1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of curiosities. It's not always reasonable, but 5 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: sometimes you just need someone else to blame for your misfortune. 6 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: Those in power almost never claim responsibility for what happens 7 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: to them, and instead lay that responsibility at the feet 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: of others. That was the route taken by Boris Godunov. 9 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 1: Boris was a regent, someone appointed to govern in the 10 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: event the next monarch in line was a miner or 11 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: unable to reign. He had been appointed to watch over 12 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: Dmitri Vassilyevik, the son of Ivan Vassilievik, also known to 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: us as Ivan the Terrible. Dmitri would have been destined 14 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,959 Speaker 1: to take over for his father, but he was an 15 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: infant and he had an older brother, Payador. Boris had 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: been a member of Ivan's counsel in the years leading 17 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: up to his death, and had been tasked with helping 18 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: guide phayedor in leading Russia after his father was gone. 19 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: But the young man was unfit to rule, both mentally 20 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: and physically. He was weak and Dmitri was too young. 21 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: That left Boris to rule as acting csar until Dmitri 22 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: came of age. But Boris noticed something unsettling about the 23 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: young Dmitri. He was smart. It wouldn't be long before 24 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: he was old enough to sit on the throne of 25 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: his late father, thus taking all of Boris's power with him. 26 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: The ambitious regents couldn't let that happen, and so he 27 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,639 Speaker 1: had the boy and his mother exiled to a small 28 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: town in western Russia, out of sight, out of mind. 29 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: The two Vassilievik's lived there for several years, waiting until 30 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: the boy was old enough to return to the palace, 31 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: where he would follow in his father's footsteps. It's just 32 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: too bad he'd never see the throne. In Fife, while 33 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: Dmitri was only eight years old, he was found dead 34 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: with a knife wound in his throat. This being Russia 35 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: in the late sixteenth century, the initial thought was foul 36 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: play had been involved. As such, Dmitri's mother had the 37 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: town church bells rung, alerting the town to what had 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: happened and gathering them together. A rebellion had been started. 39 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: The target of their anger Boris Dmitri's mother knew who 40 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: was behind the killing and why he'd done it. It 41 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: was a preemptive measure to ensure his place at the 42 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: top of the Russian royalty, but the Czar was ready. 43 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: He first denied responsibility for Dimitri's death, claiming the boy 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: had been playing with knives before suffering from a mysterious seizure. 45 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: The boy had simply impaled himself on one of them 46 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: in a tragic accident, and yeah, that didn't sound right 47 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: to the residents of the town either. Second, Boris had 48 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: a whole army at his disposal, and the little village 49 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: did not, so he sent a small group of troops 50 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: to take care of the rebellion before it could even 51 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: get going. The soldiers moved swiftly, successfully taking back the 52 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: town and killing most of the townsfolk. Those who weren't killed, 53 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: including Dmitri's mother, were all exiled to Siberia, but Boris 54 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: still wasn't satisfied. There was one other party that had 55 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: been involved in organizing the rebellion, and he wanted to 56 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: punish them too. To make an example of them, first, 57 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: he had their tongue cut out, and then he exiled 58 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: them to Siberia with the surviving townsfolk. Except this wasn't 59 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: a person. It was the church bell that had riled 60 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: everyone up in the first place. It hadn't been enough 61 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: for Boris to wipe out the town. He wanted every 62 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: last shred of evidence of rebellion removed, and that included 63 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: the accursed bell. In the years following his death, Dmitri 64 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: was sainted, and roughly one hundred years after that, a 65 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: new church was erected on the site where he was killed. 66 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: The bell, however, would remain in exile for almost three 67 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: hundred years before finally returning home. Today, the bell is 68 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: on display at the Church of Prince Dmitri on Blood, 69 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: where it's rung regularly. It's bright, loud tone, singing out 70 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: for everyone to hear, and thankfully it hasn't started any 71 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: new rebellions since its return. Despite the collections we have 72 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: of artifacts and fossils spanning millions of years, we still 73 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: don't know a whole lot about early civilizations. We deduce 74 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: and make inferences based on what we find, such as 75 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: pottery and grave sites, but we still have much to 76 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: learn about how ancient culture has truly lived, especially when 77 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: they leave behind things that aren't so easily explained. Russian 78 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: archaeologists found such an object in while working in the 79 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: Ural mountains. It was a slab of stone nearly five 80 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: feet tall and three and a half feet wide. It 81 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: also weighed a ton literally. It's called the Doshka stone 82 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: or the map of the Creator, and one scientist believes 83 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: it could be over one twenty million years old. That 84 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: in and of itself isn't so odd. We have fossils 85 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: dating back billions of years. What sets the Doshka stone 86 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: apart from other artifacts are its structure and what it represents. 87 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: The slab is made up of three layers. The first 88 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: is a seven inch layer of a compound with a 89 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: dolomite base. The middle layer is an inch thick and 90 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: made above a dioxide glass and silicone, and the top 91 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: is only a few millimeters of calcium mixed with porcelain. 92 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: This kind of layering doesn't happen in nature. Someone they 93 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: think had to make it. On its surface is a 94 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: series of lines intersecting at various points. These lines were 95 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: etched with some kind of primitive tool. Cartog refers from 96 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: Russia and China looked more closely at the lines and 97 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: noticed how similar they looked to a particular area in 98 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: the Ural mountains known as Bashkira. The accuracy was uncanny. 99 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: What archaeologists had found wasn't just a slab with pictures 100 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: on it. It was a topographical map, one drawn with 101 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: a bird's eye view of the mountains. There were also 102 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: lines representing waterways and dams. Undecipherable inscriptions adorn the sides 103 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: of the stone as well. Now, naturally, they didn't have 104 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: drones back then, or even airplanes, so how could an 105 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: ancient civilization depict such a precise image of the mountains 106 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: without help? That's what has baffled scientists since the stones discovery. However, 107 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: the claim that it's one twenty million years old doesn't 108 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: sit well with everyone. Some scientists get hung up on 109 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: the fossils that were found within the slab. One was 110 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: dated to one million years ago, while the other is 111 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: about five hundred million years old. That makes dating the 112 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: map were difficult. That's because Homo habilists, who lived roughly 113 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: two point eight million years ago, is one of the 114 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: earliest species that has left us evidence that they use 115 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: stone tools. To say that this map was created one 116 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: million years earlier, well before humans evolved enough to fashion 117 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: rocks and sticks into makeshift hammers and chisels does seem 118 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: a bit far fetched. What the map does illustrate, aside 119 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: from the ural mountains, is that the area was home 120 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: to an advanced civilization that had figured out how to 121 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: see the world from high above, something no one else 122 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: could do at the time. They didn't draw any roads 123 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: on the map, since none existed, but they did learn 124 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: how to navigate the nearby rivers and streams to get 125 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: to different places. There's also the possibility that there might 126 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: be more than one map. According to some reports, there 127 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: may be as many as two hundred similar stones in existence. 128 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: None of the other slabs have been found yet, though 129 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: for now, scientists, cartographers and archaeologists only have that one 130 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: stone to perform their re Sir John, but there's a 131 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: lot that single stone can teach us. It also opens 132 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: up the possibility that what we think we know about 133 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: ancient civilizations could all be wrong. We can only move 134 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: forward based on the information and artifacts that we already have. 135 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: There's more out there waiting to be found. We just 136 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: have to figure out how to use one map to 137 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: find another, and then another and then another. Curious, isn't it? I? 138 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: Hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 139 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 140 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 141 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how 142 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, 143 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and 144 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World 145 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,439 Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.