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Gold. For men all over the world
a magic, supernatural substance.
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It is incorruptible,
it neither rusts not tarnishes,
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and so it symbolises perfection
and immortality,
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and men have robbed, pillaged
and murdered in order to possess it.
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No one has used it more lavishly
or with greater splendour
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than the people of ancient America.
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There it was sacred and so abundant
that they called it "the sweat of the sun".
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To the Spaniards who conquered
the empires of the Aztecs and the Incas,
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it was a perpetual lure,
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and for centuries they pursued
the legend of El Dorado,
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the fabulous golden man.
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The descendants of the people
who made such glorious things still survive.
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But they no longer wear golden jewels
on their cloaks
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or worship golden statues in their temples.
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The Spaniards destroyed their civilisation
centuries ago
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and reduced them to slaves.
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They have never recovered.
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But they can still tell us much
about the way that their ancestors lived
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and how they worked the precious metal
that was the cause of their downfall.
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(Shrill flute playing, light drumming)
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The first great civilisation
that the Spaniards met in the New World
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was that of the Aztecs in Mexico.
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The treasure of Montezuma...
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gifts presented by Montezuma,
emperor of the Aztecs,
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to Cortes, the Spanish invader,
when he entered Mexico.
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Turquoise mosaic
inlaid with shell, pyrites and garnet.
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The skulls are images
of the terrifying Aztec gods.
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And this knife, with its chalcedony blade
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and handle in the shape
of a crouching Aztec warrior,
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was doubtless used in the human sacrifices
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when the hearts of men were cut
from their chests
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and lifted, still beating, as offerings to the sun.
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When these objects were first exhibited
in Europe they caused a sensation.
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Four hundred years ago Albrecht Durer,
the greatest German painter of his time,
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saw them on exhibition in Brussels
and was astounded by their beauty.
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"In all the days of my life", he wrote,
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"I have seen nothing that has so rejoiced
my heart as these things,
38
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"for I saw among them strange
and exquisitely worked objects
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"and marvelled at the subtle genius
of the men in distant lands. "
40
00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,956
But the conquistadors
were not impressed by turquoise.
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Their passion was gold.
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The gold objects sent back to Europe
by Cortes and his men
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were almost without exception
melted down for bullion.
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It was the beginning of an act
of sustained vandalism
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that was to continue
for several hundred years
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as the New World was ransacked
for its treasure.
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Even during the 19th century,
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the Bank of England was melting down
each year
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several thousand pounds
in weight of statuettes
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and exquisitely worked jewellery,
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turning them into ingots.
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The Aztecs, however, prized a few things
even more highly than gold,
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particularly the iridescent feathers
of the quetzal bird.
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This magnificent headdress
was probably worn by Montezuma himself.
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The craftsman who made it
also made ceremonial shields and banners,
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often using gold merely to outline the design
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and set off the brilliant colours
of the feathers.
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Contemporary manuscripts give some idea
of how the goldsmiths smelted their ore,
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washed the castings in special solutions
and gave them a high polish.
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00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,869
The people of Mexico
forgot these techniques long ago,
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but some of the other activities of the Aztecs,
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so charmingly portrayed here, still survive.
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(Shrill flute playing, drumming)
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00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:18,310
This strange ritual was ancient
when the Aztec chroniclers illustrated it.
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It is an act of worship.
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The man in the centre, they say,
represents the sun,
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and the four swinging round him,
the seasons of the year.
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Each circles the pole 13 times
before reaching the ground.
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And the total of 52 turns
symbolises the passage of the years
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in the Aztec calendar.
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00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,592
Aztec towns were dominated
by their temples.
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This, one of the smallest,
is one of the few surviving
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which although much was restored gives
an accurate idea of what they were like.
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Today, village children play over them,
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barely conscious of their original purpose,
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for these were places of horror.
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0n such altars, the Aztecs made
human sacrifices
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to the many gods that ruled their lives...
