Cradle of the Maya (Full Episode) | Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin | Nat Geo

[chanting in native language] [Albert Lin] At the dawn of one of the Americas' greatest civilizations lies a mystery I've been trying to solve for more than a decade. Whispers of a mythical city, lost in the jungles of Mexico, home to the origins of the Maya. [Albert] My search for this forgotten city begins at one of the Maya's most iconic sites, Palenque. I want to discover where the people who built Palenque came from, and maybe shed new light on the birth of the Maya civilization itself. One more turn down here? Oh, there it is. Wow. The tomb of one of the most important kings of the entire Maya world. What are these symbols representing? [Albert] Archaeologist Josuhé Lozada, from the National Institute of Anthropology and History, is an expert in interpreting Maya symbols, also called glyphs. I better start scanning. My handheld LiDAR scanner uses laser technology to gather data, allowing us to create a high-definition 3D model of the glyphs and search for clues to the location of this lost origin city. This is the search I've always been waiting for. [Albert] The beginning. 600 AD. The Maya civilization is at its peak, stretching across parts of Central America and into southern Mexico, where the regional capital of Palenque is home to around 20,000 inhabitants. This was the Maya's golden age, but I want to explore their origins. Where did these ancient masters of mathematics, astronomy and writing come from? How did the remarkable story of the Maya begin? Hey, this is Josuhé. My technology team, Joe and Duncan, are using advanced 3D software to enhance the LiDAR scans we made in the tomb, so that we can examine the glyphs in forensic detail. [Duncan] We processed your scans inside the tomb. I want to see any symbols that might be describing this mythical city.

[Albert] Like a lake. Okay. So, there's a mythical city somewhere where there's cormorants, a hollow or split mountain, and water. Palenque lies on the edge of Mexico's largest tropical rain forest. Let's see if we can find anything nearby. We'll focus on isolating the closest viable locations first. This looks like mountains down here. [Albert] The lakes of the Lacandon Jungle. That's where we got to go. This looks promising. This must be it. We got here. Right before dark. Agh! Lot of spikes. [Albert] As we scan the water, our eyes are drawn to something totally unexpected. ♪ [gasps] Wow. Yeah. Wow, it's right over here. [Albert] It follows the whole line. Okay, let's take a look. [inhales sharply]

[gasps] [Albert] A quarry? For finding rocks to build structures. [Josuhé] Mm-hmm. [Albert] How old do you think this is? [Albert] Wow. The beginning of the Maya civilization. [Albert] So, if these rocks were pulled from this cenote to build something, that something must be close by. [Albert] Hauling huge blocks through this terrain would have been brutal. So where were they taking them? From here we go up. Okay. It definitely feels like I'm seeing blue above that line there. [Josuhé] Yes. [Albert] Let's send the drone up. Let's see if we can get a view. [Albert] The lake. It's just like in that glyph. [Albert] Joe, Duncan. Do you guys copy? [Joe] Copy you, Albert. [Albert] The jungle is super dense up here. Hold your position, and I'll update you when we reach the spot. We've traveled from the flooded quarry to Noh K'uh, a remote archaeological site on the southern side of the lake. ♪ Santiago, are there a lot of snakes out here? [Santiago Juarez] Yes, so just be careful where you step on the ground. [Albert] Archaeology professors Santiago Juarez and Joel Palka have discovered evidence of an early Maya settlement here. Agh. Looks like it clears out a little bit up here. [machetes clanging] Look, there's definitely something here. [Santiago] Definitely a change in elevation. [Albert] What is this? What's this ledge? [Santiago] Wow, yeah. [Albert] Is that all-- is this, uh... Is this shaped? [Santiago] It's, uh, made from a quarry. There you go, you got a corner right there. [Albert] So, this is the corner of a, of what? [Santiago] Of the top of the building. [Albert] Oh, you're kidding me? [Santiago] So, we got like a step here. [Albert] Wow. [Joel Palka] Yeah, they're starting here, too. Looks like they leveled off this structure. [Albert] Yeah, let me clear it out a little. Wow. [Santiago] Yeah, see, a nice little rectangular line over here. Keeps going here, then comes back this way. [Albert] Oh, you can barely make it out, huh? When did this get built? [Santiago] Uh, 2,500 years ago. [Albert] 2,500 years ago. People lived here? [Santiago] Yes. [Albert] So, this is way before Palenque? [Santiago] Exactly. So, we're looking at something that predates Palenque by at least 1,000 years.

