[footsteps crunching]
- [Joe] On a pull-out off Route 95,
just west of the California/Arizona border,
there's an ancient treasure that most people never notice.
That's because to truly appreciate it,
you have to view it from above.
But the Blythe Geoglyphs were carved into the soil
long before air travel was invented.
So who were they made for?
Meet Alfredo Acosta Figueroa,
a Chemehuevi Elder and self-taught historian.
Alfredo has spent the better part of the last six decades
studying and fighting to protect
this collection of ancient rock paintings
on the desert floor between Los Angeles and Phoenix.
The three human figures and two animals
that make up the Blythe Geoglyphs,
or Blythe Giant Intaglios,
were made by scraping away the darker surface desert rocks
to reveal the lighter colored stratum underneath.
Look at this very leggy boy.
There are hundreds of such geoglyphs
throughout the Southwest,
but this collection is by far the largest
in number and size.
And I mean really large.
This one right here, it's 171 feet long.
That's half the length of a football field.
Archeologists and historians disagree
on who made these carvings and to what end.
In fact, it's not even clear
exactly when the glyphs were made.
Radiocarbon dating, a process which measures
the age of an object by its content of carbon-14
shows the carvings could be between 450
and 10,000 years old.
That's a fairly imprecise date.
And that's because radiocarbon dating works best
to measure the age of formerly living things,
like plants and animals.
Despite long standing knowledge of the glyphs
by local tribes, a pilot named George Palmer
is often credited with discovering the glyphs
when he flew his plane over the area in 1932.
- [Alfredo] The Mojave oral history,
and the Chemehuevi oral history
identified a lot of the geoglyphs that we have here.
Different versions, but all related to the creation story.
- [Joe] For as long as humans have been on Earth,
we've struggled to understand who we are
and where we come from.
We even gave this quest its own scientific discipline.
Cosmology is the study of the origin,
the evolution, and the fate of the physical universe.
It's the place where science and philosophy meet.
And while some scholars credit Einstein
with formalizing the field of study in the 1920s,
ancient communities worldwide
have always grappled with understanding
their place in the universe.
Since written language only developed about 5,000 years ago,
we can't read accounts of this study.
But images like the Blythe Geoglyphs give us clues
into the philosophies of ancient peoples.
Alfredo believes the glyphs are evidence
that this region is the birthplace
of the Aztec culture, Aztlan.
The Aztecs ruled a large swath of Mesoamerica
from the 14th century until 1521.
Many folks today consider Aztlan to be a mythical place,
but myths often contain clues into past truths,
and things we hold to be true today
might later be viewed as mythical
by some future dominant culture.
- [Alfredo] The United States Government,
with its original manifest destiny,
came and said from sea to shining sea is ours.
So they refused to accept these truths.
- [Joe] Alfredo wrote and self published a book
comparing the glyphs and other local landmarks,
like the shapes of the rocks in the local mountain range,
to the images found in ancient Aztec codices.
Codices are ancient manuscripts.
The codices that Alfredo has been studying
contained details of all aspects of Aztec life,
including their history,
scientific beliefs, and origin story.
- [Alfredo] The natives here are so fortunate
that we have codices.
They relate to the story of the creation.
- [Joe] Alfredo isn't the first to say
that the region was once Aztlan.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Map
that was created at the end of the Mexican American War
in 1848, clearly labels the ancient Aztec residence
near the Colorado River,
just outside what is now Blythe.
While there's no scientific consensus
on where, or even if Aztlan ever existed,
the Blythe Glyphs are one of many geographic mysteries
that populate the earth.
And if no one knows who made something,
who decides how, and if it gets protected?
- [Alfredo] In the old days,
it used to look like a blackboard.
But now we have roads all over.
- [Joe] Alfredo has made it his life's mission
to keep the glyphs and the land that surrounds them
from suffering from further damage.
Over the course of many years,
he's fought to prevent the construction
of a nuclear power plant and a nuclear dump.
But his latest battle is with solar companies.
Since California passed an aggressive carbon reduction law,
Alfredo, and a group of people
from the lower Colorado River tribes
have been fighting to prevent the construction
of dozens of solar projects in the desert.
- [Alfredo] Solar energy is you know, father of the creation.
We're not against solar power,
but where it's put is a different story.
[singing in Native language]
They do not have to be destroying sacred sites
or sacred land.
- [Joe] Places like the Blythe Glyphs
encourage us to continue to seek a better understanding,
not only of who we were, but who we are today.
- [Alfredo] The three main questions have always been,
where did we come from, why are we here,
and where are we going?
Why are we here relates to that we have to make this
harmonious balance among all the things.
We do all for the benefit of all.
Different sizes, different shapes,
but all together in the trunk of the human race.
[mystical music]
- Hey guys, Joe here.
The team had such an amazing time bringing you this story.
These are the stories that Overview is about.
Let us know what you thought down in the comments,
or if you have any other ideas of amazing stories
that we should bring you from our unique perspective.
All right, we'll see you next time.