In ancient Egypt a revolution is brewing. The most ambitious building project ever conceived sets off a chain of events that will transform the nation. Buried in the sands of Egypt is the tale of a powerful pharaoh who would become a god and revolutionise his country. This is the legend of the world’s first pyramid. Legends of the Pharaohs s1e1: Egypt’s First Pyramid, History 2021
Egypt’s pyramid-building age: 500 years during which some of the world’s most remarkable monuments were constructed, including the Great Pyramid of Giza. ibid.
When the underground burial chamber was complete, Imhotep turned his attention to the stone monument above … Imhotep would use stone masonry on an industrial scale. ibid.
After toiling for 19 years, Imhotep’s masterpiece was finished. He had succeeded in his mission, creating a magnificent and original tomb from stone … A pyramid that towered over 60 metres high, with sides over 100 metres long, set to contain 850,000 tons of limestone blocks. This engineering marvel still inspires awe today. ibid.
The story of Egypt’s pyramids is one of innovation and mysterious rituals. Backbreaking work and palace intrigue. Legends of the Pharaohs s2e2: Curse of the Pyramids
In the scorching heat of the Egyptian desert a stone mountain rises 100 metres from the sand. This is the Red Pyramid of Dahshur. Over 1.7 million cubic metres of stone. It’s the first flat-sided true pyramid in Egypt: the work of a powerful pharaoh called Snefru … Snefru built not one but three record-breaking pyramids. ibid.
All over the country Snefru recruited civil servants to enforce palace orders. Snefru would need to recruit manpower from the lower ranks, paving the way for a new social class to emerge. ibid.
Massive sculptures carved into solid rock. Soaring structures built to stand the test of time. And gigantic stone obelisks that reveal mysterious agendas … What is it about America’s monuments that continue to fascinate and inspire us? The UnXplained with William Shatner s1e24: Secrets of America’s Monuments, History 2021
A giant stone monument rising from the sands of Egypt. A labyrinth of long forgotten tunnels beneath the German countryside. And the remains of an ancient pyramid located in the heart of the United States. Ancient ruins fascinate us because they often reveal how much or how little we know about the past. The UnXplained with William Shatner s3e8, History 2022
Is it possible that the Sphinx was constructed more than 10,000 years ago? ibid.
Orkney is home to a dazzling array of Stone Age monuments. Julian Richards, Stories from the Dark Earth II: Meet the Ancestors Revisited: Families of the Stone Age, BBC 2013
The subject that I’m investigating is human pre-history. Ancient Apocalypse s1e1: Once There Was a Flood, Graham Hancock reporting, Netflix 2022
My suspicion is humans are a species with amnesia. We have forgotten something incredibly important in our own past. And I think that that incredibly important forgotten thing is a lost, advanced civilisation of the Ice Age. ibid.
I’ve spent decades searching for proof of this lost civilisation at site around the globe. ibid.
An advanced human civilisation much older than our own, lost to history … New discoveries keep on pushing that horizon back. One such discovery has been made here in Indonesia. On the most populated island, Java, about four hours south of Jakarta, near the village of Karyamukti. ibid.
What if an advanced civilisation flourished here in Indonesia during the Ice Age? ibid.
Because Gunung Padang is like no place on Earth … You see these blocks scattered across the mountain. Oddly hexagonal stone slabs strewn about everywhere. Thousands of them. It’s quite a spectacle. ibid.
These rocks have been cut, repurposed as building materials and placed by human hands. ibid.
Traces of structures show up all over the hill … on carefully laid out terraces. ibid.
‘This site consists of two cultural layers.’ ibid. archaeologist
The entire hill is ringed by retaining walls of columnar basalt. ibid.
At least three large rectangular chambers. One around 10 metres down, perhaps an entrance hall of some kind … A third chamber between 20 and 30 metres deep. ibid.
Core drilling: Those sections had been laid out 11,500 years ago. ibid.
Around 100 feet or so he [Dr Hillman] hit the earliest layer of construction … as far back as 24,000 years ago. ibid.
What happened was a literal great flood. ibid.
