
13:40
as the sin city of ancient Rome.
13:43
It's famous for debauchery and excess.
13:49
But what really went on
13:51
in this seaside party town?
13:54
And why does so much of it lie abandoned beneath the waves?
14:04
John Henderson is exploring
14:07
the secrets of this sunken city.
14:12
Starting with the huge
14:13
harbor walls that once surrounded the city's port.
14:19
>> These are built by the Romans.
14:22
They were incredible engineers.
14:25
You can still see the artificial
14:26
construction of this very clearly.
14:29
You can see the brickwork,
14:30
overlapping >> Beyond the port walls
14:40
lie magnificent villas where Roman emperors
14:44
host lavish >> Look at this.
14:48
This is a mosaic
14:50
floor of one of the
14:53
Looks like it was just done yesterday. It's phenomenal. Absolutely amazing.
15:03
This is called an infiam.
15:06
It's actually an elaborate
15:07
dining room for the Emperor Claudius.
15:09
You can imagine people eating food surrounded
15:12
by these water nymphs.
15:14
It was built to entertain
15:15
the emperor's most honored
15:21
>> Well, one of the things I'm interested in is actually the scale of the site.
15:24
Much of the focus has been on the resort
15:26
area of Baiae itself,
15:28
but on the margins of the site, there are constantly
15:30
new areas coming up.
15:36
>> It's It's loaded down.
15:42
There's a lot down there.
15:46
>> So, why did the Romans
15:47
lavish so much wealth
15:49
on building a pleasure
15:51
city >> The Romans came to Baiae because of the lovely maritime climate
15:57
and the thermal But, Baiae was also a very important port.
16:02
It's a natural port.
16:03
It's one of the best ports
16:05
on the western coast of Italy at the time.
16:08
>> Wealth brought pleasure and excess
16:11
to this Las Vegas
16:12
of the Roman world.
16:15
>> There were parties, there was drinking,
16:17
it was a place to get prostitutes.
16:19
Writers at the time
16:21
referred to it as a harbor of vice
16:23
or a a vortex of luxury.
16:26
>> The famous Roman philosopher,
16:28
Seneca, is appalled by what he finds.
16:32
Baiae is a place to be avoided.
16:36
People wandering drunk along the beach,
16:39
the riotous reveling of sailing parties,
16:43
the lakes noisy with singing.
16:47
>> But, time is running out
16:49
for this party Gradually,
16:53
many of its most impressive
16:55
public buildings and private villas
16:58
are lost beneath the waves. What happened?
17:07
Based on detailed sonar scanning,
17:09
draining away the Mediterranean
17:11
begins to reveal the real story
17:14
of the rise and fall of Baiae.
17:19
It exposes just how much of the city fell under the waves.
17:25
acres of streets, shops,
17:28
warehouses, and luxury villas.
17:33
Draining beyond the town uncovers
17:35
the An extraordinary landscape
17:40
shaped by powerful underground forces.
17:44
The whole town sits inside
17:48
the shallow crater of a giant volcano.
17:54
>> You hear about Naples, people talk about Vesuvius.
17:56
They don't seem to realize that the whole western Bay of Naples itself
17:59
is a massive volcano.
18:02
We're actually standing in a volcano now.
18:06
>> The people of Baiae
18:08
may not understand the unpredictable
18:10
forces stirring beneath them.
18:14
>> And we know we're sat on a volcano.
18:17
But it's not your normal volcano.
18:19
It's this much larger
18:21
and much more complex volcanic system.
18:25
>> There is remarkable evidence
18:26
of its restless power 3 miles away
18:29
across the bay in the Temple of Serapis.
18:36
>> It's really when you get into the Roman ruins that you can see what's going on.
18:40
You have to look closely, though.
18:41
If you look up at the column behind me,
18:43
you'll see in the middle part it's got this strange texture to it.
18:47
Lots and lots of holes in it.
18:49
There's even bits of shell on this.
18:51
This is a stone-boring marine mollusk.
18:54
That tells me that this stuff has been under the sea.
18:59
>> Can draining the waters of the bay
19:01
even further explain why the Romans lost their sin city?
19:15
once a major Roman port,
19:18
lies half submerged amid a volcanic landscape.
