Siberia's Incredible 1,300 Year Old Mystery Fortress

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:35 - Chapter 1 - How was it built ? 3:10 - Chapter 2 - Why was it built ? 4:25 - Chapter 3 - What was it ? 8:25 - Chapter 4 - Was it a monastery ? 12:50 - Chapter 5 - Why was it unused and abandonned ? 14:25 - Chapter 6 - What will become of por bazhyn ?

[@Sedgewise47]

It was built by space aliens, wasn’t it?

[@StoneInMySandal]

@@Sedgewise47 It’s always aliens.

[@rebeccarakuza2845]

​@@StoneInMySandal Always!

[@erinmac4750]

It's official: Simon has become what the combined History Channel, TLC, and Science Channel used to be!!!! *With a little help from his team! 💜 Love your work!!! ✌️😎🍀

[@adarian]

I used to watch the crap out of early History Channel and TLC etc. Then they started to turn into the Ancient Aliens/crappy reality show channels. So now I watch Simon.

[@xomox5316]

All he needs to do is talk about aliens now all the time and he can totally replace them.

[@Aiden999]

But ...... when does the man sleep?!?

[@slcpunk2740]

@@Aiden999 he's clearly a cyborg sent from the future to kill John Connor but he found KZbin and then ... ??? ... Profit! 🤑💰🤑

[@Mizzle420420]

Yeah Simons need a alien theory Channel now. Would be Legendary

[@ariapipe32]

Between this and his other channels, my entire KZbin feed is full of Fact Boy... And I love it

[@jacobgriggs2556]

For real though. I think I'm subbed to 90% of Simon's channels.

[@comeandsee2525]

Sometimes, now days, I forget KZbin has other stuff. It's "the Simon channel" as far as my suggested videos.

[@charlotteharvey836]

mine also

[@N1njaSnake]

The Simon Whistlerverse

[@mariakelly90210]

Well doesn't everyone?

[@oscarstaaf4003]

Thank you Simon! This right here is why we enjoy your many channels on YT.

[@thehotBOXYoutube]

Many many

[@insertjokehere212]

This man has 14 channels from what I can find. He's absolutely insane!

[@insertjokehere212]

@@phalxor XD

[@nem447]

he's got a whole team behind him, he just has to come in and read the tele-prompter...they're now making bank

[@Xi_Pooh_Shill]

14? I thought he got 100.

[@obelic71]

Simon is going to take over KZbin, channel by channel. Simontube it will be 😁

[@thatsnotmyname1]

And 5 podcasts LOL

[@bluegrass_ttv8888]

"I hope to see you over there" Simon, poor Simon, you're never getting rid of me. Im already subbed to that channel too.

[@WardenWolf]

Not all forts and fortresses were built to protect an area. Some were built to protect the people, used as a place for locals to retreat to in the event of an attack. In these cases, they often were not manned and stocked, expecting people to bring things from their homes. Some walled monasteries also had this as a secondary purpose.

[@Joe-xp7pr]

Helms deep

[@WardenWolf]

@@Joe-xp7pr Not just that. Many American frontier towns also had stockades, strong points for the townsfolk to retreat to.

[@istoppedcaring6209]

not just that, castles were built to serve both purposes, a single fortress does little to protect against a mongol or uyghur invasion as well, they were capable of besieging but as hungary proved when crushing their second mongol invasion many castles can crush such an invasion, one siege can be managed, even if it's a siege of a massive city and takes years, but having to spend half a year besieging hundreds of small fortresses if you want any loot at all, with the added knowledge that all the surounding agricultural land was emptied and all the produce secured behind the walls,.... the mongols still relied mainly on living of the land and the supply lines they did have were not nearly enough add to that that during these sieges the lords to the west and allied states gathered armies to crush them, and by the 13th century nomad tactics such as feigned retreat were well known

[@SteveBlom]

Simon constructed and buried this fortress 1000 years ago to ensure he would have content. What else has he buried that his team will pretend to discover next? Legend.

[@adamhart1419]

The problem with that dating method for lumber is it only tells you when it was cut, not when it was used. It makes an assumption that all lumber is used right when it's cut and never repurposed.

[@rjs69]

True but presumably they tested enough samples from the area to support the findings, not just one piece of wood.

