The Ancient City of Sela | Lost Cities With Albert Lin

[dramatic music playing]

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): 30 miles north of Petra, I'm laser scanning the ancient city of Sela for the very first time. I'm looking for clues that the nomadic Nabateans settled here. Look at this. There's pottery just, like, falling out of the ground. That's the indication for people living here. This is somebody's fingerprint. Yes, exactly. My finger fits perfectly. That's crazy. You can just feel somebody's fingerprint right here, locked in time. Mhm. Unbelievable.

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): The pottery proves people were here, but it's not clear who. It could simply be the guards charged with protecting the Nabateans' treasure. Look at this. You got a staircase. Where does it go? Up. [instrumental music playing] Probably it's a place to pray. Yes, absolutely. You think so? Yeah. You look for a high place to be closer to the gods.

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): So far, all I've found is a piece of pottery and an ancient stairway to heaven. I guess this is all sandstone, right? Yes, it is. So over 2,000 years, the landscape has sort of melted away.

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): The desert winds and winter rains are eroding the soft sandstone into strange shapes. But I can just make out curious regular markings in the rocks. What are these little holes up here? Well, actually, this is the traditional Nabatean house. So they were living here. And you can see the marks of the axe that they have been using to carving. These are chisel marks, yes, exactly. Somebody was just sitting here, chiseling away, creating a space for their family maybe.

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): Carving caves into dwellings suggested they spent long stretches of time here. Look at the beautiful view here. It's unbelievable. This is the east. The sun will come up. It will be sunny in this spot.

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): The cave's position reveals the reason for the strange regular markings above the entrance. They're post holes for their tent poles. You have this, you know, shelter in front of your house. So they've gone from living in tents to combining tents with living in stone then.

ALBERT LIN (VOICEOVER): The evidence is stacking up that homes were created at Sela. But it's hot, exposed, and desert dry, without a single water source on the whole outcrop. No one can survive without water. So how did the Nabateans? I'm hoping my Lidar data can help solve the mystery.