1 00:00:06,473 --> 00:00:07,770 Ashes to ashes. 2 00:00:08,008 --> 00:00:09,873 Dust to dust. 3 00:00:11,444 --> 00:00:16,438 Death always gets the final word - no matter how we mock it. 4 00:00:25,458 --> 00:00:30,122 Sworn to eternal silence, the Dead seem beyond our reach. 5 00:00:33,199 --> 00:00:36,532 Yet to some scientists, they speak volumes. 6 00:00:38,071 --> 00:00:41,404 "When I look at a mummy, I'm looking at an encyclopedia." 7 00:00:43,376 --> 00:00:45,537 Through the lens of modern science, 8 00:00:45,779 --> 00:00:49,112 the grave has become a window on the past. 9 00:00:50,016 --> 00:00:52,109 Today we can learn intimate details 10 00:00:52,352 --> 00:00:56,152 about how the Ancients lived- and how they died. 11 00:00:56,389 --> 00:00:58,949 "...that's really, that's, that's really a common way that they did it - 12 00:00:59,192 --> 00:01:01,319 the strangulation or blows to the head..." 13 00:01:01,561 --> 00:01:07,397 Bit by bit, their portraits emerge from flesh, bone, and DNA. 14 00:01:10,236 --> 00:01:14,229 "Bringing the people back to life, I think that that's the fun part of it." 15 00:01:20,713 --> 00:01:25,741 The unearthing of the past reveals the tangled roots of our family tree. 16 00:01:26,753 --> 00:01:30,348 But some see only the desecration of their ancestors. 17 00:01:31,524 --> 00:01:35,153 "They must be put back into the bosom of sacred Mother Earth." 18 00:01:36,463 --> 00:01:40,593 As the Living defend the Dead, battle lines are drawn. 19 00:01:45,205 --> 00:01:50,666 In truth, those who passed here long ago still dwell among us. 20 00:01:52,245 --> 00:01:56,614 From fragile remains, their life stories unfold. 21 00:01:57,117 --> 00:02:01,019 And as we hear them, they become a part of us all. 22 00:02:04,190 --> 00:02:07,853 Listen now to the voices of the Dead. 23 00:02:50,803 --> 00:02:56,298 This is the driest place on earth: The Atacama Desert in Chile. 24 00:02:59,145 --> 00:03:03,548 Life has found a foothold here: Not in the blazing sands, 25 00:03:03,783 --> 00:03:05,307 but in the slender river valleys 26 00:03:05,552 --> 00:03:08,783 that stretch across the desert from the Andes to the sea. 27 00:03:11,724 --> 00:03:15,319 The city of Arica stands where two rivers meet the Pacific Ocean. 28 00:03:18,698 --> 00:03:21,565 Countless generations of fishermen have thrived here, 29 00:03:21,801 --> 00:03:24,395 and many families have deep roots. 30 00:03:27,140 --> 00:03:28,198 Whenever ground is broken, 31 00:03:28,441 --> 00:03:31,274 there's a good chance these roots may come to light. 32 00:03:41,187 --> 00:03:45,453 The city's arid soil has yielded several ancient burials, 33 00:03:45,692 --> 00:03:49,594 to the delight of scientists from the local university. 34 00:03:49,829 --> 00:03:52,821 But physical anthropologist Bernardo Arriaza, 35 00:03:53,066 --> 00:03:56,763 now with the University of Nevada, will never forget a visit 36 00:03:57,003 --> 00:04:01,133 to a site where the water company was digging trenches. 37 00:04:01,808 --> 00:04:05,005 I remembered in 1983, it was a quiet day 38 00:04:05,245 --> 00:04:07,577 when the water company called us. 39 00:04:07,814 --> 00:04:09,714 They said they had found something unusual, 40 00:04:09,949 --> 00:04:12,782 so that really caught our interest. 41 00:04:14,053 --> 00:04:16,613 "And we get called all the time, 42 00:04:16,856 --> 00:04:18,221 and you never know what you're going to find, 43 00:04:18,458 --> 00:04:20,221 so that's also the exciting part of going. 44 00:04:20,460 --> 00:04:21,893 You don't know what it's going to be. 45 00:04:22,128 --> 00:04:24,528 And this time it was quite incredible, actually." 46 00:04:29,168 --> 00:04:32,899 The shovels had exposed a plot of nearly a hundred mummies. 47 00:04:33,139 --> 00:04:36,404 Some would be dated to 7,000 years ago- 48 00:04:36,643 --> 00:04:40,943 2,000 years older than the mummies of ancient Egypt. 49 00:04:42,448 --> 00:04:45,906 Eerie masks were sculpted over their faces. 50 00:04:47,754 --> 00:04:50,279 Wigs were glued directly to their skulls. 51 00:04:52,692 --> 00:04:55,126 Bodies were completely made over- 52 00:04:55,361 --> 00:04:59,798 paste and paint on the outside, grasses and earth within. 53 00:05:02,402 --> 00:05:05,303 Men, women and children were mummified. 54 00:05:05,538 --> 00:05:08,336 Even this eight inch long fetus. 55 00:05:12,545 --> 00:05:16,777 These elaborate mummies were created by a people called the Chinchorro. 56 00:05:19,752 --> 00:05:22,050 They lived along the coast in simple huts, 57 00:05:22,388 --> 00:05:27,121 and left little behind- no monuments, no written texts. 58 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:29,653 But from their bones and artifacts, 59 00:05:29,896 --> 00:05:33,229 Arriaza has compiled a profile of their lifestyle. 60 00:05:36,436 --> 00:05:38,631 "The Chinchorro people were fishermen. 61 00:05:38,871 --> 00:05:43,308 They fished from the rocks with fish hooks made of shells. 62 00:05:43,543 --> 00:05:47,843 They also collected shellfish and hunted sea lions with harpoons. 63 00:05:48,081 --> 00:05:53,246 And they wove beautiful nets to gather their food. 64 00:05:53,553 --> 00:05:57,182 Their clothing and ornaments were minimal. 65 00:05:57,423 --> 00:06:01,826 All their emphasis went into mummifying the dead" 66 00:06:06,099 --> 00:06:08,590 Why would a simple people transform their dead 67 00:06:08,835 --> 00:06:11,099 into such elaborate creations? 68 00:06:11,337 --> 00:06:13,305 Arriaza has a theory. 69 00:06:13,539 --> 00:06:14,972 "Someone is being mummified, 70 00:06:15,208 --> 00:06:18,143 it's a lot of energy investment, it's a lot of caring. 71 00:06:18,378 --> 00:06:20,778 Even the fetuses are fascinating. 72 00:06:21,013 --> 00:06:25,040 Why? Because they have long hair, they have the mouth open. 73 00:06:25,284 --> 00:06:27,047 That's conveying life. 74 00:06:27,286 --> 00:06:30,517 "We tend to see our dead as someone that's farther away. 75 00:06:30,757 --> 00:06:33,248 We don't want to see the dead with open eyes- 76 00:06:33,493 --> 00:06:35,984 no, you think, wow, that would scare me. 77 00:06:36,229 --> 00:06:38,493 You want to see the dead completely dead. 78 00:06:38,731 --> 00:06:39,698 In the case of the Chinchorro, 79 00:06:39,932 --> 00:06:41,695 they're seeing the dead as part of the living." 80 00:06:42,802 --> 00:06:47,739 Virtual works of art, their mummies were not intended for the grave. 81 00:06:48,775 --> 00:06:52,438 They played an important role in the very heart of the community. 82 00:07:00,186 --> 00:07:04,816 The mummy was an honored emissary who moved between this world and the next- 83 00:07:05,124 --> 00:07:09,561 sending word to the ancestors, interceding before the gods. 84 00:07:15,001 --> 00:07:18,767 The people rendered thanks with songs and offerings. 