19:27
John Henderson has been exploring
19:29
the area beneath the waves,
19:33
and he finds a telltale
19:35
sign of the power at work here.
19:38
>> So, we've got all these bubbles are coming up from the ground.
19:42
All this hot air
19:44
coming up from the seabed.
19:48
You really get a sense here of the power that's underneath
19:52
waiting to burst out.
19:55
Hot water piling out of the ground under the sea.
20:01
I've never seen anything like this.
20:04
>> These underwater vents are superheated
20:07
by molten rock from the volcano below.
20:10
Evidence that the forces
20:12
stirring under Baia are highly active.
20:16
Locals call the area
20:18
Campi Flegrei, the fields of fire.
20:22
Now, for the first time,
20:25
draining the water from the entire
20:27
bay exposes an extraordinary sight.
20:32
24 separate volcanoes nesting
20:36
inside the It spans
20:40
an incredible 38 square miles.
20:46
But geologists here have been mapping deep inside the earth itself.
20:52
Now, draining not only the
20:55
but looking deep into the layers
20:57
of rock below it,
20:59
reveals a fantastical sight.
21:03
Giant cauldrons of superheated
21:05
molten rock known as magma
21:08
chambers, that slowly empty
21:10
and fill over centuries.
21:13
Evidence that this huge
21:15
volcanic system is still very much alive.
21:21
>> Basically, you've got magma chambers sitting
21:23
under the sea, which operate almost like bellows.
21:25
When they fill full of lava, the ground goes up.
21:28
And then when they empty again, the ground goes down.
21:30
And this process is going on
21:33
>> It's as if the land within
21:35
the Campi Flegrei crater itself is breathing.
21:44
The damage caused by these breathing
21:46
chambers of magma coincides
21:49
with the decline of the Roman Empire.
21:53
As part of the city slides
21:54
beneath the Mediterranean, the population
21:57
shrinks and the parties
22:01
Sin City is no more.
22:08
Centuries before the Roman Empire,
22:11
a great civilization dominates
22:13
part of the Mediterranean, ancient Egypt.
22:17
It lasts for 3,000 years.
22:21
Its people develop a remarkable
22:23
written language using pictures
22:25
and They worship strange gods.
22:33
And they build two of the seven
22:35
wonders of the ancient world.
22:40
The first, the Great Pyramids of Giza.
22:44
>> Um the the ancients
22:46
um determined the seven wonders
22:49
because they met certain criteria.
22:51
It is the ingenuity
22:53
of the but it had to be built
22:56
on a super colossal, over-the-top scale.
22:59
>> The Egyptians' second ancient wonder
23:02
is the lighthouse of Alexandria,
23:04
known as the Pharos.
23:06
It is built on a grand
23:08
scale like the other wonders,
23:10
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
23:12
and the Colossus of Rhodes.
23:16
Of the seven wonders,
23:18
only the pyramids now survive.
23:24
But as the waters of the Nile Delta drain
23:27
away, can the architectural
23:30
marvel Pharos be brought back to life
23:34
from the seas around Alexandria
23:36
Harbor and recreated accurately
23:39
for the first time,
23:41
a site that once dazzled
23:43
the >> The Pharos ranked as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
23:47
because it was something that had never been seen
23:52
>> Built in the 3rd century BC,
23:55
Alexandria's lighthouse is a technological
23:58
and architectural Egypt's new rulers
24:03
want the Pharos to send a big and simple message.
24:09
>> They wanted to show
24:11
how powerful is the city.
24:13
So, you need a sign,
24:15
a big, a huge
24:16
banner that says welcome to Alexandria.
24:19
The Pharos was created
24:20
mainly as a >> But once Egypt's power has faded,
24:28
>> Alexandria's famous lighthouse falls into disrepair.
24:33
The land beneath it slowly subsides
24:35
into the sea, and in the 14th
24:37
century, it finally collapses
24:39
after it's struck by an earthquake.
24:42
The Pharos is thought to be lost here
24:45
beneath 20 ft of water
24:47
at the entrance of Alexandria Harbor.
24:50
Can science help rediscover
24:52
this sunken >> A French team of archaeologists
25:03
is trying to rediscover
25:05
the Pharos true Using the latest undersea
25:10
imaging technology, they're scouring
25:12
the seabed for clues.
