01x05 - The Rise of the Canaanites

[bunniefuu]

Ever since I began

exploring ancient history,

I've come to realize that

those early civilizations

can provide us with important

lessons for the challenges

that we face today.

Especially when those

civilizations came face to face

with a devastating

natural disaster.

And somehow, survived.

Watch the edge, okay?

This could

crumble at any second.

You see how unstable it is.

Ok, you ready?

Somewhere in this giant canyon,

there's evidence of a

catastrophic megadrought.

I think this is

what we're looking for.

This has to be it.

Oh, look at this.

Look at that band right there.

Boom.

That white layer

right there, that's salt.

That represents a drought.

This could be the megadrought.

This geological phenomenon,

is a sign of what devastated the

Middle East, 4,000 years ago.

That's just year after

year after year of drought.

I might be touching

what changed the world.

2000 BCE.

A century long megadrought,

is ravaging the

Mediterranean region.

Crops fail and ancient cities

and civilizations collapse.

Think about what was happening

at this time in history.

We're seeing the rise of

our first state societies,

the old kingdom of Egypt.

The Mesopotamian world with

Sumerians and the Akkadians.

And then all of

a sudden, boom!

Across the globe,

everything changes.

It was a shift in the

entire Earth's climate,

it was catastrophic.

Some think that it might have

caused the beginning of the end

of all those

different civilizations.

But one civilization survived

and rose from the ashes

of the megadrought.

The Canaanites.

What can we learn

from the Canaanites?

What was it about them,

that let them survive?

If I can find their lost city,

then hopefully I can discover

the secret of how

they made it through.

History books tell us almost

nothing about the Canaanites,

but they are

mentioned in the Bible.

The Old Testament says, the

Canaanites were descended from

Noah's grandson, Canaan,

settling in an area that

we now know as Israel.

Recently, archeologists have

begun to learn more about

how they got there.

As the megadrought caused

inland settlements to dry up,

many people migrated towards

what is now Israel's coastline,

in the hope that

the sea might provide

a means of survival.

Archeologists have discovered

signs of the Canaanites

along Israel's coast.

So, my search for the

lost city begins in the

ancient fishing village

of Jisr al-Zarqa.

I think just up here.

It's always uphill

with you Albert.

I'm hoping my scanning

team, Joe and Duncan,

will help me solve the mystery

of how the Canaanites survived.

Wow, what a spot.

This is amazing.

We know that

4,000 years ago,

sea levels were much lower.

So, if there is an ancient

settlement, it could be hidden

under the sea.

The water was about

two meters lower.

So, we want to

try and get a look at,

get under the water.

How are we

going to scan it?

Maybe we can use a

polarized lens to uh,

remove the reflections

from the water.

So, like really

fancy sunglasses on the drone.

Exactly.

That's exactly it.

You got it.

The polarizing lens

will allow us to see beneath

the surface, at what the

ancient landscape

would have looked like.

All right let's get started.

Ok you ready?

All right.

Starting props.

Yep.

There we go.

Awesome.

While the LiDAR drone

scans the coastline from above,

I'm starting

my search under water.

Alright, jump over. Yep.

I'm using a sub-bottom profiler,

with the help of

geophysicist Guy Lang,

to search the sea

floor for clues

that might lead

to a lost city.

I've been waiting to use one

of these my whole career now,

you know?

It's like a speaker floating

on the surface, isn't it?

Exactly.

Alright, let's

get this thing rigged up.

This technology sends soundwaves

down to the sea floor,

which bounce back,

and our on-board sensor

creates a picture

of what's below.

This is like our version of

dolphin sonar, basically?

Yeah.

We're scanning for

anomalies, in particular,

we're looking for unnatural,

man-made objects,

that could provide clues to

Canaanite activity here.

Lowering away.

We're going hunting

for the Canaanites now.

So that's the

sea floor, right?

We got the reflection

coming on from the signal?

I can see it. Yeah.

There's some

noise over here.