One of the most mysterious and revealing mythologies in prehistory comes down to us through the ancient cultures of Mexico. Ancient Apocalypse s1e2: Survivor in a Time of Chaos
A land of fertile valleys and simmering volcanoes. This is the Puebla region, east of Mexico City. ibid.
This hill isn’t the natural feature it’s often mistaken for. It’s the most massive monument ever built anywhere in the world … This is the Great Pyramid of Cholula … [and] rose to at least 213 feet, 65 metres … 400 x 400 metres at its base. ibid.
They were stunned at what they discovered inside … 8 kilometres of tunnels … The Pyramid of Cholula is simply the latest in a whole series of more ancient pyramids hidden beneath. ibid.
You start off with a place that for one reason or another is regarded as sacred. ibid.
According to myth, the Great Pyramid of Cholula was built by a race of giants. ibid.
Malta: It’s called Ggantija. And it certainly is a giant of a megalithic structure. For decades, it was thought to be the oldest freestanding monumental structure on Earth. Ancient Apocalypse s1e3: Sirius Rising
The construction of these walls required the lifting of hundreds of massive megaliths. Some weighing up to fifty tons. And what we see today is only roughly half of the temple’s original height. ibid.
Two connected temples with over-shaped chambers, their walls were painted red. And a series of altars where charred remains of animal bones were found, suggesting ritual sacrifices or feasting. ibid.
Ggantija isn’t Malta’s only megalithic temple. ibid.
How much more of Malta’s prehistory lies hidden beneath the waves? ibid.
The Bahamas. These are the Bimini Islands. Just under 60 miles off the coast of Miami, Bimini is separated from the mainland of America by a deepwater channel known as the Straits of Florida. Ancient Apocalypse s1e4: Ghosts of a Drowned World
A massive structure of carefully laid giant stones with every appearance of being a megalithic roadway or paved terrace. ibid.
In their excitement they announced to the world they had found the road to Atlantis itself. ibid.
The slabs are remarkably straight-edged and parallel. ibid.
This part of the Bahamas has been underwater for thousands of years. ibid.
To the ancients, stargazing would have been the greatest show on Earth. The most entertaining way to pass their long dark nights. Ancient Apocalypse s1e5: Legacy of the Sages
Ancient pyramids and temples all around the world connect sky and ground with precise alignments of the Sun, Moon and stars. ibid.
Gobekli Tepe: It shouldn’t exist. Archaeologists accept that it dates back to around 11,600 years ago, making this the oldest acknowledged monument structure on Earth. It’s a highly sophisticated, highly advanced megalithic site. ibid.
It’s older even than the invention of the wheel. ibid.
What is this place? … How ambitious and imposing it must have been in its prime. ibid.
Megaliths weighing up to ten tons … How these massive blocks were lifted and set in place nobody knows. ibid.
Symbols of animals are to be found everywhere at Gobekli Tepe. ibid.
How did a community of Stone Age hunter-gatherers succeed so brilliantly at building with megaliths at their very first attempt? ibid.
Up to 20 other stone enclosures inside the hill and up to 200 pillars. Most remain unexcavated. ibid.
In 2019 Turkish archaeologists began excavations at another site about an hour’s drive east, called Karahan Tepe. ibid.
There was no agriculture at Gobekli Tepe when it was built. ibid.
Around 10,000 years ago all the structures were buried, rapidly and quite deliberately at the same time. ibid.
When did humans first reach the Americas? Ancient Apocalypse s1e6: America’s Lost Civilisation
The discovery of much older archaeological remains. Fossilised human footprints have been found in the New Mexican desert that date to 22,000 years ago, the height of the last Ice Age. ibid.
The few sites that survive may be critical in establishing the possibility of a lost civilisation. ibid.
Poverty Point: An immense man-made earthen structure, today known simply as Mound A … part of a much larger ancient complex. ibid.
Ohio, a stunning example of an effigy mound. A gigantic earthwork shaped into the form of a living creature. In this case, a 400-metre long snake. It’s called Serpent Mound. ibid.
They practice censorship by ridiculing and insulting alternative ideas. ibid.
We have already seen such serpent imagery in ancient monuments all over the world. ibid.