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				What Happened at Jamestown? What was behind the starvation and violence that devasted the colony?
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: Haven't we all sometimes dreamed of how great it would be to transport ourselves back into the past and see what life was really like back then? About as close as we can get to that are living history exhibits-- like this reconstruction of the Jamestown fort as it appeared around 1610. It was struggling to survive then and become the first permanent English settlement in America. But how do we know what to put in the reconstructions? Of course, where they exist@H documents and records can tell us a lot but sometimes they're misleading or incomplete. Often the most telling information is literally dug up. That's what scientists have been doing on Jamestown Island in the five years since the site of the original fort was discovered about a mile from here. The results have been spectacularly revealing-- particularly what they've found through forensic analysis of the human remains-- so that now we have an intimate and in some ways unexpected picture of those early, terrible days at Jamestown. Then we'll be off around the world in search of other dead men's tales. =In western China the dead men are wonderfully preserved, mummified bodies of people who traveled between China and Europe 2,000 years ago. The discovery of those mummies is shedding surprising new light on the first contacts between Chinese and European cultures. In southern Africa we'll witness the unprecedented discovery of a rich royal grave. It's inside a palace complex in the center of a powerful and ancient trading network. In Egypt, we'll be there as archaeologists discover for the first time the tombs of the people who built the pyramids-- literally built the pyramids; not the pharaohs who gave the orders but the laborers and foremen and engineers who actually did the work. And we'll make our way to the American Wild West to see how forensic archaeology x has shown that the legend of Wild Bill Longley is just a tall tale. But first, think back 400 years. Europeans have begun settling in North America and the continent is about to change forever. I'm traveling with an archaeologist and a climate expert and we're about to cross the James River in Virginia. We're heading for one of the last untouched bald cypress swamps in America with trees that hcan be 1,000 years old. Th?e swamp may contain the key to understanding the terrible death rate suffered in the English colony set up on Jamestown Island in 1607. From our ferry we could see the island which for the colonists was apparently very badly situated. One of the English writes of... "We took most of our drink from the river which was very brackish and makes us sick." ALDA: There could be a simple explanation for the bad river water. MAN: In drought years with very poor flow the brackish and salty waters intrude well upstream of Jamestown. When the Indians visited them that one time and said, "You better start praying to your gods for rain" did they start to put two and two together then? Did they say, "Why should we pray for rain? Is something wrong?" I think they were flattered by that comment more than anything. Because, in fact, what this Indian chief said-- and he lived just upstream from here-- was "In the same way that your guns and your ships "are better than our bows and arrows and our dugouts "your god may be more powerful than ours. "So please pray to him for rain because our god is not sending any." ALDA: Jamestown Island is just 1,600 acres, jutting out into the river. It's about 40 miles from the southern end of Chesapeake Bay. The ancient cypress swamp is here and we'll get back to that later in the story. But first we'll head to the island. In 1994 there was a major breakthrough when the colony's original fort was unearthed. MAN: My interest in this particular piece of land here was the church site. And what you see there is a reconstructed church. But in front of it is a church tower from the 17th century. Did you think the fort would be near the church? Yeah-- the first description was that the church is in the fort then it's at the center of the fort. These are from historical documents. ACTOR: "A low level of ground about half an acre "is cast almost into the form of a triangle "and so palisadoed. "The south side next the river contains 140 yards; "the west and east sides, 100 only. "In the middest is a marketplace, a storehouse and acorps de garde, as likewise a pretty chapel." ALDA: It had always been thought that the fort had eroded into the river but Bill Kelso reasoned that if the existing church-- right behind him here-- is on the site of the original chapel then the fort should still exist. Okay, this way a little more. Am I excited? You better believe it! ALDA: A private group-- the Associationp for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities-- acquired the site in the 19th century to preserve the church. They agreed to let Kelso dig. Here's a musket ball... and a piece of pottery. ALDA: Kelso's first shovelfuls contained colonial artifacts and over the next three years the shadowy outlines of post holes and walls were revealed. The fort, abandoned and forgotten by about 1625 had been found. We found holes that were dug in the ground where there were supports but they were very small supports and we think it was this crude at first. What would this have been? Probably a barracks... because here you have a military outpost. ALDA: Kelso's teamtried reconstructing the fort's palisade. The colonists built their fort over just a few weeks without the modern conveniences when they were attacked by Indians soon after arriving. ALDA: You don't have any other supports? You just have this stuff going straight in 18 inches? That's it-- when you put these posts side by side they support each other. And we also found that we had dirt left over which would have been a shot platform. This would have acted to support one of those huge muskets. Oh, I see, so you have a little backing here with the dirt. You could be standing here. And also, this obviously is a little problem if you're worried about arrows... What about that? You could get arrows and shot through there. Well, we figure that they probably put saplings in there-- just pounded them in at this point. But up here they'd leave it open because... They can shoot out. ALDA: As I was looking around the site I thought there was something about Bill Kelso's story that didn't quite fit. This fence doesn't seem to encompass the church. It seems to go at an angle that won't include the church. Aha-- right. We were wrong. (laughing) The church-- this church, at least-- was not in the center of the fort. But it's... you know, so what? ALDA: It was pure luck that the present church had been close enough to lead Kelso to the fort. Even with just an eighth of the fort area excavated so far they've been able to build a picture of Jamestown's early days. WOMAN: We have evidence of what was known as "the starving time." That was the winter of 1609-1610. And most of the men literally starved to death. ALDA: These deliberate cut marks in horse bones are just the beginning of an appalling story. They had six mares and two horses before that starving time. They must have been pretty hungry to eat their horses. I mean, you're eating an important part of your life. Exactly-- they're transportation. It's like eating your Oldsmobile or something. ALDA: Even though they ate everythingin sight only 50 people out of 500 survived the winter. It's why the Jamestown colonists have often been dismissed as lazy and incompetent. They were clearly desperate. ACTOR: "Nothing was sparedto maintain life "and to do those things which seem incredible "as to dig up corpse out of graves and eat them "and some have licked up the blood which hath fallen from their weak fellows." ALDA: But far from being lazy or incompetent it now seems the colonists were well prepared and industrious. STRAUBE: It's really unfair to portray the gentlemen who came here as a bunch of lazy, good-for-nothing guys who didn't want to get their hands dirty or blistered. Because we found a lot of evidence of things that they were busy doing such as making window glass to send back to London. They thought they'd make a profit. ALDA: The colony was a straightforward commercial venture. The main objective was gold. This is a metal refining still. They made their own pipes and raising tobacco was another objective. Their plan for subsistence was simple and realistic: trade for corn, using jewelry made from sheet copper that they brought with them. They knew the local Powhatan Indians prized copper highly. Initially this strategy worked, but something went wrong. Indians stopped trading. Some attacked the fort. There were constant skirmishes. The fort site is filled with the leftovers of fighting. A couple of items showed up just in the short time we were there. This is a piece of chipped stone that's been flaked. But it's very distinctive in that these are really straight cuts. If this was natural, this would be more rounded. Probably American Indians did it-- probably to get a piece of stone for a projectile point. GAMBLE: This is probably... Well, thisis. This is a piece of flint that the... or English flint that the colonists would chip off bits and pieces to use for their weapons. This is not natural to the area, but this is a good find. This is a good find. ALDA: The excavations also uncovered a mysterious casualty whose remains are being analyzed at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History by Doug Owsley and Ashley McCowan forensic anthropologists. From radiocarbon dating, it's believed that this could be one of the first colonists. They called it JR102C. You have no idea what his name was? No, I wish we did. You would think he would jump out in terms of the historic record but the record for this time period is such a black hole. ALDA: Here's what they can tell from "J.R.'s" bones. The pelvis says he's male. The skull dimensions and the straight tooth edges say he's European. The growth line in the leg bone says he's young and the healthy teeth say he had good nutrition when growing up so he was probably a gentleman. Then there's one more thing. OWSLEY: His right leg, his shinbone is completely fragmented. And in place was this round ball. This is a lead ball right here. So he got shot, huh? He got shot. And it was essentially like a combat shotgun type of load. Because when you look at the X rays of it not only was there this large round ball but there are a number of small, buckshot-type pellets, and also lead fragments. It practically blew his lower leg off. ALDA: The Indians didn't have guns in the early days at Jamestown. So what happened? The project set up ballistics tests using a reproduction of the type of musket the colonists used. The big ball @landed there, right? Over here. SCHOLPP: Yeah, there isyour main shot. I was aiming right about here. ALDA: They're using a shot load matched to the X ray of the young man's leg bone. There's one large ball with about 25 fragments. Here's a shot from 20 yards. SCHOLPP: So we've got... really a massive spread here. If this is typical of the kind of spread you get at that distance then J.R. had to have been shot much closer. At closer range, absolutely. ALDA: Next: a point-black shot. Aim... fire. ALDA: That looked an awful lot like you were too close to be... to come up with the pattern that J.R. had, right? wñOLet's see what we got here. We got unpleasantry. Wasn't his spread out more? Yeah. ALDA: Next shot: at a range of five yards. (fires) And that's just about right. So J.R. couldn't have shot himself by accident but maybe someone else shot him by accident. Fred Scholpp, the firearms expert thinks he knows how it could have happened. It was standard fighting procedure for soldiers to fire from the front rank and then retire to reload. Someone in the rear rank could have made a mistake while reloading. Present your piece, give fire... and retire. Don't point that thing! (Alda laughing) This is sort of from the front. ALDA: But J.R. was shot from the side. The angles just don't work out with Fred's theory. I don't know. ALDA: Well, now what? Now, where are you with the theory now? What do you think? That's his theory. Oh-ho, that's not your theory. My theory is that it was on purpose. Ah. And that, you know, what you say-- one less mouth to feed. Right. And, in times of stress-- people are starving to death-- we resort to some pretty animalistic behavior. ALDA: We made it to the swamp 20 miles from Jamestown. Okay, I'm going to watch. If you disappear, I'm not taking your path. ALDA: These magnificent bald cypress trees contain the simplest explanation for all the colony's problems. It just takes a little work for David Stahle to find it. ALDA: You know, I'm sure glad that you're here today. Otherwise, they'd have me doing this. (hollow thumping) We're not going to get much, fellas. Not out of this one. ALDA: We're looking for an old tree but one that still has a solid center. David Stahle is part of a network of scientists @ who study cores drilled from ancient trees in order to reconstruct the history of climate. The Jamestown colonists said their water was bad. The Indians said there was no corn to trade. Maybe the colonists were incompetent or the Indians were playing politics. But, no, says David Stahle, there really was a drought. The annual growth rings in these cypresses record what the climate was doing in this region for the last thousand years. It's in two pieces, but... xxxxThere you go. You can see... you got about ten, 12 inches there of ancient cypress. But it looks like you got about 20 to here. I would say that outer inch has probably got more like a hundred. Really? Yeah, I'd really be surprised if it didn't. Yeah, I may need a new prescription, too. ALDA: Actually, you need a microscope. Each pair of dark and light bands represents one year of growth. In 1607, as the colonists arrived the region began its driest seven-year period in 700 years. And 20 years earlier, the worst drought in 800 years simply wiped out an English colony set up at Roanoke Island in North Carolina. You mean to say that they came over twice and hit the worst droughts in hundreds of years two times in a row? STAHLE: Monumental bad luck. I mean, phenomenal bad luck. Yeah, both the two first English adventures in the New World were both beset by drought. ALDA: But the second adventure, Jamestown, succeeded. By 1612, the drought was over and the colony began to thrive. America's first representative assembly met at Jamestown in 1619. Around that time, the first slaves were brought in to work in the tobacco plantations. Jamestown settlers had laid the foundations for the best and the worst of a new nation.

