1 00:00:07,510 --> 00:00:09,380 This is an incredible, scene. 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,180 There's really no other, way to describe it, than to say, 3 00:00:15,180 --> 00:00:16,780 it's a scene of mass, death. 4 00:00:18,650 --> 00:00:21,920 A single family, frozen in time. 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,650 Buried in seconds, almost four, zero years ago. 6 00:00:30,230 --> 00:00:34,350 A lot of people, refer to this as, China's pompeii. 7 00:00:36,150 --> 00:00:39,350 Could this tragedy, hold clues to, the collapse of, 8 00:00:39,350 --> 00:00:42,850 one of China's very, earliest, ancient kingdoms? 9 00:00:49,060 --> 00:00:53,530 I'm Alan maca, an archaeologist and, expert in ancient, 10 00:00:53,580 --> 00:00:59,480 civilizations, China's distant past, 11 00:00:58,105 --> 00:01:05,280 China's distant past, from a whole, new perspective space. 12 00:01:08,130 --> 00:01:11,250 Today, state of the art, satellites see the world, 13 00:01:11,250 --> 00:01:17,600 in stunning detail, archaeology. 14 00:01:16,650 --> 00:01:17,600 archaeology. 15 00:01:18,420 --> 00:01:21,420 Enabling us to recreate, a lost ancient world, 16 00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:24,220 invisible to the naked, eye. 17 00:01:26,270 --> 00:01:29,270 Working alongside, leading Chinese experts, 18 00:01:30,370 --> 00:01:33,245 my team and I, are traveling to, some of the country's, 19 00:01:33,245 --> 00:01:36,120 most remote and, incredible landscapes. 20 00:01:37,550 --> 00:01:40,845 And with cutting edge, science, investigating, 21 00:01:40,845 --> 00:01:45,120 previously, unknown cultures, lost cities and, 22 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:47,120 devastating cataclysms. 23 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,430 This is ancient China, as you've never seen it, before. 24 00:02:20,830 --> 00:02:25,875 300 miles west, of Beijing in china's, Shanxi province and, 25 00:02:25,875 --> 00:02:29,900 on the edge, of barren desert, are the hills of the lus, 26 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:30,550 plateau. 27 00:02:33,350 --> 00:02:36,850 I'm here to explore, a revolutionary new, discovery, 28 00:02:36,950 --> 00:02:40,500 that's completely, rewriting the earliest, history of China. 29 00:02:52,750 --> 00:02:55,420 This is shiimauo. 30 00:03:00,330 --> 00:03:02,950 A four zero, year old citadel. 31 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,500 At the heart of a lost, ancient kingdom. 32 00:03:13,470 --> 00:03:15,740 Nothing prepares you, to see this place, in person. 33 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,090 This is one, of the greatest, new discoveries in, 34 00:03:20,090 --> 00:03:21,440 the archaeology of, the world. 35 00:03:22,290 --> 00:03:25,240 This was clearly, a massive, massive city. 36 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,520 The significance of this, discovery became clear, just a few years ago. 37 00:03:34,070 --> 00:03:38,020 Shimao may have been, the biggest city, of its time, 38 00:03:38,870 --> 00:03:40,570 anywhere on the entire, planet. 39 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,500 And, Chinese archaeologists, are only just beginning, 40 00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:49,800 to reveal its secrets. 41 00:03:52,250 --> 00:03:55,670 Now, with new technology, I want to explore, 42 00:03:55,820 --> 00:03:57,820 this extraordinary, ancient society. 43 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:00,520 Wow! 44 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:03,620 Congratulations! 45 00:04:04,020 --> 00:04:07,070 What's behind its most, chilling discoveries? 46 00:04:07,220 --> 00:04:09,820 Can tell, that some of the bones, are very young. 47 00:04:10,770 --> 00:04:15,020 And can the fate, of China's other, lost civilizations help, 48 00:04:15,020 --> 00:04:18,120 me solve one, of the greatest, mysteries of all? 49 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,670 Feel like, I'm in the presence, of something, 50 00:04:22,770 --> 00:04:23,770 otherworldly. 51 00:04:25,420 --> 00:04:28,770 Why, after 500 years, of living here, 52 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:30,870 did the people, of this great city? 53 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:31,770 Seemingly. 54 00:04:34,650 --> 00:04:36,120 Just vanish. 55 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:49,240 Before this discovery, this was just, a grassy hill. 56 00:04:50,090 --> 00:04:54,040 The only sign, of anything man made, was a simple, 57 00:04:54,090 --> 00:04:55,440 line of rocks. 