- 6/2/2025
NOVA follows an international team of archaeologists and spelunkers into the Rio la Venta Gorge deep in the Chiapas jungle of Central America. In a rugged canyon they find caves filled with startling remains of a people called the Zoque who lived hundreds of years before the Maya. The extreme inaccessibility and relative dryness of the caves has preserved rare artifacts including bones, clothes, rope, and jewelry. Moving downstream from the caves the team finds a legendary city hidden in a tangle of jungle vines. Evidence of the Zoque's sophisticated writing system and their practice of ritualistic cannibalism and child sacrifice is shedding new light on a little known civilization.
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00:00Tonight on NOVA, they brought their children to this sacred place to do the unthinkable.
00:08These may be children that were offered, sacrificed and placed in here as offerings.
00:13Now, their remote burial chambers offer clues of an advanced ancient culture, drawing the
00:18NOVA expedition deep into Mexico's uncharted jungle.
00:23It doesn't get any better than this.
00:25It's really beautifully preserved.
00:27Join a search for the Lost Cave People.
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01:30And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.
01:47Up in the heart of Southern Mexico lies a wild and unexplored territory.
01:55Winding through it, a river called Rio La Venta.
02:06A team of Italian cave experts came here to chart its canyon.
02:18As they ventured down river, they spotted a number of mysterious chambers carved high in
02:23the canyon wall.
02:30They were not the first to set foot here.
02:35In the shadowy recesses lay the mortal remains of a legendary people lost to time.
02:46The discovery lured scientists from across the globe.
02:51Giuseppe Orefici, of Italy's Center for Pre-Columbian Studies, will lead this team of archaeologists.
03:00He is joined by Thomas Lee, who has worked here in Chiapas for over 35 years.
03:08They pack not only the tools of their scientific trades, but also mountain climbing and rafting
03:14equipment, for this will be no ordinary expedition.
03:20With the dream of uncovering a lost civilization, they head into dangerous mountain terrain.
03:28This is a muddy trail.
03:30It's a terrible trail in here.
03:33The high mountains are uninhabited today by any people, and we don't know of anyone who
03:38has ever been in there, because the country is very rugged.
03:41It's extremely difficult to cross.
03:44It's very high mountain, deep gorges, and filled with lots of vegetation, so it'll be difficult
03:50to enter.
03:51But we have great expectations of finding something of real scientific value for archaeology.
03:59The jungle has yielded such treasures before.
04:06Three centuries ago, Spanish explorers, trekking through the hills of Mexico, stumbled upon astonishing
04:12sights.
04:17This city, called Palenque, belonged to the ancient Maya.
04:26Its temples and palaces, abandoned since the 10th century, still speak of a glorious civilization.
04:37For over 600 years, divine kings and high nobles held court within these walls.
04:45With a mastery of stone architecture, the Maya raised colossal monuments to replicate mountains.
04:55Their leaders, often dressed as jaguar gods, would stand upon the temple platforms to inspire
05:02the masses below.
05:04Here, they performed sacred rituals, including human sacrifice.
05:22The Maya had an advanced culture, but also a brutal one.
05:28Their cities engaged in constant battle with one another, sometimes for the sole purpose of
05:37gaining sacrificial victims.
05:41In this mural, prisoners are tortured and beg mercy from a divine king.
05:49But only blood would satisfy the gods, often depicted as the fierce jaguar.
06:01No aspect of Maya culture is as celebrated as their writing.
06:07They were thought to have the first complex writing system on the American continents.
06:16But a four-ton stela, pulled from a riverbed in 1986, altered this long-held belief.
06:25Its beautiful hieroglyphs predated the classical Maya by centuries.
06:33Linguists have only recently broken the code, tracing the language to a modern Indian people
06:40called the Sokay.
06:46Little remains of the ancient Sokay culture.
06:49The artifacts that have been found suggest that they shared with the Maya common myths and
06:55religious practices, including human sacrifice.
07:04But the details of their lives have been elusive.
07:11The Sokay lived in what is now Chiapas, Mexico.
07:16If more is to be learned about their ancient past, it should be in this region, in the canyon
07:22called Rio La Venta.