[@cointrickrTM]

Simon you were like the history channel TV host that I never had

[@spritemon98]

History channel: I'm not saying he's an alien but only an alien could be this successful then us

[@elliotkwasek6147]

Its super easy to transport material over ice. I say this as a Canadian.

[@ArcAudios77]

Simon, Always a good watch & appreciated. Regards

[@Palemagpie]

Pretty sure by this point Simon isn't even mortal, he's the KZbin algorithm having gained sentience.

[@michaelhowell2326]

Hell yes! Almost all of the topics covered on this channel I had heard of before but I haven't heard of the gem.

[@adriennefloreen]

They planted a row of non native trees that still grows there too, you can see the trees on google earth. It's the same tree row as another fort in another remote area.

[@TheManFromWaco]

Give credit to the Manicheans for getting around. Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the great philosophers and theologians of Christian history, spent some time a member of their group during his "prodigal son" phase as a student... in Italy.

[@isaacbenrubi9613]

Scientists: "Who built this place?" Old Gregg: "WHATRE YA DOIN IN MY WATERS?"

[@MountainDewbies]

I’m dying, thank you for this XD

[@morfea123]

You ever drunk Baileys from a shoe?

[@christyadams9235]

Are you playing your love games with me?

[@jaymeVos]

I showed ya my man-gina. Think you could learn to love me?

[@jessejoyce1295]

This is a fascinating video, I particularly like the explanation of carbon 14 dating, I've always wondered about the specifics of how that works. I would suggest more videos on the history of Siberia and central Asia more generally, I'd love to see one about the Tarim mummies and their lost culture, or the archaeological discoveries being found in the thawing Siberian permafrost. By the way, these are the very same Uyghurs (pronounced like 'wee-gurs') upon whom the Chinese government is basically committing a genocide right now... and this site is in Russia, which is essentially attempting a genocide on the Ukrainian people and their culture... we have sadly not advanced as a species since Por Bazhyn was built.

[@teresarivasugaz2313]

The Tarim mummies LONG precede (c. 3000 BCE) the Uyghur migration (c. 800 CE) to the area. However the Chinese authorities constantly refuse access to most non-Chinese archeaologists because the mummies are a very obvious proof that the Han are not native to the region and only got there as part of somewhat recent colonisation efforts (and therefore got there much after the earliest indoeuropeans, Tocharians and later Uyghurs).

[@Sniperboy5551]

What’s happening in Ukraine is awful, but it is not a genocide. Using that word to describe what’s going on there makes it lose its meaning. Say that to an Armenian or a Jew and see what they have to say…

[@andrewmckeown6786]

The carbon dating is a useful tool, however, alot of literature indicates that it is far from infalable. It is susceptible to effects from naturally occurring phenomenon such as electro-magnetic spikes, solar flares, volcanism etc. etc. It should never be relied on as proof positive on its own. I dont know the veracity of the indictments but I have seen them in numerous places

[@elikeenan136]

The Soviet Union has already committed genocide against the Ukrainians in The Holodomor. And the brutal policies of Rusification were a form of cultural genocide. There is a valid argument to be made that this new aggression is a continuation of those policies. As long as Russian leaders claim that Ukrainian culture, land, and language is invalid and 'actually Russian' and follow that claim with force (even if not systematic death) it could qualify. Right now, it is not clearly a genocide. But it can't be dismissed out of hand.

[@cuckerdoddle183]

Carbon dating is very flawed, it relies on many many assumptions or out right guessing, the most obvious and the one that has a massive affect even if off by a little is assuming we know how much carbon was in the atmosphere at any point in history

[@bon3scrush3r]

Tanking over the internet , one channel at a time . Well done Simon

[@isaiahwelch8066]

Just saying, other than the climate and temperature, this fortress sounds like a perfect prototype for a D&D abandoned fortress.

[@danielkubicek1323]

The Khan was a huge D&D need and needed a place to LARP! 😂

[@PatrickLeonardva]

To say this man is incredibly articulate is like saying the Hope Diamond is a pretty cut gem - I wish he would go into acting and film - I’d watch everything he worked on!

[@michalpavlat3943]

Great video as always Simon! What about another one about Plain of Jars in Laos?

[@jscott20002278]

Dude.....when it was built...the landscape was completely different... can't believe you couldn't wrap your head around it..