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hungry, pitiless gods like Xiuhtecuhtli,
the god of fire,
80
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for whom people were roasted alive
before their hearts were cut from them.
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But the sun god ruled all.
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If he were not regularly fed with human blood
and beating hearts,
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he might set and never reappear
the following day.
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So fearful were the Aztecs
of such a catastrophe
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that as many as 50,000 victims
were given to the god each year.
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0ne of the conquistadors
has left a description of those sacrifices.
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(Man) "They strike open
the wretched Indian's chest with flint knives,
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"and hastily tear out the palpitating heart
which, with the blood,
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"they present to the idols in whose name
they have performed the sacrifice.
90
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,638
"Then they cut off the arms,
thighs and head,
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00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,508
"eating the arms and thighs
at their ceremonial banquets.
92
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"The head, they hang up on a beam.
93
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,877
"The body of the sacrificed man is not eaten,
but given to the beasts of prey. "
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The greatest temples
stood in the capital Tenochtitlan.
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It was built on an island in a lake,
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and the conquistadors marvelled
at its splendour,
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for it was as big as any city in Europe,
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yet they destroyed it utterly
and built Mexico City in its place.
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0f the surrounding lake,
all that remains are a few placid lagoons.
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Among them stand small islets,
originally made by the Aztecs
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who cut canals through the swamps
and piled up the debris between the waterways
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to form artificial islands.
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Here the Aztecs grew vegetables and flowers,
just as the Mexicans do today.
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And in the canals around them,
the people of the Mexico City,
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as their ancestors did, come to relax.
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(# Mexican folk song)
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0n their first expedition, the Spaniards
were driven out of Tenochtitlan
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by the Aztec warriors,
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and many of them drowned in these waters,
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weighed down by the gold that they had looted
from the palaces and temples.
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But the Aztec victory was short.
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Within a few months,
the Spaniards were back
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to strip the city of its remaining gold,
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digging up the very foundations
of the temples in their search.
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So completely did they destroy the city
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that now to find an Aztec building
still standing,
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you have to go far from the capital
and into the country.
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And here the presence of the Aztecs
is very vivid indeed.
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This is Malinalco,
a small settlement in a remote valley
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about 70 miles south of Mexico City.
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And here there has survived
one of the very few groups
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of comparatively undamaged Aztec buildings.
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The Aztecs were a warrior nation,
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and within a hundred years from somewhere
near the beginning of the 15th century
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they built themselves an empire,
and this place, Malinalco,
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was one of the last bits of territory
to be added to that empire.
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And here they built
a small and beautiful temple
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dedicated to an order of military chivalry,
the knights of the jaguar and eagle.
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When this was new, it glowed with colour,
for all these sculptures were painted.
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This, the skin of the jaguar,
was painted yellow with black spots.
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The jaguar is a nocturnal animal,
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and the jaguar knights
were dedicated to the god of the night sky.
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The eagle knights,
they were dedicated to the god of the sun,
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for the eagle is a creature of the sun
that floats in the sky.
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And when they went into battle,
the eagle knights wore feathers on their back
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and the skull of an eagle
with its beak over their forehead
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in the same way the jaguar knights
wore tunics of jaguar skin.
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The Aztecs were fascinated by animals.
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Montezuma had his own palace zoo
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where he kept creatures that were brought
from all over the world that was known to him.
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And animals were also favourite subjects
for Aztec sculptors.
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Not only the jaguar, but even
such tiny creatures as a grasshopper.
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And, even more extraordinary,
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a flea, observed without the aid of lenses,
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and carved from a block of lava
over a foot long.
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The rattlesnake was of particular importance
to them,
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for this animal was sacred.
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Their poets too celebrated the natural world,
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and since the Aztec language Nahuatl
is still spoken,
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much of their verse is still alive.
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(Man reading Nahuatl poem)
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(Man) 0h, you do not come twice
onto the earth.
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Let us be happy.
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Does one take flowers along
to the land of the dead?
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They are only lent to us.
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The truth is that we go.