85 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:23,968 Mummification helped ease the loss of a loved one, 86 00:07:24,210 --> 00:07:26,804 and strengthened bonds between the living. 87 00:07:27,180 --> 00:07:29,740 It made the community whole again. 88 00:07:39,659 --> 00:07:44,892 Such rituals may have quelled the awful fear of what lies beyond death- 89 00:07:45,231 --> 00:07:49,031 no less a mystery 7,000 years ago than today. 90 00:07:55,508 --> 00:07:58,306 One of the earliest expressions of the human spirit, 91 00:07:58,544 --> 00:08:02,480 death rites date back at least 100,000 years. 92 00:08:03,416 --> 00:08:06,180 Even the Neandertals buried one of their own 93 00:08:06,853 --> 00:08:08,946 beneath a blanket of flowers. 94 00:08:15,428 --> 00:08:17,828 Every culture on earth has evolved rituals 95 00:08:18,064 --> 00:08:20,532 to bid a final farewell to the dead. 96 00:08:25,404 --> 00:08:29,465 Some consign the body to the embrace of the earth. 97 00:08:30,343 --> 00:08:33,710 Others ensure the release of the soul through fire. 98 00:08:35,581 --> 00:08:36,809 In today's crowded world, 99 00:08:37,049 --> 00:08:43,386 the practice of cremation is on the rise wherever land is at a premium. 100 00:08:46,292 --> 00:08:49,557 We even send our dead into space. 101 00:08:50,563 --> 00:08:53,691 For about the cost of a terrestrial burial, 102 00:08:53,933 --> 00:09:00,304 a company in Texas will load a container of ashes on a small rocket. 103 00:09:01,207 --> 00:09:03,334 After orbiting for several years, 104 00:09:03,576 --> 00:09:08,707 the ashes eventually fall into Earth's atmosphere and vaporize, 105 00:09:08,948 --> 00:09:11,416 like a tiny shooting star. 106 00:09:12,952 --> 00:09:15,944 It's a fitting twenty- first century sendoff... 107 00:09:16,188 --> 00:09:17,382 but would have been unthinkable 108 00:09:17,623 --> 00:09:21,787 in one of the greatest civilizations the Earth has ever known. 109 00:09:24,730 --> 00:09:29,258 The ancient Egyptians believed the body had to last forever. 110 00:09:30,036 --> 00:09:33,005 Without it, the deceased could not rise again 111 00:09:33,239 --> 00:09:36,697 in the next world to enjoy eternal life. 112 00:09:37,476 --> 00:09:41,845 To prevent decay, the bodies of the dead were drained of moisture, 113 00:09:42,081 --> 00:09:45,278 and reduced to the consistency of leather. 114 00:09:49,555 --> 00:09:53,355 Everyone wanted to be mummified. 115 00:09:53,593 --> 00:09:57,029 There may have been cut-rate embalming for the poor, 116 00:09:57,430 --> 00:10:00,092 first-lass treatment for the rich. 117 00:10:01,133 --> 00:10:02,760 Even animals were mummified, 118 00:10:03,002 --> 00:10:05,994 to accompany the dead on their final journey. 119 00:10:10,142 --> 00:10:13,805 Over some thirty centuries, countless mummies were made. 120 00:10:14,046 --> 00:10:16,139 But countless were also destroyed. 121 00:10:18,117 --> 00:10:19,846 Almost from the moment they were sealed, 122 00:10:20,086 --> 00:10:22,145 the Pyramids and nearly every other well- 123 00:10:22,388 --> 00:10:25,846 appointed tomb were ransacked by thieves. 124 00:10:30,329 --> 00:10:35,460 Kings or commoners, bodies were hacked apart and left in tatters. 125 00:10:38,871 --> 00:10:42,898 Things got worse when Europe developed a taste for mummies. 126 00:10:44,110 --> 00:10:45,099 By the 12th century, 127 00:10:45,344 --> 00:10:49,212 they were imported by the ton to be ground up and mixed 128 00:10:49,448 --> 00:10:55,080 in potions purported to cure everything from headaches to impotence. 129 00:10:57,156 --> 00:11:03,186 In 1798, Napoleon's campaign spawned a new wave of "mummy-mania." 130 00:11:06,132 --> 00:11:08,896 Over the next century, hundreds were dissected 131 00:11:09,135 --> 00:11:13,629 both in laboratories and at fashionable unwrapping parties. 132 00:11:16,776 --> 00:11:18,539 The supply seemed endless. 133 00:11:20,513 --> 00:11:23,846 Mummies made cheap fertilizer and fuel. 134 00:11:25,518 --> 00:11:29,113 In the 19th century, trains from Cairo burned stacks of them 135 00:11:29,355 --> 00:11:31,550 to power their steam boilers. 136 00:11:35,361 --> 00:11:41,027 Our fascination with mummies continued unabashed well into the 20th century. 137 00:11:43,269 --> 00:11:47,399 "Is it dead or alive? Human or inhuman? 138 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,006 You'll know. You'll see. 139 00:11:50,242 --> 00:11:53,734 You'll feel the awful, creeping crawling terror 140 00:11:53,979 --> 00:11:57,915 that stands your hair on end and brings a scream to you lips!!! 141 00:12:02,154 --> 00:12:05,180 The Mummy!!" 142 00:12:09,462 --> 00:12:14,365 Today, Egypt's mummies are treated as fragile time capsules. 143 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:19,503 Science now has the tools to explore their secrets without destroying them. 144 00:12:21,907 --> 00:12:23,772 "Take this side off right here." 145 00:12:24,043 --> 00:12:28,207 Researchers can coax clues about daily life 3,000 years ago 146 00:12:28,447 --> 00:12:31,575 from the tiniest samples of tissue and bone. 147 00:12:36,122 --> 00:12:37,714 Egyptologist Bob Brier, 148 00:12:37,957 --> 00:12:42,360 of Long Island University, knows more than most about mummies. 149 00:12:43,629 --> 00:12:48,293 But just how a mummy became a mummy was a question that irked him for years. 150 00:12:50,569 --> 00:12:53,060 "The party line among Egyptologists was always, 151 00:12:53,305 --> 00:12:55,739 'Oh we know how they did it, they removed the brain through the nose, 152 00:12:55,975 --> 00:12:57,169 they removed the internal organs. 153 00:12:57,409 --> 00:12:59,001 We know pretty much how they did it.' 154 00:12:59,245 --> 00:13:02,874 But there's no papyrus that tells how to mummify a human. 155 00:13:03,115 --> 00:13:05,174 The Egyptians never wrote down how they did it. 156 00:13:05,417 --> 00:13:08,511 It was a secret, probably a trade secret." 157 00:13:09,421 --> 00:13:15,690 A brief description was recorded by Greek historian Herodotus around 450BC. 158 00:13:15,928 --> 00:13:18,988 For Brier, it was not the final word. 159 00:13:19,431 --> 00:13:21,524 I started to do a mental mummification, 160 00:13:21,767 --> 00:13:25,999 trying to just imagine exactly what happened. 161 00:13:26,238 --> 00:13:27,705 At some point I realized, 162 00:13:27,940 --> 00:13:31,535 the only way we'll ever really find out is to do it." 163 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,341 In 1994, Brier set about to perform the first Egyptian- 164 00:13:38,584 --> 00:13:42,520 style mummification in two thousand years. 165 00:13:44,156 --> 00:13:46,716 In Cairo, he tracked down the embalming spices 166 00:13:46,959 --> 00:13:51,919 mentioned by Herodotus, including frankincense and myrrh. 167 00:13:55,568 --> 00:13:58,230 He would also need special equipment. 