There's something here.

Right there?

What is that?

Yeah.

Oh that, that's a prominent

one, yeah, I mean

-It kind of curves down.

-Yeah.

That's right here?

That's below us right now?

We just passed it, yeah.

-What is that?

-Woo.

Oh, that's a nice anomaly.

Let's mark this one.

These are

the coordinates.

1-2-1-0, and that's on

1-2-5-1 dot 1.

All right. Got it.

Entered. Perfect.

All right let's go diving.

My dive partner is

world-renowned archeologist,

and Canaanite specialist,

Professor Assaf Yasur-Landau.

Okay, I think I'm ready.

Do you have the point?

Yeah, I got

the point right here.

Then we can follow our

compass heading right to

the first anomaly.

You ready?

Absolutely.

-Three, two, one, go!

-Two, one, go!

Wow

Into another world

It's beautiful

Here we go

According to this

the first anomaly

Let's start our trek this way

That sounds

very good, following you

The anomaly that

we're picking up should be

somewhere around here

What is this? What is this?

I see something right here

What is that? Is it metal?

This may actually

be a part of an iron anchor

An anchor?

It may belong to a vessel

which is much later

not the Bronze Age

we're looking for

Not at

the right era, right?

Well let's keep

looking around here

There could be

something still, I hope

This isn't working

anymore down here

'Cos it can't get

a satellite read

It's gotta be here somewhere

Strong tides cause

constant shifting sands,

so objects appear and

disappear all the time.

It's like looking

for a needle in the haystack

A very small needle

in a very large haystack

Let's go this way

Albert, let's check

these stones over there

Albert

I think I've found something

Where?

Look where the crab nests

Is this what

I was looking for?

I think so

Do you think this came

from the time of the Canaanites?

This is absolutely

what we were looking for

This is a real

Bronze Age anchor

It's amazing,

a real Bronze Age anchor

Bronze Age, wow

Sorry, little guy

This little guy

made a home out of it

At first it looks

just like a rock

from the symmetry of these

holes here and here,

and this big hole

and this kind of like

triangle shape

You can tell that it was

shaped by human hands

These holes

are for the spikes

that fasten the

anchor to the sand

No way

This one is for the rope

I'm touching

a Canaanite anchor

Wooo!

Amazing

Well done

We did it

Amazing find

The beginnings

of a maritime history

Amazing

Time to go.

Let's go up, slowly, slowly

-Ahhh!

-That was amazing!

That was amazing.

That's incredible,

that's an incredible anchor.

Oh, you can only, you can only

imagine that, that anchor was

attached to a massive ship.

So, it looks like the Canaanites

were seafaring pioneers.

It's an incredible

thought, the Canaanites,

migrants from the interior,

ancient refugees

of the megadrought,

figured out how to survive,

by embracing the sea.

But it still doesn't

tell us where they lived.

Just heard the fishing

boat motors turn on.

It's dawn, 5:30 in

the morning, roosters.

For the last hour and a half,

I've heard this one rooster

say hello.

c*ck-a-doodle-doo,

thank you rooster.

This is a pretty incredible

place to wake up though.

To fully understand the anchor

we discovered yesterday,

I need to study it

in more detail.

So, I've called my old college

professor and mentor,

Tom Levy, who has been studying

ancient civilizations in

Israel for over 40 years.

Okay, here's our boat.

Tom's a pioneer of high-tech

archeology and a world-leading

specialist in underwater

3D photography,

known as photogrammetry.

Okay, three two one.

I need my camera

Albert, lead on

This way

Here it is, here it is

I see it again

Look at that

Oh, it's fantastic

Albert, that is awesome

Look at this,

what is this?

What is this?

Is that a piece of pottery?

Oh my god

Is that a piece of a pot?

It's a handle

Yeah, see this

is part of a storage jar

it goes with the shipwreck

Four thousand years old.