25:14
Their aim is to digitally
25:16
rebuild this lost ancient wonder of the world
25:20
for the first time.
25:22
Leading the investigation is architect
25:25
and archaeologist Isabelle Isabelle's
25:30
task is to unlock
25:31
the true dimensions and design
25:34
of the But her job is made harder
25:41
by the wildly conflicting
25:42
accounts of what it actually looked like.
25:46
>> We came across this quite extraordinary
25:48
images of the lighthouse.
25:50
>> Different impressions from past
25:52
travelers and artists shroud
25:54
the true appearance of the lighthouse in mystery.
25:59
>> It's depicted here as the Tower of
26:02
Here, a very classical
26:04
building with floors one above the other,
26:06
with doors opening into mysterious rooms.
26:11
>> Where does the truth lie?
26:17
Will the underwater granite blocks provide answers?
26:23
To find out, Isabelle's
26:25
team uses a technique called photogrammetry.
26:29
Capturing thousands of detailed
26:31
images across the enormous site.
26:34
>> You have a closer
26:35
view here on the map.
26:37
Ah, this is block 1003.
26:40
>> Do you do you think we can go further?
26:41
We can go more on the north?
26:44
>> After 28 weeks of diving
26:47
and with 50,000 photographs,
26:49
Isabelle has the data she needs
26:52
to finally unlock the secrets of the Pharos.
26:59
Combining this unique data with cutting-edge
27:01
computer graphics means that for the first time
27:05
the waters around Alexandria
27:07
harbor can be drained away.
27:13
As the Mediterranean begins to empty,
27:16
surprising shapes come into view.
27:22
Nearly 3,000 granite blocks
27:25
scattered across 3 acres of the seabed.
27:30
These are not natural
27:32
rock formations, but clearly
27:34
the work of human hands.
27:37
Statue bases, chunks of pillars,
27:41
all from a building of monumental proportions.
27:44
The drowned ruins of a genuine ancient wonder.
27:49
The Pharos lighthouse brought back into the light of day
27:54
for the first time in 600 years.
27:59
Already Isabelle's work has delivered one revelation.
28:04
Some of the blocks from the drained landscape
28:06
are a crucial clue to the shape of the Pharos.
28:11
>> Draining the site has enabled us to see the lighthouse.
28:14
We've even found blocks that might have formed the cornerstones,
28:18
but no blocks found underwater
28:19
indicated the wall sloped.
28:22
The walls were straight.
28:25
>> This is the first
28:26
physical proof of the lighthouse's
28:28
design, a huge advance
28:30
on all previous knowledge.
28:33
But piecing together the rest of the underwater
28:35
jigsaw remains an enormous
28:39
>> What you have here is a puzzle.
28:40
Basically, it's a 3,000
28:42
pieces puzzle that you have to try to fit things together.
28:46
And will it fit or would it not fit?
28:49
>> And what's more, some crucial parts of the puzzle are missing,
28:53
taken to museums by previous
28:59
But one important piece lies nearby,
29:02
abandoned on the quayside.
29:07
>> This was probably the greatest
29:09
discovery found on the site.
29:13
>> But what is it?
29:16
>> So here, we have a side part of a door frame.
29:20
We know because this is the place where the door would have been fixed.
29:25
>> This groove is carefully
29:26
carved as the frame for a gigantic door.
29:31
And incredibly, Isabel can match the frame's distinctive
29:35
shape to other stones lying underwater.
29:40
They must all be pieces
29:41
from the same >> By joining this huge
29:48
fragment almost 12 m long together with all the other fragments,
29:52
we can reconstruct the door.
29:54
It's one of the most important
29:56
pieces of this site.
29:58
>> Now, for the first time,
30:00
it's possible to recreate
30:02
the door to the pharaohs,
30:04
the entrance to a wonder
30:06
of the ancient >> So now we are able to connect with the
30:11
lintel and the upright are perfect. That's great.
30:17
>> The drained site reveals the lost fragments
30:20
of the giant door frame.
30:23
Using the scanned images of the seabed,
30:25
its huge blocks come into view.
