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NARRATOR: Giant stone jars
litter this plain in Indochina.

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Who put them there?

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What were they for?

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Can science unlock the
secrets of the Plain of Jars?

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In Turkey, can this man
cast light on the lost

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art of the ancient architects?

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Is their knowledge
hidden in the stones?

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Does this find under
the Californian sea

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prove that long before Columbus,
the Chinese discovered America?

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Mysteries from the files
of Arthur C Clarke,

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author of 2001, and inventor of
the communications satellite.

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Now in retreat in Sri Lanka,
he ponders the riddles

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of this and other worlds.

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[THEME MUSIC]

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ARTHUR C CLARKE: We are
in Kotte, one of Sri

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Lanka's ancient ruined cities.

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It lies on the outskirts
of modern Colombo.

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It's hard to picture the
bustling civilization

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that once flourished here.

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But that's a sort
of reconstruction

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that archaeologists try to do.

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They spend their lives
searching for keys to the past,

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and perhaps one of their
greatest challenges is in Laos.

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NARRATOR: The fabulous temples
and golden statues of Vientiane

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hide an even greater treasure.

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For Thongsa
Sayavongkhamdy, a journey

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to the strangest place in
Indochina begins with this job.

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THONGSA SAYAVONGKHAMDY:
The Plain of Jars

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is a large area, where
thousands of jars

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have been laying there for
more than 2000 years now.

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And no one knows exactly who
made them-- why they were made.

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And there are a lot
of mysterious things

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about these jars.

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NARRATOR: Thongsa is the
top archaeologist of Laos,

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in charge of the first
modern survey of the jars.

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They lie far away
in the remote north.

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THONGSA SAYAVONGKHAMDY: During
the American intervention

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from '64 to '70,
the Plain of Jars

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had been heavily air bombed.

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The countryside is
covered with craters.

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NARRATOR: The town of
Phonsavanh is the nearest

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settlement to the plain.

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To the local people, the jars
are just part of the landscape.

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The jars are scattered
over 600 square miles.

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In the province
of Xieng Khouang,

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there are about 20 sites
where there are jars.

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But this site is the biggest.

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It is called Ban Ang.

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There more than 250
jars in this site.

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The jars, here in Ban Ang,
are made of sandstone,

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but in other sites,
they are made of quartz.

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But the interesting thing
is that this rock is

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not available around the sites.

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NARRATOR: In the 1930s,
a pioneering study

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was undertaken by
French archaeologist,

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Madeleine Colani.

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An intrepid traveler, she made
three expeditions to Laos.

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She counted, measured,
and mapped the jars,

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but never managed to uncover
all of their secrets.

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She could find no trace of
where the jar builders lived.

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THONGSA SAYAVONGKHAMDY:
The shape

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is also very
interesting, because it's

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not a regular shape.

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You can't roll a jar.

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It wouldn't be
easy to roll a jar.

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It's irregular.

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There's a large
variety of shapes too--

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all of them are different.

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NARRATOR: Helped by local
state archaeologists,

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Thongsa begins his field work
by checking Colani's findings.

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At 10 feet in
height, this proves

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to be the largest jar of all.

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Thongsa finds more
questions than answers.

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In this site, we
have found one lid.

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But why only one lid
when we have 250 jars?

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And the shape, the size
doesn't fit to any of the jars.

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So another theory says that
it might be an offering

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table rather than a lid.

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NARRATOR: At the nearby
mineral water bottling plant,

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local entrepreneurs are tapping
the jars commercial potential.

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Legend says that the jars
were vats for rice wine

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at a party held by
a Chinese warlord

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to celebrate a
victory in battle.

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Other stories say they were
cocktail glasses for giants.

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But Thongsa thinks
that Madeleine

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Colani had the best idea.

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THONGSA SAYAVONGKHAMDY:
My feeling is

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that this site is funeral site.

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It's a grave yard.

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There is a large cave with two
man-made openings on its roof.

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This is the theory
which I support,

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suggesting that it used to
be a crematorium and remains

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were kept in the jars.

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And we'll have to look
for these remains.

