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You know, mankind has always been
really good at building things.
We've built entire cities and
countries from nothing.
But, there are somethings we have built
that are particularly special that are
engineering marvels that are ancient,
that have stood the test of time to this day.
(Whoosh)
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Here are ten man made wonders of the ancient world.
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Number ten are underground churches in Ethiopia.
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Completed between the 12th and 13th centuries,
the underground churches of Lalibela, are a
series of monolithic buildings located in
the town of Lalibela in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
There are a total of 11 churches carved
into a single colossal stone.
Arranged in four groups, and connected by a series
of drainage ditches and tunnels.
Interestingly, the structures were actually
created from the top down, being hand
carved into the Earth.
Today, the underground churches of Lalibela
are a go to place for up to 100 thousand
visitors a year.
Man, and I can't even build an Ikea table.
(Laugh)
Have we really evolved as a species?
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Number nine is El Mirador in Guatemala.
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A true engineering marvel, El Mirador, was
a huge Maya settlement that was established
during the pre-Columbian era and flourished
between the 6th century B.C. and 900 A.D.
at which point the site was abandoned.
Located in the Mirador Rio Azul National Park
in Northern Guatemala, this settlement is
the biggest preclassical Mayan city on the planet,
and also happens to be the home of 35 pyramids.
It's also home to la Danta at 70 meters tall,
being the largest pyramid by volume on Earth.
When it was initially discovered in 1926,
El Mirador changed history, proving that there
was an advanced Mayan culture nearly 1000 years
earlier than previously thought.
They built roads that still exist today, and
compare that to L.A. where basically your
whole car could literally go into a giant pothole.
(whoosh)
Number eight is the Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan.
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The lost city of Mohenjo-Daro was constructed
around 2500 B.C. and was one of the Earth's
earliest major cities.
Though its original name has now been lost to history.
With nearly 35000 inhabitants, the ancient
settlement was the largest one of the
Indus Valley until it was abandoned sometime
in the 19th century.
What made the city truly exceptional, was the
ingenious way it had been constructed.
With well planned street grids and a
complex water and sewer system.
It was designated a world heritage site,
but believe it or not, mishandling of the
restoration of the city, has actually threatened it.
This is not something you can take willy nilly folks.
This thing is ancient, you can't be just like
yeah, so John, I'm just fixing this up and crack.
I just broke...I broke the city.
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Number seven is the Leshan Giant Buddha in China.
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Carved into a cliff side, between 713 and 803 A.D.,
the Leshan Giant Buddha faces Mount Emei,
and is the biggest statue of the premodern world.
It stands at an incredible 71 meters high, with a
shoulder width of 28 meters.
That's a conversion of add three to two...massive!
It was erected in the hopes, that the seated Buddha
that it depicts, would calm the
choppy waters below, but in an ironic historical
twist, and due to the rock chiseled out of the cliff,
the entire statue fell straight down into the river
junction, which actually did calm the waters down
and allowed ships to travel easier.
The craziest thing about this giant Buddha
is that it was carved by hand, and special
attention was given to creating drains along it
to reduce weathering.
Ohm, the giant Buddha will protect our waters.
Ohm, oh my god it fell into the water.
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Number six is Saksaywaman, Peru.
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Located in the northern end of
the city of Cusco, Peru, the former capital
of the of the Inca empire,
Saksaywamn is a walled fortress that was built
between 900 and 1200 A.D.
A true marvel of history.
What makes this complex so incredible, is the
fact that the series of walls that surround it
are made from stones, some of
which weigh as much as 200 tons.
But, with no mortar or grout to hold them together.
Each rock was specifically cut so that it
would fit in place among the others,
creating a dry barrier that definitely
stood the test of time.
And they stood there for centuries.
That was until the 1500s, when the invading
Spaniards declared that they had been built by the demons.
Hey Pedro, look at this incredible architectural marvel,
I don't think we could build something like that.
Demons built it, destroy it!
