Josh Uncovers a Spanish Warrior Burial Site | Expedition Unknown | Discovery

Huh? Oh, my word.
It is. It’s full of bones.
It is full of bones deep in a cave.
We’re discovering the real history behind the legendary character of King Pelayo.
And we’ve just discovered a new burial site.
You can see part of a mandible.
I can see teeth, long bones.
It’s different from the one we saw on the level above.
The skulls here aren’t smashed at all.
Can you see anything else?
No, it’s just bones as far as you can see.
Given the extreme effort surely required to bring the bodies down to this level of the cave, it’s likely this was a hallowed place.
Only artifacts will tell us for sure.
Fortunately. Whoa.
There’s something metal here.
There’s something metal in here, for sure.
The scientists have tentatively dated this new burial to around the time of Pelayo.
More importantly, there appear to be metal artifacts here with the bodies.
Now that we’ve documented the find, we get to excavate and see exactly what they are.
Okay. Coming to you.
This is going to be a type of archaeology I’ve never practiced before.
Delicately moving human remains while dangling off the ledge of a cave.
But we manage to gently clear the bones away from the mysterious metal object.
This left humerus.
Got it.
Once the bones are removed, Pablo can access the metal, which over the last thousand years appears to have been concreted to the cave.
He gently chisels at the calcium buildup on the wall to work it free until…
You get it.
You got it?
Yeah.
It’s free.
It’s free.
Okay, hold on. Here. I’ll take it behind you.
Behind you. Okay.
I have it.
Yeah, I have it.
Oh, my word.
It’s an axe.
Yeah.
You can see the hole for the handle.
Unbelievable.
Now, holding an axe head, we rush back down to rejoin the rest of the team so we can examine it.
I mean, look. Look at this.
It’s stunning.
Wonderful.
It’s wonderful. So this is like not a household shopping item.
No, it’s a weapon.
This is a weapon?
Yes.
When is this from?
Around Pelayo’s time.
So who do you think this is?
The person who owned this…
Was probably a warrior.
A warrior?
In this period in Spain.
Do we find many burials with weapons?
No.
Burials with weapons are extremely rare.
Have you found anything like this before?
No. It’s the first time I find an axe like this in my life.
Wow.
Incredible.
An Asturian warrior from the eighth century buried near the battle of Covadonga is beyond rare.
And the implications are humbling.
This could be a warrior of Pelayo right here.
Incredible.
And now what will happen here?
Much more work to be done.
Yeah, quite a lot, because it will take quite a long time to excavate that properly.
But we will do it.
Good. And you’ll send me lots of photos?
Yeah. Yeah, very many.
Hey, thank you so much.
Gracias.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
A long journey back up to the surface.
Okay, let’s go.