07:27The human remains that were found in caves here may belong to them.
07:34These scientists know that a great adventure lies ahead.
07:39Still, not all are eager to get their feet wet.
07:59The daunting waters and sheer cliffs have kept archaeologists away.
08:04This journey is the chance of a lifetime for scholars who study the ancient cultures of Central
08:10or Mesoamerica.
08:15Now cave expert Tulio Bernabe must get the team to the sites.
08:24Rafting downstream is the only way to reach them.
08:31But in the often shallow rapids, the rafts are more a burden than a help.
08:42It's only the first of many trials.
08:50If the river was as difficult to navigate in the time of the ancient Sokay, what compelled
08:58them to come here?
09:05The answers might be found in the dry caves lining the canyon wall.
09:11Like this one looming 200 feet above the river.
09:18Tulio radios the intrepid team leading the way.
09:23They have scaled a near vertical cliff face to install a network of ropes, which should
09:29allow even novice climbers to reach the heights.
09:36The Sokay may have climbed along vegetation leading up to the cave.
09:42If the roots of the vines gave way, the fall was surely fatal.
09:47It's still risky today.
09:54Even the most athletic of the archaeologists struggles to pull himself up.
10:02So more lines are added to stabilize the system.
10:12Some of these scholars are learning the ropes for the first time at over 60.
10:31Even being hoisted to the top requires courage.
10:53Tulio reassures Thomas Lee that his harness will be secure as he is pulled up 200 feet.
10:59For Thomas, the prospect is daunting, but worth it.
11:12He once entered this canyon as a young archaeologist, but he's never been able to scale its heights.
11:19After 30 years working archaeology in Chiapas, I find him back in the canyon again,
11:26but not on my own two feet, but hanging in the air to get into one of these caves.
11:31An archaeologist's interest always is the mysterious, the unknown,
11:36and that's why we're always shoveling up another shovel full of dirt while we go in another cave,
11:41look for another tomb, look for new information on the ancient civilizations.
11:46We're trying really to write their history.
11:52Here, signs of human history are clearly apparent.
11:57At first, the purpose of these platforms is baffling.
12:02They offered a vista of the canyon below.
12:05Was this a military lookout?
12:08Or was this site chosen for other reasons?
12:12With a little brushing, clues emerge.
12:18Beneath the dust of centuries lies a figure carved in stucco.
12:24He wears an elaborate feather headdress, signaling his status.
12:31We believe the site must be a ceremonial one for a few reasons.
12:37First, the floors are covered in stucco.
12:40Secondly, these terraces lead up to converge on a single point,
12:46what seems to be an altar for a god.
12:49And the ceramics we've found are mostly of a type used in religious ceremonies.
12:56Finally, but importantly, we can tell that the cave was used only rarely,
13:02based on the fire sites that we find here.
13:05It was used at most four or five times.
13:09An ancient people journeyed here, high above the river,
13:21in order to perform religious rites.
13:24This canyon, with its many caves, was sacred.
13:30In Mesoamerican culture, caves were passageways to an underworld inhabited by ancestors and gods.
13:43When the sun set in the west,
13:45it entered this realm to engage in a fierce battle with forces of darkness.
13:51And in order to emerge victorious, the sun needed the nourishment of human blood.
14:06There are hundreds of caves here, still unexplored.
14:25The team's next target lies 600 feet above the river.
14:35Wow!
14:37But they can reach it, fairly easily, along a narrow ridge.
14:42For the final leg, the archaeologists have to tackle yet another sport.
14:50And in climbing the rope ladder, they all have their own special styles.
14:59It takes a while to get everything, and everyone, up to the cave.
15:27As Giuseppe reaches the top, he has no idea what once took place in this cool limestone chamber.
15:38He and Eliseo Linares, a Mexican archaeologist, inspect the cave for the first time.
15:48At a glance, it doesn't seem very interesting.
15:54There are no obvious signs of a human presence.
15:57Until they spot a few pottery shards scattered on the surface, with what looks like Zoke design.
16:07Upon closer inspection, here and elsewhere, the team reaches back in time.
16:19A stucco floor re-emerges.