[@niallfrancis1638]

Simon Whistler - the only thing he hasn't got an account on at this stage is Only Fans (or maybe he is in there but I ain't checking) lol

[@AJWRAJWR]

Grindr?

[@legolasdf1]

Always astonishing how many channels Simon manages to make................its like, he plans to own EVERY yt channel hahaha

[@Sideprojects]

Work in progress.

[@Gitami]

I welcome my new yt overlord.

[@trishweber9695]

@@Sideprojects You need to do a video of his youtube takeover, that should be good for Megaprojects

[@TheAverlorn]

As a half Australian half Singaporean Chinese, I am impressed at your pronunciations of all the names. Bravo. I used to remember times when you would say please don't slay me in the comments for I will butcher this ect. But now you are clearly more confident in this area and it shows.

[@scottmartin5990]

Manichean = man-uh-KEE-uhn

[@socalav]

@@scottmartin5990 Yes Thank you to you too.. It's also mispronounced in the video.

[@JohnGardnerAlhadis]

Uyghur = WEE-gur Not "UR-gur".

[@シロダサンダー]

​​@@JohnGardnerAlhadis and in Dutch it's Ooeegoor (Oeigoer). Exonyms are free-for-alls really. Uhrgur is as good as anything else. ^_^

[@JohnGardnerAlhadis]

​@@シロダサンダー Oké mattie, bedankt voor de info!

[@InternetSlavicMan]

this seems like it would be a good geographics video too

[@OhWell0]

Uyghurs built this. The closed caption interpreted Simon's endlessly poncey accent as saying "They also knew the rough date of construction, sometime in the 8th century, the time when the ogres ruled the region." 3:23

[@j0njn]

Very interesting video, as always. But I have to point out that the dating of the lumber didn’t prove Northmen reached the Americas before Columbus, that was already well known, but it did precisely date that outpost.

[@andyyang3029]

Here's your award for becoming the ultimate nitpicker 🏆

[@fukkitful]

@@andyyang3029 Thats half the comment on KZbin historical docs. 75% are usually wrong. It never accuses to ppl that you should look the information up before saying its wrong.

[@gg3675]

He did say "conclusively," which is a bit in the eye of the beholder. The Miyake events give highly precise dating, so saying that's "conclusive" evidence is fair.

[@j0njn]

@@gg3675 It had been conclusively proven by loads of other finds, as well as historical records. I think you’ll find there wasn’t any doubt that the settlement was Norse and built before 1492. The findings did put a precise year on it, which is really cool, but let’s try to be accurate about it.

[@gg3675]

@@j0njn Not everyone is convinced by the same evidence. Your second comment was conclusive evidence that you’re nitpicking.

[@NoMadMediaProductions]

This was built by the uyghurs against their kirghiz cousins who were the ruling dynasty in Siberia. It was the kirghiz that they often fought not Tang China. But this place housed the governor who regulated the import (sometimes tribute) of fur, arms and other goods from Siberia. Manichaeans had a big business lobby in the uyghur khaganate.

[@erginguneysf]

A wonderful and fascinating video. I'm pretty astounded that things are known about the history of this part of the world in this time frame at the level of detail of individual rulers' actions on specific years. Many thanks! I would like to urge a bit more attention to the pronunciation of some less common names, though. "Bilge" would be pronounced as "bill-gheh" rather than as "bilj" like the bilge of a ship's hull. (It's always a safer bet to pronounce unfamiliar foreign names phonetically, rather than in their apparent English pronunciation.) And the "ch" in "Manichaenism" is a "k" (as in "chrome") rather than a "ch" (as in "church").

[@lindareed8265]

It's extra hard because it's difficult to know if the spelling is the Anglicized version or the semi-phonetic version. As your second example shows, "ch" has more than one pronunciation in English and across languages and orthography. It's much better to just check online or ask someone who speaks that language rather than guessing at all. I think anyone who is presenting should do that as a basic part of their prep. It doesn't seem like a hard thing to do, so it definitely annoys me when presenters obviously haven't even tried.

[@lizard3755]

@@lindareed8265 Yes! I've noticed over several videos that there are mispronounced words and it's so frustrating. Clearly they're doing a lot of in-depth research for these videos but the fact that they don't also ensure that they're saying words or names they're unfamiliar with correctly is baffling to me.

