Ancient Aliens

Giant volcanic rock walls

rise up from the sea.

We consider the sheer scale

of the Nan Madol construction site... it's mind‐boggling.

Just how were these massive structures built, and why?

Ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress embark on an incredible journey

to these remote ruins in search of answers.

Wow. Look at this.

250 million tons

of basalt just piled up and into artificial islands.

Will they solve the mystery of

one of the world's most baffling sites?

We should be getting close to the wall.

So as soon as you get close to those stones, it disconnects.

That's so strange.

CHILDRESS The more you know,

the more mysterious it gets.

There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is the promise of truth.

It demands we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

The Pacific Ocean.

January 1836.

The British cutter Lambton arrives at the shores

of the Micronesian island of Pohnpei.

It is one of the first European expeditions

to reach this remote landmass,

which is located roughly 2,500 miles northeast of Australia.

The ship's surgeon, identified only as Dr. Campbell,

writes about a megalithic site

that stands off Pohnpei's southeastern shore.

He speculates that the massive structures

are as old as the Egyptian pyramids,

and must have been the work of great men.

It is one of the earliest accounts

of what will later be known as Nan Madol.

Nan Madol is this amazing construction.

It's‐it's a full‐on city.

When pilots during World War II would fly over

that part of the Pacific, they would look out their windows,

and they would see what essentially was described

as the Venice of the Pacific.

So that became one of its nicknames.

Today, much of Nan Madol is hidden beneath dense vegetation,

making it appear as though the edge of Pohnpei

extends further out into the ocean.

But in reality, it is an 11‐square‐mile complex

consisting of more than 100 man‐made islets

standing atop a submerged coral reef.

Archeologists estimate that to construct the site,

the builders used 250 million tons of basalt,

a black rock that forms when basaltic lava from a volcano

cools and becomes solid.

Some of the basalt logs and blocks weigh upwards of 50 tons.

Nan Madol is this mysterious island in the middle of nowhere.

You have at least 600 miles in every direction

where there is absolutely nothing.

And so, to find this incredible megalithic structure there,

you have to wonder why that place existed

in the first place.

When we consider the sheer scale

of the Nan Madol construction site, it's mind‐boggling.

Why would they need this scale of construction

on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere?

It is a complete mystery

who exactly constructed it and when.

Historians have attributed the megalithic construction

to the Saudeleur Dynasty.

The empire ruled over Nan Madol for approximately 500 years,

from 1100 to 1628 AD.

But speculation that they were the builders of Nan Madol

has been the subject of controversy,

as many believe that an accurate dating of the structures

is virtually impossible to determine.

It's difficult, really, to put dates on Nan Madol.

Currently, mainstream archeologists are

giving the city a date of about 1100 AD,

and they're coming up with that date by dating

some of the coral rubble that's there.

What I think of there is that this is the date

of the last repair work on this amazing city

and that the city itself

was actually built much earlier than that.

The thing is they left no records.

They left no literature, no history, no art,

nothing that says that they had these advanced technologies

or concepts like mathematics

that would enable them to build such an archeological wonder.

So, it leaves this great mystery

of who actually constructed Nan Madol and why.

A team of scientists, backed by the U. S. Department

of State Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation,

completes a six‐month project to conduct the first lidar survey

of this World Heritage Site.

Lidar utilizes laser wave pulses to create a 3‐D representation

of an area and allows unprecedented access

to otherwise impenetrable locations.

This recent lidar survey at Temwen Island and Nan Madol

indicates that there was

a specially designed irrigation system

that could support people

on this relatively small island adjacent to Pohnpei.

And then Nan Madol is built there, too.

So, who then would have built

such a sophisticated irrigation system,

which no one knew about until this recent lidar survey?

And it doesn't seem that the‐the so‐called builders,

the Saudeleurs, were the builders of this.

While the study continues to credit the construction

of Nan Madol to the Saudeleurs,

many researchers suggest that the oral history

of the people of Pohnpei contradicts this notion.

This recent lidar survey is sensational

because the big mystery about Nan Madol was always:

Where did the people get their food from or their water?

And according to the local population,

it had to be boated in.

But if you now look at this new lidar survey,

which suggests that there is an artificial irrigation system

on Temwen, well, they could've collected the water right there,

and this leads me to think that the Saudeleurs

appropriated whatever was at Temwen Island and Nan Madol.

Does the lidar survey prove that the conventional theories

crediting the Saudeleurs as the creators of Nan Madol are wrong?

But if so, who built Nan Madol, and why?

Intrigued by the results of the recent lidar survey,

ancient astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos

and David Childress embark on a journey

to the remote island of Pohnpei.

They are hoping to find evidence that could shed new light

on what has become a centuries‐old mystery.

‐Here we are. ‐This is exciting.

This expedition is the first for Giorgio,

but David's fifth visit to the megalithic site.

‐All right. Hello. ‐Good morning. ‐Hi, Gus. This is our guide.

‐How are you, Gus? Good to see you. ‐Welcome to Pohnpei.

At Mangrove Bay on the island's north shore,

Giorgio and David meet up with Micronesia's

National Historic Preservation Officer, Gus Kohler.

‐So, ready to go? Okay. ‐Yeah. Let's get going, yeah.

From here, they will travel by boat to Nan Madol.

Nan Madol is one of the last

ancient mysteries that I have yet to see,

and it's been 30 years since I've wanted to come here.

And I cannot wait to see what awaits us.

And what better guide than David Childress?

Nan Madol is the eighth wonder of the world.

It's one of the most amazing megalithic sites

that I've ever seen.

But it's very little known.

The archeologists who come here...

‐What do they say? ‐Yeah, what... they...

How do they say it was made, Nan Madol?

Every‐Everyone has their own theory.

‐Sure. ‐Their own different theory. ‐Yeah.

If you imagine, if you carry it, uh, you know,

it's‐it's a very uneven terrain.

You've got mountains, you've got valleys,

‐you've got water. ‐It's very rugged.

‐Very rugged. ‐Very rugged.

And then the‐the question

of putting it or having it hung underneath a boat...

‐It's incredible. ‐I mean, w‐we've tried to carry lots, small ones on rafts,

tried to imitate how... it's just impossible.

‐They can't do it? ‐Really? So you have actually tried...

We've tried. We've experimented.

...to do it the way that mainstream archeology suggests

and it didn't quite work.

Uh, not with the rafts that we had.

According to mainstream scholars,

bamboo rafts transported the blocks used

in the construction of Nan Madol.

But Gus Kohler does not agree.

As far as he's concerned,

this method has repeatedly been tested and has failed,

even when the smallest of basalt columns are used.

One of the most recent attempts

was made for a television documentary in 1995.

After several attempts, they were unable to demonstrate

how this would be done,

even with smaller blocks weighing only one ton.

After a 90‐minute boat ride,

David and Giorgio get their first look

at the massive basalt walls of Nan Madol.

All right, so here we go.

Here's the massive sea wall here.

But it's just huge.

Look at these giant stones.

How they're piled up here.

‐But it‐it's just, it's huge. ‐TSOUKALOS: Incredible.

It's just 250 million tons

of basalt just piled up and into giant walls

and artificial islands.

It‐it boggles the mind.