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The Plain of Jars, it's
unique of its kind.

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It's a very valuable
cultural site.

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It's a place full of
mysteries and questions,

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and we are just trying to
find the answers to them.

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What an extraordinary place.

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I wonder if the
people of the future

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will be as puzzled by the bomb
craters as we are by the jars.

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The only thing that would clear
up this frustrating mystery

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would be some kind of a
written document explaining

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why people created it.

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And that's very unlikely now.

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But sometimes
archaeologists do find

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surprising answers,
often against the most

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formidable odds.

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NARRATOR: This steamy inland
waterway in South Carolina

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has not always been
navigable by boat.

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Underwater archaeologist
Mark Newell has

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studied the canal's history.

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Although heavily
used in the 1800s,

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it silted up and almost
vanished in later years.

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During work to clear
it, Mark and his team

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made a remarkable
find in the mud.

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MARK NEWELL: It was a bit
of a sediment in the canal.

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We were excavating and
sifting there through screens.

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And I was standing there
watching the material coming

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out of the screen,
when they suddenly

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this popped into the screen.

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On careful examination,
you can very readily

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see that the chips that
were taken from the stone

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were very carefully chipped off.

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This was no accidental
manufacture.

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And when you see
that kind of care

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taken in creating a stone
shape, then you realize you

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have a tool-- a stone
tool of some kind.

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NARRATOR: It fitted so neatly
into the palm of his hand,

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that Newell was convinced
he was holding a hand axe

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once use by Neanderthal man.

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MARK NEWELL: The first,
immediate, question

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was how could it be here?

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I checked with various
experts and immediately

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established that it definitely
wasn't a South Carolina tool.

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And from the general
shape, it was

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thought that it was very similar
to European ancient tools.

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So we began to examine
that possibility.

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NARRATOR: The trail led
him to the British Museum

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and its vast storeroom
of Stone Age implements.

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The boxes contain
specimens of every type

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of prehistoric tools.

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Jill Cook has
years of experience

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in identifying and dating them.

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JILL COOK: Mark Newell
turned up on the doorstep

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one afternoon in 1989.

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I opened the box, and
he said, have you ever

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seen anything like this before?

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I said, well, no.

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Not, from South Carolina,
but certainly from Europe.

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NARRATOR: Jill Cook
recognized telltale markings

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that told her the axe was
carved over 200,000 years ago.

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She suspected it
came from France.

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I advised Mark to take
it to a geologist, who

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would be able to identify
all the little microorganisms

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in the raw material,
which would indicate where

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the flint might have come from.

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With the results of the
geological analysis,

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we know that this little chap
must have come from southwest

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France, the hinterland
of Bordeaux,

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where it would have been
made about 350,000 years ago.

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Our problem is, how
did it end up in South

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Carolina in the 18th century?

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NARRATOR: The trail
led back to Charleston.

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The search for clues
took Mark Newell

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to the city's private library.

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I'd like to see copies of
the South Carolina Gazette

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for 1824.

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1824.

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Just a moment, please.

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I'll be at the table
over there, thank you.

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NARRATOR: In existence
since colonial days,

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the library society
is the repository

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of local historical knowledge.

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Newell's hunch was
that the answer

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lay in newspaper reports of a
tragedy on the Santee Canal,

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where the axe was found.

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The Gazette for 1824.

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We do ask that you
be very careful.

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The pages are brittle, so they
tend to tear or flake easily.

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And if there's anything
else you need, just ask.

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Thanks a lot.

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One of the most
interesting items we found,

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was this report right here
in the Gazette of Saturday,

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May 22, 1824.

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And it's an account of how a
canal boat belonging to a Mr.

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00:11:52,370 --> 00:11:55,710
Sayler, of Charleston,
blew up in the Santee

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00:11:55,710 --> 00:12:00,800
Canal when its cargo of
vitriol and gunpowder mixed.

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00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,100
And that began to give
us an explanation.

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Or some clues, as to
how this thing might

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00:12:05,670 --> 00:12:07,520
have ended up in the canal.