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Number five is the Obelisk of Axum in Ethiopia.
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Carved and erected in the fourth century A.D.,
the Obelisk of Axum is a 24 meter tall granite
and stone monument that was built by the subjects
in the Kingdom of Aksum, which is now the city
of Axum in Ethiopia.
The pillar weighs 160 tons and it's topped with a
semi-circular crown that's enclosed by a metal frame.
The obelisk is said to have a grave marker for
someone of royal descent, though it toppled sometime
in the years following its construction, only to be
rebuilt in Italy and then transported back to Ethiopia.
Leave it to the Italians to build the good stuff.
(Gibberish)
It's nice.
Except the Leaning Tower of Pisa, that doesn't count.
Today, it stands as a reminder of a time when
Aksum was once one of the most powerful kingdoms on Earth.
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Number four is the Parthenon in Greece.
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Originally built as a fortress between
447 B.C. and 438 B.C., the Parthenon is
located in Athens, Greece and has served many purposes.
Most notably as a temple to the Goddess Athena.
Every stone that was used to construct it, was
carried to the site and laid by hand.
But that's far from the only thing impressive about
this masterpiece, which is widely considered to be the most
important surviving building of classical Greece.
The platform that holds the vertical columns,
curves slightly upwards to help rainwater to runoff
and also reinforces the Parthenon against Earthquakes.
And though all these curves exist, through ingenuity
on the architect's end, the entire
building seems perfectly straight.
Men in modern day, we should be building
these amazing structures to the gods and goddesses.
It's just, too bad they don't exist.
(Thunder)
Okay, take it back.
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Number three are the aqueducts in the Roman Empire.
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Long before there was indoor plumbing,
people had to rely on getting their water
from rivers and wells.
And people also used to have to
poop in holes in the ground, and in fact in
some areas of the world, they still do.
So be grateful.
But when the Roman Empire was faced with a rising
population in places that didn't have enough
water close at hand, they constructed some of the
world's greatest architectural wonders.
Those wonders being the aqueducts.
Built with stone and brick, around 145 B.C., the
conduits were set at a downward gradient, relying
on gravity to move the water along, and for more
impassible terrain, intricate bridge work was erected.
But what makes the Roman aqueducts truly awe-inspiring,
is that the resources and tools needed to make them, were
severely lacking, meaning real genius was at work here.
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Number two is the Great Wall in China.
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Constructed over several hundred years, in an effort
to protect the country from invaders, the Great Wall
of China is the longest building on the planet.
Stretching nearly 21200 kilometers in length.
The first parts of the wall went up in the early
seventh century B.C. and various materials including, wood,
stone, tamped earth, and brick were used to complete it.
It's believed that over one million people lost their
lives to building the Great Wall, most of them prisoners
who were forced to work as laborers
as punishment for their crimes.
Though much of it now is in dire need of repair
and preservation, few engineering feats have come
close to being as impressive as the colossal barrier.
I would love to go there and visit this thing, and
walk through it, but I'm way too lazy.
I don't even walk to the store.
I just get all my food delivered
through postmates and ubereats.
(whoosh)
And number one are the pyramids in Egypt.
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Located on a number of sites across Egypt, the
Egyptian pyramids were built between 2670 B.C.
and 664 B.C., most of them as stone tombs for pharaohs.
The most famous of them are located just outside of
Cairo, in the city of Giza, and stand as some of the
largest manmade structures ever constructed.
Though its been theorized that wooden sleds were
used to drag the huge stones into the desert,
with water sprinkled in the sand
in front of them to reduce friction.
The truth is, we're still not sure how so much
stone was brought to the construction sites.
Many believe that the building of the pyramids
was impossible by human means and that it
was beings from another world that erected the monuments.
Does that really make sense, though?
Like, would an advanced alien species really come to Earth,
and be like, we can do anything we want, Hehe.
Lets make big triangles.
(whoosh)
So those were ten man made wonders of the ancient world,
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