[Albert] This site and the flooded quarry we discovered suggest there was significant Maya activity in this area, right at the beginning of the Maya era. What do you think this building was? [Santiago] Oh, so if we're looking at the way the sun is rising, this would have been a platform to welcome the rising sun. [Albert] Wow. Basically an observatory? [Santiago] Yes. [Albert] From this plateau, they would have mapped the stars and the movement of the sun? [Santiago] Yes, exactly. We're looking at ancient astronomers. [Albert] Joel and Santiago believe that this site could be part of a much larger settlement, reaching deeper into the jungle. But the only way to see if they're right is by launching the drone and scanning the whole area. Hey, Joe, Duncan. [Duncan] How's it going? [Albert] Yeah, I got one for you guys. Let's get the drone up, and I'll send you the GPS coordinates of where to send it, okay? [Duncan] Okay, drone's going up. [Joe] Okay, start motors. We've arranged to base ourselves in the nearby village of Mensabak, home to the Lacandon Maya, where the team can charge their batteries and process our LiDAR data. Wow, this is incredible, everybody's here. You guys want to pull those glyphs up? [Albert] Wow. [Santiago] Wow. [Joel] Look at that. [Albert] So, zoom in on that one. Are there cormorants around here? [Albert] There's another symbol that we found, which shows a split mountain. [Albert] Can we pull that up? [Joe] Yep. [Albert] Are there big mountains around the lake that might have, I don't know, like, uh, caves or...? [Albert] Chak Aktun. It's a mountain that's got a split down the middle? [Albert] Can somebody help guide us there to Chak Aktun? [Albert] Wow. [Albert] [quietly] Look at this. [Arcelia García] It's amazing, isn't it? ♪ [Albert] Through here? [K'in] Sí. [Albert] Maya guides K'in and Bor will lead us to the mountain. And Mexican archaeologist and climber Arcelia García will help me explore it. That's got to be the Red Mountain. [Arcelia] Looks like it.

[Albert] Chak Aktun. Chak Aktun, or Red Mountain, lies around two miles to the northwest of the archaeological site of Noh K'uh. [Arcelia] Can I pass you that rope? [Albert] Yeah. [Arcelia] Let's go. [Albert] Okay. Looks like there's a little trail up here. What is this? Oh! What?! You got to see this. [Arcelia] What is this? [Albert] Wow. A hole into the mountain. [exhales] ♪ [Albert] Arcelia, I'm at the bottom of this first section of the cave. It's beautiful. [Arcelia] Hey, Albert, if you see any stalagmites or stalactites, look around there. [Albert] Oh, look. There's a stalactite right there. [Arcelia] For the Maya, those were sacred spaces. So, see if you see anything around them. [Albert] Ah, anything in here.

Looking in all the cracks. Not sure I want to know what I'm gonna to find. I think I can see your light, is that, is that you? [Arcelia] Hey. [Albert] The tunnels are connected. That's incredible. This must be a whole system. But right where you were saying to look, directly below the stalactite, look at this. I mean, that's clearly pottery, isn't it? [Arcelia] Yeah, it is. [Albert] Look at this piece. [Arcelia] This looks pre-Palenque. I can tell because it's thicker. This is like waxy. Can you feel it? [Albert] Yeah, and you can almost see that there was paint there. [Arcelia] Yeah. I've seen pottery like this, like this color, in Noh K'uh. [Albert] In Noh K'uh? [Arcelia] Yeah. [Albert] Wow. Do you think this was put here by the people of Noh K'uh? [Arcelia] Yeah, most likely. [Albert] Oh, my gosh. I mean, that's 2,500 years ago. [Arcelia] I can picture them, coming down from there with the ropes all the way here with their torches, carefully placing the pottery just in the right spot. The LiDAR scanner beams 400,000 lasers towards the ground every second. [Duncan] The canopy's so dense. [Joe] Yeah. [Albert] While many beams reflect off the top of the trees, some make it all the way down to the jungle floor, allowing the team to build a 3D model, which may reveal any human-made features. [Joe] Wow, look at that. [bird squawking] Oh, my gosh! [Santiago] What is that? [Albert] Unbelievable.