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00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:09,390
NARRATOR: The small
vessels supplying the canal

215
00:12:09,390 --> 00:12:12,520
in those days carried rocks
and stones as ballast,

216
00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:14,720
often this came
from ocean ports,

217
00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,694
dumped by ships from Europe
after taking on new cargo.

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00:12:18,694 --> 00:12:19,860
MARK NEWELL: When
the boat blew up,

219
00:12:19,860 --> 00:12:22,480
the explosions scattered
the entire contents,

220
00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,690
cargo and ballast rock,
throughout the canal.

221
00:12:25,690 --> 00:12:29,000
Plus, the canal boat would have
been dragged through the canal

222
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,870
to clear it after the accident,
again depositing its contents

223
00:12:32,870 --> 00:12:35,065
along the length of
the canal in which

224
00:12:35,065 --> 00:12:37,500
our excavations took place.

225
00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:41,460
For a quarter of a million
year old Neanderthal tropical

226
00:12:41,460 --> 00:12:45,300
to be transported from somewhere
near the port of Bordeaux

227
00:12:45,300 --> 00:12:47,390
to Charleston, and
from Charleston

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00:12:47,390 --> 00:12:49,860
into the Santee
Canal, and then to be

229
00:12:49,860 --> 00:12:56,810
discovered that many years
later, is pretty phenomenal.

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00:12:56,810 --> 00:12:58,610
NARRATOR: Off the
coast of California,

231
00:12:58,610 --> 00:13:01,900
these divers know that beneath
the waters of the Pacific,

232
00:13:01,900 --> 00:13:04,215
they will find puzzling
archaeological treasures.

233
00:13:04,215 --> 00:13:09,560


234
00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:14,030
In 1975, Skipper Bob Meistrell
retrieved a strange stone

235
00:13:14,030 --> 00:13:15,790
from the ocean floor.

236
00:13:15,790 --> 00:13:18,730
A hole had been drilled
clean through it.

237
00:13:18,730 --> 00:13:20,310
The divers are
looking for some more.

238
00:13:20,310 --> 00:13:25,600


239
00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:27,090
Bob, I'm looking at this.

240
00:13:27,090 --> 00:13:30,937
We need the line to
tie it off with now.

241
00:13:30,937 --> 00:13:32,070
NARRATOR: The
stones had obviously

242
00:13:32,070 --> 00:13:34,360
been carved deliberately.

243
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,580
Experts recognized an uncanny
resemblance to anchors

244
00:13:37,580 --> 00:13:40,937
used by fishermen in old China.

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00:13:40,937 --> 00:13:42,470
BOB MEISTRELL: Well I
don't think their local,

246
00:13:42,470 --> 00:13:44,920
because who would
ever make a piece--

247
00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,390
a stone anchor
when we had steel?

248
00:13:47,390 --> 00:13:50,720
Steel anchors had been around
for years and years and years.

249
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,180
I mean, it's quite
a project to drill

250
00:13:52,180 --> 00:13:53,350
that hole through that rock.

251
00:13:53,350 --> 00:13:56,414
You take it into a guy that
cuts cement pilings and stuff

252
00:13:56,414 --> 00:13:58,380
and ask him to drill hole in
that rock, he's-- you're going

253
00:13:58,380 --> 00:13:59,280
pay me a lot of money.

254
00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:12,040


255
00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:13,940
NARRATOR: Meistrell thinks
that American history

256
00:14:13,940 --> 00:14:16,360
should be rewritten.

257
00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,390
BOB MEISTRELL: If we can confirm
that these are from China,

258
00:14:19,390 --> 00:14:21,850
from a different
part of the world,

259
00:14:21,850 --> 00:14:23,790
and they've been here
a long, long time,

260
00:14:23,790 --> 00:14:25,800
then we can definitely
say that Columbus

261
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,510
didn't discover America.
Somebody else did.

262
00:14:27,510 --> 00:14:33,760


263
00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,740
NARRATOR: Not everybody agrees.

264
00:14:35,740 --> 00:14:37,400
The first stone
that Bob recovered

265
00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,253
was examined by
Professor Frank Frost.