				Time Travelers Spectacular mummies found preserved in Northwest China’s deserts suggest that Europeans came to China over 3 thousand years ago.
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: IN SEARCH OF A LITTLE HISTORY. THIS IS LIN XUAN QIN, AN ARTIST WHO MAKES CHOPS. THESE ARE STONES WITH YOUR NAME CARVED IN THEM THAT ARE USED FOR STAMPING YOUR SIGNATURE ON DOCUMENTS. CHOPS ARE GIVING WAY TO WESTERN-STYLE SIGNATURES NOW BUT THEY HAVE A VERY LONG HISTORY IN CHINA. THEY'RE THE FORERUNNER OF PRINTING USING MOVABLE TYPE WHICH WAS INVENTED IN CHINA NEARLY 1,000 YEARS AGO-- 500 YEARS BEFORE GUTENBERG INVENTED MOVABLE TYPE IN EUROPE. Alda: LIN XUAN QIN WAS CARVING MY OWN PERSONAL MOVABLE TYPE. OKAY. HEY... NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. THAT'S TOWARD ME. LIKE THIS, OKAY. Alda: THE LIST OF FIRSTS IN CHINESE INVENTIONS IS STAGGERING. THEY INVENTED GUNPOWDER, THE MAGNETIC COMPASS, PAPER THE WHEELBARROW, THE DECIMAL SYSTEM, PORCELAIN, RELIEF MAPS AND ON AND ON AND ON. SO YOU PROBABLY THINK I'M GOING TO SAY THESE STAMPS WERE INVENTED IN CHINA, TOO. ACTUALLY THEY WEREN'T, THEY CAME TO CHINA FROM THE MIDDLE EAST 3,000 OR SO YEARS AGO. SO WERE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS INVENTED IN CHINA OR IN THE WEST? WELL, HISTORY IS NEVER THAT SIMPLE. WE'RE IN THE FAR WEST OF CHINA. THIS ARID LAND HAS BEEN YIELDING UP SOME EXTRAORDINARY FINDS. THEY'RE THE MUMMIES OF XINJIANG. XINJIANG PROVINCE IS THE OVERLAND BRIDGE BETWEEN CHINA AND EUROPE. IN THE EARLY PART OF THIS CENTURY EUROPEANS EXPLORING XINJIANG BEGAN UNCOVERING MUMMIES IN SHALLOW DESERT GRAVES. MORE RECENTLY CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE MADE DISCOVERIES. THE MUMMIES WERE BROUGHT TO URUMQI, THE PROVINCIAL CAPITAL. XINJIANG IS LARGELY MOSLEM ITS PEOPLE DRAWN FROM MANY PARTS OF CENTRAL ASIA. AN ARCHAEOLOGY INSTITUTE HAS SOME OF THE MUMMIES AND THE REST ARE AT THE LOCAL MUSEUM. OURS WERE THE FIRST TV CAMERAS ALLOWED TO FILM THE MUMMIES. THIS IS THE OLDEST, DATING FROM ABOUT 4,000 YEARS AGO. ONCE A YEAR, THE MUMMIES ARE CLEANED AND EXAMINED FOR INSECT DAMAGE. BLOCKS OF INSECTICIDE ARE REPLACED. THE HAT WITH THE EAGLE FEATHER IS FELT AND THE WOVEN ROBE IS WOOL. THEY'RE ALL VULNERABLE TO INSECTS AS ARE THE COWHIDE BOOTS. THE CHILD IS FROM THE SAME PERIOD AS THE FIRST MUMMY. IT WAS CAREFULLY WRAPPED IN A LARGE WOVEN WOOLEN CLOTH HELD TOGETHER WITH WOODEN PEGS. THIS CHILD, FROM ABOUT 3,000 YEARS AGO WAS WRAPPED IN A FINE WOOL BLANKET TIED WITH A BRAIDED CORD. THE REASONS FOR THE STONES AND WOOL NOSE PLUGS ARE UNKNOWN. IT LIES ON A BED OF FELT, WITH A COW HORN DRINKING CUP. THIS MAN IS ONE OF THE MUSEUM'S FINEST EXAMPLES. HE HAS A SUNBURST DECORATION, AGAIN OF UNKNOWN SIGNIFICANCE. THE STATE OF PRESERVATION IS EXTRAORDINARY A RESULT OF THE DRY, SALTY DESERT SOIL... AND ALSO, IT SEEMS, SOME KIND OF GLUELIKE COATING THAT THE BODIES WERE TREATED WITH. ONE STRIKING FACT ABOUT THE MUMMIES STANDS OUT-- THEY DON'T SEEM TO BE CHINESE. THEIR FULL BEARDS AND PROMINENT NOSES ARE CLEAR CAUCASIAN FEATURES. SO WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? CLOSE ANALYSIS OF THE SKULL TYPES SUGGESTS THAT THEY CAME FROM WHAT'S NOW KAZAKHSTAN, IN THE NORTHWEST AND FROM PAKISTAN, IN THE SOUTHWEST. IN THAT PERIOD CHINESE SKULL TYPES FROM THE EAST ARE ONLY FOUND AT THE EDGE OF XINJIANG. XINJIANG'S SPECTACULAR MOUNTAIN RANGES ONCE FED STREAMS AND RIVERS WHICH RUSHED DOWN INTO THE DESERT. THE ANCIENT SETTLERS CLUSTERED AROUND THOSE DESERT OASES. IT'S DRIER HERE NOW, BUT THE LOCAL KAZAKH PEOPLE STILL FOLLOW THE HERDING LIFESTYLE ALONG THE RIVERBANKS CLOSER TO THE MOUNTAINS. THE WONDERFULLY PRESERVED OBJECTS FOUND WITH THE MUMMIES SHOW HOW THEY LIVED. THESE ARE 3,000-YEAR-OLD LAMB RIBS COMPLETE WITH BARBECUE SPIT. THE KAZAKHS LIVE IN HOUSES CALLED YURTS COVERED ENTIRELY WITH FELT THEY'D MADE FROM MATTED WOOL FIBERS JUST LIKE THE CHILD'S FELT BED IN THE MUSEUM. INSIDE, THE YURTS ARE DECORATED WITH WOVEN STRIPS FINISHED WITH BRAIDED CORDS. THE MEN RIDE HORSES, AS THEY DID IN ANCIENT XINJIANG. THIS SADDLE WAS ALSO FOUND WITH THE MUMMIES. IF IT WEREN'T FOR THIS MAN THE MUMMIES WOULD PROBABLY HAVE REMAINED AN OBSCURE CURIOSITY. VICTOR MAIR, A CHINA SCHOLAR FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA VISITED THE MUSEUM SOON AFTER WE'D FILMED. FOR SEVERAL YEARS, HE'S BROUGHT VARIOUS WESTERN SPECIALISTS TO EXAMINE THE MUMMIES. THIS TIME HE WANTED TWO TEXTILE EXPERTS TO BE GIVEN ACCESS. NOW WE'RE GOING UP TO SEE THE MUMMY ROOM. Alda: BUT VICTOR MAIR IS A TERRIBLE THORN IN THE SIDE OF OFFICIAL CHINA. HE'S WORKING ON A THEORY THAT THE MUMMIES REPRESENT PEOPLE WHO ORIGINATED FAR TO THE WEST, IN EUROPE BRINGING WITH THEM NEW TECHNOLOGIES THAT THE CHINESE DID NOT HAVE. OF COURSE, WE WERE INTERESTED IN RECORDING THE VISITORS' FIRST REACTIONS. BUT EVEN THOUGH WE'D FILMED THE MUMMIES EARLIER AND PAID THE REQUIRED FEE THE MUSEUM AUTHORITIES WOULDN'T ALLOW IT. WE WERE ASKED TO LEAVE. THE EXPERTS WERE FASCINATED BY WHAT THEY SAW PARTICULARLY THIS PIECE, WHICH THEY IDENTIFIED AS PROBABLY A PRACTICE WEAVING SAMPLER. Woman: IN A WAY THAT... THAT ALMOST TOUCHED ME THE MOST. YEAH, BECAUSE IT REALLY BRINGS... I HAVE ONE, TOO, THAT LOOKS JUST ABOUT AS BAD. ONES THAT YOU'VE TRIED TO MAKE? THE FIRST PIECE YOU WEAVE LOOKS CRUMMY. Alda: MOST INTERESTING WAS THE FACT THAT IT'S TOO BIG TO HAVE BEEN MADE ON THE TYPE OF LOOM THAT THE CHINESE HAD AT THE TIME. I'M VERY INTERESTED IN THAT SAMPLER BECAUSE I'M STARTING TO WONDER IF SOME OF MY IDEAS ABOUT THE LOOM MAY BE CONFIRMED BY THAT PARTICULAR PIECE... THE WIDTH OF IT, FOR EXAMPLE. THE WIDTH, AND ALSO THERE WERE SOME OTHER GARMENTS THAT HAD A VERY WIDE SWATH TO THEM. IT'S NOT BEING DONE ON THE NARROW, BODY-TENSION LOOM. Alda: TODAY, XINJIANG'S DESERT HIGHWAYS ARE BUSY WITH TRUCKS. 700 YEARS AGO, IT WAS MARCO POLO'S CAMELS. THIS IS THE ANCIENT SILK ROAD BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA. IF THE MUMMIES WERE THE TRAILBLAZERS ALONG THIS GREAT WORLD TRADE ROUTE, 4,000 YEARS AGO IT COULD MEAN THAT CHINA ACQUIRED IMPORTANT NEW IDEAS FROM THE WEST AND THAT'S WHAT IRRITATES THE GOVERNMENT. IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THE WHEEL ENTERED CHINA THIS WAY. THEY'VE BEEN UNEARTHED IN THE DESERT ALTHOUGH THE DATES AREN'T YET CLEAR. IT DOES NOW SEEM THAT BRONZE CAME TO CHINA FROM THE WEST A FACT WHICH VICTOR MAIR'S CHINESE COLLEAGUES ARE BEGINNING TO ACCEPT. Mair: WHEN I FIRST STARTED THIS PROJECT I WAS GETTING IN HOT WATER FOR SAYING THAT, "HEY, WHY DO WE HAVE BRONZE OUT HERE NOW AND YOU GET IT EARLIER, AND IT ENDS UP IN CHINA LATER? " AND I GOT IN TROUBLE FOR THAT. BUT I'M VERY RELIEVED NOW BECAUSE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EVENTUALLY WINS. AND CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE. Alda: BUT A PROBLEM FOR THE GOVERNMENT CONCERNS THESE UYGUR PEOPLE. THEY'RE THE DOMINANT GROUP IN THE PROVINCE AND THEY HAVE A GROWING UYGUR NATIONALIST MOVEMENT. VICTOR MAIR'S IDEAS COULD ENCOURAGE THEM. WE KNOW THAT THE UYGURS THEMSELVES DIDN'T GET HERE UNTIL THE EIGHTH CENTURY OF OUR ERA, SO... AND WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE SECOND MILLENNIUM, B. C. SO THAT'S REALLY A SPECIOUS ARGUMENT AND SO THE CHINESE SHOULDN'T WORRY. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH UYGUR NATIONALISM SO WE CAN OMIT THAT ONE, AND I DON'T REALLY THINK I SHOULD GET IN TROUBLE WITH THAT EVER. Alda: BUT VICTOR MAIR CONTINUES TO GET IN TROUBLE. SOON AFTER HIS VISIT THE GOVERNMENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED A LONG ATTACK ON HIS IDEAS. IN CHINA, EVEN TECHNICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS CAN'T BE CONDUCTED FREELY. WILL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EVENTUALLY COME TO CHINA? WELL, TIMES ARE CHANGING. I THINK THE MOST STRIKING THING ABOUT THIS TRIP TO CHINA FOR ME HAS BEEN THE TREMENDOUS SENSE OF CHANGE I'VE SEEN HERE. I MADE MY FIRST TRIP TO CHINA ABOUT 15 YEARS AGO AND IT WAS NOTHING LIKE THIS. THERE ARE RICH PEOPLE HERE NOW. THERE'S NEON. PEOPLE DRESS DIFFERENTLY. IN THOSE DAYS, IT WAS HARD TO FIND SOMEBODY WHO DIDN'T WEAR A MAO SUIT. NOW IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND SOMEBODY WHO DOES. AND THEY DRESS STYLISHLY, TOO, AND THEY MOVE STYLISHLY. IN THOSE DAYS, GETTING ACROSS THE STREET INVOLVED A KIND OF A UTILITARIAN WALK. NOW THEY STRIDE ACROSS THE STREET. THERE'S A SENSE OF SELF-PRESENTATION. AND THERE'S KARAOKE NOW. YOU ALMOST CAN'T GO INTO A CHINESE RESTAURANT WITHOUT HEARING KARAOKE. A FEW YEARS AGO, I TRIED TO GET THEM TO SING FOR ME. THEY WOULDN'T DO IT. I SAID, "TEACH ME A CHINESE SONG. " THEY SAID, "NO. THERE'S A SAYING: "THE BIRD THAT STICKS ITS NECK UP ABOVE THE FLOCK GETS ITS HEAD CUT OFF. " WELL, AS SURPRISING AS THESE CHANGES HAVE BEEN THERE SEEM TO BE EVEN MORE PROFOUND CHANGES UNDER THE SURFACE. I HOPE I'LL BE BACK BEFORE TOO LONG TO SEE THOSE CHANGES. THIS HAS BEEN OUR SPECIAL CHINA EDITION OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS. UNTIL NEXT TIME. ZAIJIAN. PRESENTATION OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A GRANT FROM GTE CORPORATION.

				A Texan Tall Tale Did legendary gunfighter Wild Bill Longley escape the hangman's noose?
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: They're burying Wild Bill Longley today. MINISTER: Our Lord said repent and believe the gospel. Your relative, your cousin, your kinsman in the flesh. It was said, before he died, he repented. ALDA: Wild Bill goes to his grave a repented sinner-- for the second time-- and this time, it really is him. For the day when you look into that eastern sky, right over there... ALDA: Last time he was buried, 120 years ago many people believed he wasn't in the coffin-- it was just a bunch of rocks. Wild Bill had gotten away with it once again, it was said. William Preston Longley was an outlaw and a killer. In 1878, at the age of 27, he was hanged for murder. But the rumor was that the rope was attached to a secret harness to hold him up and that he was spirited away still alive. Now, this wouldn't be Wild Bill Longley inhere, would it? It is. It took 15 years to prove that but it is him. I can't wait to see this guy. ALDA: Doug Owsley, who's also working on the Jamestown project identified Wild Bill. What were you able to find out when you examined these bones? Well, this is a long story in the sense I started looking for this skeletonin 1986. I was asked to help a man who believed that his grandfather was William Preston Longley. We want to thank the scientists here at the Smithsonian for their perseverance. ALDA: Although the man who firsapproached Doug Owsley turned out eventually not to be related to Wild Bill the 15-year search turned into something of an obsession for Owsley and dozens of Wild Bill's relatives. I had a chance to chat with family members when they came to Washington for the press conference. "...though I will come there just when I please." Arrogant, wasn't he? He was, wasn't he? "I rode by your house..." ALDA: Two relatives had descendefrom Wild Bill's grandparents and one, Helen Chapman, is descended from his sister. That'll be important later in the story. Had you always wondered if he, in fact, died at that hanging? For 50 years. Really? Was this the topic of a lot of family conversation? HANNES: It was. It was. I remember, as a kid, hearing the adults talk about this and debate about this. And I got the impression that they thought... they really thought he had escaped this hanging. ALDA: Wild Bill was a truly bad man widely feared, but a little admired, too. He possessed a lethal combination: great skill as a gun fighter, a quick temper and a fondness for whiskey. In jail after his final arrest he bragged that he'd killed 32 men and one woman. He wasn't even sure which one they'd come to get him for. REESE: He thought he was going to be accused of killing a preacher named Lee and he was worried about that because that was an outright killing. The man was unarmed; he was milking a cow, and he was... There's something about that that Bill just didn't like, right? REESE: Well... (all laughing) He didn't like the man to start with. The man had spread some rumors. But, I mean, milking a cow... it's kind of going too far, don't you think? I think so. Right. You just got to kill a man for that. Well, some people just have a short temper, you know? CHAPMAN: It might have been Bill's cow. ALDA: Oh, you know, I never thought of that. ALDA: Wild Bill was convicted for oneof his many other murders. He was hanged and supposedly buried somewhere here. There's a Bill Longley grave marker, put up in 1976. Doug Owsley had to find out if it was actually Wild Bill's grave or just a marker. This photograph-- taken 50 years after the burial, around 1930-- is the only visual record of Wild Bill's grave if the caption is accurate. Let me show you, let's go over here... ALDA: Owsley and Brooks Ellwood,a geologist first tried to match the 1930 photograph to what's visible today. ELLWOOD: What you have is these two treesright here. That's those two trees right there. Then you have this tree here-- that's that tree there. The configuration is just right. ALDA: Things seemed to match when they stood beside the 1976 marker. There's another one closer in. ALDA: Brooks Ellwood sat in place of the headstone which had been visible in 1930. Well, I agree with the three trees. The three trees look really nice. ALDA: Recently we asked Ellwood and Owsley to return to the cemetery to go over what happened next. They had probed all around the 1976 marker looking for the telltale mottling which is a sign of soil disturbed when a grave is dug. The upper soil core here is what they hoped to find, but no luck. We probed in this area right here looking in front of the marker. We probed down the back of the marker just to make sure that there was nothing here. ALDA: So what was the 1930 headstone marking? Maybe nothing, it turned out. Notes kept by the president of the Cemetery Association showed that over the course of 50 years he'd moved the headstone several times. MAN: We figured out that he probably moved it down into the Hispanic part of the cemetery then moved it back up here just beyond us to the road. And then when they put in the road-- at that time there wasn't any road-- they moved it here. Then as a result of that we felt that we'd lost the location of the grave. ALDA: So now they were looking for one unmarked grave in a five-acre cemetery. Okay, move it. ALDA: Brooks Ellwood and his wife, Suzanne-- also a geologist-- tried magnetic measurements to detect disturbed soil in the most likely sections-- like here along the old fence line. Wild Bill was supposedly buried outside the original cemetery boundary. Just in one 1,500-square-foot area they found 14 possible unmarked graves. Before too long, we had 60 unmapped, unmarked graves. So now we're faced with a problem: Well, okay, is it this one? Or is it this one? We had a real needle in a haystack. ALDA: There was no choicebut to start digging concentrating on the areas suggested by the magnetic surveys. Right away they began to find burials all without any kind of marker on the surface. That's common in cemeteries of this age. It was quite a show for the town with the added attraction of maybe solving the Wild Bill mystery. Doug Owsley was kept busy identifying the finds. OWSLEY: Just like this. A black male that's about 40. Okay, so this one's not our guy. Okay... yes. This skull's got to be female. He's got to be at least in his 40s. He's got suture closure. He's got a lot of periodontal disease, periodontal resorption. And he's black. Okay, well, let's fill this one in and go to the next