Look at that,

Tom, it fits back together

That is so cool

Awesome

In my wildest dreams

I didn't imagine that

we'd find that here today

Oh, how incredible.

Albert, let's

do the photogrammetry

Okay, I am gonna sh**t this.

Tom takes multiple

overlapping photographs,

from various angles,

to create a High Definition,

3D model of the anchor.

From this, we hope to learn

more about the vessel it was

attached to and the

origins of the anchor itself.

Did you guys process the

photogrammetry data

from Tom yet?

We have managed

to take a look at it.

There it is.

Wow.

-That's, that's lovely.

-Yeah.

That's really,

really lovely.

This type of anchor began

in the later phase of the

middle Bronze Age,

very common in Cyprus.

So this is a

Cyprus style anchor?

Just so I can understand.

Yes.

This style anchor,

are stylistically,

from another part of the world?

This anchor is very

likely not, not from here,

but probably from Cyprus.

Ooh, so, how far

away is Cyprus from here?

It's something like

more than 200 kilometers.

That would be

almost a week at sea.

The 3D model of the

anchor allows us to estimate

the rough dimensions

and size of the ship.

-Oh, wow. Oh wow!

-Oh wow. Wow. Oh!

Oh wow!

Oh, that is awesome!

That's

So, so we can

move it around.

This is, this

is very, very nice.

By adding the model of

the boat, to the LiDAR data we

collected along the coastline,

we may be able to see how the

ancient mooring system worked.

This is the land-based

bit of the surveying which

provides kind of

like a bedrock.

What I've done then is combine

this data with the aerial LiDAR.

That is so beautiful.

Can we take the

water down two meters exactly?

Yep, absolutely.

By lowering the level

of the sea, we can reveal what

the 4,000-year-old coastline,

would have looked like.

Let's see it.

-Wow!

-Oh yeah!

Oh my! This is amazing.

Amazing, amazing.

-I'll zoom in too.

-Wow!

So, we're seeing this

coastline for the first time.

Yes.

That's all the basins.

Honestly, I have

not seen it like this.

This is unbelievable.

What you've actually

exposed is how beautiful each

basin can, can provide safe

haven for, for the boats.

So, you have one basin,

a second basin,

a third basin, a fourth basin.

It's sort of like

It's, it's almost

like a dockland.

This is like the

Middle Bronze Age marina

that you guys have found.

Wow.

The LiDAR scan

reveals evidence of an

extensive harbor network.

A 4,000-year-old,

Canaanite port-system.

It's telling me that after

the megadrought that

changed everything

in this region,

you're still seeing boats

from all over the world,

all over the Mediterranean

at least

-Yes.

-Arrive to these shores.

So, what were they doing here?

Why were they coming here?

This is the place in

which, after the megadrought

and after the beginning

of Canaanite culture,

people began to trade

with other places

and this maritime commerce

actually gave them another

buffer against climate change.

It gave them, it gave

them another, let's say,

economic security in case

that the crops will fail.

That's profound.

So, an event that was so

catastrophic that it shifted

the lives of everybody in this

landscape, actually led to the

concept of global trade.

Absolutely, global trade,

global economy,

a global, more globalized way

of life in order to, to, to

be more resilient.

The Canaanites adapted

to the threat of climate change,

by taking to the seas,

and pioneering an

international trading network,

with anchorages all

along this coastline.

So, if there was a

port-system here,

then there must have

been a city nearby.

I'm headed for the

remains of a Canaanite outpost,

located on a remote cliff top,

in the mountains to the north.

My journey takes me

from the fishing village,

through the city of Haifa,

inland towards the mountains.

The ancient site I'm looking

for is called Ein Tamir.

It's very slippery.

If the outpost defines

the outer edge of the

Canaanites coastal realm,

then it may help me triangulate

the location of their lost city.

Supposed to be another

Canaanite Bronze Age site,

up at the top here.

Okay.

Maybe they were climbers.

Really solid rock, but

little bits can fall off.