30:30
Computer graphic technology reverses
30:33
the The pieces of the door frame fit together perfectly.
30:40
And within the granite frame,
30:42
a vast wooden door was once fastened.
30:47
All of it reaching 41
30:49
ft high and weighing more than 200 tons.
30:55
The Pharos entrance is restored
30:58
in the place where it fell.
31:01
A monumental piece of architecture
31:04
dwarfing anyone who enters.
31:08
For the first time
31:09
a part of Alexandria's
31:11
lighthouse is accurately But what does the rest of the Pharos look like?
31:18
And does it truly deserve
31:20
its title as a wonder
31:22
of the ancient >> Archaeologist
31:33
Isabelle Harry continues to search for the truth
31:36
about the Pharos Historical
31:42
reports >> are conflicting, but most
31:45
agree on one thing.
31:47
That the Pharos has three distinct
31:49
levels each shaped differently.
31:55
Isabelle heads to the place where the lighthouse
31:57
is thought to have stood.
31:59
Now the site of another grand Qaitbay Fort.
32:04
Built in 1477 just 42
32:07
years after the ruins of the Pharos
32:10
are last reported visible.
32:13
Inside an intriguing clue.
32:18
Isabelle believes that it's mosque
32:20
is a small-scale replica of the Pharos.
32:26
>> You really get the impression
32:27
of being in the ancient lighthouse
32:29
even though the scale isn't the same,
32:31
but there's this sense of space
32:33
still present which we can feel all around us.
32:38
>> The main tower is square.
32:40
Above, it's topped by an octagonal
32:43
and then a circular section.
32:45
Isabelle's theory is that the mosque's
32:47
architects intended this to be a tribute
32:50
to Alexandria's most famous building.
32:53
So, is the Pharos shaped like this?
32:59
To solve this mystery,
33:00
Isabelle needs to compare her 3D
33:03
data with historical reports
33:05
and discover the true scale of the Pharos.
33:10
Some dimensions were recorded by medieval travelers.
33:15
In 1166, Al-Balawi from Spain
33:19
penned a precise description
33:21
of the lighthouse, reporting
33:22
it to be 300 cubits high.
33:27
Over a century later,
33:28
Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta
33:31
recorded the thickness of the Pharos walls as 10 spans.
33:37
The problem is, these units are lost to Until now.
33:48
The breakthrough comes from the Pharos reconstructed door frame.
33:52
Its outside edge reveals
33:54
the exact thickness of the lighthouse's
33:57
exterior The dimension also recorded
34:01
by Ibn Battuta centuries earlier.
34:06
His 10 spans is equal to 6 ft 10
34:13
>> It's a discovery that's incredibly rewarding.
34:16
We are now able to decipher
34:17
the text of Ibn Battuta
34:19
and the text of Al-Balawi.
34:24
>> It's a huge leap forward.
34:28
Converting medieval units into accurate
34:31
modern measurement unlocks the true scale
34:34
of the Pharos for the first time.
34:38
Combining all the underwater
34:40
evidence with Al Balawi's
34:42
descriptions solves a centuries-old
34:44
puzzle, revealing three towers
34:47
that match the design of the mosque,
34:50
making it possible to reconstruct
34:52
a lost ancient wonder in exact detail.
34:59
Statues from Alexandria's museums
35:01
return to their original homes.
35:05
Believed to be clad in limestone,
35:07
the Pharos reaches almost 330
35:10
ft into the the size of a 32-story building.
35:15
It's one of the tallest
35:16
structures in the ancient world.
35:22
>> And all of it is thought to be crowned
35:24
by a wonder of ancient technology,
35:27
fires and iron mirrors reflecting
35:30
the light and the glory of Egypt
35:33
to the world beyond.
35:36
>> It could have looked like the first skyscrapers
35:38
built in Chicago at the end of the 19th century.
35:42
It's really a fabulous structure.
35:49
>> The ancients determined the seven wonders
35:52
because they met certain criterias.
35:55
And so, the Pharos
35:56
satisfies all of those ancient criteria
35:59
of innovative design that was actually built,
36:02
that was actually towering.
36:06
>> Alexandria is an extraordinary
36:08
site, but it is not the legendary Atlantis.