16:22And a sacred object, in a rocky niche, sees light after a thousand years.
16:29This pyrite mirror, clouded by time, may have once been used to see a spirit world.
16:37They stop at the site of a small ceramic jaguar, once part of an incense burner.
16:46It hints at a certain type of ritual practice.
16:52The jaguar gods in Mesoamerica were linked to caves and the underworld.
16:59They took many forms, but all had a taste for blood.
17:05These are the two new trailers.
17:07I think that may be interesting.
17:10Giuseppe calls for the full-scale excavation.
17:12Uno, zero, uno.
17:16The archaeologists lay out a grid to mark the precise location of every object.
17:20They'll be here for the next two weeks.
17:28As the dig begins in earnest, the team stirs up a virtual dust storm.
17:34While their eyes cake with dirt and it's difficult to breathe, this arid cloud of dust is welcome.
17:49This cave is very important because it's a dry cave and therefore many different kinds of artifacts of the ancients left here
17:59would not be found in other kinds of sites where the rain and wind and acid soil have destroyed them.
18:08Things like textiles, basketry, wooden artifacts will be preserved.
18:15Even a carved pumpkin rind is found here in immaculate shape.
18:20And more astounding yet, a cotton cloth over 900 years old.
18:32It's a very open weave and the design is worked in while it's on the loom.
18:39But it's a cloth made for wearing in hot country.
18:44It's very light and delicate.
18:46Not just the archaeologists are excited by the dig.
19:05A hive of bees has been stirred up.
19:09And everyone decides to take a break.
19:21While the stings require minor treatment, at least no one has been bitten by the deadly snakes that inhabit these caves.
19:32From the mouth of this cave, Tulio and a colleague survey the other side of the canyon.
19:37Even from this vantage point, it's clear that some of the caves have been touched by human hands, their floors leveled and entries altered.
19:52But there are still exceptional finds back in this cave.
19:55These are copper lights, human copper lights that are very important for this study and will make an interesting aspect for the chemical analysis and microscopic analysis in the laboratory.
20:14Under the tent of this makeshift laboratory, paleobotanist Luigi Piacenza looks into Soke daily life.
20:21We've found coprolites, ancient fecal remains that give us information about what they ate.
20:29Like seeds.
20:30We've found the remains of tiny seeds.
20:34Here are not only clues to their diet, squash, chili, avocado and beans, but also the parasites that may have plagued them.
20:46An abundance of corn cobs have also been found.
20:50These ears of corn provide us with some very interesting information.
21:01Their size indicates they had an advanced agricultural system.
21:05They must have been using fertilizers and extensive irrigation.
21:08Farming could not have taken place in the canyon.
21:17The food was brought here, perhaps from a city now lost to the jungle.
21:26The team settles down for their own meal.
21:29After working long days in the dust and heat, the cool night air provides a welcome respite.
21:48The dig so far has found no signs of long-term habitation.
21:53The Soke traveled here to perform important religious ceremonies.
21:57And disturbing clues about those rituals begin to surface.
22:04Are they human bones?
22:10Yes, human bones.
22:13I have a baby.
22:15About six months, one year old.
22:19The pelvis, long bones, fruit.
22:24Maybe related to the corpse.
22:25He was in a bag?
22:35Maybe.
22:37There's a little bag of cotton, I think.
22:46Giuseppe wonders what this portends, and directs further digging in the area.
22:51Under a nearby rocky ledge, the floor was plastered with stucco.
23:01When the team looks beneath it, they find another cotton bag.
23:06This one holds tiny, fragile bones.
23:09And elsewhere, other skeletal remains lay strewn on the cave floor.
23:21Giuseppe consults with physical anthropologist Andrea Drusini.
23:36More than anyone, Andrea can decipher the jumble of bones that have now come to light.
23:42And can estimate the age of individuals with as little evidence as a single tooth.
23:51While much remains mysterious, at least one pattern is clear.
23:59All of the bones belong to young children.
24:02Giuseppe suspects this is more than a simple burial ground.
24:09This is an infant skull.
24:22That of a child who died at the age of two or three.
24:25The skull was intentionally deformed, flattened, and pushed back at an angle.