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We leave flowers and singing and the earth.
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The truth is that we go.
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If it is only here on earth
that there are flowers and singing,
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let them be our wealth,
let them be our adornment,
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let us be happy with them.
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(David) Even in their poetry,
the Aztecs were preoccupied with death,
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and if there is one symbol
that obsessed them it is the skull.
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This one is natural size,
carved out of solid rock crystal.
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The Aztecs also engraved skulls
on the rock walls of their altars
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and cast them in gold,
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and today, skulls are still made out of sugar.
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(People chatting in Spanish)
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These are sold at Halloween
for the festival of the night of the dead.
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It's not a time of sorrow, but an occasion
for making macabre jokes about death.
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You can buy sugar skulls in all sizes...
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huge ones, tiny ones,
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and ones with names on them
that you can send to a special friend.
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Some people even make elaborate displays
of cavorting sugar skeletons.
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0utwardly, the night of the dead
is a Christian festival,
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and everyone goes down to the cemetery
to tidy the graves, repaint them
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and entertain the spirits of the departed
with candles and music.
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(Brass band playing in distance)
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The Aztecs too believed that men had souls,
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but what happened to them
depended not on their conduct in life,
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but on the manner of their dying.
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Warriors killed in battle
and men sacrificed on the temple altars
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went straight to paradise,
where they lived in gardens filled with flowers.
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After four years, their souls return to earth
as hummingbirds
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or brilliantly coloured butterflies.
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Death seems as vivid to the Mexicans
as the god of death was to the Aztecs.
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He ruled over the souls of those
who died of old age
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and from his land there was no return.
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00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:41,113
This magnificent golden image of him
came from the tomb of a noble,
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for gold belonged largely to the aristocracy
and the priesthood.
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It was sent to the emperor as tribute
from all over his empire
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which stretched 500 miles through Mexico
from coast to coast.
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The lists which specified the tribute
that each town had to pay
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00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:59,916
fell into the hands of the Spaniards
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and revealed to them the full extent
of Aztec wealth.
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00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,713
So it was that they were able to demand
and to obtain for Spain
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00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,155
almost all the Aztecs' gold.
198
00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:15,030
The only pieces that survived
are those that were buried in tombs.
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00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,395
The finest pieces the Aztecs owned
were made not by them,
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but by a neighbouring people, the Mixtec,
whose craftsmen were unexcelled.
201
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,796
But the conquistadors seemed to have had
little appreciation of the beauty of such things.
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00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:48,032
To them it was the weight,
the sheer quantity of the metal that mattered.
203
00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:53,319
The Aztecs watched them with scone
as they pillaged Montezuma's city.
204
00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,359
(Man) "They picked up the gold
and fingered it like monkeys.
205
00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,590
"They seemed to be transported by joy
206
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,389
"as if their hearts were illuminated
and made new.
207
00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,109
"The truth is that they longed
and lusted for gold.
208
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,512
"Their bodies welled up with greed
and their hunger was ravenous.
209
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,956
"They hungered like pigs for that gold."
210
00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:31,069
(David) But though the Aztecs possessed
great quantities of gold,
211
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:34,709
it was nothing compared with
what the Spaniards were to discover
212
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,839
some ten years later
when they turned their attention to Peru,
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00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,151
3,000 miles to the south.
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The river beds of the Andes
were rich in gold,
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00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,234
yellow grains lying mingled with the sand
216
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,073
and so heavy
that it was easy to wash them out.
217
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,072
0ne of the Spanish chroniclers
soon after the conquest
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00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:10,359
claimed that in all the country known to him,
there was not a single river without gold.
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00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,797
Higher up in the mountains,
10,000, 15,000 feet high,
220
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:20,637
where the air gets thin, the gold occurs
as yellow veins and spangles in the rocks.
221
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:22,676
People came up here to mine it
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00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:24,830
and with it they made marvellous things.
223
00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:39,797
These delicate pieces of jewellery
were made about 1500 years ago
224
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,552
by the Mochica people.
