Investigating an Ancient Temple | Lost Cities with Albert Lin

I'm back on an ancient Nabatean trading route, one that leads to the ruins of Herbert Eddaria. Archaeologists are still excavating this city, but it's clear something extraordinary was happening here. My guide is Surveyor Ahmad.

"This is a new thing. This is a design, a layout that was created by somebody's mind to try something new. We're gonna build walls, somebody's gonna be over here, and they're gonna have a house over there. Then somebody's gonna have a place to cook over here. Somebody's sitting in a bathhouse right over there. That's true, and I'm sure they were very happy. This is a completely new idea. It seems like they were, you know, incrementally moving forward, right? You start out as a nomadic society, and then, and then Sella, you know, that's step one, and then this."

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"There's another innovation. This city has a central focus—a temple. Near the temple, we go to the Nabatean kings; they sacrifice the animals here on this altar right there."

"Yeah, right there. Walk me through the process. I'm a Nabateen king now. I stand here in front of this altar. What happens next?"

"First, you have to walk around the holy place."

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"Up here now?"

"Yeah, up. So we are now on the altar. So you lay your animal here, and what happens?"

"Cut the throat to let the blood go inside these holes—these little holes."

"These are blood holes?"

"Yeah, this is blood holes. Blood spilled from animals went down these holes. That's true."

[Music]

"The statues I scanned at the museum once adorned the facade of this temple. To create a complete vision of this new Nabatean site requires a full digital scan. It's the first time this has ever been done. It's a complex undertaking, demanding detailed scanning from the air and on the ground."

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"Merging the data creates a new vision of this spectacular long-lost temple."

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"Crowning the temple are the museum relics back in their original home. This place reveals the evolution from their starter city at Salah."

[Music]

"You."