one, I guess. We have a guy over there, huh? We still haven't found who we're looking for because this one's going to be too old. Okay, that one's ruled out and this one's ruled out. ALDA: 35 burials, and no Wild Bill. Damn, I wish we'd get lucky. ALDA: So they went back to the 1976 marker. After all, those trees seemed to line up before. They took a photograph and cropped out everything that was modern. Then they lined that up with the 1930 photograph. Three trees and six monuments seemed to match. Bill's grave just had to be nearby. Back came the Bobcat this time working within feet of the 1976 grave marker. Soon they found an unmarked grave. When they probed here six years ago they must have missed it by inches. OWSLEY: It's Jesse James gold. ALDA: Then coffin nails. Would bones be next, or was it filled with rocks? MAN: I've got something down there. We got wood. OWSLEY: Okay, that's our lid. See-- here's rib, rib, rib. ALDA: Things were looking good when this Catholic medallion was found. Before his execution, Wild Bill had converted. So at this point, Doug Owsley knew he had a tall, young, white male who was a Catholic-- definitely not a pile of rocks. The remains were carefully excavated and brought to the Smithsonian for examination. One of the last things Bill did while on the gallows is... they allowed him to smoke a cigar. And he liked his cigars. And if you look at the teeth you'll see the brown stains in the teeth. Yes. That's going to be from the tobacco stains. And they're heavier, of course, in front. He smoked more often than just on the gallows. True, true. So this is from years of cigars. He appreciated a good cigar. ALDA: Another find was this artificial leaf. Wild Bill's niece had given him a rosette to wear just before his execution. The evidence was accumulating, but how much is enough? Tobacco stains on his teeth-- Not enough. not inconsistent with his life but it wouldn't prove it. Same thing with this-- this is in the general category of what you knew was there. Same thing with the medal but not any one of them says "This is the guy." Is there a number of these, that when you arrive at it you say, "Well, that must be the guy"? Well, it's not like fingerprints. In fingerprints, for instance when you're making an identification you have to have so many landmarks that you can say are unique. So it's not quite like that, but it's still... What we've got is very consistent, but it's not enough. ALDA: What put the identification beyond doubt was a member of the family. Helen Chapman, descended from Wild Bill's sister gave a blood sample so that her DNA could be compared to fragments found in the pulp of a tooth from the burial. When you compare her DNA and this tooth you find out that it is, straight down the line, a match. That's Bill Longley. Unless Bill Longley had a brother. Well, all right, now, uh, you know... but, uh, you need to go track him down. (laughing) Does anybody know? I've had enough. (laughing)

				The Real Pyramid Builders Tombs of the pyramid workers revolutionize ideas of ancient Egypt.
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: ALDA: This is Cairo: home to 20 million people, the largest city in Africa. Right on its outskirts, you're back in the ancient world on the Giza Plateau. It's a complex of monuments built for the pharaohs more than 4,000 years ago. While almost everyone's heard of King Tut 200 years of Egyptian archaeology had revealed nothing about the people who had actually built the monuments until recently. That began to change in the early 1990s with a series of spectacular finds. Our cameras were there to record what happened. It's early morning, and this team of Egyptian archaeologists is heading to work. 4,000 years ago, their ancestors used this same gate every day as they walked to work at the pyramids. (archaeologists singing) ALDA: In those days thousands of construction workers and their families must have lived here on the Giza Plateau. And yet no trace of them has ever been found. Egyptian archaeologists have combed the sands of Giza and they've made an unprecedented discovery... within sight of the pyramids a graveyard of the pyramid builders. Each one of these stone piles marks the grave of an ancient worker. The miniature pyramids are the tombs of common laborers. For managers, the structures got more elaborate. Archaeologist Mansour Radman found that this one belonged to a foreman. And here is a wonderful vaulted ceiling made of mud brick with a false door. And above this false door, a stella which... containing the name of the owner of this tomb. And you can read here that this is an offering were given by the king and also by god Anubis for the beloved person Ptah Shepshu. ALDA: Foreman Ptah Shepshu was treated with respect in death and surely in life, too. In fact, the whole site comes as quite a surprise. It suggests that the pyramid builders were not slaves but instead were workers and artisans valued for their individual skills. Everything found at the workers' cemetery reinforces this idea. Zahi Hawass, a leading archaeologist and director of the Giza Plateau complex thinks he understands the relationship that's been revealed between kings and workers. This statuette-- it's for an overseer of the workmen. This discovery proves also that these people were not treated by the king poorly. No, they were treated and respected by the king because those are the people who built the pyramids and tombs. Those are the people who made the king eternal. Without them the king will never be a god. ALDA: While the builders were here to help their pharaoh prepare for eternal life they prepared themselves in the same way. These tombs were more than a final resting place; they were vessels for a journey into the afterlife. So the dead workers were sent on their way with beer jugs, for example. No one who lived and worked in the desert would embark on eternity without something to drink. This woman was sent along to grind grain for bread. Figures like this are common in royal tombs, but it means a revolutionary change in thinking about ancient Egypt to find that workers were entitled to the same consideration. Our cameras were able to witness the disassembly of one of the newly discovered workers' tombs. Two feet down, they come to the outline of a coffin. It's made of sycamore wood, a costly imported material but nevertheless regarded as appropriate for a worker. Beneath the coffin the outline of a skeleton is revealed. This is a hip bone. (man speaking Arabic) The vertebrae. Then a hand. For the Egyptian archaeologists, it's a powerful sensation to come face to face with their own history. MAN: It is a very strange feeling how to meet this man or woman. You can feel that you are talking to him and he's talking to you saying hello or something like that after all these years of silence. ALDA: Dr. Azza El-Din examines the remains. They're of a young woman about 20 years old when she died. She was respectfully prepared for death but her life was nevertheless full of hard work. EL-DIN: Yes, from looking at the spine we can see if there is any compression of the vertebrae or any lipping at the edges. And we can tell that they work hard or they carry heavy weights, or something like that. ALDA: This cemetery on the Giza Plateau is rewriting the story of the pyramid builders. A priceless discovery has come from the lives and deaths of ordinary people. People always look for gold inside tombs and treasures but gold and treasure never reconstruct Egyptian history. All what we find at the Giza Plateau reconstructs a very important part of the Egyptian history. It gives information about people that you never know.

				City of Gold Excavations uncover the first royal tribal burial in southern Africa, revealing a rich and little-known 13th century trading culture.
