NARRATOR: Irvine,
California, April 2017--
ancient astronaut theorist,
Giorgio Tsoukalos,
is visiting the Keck
Carbon Cycle Research Lab
at the University of
California to see firsthand
how radiation can
dramatically alter
the results of carbon dating.
Dr. Southon, I'm Georgio.
Pleasure to meet you.
How are you doing?
Pleasure to meet you.
I'm here to learn
about carbon dating.
Well, let me show you
how this thing works.
Follow me.
NARRATOR: Dr. John Southon
is using accelerator
mass spectrometry
equipment to carbon date
a sample of redwood
that was exposed
to radiation during the testing
of atomic weapons in the 1950s.
The process begins by
sterilizing the wood chip
and then exposing it to
various chemical processes
to remove any contamination.
The material undergoes
a combustion process
and is reduced to graphite
for optimal data retrieval.
Finally, the graphite is sent
through an accelerated mass
spectrometer to measure the
rate of radiocarbon decay
and generate the
age of the object.
Pull up a chair.
All right.
So what are we looking at here?
OK, so this is
our result here.
This is how much radiocarbon
was in the samples
that we've measured
from that redwood.
OK.
And the thing that's
strange about them
is that the radiocarbon age
is negative, which means,
at least at face
value, these are
from 600 years in the future.
- Really?
OK.
And the explanation
for that has
to do with nuclear weapons
testing in the atmosphere
in the 1950s and 1960s.
This is amazing.
In your estimation, do you think
that if an object is closer,
let's say, to a nuclear testing
site, that an item like that
would be yielding
more crazy results?
If it was really close, yes.
OK.
So it would give
you dates that
would be the equivalent
of tens of thousands
of years in the future.
But I think that's so
incredibly fascinating.
If any object is exposed to some
type of a thermonuclear event,
it changes the result
of the carbon dating.
So I think that it's
about time for us
to look at our ancient history
because what if something
similar happened in our past?
NARRATOR: Stories of
ancient warfare involving
the gods using
sophisticated weapons
can be found in numerous texts.
And ancient astronaut
theorists have long
proposed that these
stories are backed
up by physical evidence that can
be found throughout the world.
One curious site
that seems to indicate
some kind of an
atomic explosion is
the very southwestern
corner of Egypt
right up along the
border of Libya.
And that area is a sandy
area, but it is covered
with evidence of vitrification.
That's what happens when
you detonate an atomic bomb
in a desert area.
It turns the desert into glass.
And also at Moen Jo Daro, which
is on the border of Pakistan
and India, were these
lumps of glass that
had been molten and melted.
And there were
skeletons that were also
found that were radioactive.
So the evidence
shows that there was
some kind of atomic
detonation or atomic war
in our ancient history.
There are
suggestions that there
may have been some past
nuclear weapons detonation.
And if that occurred, then
the carbon dating must
account for that possibility.
And that would make,
by the way, everything
look younger in carbon dating.
