Were the Azores home to an ancient civilisation? – BBC REEL

History books tell us that Portuguese navigators found the Azores islands uninhabited in the middle of the Atlantic during the early 1400s. But some intriguing constructions suggest that people occupied this area long before.

So, who was this civilisation, and why did they leave?

Video by: Next Stop Stories
Narrator: Sam Hartford
Executive Producer: Griesham Taan

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#bbc #bbcreel #bbcnews

[johnnorth]

Excellent - this is the kind of content that the BBC used to be famous for. More please.

[ghomem]

To be honest, I live in this island since I was born and I *never* heard about this *ever* . This was such an interesting video! It changed my mind about Azores prehistoric origins.

[condeuiosandilixtos]

Just a random portuguese guy dropping by. I hope I live to see some serious studies and archaeological digs in the Azores. I'm utterly fascinated by ancient cultures, and despite Portugal being so rich in prehistoric sites, they barely receive any attention or care.

[lordcommandernox]

The best part of this documentary are the subtitles, thank you for letting me hear the Professor's voice.

[blondie]

Im portuguese (although im from porto) but i never heard anything about this, its wonderful to discover new things about the great history of my country. I really wish everyone could understand portuguese and what he is saying because he is not using overly formal language, its all very simple and acessible anyone can understand its like he is having a conversation with you and not a speech or lecture and i think its a nice reflection of our culture

[dixietenbroeck]

Even as an "advanced non-speaker of Portuguese, " I could actually understand at least 50% of this man's speech due to his excellent enunciation - which made this fascinating piece of pre-history *_EVEN BETTER!_*
Thank you very much for this lovely video.

[JonnoPlays]

The fact that ancient civilizations found places like this and Hawaii (and many others) only proves what capable navigators they were.

[ayachan]

"I can't live with doubts. I need to answer them." - Dr. Rodriguez

These simple words are the reason for my admiration for this type of people, an inspiration i find daily from people. I hope he lives longer with good health.

[deanfirnatine]

Two things not mentioned, remains of domestic sheep far older than Portuguese discovery have been found, someone had to bring them there and then there is the statue, when the Portuguese discovered the NW most island in the Azores Corvu they found a statue on the Western rim of the island made of stone, it was a man with a cloak and hat on a horse with no saddle with his right arm out pointing with his index finger Westward towards North America. The statue had undecipherable writing on its base, the statue was eventually disassembled and brought to Lisbon only to with time go missing, only a mural of it on a building in the village on the island remains as a reminder. There is some historical writings that indicate the Carthaginians or their ancestors the Phoenicians before them knew of islands that far out in the Atlantic in that direction but to have remains 4500 years old it would probably have to have been the Minoans, we know of no other great sailors at that time period, then again if the great megalithic builders like those in Malta could create what they did they probably could figure out sailing and navigation.

[FaughtyEmit]

Going on the fact that the sea level has risen so much globally since the last ice age - I think most of our distant past is underwater. Think about how many millions of people still live next to the sea for all sorts of reasons. It has always been the same, but now the ancient shore lines (and therefore archaeological remains) are completely submerged under tens of meters of water.

[sousa]

This is truly a masterpiece!
Thank you so much for this video.

I've been living in S.Miguel Island, part of the Azores archipelago, for 25 years, and it has always baffled me how people are so non-receptive to the possibility that the Portuguese sailors were not the first ones to arrive and populate these islands.
Clearly we underestimate the ingenuity and braveness of the ancient sailors.

[_Painted]

I think the Azores were not permanently inhabited, but various ancient peoples had myths of certain "blessed isles" in the Atlantic, where particularly honorable dead went in the afterlife. The Romans, Greeks, and Celts have similar myths. The Romans in particular wrote about these islands as if they were completely real, but required a dangerous several days of sailing in the open Atlantic west of Hispania. I think it's possible that various ancient people, such as the Romans, Greeks, Celts, and possibly Phoenicians and Vikings, visited the Azores but never established lasting settlements. I think some of the ruins may be sites created for the ceremonial interment of honored dead, but that leaves the question of where those remains are now unless if the sites were never used after their construction. [Actually, it makes sense that the remains simply washed/blew away over time if they were cremated.]

[fungaltoe]

some of my great grandparents came from the Azores, so it's super cool to finally learn something about the islands

[timothydoell]

There are some archaeologists who believe that the Azores Plateau (now almost all under water) is the famed City of Atlantis.
This makes me believe in that possibility.

[GVUEpi]

At times I feel like we are the only civilization in history that was lost while it still exists.

[alexgabriel]

Many Thanks for the Production! Tracks like the ones shown exist in Anatolia(Turkey), where there are underground cities[Derinkuyu]. The niches for ashes exist in Crete and in S.Thrace[Bulgaria] as well, in Glukhite Kameni[ photo in The Thracians by R F Hoddinott]. The use of the niches was a mystery until the similar site in Crete served for comparison. In Sardinia can be found tombs of the mound or 'tholos' type like in Thrace or the Phrygian Gordion in Anatolia. Dating is of crucial importance to determine who were the builders but unhappily the tracks remain a mystery.

[sirmiles]

Finally after becoming a topic from Rare Earth, Azores got into the spotlight.

[cat_pb]

Finally BBC is doing Azores! Whether the Phoenicians or the Vikings it’s a marvellous study!

[guysomers]

Great documentary! I have been traveling and sailing extensively through the Mediterranean in the past 20 years and have encountered these (probably) "oxencart tracks" (train tracks) in many locations while hiking/diving/snorkeling. I found these tracks on dry land and many times under the surface of the Mediterranean. Sometimes it looks like broken-off landmass/shoreline, and on other locations it looks like the landmass sunk and/or the water level rose significantly over a long period of time.

This is my first comment on YouTube, ever.
So why now...?
The archaeologist in the documentary said he only knew of one more example of these tracks on the island of Malta, and I wanted to make sure if the knowledge I have on the matter is common/shared within the archaeological community?

For starters, I've seen the same tracks on the east-south side of Sicily, which of course isn't a huge distance from Malta, both on dry land and under the surface of the Mediterranean. (Lykia/Fethiye Turkey and many more locations)

Is the existence of these tracks in those locations known to the Archaeological Society?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.🙂

[CursedDepartmentEastOffice]

This reminds me of how the Canary Islands, during the 15th century, was discovered by the Portugese to have a native population called the Guanches. They were related to the mainland Berbers.

But 1000 years before that, in the 5th century BCE, the great Carthaginian civilization discovered the islands...but found the islands to be uninhabited. The only thing there was ruins of great buildings. Makes you wonder about the true indigenous peoples in the area, the ones who originally settled there first before everyone else.