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: IT'S HISTORY. ( singing in Venda, drumming ) THIS PARTICULAR SONG COMPLAINING OF HARD TIMES UNDER COLONIAL MASTERS WAS COMPOSED 100 YEARS AGO. ( whistles playing, singing ) IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA STUDYING AFRICAN HISTORY IS SUDDENLY RESPECTABLE WHICH IS HOW I FOUND MYSELF ON THE WAY TO VISIT THE KING OF VENDA WITH AN ENTHUSIASTIC ARCHEOLOGIST, SYDNEY MILLER. SYD, IS THIS THE PALACE? THAT'S RIGHT, ALAN. WHY ARE THESE WHITE STONES HERE AT THE ENTRANCE? THESE WHITE STONES ARE THE MONOLITHS THAT SHOW US PLACES WHERE THE NORMAL COMMONER PEOPLE ARE NOT REALLY SUPPOSED TO GO UNLESS THEY'RE ESCORTED. THIS IS SAMUEL. ALAN. ( they exchange greetings ) SO WE'RE GOING TO GO UP TO THE CHIEF'S PRIVATE RECEPTION AREA NOW AND HE ESCORTS US ALL THE WAY UP THERE. Alda: IT'S DELIBERATELY BEEN MADE TIRING AND CONFUSING FOR THE VISITOR TO WORK HIS WAY UP THROUGH THE COMPOUND. EVERYTHING IS DESIGNED TO PROMOTE RESPECT. THERE ARE STRICT STANDARDS OF CONDUCT. ( greeting in Veda ) KING KENNEDY ARRIVES ACCOMPANIED BY HIS BROTHERS AND A PRAISE SINGER WHOSE JOB IS TO RECOUNT AND EXPLAIN THE HISTORY OF THE KING'S NAMES. WE SHOW THE RESPECT THAT IS TRADITIONALLY PRACTICED HERE. ALTHOUGH THE KING IS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN CAPE TOWN WHEN HE'S HERE IN VENDA HE TRIES TO KEEP THE TRADITIONAL CUSTOMS GOING. IS THAT ONLY WHEN YOU'RE GREETING A STRANGER OR IS IT WHEN YOU GO FROM BREAKFAST TO YOUR CAR? YEAH, TO MY CAR... TO ANYWHERE. WHEREVER I GO, THEY DO THAT. I SEE. DO YOU SOMETIMES WISH YOU COULD MOVE A LITTLE FASTER? OR HAVE YOU MADE IT PART OF YOUR LIFE AND...? UH... YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES I FEEL A LITTLE BIT SHY. Alda: HISTORY FOR THE VENDA IS PASSED ON BY TRADITION. BUT TRADITION IS NEVER STATIC. IT'S NOT JUST THE KING WHO NOW WORKS FAR AWAY. AND IT'S UNLIKELY THAT THE KINGS WHO WENT BEFORE HIM WOULD HAVE JOINED IN THE DANCING. THE RISK IS THAT TRADITION AND HISTORY MIGHT BE LOST. BUT THE KING BELIEVES THIS NEW OPENNESS IS ESSENTIAL. Kennedy: SO THERE'S STILL SOME OF THE OLD AND SOME OF THE NEW. TELL ME ABOUT THAT GUN. WHAT ARE WE BRINGING THAT FOR? WELL, WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK AND THE ELEPHANTS ARE STARTING TO USE THE FOOTPATH-- THIS ONE THAT WE MADE UP TO THE SITE. SO WE NEED A BIT OF PROTECTION. YOU CAN STOP AN ELEPHANT WITH THAT? WELL, IT'S A . 458 AND IT DOES THE JOB IF IT NEEDS TO. WHY DON'T YOU GO AHEAD? ( laughs ) AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN. Alda: 15 MILES FROM KING KENNEDY'S COMPOUND INSIDE THE KRUGER PARK SYDNEY MILLER HAS BEEN WORKING AT A SITE WHICH IS REVEALING VENDA HISTORY IN RICH DETAIL. DATING BACK TO THE 13th CENTURY, IT'S CALLED THULAMELA-- A ROYAL CITADEL JUST LIKE KING KENNEDY'S PERCHED ON A COMMANDING HILLTOP. FOR THREE LABORIOUS YEARS SYD AND TWO HELPERS REBUILT THE COLLAPSED WALLS STONE BY STONE. ARRIVING VISITORS PASS UNDER THESE BAOBAB TREES. THEN THE SAME KIND OF STONE MARKERS THAT KING KENNEDY HAS POINT THE WAY. UP THE HILL, WE ENTER THE FIRST CEREMONIAL SPACE WHERE THE DANCING WOULD HAVE BEEN STAGED. Alda: WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE? THIS IS NOW WHERE ONE OF THE REAL PROBLEMS THAT WE HAVE GOT ON THE SITE. THIS IS A FEMALE ENCLOSURE WHERE A WIFE WOULD HAVE LIVED AND WHEN I TRIED TO EXCAVATE THIS AREA LOOKING FOR A STRUCTURE I FOUND A FLOOR THAT HAD COLLAPSED IN THE MIDDLE. AND WHEN I HAD EXCAVATED THROUGH THAT I ACTUALLY FOUND A SKELETON DOWN THERE OF A MALE WHICH IS A VERY TALL PERSON-- OVER TWO METERS TALL. WHAT SECTION IS EVERYBODY WORKING ON OVER HERE? THIS IS THE CHIEF'S ENCLOSURES AND THE... Alda: SYD HAD SOME UNSOLVED PROBLEMS, BUT SOME EXCITING FINDS, TOO. ACROSS THE ROYAL RECEPTION AREA WAS THE KING'S PRIVATE ENCLOSURE ONCE CONTAINING A THATCHED HOUSE. WE WEREN'T PERMITTED TO FILM IN THIS PART OF KING KENNEDY'S COMPOUND. IS THIS A POT HERE? Miller: THAT'S RIGHT. IT'S A POT THAT WE HAVE FOUND IN THIS VERY EARLY PHASE. YOU CAN SEE THE FLOOR HERE IS MUCH HARDER THAN THE FLOORS WE'VE SEEN AT THE TOP AND THIS POT IS ACTUALLY SITTING ON THE FLOOR IN POSITION THERE. I SEE. BUT WHAT'S ALSO VERY INTERESTING HERE IS THIS LITTLE COWRIE SHELL. IT'S A SEASHELL AND IT'S BEEN USED FOR TRADE MONEY IN THE OLDEN DAYS. SO YOU MIGHT EVEN BE SITTING HERE WITH A POT THAT HAD SOME OTHER VALUABLE OBJECTS IN IT. OH, I SEE, THIS IS LIKE A LITTLE JEWELRY CHEST MAYBE. Alda: ALSO IN THE KING'S ENCLOSURE IRON BELLS OF A TYPE KNOWN IN WEST AFRICA 2,000 MILES AWAY BUT NEVER BEFORE SEEN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. AND SYD HAS FOUND GLASS BEADS FROM AS FAR AFIELD AS INDIA. SO THULAMELA HAD WIDE OUTSIDE CONTACTS. THEY WERE ALSO GREAT METAL WORKERS. THESE BEAUTIFULLY MADE HARPOONS ARE FOR HUNTING HIPPO. THERE WERE TOUGH IRON HOES FOR FIELD WORK A COPPER INGOT CAUGHT AT THE MOMENT OF SMELTING AND GOLD, INCLUDING DROPLETS FRESH FROM THE CRUCIBLE. IT'S ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN THAT THIS PART OF AFRICA HAD TRADE CONTACTS WITH THE ARABS AND PORTUGUESE BUT IT'S THANKS TO SYD'S ARCHAEOLOGY THAT THE BREADTH AND SOPHISTICATION OF WHAT WENT ON HERE IS BEEN REVEALED. Miller: ARCHAEOLOGY IS LIKE TAKING THE SOIL AND OPENING UP THE HISTORY BOOK. AFRICA HAS ALWAYS BEEN SEEN AS THE NEGLECTED COUNTRY. EVERYBODY THINKS ABOUT THE EGYPTIANS AS HIGH CULTURE BUT FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW THAT THIS PEOPLE WERE AS IMPORTANT AS THE EGYPTIANS I THINK THAT IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT. Alda: BUT THULAMELA IS NOT JUST ABOUT HISTORY. IT'S ABOUT THE PRESENT AS WELL. IN AN APPROACH PROBABLY UNIQUE IN THE WORLD EXCAVATION IS OVERSEEN BY A COMMITTEE NOT ONLY OF SCIENTISTS, BUT ALSO OF LOCAL PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE THE PARK WHOSE ANCESTORS CREATED THULAMELA. AND THEY'LL STAY INVOLVED IN THE FUTURE, TOO. I MET THE VENDA SCHOOL TEACHER, ISRAEL NEMAHENI WHO WILL BE INTERPRETING THE DISCOVERIES FOR VISITORS. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU? Alda: THE SKELETON IN THE WOMEN'S ENCLOSURE PRESENTED THE COMMITTEE WITH A CHALLENGE. TO PROCEED WOULD RISK DISTURBING AN ANCESTOR'S GRAVE SO THEY COMPROMISED. EXCAVATION COULD GO AHEAD SO LONG AS THE REMAINS WHERE GIVEN A RESPECTFUL REBURIAL. AND WHAT A FIND THEY MADE. IT WASN'T A MAN AS SYD HAD THOUGHT BUT A TALL WOMAN DECORATED WITH GOLD JEWELRY-- PROBABLY THE 16th CENTURY QUEEN OF THULAMELA. SOON AFTER, THE TEAM FOUND THE KING BURIED IN HIS ENCLOSURE ALSO WEARING LOTS OF GOLD. THE DISCOVERIES HIT THE HEADLINES-- THE FIRST ROYAL COUPLE EVER EXCAVATED IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. THERE WAS REJOICING AMONG THE VENDA PEOPLE BY ONE FAMILY IN PARTICULAR WHO HAD ALWAYS THOUGHT THEIR ANCESTORS WHERE BURIED HERE. Alda: TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH ANCESTORS IS OF THE DEEPEST SIGNIFICANCE BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE THE LINK TO GOD. SO FROM THE FAMILY LEVEL TO THE NATIONAL THULAMELA TURNED OUT TO HAVE GIFTS FOR EVERYBODY. ISRAEL NEMAHENI SUMMED IT UP. Alda: CLASSIC AFRICA.

Take a look at these related stories from the Frontiers Archive:

				Archeology Decade A decade of Frontiers stories which reveal the past -- Chinese mummies, Egyptian tombs, Viking longboats, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Custer’s Last Stand.