36:14
Various locations for Plato's
36:16
dazzling city have been proposed
36:19
around the world, but most academic
36:22
investigations point to one place, the Mediterranean.
36:28
As its waters continue
36:29
to drain away at its western
36:31
end, new and tantalizing evidence is revealed.
36:36
Could archaeologists finally have found
36:39
the site of Plato's famous lost city?
36:48
Mark Group is a geophysicist
36:50
long fascinated by Plato's story.
36:53
>> I do think that becoming interested in Atlantis
36:56
can be almost like a a bug
36:58
or an infection or or like gambling.
37:01
I think one can become obsessed.
37:05
>> Plato wrote about Atlantis
37:07
in 360 BC describing
37:10
an advanced metropolis 9,000
37:12
years before his own time
37:15
lost beneath the waves
37:17
in a cataclysmic event.
37:20
Mark Group has analyzed
37:22
Plato's searching for clues to its location.
37:26
>> This power came forth out of the Atlantic
37:29
Ocean from an island
37:30
situated in front of the straits which are by you called
37:34
the Pillars of Heracles.
37:38
>> The Pillars of Heracles
37:40
is the name given by Plato
37:41
to the maritime boundary
37:43
of the ancient Greek world.
37:46
Many locations have been suggested
37:48
but Mark believes he has the answer,
37:51
the Straits of Gibraltar.
37:54
>> So here at Cape Spartel
37:55
we're at the northern
37:57
edge of the Moroccan
37:59
Atlantic coast and just at the entrance
38:01
to the Straits of Gibraltar.
38:02
About 10 to 15 km off to the northwest
38:05
there's a submerged Some people have suggested
38:09
that it might have been inhabited
38:10
and it might have formed
38:11
the origin of the Atlantis
38:17
>> Today this area sits under the second
38:21
busiest shipping route in the world.
38:23
A difficult place for subsea
38:28
During a project to study rising
38:30
sea levels here, Mark gets his chance.
38:36
Using a remotely operated
38:37
vehicle or ROV, he sets out to map the seafloor. It's challenging work.
38:58
>> It was very difficult.
38:59
Both the towing of the camera was difficult,
39:02
keeping the ship in place was difficult,
39:04
and especially trying to keep the ROV
39:06
in place was really, really difficult.
39:12
>> Finally, Mark gets the sonar scanning
39:15
data that he needs.
39:22
Now, combining this information
39:25
with the latest computer
39:26
graphics, it's possible to drain away the seawater
39:30
from between the ancient
39:32
pillars of Heracles and attempt to solve
39:36
one of the greatest
39:37
archaeological mysteries of all time.
39:41
Soon, rocks begin to emerge.
39:44
And the unmistakable outline
39:46
of an island gradually appears.
39:50
Is this the site of Atlantis
39:52
exposed for the first time in 11,000 years?
39:58
Once again, important clues
40:00
lie in Plato's own writing.
40:03
>> Plato says that the city
40:05
and all of its warlike
40:06
men were destroyed in
40:08
one day and night
40:10
of terrible misfortune caused by
40:13
strong earthquakes and floods.
40:18
The island revealed by draining
40:20
the ocean sits on a subduction
40:23
zone, a boundary between the huge
40:26
tectonic plates that make up the Earth's surface,
40:30
the exact point where the biggest earthquakes strike.
40:35
A series of powerful
40:36
earthquakes and tsunamis could have obliterated
40:39
Atlantis and then sent the island on which it rests
40:43
down into the ocean depths.
40:46
>> You could imagine that during great earthquakes there might have been some subsidence.
40:50
So, if we were to take into account maybe
40:53
20 or 30 m of subsidence
40:56
due to those uh there might have been a somewhat larger island there.
41:02
>> The geology supports Plato's account
41:05
of the destruction of Atlantis.
41:08
But, one other piece of evidence must be present
41:11
for it actually to be Atlantis.
41:14
The remains of substantial man-made structures.
41:18
Using the drained landscape,
41:20
it's possible to study the island surface
41:23
in extraordinary three-dimensional detail.
41:27
Searching carefully for the remains
41:29
of walls, temples, bridges,
41:32
and anything constructed by human hands.
41:36
But, there are none.
