Josh Gates Unearths Treasures of Africa’s Atlantis | Expedition Unknown | Discovery

Is that stone?
It’s stone—really fine stone, beautiful stone,
not local stone.
This looks like something that would line a doorway
on a remote beach off the coast of a Tanzanian island.

I’m exploring a treasure trove of ancient artifacts
from what I hope is Africa’s sunken city of Raptor,
and this one is jaw-dropping.
This looks like an architectural element;
this is the nicest stone that we have seen.
This is about maybe a belief system or cultural tradition.
This is going to tell us not just the fact someone was here,
but who was here, right?
Beautiful! That is incredible.

The low tide continues to reveal treasures,
many dating to around the 8th century
when Raptor vanished off the map.

Oh, hey guys, got something!
Yeah, check this out!
What do you have?
More pottery.
It’s more pottery, but it’s early.
This is probably a little juglet; the bottom is worn out.
Uh, and I’d push it into the Islamic period,
maybe 6th century, which is pretty amazing.
Sixth century would put us within just a few centuries of Raptor.
The earliest known pottery from this area is the 8th century—
that’s the absolute earliest.

Until a few seconds ago…
We’re turning back the clock here, definitely.
Yeah, let’s keep turning it.
The objects buried on this beach are snapshots
from across cultures and centuries.
I’m absolutely stunned, especially by this.

I’m sorry, I keep picking up things that are really cool.
Is this of interest?
It’s Chinese.
It is Chinese! Yes, it actually is Chinese.
Look at that pattern; it’s beautiful!
This is so different than any other pottery that we’ve seen.
This is very, very finely made,
and then the glaze is just beautiful—it covers the whole thing.
It is stunning.

But if this was the story trading outpost,
where’s the town itself?
The answer may be just up the beach.
Wow, what is this?
Is it a tower?
Tower foundations?
Yeah, but something locked the top of it.

I just noticed something—
look, you see what I’m seeing?
A layer of articulated shells!
The killer just left its signature right here.
So when you see a line of shells like that,
it says what?
Tsunami? Big storm?

So one of those waves that comes crashing in
pushes everything that way,
and then it has this trail of shells and marine life with it,
and it gets deposited.
And then all the heavy stuff on top of it
gets pulled back out to sea.

Well, there’s a theory that Raptor was destroyed by a tsunami,
and we might be looking at a tsunami fingerprint.
That is one of the biggest discoveries we have made here.
This layer of shells is a monumental find.
It hints at a story—
one of destruction, perhaps, of a thriving Roman trade emporium.
After all, literally at our feet,
we’ve just made a dizzying array of finds.