NARRATOR: Machu Picchu, Peru.
This stone citadel of the Inca civilization
was built high in the Andes Mountains around 1450, AD,
but was suddenly and mysteriously abandoned
roughly a century later.
Mainstream scholars contend the construction of Machu Picchu
was led by Emperor Pachacutec, and took thousands of men
working decades to complete.
But ancient astronaut theorists suggest
that the precise construction, the transportation
of massive blocks, and the Incas' own accounts
all point to a very different explanation for Machu Picchu--
that it was built with the help of otherworldly beings.
Emperor Pachacutec was believed
to have had a special bond with the god Viracocha.
ED BARNHART: Pachacutec, in the days leading up
to the great battle against the Chanka,
he takes kind of a retreat.
He goes to a lake.
And out of the sky drops this piece of metal into the lake.
When he fishes it out of the lake, it's a mirror.
And he sees an image in the mirror.
This supernatural creature in the mirror tells him,
I am your father.
You will win many battles in your lifetime,
this one included.
The image is actually Viracocha, the creator deity.
And then, as Pachacutec stood with his vastly smaller army,
these giant megalithic stones came to life
and became his army.
They crushed the Chanka.
Pachacutec actually had the power of Viracocha behind him.
It makes one wonder if, in fact, this was
extraterrestrial technology.
NARRATOR: Could the story of Pachacutec
levitating massive stones be true?
And might the mirror that fell from the sky
have been some type of alien technology?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
and suggest a new discovery at Machu Picchu
may reveal what happened to this otherworldly device.
French engineer David Crespi was vacationing in Machu Picchu
in 2010 when he discovered that, at the bottom of one
of the main buildings, there seemed to be a doorway,
purposely sealed up with rocks.
In August of 2011, he reached out
to Thierry Jamin, a French archeologist that
has been studying Peru and the Incan empire
for more than 15 years.
Within a month, Thierry started his own investigation,
with local archeologists and specialists in funerary sites.
Thierry and radar technician Ricardo Hamada
took a scan from above the blocked entrance
with ground-penetrating radar.
The image on the radar detector reveals a large cavity.
And the broken lines indicate there
may also be stairs, leading even further down into the earth.
Other equipment detected that there was metals
inside this hidden chamber--
gold, silver, and other types of metallic objects,
suggesting very strongly that we're dealing
with some kind of a tomb.
NARRATOR: Although Thierry has confirmed Crespi's suspicions,
that the odd structure was an entrance sealed off
at some point by the Incas, the Peruvian authorities
have since banned his returned to the site
for further investigations.
THIERRY JAMIN: [speaking french]
INTERPRETER: All of the iconographic and archeological
elements show us that this is all associated
with the mausoleum of Pachacutec, maybe
the most important archeological treasure
ever found in Machu Picchu.
NARRATOR: Could the tomb of Pachacutec
lie beyond these rocks?
And is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,
that it might also contain advanced technology--
the so-called magic mirror that was
said to have been given to Pachacutec
by the creator god Viracocha?