24:30Deforming the skull was a widespread practice in Mesoamerica.
24:37A small board was bound to the forehead, and the skull became elongated.
24:44Head binding was a matter of fashion and aesthetics.
24:54And various Mesoamericans, from the Olmec to the Maya, adopted different styles.
25:03It was a deeply embedded cultural practice, which may have cut across social lines.
25:09It doesn't explain why the children are here.
25:21These child burials, as well as being part of the ceremonial aspect of this cave,
25:26may as a matter of fact be offerings in themselves.
25:30These may be children that were offered, sacrificed, and placed in here as offerings.
25:34But the team must be careful not to rush to judgment.
25:40And not all of them are convinced.
25:43We found some burial sites in which the skull is separated from the body.
25:49The initial reaction might be that we're dealing with the sacrifice of children.
25:53But I believe it could have been the work of animals, predators that got into the cave.
26:00Since the bodies weren't far below the surface, the animals may have reached them and detached the skull to get to the brain.
26:09We need the opinion of the physical anthropologist before drawing any conclusions.
26:14This is one of the number of children found inside the grave.
26:33All between one and five years old.
26:37And the importance of this discovery is all children.
26:45No adult bones inside the cave.
26:49After a careful examination of the bones, we can say if we can find human sacrifice markers.
26:58For example, fracture of the base of the skull or vertebra or other parts of the skull.
27:11Small children wrapped up in cloth bundles and left in the back of the cave or buried just under the surface in the cave
27:18is a very old tradition in Mesoamerica where children were sacrificed among the Aztecs to the rain god, Tlaloc.
27:31And other gods required children sacrifices.
27:34We don't know a particular instance for the Sochi of that being the case, but it may very well be since they participated in the same general religious system that was prevailing in Mesoamerica.
27:51Humans were born from the blood of gods and had to give blood in return.
27:56The Aztecs were said to use obsidian knives to cut open their sacrificial victims and then to rip out their still beating hearts.
28:11Human flesh was offered to the gods on special platforms and drained in receptacles like this.
28:18But even kings and nobles drew their own blood to pacify the heavens and serve their people.
28:30To understand what happened here in the canyon, Andrea Drusini must take a closer look at the bones of the children.
28:41Now that the various skeletal fragments have been collected,
28:44he tries to reconstruct each individual.
28:49There seem to be eleven children here,
28:53all between the ages of six months and a year,
28:58with the exception of one five-year-old.
29:05The teeth of the five-year-old show signs of a nutritional disease.
29:10But other aspects of the well-preserved skull are even more intriguing.
29:21This is a deformed skull.
29:27Probably the skull was the object of a ritual.
29:30There is evidence supporting this interpretation.
29:35The hole in the front, which might be the result of trauma.
29:40And how the opening at the base was widened.
29:45This hole was produced in the same manner that was usually used to extract the brain in cannibalistic sacrifices.
29:55The opening is symmetrical and was probably created by an expert hand, since the edges are fairly clean-cut and sharp.
30:08So we suspect that the ritual included the extraction of the brain for a ritual meal.
30:13The consumption of the sacrificed body was considered not cannibalistic, but in a sense, communion.
30:28In which case they did in Mesoamerica consume the flesh of the sacrificial victim,
30:33who took the place of the gods, so that they were really consuming the flesh of the gods.
30:38The archaeologists prepare to move on, packing their brushes and items far more precious.
30:57A cotton cloth has kept the bones of this child relatively intact.
31:02Giuseppe hopes to preserve the fragile bundle for closer study.
31:09And to do so requires a gentle touch.
31:13I will get to move on for a moment.
31:15This one over here.
31:16Do you want to move on for a moment?
31:19In a moment, where the stones are kept?
31:22Here.
31:23Maybe it's better to move on to the surface of my hand.
31:26This one over here.
31:28None over there.
31:30More, more, more, more.
31:31If you want to move on to the right side of the bag.
31:34Thanks, I can't wait.
31:35Here.
31:36Here.
31:39Oh!
31:40As Andrea gathers the last of these anonymous bones he comes across a final detail.
32:10That adds to their humanity.
32:19A bracelet made of leather, tiny and delicate.