It's like climbing up a

crumbly rock face with a bunch

of spikes sticking

you in the face.

Do you think they could

have come all the way up here?

Wow, look at that.

Look at it, loose.

Oh my god.

Are you alright?

Are you okay?

Please can you

bring me that first aid kit

here immediately.

that was terrifying.

hell,

that was terrifying.

Pardon my French.

.

That was,

that was a huge piece.

-Want a hand?

-I'm alright.

That was a close call.

-Wow.

-My foot broke.

-Do you feel okay?

-Well, it's gone.

It fell under the, I

got crushed under there.

Woah.

Guys, be careful

as you go past

stones have fallen down here

ALBERT:.

That was as close as you can get

to getting crushed by a rock.

That was horrible.

There's only a handful of

moments in my life where

I remember time slowing down.

They're always the moments

where everything can change.

I can remember six years

ago the feeling of the car

as it started to roll.

In the aftermath,

I would lose my leg.

In that moment it felt

like time stopped,

and then just now,

I knew I had to

get out of the way.

What a near miss huh?

Look at that.

Look how heavy this thing is.

Yeah, like, this is.

This is half a ton of rock.

This would have k*lled me.

We got within, we got within,

moment, like just

Alright, let's just

get out of here,

I don't wanna think

about this right now.

Everybody's pretty shooken up.

Trying to make sense

of what just happened.

I mean, look at this,

carbon-fiber's

completely destroyed.

It was me, that boulder,

and then my foot

on the other side,

so that means I just

barely made it through.

That's too close.

I got a spare.

At least I had a spare.

Let's keep going.

To get to the top,

I've adapted my

plan to find a safer route.

The one thing I have learned

through my life is that

you don't get to choose

what happens all the time

and you don't get to

choose when it happens.

But when you face a

moment that shifts everything.

The one thing you can

control is how you respond.

-Put one hand on the bed,

and one hand on the walker.

-Ready guys?

Okay Albert, first steps.

-Argh.

-Looking good.

-Ahh.

Just stand right there,

no walking yet, just

And in a lot of ways,

that's at the heart

of the story here.

The story of the Canaanites,

it's a story of

the human spirit,

of our desire to survive.

It's a story of

bravery of courage,

of hope, of adaptability.

It's a story of resilience.

Man, look at this place.

There must have

been something here.

Carbon dating and pottery

remains discovered here,

verify this site to be

around 3,700 years old.

The same period that this

region was beginning to recover

from the megadrought.

Archeologists believe that this

may have been a watch tower,

guarding Canaanite territory.

Perhaps a bird's eye

view will help reveal

its strategic purpose?

Wow. Look at this.

Look at this.

That's the coastline.

That's where we were

finding the anchors.

Then this.

Wow.

Maybe this was a whole

thoroughfare of travel,

of trade.

Goods from all over

the Mediterranean,

making their way up

this valley maybe,

and over the mountains beyond.

And this was an outpost, a

watchtower, built on the

side of a cliff to keep a

lookout over trade that way.

And what I'm seeing here

between this watchtower

and the anchors is

that they thrived.

And this is happening

all during a time when

the rest of the world is just

coming out of the megadrought.

When everything else was

falling apart, they kept the

trade routes alive for what

would become the Holy Lands.

It's incredible.

So, if this was a

Canaanite watchtower,

monitoring goods coming

in and out, then surely,

they must have lived

within sight of here.

Maybe they were there.

Right between me

and the coast.

I've gotten in touch

with an archeologist

from Haifa University.

Who's told me about a

site with Canaanite remains,

located right between

the outpost and the coast,

at Kabri.

Dr Alexandra Ratzlaff

began working on this site,

an ancient Canaanite

Palace, in 2005.

We could be

over the palace right now.

We just don't know how big

it is and where it ends.

But she hasn't

been able excavate here for

over three years,

and the site has become

overgrown and dangerous.

Did you say there was a

bunch of snakes up here?

There's snakes.

There's scorpions here.

And wild boars.

