Is There a Hidden Base in the Antarctic?

In remote Siberia, an area called Necropolis is found containing 88 unmarked Medieval graves. Experts believe they are distant ancestors of the indigenous Nenets people.

But the Nenets have no knowledge of the vast gravesite. Perhaps there are cultural similarities that could shed light on why they were buried here. The memory of who these people were has disappeared, but maybe some of their traditions have endured in their culture.

When someone dies, there is a tradition to punch a hole through the bottom of a metal pot or bucket. The idea is that the cauldron itself is broken. It can no longer be used in this world, but it will be intact and whole, ready for use in the Afterlife.

So, it is possible that the pieces of copper found on these bodies are just another example of that tradition. But if the people buried here do have relations to the non-ETS community, researchers still wonder what is the significance of this place Zelena Ja?

The area where the necropolis was found is situated by a River on a floodplain island, and it's the highest point in the area for miles around. This location is where two Rivers meet and the higher ground would have been less prone to flooding. It's really interesting that all of the bodies are positioned facing the River.

Usually when you find a group of bodies arranged according to some geographical feature like a River, it indicates that there's some significance there. Like maybe this River is sacred.

In many cultures, Rivers and bodies of water hold special significance. And in fact, there are lots of myths and legends around crossing Rivers into the Afterlife but with no written records.

The Mummified Boy, his incredible grave goods and the 88 other graves are all that's left to bear silent witness to mysterious people.

We don't know what happened to these people but the preservation of this boy is giving him a second life in our world. Antarctica, one of the most brutally cold places in the world, a frozen desert where no life exists except for at its melting edges. On its Southern side sits a deep bay known as the Ross Sea.

It's here that America's McMurdo Station has become a hub of International polar exploration. It's a bleak and inhospitable place. Blizzards and katabatic winds can blow in from nowhere and last for days.

In 1963, a lookout on the American icebreaker USS Edisto spots a stadium sized iceberg in the Ross Sea and signals for the ship to stop. The Ross Sea, It's a graveyard for these enormous icebergs that calve off the front of the Ross Ice Shelf. It happens all the time there.

The cliffs of the iceberg are an incredible nine stories high. But about halfway up there is a strange dark smear visible in the pristine ice. As the ship gets closer, it looks like Debris stuck in the iceberg.

But what is it in Antarctica? Planes go missing at an alarming rate.

So maybe these are the remains of a plane that crashed into the side of an iceberg. To see better, the captain creeps Edisto as close to the iceberg as he dares.

Suddenly a dark shadow snaps into focus. Huge boards of wood and large pieces of canvas are sticking out of the icebergs face. The crew of the Edisto Marvel at this strange sight. Could these materials be from a lost camp once used by Antarctic explorers?

In the early 1900s, adventurers were obsessed with discovering the South Pole. Famous Antarctic pioneers like Robert F Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Admiral Richard Byrd all built camps on the continent. If it is one of these famous explorers camps, how could it have gotten onto one of these giant icebergs in the first place?

A helicopter is readied and flies over the iceberg for a better look. The flapping sections of canvas appear to be large pieces of tarpaulin. The wooden boards look like the interior walls of a hut.

What is the tarpaulin covering? Could it be the roof of some kind of makeshift structure?

When the helicopter lands on the surface of the iceberg, the crew are stunned. Four thick poles are jutting out of the ice.

They look like telephone poles. The presence of these poles clearly indicate that this was some kind of camp. But do these poles provide enough of a clue to figure out whose camp it is?

In 1940, just three miles into the Ross Ice Shelf, an American crew was building Rear Admiral Richard E Byrd's third Antarctic base, Little America three. By then, Bert had completed two successful trips to Antarctica. He was well on his way to being considered a legendary explorer. He was the first person to fly across the South Pole.

Little America three was bigger than his first two camps with room for more equipment and a powerful Radio broadcasting station that required several large telephone poles for transmission. Are these large poles sticking out of the iceberg evidence of Byrd's old camp? Well, they could be, but they have to be completely sure.

There is one smoking gun piece of evidence that if found, would confirm that this was Byrd's camp. Byrd arrived in Antarctica with what at the time was the most advanced piece of equipment ever built for polar exploration.

He called it the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. Heart, Eyes, Tank Heart, Ice Bus Heart Invincible Travelodge. It was last seen partially buried on the Ross Ice shelf. They can find that.

They'll have found a monumental relic of polar exploration. It was supposed to have a range of 5000 miles. Byrd wanted a five person crew to be able to explore Antarctica for days without ever having to leave. The snow cruiser was 56 ft long, 19 ft wide and 16 ft tall. Smooth, ten feet tall, balloon tires were custom built to handle Antarctica's choppy ice and wide crevasses.

The pair of six cylinder diesel engines powered four diesel electric drive trains, generating an intimidating four wheel drive machine. They ran a combined 300 horsepower and a maximum speed of 30mph fully loaded.

The snow cruiser weighed 37 tons and on the inside there were sleeping quarters, a workshop, a galley, plenty of storage space, and even a dark room. But that's not all. Byrd wanted room on top to carry a small plane that would fly ahead and scout safe routes for the snow cruiser.

The snow cruiser cost $150,000, almost $3 million today. The price and the innovation of the design propelled the snow cruiser to instant fame. But as the snow cruiser arrives with Byrd standing victorious on top, the makeshift gangway breaks.

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