32:29While the brief lives of these children remain shrouded by time, the archaeologists strive to find meaning in their deaths.
32:38Child sacrifice in Mesoamerica is generally as a sacrifice directed to the rain god.
32:46The priests would go into the streets and would buy a child from the mothers and carry them off to be sacrificed on pyramids.
32:54And they took others into the caves to sacrifice them.
32:57It's hard to believe this, but the priests were very joyful when the children were cried on these trips to be sacrificed because it was prognosticating a good rainy season the next year.
33:11So the tears were obviously symbolizing the rainfall that would come the next year.
33:18Encountering child sacrifice is an emotional experience.
33:24But like all practices of the past, it must be seen through the prism of history.
33:30As a humanist, I think about the suffering.
33:35I think about the human aspect.
33:37That's the first reaction.
33:39You can't see the body of a small child without having that as your first reaction.
33:45But as a historian interested in trying to understand the past and trying to interpret that, we have to put that to one side and look at the facts to try to understand how they felt about it and what it meant to them.
33:59Because what we feel about it doesn't have much to do or nothing to do with the interpretation of the history or the history we're trying to write.
34:09But there are people in Chiapas whose beliefs do bear on the history of the ancient Soke.
34:16There are thousands of modern Soke Indians, some still living in villages near the Rio Levanta Canyon.
34:25And they keep both the language and the traditions of ancient Mesoamerica alive.
34:44Many of their celebrations today, like this Mardi Gras festival, give Christianity a Mesoamerican twist.
34:55In carnivals, the Soke still pay tribute to jaguar deities.
35:03Despite centuries of European domination, these modern people are still linked to their ancient culture, making them invaluable to archaeologists.
35:16Cave expert Tulio Bernabe has come here to pursue an intriguing rumor.
35:21The villagers speak of a sacred place buried deep in the jungle.
35:31Some of the reported ruins are just a day's journey away.
35:36But it's a long, hard day.
35:42Trucks aren't much use on the mountain road.
35:44And soon, the road disappears altogether.
36:02They head into the sweltering heat of the rainforest, not knowing exactly where the path will lead.
36:07What at first appears to be a rocky obstacle, turns out to be far more interesting.
36:26With considerable machete work, the mass of green vines becomes a wall of stone.
36:41Was it used for shelter or fortification?
36:45They look for clues in the architectural detail.
36:52The encroaching jungle has strangled and displaced many of the stones.
37:00Roots have embraced the ruins, reclaiming them for nature.
37:07But the distinguishing marks of an ancient people are still apparent.
37:15Thomas and Giuseppe struggle to decipher which elements are structural and which are purely decorative.
37:24The stones were laid with great precision, with some left jutting out to form distinctive patterns.
37:39And throughout the structure lie enigmatic and enticing niches.
37:44As they explore both its place in the landscape and its interior spaces, they come to see the ruins as a ceremonial center.
38:03What they were doing in the pre-Columbia era was replicating mountains.
38:12Because the mountain tops, like that big mountain out there in front, those were the accesses to the gods.
38:18And so the ceremonial centers are creating artificial mountains on which the priests were in the temples,
38:29out of sight of the general community, would dress in their representations of the gods themselves,
38:37and then come out and display themselves at a different elevation in front of all the population which was gathered at the base of the pyramid.
38:44This would have had a stairway up the front of it, which would have given access for the priests to the temple,
38:52which would have been up here on top, but has now fallen into ruins.
39:00The team is more convinced than ever that a large Soke population once lived within these mountains.
39:07Somewhere in the jungle might lie a buried city.
39:11And aerial photos hint at broad geometric shapes beneath the canopy of the El Acote Forest,
39:19a vast unexplored territory on the other side of the river.
39:24But before they head to the other side, they are lured by one final challenge in the canyon itself.
39:39This cave is in a particularly auspicious location.
39:40But it's so difficult to reach that the team has dubbed it
39:42Camino Infinito.
39:43This cave is in a particularly auspicious location.
39:44But it's so difficult to reach that the team has dubbed it Camino Infinito.
39:45The infinite path.
39:46This cave is in a particularly auspicious location.