225
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,393
Even then, goldworking
in this part of the world
226
00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:49,031
was an ancient technique
with a history 2,000 years long.
227
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,349
The earliest technique
was to hammer the gold into thin sheets
228
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,351
and then press a design into it
229
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by resting the sheets on a yielding surface
like leather
230
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,552
and scoring the pattern
with a pointed tool.
231
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,713
They also knew how to cut the gold sheets
and bend them into shape.
232
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,793
Using these techniques,
the Mochica made this golden pouch
233
00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:39,836
in the shape of a puma.
234
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,639
The Chimu in the 13th century
had gold in such abundance
235
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,518
that they used it to cover entire walls.
236
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,990
Their temple door
carried nearly half a ton of gold
237
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:59,871
and when a priest died, his hands and arms
were encased in golden gloves.
238
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:13,075
This figure of a priest is one of
the Chimu masterpieces of goldwork.
239
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,197
It was their goldsmiths
who brought the craft to its peak,
240
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,238
and this one piece,
which is a ceremonial knife,
241
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,629
displays all their techniques.
242
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,469
The outer border of the headdress is cast.
243
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:35,394
In the centre,
the gold is encrusted with turquoise.
244
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,950
The face is made from metal
that has been hammered into a sheet
245
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,873
and its features have been embossed into it.
246
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:49,672
The body and the legs are formed by wrapping
the metal round a wooden core.
247
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,550
And the blade was attached to the body
by soldering.
248
00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:02,392
But the Chimu empire eventually fell
to an even more powerful people... the Incas.
249
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,673
The Incas had a civilisation
just as sophisticated as that of the Aztecs.
250
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,797
They built great cities.
This is Machu Picchu behind me.
251
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,917
And like the Aztecs too,
they worshiped the sun.
252
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,629
The most sacred place in that city
is the Intihuatana,
253
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:25,078
literally the "hitching post of the sun"
where the priests could tether the sun by ritual
254
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,152
and so from the shadow cast
by the spike in the middle
255
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,789
calculate the equinoxes
and the seasons of the year.
256
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,509
In their time,
the Incas were unsurpassed as masons.
257
00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:40,628
They built the most elegant and
complex structures like that circular tower.
258
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:45,350
And what's more, they built them
out of granite, one of the hardest of rocks,
259
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,716
and the only things they had to work
the granite with were stone tools
260
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:53,749
and bronze tools,
and sand with which to polish the surface.
261
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,832
And they constructed the blocks
so accurately
262
00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,038
that they are put together
without any mortar whatsoever.
263
00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:04,954
This is the house of one of their noblemen,
or priests,
264
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,716
and around it,
as nearly all Inca houses have, are niches.
265
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:14,271
Here they would have placed
their golden idols.
266
00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:18,069
They cut these blocks
all sorts of shapes and sizes.
267
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,720
Sometimes they cut it
out of the living rock, as here.
268
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,031
This corner piece is one huge boulder
269
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,874
out of which they have cut this angle here.
270
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,635
And the walls of this building
slope slightly inwards
271
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,998
and that, together with the irregular blocks
which key into one another,
272
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:41,871
means that these buildings have stood
in this zone of very heavy frequent earthquakes
273
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,951
for 500 years.
274
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,318
And when you look at these blocks
and with the loving care and skill
275
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,073
with which the edges
have been chamfered,
276
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,038
and the way that corner
just fits into that there,
277
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:57,635
you can't help but feel
that they actually took a positive delight
278
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,632
in craftsmanship of this quality.
279
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:06,670
And if that's the case, perhaps too they took
a real delight in placing their cities
280
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,594
and laying them out so beautifully
on high plateaus like this,
281
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,989
way, way up above the clouds.
282
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,438
The Inca civilisation is dead,
283
00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,478
but the Inca people still live in the high Andes
284
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,235
and still speak the Inca language Quechua.
285
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,278
(# Incan folk song)
286
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:33,038
In Inca times, all had to pay tribute
to the emperor.