If anybody sees a snake,

we just walk away from it.

If somebody gets, you know,

actually bit by a snake,

try to get eyes on

what the snake is and

take a picture of it,

if you have the,

like the mind for it.

Because then we can

know what anti-venom

we got to try to answer.

It sounds horrendous. Haha.

So, Yosef, Atum.

Machete time?

Okay, let's go.

Yeah, it's real spiky.

We just gotta get

all of this cleared.

Argh it's really thick brush.

It's all this, like,

thorny stuff, right?

Like

That's horrible.

It's cutting up my hands.

Woah, is that a

look at that right there.

Wow, look at that.

Yeah, we gotta get as much

of this down as possible.

Is this the main excavation?

Yep, this is the

uh, the edge of the palace.

You can see some of the

walls that we've exposed,

but there's a lot

left that's unknown.

Yosef and Hadi,

if you guys can just

clear out this area.

So that we can start to move

methodically across the site.

And then we extend out the

LiDAR and clear out some of

the brush digitally and

we'll have all these different

layers of resolution,

and maybe you see the

full extent of this place.

I think

that'd be amazing.

Okay,

yalla, let's do it.

Our team strips back the

overgrowth in order to

expose the palace foundations.

Everything's

scratching me to pieces.

-This is so thick.

-Watch out.

I think I've got half of

this down my trousers.

Meanwhile, I asked

Joe and Duncan to begin a

comprehensive aerial

LiDAR scan of the palace,

and surrounding area,

to try to establish the

true scale of the site.

Ready for a take-off.

We've got everybody now.

You got the drones in the air.

We got the

machetes in the field.

Let's reveal this palace.

Our scan should reveal the

full extent of the palace,

but will it reveal evidence

of a lost Canaanite city?

With the palace site now

cleared, archeologist Alexandra

and I can start to examine

it in more detail.

Look at this. Wow.

It's a whole different place.

So much more

visible with all the walls now.

I'm hoping I can

learn something here,

that will help me understand

how the Canaanites went from

megadrought refugees to

palace builders in just

a few hundred years.

Walk me through the palace.

Right, so, if we

go through this corridor,

we're entering the

main feasting rooms,

like a feasting banquet hall.

Banquet hall?

So, somebody ate here, or

a lot of people ate here.

One of the rooms, Alexandra

and the team discovered here,

was crammed full of

ancient wine jugs.

Oh, look at that.

-You can see it.

-Wow.

How many jugs are there?

There's 40

in just this room alone.

That's about

3,000 modern bottles.

About 2,000 liters of wine.

I mean they must have

been preparing for a party.

Exactly!

They're bringing in maybe

other foreign dignitaries

coming from other places in

the Mediterranean to Kabri.

You know, maybe deals took

place where somebody was,

like negotiating.

Well, you just made this

journey all the way to Cyprus,

and I hear that you've

got some good stuff.

Maybe you can, you know,

hook me up with a boat and

we can go back again.

Where would the

chief or the leader have sat?

Well,

that's the thing.

It's rectangular.

It's not like it necessarily

leads to, like, a throne or

an elevated place.

Think about it, like if the

palace was only used for

a few elites, why would you

need the big ceremonial halls.

It makes more sense that the

palace is being used for a lot

more people than just like a

king and his family or the

upper elites that this was

for, you know, a pretty

-A community.

-Exactly.

A community.

This is a community hall.

Think of it like

a community gathering,

like a block party.

You could see it, right.

You could feel it.

You can imagine the food

that they ate in this room.

You can imagine the

stories that were shared.

The singing, the music,

the, all of it. Right?

Absolutely.

The people who spent

their time here in this room,

they were the

ones who made it.

They're the ones who survived

that megadrought,

who built the world

that they wanted

out of the ashes of that event.

And this was their world.

A big party.

The story of the Canaanites

is a story of survival.

But maybe how we survive is less

in the bricks and the stones.