39:52This cave is in a particularly auspicious location.
39:59This cave is in a particularly auspicious location.
40:02But it's so difficult to reach that the team has dubbed it Camino Infinito.
40:09Camino Infinito.
40:10The infinite path.
40:15Even the professional climbers take extra precautions, installing a rope pulley system
40:23usually reserved for dire mountain rescues.
40:26If the flies aren't bad enough, the descent looks worse than expected.
40:41It appears at a minimum 450 feet down to the cave.
40:50And not just the archaeologists, but all their heavy gear must be lowered the whole way.
40:56It appears at a maximum capacity.
40:58It appears at a 154-201 meter.
40:59It appears at a 150 feet.
41:01There's a walkway, right?
41:02There's a way down to the ground, and it appears at the bottom of where the wind is
41:03the bottom of the ground is amazing.
41:09And in a little bit more at the ground, you can see what the wind is blind at the same time.
41:15It's perfect toлив it.
41:16It appears at once.
41:18As he prepares to make this considerably risky descent, Thomas Lee reflects on the value
41:31of life, today and in the past.
41:37When two families would have land problems, for instance, they would line up their people
41:42in two lines facing each other, and the first leader who had a grievance against the other
41:49leader would kill one of his own people, and the other leader had to respond in kind by
41:55killing one of his people, and one by one they would kill their own people until finally
42:02one had decided he'd killed enough of his own people and he lost.
42:06So it's certainly a different way of looking at life and death.
42:10And now, as you are going in the cliff, what do you feel?
42:14I'm thinking about death, no, that's not true.
42:18I know we're secure on these ropes.
42:20So are you ready?
42:21I'm ready.
42:22Let's go.
42:23Okay.
42:24Ready or not.
42:28Here we go.
42:29That's right.
42:30Okay.
42:31Okay.
42:32Yes.
42:33Stop.
42:34Stop.
42:35Stop.
42:36Stop.
42:37Stop.
42:38Stop.
42:39Stop.
42:40If the ropes were up against the cliff's sharp rocks, they could easily fray.
42:44But these ropes are crossed, and I don't understand why.
42:48It's all right, just like an elevator.
42:53There's no floor, but…
42:56Slowly shuttling the whole team down on this perilous ride will take several hours.
43:15In the distance, there are waterfalls, worshipped by the Soke.
43:34The cave is enormous and rich with artifacts.
43:41Stones, made smooth by running water, were brought here from the river.
43:49The team sets to work.
43:57Amidst a pile of shattered pottery, they find incense burners still intact and carved with
44:03animal deities.
44:08These burners were often used at the end of bloodletting rituals.
44:14Blood-stained bark was placed in the bowls and transformed into smoke for the gods.
44:20And there is another sign of blood offering.
44:23A child's skull on a bed of ash.
44:27They remove it with care and move on.
44:35It's an architectural piece, a piece of sculpture that is designed to fit into a building.
44:54It was to be inserted into a wall like this, and represents a jaguar.
45:02While worn by time, this jaguar carries a vivid message.
45:09There may be a city nearby.
45:15The day wanes, and only the fearless dare to make the ascent.
45:22The cavers climb up in the dark.
45:27The archaeologists prefer to wait until dawn.
45:31The greatest challenge here, is finding a spot to sleep, clear of rocks.
45:38I'm dead.
45:40I'm dead.
45:42I'm dead.
45:44I'm dead.
45:46I'm dead.
45:49I'm dead.
45:51TheseThen she's gone.
45:53Time.
45:55You!
45:56Tim helping rápido.
45:57You!
45:58You!
45:59Oh, snowy, running back!
46:00Ready by two lovers.
46:01Pause by two lovers.
46:03This one was put on his plate for quickly.
46:05He threw away at the last round.
46:06Theaaah!
46:07範情el.
46:08donne.
46:09The team must now face the most grueling terrain that the jungle has to offer.
46:27Crossing less than 25 miles will take four full days.
46:37Grueling heat and muddy trails work to drag them down.
46:47They head toward the vague targets they've seen in the aerial photos,
46:51but under the dense canopy of the tropical rainforest, no path is direct.
46:59It takes the dream of finding a legendary lost city to keep the exhausted archaeologists going.
47:09The
47:13The
47:19The
47:23Finally, their eyes behold a sight that almost defies belief.
47:53Looks like it's built on some natural rock outcrops, but it's huge building stones that have
48:21been practically left in their natural form, but stacked up very regularly in this huge
48:29wall.
48:33The difficult trek now has its rewards.
48:36For the very first time, these archaeologists will walk the steps of an ancient Sokay city.
48:46While obscured by the encroaching jungle, it's clear this site is enormous.
48:55It will take days just to get the scope of its size, and years to retrieve all its secrets.
49:04This is the best Sokay architecture we know of.
49:07It doesn't get any better than this.
49:09It's really beautifully preserved.
49:12The original inhabitants put a lot of work into this, a lot of sweat and blood and tears
49:17went into building this.
49:21The Sokay had neither metal tools nor the wheel to aid them.
49:26In this rugged terrain, the countless stones were brought by hand.
49:34As trees cut through walls and vines displaced stones, the ruins were riddled with distortions.
49:43It takes an expert eye to distinguish many details.
49:49This is the doorway.
49:50Yeah, this is the entrance.
49:52Here's the door.
49:53Here's one of the doorways.
49:54In any case, right here is this.
49:58Here we find ourselves in front of a large structure that connects with the other side to form a
50:06central piazza.
50:11It's another huge stone structure that accompanies the walls that we saw earlier.
50:15Yeah, look, the platform is here, surrounded by this construction, which goes around to the
50:26other side of this platform, which abuts that other building over there.
50:34But the only way to get a clear picture of the site is through careful survey.
50:50And by continuing the hard work of clearing out centuries of growth.
51:00After several days, the team is ready to put their findings down on paper.
51:08Plotting the buildings in this way helps the archaeologists see their function and plan
51:12their digs for the future.
51:17But it's also a springboard for the imagination.
51:26Here is what the complex may have looked like nearly 1,000 years ago.
51:33These steps lead to the first grand platform, overlooking a court for ceremonial games.
51:43Others continued to what Giuseppe saw in the jungle as a towering central piazza.
51:50It is surrounded by five separate temples, some containing tombs.
51:59The entire complex is covered in stucco, making it glisten in the tropical sun, a grand residence
52:07for Soke leaders, and also a place of pageantry.
52:12I didn't think it was possible to still find sites like this, where we've been working
52:22the past few days.
52:26It's like being transported to a world that I thought was gone forever.
52:31The world of the explorers and artists of over a century ago who first described the Maya
52:36and other Mesoamerican civilizations.
52:41To find buildings this way, in the middle of the jungle, immersed in this vegetation, almost
52:47completely engulfed, swallowed, it's a unique sensation, like going back in time.
52:57This year's expedition to the Rio La Venta Canyon has made many precious finds.
53:05But they are only starting points on a longer search for an ever-elusive past.
53:13The Sokes have a term for archaeologists.
53:16It's the individual who makes the stones speak.
53:20Our problem and deep worry is that we make them speak correctly, because what we want is
53:24the truth in history.
53:54Palenque Copan Tikal.
54:01These Mayan temples and places were once consumed by jungles, until explorers revealed their secrets.
54:08See the ruins emerge at www.pbs.org.
54:24To order this show for $19.95 plus shipping and handling, call 1-800-255-9424.
54:33And, to learn more about how science can solve the mysteries of our world, ask about our many
54:39other NOVA videos.
55:01NOVA is a production of WGBH Boston.
55:19Major funding for NOVA is provided by The Park Foundation, dedicated to education and quality
55:25television.
55:31This program is funded in part by Northwestern Mutual Life, which has been protecting families
55:36and businesses for generations.
55:39Have you heard from The Quiet Company?
55:41Northwestern Mutual Life.
55:44And by iOmega, makers of the Zip Drive and 100 Megabyte Zip Discs.
55:49Your universe is expanding, but you can save it, in your own personal space.
55:55iOmega, because it's your stuff.
55:59And by iOmega, the corporation for public broadcasting and viewers like you.
56:10This is PBS.
56:14Public communism.
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