287
00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:38,672
Some paid in labour, and some with
the beautiful intricately woven textiles
288
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,957
that are still made from the wool of llamas
and alpacas.
289
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,073
As well as the textiles,
the emperor also demanded tribute in gold.
290
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,430
This was the most sacred place
in the whole of the Inca empire.
291
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:08,548
This is the Koricancha, the temple of the sun
in Cuzco, the Inca capital.
292
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,872
Cuzco is still today a busy city, the most
important one in this part of the Andes,
293
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,636
but little is left of the Koricancha
beyond these massive bastions.
294
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:22,919
But in its heyday, the Koricancha
was a place of unbelievable splendour.
295
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,470
In the springtime,
when the priests had to conduct rituals
296
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,630
to ensure the fertility of the ground,
297
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,314
these terraces were planted with corn,
298
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,550
corn as high as my shoulder,
299
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:38,031
but corn the stems of which and
the leaves of which were made from solid silver
300
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:41,317
and the corn cobs
of which were made of gold.
301
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:46,394
And among the cornfields there were llamas
grazing tended by shepherds,
302
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,232
all built out of gold.
303
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,790
And elsewhere in the temple
there were gardens with trees
304
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,440
and butterflies and birds and lizards,
305
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,432
all made out of silver and emeralds and gold.
306
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:04,039
And of all that splendour, all that remains
are a few tiny little golden figurines,
307
00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:08,750
like this one, which lay undetected
in the ruins for centuries.
308
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,710
Just as the Incas called gold
the sweat of the sun,
309
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,951
so they called silver
the tears of the moon.
310
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,110
Their country was rich in that as well,
311
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,113
and they worked it with equal skill,
ingenuity and wit.
312
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:58,953
The greed of the Spanish invaders on seeing
this spectacular treasure was unbounded.
313
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,508
They captured Atahualpa the Inca emperor,
314
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:06,754
and held him to ransom for as much gold
as it took to fill a room from floor to ceiling.
315
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,308
The Incas paid the price and more.
316
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:13,837
The Spaniards took the gold
and then they murdered Atahualpa.
317
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,195
And so the Inca people,
who had once been masters of the Andes,
318
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,910
and had created one of the most sophisticated
civilisations in the New World,
319
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,309
became slaves.
320
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:29,311
In their search for the precious metals,
321
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:34,838
the Spaniards demolished whole towns,
tore down temples to their very foundations,
322
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,037
and then, as foreign conquerors so often do,
323
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,192
they built their own churches on the ruins.
324
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,352
(Man singing, small organ playing)
325
00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:02,554
(Singing and organ continue)
326
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:55,317
The Spaniards took not only the Incas' gold,
but also their prettiest women,
327
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,755
and thus founded a people of mixed blood,
328
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:02,038
some of whom today live in the houses
that were built by Inca masons
329
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,509
long before the Spaniards came.
330
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,237
This single room
is the home of one such family.
331
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,357
A man, his wife, six children,
332
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,795
ducks, chickens, a cat,
333
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,553
and several dozen guinea pigs.
334
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,675
In the wall above, there is a typical Inca niche
with sloping sides,
335
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,515
but in it where once stood images of gold
there are now tin mugs.
336
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,239
I asked why they kept guinea pigs in the house.
337
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,957
(Speaking in Quechua)
338
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:07,110
Speaking in the language of the Incas,
339
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,919
he told me that the animals
in these cold mountains
340
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,230
needed the warmth of the kitchen fire.
341
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,470
He doubtless thought it unnecessary to add
342
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:19,111
that guinea pigs here are not pets
but food, as they've always been.
343
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:21,915
(Speaking in Quechua)
344
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,395
He spoke proudly of his Inca blood,
345
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:34,995
and though he knew that there was
a Spanish soldier among his ancestors,
346
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:40,074
that to him was not important because,
he said, a person owed most to his mother,
347
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:45,996
in whose body he grew, and all the female line
of his ancestors had been Inca.