[@Timberella3003]

​@@lizard3755 You are welcome to start your own channel.

[@mikeximenez5285]

Kind of a petty complaint 😂 if you knew what he meant… why do you care?

[@HooniCoonCustoms]

I would certainly appreciate it if a paid actor had taken the time to pronounce words correctly.. what's that? He only gets money from ads, oh..yeah.. mispronouncing away

[@garywhite2050]

How can you sleep at night knowing you are leaving the story of the Donkey-Eared Boy is going untold 😭😭😭😭?! Maybe there's a....tail.....there!

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@advicepirate8673]

Lumber can be cut and stored for a long time in the right conditions. Lumber can be re-used from old structures. Knowing when the timbers in a structure were cut isn't necessarily knowing when a structure was built. It's a fairly low margin of error when you're talking in centuries, but I'd be wary of exact dates.

[@Lowmanification]

While true, in this case it doesn't matter since the date of construction was revised to after the initial estimate. Storing wood could make the structure appear older, but never younger.

[@advicepirate8673]

I endorse this message.

[@andersbjrnsen7203]

Youre correct, but you usually dont reuse hundreds of years old timber unless its very good, or in an area with a lack of timber.

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for the lesson.

[@mobilephil244]

Absolutely terrifying. What people lived through in bygone times.

[@BKKfreak]

Legend has it that there's a secret message explained by Simon's open door, its angles, the lighting and the number of closeups.

[@kdubs9111]

The logic used by archeology today is akin to finding an iPod in Buckingham Palace 1k years from now and dating the palace to the iPod.

[@blindmown]

I refuse to believe that this man doesn't have at least 2-3 clones.

[@joebidet2050]

He uses doubles like putin 😂

[@axesofebil]

The day I click on a video from Simon and he's not announcing a new channel I will be greatly concerned.

[@eb1247]

I remember reading about this long time ago good to hear about it again

[@rjs69]

Fascinating, I always wondered about the origins on Tangri religion in the area

[@xanderalaniz2298]

Just because something is remote now doesn't mean it was always remote.

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

The why is simple: it was built to troll future archeologists.

[@ogadlogadl490]

I always wanted to know how carbon dating worked! Thank you for putting into layman’s term! Excellent informational video!

[@mikeximenez5285]

It was always one google away… why are humans so lazy? 😂

[@ogadlogadl490]

@@mikeximenez5285 some of us lazy people learn information differently and retain said info differently than non-lazy people. I just happen be able to understand by watching than reading. Still great video!!

[@rmiddlehouse]

I spent so much time wandering around that place in BOTW

[@threestepssideways1202]

It very much seems like a mausoleum of some kind to me, which would also explain it's remoteness, in that it would be less likely to be looted or vandalised.

[@rjs69]

That was my first thought too

[@mikeximenez5285]

So… why didn’t they find anything then? 😂

[@balinthavlik7238]

This would have been a perfect episode for decoding the unknown

[@Xi_Pooh_Shill]

Is that your 100th channel? Congrats!

[@humanphillips3091]

Your channel and beard have come a long way. Congrats

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@MegaKat]

Lol Simon, it's pronounced WEE-guhr, but I do love you and your channels!

[@andrewthomson]

Back in my day that's what we called white kids who thought they were rappers.

[@loxodoncyclotis1823]

If you watch the video with captions on, it gets transcribed as 'ogre', 'ochre', 'yoga', or 'uber' 😂

[@rhov-anion]

I came into the comments because I was pretty sure he meant Uyghurs, especially after he began to list a few, but that pronunciation! "Ugh-ers" haha! Although to be fair, I had to ask "what's a Uyghur" when I was in college because their culture was never taught in American history classes. A shame!

[@jakemeyer8188]

My Uygher linguist always pronounced Uygher "WEE-ger", as we all did in that community. I'm genuinely curious if we had mispronounced it. I'm not saying Simon is the end-all-be-all for knowledge nuggets, but he's certainly in a position to have me at least second guess things I thought I knew!

[@chick_nuggs9318]

I'm guess to side step youtube censorship. a Certain Communist Place has uygher concentration camps and doesn't like people talking about it, neither does youtube. He may be pronouncing it a different way so the video doesn't get flagged.