266
00:14:39,253 --> 00:14:42,010


267
00:14:42,010 --> 00:14:45,180
I took a small piece of the
stone to the geology department

268
00:14:45,180 --> 00:14:46,940
at UC Santa Barbara.

269
00:14:46,940 --> 00:14:51,130
And a specialist there
in sedimentary rock

270
00:14:51,130 --> 00:14:55,000
tested it and told me that
it was Monterey shale, which

271
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,015
is the most common rock
formation all along

272
00:14:59,015 --> 00:15:01,490
the coast here in
Southern California.

273
00:15:01,490 --> 00:15:06,570
The first question was answered,
and that is whoever made them,

274
00:15:06,570 --> 00:15:11,890
made them here out
of a local rock.

275
00:15:11,890 --> 00:15:14,370
NARRATOR: Frost discovered
the Palos Verdes, beside where

276
00:15:14,370 --> 00:15:17,080
the stones were found,
had once been a fishing

277
00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:19,210
village for Chinese immigrants.

278
00:15:19,210 --> 00:15:22,690
BOB MEISTRELL: We discovered
that the Chinese living here

279
00:15:22,690 --> 00:15:28,040
in the 19th century
had used stone anchors

280
00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:30,630
in their fishing industry.

281
00:15:30,630 --> 00:15:32,790
This answered at least
part of the question.

282
00:15:32,790 --> 00:15:34,980
The possibility the, the
greatest possibility,

283
00:15:34,980 --> 00:15:39,630
was that these were made
by Chinese fishermen

284
00:15:39,630 --> 00:15:43,420
here in the 19th century.

285
00:15:43,420 --> 00:15:46,230
NARRATOR: Frost's explanation
of the anchor's origins

286
00:15:46,230 --> 00:15:48,970
pours cold water on the
idea that the Chinese

287
00:15:48,970 --> 00:15:52,250
beat Columbus to America.

288
00:15:52,250 --> 00:15:53,700
On Columbus Day
regularly, there

289
00:15:53,700 --> 00:15:58,050
used to be a little sidebar
in the paper saying,

290
00:15:58,050 --> 00:15:59,690
but was Columbus first?

291
00:15:59,690 --> 00:16:00,940
And then there
would be all sorts

292
00:16:00,940 --> 00:16:05,960
of speculation about
Orientals or Egyptians

293
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,890
or Hittites, or whatever.

294
00:16:08,890 --> 00:16:13,390
But no, to my way
of thinking, there's

295
00:16:13,390 --> 00:16:16,920
no evidence for a pre-Columbian
discovery of America.

296
00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:22,960


297
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,070
NARRATOR: Another riddle
to lifted from the sea bed

298
00:16:25,070 --> 00:16:26,990
has taken 60 years to solve.

299
00:16:26,990 --> 00:16:35,200


300
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:36,770
These are ivory tusks.

301
00:16:36,770 --> 00:16:39,470


302
00:16:39,470 --> 00:16:42,571
They are under investigation
by underwater geologist David

303
00:16:42,571 --> 00:16:43,270
Long.

304
00:16:43,270 --> 00:16:47,480


305
00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,720
Long has a favorite
theory that the North

306
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,710
Sea was once dry land and
home to prehistoric animals.

307
00:16:54,710 --> 00:16:58,790
He read in the Times of 1934
that the two ivory tusks had

308
00:16:58,790 --> 00:17:01,440
been hauled in in the
nets of a fishing vessel

309
00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,740
off the Shetland Islands.

310
00:17:04,740 --> 00:17:07,010
Professor Richie of
Aberdeen University,

311
00:17:07,010 --> 00:17:10,869
declared they had
come from a mammoth.

312
00:17:10,869 --> 00:17:12,470
The owners of the
fishing vessel were

313
00:17:12,470 --> 00:17:14,170
delighted with
the publicity this

314
00:17:14,170 --> 00:17:15,530
brought to their fish shops.

315
00:17:15,530 --> 00:17:18,349


316
00:17:18,349 --> 00:17:21,180
David Long was curious to
know if the story was true.

317
00:17:21,180 --> 00:17:26,430
And so I took measurements
and photographs.