168 00:13:58,804 --> 00:13:59,896 "We had to have replica tools 169 00:14:00,139 --> 00:14:03,199 made of all the instruments we thought the embalmers used. 170 00:14:03,442 --> 00:14:06,502 So for example, we had to have obsidian, 171 00:14:06,745 --> 00:14:09,543 an obsidian blade flaked by somebody in the Southwest 172 00:14:09,782 --> 00:14:10,874 who knew how to do this. 173 00:14:11,116 --> 00:14:14,176 We had to have a silversmith make bronze tools 174 00:14:14,420 --> 00:14:17,321 just like ancient Egyptian bronze tools." 175 00:14:17,690 --> 00:14:20,454 "Not since the time of Sneferu has its like been done. 176 00:14:20,693 --> 00:14:22,991 Now I'm a little bigger than the average Egyptian..." 177 00:14:23,229 --> 00:14:27,325 Copying ancient designs, Brier built an embalming board 178 00:14:27,566 --> 00:14:31,366 for the elevation of the corpse and drainage of fluids. 179 00:14:31,604 --> 00:14:33,231 "And I'll tell you, it might be good for the dead, 180 00:14:33,472 --> 00:14:35,372 but it's not good for the living." 181 00:14:37,676 --> 00:14:42,010 With his colleague Ronald Wade, at the University of Maryland Medical School, 182 00:14:42,248 --> 00:14:47,117 Brier would mummify a man who had donated his remains to science. 183 00:14:49,355 --> 00:14:50,481 "There were quite a few surprises 184 00:14:50,723 --> 00:14:52,350 along the way as we did the mummification. 185 00:14:52,591 --> 00:14:54,821 One was in removing the brain. 186 00:14:55,060 --> 00:14:56,186 Everybody always thought that 187 00:14:56,428 --> 00:15:00,159 you kind of pull the brain out a piece at a time through the nose, 188 00:15:00,399 --> 00:15:02,629 at least that's how all the articles say it was done. 189 00:15:02,868 --> 00:15:05,302 We tried it, it didn't come out that way." 190 00:15:11,744 --> 00:15:14,042 "What we figured out, what the Ancient Egyptians did was 191 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:18,410 they inserted a long hook and then moved it around, 192 00:15:18,651 --> 00:15:20,243 using it like a whisk. 193 00:15:20,486 --> 00:15:22,351 And then broke down the brain until- 194 00:15:22,588 --> 00:15:24,613 it was almost like a, a milk shake consistency, 195 00:15:24,857 --> 00:15:28,156 and then turned the cadaver upside down, and then the brain ran out. 196 00:15:28,394 --> 00:15:29,793 That's how they did it." 197 00:15:35,868 --> 00:15:40,066 Internal organs were removed through an incision made with an obsidian blade - 198 00:15:40,306 --> 00:15:43,104 sharp as any modern scalpel. 199 00:15:44,243 --> 00:15:48,111 Then the body was covered with several hundred of pounds of natron - 200 00:15:48,347 --> 00:15:52,909 a naturally occurring salt, Brier had imported from Egypt. 201 00:15:54,420 --> 00:15:57,389 Internal organs were treated separately. 202 00:16:00,826 --> 00:16:02,691 Left in place for about a month, 203 00:16:02,928 --> 00:16:06,921 the natron was supposed to leach all moisture from the body. 204 00:16:07,933 --> 00:16:11,164 For Brier, the suspense was overwhelming. 205 00:16:12,538 --> 00:16:15,439 "What would we get? Would it look like a mummy? 206 00:16:15,674 --> 00:16:17,107 Or would it need another 3,000 years 207 00:16:17,343 --> 00:16:20,005 before it looked like the things in the museums?" 208 00:16:22,181 --> 00:16:24,411 "One of the things that was really almost shocking 209 00:16:24,650 --> 00:16:28,211 was when we took the natron off, we had a mummy." 210 00:16:31,390 --> 00:16:34,655 A striking demonstration that people are mostly water, 211 00:16:34,893 --> 00:16:40,092 the body would shrink from more than 160 pounds, to just 45. 212 00:16:40,332 --> 00:16:41,799 "What are the oils in it, Bob?" 213 00:16:42,034 --> 00:16:48,496 "The oils are frankincense, myrrh oil, palm oil, lotus oil, and cedar oil. 214 00:16:48,741 --> 00:16:50,231 There are five that I got." 215 00:16:50,809 --> 00:16:55,303 Brier anointed the body with oils considered sacred by the Egyptians, 216 00:16:55,547 --> 00:16:56,844 then began wrapping. 217 00:16:57,416 --> 00:16:58,075 "Nice and tight." 218 00:16:58,550 --> 00:17:00,177 Accurate to the last detail, 219 00:17:00,419 --> 00:17:03,286 he used more than a hundred yards of pure linen 220 00:17:03,522 --> 00:17:06,286 inscribed with Egyptian spells. 221 00:17:07,026 --> 00:17:10,325 Internal organs were placed in replica funerary jars, 222 00:17:10,562 --> 00:17:12,530 created by local college students. 223 00:17:12,898 --> 00:17:15,924 "It's been perfumed and now it's going to be wrapped 224 00:17:16,168 --> 00:17:19,069 and we place it inside the jar." 225 00:17:19,304 --> 00:17:21,898 "A lot of people don't realize that we did the project 226 00:17:22,141 --> 00:17:24,609 not to get the mummy, but to get knowledge. 227 00:17:24,843 --> 00:17:26,310 And the project isn't over. 228 00:17:26,545 --> 00:17:27,534 Our mummy, it seems, 229 00:17:27,780 --> 00:17:30,112 is what we say, dead and well. 230 00:17:30,349 --> 00:17:32,510 He's been at room temperature now for about two years, 231 00:17:32,751 --> 00:17:34,719 no signs of decay, it's stable. 232 00:17:34,953 --> 00:17:36,511 So we think we did it right. 233 00:17:36,755 --> 00:17:39,747 But he's still being used in research projects around the world. 234 00:17:39,992 --> 00:17:41,755 We get requests for tissue samples, 235 00:17:41,994 --> 00:17:44,019 from people doing studies on ancient Egyptian mummies. 236 00:17:44,263 --> 00:17:46,629 This is the only mummy in the world 237 00:17:46,865 --> 00:17:48,958 for which we know exactly what was done to him. 238 00:17:49,201 --> 00:17:50,168 It's the only, so to speak, 239 00:17:50,402 --> 00:17:53,462 ancient Egyptian mummy that we have a full medical record on. 240 00:17:53,705 --> 00:17:55,866 So it's an important mummy." 241 00:17:57,376 --> 00:18:03,975 If only in the annals of science, Brier's mummy has achieved immortality- 242 00:18:04,216 --> 00:18:08,016 a fate the Egyptians would surely have approved. 243 00:18:08,353 --> 00:18:11,720 The quest for eternal life still goes on today- 244 00:18:11,957 --> 00:18:14,084 just in a different form. 245 00:18:16,395 --> 00:18:19,887 Cryonics involves freezing the body in liquid nitrogen 246 00:18:20,132 --> 00:18:22,123 immediately fter death. 247 00:18:22,367 --> 00:18:25,234 Practitioners have faith that scientists of the future 248 00:18:25,471 --> 00:18:27,939 will have the know-how to revive them. 249 00:18:33,545 --> 00:18:37,777 The sad truth is the human body- about two thirds water, 250 00:18:38,016 --> 00:18:42,544 plus a few basic chemicals- is simply not built to last. 251 00:18:44,356 --> 00:18:45,789 Exposed in warm weather, 252 00:18:46,024 --> 00:18:50,290 a corpse could be reduced to a skeleton in a matter of weeks. 253 00:18:51,864 --> 00:18:56,233 Underground, or underwater, the process usually takes somewhat longer. 