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: HAVE BEEN ABOUT THE PAST. INCREASINGLY IN RECENT YEARS HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY HAVE BENEFITED FROM THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS LIKE DNA ANALYSIS, ACCURATE DATING TECHNIQUES REMOTE SENSING. AND EXPERIMENTAL ARCHEOLOGY IS GETTING TO BE A BIG THING. WHY NOT MAKE THE BOAT OR THE MACHINE THE WAY THEY MADE IT THEN, AND SEE HOW IT ACTUALLY WORKED? BUT YOU KNOW, THERE'S SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS FIELD. IT DOES SEEM TO ATTRACT MORE THAN ITS FAIR SHARE OF PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT THEY DO. MAYBE YOU HAVE TO BE THAT WAY TO PUT UP WITH THE OFTEN ROTTEN CONDITIONS IN OUT OF THE WAY PLACES; OR MAYBE IT'S JUST THE SUBJECT-- IT'S EXCITING TO DIG IN THE SAND, AND REVEAL OUR OWN PAST. Alda: DURING THE DECADE HUMAN ORIGINS IN AFRICA CONTINUED TO BE TEASED OUT. OUR CAMERAS WITNESSED ONE TEAM UNCOVERING THE FIRST PIECE OF AN ARCHAIC HUMAN'S SKULL, 300,000 YEARS OLD. THERE SHE COMES. HOPEFULLY, EVENTUALLY, WITH A LOT OF LITTLE PIECES WE'LL BE ABLE TO PUT HIM BACK TOGETHER BUT THAT'S A FANTASTIC FIND, HUH? Alda: THIS HILLTOP EXCAVATION REVEALED A RICH NATIVE AFRICAN PAST WHICH SUDDENLY, WITH THE END OF APARTHEID IT WAS ALL RIGHT TO STUDY. IT WAS THE FIRST ROYAL BURIAL FOUND IN THE REGION A KING AND QUEEN WHO WERE PROBABLY ANCESTORS OF THE PRESENT KING OF VENDA WHO INVITED ME TO JOIN IN THE CELEBRATION DANCE. ( playing local music ) IN NORTHWEST CHINA, AFTER PROTRACTED NEGOTIATIONS OURS WAS THE FIRST TV CREW ALLOWED TO FILM 4,000-YEAR-OLD MUMMIES, PRESERVED IN THE DRY DESERT. THE MUMMIES' APPEARANCE SUGGESTED CAUCASIANS REACHED CHINA MUCH EARLIER THAN HAD BEEN THOUGHT. IN EGYPT, NEW FINDS WERE ALSO FORCING NEW THINKING AS EXCAVATION GOT UNDERWAY OF A CEMETERY FOR WORKERS ON THE GIZA PLATEAU. THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM WAS THAT SLAVES HAD BUILT THE PYRAMIDS BUT HERE WERE HUNDREDS OF RESPECTFUL AND COSTLY TOMBS EVEN A FINE STATUE OF ONE SITE FOREMAN. IT WAS A REVELATION TO ARCHAEOLOGISTS. Man: THEY WERE TREATED AND RESPECTED BY THE KING BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THE PYRAMIDS AND THE TOMBS. THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE KING ETERNAL. WITHOUT THEM THE KING WOULD NEVER BE A GOD. ( speaking Danish ) Alda: IN DENMARK, I EXPERIENCED ONE OF THE BEST EXAMPLES OF A NEW TREND-EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY. Alda: A CINCH. Alda: THESE EXACT REPLICAS OF VIKING WARSHIPS WERE BASED ON WRECKS EXCAVATED FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE FJORD. THEIR SUPERB SAILING QUALITIES SHOWED WHY THE VIKINGS RULED THE WAVES AROUND THE NINTH CENTURY. IN ITALY, WE SAW HOW THEY'RE TRYING TO AVOID A WRECK OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS. ( rumbling ) ( crashing ) ANDIAMO. OKAY. Alda: THERE'S AN ELABORATE RESCUE PLAN IN THE WORKS BUT AS A FIRST STEP STEEL BANDS NOW HOLD THE LEANING TOWER TOGETHER AT THE POINT OF MAXIMUM STRESS. THEY ARE EMBRACING ACTUALLY THE EXTERNAL WALL OF THE STRUCTURE AND THEY ARE MEANT TO CONTAIN THE RISK OF LOCAL EXPLOSION OF MATERIAL. THAT'S NICE, GOOD. SO GLAD TO HEAR THAT. EMBRACING THE STRUCTURE SO IT DOESN'T EXPLODE. YES. HERE IN AMERICA, EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY RETURNED A GIFT TO NATIVE AMERICANS. IT'S A BALDARKA-- THE TRADITIONAL ALEUT BOAT. THEY WERE ALL GONE, BUT A RECONSTRUCTED MODEL BASED ON OLD DRAWINGS AND MEMORIES WAS TRIED OUT IN ROUGH ALEUTIAN SEAS. THE MYSTERIOUS DOUBLE BOW, COMBINED WITH A FLEXIBLE FRAME GAVE SPEED AND BUOYANCY IN THE WAVES. Man: FEELS REAL NICE IN THE ROUGH WATER. IT FEELS LIKE IT WAS MADE FOR ROUGH WATER. Alda: THEY WERE PERFECT HUNTING BOATS FOR THESE CONDITIONS. FINALLY, WE SHOWED HOW MODERN METHODS HELPED CLEAR UP A LINGERING MYSTERY FROM CUSTER'S LAST STAND. THE PROBLEM WAS TO IDENTIFY AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER FROM HIS REMAINS. USING VIDEO TECHNOLOGY HISTORIANS WERE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY MATCH THE SKULL TO A SPECIFIC 19th-CENTURY ARMY PHOTOGRAPH. THIS HAS BEEN A DECADE THAT AT LEAST ONE GROUP OF SCIENTISTS WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE WITNESSED.

				Viking Ships Archeologists recreate Viking ships based on centuries-old wrecks found at the bottom of Roskilde Fjord in Denmark.
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: BECAUSE IT WAS FROM PLACES LIKE THIS THAT THE VIKING AGE WAS LAUNCHED, LITERALLY. THE PERIOD FROM THE EIGHTH THROUGH THE 11th CENTURIES SAW AN EXPLOSION OF SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE KNOWN WESTERN WORLD AND BEYOND TO ICELAND, GREENLAND AND EVEN BRIEFLY TO AMERICA. AND IT WAS ALL MADE POSSIBLE BY A BREAKTHROUGH IN TECHNOLOGY. ( shouts in Danish ) Alda: I'M HELPING HOIST THE SAIL OF THE HELGA AN EXACT RECONSTRUCTION OF A VIKING WARSHIP. ABOUT THE ONLY THING HERE THAT WOULD SURPRISE A TENTH-CENTURY VIKING IS THE CREW'S STRANGE CLOTHING. EVEN THE SWEAT'S AUTHENTIC. CINCH. Alda: THE HELGA AND ITS SISTER VESSEL, THE ROAR EGE ARE BOTH COPIED DOWN TO THE LAST DETAIL FROM VIKING SHIPS FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS FJORD 40 YEARS AGO. IN CHARGE OF THOSE EXCAVATIONS WAS OLE CRUMLIN PEDERSON. FOR HIM, THE VIKING AGE BEGAN WHEN THE KINGS OF EIGHTH-CENTURY SCANDINAVIA-- WHO, UNTIL THEN, HAD RAIDED EACH OTHER IN OVERSIZED ROWING BOATS-- ADDED TO THEIR SHIPS A MAST AND THE CHARACTERISTIC VIKING SQUARE SAIL. SUDDENLY, THEY FOUND OUT "WELL, NOW WE CAN GO MUCH FURTHER AWAY. "NOW WE CAN GO TO NORMANDY OR WE CAN GO TO ENGLAND AND RAID THERE. " Alda: OLE FOUND THE ORIGINALS OF THESE TWO SHIPS ABOUT TEN MILES FARTHER DOWN THE FJORD. THEY'D BEEN SCUTTLED CENTURIES AGO TO BLOCK THE MAIN CHANNEL AND PROTECT THE ROYAL CITY OF ROSKILDE FROM UNFRIENDLY VISITORS. IN 1962, A TEMPORARY DAM WAS BUILT AROUND THE SITE AND WATER PUMPED OUT TO REVEAL THE SUNKEN SHIPS. OLE AND HIS COLLEAGUES SPENT FIVE YEARS SLOWLY REVEALING AND FINALLY RECOVERING FIVE VIKING VESSELS. TODAY, ALL FIVE ARE ON DISPLAY AT THE ROSKILDE VIKING SHIP MUSEUM. THE TIMBERS OF EACH SHIP CHEMICALLY TREATED TO PRESERVE THEM HAVE BEEN REASSEMBLED. AN IRON FRAME PROVIDES SUPPORT AND SUGGESTS THE ORIGINAL FORM WHERE PIECES ARE MISSING. BUT MORE THAN ENOUGH OF THESE SHIPS EXIST FOR OLE AND HIS TEAM TO HAVE FIGURED OUT THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. Alda: CAN YOU SHOW ME IN THIS SHIP HOW THOSE PRINCIPLES COME INTO PLAY? Pederson: YES. IN THE BOTTOM, YOU HAVE THE KEEL AND THEN THEY BUILD UP THE FIRST FOUR OR FIVE PLANKS WITH THE... JUST ADDING ONE PLANK AT THE EDGE OF THE OTHER AND SHAPING IT SO THAT THEY GOT THE LINES THEY WANTED. AND THEN THEY WOULD INSERT THE FLOOR TIMBERS ACROSS THE BOTTOM. Alda: EMPLOYING THIS SAME BOTTOM-UP CONSTRUCTION METHOD A NEW REPLICA IS NOW BEING BUILT JUST OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM. OLE IS CONVINCED THE ORIGINAL SHIPBUILDERS WORKED WITHOUT DRAWINGS OR PLANS. Pederson: TO DO THAT THEY HAD THE CONCEPT IN THEIR MIND OF THE SHAPE OF THE SHIP. YOU HAVE THE STEM AND STERN CUT TO THEIR FINAL SHAPE BEFORE YOU EVEN START PLANKING UP. AND YOU SEE THAT FOR EACH PLANK THERE IS A STEP IN THE STEM PIECE TO TAKE UP THE PLANK AND TO INDICATE THE LINES OF