348
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,470
He wanted to live, he said,
as the Inca had lived.
349
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:54,429
Then there had been no need for money
and everyone had helped one another.
350
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:57,796
But those days ended
when the Spaniards came,
351
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,839
and now, he said, the Incas' glory is gone.
352
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:20,355
In the country between the sophisticated
civilisations of the Aztecs in the north
353
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:24,353
and the Incas in the south,
life was very different.
354
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,352
The people here
lived not in huge imperial cities,
355
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:31,353
but in small towns grouped together
under one paramount chief.
356
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,431
Although their life was simpler,
357
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,910
their goldsmiths were as skilled
as any in the whole continent,
358
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,468
and they made objects
of the greatest splendour.
359
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,309
These pieces come from Colombia,
360
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,233
and more of the ancient gold
has survived there
361
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,312
than almost anywhere else
in the whole of the Americas.
362
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,837
The reason for this concerns the way
in which the people lived.
363
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,229
It was comparatively simple
for the Spanish conquistador
364
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,118
to siphon off the Aztec and Inca gold
365
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,510
because it was concentrated amongst
one small group of people,
366
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:26,909
the nobility and the priesthood.
367
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,629
But here in Colombia,
it seems almost anyone could own gold.
368
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,315
And, what's more, many people
seemed to have managed to save it
369
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,437
from the grasping hands of the conquistador.
370
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:43,436
But what they were able to save during life,
they've been unable to do in death.
371
00:33:54,960 --> 00:34:00,671
This skull is probably 500 years old
and belonged to a man of the Tairona people.
372
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:03,274
The name Tairona means gold maker,
373
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,955
and these men who are digging up
an ancient Tairona cemetery
374
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,352
are not looking for bones or pottery
or beads, but gold.
375
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,668
The grave robbers, huaqueros
as they're known throughout South America,
376
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,911
are extremely skilful
in finding ancient graves.
377
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,879
They can recognise a site from
the slightest discoloration in the topsoil
378
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,999
and in this they're often more astute
than many an archaeologist.
379
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:35,108
Here in this cemetery they find gold
on average in one grave in twenty.
380
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:55,995
And this is indeed gold.
381
00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,517
As it happened, a piece quite unlike any
that these men had found before.
382
00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,588
(Men chatting quietly in Spanish)
383
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:22,792
Beneath the mud of 500 years,
the metal is untarnished.
384
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:27,431
It's a small bird,
probably the top of a decorative pin.
385
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,436
Unhappily, the huaqueros' interest
is only in gold,
386
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:47,150
and when they carelessly throw aside
broken pottery and bones and even soil,
387
00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:51,552
they're throwing away knowledge.
So their activities are illegal.
388
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,359
But it's a trade that's been going on
for generations
389
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:58,228
and its impossible for police
to keep efficient control over a country
390
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,880
as wild and as remote as this.
391
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:05,272
A second gold piece, even larger.
392
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,397
This is an ornament for the lower lip.
393
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,471
Most techniques of goldworking
were known to the Tairona.
394
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,199
They hammered it and soldered it
as others did,
395
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:27,238
but above all they were masters
of the process of casting it
396
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,390
by the method called lost wax.
397
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,996
And this indeed was the way
they created these pieces.
398
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:36,913
First the object is modelled in wax.
399
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,391
Then it's wrapped around with clay
and the whole lump heated
400
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,392
so that the wax is driven off as vapour.
401
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:51,920
This leaves a hole inside the baked clay
in the shape of the object to be cast.
402
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:55,436
Until comparatively recently,
403
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:59,308
no one had ever seen
any complete ancient moulds for gold,
404
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:03,632
but a group of ten
have now been discovered in a grave.
405
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:08,270
This mould is complete.
406
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,557
The wax model was inside it once
407
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,712
and when the earthenware was put round it,
it was fired,
408
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:19,715
the wax came out of that hole,
leaving an empty shape.
409
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:23,270
But what that shape is,
no one at the moment knows.
410
00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:28,150
So what we're going to try and do is to see
if we are skilful enough ourselves
411
00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:31,277
to complete the ancient Indian
goldsmith's work
412
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,796
and pour molten gold into the mould.
413
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,395
And now it's had time to cool down.
414
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,314
The original craftsman, of course,
would have simply smashed this mould,
415
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:18,520
but because it's so precious,
we've carefully sawn down the middle.
416
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,556
And this...
417
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:25,389
this is what's inside.
418
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:30,588
It looks to be a little golden bell.
419
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:36,229
All this part, of course, is waste metal
and that eventually will be cut away
420
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,118
and the whole piece burnished and polished.
421
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:43,318
And when that is done, the process will have
been completed,
422
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:48,269
after a pause in the middle
of something like a thousand years.
423
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,711
The descendants of the Tairona still survive,
424
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,236
here in the high mountains
of northern Colombia.
425
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,115
The Spaniards sent several expeditions
426
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:28,590
to try and conquer the rebellious
and independent Tairona.
427
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,875
They never totally succeeded.
428
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:33,349
All that happened
was that after savage battles,
429
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,591
the people moved higher and higher up
into the mountains,
430
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:40,275
to keep as far away as possible
from the white men.
431
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,556
(Speaking in Indian tongue)
432
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:18,316
Eventually they were allowed to live up here
comparatively unmolested
433
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,039
until the Christian missionaries
caught up with them.
434
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,351
They lived in this village
until only a few years ago,
435
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:28,194
when the ljka politely told them that they had
listened carefully to their message
436
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,431
for several years and found it unconvincing.
437
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:36,799
Perhaps now they would leave them alone
to pursue their own ways and beliefs.
438
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:41,556
In the large mission graveyard
there are just three lonely Christian graves
439
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,235
and the chapel is now firmly
and permanently closed.
440
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,311
The ljka's world abounds in symbolism.
441
00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,868
0utside their village they maintain
a sacred garden
442
00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:02,918
stocked with every kind of plant
known to them.
443
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,231
In the heart of that stand sacred houses.
444
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:10,632
The path to the men's house
is itself a symbol of male fertility.
445
00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:18,153
Protruding from its roof are special sticks
446
00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:22,028
which maintain contact
with the higher levels of the universe.
447
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:27,636
(Men chatting quietly)
448
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,710
0nly men are allowed here.
449
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,633
Women have their own house nearby.
450
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:52,029
And here the men sit and debate
451
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:54,236
and here too they chew coca leaves
452
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:58,438
and drift into a mild trance
as the drug takes effect.
453
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:06,031
The leaves are chewed with powdered lime,
kept in a bottle called a poporo,
454
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:11,353
and it's a matter of pride to build up
a ring of lime around the mouth of the bottle.
455
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:14,238
These days poporos are modest goods,
456
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,995
but before the Spanish conquest,
they were made from gold.
457
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:21,436
These, excavated from
thousand... year... old graves,
458
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:25,672
are clear evidence that the habit
of drug... chewing has great antiquity.
459
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,556
Perhaps too it was the visions they saw
while taking drugs
460
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:38,714
that led the goldsmiths to model a strange
menagerie of golden monsters,
461
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:43,749
fantastic creatures that could only have lived
in the minds of the men who made them.
462
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:58,428
It is possible that the ljka even today
use golden objects in their rituals.
463
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:03,116
If they do, they will certainly not show them
to anyone from the outside world...
464
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:05,430
they want no part of that.
465
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:15,632
400 miles to the south lived another
gold... using people, the Muiscas.
466
00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:19,713
They offer their gold to their gods
in the form of images of themselves,
467
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,476
and from these we can see how the Muiscas
wore their clothes and jewellery
468
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,393
and what weapons they carried.
469
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,278
It was from these people
that there came a legend
470
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,511
which excited the Spaniards
to the point of frenzy,
471
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:37,388
and which even today
is a thrilling magical one...