254 00:19:02,741 --> 00:19:06,074 Bone may last from months to millennia. 255 00:19:07,613 --> 00:19:12,414 But when conditions are just right, Nature makes mummies. 256 00:19:15,854 --> 00:19:19,847 In northwest China, near the route of the fabled Silk Road, 257 00:19:20,092 --> 00:19:21,616 the searing sands have yielded 258 00:19:21,860 --> 00:19:25,057 more than a hundred heat- dried mummies. 259 00:19:26,331 --> 00:19:29,357 Surprisingly, they have the features of Caucasians, 260 00:19:29,601 --> 00:19:33,731 and date back two to four thousand years. 261 00:19:36,775 --> 00:19:39,437 Many must have lived in the region centuries 262 00:19:39,678 --> 00:19:44,115 before the opening of the Silk Road around 200 BC. 263 00:19:47,019 --> 00:19:50,546 Scholars had long been puzzled by ancient Chinese texts 264 00:19:50,789 --> 00:19:55,158 describing figures of great height, with red or yellow hair. 265 00:19:55,460 --> 00:19:59,453 Cave paintings in the region lent credence to the accounts, 266 00:20:01,767 --> 00:20:06,295 but the discovery of the mummies adds an important piece to the puzzle. 267 00:20:06,538 --> 00:20:09,837 Their existence suggests foreign traders settled in China 268 00:20:10,075 --> 00:20:13,135 much earlier than previously believed. 269 00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:25,952 The bogs of northern Europe have long inspired legends- 270 00:20:26,191 --> 00:20:28,819 among them the "boogie-man." 271 00:20:30,996 --> 00:20:35,399 Two thousand years ago, the Celts and their kin believed bogs 272 00:20:35,634 --> 00:20:39,070 were an entrance to the realm of the gods. 273 00:20:39,338 --> 00:20:42,398 They tossed in tribute of silver and gold- 274 00:20:42,641 --> 00:20:44,973 and other strange sacrifices. 275 00:20:47,679 --> 00:20:51,080 Bogs are filled with a natural "embalming fluid", 276 00:20:51,316 --> 00:20:54,843 acidic water low in oxygen and rich with tannins, 277 00:20:55,087 --> 00:20:57,851 the same chemicals used to cure leather. 278 00:20:58,090 --> 00:21:02,117 Over time, this brew converts dead vegetation into peat, 279 00:21:02,361 --> 00:21:05,091 long harvested as a heating fuel. 280 00:21:06,164 --> 00:21:09,156 It also works wonders on bodies. 281 00:21:11,203 --> 00:21:15,902 More than a thousand "bog mummies" have come to light; 282 00:21:16,141 --> 00:21:19,770 most are some 2,000 years old. 283 00:21:20,012 --> 00:21:23,846 Often, their bones are dissolved, while their skin is transformed 284 00:21:24,082 --> 00:21:29,679 into a supple leather that retains a breathtaking impression of life. 285 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,936 Many bog mummies bear signs of a violent death- 286 00:21:46,171 --> 00:21:49,732 slit throat, strangulation, or hanging. 287 00:21:52,177 --> 00:21:55,635 Many scholars believe they were sacrificed to fertility gods 288 00:21:55,881 --> 00:21:58,543 by early farming communities. 289 00:21:59,718 --> 00:22:04,212 They were plunged into the bog, so the wheat would rise again. 290 00:22:10,862 --> 00:22:15,697 More than 2,500 years ago, the Altai mountains of Siberia 291 00:22:15,934 --> 00:22:19,802 were home to a nomadic people called the Pazyryk. 292 00:22:21,306 --> 00:22:22,500 They lived by the horse, 293 00:22:22,741 --> 00:22:27,041 and moved great herds across the land in search of pasture. 294 00:22:28,046 --> 00:22:32,039 Horses were their measure of wealth and status. 295 00:22:32,718 --> 00:22:38,156 The Pazyryk buried their dead in chambers dug deep into the icy earth. 296 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:47,762 In 1993, Russian archaeologists opened an undisturbed chamber. 297 00:22:49,167 --> 00:22:54,503 First, they found the remains of six horses killed by blows to the head. 298 00:22:54,740 --> 00:22:59,404 Surely, they thought, this must be the tomb of a powerful man. 299 00:22:59,711 --> 00:23:03,272 The coffin itself was completely sealed in ice. 300 00:23:04,583 --> 00:23:08,349 To everyone's surprise, it contained a young woman- 301 00:23:10,055 --> 00:23:13,923 her features gone, but her body intact. 302 00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:22,493 Tattoos of mythical creatures adorned her sturdy hands. 303 00:23:23,301 --> 00:23:27,135 Was she a Priestess? Warrior? Healer? 304 00:23:27,372 --> 00:23:29,306 Her identity eludes us, 305 00:23:29,541 --> 00:23:33,841 but she provides a new image of women in this ancient culture. 306 00:23:42,154 --> 00:23:43,712 On the west coast of Greenland, 307 00:23:43,955 --> 00:23:47,288 a rocky cove once harbored an Eskimo village, 308 00:23:47,526 --> 00:23:50,654 home to a people called the Inuit. 309 00:23:50,896 --> 00:23:54,297 Some five hundred years ago, misfortune struck here, 310 00:23:54,533 --> 00:23:59,300 and eight bodies were laid to rest in a dry, sheltering cave. 311 00:24:01,473 --> 00:24:04,567 Cause of death remains a mystery. 312 00:24:04,810 --> 00:24:08,541 But these freeze? Dried mummies, in superb fur clothing, 313 00:24:08,780 --> 00:24:12,409 rank as one of the most spectacular archaeological finds 314 00:24:12,651 --> 00:24:14,812 from the arctic region. 315 00:24:24,796 --> 00:24:29,165 The frozen heights of the Andes preserve a record of the past. 316 00:24:30,435 --> 00:24:33,927 Five hundred years ago, the Inca ruled these highlands, 317 00:24:34,172 --> 00:24:37,300 and worshiped the mountains as gods. 318 00:24:37,909 --> 00:24:43,245 Traces of their sacred sites are scattered throughout the peaks. 319 00:24:47,018 --> 00:24:50,613 For nearly two decades, anthropologist Johan Reinhard 320 00:24:50,856 --> 00:24:55,020 has sought out the high altitude sites of the Inca. 321 00:24:55,627 --> 00:25:00,792 But in September 1995, he first climbed Mount Ampato in Peru 322 00:25:01,032 --> 00:25:03,330 with a different goal in mind. 323 00:25:03,568 --> 00:25:06,093 "Ampato's been a peak that's always been a mystery. 324 00:25:06,338 --> 00:25:10,172 It's always stood out there and people haven't really climbed it very often 325 00:25:10,408 --> 00:25:13,434 and haven't seen much that's been on it." 326 00:25:14,112 --> 00:25:16,808 "And the idea was just to get some pictures of another volcano 327 00:25:17,048 --> 00:25:18,515 that was erupting nearby, 328 00:25:18,750 --> 00:25:21,378 never really thinking we'd find anything on the summit. 329 00:25:21,620 --> 00:25:24,214 Now the reason for that is is that it's never been seen 330 00:25:24,456 --> 00:25:27,516 without a permanent snow-capped summit." 331 00:25:29,461 --> 00:25:32,828 The eruption had showered Ampato with dark ash. 332 00:25:33,064 --> 00:25:37,228 Even at more than 20,000 feet, much of the snow had melted. 333 00:25:38,103 --> 00:25:42,369 When my assistant, Miguel Zarate, and I, we reached the summit, 334 00:25:42,607 --> 00:25:44,768 I was taking some notes when Miguel just continued on and, 335 00:25:45,010 --> 00:25:48,036 all of a sudden, gave a whistle and pointed. 336 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:53,616 And I looked and, sure enough, it was clear from even, forty, fifty feet away, 337 00:25:53,852 --> 00:25:57,652 that there were feathers sticking out of the slope." 338 00:25:58,657 --> 00:26:04,562 They adorned three Inca figurines once buried, now exposed by a rockslide. 339 00:26:07,566 --> 00:26:09,898 "We were still looking down the slope 340 00:26:10,135 --> 00:26:14,629 and very quickly saw this bundle, laying right out on the ice. 341 00:26:14,873 --> 00:26:17,808 I asked Miguel to pick it up and move it a bit. 342 00:26:18,043 --> 00:26:19,908 And as he did, all of a sudden 343 00:26:20,145 --> 00:26:24,605 we were looking into the face of this dead young woman." 344 00:26:27,185 --> 00:26:30,780 Mummified by the cold, she had been sacrificed and buried 345 00:26:31,022 --> 00:26:34,480 on the mountaintop some five hundred years ago. 346 00:26:35,527 --> 00:26:40,328 When her rocky tomb collapsed, her face was exposed to the sun. 347 00:26:41,299 --> 00:26:46,566 But her body was intact-skin, muscle, bone, 348 00:26:46,805 --> 00:26:50,297 even the blood in her veins frozen solid. 349 00:26:50,609 --> 00:26:55,273 Scientists estimate she was twelve to fourteen years old when she died. 350 00:26:55,513 --> 00:26:58,073 Never before had the richly patterned clothing 351 00:26:58,316 --> 00:27:00,910 of an Inca noble woman come to light. 352 00:27:01,886 --> 00:27:04,150 She is probably the best-preserved mummy 353 00:27:04,389 --> 00:27:06,755 ever discovered in the Americas. 354 00:27:09,327 --> 00:27:13,286 In May 1996, the Maiden is flown, still frozen, 355 00:27:13,531 --> 00:27:16,659 to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 356 00:27:20,538 --> 00:27:22,335 A state-of-the-art CAT scanner 357 00:27:22,574 --> 00:27:26,533 produces a detailed three-dimensional image of her body. 358 00:27:27,545 --> 00:27:31,982 Her strong bones and teeth, well-formed muscles and internal organs 359 00:27:32,217 --> 00:27:35,880 speak volumes about Inca nutrition and health. 360 00:27:38,089 --> 00:27:41,889 It's a stunning sight for the man who carried her down the mountain. 361 00:27:42,127 --> 00:27:45,722 Then Johan Reinhard learns the secret of the Maiden's death. 362 00:27:46,898 --> 00:27:50,163 A fatal two-inch fracture mars her skull. 363 00:27:50,535 --> 00:27:53,095 "You can see it pretty nicely just rotating it around but, uh, 364 00:27:53,338 --> 00:27:57,104 would it, would it make sense that she may have been hit by a blow?" 365 00:27:57,342 --> 00:27:59,833 "Absolutely, that's, that's really a common way that they did it- 366 00:28:00,078 --> 00:28:01,841 the strangulation and blows to the heads 367 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,310 were, were common ways to do human sacrifice. 368 00:28:04,549 --> 00:28:06,483 We just didn't see it." 369 00:28:06,751 --> 00:28:12,348 "I kept having visions of what it was like carrying her in the dark, 370 00:28:12,590 --> 00:28:15,388 with the volcano and snowfall and everything. 371 00:28:15,627 --> 00:28:17,788 And seeing this modern machinery 372 00:28:18,029 --> 00:28:23,160 and you could look at the screen and view bones and even organs. 373 00:28:23,401 --> 00:28:26,461 It was just amazing, she just began to come alive." 374 00:28:35,046 --> 00:28:38,482 To the Inca, human sacrifice was the ultimate offering, 375 00:28:38,717 --> 00:28:41,345 an act of gratitude when the gods were generous; 376 00:28:41,586 --> 00:28:44,214 a desperate plea when they were angry. 377 00:28:45,990 --> 00:28:49,585 Archaeologists now know the Ampato Maiden died 378 00:28:49,828 --> 00:28:52,820 during a long-term volcanic eruption. 379 00:29:00,939 --> 00:29:04,636 The cataclysm could have had devastating effects on the region. 380 00:29:04,876 --> 00:29:07,037 Daily showers of hot ash. 381 00:29:07,278 --> 00:29:09,178 Air thick with smoke. 382 00:29:09,414 --> 00:29:11,348 Water sources poisoned. 383 00:29:11,583 --> 00:29:13,983 Crops and livestock decimated. 384 00:29:17,122 --> 00:29:19,215 A circle of priests would have led the Maiden 385 00:29:19,457 --> 00:29:22,324 to the highest reaches of Mount Ampato. 386 00:29:22,594 --> 00:29:25,927 It was a grueling climb that took days. 387 00:29:29,033 --> 00:29:33,367 She alone shouldered the fate of her family and her people. 388 00:29:33,605 --> 00:29:37,063 To be thus chosen was a great honor. 389 00:29:41,546 --> 00:29:45,414 In exchange for her life, she would earn an eternity of bliss 390 00:29:45,650 --> 00:29:48,175 and a place among the gods. 391 00:29:55,260 --> 00:29:58,696 Soon after she died, the eruption spent itself, 392 00:29:58,930 --> 00:30:01,057 and the snows returned to Ampato, 393 00:30:01,299 --> 00:30:05,736 sealing the Maiden in ice for the next five centuries. 394 00:30:07,105 --> 00:30:10,905 Even now, she serves her people well. 395 00:30:11,810 --> 00:30:15,837 "She's providing us with so much information, 396 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:20,710 that I hope that we are giving back something to her 397 00:30:20,952 --> 00:30:22,783 by deepening our respect 398 00:30:23,021 --> 00:30:27,287 and understanding for the culture that she came from, 399 00:30:27,525 --> 00:30:30,619 and the Inca civilization five hundred years ago." 400 00:30:36,634 --> 00:30:39,603 Across the globe, another chain of snowy peaks 401 00:30:39,838 --> 00:30:42,398 yields a messenger from the past. 402 00:30:43,775 --> 00:30:46,642 The Alps seem impenetrable from the air. 403 00:30:46,878 --> 00:30:48,869 But for millennia, shepherds and traders 404 00:30:49,113 --> 00:30:51,013 have hiked their mountain passes. 405 00:30:52,784 --> 00:30:55,048 Today's trekkers are mostly tourists. 406 00:30:55,286 --> 00:30:59,882 Every year, millions enjoy the alpine splendors of southern Austria. 407 00:31:01,292 --> 00:31:07,026 In the fall of 1991, unusual weather turns snow to slush. 408 00:31:07,265 --> 00:31:08,493 On September 19th, 409 00:31:08,733 --> 00:31:13,534 a couple of hikers stray from a marked trail, hoping to find a shortcut. 410 00:31:13,771 --> 00:31:17,434 Instead, in a melting glacier at more than 10,000 feet, 411 00:31:17,675 --> 00:31:21,270 they spot something that stops them in their tracks. 412 00:31:31,522 --> 00:31:34,218 Four days later, delayed by bad weather, 413 00:31:34,459 --> 00:31:37,428 an Austrian forensic team arrives. 414 00:31:37,896 --> 00:31:40,524 This is not an uncommon sight in the Alps. 415 00:31:40,765 --> 00:31:44,064 The frozen bodies of mountaineers are sometimes found decades 416 00:31:44,302 --> 00:31:46,827 after they perish among the peaks. 417 00:31:51,376 --> 00:31:55,938 But this body is so deeply icebound the team borrows an ice axe 418 00:31:56,180 --> 00:31:58,705 and ski pole from a passing hiker. 