[@DaleNewMusic]

He IS mispronouncing it.. it is WEE-GUR

[@chrisdrake447]

I thought Simon’s pronunciation was off too, weirdly so because their Uygher descendants have rather been in the news for the last few year due to the persecution of this people by the PRC government. C’mon, Simon - get a grip!

[@eekee6034]

If I'm not mistaken, some of these traditional stories use individual characters to represent nations or powerful people or groups. It's a way of preserving knowledge at a time when the powerful people involved would have you executed if they knew you were talking about it. I'm guessing the boy would be a king who commissioned this fortress, the donkey ears would be a clue to something he was well-known for, and if the boy's cry is two words in two different languages, that might be another clue too. Perhaps his father was of one of the nations and his mother the other thanks to a marriage alliance. And I wrote all that before hearing about the kings and marriage alliances in the video. Donkey ears... was this perhaps to do with him listening to things from far away; in this case foreign priests? And stubbornness! This king refused to listen to very good advice from his uncle.

[@rhov-anion]

You're likely right. Stories like this commonly represented events the people of the time would've known about, but sadly the meaning got lost over the generations.

[@eekee6034]

@@rhov-anion Thanks. :) Yeah. I wonder if it could be reconstructed. I'd have a go, but I'm too flakey for proper research. (Maybe I could on a good day, but eh..)

[@Crytica.]

Ah yes, I was already starting to get afraid there are no new channels of you to follow!

[@OzzMazz]

The Uyghurs (/ˈwiːɡʊərz/ WEE-goorz or /uːiˈɡʊərz/), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. China will not be pleased.

[@socalav]

Thank you.. as I posted today, the pronunciation was torturing me...as well as the mangling of almost every other name Simon introduced.. lol

[@SirTorcharite]

I think that may have been on purpose so as to incentivize comments like this generating interactions about a topic. Inadvertently manipulating the logic driving modern data collection algorithms. So if enough people on Alphabet's KZbin platform are seeming to be organically commenting on a subject then that topic will be more likely to be circulated on Alphabet's other digital platforms since data suggests people are interested atm. Knowing that, large accounts can use social manipulation like the urge to correct people as a method to an end. All that said I hope all is well for everyone decent in Asia. Lotta sad stuff been going on. ✌️❤️🙏

[@NightPhoenix.Y]

The Chinese are wrong to call it the Uighur autonomous region. The land belonged to the Dzungars. Urumqi the name of the capital is Dzungarian in origin. The Uighurs committed genocide on the Dzungars and took their land with the help of Manchu Qing.

[@socalav]

​ @Night Phoenix .L Your comment only applies to the latter 17th or 18th Centuries. In reality, many nomadic tribes existed in this area going back 2 thousand years, including the earliest Turkic Kok Turk Khaganate that was the probable progenitor of the Turkic tribes that spread later. The Huns/Avars, Saka, Khitan, Mongols, Uyghurs, Kypchaks, Rouran, XiongNu, Siu Chinese, Merkits all were present at one time or another. To claim that the later Dzungars were the only 'rightful' inhabitants is very shortsighted and disingenuous. The nomads also all moved and shifted around. The sad truth of the history of all the nomadic tribes is that NONE of them could maintain peaceful cooperation or coexistence with each other for great periods of time, treaty abrogations, betrayals, egotistic plays for power and dominance, all worked to keep our peoples at rivalry, conflict and war with each other for centuries. None of us heeded the lessons of Genghis in trying to stay united, and we launched battle after battle and holocaust after holocaust on each other. This is the sad truth why the major languages of Asia are now Russian and Chinese... instead of Uyghur/Turkic (which was the actual administrative language of the Mongol Empire) or Mongol (whether its classical, modern, buryat,oyrat or kalmyk etc). Peace to you.. BTW, what does the name Urumqi translate into from Dzungarian?

[@NightPhoenix.Y]

@@socalav urumqi means beautiful or bountiful pastures.

[@zorkwhouse8125]

up to 11 channels now.. great work - but insane.. the happy powder seems to have helped carry you quite a ways.. (business blaze joke sorta ;-) )

[@kevintemple245]

OG BB

[@michaelsmyth3935]

....you are right, Peter.

