1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 7 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: Like a lot of people, I had fun dabbling with 8 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: pig Latin when I was a kid. It was probably 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: my first foray into speaking in code. And even though 10 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: pig Latin isn't exactly the most secretive language out there, 11 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: it is part of what made me interested in cryptography now. 12 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: The word cryptography can be broken down into two parts, 13 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: crypt meaning hidden, and graphy meaning writing. The practice of 14 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: hiding mess by writing in code has been traced back 15 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: all the way to ancient Egypt, and cryptography has played 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: a role in major events throughout history. Take World War II, 17 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: for example, the German Army broadcasts radio messages written with 18 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: their Enigma code. The British Army was able to crack 19 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: the cipher, which helped the Allies win the war. With 20 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: the history like that, it's no wonder this CIA has 21 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: an entire team dedicated to cryptography, encryption, and code breaking, 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: and this team is doing way more than talking in 23 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: pig Latin. They're the world's foremost experts on how to 24 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: speak in secret. Most of these cryptographers work at the 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and in one of the 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: courtyards outside the main building there is something that sticks out, 27 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: a twelve foot tall sculpture that's covered in seemingly random 28 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: jumbles of letters. The sculpture is called cryptos, the Greek 29 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: word for hidden. It was created by artist Jim Sanborn 30 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: and installed in nineteen ninety. When you walk up to it, 31 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: you see a huge vertical cylinder made out of petrified wood. 32 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: Coming out of that cylinder, almost like paper coming out 33 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: of a scroll, is a long, wavy slab of copper. 34 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: The copper is divided into four sections, and each section 35 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: has letters carved onto it. At first glance, it looks 36 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: like gibberish, but each of those sections actually has an 37 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: encrypted message inside of it. The first one is supposed 38 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: to be the easiest to solve, and they get more 39 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: difficult as you go. Now. For Jim Sanborn, the sculpture 40 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: was supposed to be sort of a fun game He 41 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: worked alongside a retired CIA employee named Ed Schitt, who 42 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: created the ciphers used in each section, and together they 43 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: gave the country's top code breakers a challenge solve them now. 44 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: At first, CIA cryptographers left they figured this little game 45 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: would be a piece of cake, but it wasn't. According 46 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: to CIA records, it took almost three years for a 47 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: group of analysts to solve the first three sections of cryptos. 48 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: The first section was a confusing, somewhat poetic statement. It said, 49 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: and I quotes between subtle shading and the absence of 50 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 1: light lies the nuance of illusion. That last word illusion 51 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: was slightly misspelled to make the code more difficult to break. 52 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: Section two was a lot longer and even more confounded. 53 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: It began with the words it was totally invisible, How's 54 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: that possible? And it ended with the series of numbers 55 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: that appeared to be geographical coordinates. The third section was 56 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: also pretty long and definitely the most unsettling. It tells 57 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: the story of someone climbing through a dark and narrow 58 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: passage lit only by the flame of a single candle, 59 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: then finding their way into a room. This section ended 60 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: with the words can you see anything? And the answer 61 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: to that is, well, not really. It's been thirty years 62 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: since the experts cracked these three codes, but the fourth 63 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: section of cryptos is still a mystery. Nobody, not to 64 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: online sleuths, not computer coding experts, and not the country's 65 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 1: top code breakers, has been able to figure it out. 66 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: Jim Sanborn swears all four parts of cryptos are solvable, 67 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: and that's when they're put together, they unlock the solution 68 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: to a riddle. So the answer is there hidden inside 69 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: the sculpture's strange twisting copper, just waiting to be revealed. 