419 00:32:07,625 --> 00:32:09,786 Somewhat puzzling are the scraps of leather 420 00:32:10,028 --> 00:32:12,588 pulled from the slush around the body. 421 00:32:12,897 --> 00:32:15,764 Not to mention the strange artifacts. 422 00:32:18,403 --> 00:32:23,363 Team members conclude this body has been frozen a very long time. 423 00:32:23,875 --> 00:32:27,641 They turn it over to experts at the University of Innsbruck. 424 00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:35,147 Still wearing a strange shoe stuffed with grass, 425 00:32:35,386 --> 00:32:38,378 it's the body of a 25 to 40 year old man, 426 00:32:38,623 --> 00:32:41,217 shriveled but virtually intact. 427 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,622 Teeth show heavy wear. 428 00:32:46,164 --> 00:32:50,533 Simple blue tattoos adorn his lower back and legs. 429 00:32:54,806 --> 00:32:58,003 Seventy objects were found near his body. 430 00:32:58,242 --> 00:33:02,008 A quiver of animal skin containing fourteen arrows. 431 00:33:03,181 --> 00:33:06,776 A leather waist pouch, not unlike a "fanny pack." 432 00:33:08,353 --> 00:33:11,345 Bits of leather and grass rope. 433 00:33:11,789 --> 00:33:13,256 A flint dagger. 434 00:33:16,027 --> 00:33:20,088 Most telling, an axe with an exquisite copper blade. 435 00:33:22,967 --> 00:33:24,958 To archaeologists, the design of the blade 436 00:33:25,203 --> 00:33:27,967 suggests its owner may have died 4,000 years ago. 437 00:33:29,207 --> 00:33:31,698 It was not the final word. 438 00:33:32,343 --> 00:33:34,573 Skin, bone and grass samples 439 00:33:34,812 --> 00:33:40,045 are sent to four eminent European laboratories for radiocarbon dating. 440 00:33:44,789 --> 00:33:50,159 All four conclude the Iceman died about 5,300 years ago- 441 00:33:50,395 --> 00:33:54,627 which makes him the oldest frozen mummy ever found. 442 00:33:56,167 --> 00:33:59,466 Almost immediately, word gets out. 443 00:34:02,206 --> 00:34:04,606 The University of Innsbruck is overrun, 444 00:34:04,842 --> 00:34:09,506 and a humble man from the Copper Age becomes an overnight sensation. 445 00:34:13,851 --> 00:34:19,153 Few archaeological discoveries have so completely dominated the headlines. 446 00:34:25,530 --> 00:34:27,794 Nicknamed after the Otztal Alps, 447 00:34:28,032 --> 00:34:32,435 "Otzi" provides endless inspiration to local entrepreneurs. 448 00:34:37,442 --> 00:34:40,878 Who was he? How did he die? 449 00:34:41,112 --> 00:34:42,739 We may never know. 450 00:34:43,414 --> 00:34:46,577 But his body and artifacts have begun to yield glimpses 451 00:34:46,818 --> 00:34:51,118 of a lifestyle practiced more than 5,000 years ago. 452 00:34:55,860 --> 00:34:59,956 X-rays speak of lifelong physical stress: 453 00:35:00,198 --> 00:35:05,101 Broken ribs, heavily worn joints, arthritis. 454 00:35:06,304 --> 00:35:11,970 In his left foot 455 00:35:16,013 --> 00:35:17,381 With an endoscope, 456 00:35:17,381 --> 00:35:20,475 scientists remove a sample from the Iceman's stomach 457 00:35:20,651 --> 00:35:25,611 and found remnants of meat and grain- his last meal. 458 00:35:28,159 --> 00:35:30,719 His lungs made a startling sight, blackened 459 00:35:30,962 --> 00:35:35,524 by hours spent near open fires, in close, smoky quarters. 460 00:35:40,204 --> 00:35:43,571 Clinging to tatters of the Iceman's fur clothing, 461 00:35:43,808 --> 00:35:45,537 grains of primitive wheat suggest 462 00:35:45,776 --> 00:35:49,769 he had passed through a farming community near harvest time. 463 00:35:53,017 --> 00:35:55,315 Found frozen in the snow near his body, 464 00:35:55,553 --> 00:36:00,286 a sloe berry also helped pinpoint the season of his death: 465 00:36:00,525 --> 00:36:03,289 The fruit ripens in early autumn. 466 00:36:05,196 --> 00:36:09,633 At the discovery site, now determined to be inside the Italian border, 467 00:36:09,867 --> 00:36:14,429 researchers sifted through six hundred tons of snow. 468 00:36:18,976 --> 00:36:21,274 After days of melting and filtering, 469 00:36:21,512 --> 00:36:24,879 they recovered part of a plaited grass cloak. 470 00:36:27,652 --> 00:36:30,086 Another fragment, the upper edge of the cloak, 471 00:36:30,321 --> 00:36:34,417 held hairs that fell from the Iceman's head after death. 472 00:36:38,329 --> 00:36:42,925 Chemical analysis would show the hair was heavily coated with copper particles 473 00:36:43,167 --> 00:36:46,364 the kind that are airborne near the smelting of copper ore. 474 00:36:46,604 --> 00:36:50,597 Not an unusual finding- if the Iceman was a coppersmith, 475 00:36:50,841 --> 00:36:52,399 or an assistant to one. 476 00:36:56,547 --> 00:36:59,141 Finally, every last inch of the Iceman's body 477 00:36:59,383 --> 00:37:04,480 became digital information, in a three? Dimensional CAT scan. 478 00:37:07,758 --> 00:37:11,524 This "virtual Iceman" allows for unlimited study 479 00:37:11,762 --> 00:37:15,630 without risking the fragile, frozen remains. 480 00:37:16,467 --> 00:37:20,767 It also provides a ghostly foundation for a skilled artist, 481 00:37:21,005 --> 00:37:26,068 as he resurrects a traveler from a distant time. 482 00:37:37,989 --> 00:37:41,891 Something drives him to the heights-trade or duty. 483 00:37:42,126 --> 00:37:44,890 He may be a renegade on the run. 484 00:37:46,530 --> 00:37:51,558 He knows the mountains well, but fails to heed the warning signs. 485 00:37:52,169 --> 00:37:54,797 Perhaps he has no choice but to press on. 486 00:38:02,713 --> 00:38:05,045 He climbs higher than the trees, 487 00:38:05,283 --> 00:38:10,448 beyond hope of any kindling to build a fire against the terrible cold. 488 00:38:12,123 --> 00:38:14,284 In the lee of a rocky ridge, 489 00:38:14,525 --> 00:38:18,154 he'll lay down his belongings and wait out the night. 490 00:38:20,398 --> 00:38:23,390 He knows that with sleep comes certain death. 491 00:38:23,668 --> 00:38:26,466 But his senses are already numbed. 492 00:38:38,282 --> 00:38:43,015 His lonely death deprived him of funeral rites by his people. 493 00:38:43,688 --> 00:38:48,216 But this everyday man, frozen in time on his way somewhere, 494 00:38:48,459 --> 00:38:54,295 has helped write a new chapter on daily life in prehistoric Europe. 495 00:38:59,337 --> 00:39:01,100 In southwest England, 496 00:39:01,339 --> 00:39:06,174 Somerset is a region of limestone cliffs and deep gorges. 497 00:39:08,612 --> 00:39:12,309 Home to some 3,000 people, the town of Cheddar is known 498 00:39:12,550 --> 00:39:14,780 not just for its namesake cheese, 499 00:39:15,019 --> 00:39:20,218 but for a series of spectacular caves sculpted by an underground river. 500 00:39:24,195 --> 00:39:28,063 Some 9,000 years ago, Ice Age hunters camped here, 501 00:39:28,299 --> 00:39:31,496 and left one of their dead in the damp darkness. 