318
00:17:26,430 --> 00:17:32,220
And I then went off and tried
to look at other mammoth tusks

319
00:17:32,220 --> 00:17:34,950
in various museums,
and realized this

320
00:17:34,950 --> 00:17:36,910
is not quite the same thing.

321
00:17:36,910 --> 00:17:39,480
NARRATOR: Long used a known
mammoth tusk for comparison.

322
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:43,130


323
00:17:43,130 --> 00:17:46,660
The way one can distinguish
between mammoth tusks

324
00:17:46,660 --> 00:17:50,050
and the elephant's, is
that the mammoth tusk

325
00:17:50,050 --> 00:17:52,430
is curved in two planes.

326
00:17:52,430 --> 00:17:53,900
You can see the big curve here.

327
00:17:53,900 --> 00:17:56,400
But there's also another
curve underneath here,

328
00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:58,750
if I rotate it.

329
00:17:58,750 --> 00:18:01,950
And that the tusk
is turning slightly,

330
00:18:01,950 --> 00:18:05,450
whereas these two
tusks here are actually

331
00:18:05,450 --> 00:18:07,260
just curved in one plane.

332
00:18:07,260 --> 00:18:09,390
They're quite flat,
up here on the bench.

333
00:18:09,390 --> 00:18:11,315
They're just curved like that.

334
00:18:11,315 --> 00:18:15,410
I Immediately began to realize
that they're quite different.

335
00:18:15,410 --> 00:18:16,680
NARRATOR: He got
permission to take

336
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:20,360
a small sample of the
ivory for carbon-14 dating.

337
00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:23,980
He sent it to Oxford University.

338
00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:26,390
They analyzed
it, and wrote back

339
00:18:26,390 --> 00:18:32,760
that we came up with the
dates of about 290 years old,

340
00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,590
plus or minus about 100 years.

341
00:18:36,590 --> 00:18:39,850
And they cannot be mammoths.

342
00:18:39,850 --> 00:18:41,730
They must be from
modern elephants.

343
00:18:41,730 --> 00:18:45,660
Now what were they
doing east of Shetland?

344
00:18:45,660 --> 00:18:49,950
NARRATOR: The shipping records
of 1689 gave Long his answer.

345
00:18:49,950 --> 00:18:52,830
War in the English Channel
caused ships to divert

346
00:18:52,830 --> 00:18:54,800
around northern Britain.

347
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:56,940
Hidden in archives
in Holland, he

348
00:18:56,940 --> 00:19:00,930
found the papers relating to a
convoy of four Dutch traders.

349
00:19:00,930 --> 00:19:04,860
These had foundered
and sunk in a storm.

350
00:19:04,860 --> 00:19:07,690
The fourth ship, which
was the [INAUDIBLE],

351
00:19:07,690 --> 00:19:11,920
had actually set sail from what
we call Sri Lanka these days.

352
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,630
And that was well known as
the major ivory exporter

353
00:19:15,630 --> 00:19:17,620
from the Indian subcontinent.

354
00:19:17,620 --> 00:19:20,020
Most ivory came
out of that area,

355
00:19:20,020 --> 00:19:22,900
and that ship is
recorded as having

356
00:19:22,900 --> 00:19:25,820
been lost to east of Shetland.

357
00:19:25,820 --> 00:19:28,240
My feeling is, that
is probably most

358
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:32,530
likely vessel from which these
elephant tusks have come from.

359
00:19:32,530 --> 00:19:36,980
That they are modern elephant
tusks, brought by a ship.

360
00:19:36,980 --> 00:19:38,970
Not a mammoth,
which happened to be

361
00:19:38,970 --> 00:19:42,970
wandering around in the
North Sea 50,000 years ago.

362
00:19:42,970 --> 00:19:44,770
ARTHUR C CLARKE: The
solutions to the mysteries

363
00:19:44,770 --> 00:19:47,980
of the Chinese anchors
and the Scottish tusks

364
00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:51,100
are intriguing and
ingenious, but they won't

365
00:19:51,100 --> 00:19:53,230
change our view of the past.