THAT LEADING UP TO THE VERY TOP OF THE STEM. SO THE FLOW OF THE BOAT THROUGH THE WATER WOULD BE ASSURED BY THE WAY THEY COULD SEE IT AS THEY BUILT IT RATHER THAN AS THEY DESIGNED IT ON PAPER. YES. IT WAS SORT OF BUILT FROM EXPERIENCE. YES. Alda: THE PLANKS OF THE REPLICA ARE FASTENED TOGETHER WITH THE SAME STYLE OF IRON RIVETS USED IN THE ORIGINALS. AND NOT ONLY ARE THE MATERIALS OF THE REPLICAS AUTHENTIC; SO, TOO, ARE MOST OF THE TOOLS THAT ARE USED. Alda: THAT'S AN UNUSUAL KIND OF INSTRUMENT. WHAT IS HE USING THERE? HE'S USING WHAT WE CALL A VIKING BROADAX. THAT'S SORT OF A TOOL OF THE TRADE FOR VIKING SHIPBUILDERS. Alda: BUT THEY'RE ALL CUT WITH THE AX AIMED TOWARD THE WORKMAN'S FEET. DO PEOPLE HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE AND GET BANDAGED? NO. ONCE YOU GET TRAINED WITH IT IF YOU SURVIVE, YOU WILL BE A GOOD SHIPBUILDER. Alda: THE BUILDERS OF THE REPLICA VIKING SHIPS HAVE BEEN ASTONISHED AT THEIR PERFORMANCE UNDER SAIL. HOW FAST COULD THEY GET ONE OF THESE BOATS TO GO? THIS BOAT IS A VERY FAST BOAT BECAUSE IT'S A WARSHIP, OF COURSE AND WE HAVE HIT SPEEDS OF ABOUT 14 KNOTS. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BOAT THAT ALLOWS IT TO GO THAT FAST? IT'S A VERY LIGHT SHIP. WE ARE RIGHT NOW ONLY DISPLACING ABOUT FOUR TONS ALL OF US-- SHIP, BALLAST AND EVERYTHING. WE ARE SKIMMING THE SURFACE, SO TO SAY AND SO WE ARE NOT MAKING VERY MUCH FUSS IN THE WATER. Alda: HOW THE SHIPS SAIL SO WELL WHILE ONLY SKIMMING THE SURFACE FASCINATES LEIF WAGNER SMITT, AT THE HELM OF THE ROAR EGE. Smitt: THIS IS A LITTLE MERCHANT VESSEL. ONLY A FEW PEOPLE WERE SAILING IT AND IT WAS CARRYING GOODS RATHER THAN PEOPLE. IT'S A WONDERFUL LITTLE VESSEL AND I'VE BEEN INTRIGUED BY THE EASY HANDLING OF THE SHIP HOW WELL SHE MANEUVERS. Alda: THE VIKING BOATS HANDLE WELL EVEN WITHOUT THE DEEP KEEL MODERN SAILBOATS RELY ON FOR STABILITY AND MANEUVERABILITY. OKAY. Alda: LEIF HAS BEEN TESTING A SCALE MODEL OF THE ROAR EGE TO EXPLORE THE CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING A KEEL ONLY A FEW INCHES DEEP. HE'S SETTING UP THE MODEL IN THE TOW TANK OF THE DANISH MARITIME INSTITUTE IN COPENHAGEN WHERE HE'S THE CHIEF NAVAL ARCHITECT. THE MODEL IS BEING TOWED THROUGH THE WATER AT A SLIGHT ANGLE TO SIMULATE SAILING. THIS IS FIVE KNOTS AND THAT'S A VERY TYPICAL SPEED WHEN BEATING TO WINDWARD. Alda: THIS 750-FOOT-LONG TOW TANK USUALLY TESTS THE VERY LATEST IN SHIP DESIGNS NOT ONE OVER A THOUSAND YEARS OLD. LEIF IS TRYING TO REPLICATE IN THE TANK SOMETHING WE SAW WHEN WE WERE SAILING IN THE WARSHIP, THE HELGA-- A TRAIL OF BUBBLES STREAMING OUT BEHIND US A FOOT OR TWO BENEATH THE SURFACE. AND HERE'S THAT SAME STREAM OF BUBBLES BEHIND THE MODEL. Smitt: AS THE WATER IS FLOWING UNDER THE BOAT IT GENERATES A ROLLING VORTEX OF WATER. AND IN THE CENTER OF THAT, THERE'S VERY LOW PRESSURE AND ANY AIR IN THE WATER WILL THEN COLLECT IN THE CENTER. Alda: VIKING SHIPS HAVE THEIR RUDDER AT THE SIDE WHERE THEY'RE OFTEN IN THE WAY OF THAT TUBE OF AIR BUBBLES. THIS SHOULD IN THEORY MAKE THE SHIP MORE DIFFICULT TO STEER AS THE BUBBLES BOIL AROUND THE RUDDER. IN FACT, VIKING SHIPS STEER WELL AND LEIF NOW THINKS HE KNOWS WHY. HE BELIEVES THAT A PREVIOUSLY MYSTERIOUS PROJECTION ON THE REAR OF THE RUDDER MAY HELP GET RID OF THE BUBBLES BEFORE THEY CAUSE A PROBLEM. Alda: SO THAT WAS INVENTED A THOUSAND OR MORE YEARS AGO? THAT WAS INVENTED AT THAT TIME IN THE VIKING AGE AND FORGOTTEN AFTER THAT AND ONLY REDISCOVERED WHEN WE MADE THESE EXPERIMENTS WITH WORKING RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE SHIPS. Alda: BUT IF THE RUDDER DESIGN WAS IMPORTANT TO THE VIKING SHIPS' PERFORMANCE ANOTHER INNOVATION WAS CRITICAL-- THE ABILITY TO QUICKLY LOWER BOTH SAIL AND MAST AND SWITCH FROM WIND POWER TO MUSCLE POWER. THE REAL SECRET OF THE VIKING WARSHIPS WAS THEIR ABILITY TO STRIKE ALMOST ANYWHERE ALONG A SHORE OR RIVERBANK. HERE THE SHIPS' LIGHTNESS, SHALLOW DRAFT AND OAR POWER AS WELL AS SAIL POWER GAVE THEM UNPRECEDENTED SPEED AND FLEXIBILITY-- ASSUMING AN EXPERIENCED CREW. WHY DO I KEEP BANGING YOU IN THE BACK LIKE THAT? Man: TECHNIQUE. TECHNIQUE... ( laughs ) Alda: OUR DAY OF PLAYING AT BEING VIKINGS ENDED WITH A ROW BACK TO ROSKILDE HARBOR WHERE, JUST A FEW DAYS AFTER MY VISIT EXCAVATIONS BEGAN ON YET ANOTHER GROUP OF NEWLY DISCOVERED VIKING SHIPS. ONE LIES OUT IN THE HARBOR ITSELF WHERE THIS SECTION OF BOTTOM FRAMING WAS AMONG THE FIRST PIECES TO BE RECOVERED. ANOTHER SHIP WAS FOUND BY WORKERS DIGGING THE FOUNDATION FOR AN ADDITION TO THE VIKING SHIP MUSEUM. ONCE AGAIN, AS OUT IN THE FJORD 40 YEARS AGO AN ALMOST COMPLETE VIKING WARSHIP IS BEING RECOVERED AFTER HAVING BEEN BURIED FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. THE FIRST INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS SHIP COULD BE THE BIGGEST EVER DISCOVERED-- TWICE AS BIG AS THE HELGA. VIKING SHIPS AND THEIR WARRIOR CREWS ONCE CONQUERED MUCH OF THE KNOWN WORLD. NOW THE SHIP'S REDISCOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION IS GIVING US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT MADE THE VIKINGS SO POWERFUL. Alda: DID YOU FEEL A LITTLE CLOSER TO THEM AS PEOPLE? I MEAN, DID YOU GET A NEW LOOK AT THEM? Weiner: OH, YES, I THINK WE ARE IN VERY CLOSE CONTACT WITH THEM BY DOING... TRYING TO DO ACTUALLY-- THAT'S IMPORTANT. WE ARE TRYING TO DO EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO BUT WE ARE PRETTY AWARE THAT WE ARE NOT SAILING THESE BOATS AS WELL AS THEY DID. AND, YOU KNOW, THAT GIVES US A CERTAIN RESPECT FOR OUR FOREFATHERS. Alda:

				Dead Man's Tales Anthropologists use modern technology to identify soldiers killed at Custer's Last Stand in 1876.
		Select text to jump ahead in the clip: IN THE 1840s THERE WERE ONLY A FEW THOUSAND SETTLERS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. ONE OF THEM, A CARPENTER NAMED JAMES MARSHALL GOT A JOB BUILDING A SAWMILL HERE ON THE AMERICAN RIVER IN CALIFORNIA. ON THE MORNING OF JANUARY 24, 1848 MARSHALL FOUND A FEW SHINY BITS OF GOLD IN THE WATER CHANNEL OF THE MILL. THE GOLD RUSH THAT WAS TRIGGERED BY HIS DISCOVERY BROUGHT PEOPLE HERE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD-- A QUARTER OF A MILLION OF THEM. THE PROMISE OF GOLD BECAME A MAGNET PULLING PEOPLE WEST. IN 1874 A CIVIL WAR HERO, GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER LED A MILITARY EXPEDITION THAT FOUND GOLD IN THE BLACK HILLS OF DAKOTA. SOON TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PROSPECTORS FLOODED IN DESPITE A TREATY CEDING THE BLACK HILLS TO THE SIOUX INDIANS. TWO YEARS LATER CUSTER WAS BACK-- THIS TIME AS PART OF A MILITARY EXPEDITION TO MOVE THE SIOUX OUT. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT BECAME LEGEND. AND MORE THAN A CENTURY LATER IT SPARKED A REMARKABLE TALE OF SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE WORK. IN EASTERN MONTANA THIS IS THE SITE OF THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN-- CUSTER'S LAST STAND. IN JUST HALF AN HOUR ONE JUNE AFTERNOON IN 1876 CUSTER AND SOME 210 OF HIS SEVENTH CAVALRY WERE WIPED OUT BY AN OVERWHELMING FORCE OF SIOUX AND CHEYENNE. CUSTER'S LAST STAND HAS GRIPPED THE PUBLIC'S IMAGINATION EVER SINCE INSPIRING A HALF DOZEN MOVIES INCLUDING THIS 1941 PRODUCTION STARRING ERROL FLYNN AS CUSTER AND ANTHONY QUINN AS CRAZY HORSE. BUT NOT ALL OF CUSTER'S MEN DIED AT THE LITTLE BIGHORN. HALF HIS FORCE WAS HERE, THREE MILES FROM LAST STAND HILL WHERE MOST OF THEM SURVIVED THE DAY-LONG SIEGE. A STONE MARKS A MAKESHIFT HOSPITAL. Man: ONE OF THE MEN WOUNDED ON THE LINE WAS CORPORAL GEORGE LELL. HE WAS BROUGHT HERE TO THE FIELD HOSPITAL WITH AN ABDOMINAL WOUND WHICH WAS MORTAL AND KNOWING HE WAS GOING TO DIE AS ONE OLD VETERAN REMEMBERED SOME YEARS LATER THIS VERY POIGNANT STORY, AND LELL IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SAID "LIFT ME UP, BOYS. I WANT TO SEE THE BOYS ONE MORE TIME BEFORE I GO. " AND THEN HE WAS LAID BACK DOWN AND DIED A SHORT TIME LATER. Alda: GEORGE LELL WAS ONE OF THE FEW SEVENTH CAVALRY TROOPERS TO HAVE LEFT BEHIND A PHOTOGRAPH. BUT LIKE NEARLY ALL THE MEN KILLED IN THE BATTLE HIS BODY WAS NEVER IDENTIFIED-- BURIED ANONYMOUSLY AS ONE MORE UNKNOWN SOLDIER. THERE'S A GREAT DEAL KNOWN ABOUT GEORGE CUSTER AND THE OFFICERS WHO DIED WITH HIM. VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE PRIVATES WHO DIED AND THE CORPORALS AND SERGEANTS. WE KNOW FROM THE REGISTER OF ENLISTMENTS HOW OLD THEY WERE HOW TALL THEY WERE, BUT WE KNOW VERY LITTLE ELSE ABOUT THEM. Alda: THREE YEARS AGO, DOUG SCOTT EXCAVATED THE GRAVES OF FIVE OF THE UNKNOWNS-- MEN KILLED ALONG WITH GEORGE LELL DURING THE HILLTOP SIEGE. THE FIVE SKELETONS, ONE OF THEM THOUGHT TO BE LELL'S, CAME HERE TO CHICO STATE UNIVERSITY IN CALIFORNIA WHERE ANTHROPOLOGIST P. WILLEY SEEKS IN DEAD BONES CLUES TO LIVES. Willey: DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES. AND THEY CAN TELL TALES IN TERMS OF HOW THEY LIVED AND HOW THEY DIED WHAT THEIR AGE WAS, WHAT THEIR SEX WAS, WHAT THEIR RACE WAS WHAT THEIR STATURE WAS. SO THEY DO TELL TALES. YOU JUST HAVE TO LISTEN CAREFULLY. Alda: A COMMON TALE TOLD BY THE BONES WAS OF BACKACHES. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THESE VERTEBRAE HAD WHICH MANY OF THE VERTEBRAE FROM A LOT OF THE TROOPERS WAS THERE WERE DEPRESSIONS INDICATING THEY HAD CHRONIC BACK PROBLEMS. INSTEAD OF HAVING NICE SMOOTH SURFACES MANY OF THEM HAVE THESE POCKETS, THESE CUPS PROBABLY DUE IN LARGE PART TO RIDING LONG HOURS ON... OVER TOUGH TRAILS ON HARD SADDLES. Alda: ONE OF THE SKELETONS TOLD VIVIDLY OF THE WAY HE DIED-- SHOT IN THE BACK. Willey: THIS IS A WOUND THAT CAME IN FROM THE PERSON'S BACK AND RIGHT SIDE PERFORATED THROUGH THE HIP BONE JUST ABOVE THE SOCKET FOR THE THIGH AND THEN CAME THROUGH THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BONE... MUST HAVE PERFORATED THE LARGE INTESTINE AND THEN EXITED ON OUT THE ABDOMINAL WALL. Alda: THE HIP WOUND ALLOWED THIS FIRST OF THE FIVE SOLDIERS TO BE IDENTIFIED AS BEING FATALLY INVOLVED IN ONE OF THE BATTLE'S MOST FAMOUS INCIDENTS. IN THE FINAL MOMENTS OF CUSTER'S LAST STAND THE TROOPS WAITING THREE MILES AWAY SENT OUT A SCOUTING PARTY TO SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING. SPOTTED BY THE INDIANS THE MEN WERE CHASED BACK TO THEIR HILLTOP. ONE OF THEM FELL, SHOT IN THE HIP. A STONE MARKS THE SPOT, AND NOW, OVER A CENTURY LATER VINCENT CHARLEY'S REMAINS CAN ALSO BEAR HIS NAME. OF THE OTHER SKELETONS, ONE WAS ESPECIALLY INTRIGUING THOUGH HIS IDENTITY WOULD PROVE MUCH MORE ELUSIVE. FROM HOW CLOSELY THE PLATES OF THE SKULL HAVE GROWN TOGETHER WILLEY IS ABLE TO ESTIMATE ITS AGE AND BY MEASURING THE LONG BONES OF THE LEGS HE CAN TELL THE SKELETON'S APPROXIMATE HEIGHT. Willey: HE'S A PERSON WHO WAS IN HIS MID-30s 30 OR 35, PERHAPS, AND WHO WAS SHORT, ABOUT FIVE FOOT SIX. Alda: UNREMARKABLE SO FAR. BUT WHAT WAS COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED WAS THE EXCELLENT CONDITION OF THE TEETH AT A TIME WHEN DENTAL CARE FOR MOST PEOPLE MEANT A VISIT TO THE BLACKSMITH'S. THESE TEETH EVEN HAD GOLD FILLINGS. WILLEY SENT THE SKULL TO CHICAGO DENTIST RICHARD GLENNER WHO IS ALSO A KEEN HISTORIAN OF HIS PROFESSION. Glenner: THE FIRST THING THAT STRIKES ME IS THAT HE HAS PRETTY GOOD TEETH JUST LOOKING AT IT, AND, UH... THE THING THAT I SEE NEXT, OF COURSE, ARE THESE GOLD FILLINGS AND THEY JUST HIT ME RIGHT IN THE EYE THEY LOOKED SO TERRIFIC. Alda: AS WITH ALL DR. GLENNER'S NEW PATIENTS THE NEXT STEP WAS A SET OF DENTAL X-RAYS. Glenner: IT'S INTERESTING-- WHEN THEY WERE DEVELOPED AND MOUNTED WE LOOKED AT THEM AND YOU COULDN'T TELL WHETHER IT WAS A LIVE PERSON OR A DEAD PERSON. Alda: THE HOLLOW CHAMBERS INSIDE THE TEETH WHICH NARROW WITH AGE CONFIRMED THAT THEY CAME FROM SOMEONE IN THEIR EARLY 30s. BUT IT WAS THOSE GOLD FILLINGS-- BRIGHT SPOTS ON THE X-RAYS-- WHICH MOST FASCINATED GLENNER AND WERE TO PROVIDE A VITAL CLUE TO THE SKULL'S IDENTITY. WE TAKE THE PARAPHERNALIA OF MODERN DENTISTRY FOR GRANTED. ( drill whining ) BUT BACK IN THE MID-19th CENTURY A DENTAL OFFICE AS SOPHISTICATED AS THIS WAS A RARITY. DENTAL DRILLS WERE ALMOST UNKNOWN... AND ONLY THE VERY BEST DENTISTS WERE USING GOLD FOR FILLINGS. SO THE MYSTERY SKULL CAN HAVE COME ONLY FORM SOMEONE WITH ACCESS TO STATE-OF-THE-ART DENTISTRY. ( microfiche machine whirring ) THE HUNT FOR THE SKULL'S IDENTITY NOW SHIFTED BACK TO THE BATTLE SITE WHERE HISTORIAN DOUG McCHRISTIAN JOINED THE SEARCH BY CHECKING THROUGH THE ENLISTMENT RECORDS OF THE SEVENTH CAVALRY. AMONG THE CANDIDATES... GEORGE LELL-- HERE IT IS. Alda: CORPORAL GEORGE LELL. AND AT ONCE FORTUNE SMILED. LELL ENLISTED IN CINCINNATI-- IN THE 1870s HOME TO ONLY THE SECOND DENTAL SCHOOL IN THE WORLD, AND A PIONEER IN USING GOLD FOR DENTAL FILLINGS. BUT NO SOONER DID THE ENLISTMENT RECORD SUGGEST LELL THAN IT ALL BUT RULED HIM OUT. THE SKELETON IS FIVE FEET SIX. LELL'S HEIGHT IS RECORDED AS FIVE FEET NINE. SO, WHEN THE SKULL WAS RETURNED TO P. WILLEY AT CHICO STATE HE WAS FORCED TO LOOK FOR OTHER CANDIDATES-- OTHER CANDIDATES WHO MAY ALSO HAVE HAD GOOD DENTISTS. WILLEY SUPERIMPOSED ON A VIDEO IMAGE OF THE SKULL THE PHOTOGRAPH OF ONE OF THESE CANDIDATES-- AN ARMY SURGEON NAMED DeWOLFE. Man: LOOKS LIKE THE EAR HOLES LINED UP AND THE BRIDGE OF THE NOSE IS PRETTY CLOSE BUT THE CHIN... THE CHIN'S WAY OFF AND LOOK AT THE TOP OF THE HEAD. IT'S JUST... NOT EVEN CLOSE. Alda: CANDIDATE NUMBER TWO WAS LIEUTENANT BENJAMIN HODGSON. WEST POINT, WHERE HE HAD BEEN A CADET HAD THE ONLY PRACTICING DENTIST IN THE MILITARY. Willey: OUR NOSE AND EYES ARE IN COMPLETELY WRONG PLACES. LOOKS LIKE THIS ISN'T OUR GUY EITHER. Man: NO, I DON'T THINK SO, P. SHALL WE TRY ONE MORE? Alda: AS A LAST RESORT, WILLEY CHECKED OUT GEORGE LELL DESPITE THE THREE-INCH HEIGHT DISCREPANCY. AND TO HIS ASTONISHMENT, THE FACE FIT. Man: YEAH, THAT LOOKS GOOD. THAT LOOKS GOOD? Man: LOOKS LIKE IT'S OUR GUY-- GEORGE LELL. Willey: I WAS SURPRISED. I FELT WE'D RULED OUT LELL PRETTY EFFECTIVELY BUT NOW IT LOOKS LIKE HE'S BACK IN THE RUNNING. Scott: I THINK MOST OF THE EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT IT IS GEORGE LELL. THE SINGLE POINT OF DEVIATION IS THE HEIGHT AND THAT COULD BE NOTHING MORE THAN A HISTORICAL TRANSCRIPTION ERROR BY A CLERK. WE HAVE CLERICAL ERRORS THAT OCCUR TODAY. WHY NOT IN THE PAST? Alda: TODAY AT THE LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD THE FIVE SKELETONS DOUG SCOTT EXHUMED IN 1992 HAVE BEEN REBURIED. VINCENT CHARLEY NOW HAS HIS OWN HEADSTONE. BECAUSE HIS IDENTITY STILL CAN'T BE QUITE CLINCHED GEORGE LELL REMAINS FOR THE MOMENT AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER.