Cities of the Underworld
2007–2021 · History · 60 min · 4 seasons
S04E08 · The Lost Aztec Colony
Wed, 27 Oct, 1:00 pm
Don follows the clues hidden underground as he searches for evidence of 10,000 Aztecs who fled Mexico with Montezuma's treasure and disappeared somewhere in America, perhaps returning to their ancestral home, Aztlán.
About
Skyscrapers loom overhead, taxis honk their horns and street vendors shout as they peddle their wares. But the buzz of the city above is nothing compared to the powerful pull of the past and the amazing secrets simmering just beneath one's feet! We travelled hundreds of feet beneath the pavement to reveal hidden worlds that literally make up the foundations of today's greatest cities.
Engineers, architects, and archaeologists leave the metropolitan chaos behind to travel deep beneath the city streets into the meandering tunnels, abandoned subway lines, hidden water supplies, dank dungeons, eerie tombs, clandestine hideouts, and forgotten cities that have been lost to the hands of time (or purposely hidden for more sinister reasons...).
Combining the stunning visuals of high definition video and state of the art computer graphics, Cities of the Underworld turns history upside-down. The construction and engineering of subterranean structures are brought to life and detail how a modern city miraculously doesn't collapse onto the one below. Whether it is Rome, London, Paris or New York these vibrant cities teeming with life, not roped off excavation sites deep in the desert.
Episodes
- E01
Mayan Apocalypse
Wed, 8 Sept· 60 minDon Wildman explores deep below ancient ruins as he searches for clues pointing to the true fate of the once-mighty Mayan empire.
- E02
America's Military Underground
Wed, 15 Sept· 60 minDon explores top-secret military and government tunnels and looks into classified technology that could be used to build entire cities right under our feet. He tours a Titan II missile site near Green Valley, Arizona; roams outside Area 51 and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; explores a tunnel boring machine (TBM) at the Three Rivers Tunnel Project near Fort Wayne, Indiana; examines the potential for nuclear-powered tunnel boring; tours the former emergency relocation bunker for the United States Congress under West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort; and investigates U.S. Army underground urban warfare training in Indiana.
- E03
Murder Tunnels
Wed, 22 Sept· 60 minDon uses brand-new mapping technology to expose the dark and deadly uncharted spaces beneath American cities. He explores the criminal underworld below Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California.
- E04
America's Ancient Ancestors
Wed, 29 Sept· 60 minDon goes deep beneath the Great Lakes and explores flooded caves as he searches for evidence of a mysterious, cave-dwelling, pre-Clovis society that may have been the first people to reach America. Evidence presented: a mastodon image carved on a rock beneath Lake Michigan, 16,000-year-old poop and arrowheads from a dry cave in Central Oregon, and a 13,700-year-old human female skeleton from Cenote Naharon in Mexico's Yucatan. Nicknamed Eve of Naharon, she is the oldest human skeleton found in the Americas.
- E05
The Pirate Queen's Lair
Wed, 6 Oct· 60 minDon explores newly discovered ruins, caves, and shipwrecks in Croatia and Montenegro as he uncovers the true story of Queen Teuta of Illyria, a formidable queen who dared to defy the mighty Roman Republic in the 3rd century BC.
- E06
Templars And The Founding Fathers
Wed, 13 Oct· 60 minDon goes deep beneath Bagras Castle, a Knights Templar stronghold in Turkey, to explore a provocative theory that may link the fabled secret society to Freemasonry and America's founding fathers. He also explores the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts and Fort Mifflin in Pennsylvania.
- E07
Secrets of the Ancient Metropolis
Wed, 20 Oct· 60 minDon explores the massive underground cities of Cappadocia in the mountains of Turkey that may have been home to the first civilization on Earth. Also explored are Göbekli Tepe.
- E08
The Lost Aztec Colony
Wed, 27 Oct· 60 minDon follows the clues hidden underground as he searches for evidence of 10,000 Aztecs who fled Mexico with Montezuma's treasure and disappeared somewhere in America, perhaps returning to their ancestral home, Aztlán.
Cast
Don Wildman
Host
Eric Geller
Host