502 00:39:32,036 --> 00:39:36,370 Today a replica of "Cheddar Man" marks the spot. 503 00:39:36,941 --> 00:39:41,810 He lived before the age of farming, when bears and wolves roamed the land. 504 00:39:42,046 --> 00:39:45,140 The oldest complete skeleton found in England, 505 00:39:45,383 --> 00:39:49,843 it seems Cheddar Man died of head injuries around age 40. 506 00:39:50,788 --> 00:39:54,815 In 1996, a fragment from his tooth was analyzed 507 00:39:55,059 --> 00:39:57,857 by scientists at Oxford University. 508 00:39:58,095 --> 00:40:01,758 The ancient bone yielded traces of DNA. 509 00:40:01,999 --> 00:40:07,096 A tiny fraction of Cheddar Man's genetic fingerprint was revealed. 510 00:40:09,340 --> 00:40:12,434 A local television producer decided to test whether 511 00:40:12,676 --> 00:40:17,340 any of Cheddar Man's descendants were still living in the area today. 512 00:40:18,015 --> 00:40:21,075 The high school became involved in his experiment. 513 00:40:22,019 --> 00:40:26,922 Students from local families were asked to donate DNA samples. 514 00:40:27,625 --> 00:40:31,925 Why are those two unpopular and who are they unpopular with? 515 00:40:32,163 --> 00:40:34,393 History teacher Adrian Targett, 516 00:40:34,632 --> 00:40:36,725 himself a native of the Somerset region, 517 00:40:36,967 --> 00:40:40,198 helped coordinate the volunteers. 518 00:40:41,539 --> 00:40:43,632 A simple cheek swab was all it took 519 00:40:43,874 --> 00:40:47,469 to collect the necessary cells for DNA analysis. 520 00:40:49,447 --> 00:40:54,475 To make up an even twenty, Targett donated a sample, too. 521 00:40:57,021 --> 00:41:01,082 At Oxford University, the DNA was parsed and sorted. 522 00:41:02,893 --> 00:41:05,919 Within weeks, results were in. 523 00:41:06,897 --> 00:41:11,493 "On the basis of what we've got here, that would be an identical match 524 00:41:11,735 --> 00:41:16,468 which would mean that they had a common maternal ancestor. 525 00:41:16,707 --> 00:41:19,870 So, who do we match this up with? Let's see..." 526 00:41:20,110 --> 00:41:21,099 "Number 12." 527 00:41:21,345 --> 00:41:22,812 "Number 12, so who's number 12?" 528 00:41:23,113 --> 00:41:27,607 On a Friday afternoon, the volunteers were assembled to hear the news. 529 00:41:28,018 --> 00:41:30,885 "You're all agog, no doubt, to know who it is? 530 00:41:31,121 --> 00:41:36,252 Who is related to the cave man found in Cheddar? Yes? 531 00:41:36,727 --> 00:41:38,854 What would it feel like if it was one of you? 532 00:41:39,663 --> 00:41:42,029 Because it's probably going to be of interest to people 533 00:41:42,266 --> 00:41:45,667 all over the world that there is a link, over 9,000 years, 534 00:41:45,903 --> 00:41:47,871 to this person found in the cave. 535 00:41:48,706 --> 00:41:53,075 Think you could stand the publicity and visits to California and wherever? 536 00:41:53,310 --> 00:41:59,874 Yes? So, who is it? It's Adrian Targett!" 537 00:42:00,651 --> 00:42:01,811 "Thank you very much!" 538 00:42:02,052 --> 00:42:05,351 "This is the man that's closest related to Cheddar Man." 539 00:42:05,689 --> 00:42:06,656 "I'm overwhelmed!" 540 00:42:06,891 --> 00:42:07,983 "How do you feel about that?" 541 00:42:08,225 --> 00:42:11,456 "A bit surprised! I was just about, about to say, 'I hope it's not me!"' 542 00:42:19,303 --> 00:42:22,295 "Adrian, what was your instant reaction when you were told that 543 00:42:22,540 --> 00:42:25,805 you had this amazing line back 9,000 years to a caveman?" 544 00:42:26,043 --> 00:42:27,340 "Well, it was a great shock, but then I realized 545 00:42:27,578 --> 00:42:32,072 that was why I had been put in next to the person who was doing the filming." 546 00:42:44,128 --> 00:42:48,121 The study of "dead DNA"? Is becoming a powerful tool 547 00:42:48,365 --> 00:42:52,597 for unraveling relationships long buried in the past. 548 00:42:52,836 --> 00:42:57,535 It can help illuminate patterns of gene flow between ancient populations, 549 00:42:58,208 --> 00:43:02,144 or family ties among rulers in a bygone dynasty. 550 00:43:07,184 --> 00:43:11,553 DNA gave this man the oldest documented pedigree in the world. 551 00:43:12,156 --> 00:43:14,522 But there's more to it for Adrian Targett. 552 00:43:16,193 --> 00:43:21,153 It's essentially about our roots and connections and families, 553 00:43:21,398 --> 00:43:26,301 and I think, at heart, most people want to know more about themselves, 554 00:43:26,537 --> 00:43:31,065 where they come from, and of course this story does just that." 555 00:43:44,655 --> 00:43:49,024 The goal of archaeology is to understand our past. 556 00:43:49,393 --> 00:43:52,556 Much of what we know about long vanished peoples 557 00:43:52,796 --> 00:43:55,663 comes from the excavation of their graves. 558 00:43:58,335 --> 00:44:01,896 This work has shed light on the very roots of humanity. 559 00:44:02,673 --> 00:44:06,803 But it has also disturbed the sacred sites of earlier cultures. 560 00:44:15,886 --> 00:44:19,378 In recent years, the collecting and handling of human remains 561 00:44:19,623 --> 00:44:23,923 have become more controversial, as native peoples around the world 562 00:44:24,161 --> 00:44:27,358 demand a new respect for their ancestors. 563 00:44:29,466 --> 00:44:32,902 The conflict is especially heated in North America. 564 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:41,539 In the last century, countless Indian burials have been stripped bare. 565 00:44:42,613 --> 00:44:46,743 Today, museums and institutes across the United States 566 00:44:46,984 --> 00:44:52,081 house the remains of some 300,000 Native Americans. 567 00:44:53,691 --> 00:44:57,991 In 1927, this thousand-year-old burial site in Illinois 568 00:44:58,228 --> 00:45:00,594 was opened to the public. 569 00:45:00,831 --> 00:45:03,925 The Dickson Mounds Museum would prosper. 570 00:45:06,503 --> 00:45:08,334 But in the 1980s, 571 00:45:08,572 --> 00:45:13,271 Native Americans registered complaints about the exposed skeletons. 572 00:45:13,510 --> 00:45:17,776 By the 1990s, protests were held outside the museum. 573 00:45:18,015 --> 00:45:20,040 "...in our own land. 574 00:45:20,284 --> 00:45:23,378 So this movement, the American Indian movement, 575 00:45:23,620 --> 00:45:26,851 is said to be first a spiritual movement." 576 00:45:27,091 --> 00:45:29,184 To political activist Vernon Bellecourt, 577 00:45:29,426 --> 00:45:32,361 of the Ojibwa tribe, and to many others, 578 00:45:32,596 --> 00:45:36,054 the burial display was deeply disturbing. 579 00:45:37,167 --> 00:45:39,067 "We practice our spiritual way of life. 580 00:45:39,303 --> 00:45:42,204 We still have our language, our prayer songs and, 581 00:45:42,439 --> 00:45:46,739 and many of us who follow the traditional teachings of our, 582 00:45:46,977 --> 00:45:50,811 of our grandfathers and grandmothers, we then take exception 583 00:45:51,048 --> 00:45:53,209 when we see our burial sites being 584 00:45:53,450 --> 00:45:57,318 desecrated and the physical remains of our ancestors 585 00:45:57,554 --> 00:46:02,617 who are in an open burial pit for tourists and others to witness. 