“Expedition Unknown” Host & Adventurer Josh Gates

Welcome back to AM Northwest.
Discovery Channel’s hit show Expedition Unknown kicks off a new season with a two-part special traveling to the ancient city of Petra to explore how a mysterious desert civilization created one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Start with this: Why is it called the Treasury?
So this is called the Treasury because of basically urban legend. The story is that this was a Pharaoh’s treasure chamber, but this is a myth. A legend.
This is a legend, right? Okay, so what was it for?
You look around, and you even just look directly at it, and it gives you a lot of hints.

Casor and Pollock, the two figures here and here. Yes, these are the Gemini twins.
These are the half-Roman twins, and they accompany the dead. And then you see there’s a lot of NS here.
Yes, “N” is the Roman symbol for the dead. So maybe this is a grand tomb. The problem is we’ve never found any physical evidence inside of the Treasury to justify that. There’s no name, and there’s no text on here to tell us what’s happening. Isn’t that incredible?

All the work to carve this out of solid rock—no inscriptions left. Nothing left to us.

Today, we welcome back to AM Northwest the host and executive producer of Expedition Unknown, adventurer Josh Gates.
Josh, every time I interview you, I think, “Oh my gosh, how did he make it there?” It’s just one amazing adventure after another.

So, tell me about Petra. Why did you choose that area? And tell me more about what you did there.
Sure, well look, whether folks think they know Petra or not, you definitely know it because it played host to the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
So, this iconic building that we all kind of know from the silver screen is known as the Treasury at Petra. Petra is one of the new seven wonders of the world.
It is this remarkable desert city built by people known as the Nabateans about 2,000 years ago.

And what is incredible about the Treasury building at Petra is that for as famous as it is, there’s a lot we don’t know about it.
We don’t really know when it was built, and we don’t really know what it was for.
Some people think it’s a tomb. It’s called the Treasury because there was always a rumor that riches were hidden inside of it.
But we’re going to be going to Petra and working with archaeologists to dig beneath this building, taking viewers with us to see things that haven’t been seen in a few thousand years.

What can you tell us? Give us a hint of what you found.
Yeah, well, Petra is this real layer cake of history. The Nabateans would build tombs and structures, and then they would go up a level and up a level.
So, underneath the Treasury building, we discover a tomb. We discover a chamber and a burial that has not been seen in a few thousand years.
Burials with human remains are very rare at Petra. Almost all of these tombs were looted and cleared out in antiquity.
And this is a tomb that has remains in it, and so it’s going to be hugely useful to archaeologists to help understand this mysterious building directly above it.
So, a major discovery at Petra, and we are so excited to bring viewers there and to have been a part of it.

Do you, in your job, sometimes think, “I’m rewriting history here”?
Uh, hopefully, I’m not rewriting it, but I do…
Well, you’re adding.
Sorry, you’re adding to it.
You’re adding to it.
Yeah, I mean, look, that’s the hope, right? I think that we all yearn for an adventure, and I think we all love the unknown.
Our brains are wired to love puzzles and mysteries.
And we live in a time when I think we’re so hyperfocused on our phones, and we all kind of feel like we’ve got everything mapped and all the information of the world is at our fingertips.
To be able to go to places where we don’t know the whole story, where there is a mystery, and to dig down with these explorers and get answers—it’s such a thrill.
Because we all kind of yearn for that sense of mystery in the unknown.
And so, to be there and fill in those puzzle pieces is awesome.

Incredible. What kind of challenges did you face taking part in this?
Well, you know, Petra is a difficult place. It is out in the deserts of Jordan. This is one of the driest, hottest places in the world.
To dig down beneath the Treasury building meant moving tons and tons of earth out in the hot, baking sun.
We had to scan some inscriptions that were high on a desert cliff, so I did some very precarious dangling off of very high places in this episode as well, which is always a little scary.

Yeah, but look, you know, that’s part of what makes it so exciting. A million people a year come to visit Petra, and this discovery has literally been under their feet and under my feet.
I’ve been to Petra in the past as well, and we’re walking at this site on top of thousands of years of history.
So, a huge challenge to get that kind of access to work with our partners over there and to be able to document and participate in this dig.
So we’re really excited for folks to check out the season premiere and be a part of the adventure.

You’ve been to some incredible places. I also wanted to bring up you’ve seen the Titanic wreck in that Titan sub that imploded last year.
Did you think to yourself, “Oh my gosh, I escaped death”?
Yeah, well, you know, I actually didn’t go down to Titanic in the sub. We went to take a ride in the sub.
I did take a ride in it. We were going to make a big special with OceanGate and to go down to Titanic.
And my own experiences in the testing phase in the sub were really kind of… left me quite shaken.
I didn’t have a lot of confidence in it. We actually backed out of making a larger special with them, and of course, tragedy followed a few years later.
So, a really sad situation. What happened there—so sad. But it was, I think, a vehicle that was really not ready for prime time.
Five lives lost. So sad.

Tell me about Eugene. You’re going to be at the Hult Center in Eugene coming up.
That’s right. I also do a speaking tour, and I’m going to be giving a talk on Sunday, October 27th in Eugene, a couple hours south of Portland there, at the Hult Center.
And we’ll be talking about mysteries and legends, and because it’s a couple days before Halloween, we’ll be talking about ghosts and monsters and things that go bump in the night.
It’s an awesome opportunity for folks to come out and live that adventure a little bit, especially right here in the heart of spooky season, before Halloween.
So, I encourage folks—you can go to joshgates.com and get a link to tickets there.
But we’ll be in Eugene on the 27th.

That’s awesome. Did you ever think when you were studying archaeology that you would have this kind of amazing, one-of-a-kind job?
No, of course not.
Yeah, you know, I mean, every time we go to make an episode, like at Petra, every day there would be some point where I would look up at that incredible building and go, “I cannot believe that I’m here.”
It is a huge privilege to be able to tell these stories and to be able to travel the world.
And a big part of our mission is to make our viewers feel like they are right there with us, and they’re a part of that adventure.
So, I really hope folks tune in. It’s going to be an awesome, awesome show in Petra.
Yeah, I think you accomplish that goal when you do that.

We want to tell everyone the new season of Expedition Unknown premieres on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.
Thank you so much, Josh.
Of course, thank you. Great talking to you as always.

As always. We’ll be right back with more AM Northwest. Don’t go away.
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