366
00:19:53,230 --> 00:19:55,830
For archaeologists,
the greatest prize

367
00:19:55,830 --> 00:19:59,850
is a discovery which gives a
real insight into the thinking

368
00:19:59,850 --> 00:20:02,500
of extinct civilizations.

369
00:20:02,500 --> 00:20:06,130
One rare example of this came
after centuries of research

370
00:20:06,130 --> 00:20:09,210
into the great temples
of the ancient Greeks.

371
00:20:09,210 --> 00:20:11,450
An enormous amount
is known about them,

372
00:20:11,450 --> 00:20:14,150
but what happened to the
architect's blueprints?

373
00:20:14,150 --> 00:20:20,990


374
00:20:20,990 --> 00:20:22,840
NARRATOR: The temple
of Didyma in Turkey

375
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,760
was built in honor of Apollo,
the god of light, art,

376
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,290
and prophecy who was said
to have been conceived

377
00:20:29,290 --> 00:20:30,785
under a nearby laurel tree.

378
00:20:30,785 --> 00:20:34,690


379
00:20:34,690 --> 00:20:37,750
For generations tourists
and archaeologists

380
00:20:37,750 --> 00:20:40,330
have been awed by the
building's staggering beauty.

381
00:20:40,330 --> 00:20:45,570


382
00:20:45,570 --> 00:20:48,090
German researcher,
Lothar Haselberger,

383
00:20:48,090 --> 00:20:49,930
has been studying
the building since he

384
00:20:49,930 --> 00:20:54,190
first came here in 1979.

385
00:20:54,190 --> 00:20:57,390
--The architect,
he was just genius.

386
00:20:57,390 --> 00:21:00,890
The amount of refinement
that boils down

387
00:21:00,890 --> 00:21:03,850
here in fractions of Inches.

388
00:21:03,850 --> 00:21:08,880
And it's just a tiny detail
of this giant building,

389
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:13,050
and this created this beauty
that we are still amazed of.

390
00:21:13,050 --> 00:21:15,670


391
00:21:15,670 --> 00:21:18,160
NARRATOR: Lothar learned
the temple's history,

392
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,310
but no one knew how the
architects had planned it.

393
00:21:21,310 --> 00:21:24,035
Until he took a walk amongst
the ruins one afternoon.

394
00:21:24,035 --> 00:21:30,510


395
00:21:30,510 --> 00:21:31,930
LOTHAR HASELBERGER:
I was here one day,

396
00:21:31,930 --> 00:21:35,110
just wandering around
looking at the wonderful ,

397
00:21:35,110 --> 00:21:37,540
and unparalleled construction.

398
00:21:37,540 --> 00:21:41,670
And all of a sudden I
realized, my goodness, there

399
00:21:41,670 --> 00:21:46,150
are incised lines
that all of a sudden

400
00:21:46,150 --> 00:21:51,570
meld together into quarter
circles, and semi-circles,

401
00:21:51,570 --> 00:21:54,880
and yet another sequence
of quarter circles.

402
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,790
Exactly the way they are
executed out in the temple.

403
00:21:59,790 --> 00:22:03,450
It showed up in such a
brilliance and clarity,

404
00:22:03,450 --> 00:22:07,300
that I had no doubt-- these
are the one-to-one scale

405
00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:14,180
drawings of the construction
plans for this very temple.

406
00:22:14,180 --> 00:22:16,800
NARRATOR: To check
is discovery, Lothar

407
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,370
used mirrors to throw light
onto the faint scratchings.

408
00:22:20,370 --> 00:22:22,670
He had found the
blueprint for the columns.

409
00:22:22,670 --> 00:22:24,540
LOTHAR HASELBERGER: What
we're looking at here,

410
00:22:24,540 --> 00:22:29,840
the outline-- the bent
outline of the shaft

411
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:35,900
that towards the bottom of
the column ends in a profile.

412
00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:39,450
The quarter circle of
which, I'm following.

413
00:22:39,450 --> 00:22:44,640
And after a little step,
it ends in a semi-circle.