472
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:40,199
the legend of El Dorado.
473
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:51,191
But El Dorado was not just a legend,
it was a fact.
474
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,397
High in the mountains
above the modern city of Bogota
475
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,075
lies a mysterious circular lake,
Lake Guatavita.
476
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,633
In ancient times, when a new chief took office,
477
00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:05,030
his people would assemble
around these shores.
478
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:10,399
Just before dawn, the chief, carrying
a great treasure of emeralds and gold,
479
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,756
was rowed out to the centre of the lake
on a raft
480
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:18,038
accompanied by his priests
and his musicians.
481
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:21,635
While it was still dark,
they stripped him of his clothes,
482
00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:26,794
anointed his body with a sticky resin
and dusted him with powdered gold
483
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:31,908
so that he was literally
El Dorado, the golden one.
484
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,595
And then, as the first rays of the sun
struck him,
485
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,832
the chief threw the emeralds and gold
into the lake.
486
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:44,471
As he did so all the people
around the margin also threw into the waters
487
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,074
their offerings of gold.
488
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:52,439
And then, as a final act, the chief,
glittering in the sunshine like a golden god,
489
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:54,078
dived into the lake.
490
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:55,878
The gold washed from him,
491
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,838
and he emerged again
as a naked human being.
492
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:04,831
Without doubt, therefore, these waters
have received an incalculable treasure.
493
00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:09,188
Eventually, the Spaniards discovered the lake
494
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:12,238
and compelled the people
to cut a notch in its rim.
495
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:16,154
Water began to flow out,
and round the margin they found gold.
496
00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:19,357
But before they could gather much of it,
there was a landslip in the cut
497
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:21,237
and the water began to rise again.
498
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:25,871
The people mutinied and the Spaniards
had to be satisfied with what they had got.
499
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:32,159
Since that time, there have been many more
attempts to retrieve the treasure,
500
00:45:32,240 --> 00:45:35,630
for although the Spaniards took
bits and pieces from around the margin,
501
00:45:35,720 --> 00:45:41,158
most people think that the main treasure
still lies in the centre of the lake.
502
00:45:41,240 --> 00:45:42,753
But none of them have been successful,
503
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:47,072
and at least one of them
had all the characteristics of a farce.
504
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:49,674
At the beginning of this century,
an English company was formed
505
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:51,398
called Contractors Limited.
506
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,233
They came up here
and made elaborate surveys of the lake,
507
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:57,392
calculated that it was something like
120 feet deep
508
00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,914
and decided that the way they would drain it
509
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:06,155
would be to drive a gallery from outside
the mountain up underneath the lake.
510
00:46:06,240 --> 00:46:10,631
What precisely happened,
er, no one is quite certain today.
511
00:46:10,720 --> 00:46:13,757
But it seems that they did drive such a shaft
512
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:17,549
and that they did wake up one morning
to find the lake almost empty
513
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:19,471
and an expanse of mud.
514
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:23,348
They got a few objects from near the margin,
but they couldn't go out into the middle
515
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:25,670
because the mud was too deep.
516
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,069
And while they were sitting
and wondering what to do about it
517
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:33,314
the sun beat down on the mud
and turned it all into hard as concrete.
518
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:35,311
And then they couldn't get the gold out,
519
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:39,871
so they decided they'd have to go back
to Bogota to get fresh equipment
520
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,316
in order to deal with the concrete... hard mud.
521
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,312
And when eventually they came
all the way back up here,
522
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:49,119
they found that the mud,
baked hard as concrete,
523
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:53,671
had actually sealed their gallery
and the lake was now full of water again.
524
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:58,675
And by that time their money had run out,
so they too abandoned the effort.
525
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:04,312
And so it seems that almost certainly
the greatest surviving golden treasure
526
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:09,349
that lies in the middle and South America,
lies in the waters of this lake,
527
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:13,149
where its makers and owners
intended it should lie,
528
00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:17,074
out of sight and out of reach,
as an offering to the sun.