[@keryeeastin4022]

Allegedly

[@kooperativekrohn819]

Was about to comment this . This mans everywhere . Does he sleep lol

[@sandybarnes887]

Up to 13 channels

[@HeWhoShams]

Closest city to this place today is 5 miles away. The next is 40+ miles away to give a sense of it's remoteness

[@CrazyBear65]

0:57 - Putin looks like a sleestack with those glasses on. Sup, Simon? Beard's lookin mighty beardy! Scuse me while I hit this bong...

[@garyjust.johnson1436]

Simon has more youtube channels than the russian army has soldiers.

[@dereksmith4517]

Abandoned 2 days after it was built? This is very accurate.

[@fukkitful]

I guess some wrote it the log.... book.

[@juniravegaming8564]

Монгол найзууддаа зориулав! Энэ соёлын талаар бусад хүмүүс ярьж байгааг харах нь ерөөл юм! 1:35 - Бүлэг 1 - Үүнийг хэрхэн барьсан бэ? 3:10 - Бүлэг 2 - Үүнийг яагаад барьсан бэ? 4:25 - Гуравдугаар бүлэг - Энэ юу байсан бэ? 8:25 - 4-р бүлэг - Энэ хийд байсан уу? 12:50 - 5-р бүлэг - Яагаад үүнийг ашиглаагүй, орхисон бэ? 14:25 - 6-р бүлэг - Пор бажын ​​юу болох вэ?

[@stanw909]

Remember that the years you are speaking of was during the Medieval Warm Period,so the temperatures would be warmer then.

[@snowfox94]

Whats the song that plays during transition?

[@Mr5150cassini]

I can't keep track of how many channels u have now.

[@wreckingopossum]

A lot

[@paulherman5822]

All of them.

[@sandybarnes887]

13

[@powwowken2760]

When in doubt, just call it a religious site or a tomb At least there's some genuinely decent evidence for once, but it still begs the question, why build a monastery for your fancy new religion out in the middle of nowhere where no one will see or visit it?

[@mirandagoldstine8548]

It might have been intended to be a religious site but like Simon said it was abandoned due to a switching of religious beliefs and leaders. There are cases of remote sites being sacred places like Meteora in Greece which houses a Greek Orthodox monastery and if it was meant as a monastery it probably was meant to be a way to curtail the monks falling into temptation.

[@nyckhusan2634]

This fortress was built in 777 AD, possibly, on the place of former hidden refuge place of Uyghur Khagan Boku Tekin , known as "Elser " in Yenisei Uyghur Runic texts. It could be used not only as Manichean worship site for newly converted to this religion Khagan (since 762), but also for keeping of some kind of low frequency infrasound weaponry that Khagan used against Tibetan Army that invaded Tang China in 762. Boku Tekin came to Tang China only with 4,000 troops with initial intention to help successors of rebellious Ang-lu-shan and Tibetans " to finish " China, but switched sides after negotiations with Tang Prince and attacked Tibetan Army instead ( one of the strongest in Asia at the time), that was routed when " the Nature " itself turned against them and their sudden defeat was never explained by historians.

[@thelastyoutuber9090]

Simon and thoughty2 need to do a collab

[@smokysky2547]

Just love that huh-heh-hah-huh-hoh music you use :D

[@The0riginalTwo]

A bit extreme to say temperatures from -40 to 40 celsius, sure those might be the record numbers but it’s more like a -25 to 25 celsius spread.

[@OmnivorousReader]

That was a great yarn - thank you!

[@cyrilio]

My Alma mater the RuG University. Do a video about Zernike and the Nobel prize he won for chemistry.

[@douglasherron7534]

A huge structure like that would have required a massive amount of labour to construct... where did all of these people come from (and live during the construction)?

[@noahway13]

Don't forget that slavery was used worldwide until a few hundred years ago. Not saying this is what happened, but a possibility.

[@douglasherron7534]

@@noahway13 Definitely a possibility...

[@noahway13]

@@douglasherron7534 A definite MAYBE...

[@douglasherron7534]

@@noahway13 That's what a possibility is - it may, or may not, be the case...