586 00:46:02,860 --> 00:46:06,091 We decided to take some direct action." 587 00:46:13,570 --> 00:46:18,701 In 1991, Bellecourt and four other activists were forcibly removed 588 00:46:18,942 --> 00:46:23,140 from the museum for attempting to rebury the skeletons. 589 00:46:27,951 --> 00:46:32,081 One year later, museum officials closed the display, 590 00:46:32,322 --> 00:46:35,655 and completely covered it with earth. 591 00:46:35,893 --> 00:46:40,455 Under a law passed in 1990, federally funded institutions 592 00:46:40,697 --> 00:46:44,724 have begun to return Indian remains to their tribes. 593 00:46:46,403 --> 00:46:48,837 Native peoples in Australia, New Zealand, 594 00:46:49,072 --> 00:46:53,771 Africa and elsewhere are calling for similar policies. 595 00:47:00,284 --> 00:47:05,654 Across time and space, the voices of the dead still reach us- 596 00:47:05,889 --> 00:47:08,790 in the most surprising ways. 597 00:47:14,064 --> 00:47:18,763 In 1991, a British housewife purchased a book at an antique market 598 00:47:19,002 --> 00:47:22,165 near her home in the town of Bromsgrove. 599 00:47:22,906 --> 00:47:25,739 Since childhood, Elizabeth Knight had been captivated 600 00:47:25,976 --> 00:47:28,376 by Native American culture. 601 00:47:29,546 --> 00:47:33,607 Her new book included a 1920s essay about an Indian chief 602 00:47:33,851 --> 00:47:37,480 who visited London- and never returned home. 603 00:47:40,123 --> 00:47:43,149 It was the story of Chief Long Wolf. 604 00:47:43,927 --> 00:47:49,490 Legend has it, he was a seasoned Sioux warrior who fought at Little Big Horn. 605 00:47:50,868 --> 00:47:55,328 Documents suggest he was one of several Indian "prisoners of war" 606 00:47:55,572 --> 00:48:00,874 released by the US Government to the custody of Buffalo Bill Cody. 607 00:48:05,115 --> 00:48:10,178 In 1892, Cody's Wild West Show toured Europe. 608 00:48:12,923 --> 00:48:18,361 Chief Long Wolf, at age 59, was the oldest performer in the troupe. 609 00:48:19,630 --> 00:48:22,963 In London, the show was applauded by Queen Victoria. 610 00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:26,636 But Long Wolf developed pneumonia. 611 00:48:28,138 --> 00:48:29,662 As he lay dying, 612 00:48:29,907 --> 00:48:34,537 he asked his wife to take his body back to the land of his ancestors. 613 00:48:34,778 --> 00:48:38,771 But on June 13th, he was buried, under the sign of the wolf, 614 00:48:39,016 --> 00:48:41,712 in London's Brompton Cemetery. 615 00:48:42,819 --> 00:48:45,845 His wife and child returned home. 616 00:48:46,089 --> 00:48:49,957 In time, his gravesite was forgotten. 617 00:48:51,261 --> 00:48:54,719 The chief's final wish touched Elizabeth deeply. 618 00:48:55,599 --> 00:48:59,262 "I had the book for a couple of weeks and, 619 00:48:59,503 --> 00:49:03,303 I put the book back on the shelf several times, 620 00:49:03,540 --> 00:49:06,566 but eventually I had to take it down and said to my husband, 621 00:49:06,810 --> 00:49:11,611 'I'll have to do something about this because it's really bothering me."' 622 00:49:12,883 --> 00:49:18,788 Some 35,000 gravestones rise from the grounds of Brompton Cemetery. 623 00:49:19,790 --> 00:49:24,159 On May 1, 1992, Elizabeth searched the aisles 624 00:49:24,394 --> 00:49:27,124 until she found the weathered wolf. 625 00:49:31,234 --> 00:49:33,725 "I made a vow to try and help him. 626 00:49:33,971 --> 00:49:40,501 To try and find his family, because I knew his spirit would forever wander." 627 00:49:42,913 --> 00:49:49,477 Half a world away, in Tempe, Arizona, Long Wolf was far from forgotten. 628 00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:54,885 A retired mechanic, John Black Feather was born and raised in South Dakota, 629 00:49:55,125 --> 00:49:58,253 not far from the site of Wounded Knee. 630 00:49:58,495 --> 00:50:02,397 John had always known his great grandfather was buried in London- 631 00:50:02,632 --> 00:50:05,760 but he had no idea exactly where. 632 00:50:06,003 --> 00:50:10,440 "I've been hearing about Long Wolf ever since I was about five years old. 633 00:50:10,674 --> 00:50:14,235 My mother always talked about trying to find him but still, 634 00:50:14,478 --> 00:50:17,709 we didn't know how to go about finding him. 635 00:50:17,948 --> 00:50:21,111 That's like looking for a needle in a haystack." 636 00:50:22,319 --> 00:50:23,547 In 1992, 637 00:50:23,787 --> 00:50:29,419 John's wife spotted a newspaper article that changed everything. 638 00:50:29,659 --> 00:50:30,785 Elizabeth Knight's letter 639 00:50:31,028 --> 00:50:34,691 marked the beginning of four years of planning and fundraising. 640 00:50:34,931 --> 00:50:38,833 "Maybe you should writer her, a letter to her right away and see what..." 641 00:50:39,069 --> 00:50:42,766 "I always knew that he would one day come home. 642 00:50:43,006 --> 00:50:48,603 I never thought I'd be involved with it a hundred years later, but, I did." 643 00:50:55,385 --> 00:50:58,786 September 25th, 1997. 644 00:50:59,022 --> 00:51:04,688 The Black Feather family come to London to claim one of their own. 645 00:51:07,798 --> 00:51:08,958 "It's not a sad day for us. 646 00:51:09,199 --> 00:51:13,602 It's, it's, it's gonna be like a great homecoming for him 647 00:51:13,837 --> 00:51:16,829 when we get him back to South Dakota." 648 00:51:17,974 --> 00:51:22,172 For Elizabeth Knight it is a day of promises kept. 649 00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:35,114 "This is a moment of resolution, of achievement, and blessing." 650 00:51:35,358 --> 00:51:38,816 "It was the most extraordinary day of my life. 651 00:51:39,062 --> 00:51:43,294 And I'm sure Long Wolf's spirit was there." 652 00:52:09,726 --> 00:52:14,288 On September 28th, 1997, Long Wolf is laid to rest 653 00:52:14,531 --> 00:52:18,297 in a small cemetery in Wolf Creek, South Dakota. 654 00:52:19,736 --> 00:52:23,035 His descendants reenact an ancient rite, 655 00:52:23,273 --> 00:52:26,436 this gesture of love beyond death. 656 00:52:27,978 --> 00:52:32,244 More than anything else, it may be what makes us human. 657 00:52:37,420 --> 00:52:41,880 We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. 658 00:52:42,125 --> 00:52:44,059 We walk in their footsteps. 659 00:52:44,294 --> 00:52:47,593 We live on their graves. 660 00:52:48,698 --> 00:52:52,657 Each time we speak their names, or honor their ways, 661 00:52:52,903 --> 00:52:55,064 perhaps they do live again. 662 00:52:58,041 --> 00:53:01,442 To be remembered, and nothing more. 663 00:53:01,678 --> 00:53:07,742 That alone may be the secret to immortality.