Maybe it's more in

what's in here,

how we relate to each other,

how we build family

in the larger world,

how we become a community that

can make it through events that

are so catastrophic that they

wipe out the rest of the world.

Maybe that's what's

happening in this room,

3,000 years ago or more,

the coming together of many

people from many places.

It's beautiful really.

If this is where the

Canaanites came to party,

it stands to reason they

must have lived close by.

There we go.

Joe and Duncan have

completed their LiDAR scan.

It's the moment of truth and

if my hunch is correct,

there is more to this palace

than we first thought.

Thanks for everything

the last couple of days.

So, let's see it.

What did you guys pull up?

Okay, so deep breath.

This is all the um,

aerial and terrestrial data.

Do you want me to

remove the trees, Albert?

Yeah, let's do it.

Okay.

-Wow.

-Look at that.

Oh, my. Wow.

This is so data rich.

And where's the palace?

Can you, can you

zoom in, just a

-There you are.

-Wow.

That's amazing.

That's where we are.

We've never seen

the site like this before.

Really?

Oh!

You did get the whole thing.

Argh, ohhh!

You can see the walls.

Like it was in the

middle Bronze Age.

Wow.

This is something which

is, was never seen by anybody.

That's lovely, that's

really really lovely.

So, let's pull up

all the LiDAR data of the area

surrounding this palace.

Okay.

So there's the site.

Is that one connected

site, this whole rise?

If we go down from here,

the whole

the whole site seems elevated.

Is this one big,

elevated plateau?

Yes, It's

one connected site.

You can see the boundaries.

That's, that's amazing.

It's huge.

It's absolutely huge.

I'm very, very happy.

-Wow.

-Wow.

It's

really, really large.

That's fantastic.

Amazing.

The site is so much

bigger than previously thought.

It's a palace, surrounded

by a massive Canaanite city.

This is the

essence of community,

building something this

big is a symbol of the

cooperative labor

together to build this.

It's impressive.

And it's also a

demonstration of the power of

the, of the community, a

community that can build

something like this.

Other communities

will not mess with them.

Wow.

Or maybe they'll come

and exchange with them.

Hopefully, yes.

Then this must

have been like a,

like a multicultural hub.

You know, you can almost

imagine a metropolitan of

the ancient world here.

And, and people moving

along the coast, coming from

the coast, coming from the

ports and moving here

and then doing business

with the people here.

So, so, the power is not,

is not necessarily,

maybe not a power, of a force,

of military force,

but a power of trade

and a power of, of networks.

This vast,

4,000-year-old lost city,

that we've just revealed,

is more than 50 times bigger

than the palace.

This was the hub of their

global trading operation that

helped them, not only survive

the megadrought, but thrive,

when others couldn't.

Arrrrrrgh.

Hahaha!

Thanks, guys.

It's amazing.

Good work, guys.

Let's go to get some avocados

and party in that

palace like it's

Like there's

no tomorrow.

Like it's 1999.

We

should bring the wine.

This Canaanite world we've

discovered is testament to the

extraordinary resilience and

fortitude these people showed,

in the face of a

biblical climate apocalypse.

The resources, materials

and goods they needed,

arrived at their

port-system on the coast,

and from there

were transported to

the epicenter of their universe,

a magnificent city.

Where Canaanites came together,

first as a community,

then by reaching out

to the wider world,

where they were able

to survive, and thrive,

as the world around

them changed.

I started out on this journey

trying to find out what was

at the heart of the Canaanites.

What was it about them,

that let them survive.

But along this journey what

I've really realized is that

who they are, it's

embedded within all of us.

We are the combination of

generations of adaptation,

of resilience, of bravery,

of innovation and imagination.

4,000-years-ago, someone

stood at this coastline,

and they decided they

would build a ship

that would carry them

across the horizon.

When we stand today

at our own horizon,

we must learn from

those stories,

because if we're gonna

make it through,

maybe it will be as

the Canaanites did,

it will be by coming together,

as a community.