[@davidgantenbein9362]

The Uyghur Khaganate had cities and wasn’t that small (it planned to invade Tang China after all). So there were most definitely enough workers around or how else was the Khagante capital built. They probably lived right by the construction site, given the region probably in some type of tent. Most likely something so short lived that it’s difficult to find any traces after more than thousand years.

[@louis.chaha397]

1300 years ago may sound ancient to the western world but it was the golden age of China

[@andersjjensen]

1300 years ago isn't ancient at all. The Vikings didn't convert to Christianity for another 150-od years. The Roman empire had only recently collapsed and Socrates had been dead for 1100 years. There's a reason we call the period from the collapse of the Roman Empire to The Renaissance (5th to 13th century) "the middle ages".

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks.

[@georgegrinter209]

Sounds like a treasury/vault compound. Isolated enough to put off opportunist bandit but close enough to the silk road to allow the transfer of precious goods

[@cF-wf1jv]

Hello, Mr Whistler. Love all you channels, love all your videos. Just a quick aside, it's pronounced Wee-gers. That is all. Thank you!

[@humboldthammer]

Tuva -- Didn't Feynman visit Tuva to complete his Bucket List?

[@Masaru_kun]

10 seconds into the video i was like "isnt this where the last Manicheans died" lol, its been a long lockdown...

[@MrFateorfaith]

I'm already subbed to all of them Simon

[@ngcastronerd4791]

The layout and building style has a definite Asian influence.

[@Markver1]

I am extremely disappointed that a Disney’s Pinocchio clip of a donkey eared boy were not inserted. I consider this an unforgivable fail.

[@dominiquelaflamme7804]

"Yoga car grenade": the self-generated subtitles are trippy on this one. Try them out! 😂

[@ocircles738]

Here's my guess: given that it's unused and so remote, my first thought is that it was a military test to see if they had the organization, manpower and resources to rapidly construct a fortress with much more extended supply lines. If it HAD been used, I would have guessed an excommunicated member of some royal family was meant to live there out of sight. Summer house for a princess seems odd since I'd imagine she would want it to be closer to some larger settlement. Just wild speculation lol

[@DouglasMoreman]

In Baton Rouge. It was built during a warm period when the region around site was more densely populated?

[@DougStewart]

was listening only and had to check the subtitles because I thought Simon said Ogres

[@HandmadeDarcy]

A site which "screams fortress" but is in an isolated, naturally protected space - especially with no evidence of heating but with religious connotations - screams tomb complex for a VIP, to this viewer who minored in archaeology 30 years ago, anyway. In the middle of a lake also leans that way - especially in that area.

[@HansLemurson]

I wonder why they didn't just use the catch-all explanation of "Ceremonial Purposes".

[@socalav]

There were also some other interesting theories about this place that had been put out there, some still also possibly valid but even more wild, and none totally rebutted as yet as far I could tell.

[@franzzrilich9041]

Simon, the thought came to me that you should go into the movies. Good entries to be had as Ming the Merciless in a new version of Flash Gordon, and as Doctor Goldfoot and his Bikini Machine. Thibk it over.

[@beachboy0505]

Excellent video 📹 Let's hope the mud solidifies.

[@ogshaggymac]

Simon you mad bastard,love your work !

[@Sara-lm8zv]

How about an episode on the great martian war 1913-1917.

[@johnmanier9047]

Tribesman: Yeah we are going to bury your daughter alive. It’s a culture thing. Tang emperor: I don’t think so!

[@pleappleappleap]

Your pronunciation! Whooooo!

[@dankthegank4315]

Yo the aliens built it, that’s the most reasonable explanation.

[@debbylou5729]

They probably brought the stuff across the frozen water, just as if it were land, except easier

[@kurtflint64]

4:00 is where I realized how badly Simon is mispronouncing uyghurs, and hit myself on the forehead and said oh my gosh those Uyghurs! 5 minutes of research confirmed that yes, these are the same people that China is still trying to take off the census today!

[@pandajfry]

There are more Simon Whistler channels than grains of sand

[@scythebergon418]

Loved it

[@S.T.Rugglin]

What if this was built for the new religion? Meaning, built for gods, spirits, ancestors, etc. Therefore the living were not meant to enter, and explaining the absence of people. Although, I guess there would be stories about it if that were the case…

[@jameswilliams4187]

Does anyone know what song is used at the start of chapter one? Please and thanks.