A keen YouTube explorer has revealed how he uncovered an ancient tomb after initially finding it on Google Earth.
The man, who goes by his YouTube name thePOVchannel, claimed he had originally become fascinated with an unknown Native American structure after seeing a picture of it.
In a video, uploaded to his 131,000 subscribers in December 2023, the YouTuber admitted the ruin looked like Angel’s Landing in Zion, Utah.
Despite not knowing the tomb’s exact location, the social media star revealed he had a fairly good idea and jumped on Google Earth to test his theory.
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“I searched for hours and hours,” he admitted in a voiceover. “But finally I came across this long, thin, draped piece of stone. Cross-referenced it with the picture and boom - I knew I had found it.”
Instead of exiting the internet in triumph, the explorer went one step further, packed his bags and headed to the location to scope it out himself.
Upon his arrival to the area, the man explained that the only way to reach the structure was ‘through several miles of intricate and treacherous petrified sand dunes'.
"I wasn't sure I would make it or what I would find," he explained. "But I ended up leaving this place completely exhausted and with more questions than answers.”
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In the 16-minute clip, the man, his brother and his beloved dog travelled across dunes and thankfully avoided the perilous canyons and rocky slopes below.
As he got closer to the geologic structure, he realised that it was ‘way, way bigger’ than he’d expected after finding it on Google Earth.
"When I looked on Google Earth I though, 'Oh you know maybe it's like the size of a big house',” he continued. “Nope, it is a huge massive chunk of sandstone sticking up out of the earth.”
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As he made his way up to the ruin, the explorer videoed himself coming across large rocks, an archway and later a mysterious footprint in the ground.
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“When I saw this place in person finally, I was blown away by the ancient civilization that must have built this, and the lengths these people went to keep themselves safe from danger,” he wrote in the video’s caption.
“But I was left wondering, what would drive humans to such extreme lengths? and what would there life be like living in this incredible fortress?”
Later on in the video, the man found a note left by another traveller that requested explorers ‘do not enter interior rooms’ so that America’s past could be preserved.
“You really don’t want to go inside these things,” he said. “There’s no reason to.”
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Following his trip, thePOVchannel said: “What we found points to an incredibly sophisticated and intelligent people.
“But [that] brings up questions regarding what these people were hiding from and the terrifying reality they must have had.”
After watching the clip, which has amassed over 2.6million views, fans took to the comments section to have their say.
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One YouTube viewer wrote: "I love this. Private citizens with drones and cameras making better content than the History Channel ever produced. The people have the power.”
“Thank you for taking me to a place I could have never gone myself,” typed a second. “Just the video of you standing on the edges gave me leg pains just looking at the height and drops.…”
“Excellent! Well done and beautiful sights. Blessings. These people were the Apple/Microsoft of their day. Thanks again,” replied another.
A fourth said: “I appreciate your respect. I'm Native American and your respect means a lot to me. Ty.”
The creator replied to the latter comment and claimed that he only ever wants to produce ‘respectful’ content related to Native American heritage.
“I think there's some amazing lessons we can learn from the way they lived,” he added.