414
00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,300
Semi-circle, a profile,
where we can actually

415
00:22:48,300 --> 00:22:54,730
see even the center points for
inserting the pair of dividers.

416
00:22:54,730 --> 00:22:57,670


417
00:22:57,670 --> 00:22:59,850
NARRATOR: Lothar
drew out the plans.

418
00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:02,650
He found that the architects
had altered their workings.

419
00:23:02,650 --> 00:23:05,560
But they were a perfect match
for the finished pillars.

420
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:11,330


421
00:23:11,330 --> 00:23:14,250
An accident of history had
given Lothar this chance

422
00:23:14,250 --> 00:23:15,290
of a lifetime discovery.

423
00:23:15,290 --> 00:23:19,740


424
00:23:19,740 --> 00:23:21,620
LOTHAR HASELBERGER: I was
able to find these drawings

425
00:23:21,620 --> 00:23:23,970
because the temple
was left unfinished

426
00:23:23,970 --> 00:23:26,120
at the end of antiquity.

427
00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:30,040
These drawings, were
of course, meant to be

428
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,290
taken away-- erased again.

429
00:23:32,290 --> 00:23:35,290
This, however, didn't
happen, because the temple

430
00:23:35,290 --> 00:23:36,610
as a whole wasn't finished.

431
00:23:36,610 --> 00:23:40,190
And it's due to that, that
we are able to stand in front

432
00:23:40,190 --> 00:23:46,830
of unfinished walls bearing the
entire set of full-scale plans

433
00:23:46,830 --> 00:23:49,950
as if standing in
the architects design

434
00:23:49,950 --> 00:23:54,680
office, left by the people
just going out for lunch.

435
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:56,345
And we are able to look
over their shoulders.

436
00:23:56,345 --> 00:23:59,180


437
00:23:59,180 --> 00:24:01,390
NARRATOR: Lothar examined
every inch of the walls

438
00:24:01,390 --> 00:24:03,330
with meticulous care.

439
00:24:03,330 --> 00:24:08,221
He found horizontal lines
representing the column shafts.

440
00:24:08,221 --> 00:24:09,720
LOTHAR HASELBERGER: It's
impossible to assume

441
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,030
that the ancient
master builders were

442
00:24:12,030 --> 00:24:13,975
exposed to this
cumbersome procedure

443
00:24:13,975 --> 00:24:16,710
of reading their own plans.

444
00:24:16,710 --> 00:24:20,670
By looking more closely,
along the wall surfaces,

445
00:24:20,670 --> 00:24:25,080
I discovered on
certain areas, traces

446
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,410
off reddish mineral pigments.

447
00:24:27,410 --> 00:24:33,150
And to cut a long story
short, the entire wall surface

448
00:24:33,150 --> 00:24:38,000
intended for the
drawings was covered

449
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,130
with this reddish iron oxide.

450
00:24:42,130 --> 00:24:45,770
And I must say, they
stand up quite clearly

451
00:24:45,770 --> 00:24:48,135
against the reddish background.

452
00:24:48,135 --> 00:24:50,710


453
00:24:50,710 --> 00:24:55,650
After having understood
what I've seen,

454
00:24:55,650 --> 00:25:01,140
one thing was clear to me-- this
is a much more general answer

455
00:25:01,140 --> 00:25:06,660
than just we're solving the
design of this very temple,

456
00:25:06,660 --> 00:25:10,590
it's on the whole, the answer
of how great buildings had

457
00:25:10,590 --> 00:25:11,435
been designed.

458
00:25:11,435 --> 00:25:12,940
ARTHUR C CLARKE:

459
00:25:12,940 --> 00:25:15,000
ARTHUR C CLARKE: Well the
moral of these stories

460
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,610
is this-- apparently
insoluble mysteries may turn

461
00:25:18,610 --> 00:25:21,310
out to have simple solutions.

462
00:25:21,310 --> 00:25:24,130
But one thing is clear,
the key to unlocking

463
00:25:24,130 --> 00:25:26,470
the past that you
can't do without,

464
00:25:26,470 --> 00:25:29,550
is good old fashioned luck.

465
00:25:29,550 --> 00:26:03,434