58 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,640 When they first found, this, they thought it was, 59 00:04:58,640 --> 00:04:59,415 part of the Great Wall. 60 00:04:59,415 --> 00:05:00,190 You can see why. 61 00:05:01,590 --> 00:05:04,865 So they began, some excavations around, here and they found no, 62 00:05:04,865 --> 00:05:08,290 this is two, zero years earlier, than the earliest, 63 00:05:08,290 --> 00:05:09,490 phase of the Great Wall. 64 00:05:14,130 --> 00:05:17,000 These walls are, incredibly, well preserved, 65 00:05:17,300 --> 00:05:19,900 yet they're over four, zero years old. 66 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:22,825 That means s. 67 00:05:22,825 --> 00:05:25,850 Shemau is built, at the same time, as stonehenge in Britain, 68 00:05:26,050 --> 00:05:30,150 and thrived more than, two zero years, before the Roman empire. 69 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:34,965 I've been to, a lot of ancient cities, you don't actually, 70 00:05:34,965 --> 00:05:37,240 feel like you're in, a city because, they're ruins, 71 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:42,040 but this, this place, I feel like I am there. 72 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,385 This would be, an extraordinary, discovery anywhere but, 73 00:05:54,385 --> 00:05:57,060 to understand why, this is so, groundbreaking. 74 00:05:57,940 --> 00:06:00,510 We need to see it, from space. 75 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,395 The steps structure, at the center, of the city, 76 00:06:08,395 --> 00:06:11,620 is built into a hillside, high above the meeting, 77 00:06:11,670 --> 00:06:13,170 point of two rivers. 78 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,035 It's in dusty, rugged terrain that, borders the sparsely, 79 00:06:18,035 --> 00:06:19,610 populated ordos desert. 80 00:06:21,630 --> 00:06:25,900 Experts never expected, to find a major, ancient city here. 81 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:28,950 It was long thought, that, Chinese civilization, 82 00:06:29,100 --> 00:06:33,000 began much later, and hundreds of miles, to the south, 83 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:35,700 in the fertile plains, of the yellow river. 84 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:44,010 A stone walllled, settlement is totally, unexpected at this time, 85 00:06:44,010 --> 00:06:45,060 period in this place. 86 00:06:45,410 --> 00:06:47,960 Now I want to know, what kind of society, 87 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,210 built something so large, and so sophisticated. 88 00:06:55,500 --> 00:06:58,250 I'm lucky to, have been invited, to explore the latest, 89 00:06:58,250 --> 00:07:00,500 discoveries with Xiao, Jing. 90 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,190 One of the lead, archaeologists at shemal. 91 00:07:09,290 --> 00:07:12,110 This is the path, up to the giant, central platform. 92 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:15,785 This is an immense, amount of labor here. 93 00:07:15,785 --> 00:07:19,010 This is not ramed, earthrth, this is not mud brick, 94 00:07:19,110 --> 00:07:21,460 this is stone, that had to be, brought up here, 95 00:07:21,460 --> 00:07:23,910 to the site I, it looks like, nothing I've ever seen. 96 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,060 It's the first time, in the history, of a Chinese archaeology, 97 00:07:28,210 --> 00:07:31,860 we've found a4000 year old structure, built this way. 98 00:07:32,580 --> 00:07:35,475 I know that, I had never expected, to see anything, 99 00:07:35,475 --> 00:07:36,875 like this, but it's, uh, 100 00:07:36,875 --> 00:07:39,050 it's amazing to hear, that you all, had never expected, 101 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:41,250 to find anything, uh, this far north, 102 00:07:41,250 --> 00:07:42,050 at this time. 103 00:07:44,610 --> 00:07:48,730 This vast stepped, structure is at, the center of the city. 104 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:53,430 The team is currently, excavating the remains, of buildings that once, 105 00:07:53,430 --> 00:07:54,280 stood at the top. 106 00:07:55,710 --> 00:07:58,880 They're trying to, figure out how, this society worked. 107 00:08:01,230 --> 00:08:03,580 This is the top, of the giant, central platform. 108 00:08:04,230 --> 00:08:07,496 The whole area covers20,000 square meters. 109 00:08:07,496 --> 00:08:11,017 In this prosperous city, the high class people, 110 00:08:11,017 --> 00:08:11,898 would live here. 111 00:08:11,898 --> 00:08:16,006 It included the king's, palace, his administration, 112 00:08:16,006 --> 00:08:19,191 and large scale artisans, workshops. 113 00:08:19,191 --> 00:08:22,563 Okay, so all of the elites, were here living, 114 00:08:22,563 --> 00:08:23,222 working. 115 00:08:23,222 --> 00:08:24,705 The king was here. 116 00:08:25,130 --> 00:08:25,750 Ừ.