70 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: In twenty sixteen, archaeologists at the Tel Lahish site in 71 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: central Israel found an object inscribed with a sentence, which 72 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: not sound like a big deal, except the sentence was 73 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: written using an alphabet and it was the oldest of 74 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: its kind ever discovered. Five years later, experts were able 75 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: to figure out exactly what it said. And we'll get there, 76 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: but first it's important to understand how language emerges and 77 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: why this discovery was so groundbreaking. We all know that 78 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 1: one of the first things we learn as children is 79 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: how to say our abs. The alphabet is the foundation 80 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: of our language. But as far as human history goes 81 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: it's actually a pretty recent invention. The first forms of 82 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: writing emerged around three thy two hundred BCE, so a 83 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: little over five thousand years ago. These writing systems were 84 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: based on pictures like ancient Egyptian hybridglyphs or Mesopotamian kunea form. 85 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: In these languages, a symbol usually stood for an entire 86 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: word or an idea, and that meant that if you 87 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: wanted to learn how to read and write, you needed 88 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: to know hundreds of different symbols. If you struggled to 89 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: sing your abcs as a kid, well, this would have 90 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: been a whole lot tougher. Back then, reading and writing 91 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: were very difficult skills to master. Although it's hard to 92 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: say for sure, archaeologists and historians estimate that only between 93 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: one and five percent of ancient Egyptians were literate. This 94 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: meant writing and reading were reserved for the upper classes, 95 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: and the archaeological writings that we have from this period 96 00:05:55,320 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: are largely from royal communications, religious storytelling, or business. It's sad, honestly, 97 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: because so much of history gets lost when people don't 98 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: have the knowledge and the power to record it. So 99 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: that's the far distant past. It would take over one 100 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: thousand years for a phonetic alphabet like the one we 101 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 1: used today to emerge. The first evidence of such a 102 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: writing system comes from about one thy eight hundred BCE 103 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: in the Canaan civilization. The Canaanites, if you don't know, 104 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: were the indigenous peoples of the ancient Levant and Near East, 105 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: which comprises modern day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts 106 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,159 Speaker 1: of Syria. Compared to hieroglyphics and canea form, the Canaanite 107 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,239 Speaker 1: alphabet had way fewer letters. It was a lot easier 108 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: to read. We don't have great data about literacy rates 109 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: among the Canaanites, but archaeologist's findings appear to suggest that 110 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: more people were able to read and write using a 111 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: phonetic alphabet than ever before, which is really a beautiful thing, 112 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,039 Speaker 1: and it brings me to that discovery I mentioned a 113 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: minute ago. In twenty sixteen, archaeologists were digging at a 114 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: site in central is Real, which was part of the 115 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: Canan civilization around three thy eight hundred years ago. They 116 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 1: found a small, off white rectangular object. It was about 117 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: one inch tall and one and a quarter inches across. 118 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: The top edge was fairly smooth and the bottom edge 119 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: was jagged. Because of its size, shape, and color, archaeologists 120 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: thought that it was bone. The object ended up in 121 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 1: a storage locker for the next six years, which is 122 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: really shocking when you figure out what it is exactly 123 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: you see. In twenty twenty two, an archaeologist named Madeline 124 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: Mumshuglow took the object out of storage and placed it 125 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: under a microscope. It was the first time anyone had 126 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: looked at it this closely, and right away she knew 127 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: it wasn't just a random bone. It was a piece 128 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: of an ivory tusk. Based on the jagged bottom edge, 129 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,119 Speaker 1: Madeline determined that the ivory had been carved into a comb. 130 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: The edge was actually lined with teeth meant to untangle 131 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: ancient human hair. But here's where the story gets really good. 132 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: As she was examined the comb, Madeline noticed symbols carved 133 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: into it. It was a message consisting of seventeen letters 134 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: written in the Canaanite phonetic alphabet. It was the oldest 135 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: sentence written in an alphabet that had ever been discovered. 136 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: She and her team immediately sent the comb to a 137 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: Canaanite expert. He was able to translate the ancient message, 138 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: and it said, and I quote, may this tusk root 139 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: out the lice of the hair and the beard. And 140 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: there you go. It was simply a well wished to 141 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: the comb's owner that they might be able to get 142 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,199 Speaker 1: the bugs out of their hair, which to me is amazing. 143 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: It's so simple and so normal. It actually reveals something 144 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: about the everyday lives of ancient people and makes them 145 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: feel relatable in a brand new way. But still I 146 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: can't help but wonder what they think if they knew 147 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: we were messing around with the stuff that they used 148 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: to keep in their bathroom. I hope you've enjoyed today's 149 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curia. Subscribe for free 150 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,559 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 151 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 152 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 153 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 154 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 155 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until 156 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.