41:37
Nowhere on this mysterious
41:39
island are there any lines
41:41
or geometric shapes which would indicate
41:44
the presence of a great ancient city.
41:47
>> Atlantis did not exist
41:49
in the tiny island of Spartel.
41:52
If it did exist,
41:53
traces of it have not yet been found.
41:58
>> However, the story of this submerged
42:00
island is not over yet.
42:03
There may be no trace
42:04
of a city built out of stone,
42:07
but evidence found on land
42:09
nearby suggests that during the Stone Age,
42:12
when sea levels were much lower,
42:15
people did live here
42:16
and in many other places just like it.
42:19
And during this period,
42:21
our human ancestors make some of the most important
42:24
breakthroughs of all time.
42:27
They learn how to farm,
42:28
keep domesticated animals, use sophisticated
42:32
tools, build wooden houses,
42:34
and begin to trade.
42:37
Then, the last ice age comes to an end.
42:46
Over the course of 15,000
42:49
years, sea levels rise by 400 ft.
42:53
And the territory of these early people
42:59
Their tools, homes, and weapons are washed away.
43:04
That elemental human story
43:06
may help explain the timeless
43:09
appeal of the Atlantis legend.
43:11
>> There are many, many stories
43:13
out there in the world that
43:15
recall times when land that was once inhabited was submerged.
43:20
Did that information inform
43:22
Plato's fiction about Atlantis?
43:25
>> I think there's no doubt
43:27
that almost every culture in the world has a flood myth,
43:30
a deluge story, because
43:32
we developed as a species
43:33
within this period of rising sea level.
43:35
So, that to me is so fundamental
43:38
to understanding ourselves as a species
43:40
that we should be looking into this.
43:43
>> Plato's story of Atlantis
43:46
is about human folly
43:48
and the destructive power of nature.
43:52
Monumental cities and wonders may be lost,
43:55
but the stories left behind
43:57
are an extraordinary reminder
43:59
of those who came before us.
44:02
And draining these waters
44:04
makes it possible to rewrite
Like
Share
National Geographic
View all →
B2
Nature
Karaoke
49:23
Alex Honnold Climbs a 4,000 Foot Sea Wall (Full Episode) | Arctic Ascent | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
2:12:33
Stanley Tucci's Savory Journey Through Italy | Tucci in Italy S1 MEGA Episode | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
43:29
Mob Betrayals from New York to Chicago (Full Episode) | Inside the American Mob Compilation
National Geographic
B2
Nature
2:12:20
Gordon Ramsay's American Food Adventure | America 250 Special | Uncharted MEGA Episode | Nat Geo
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
44:18
Who was Genghis Khan? (Full Episode) | Secret History of the Mongols | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
2:04
Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston | Official Trailer | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
2:56:28
New Discoveries Rewrite Maya History | Rise and Fall of the Maya MEGA Episode | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
2:12:22
Ancient Egypt’s Lost Secrets: Tutankhamun, Pyramids & Ramses | MEGA Episode | National Geographic
National Geographic
Suggested videos
B2
Nature
Karaoke
3:28
No One Has Ever Seen Tigers Do This Before | Tiger Island | BBC Earth
BBC Earth
1
B2
Nature
Karaoke
2:24
Piranhas Strip a Fish to the Bone | 20 Years of Planet Earth | BBC Earth
BBC Earth
B2
Nature
Karaoke
49:23
Alex Honnold Climbs a 4,000 Foot Sea Wall (Full Episode) | Arctic Ascent | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
4:15
David Attenborough at 100: A Special Birthday Message From King Charles III | BBC Earth
BBC Earth
B2
Nature
Karaoke
4:12
Attenborough's Extraordinary Gorilla Encounter | Making Life on Earth | BBC Earth
BBC Earth
B2
Nature
2:12:33
Stanley Tucci's Savory Journey Through Italy | Tucci in Italy S1 MEGA Episode | National Geographic
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
43:29
Mob Betrayals from New York to Chicago (Full Episode) | Inside the American Mob Compilation
National Geographic
B2
Nature
Karaoke
2:59:55
Unbelievable Moments From Nature - Narrated by David Attenborough | BBC Earth
BBC Earth