[Joel] Look how the, the Maya flattened the mountain. It's a four-sided pyramid. [Albert] Our scans have revealed details of an enormous pyramid temple site at Red Mountain. But there is no evidence of a human settlement there. If this really is the split mountain described in the glyphs, we must figure out where the people who worshipped it lived. You guys also did a bit more at Noh K'uh, right? [Joe] Let's fly over there. [Albert] Okay, let's strip away the trees. Whoa. [Joel] They leveled everything off. [Santiago] See this gigantic rectangle here? Oh, and there's another one there and another one there. It's rectangle on top of rectangle. These are all artificially constructed hills. That's something I never saw before. This is an urban community. [Albert] Wow. [Santiago] I mean, it almost looks like a modern city system, doesn't it? [Albert] It does, but at the time that this was built, what, almost 2,500, 3,000 years ago, is that right? [Santiago] Right, right. [Albert] Did the Maya have large cities? [Santiago] No, so this is a first-generation city. So, the idea of even having a city is completely new. Based on the scale of this and what I already know, I would say it's one of the earliest cities in the Maya region, around 800 BC. [Albert] Wow. How many people do you think made up this city? [Santiago] Oh, gosh. I wouldn't be surprised if this city, at its peak, was about 20,000 people. [Albert] 20,000 people at the time when the Maya civilization was just beginning? [Santiago] Yes. It is a sacred city space. [Arcelia] Do you think that the mountain was part of what attracted them? [Santiago] I think that's definitely the big draw here. This is a powerful place. [Albert] I just got to get back out on that lake, find out if that human settlement at Noh K'uh and the temple site at Chak Aktun are connected. If they are, and this is one giant sacred city, this could be one of the most extraordinary discoveries in the Maya world. [birds calling] Alright, here we go.

[Albert] It must have come from uphill somewhere. So, let's keep going up. [Albert] Cut rocks! [Albert] How are you guys doing? [Joe] Yeah, good, I'm just mapping the perimeter here at the moment. [Albert] Will our data show us how the sacred mountain Chak Aktun is connected to the city of Noh K'uh and finally reveal the true scale of this extraordinary lost Maya world? [Albert] Thank you for hosting us over this last couple of weeks. It's been so wonderful. So how was the scanning? How is the processing? With the city of Noh K'uh in the south and the sacred temple site of Chak Aktun in the north, we can now examine the new data to reveal whether the two sites are connected. Alright, let's see what you guys got in the west. ♪ [Joel] Yeah, it's a site. [Josuhé] Yeah. [Albert] So, what do you think this is? [Joel] There's pyramids, there's temples, there's a rectangular palace complex maybe. [Albert] A palace emerging in the jungle. You guys scanned this whole area on the east of the lake, too, right? [Joel] Yeah that shouldn't be level. Oh, wow. All that's all modified. [Albert] Oh, this whole--oh! [Joel] I just thought of something really, really interesting. This is really, like, blowing me away right now. In Palenque there's three temples side by side with a plaza in the middle. You go to that east site, and it's the same plan, but 1,000 years earlier. [Albert] So maybe the very same people that are building this are building Palenque? [Joel] Yes. [Albert] Wow. A pre-Palenque! The scale of what we're revealing here is breathtaking. The links between Palenque and Noh K'uh feel undeniable. Could this really be the origin city we've been searching for? Let's turn on all the different features that have been identified. [Duncan] I think you're gonna be amazed at what we've picked up. [Albert] Oh, wow. [Duncan] It's just everywhere we look. [Albert] Oh, wow. [Joel] Wow. [Albert] I mean, the whole lake system

is one massive complex. Oh, my gosh! Are you kidding me? The sun sets on the very top of the split mountain, on the beginning day of their calendar. Their origin day. [Joel] It's a connection between the people and their city and the landscape and the sun. It's all connected. It's quite amazing. [Albert] The sacred mountain of Chak Aktun is the spiritual hub of a vast lost city, wrapping right around the lake. Do you think that it's the origin place for Palenque, or possibly more? [Joel] More, more. [Albert] Could we be looking at the, the cradle of the Maya civilization itself? [Joel] It's a cradle. It definitely is. It's a large city on a lake with a split mountain. And it's so early. It is definitely an origin place. [Albert] We've looked for a lot of lost cities before, but right now what it feels like is that we're looking at more than a city, we're looking at the beginning of an idea, the beginning of a people, a civilization. ♪ I set out in search of a mythical city, home to the origins of the Maya. I found a split mountain, carved into a massive temple site. A sacred lake surrounded by countless houses, home to tens of thousands of people. Palaces and observatories aligned to the pathways of the sun. A cradle of the ancient Maya. This lost city provides a tangible link to the origins of one of the Western Hemisphere's most important civilizations. Our technology has illuminated a world that had become blurred by myth and legend. But it was the modern Maya who helped us understand the origins of their ancestors were intrinsically linked to the natural world they worshipped and added a new chapter to the origin story of the Maya and the history of all of us.