Summary: In 1940, Hitler's archaeologists excavated sites in Poland to try to prove that Germans had lived there before the Poles-an anthropological justification for political aggression and military invasion. This program explores the use of archaeology as a tool for propaganda and diplomatic machination by focusing on the long-standing connections between Germany and Greece. The program also looks at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Britain's legendary warrior-queen Boudica led an uprising against Roman occupation in 60 AD. After a few victories, her army was slaughtered. But what happened to the surviving members of her tribe, the Iceni? This program describes archaeological work that is filling in the gaps in Boudica's story, focusing on a site in Norfolk which may provide some important clues. Following archaeologists...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How long has civilization flourished in the Nile Valley? Were the area's first inhabitants the ancestors of the pyramid builders? Or was pharaonic culture imported, as some scholars have claimed? This program pursues the answers in an effort to understand the identity of Egypt's original people, exploring archaeological sites that predate the pyramids by thousands of years. Information on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: How do archaeologists go about choosing where to dig? What research must be conducted, and what preparations must be made, before the actual excavations begin? This documentary examines the challenges and triumphs of the research team that worked for four years to find the remains of Fort St. Joseph, a structure originally built by 17th-century French colonists in what is now Niles, Michigan....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Considered the most imposing Hellenistic site in Jordan, the Qasr al-Abd at Iraq al-Amir was the dream of Hyrcanus, an unscrupulously ambitious member of the influential Tobiad family. With the assistance of architect Francois Larche, of the National Center of Scientific Research, this program virtually reconstructs the ornate but uncompleted palace-ironically, a symbol of Hyrcanus' failed...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Intent on finding Vilcabamba, a semi-fabled city concealed in a remote jungle region of the Inca empire, explorer Hiram Bingham found himself face-to-face with one of the most astonishing archaeological discoveries of the 20th century-the ruins of Machu Picchu. Bingham's encounter brought the wonders of the ancient Incan nation into the modern spotlight, and subsequent discoveries at the site...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: The Palace of Zimri-Lim at Mari was one of the wonders of the Mesopotamian world. This program documents the opening of an excavation site at the palace's gate, while an animated walk-through of the palace precincts enables viewers to follow in the footsteps of courtiers and the king himself. Information on life inside the palace-from the business of keeping it functioning smoothly, to matters...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Setting out from the ancient Red Sea port of Aqaba, this program travels to Petra, a pivotal trading center that sat astride the caravan route from Arabia to points north. An arid place of monumental structures carved into the colorful sandstone mountains, the Nabatean capital is also the site of innovative storm water management and water conservation systems. A low-altitude flight over the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Starting when the first explorers laid eyes on the incomparable Sphinx, theories have proliferated about who built it and why. In this program, Zahi Hawass, of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities; Egyptologist Fayza Haikal; Kathryn Bard, editor of The Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt; authors Paul Jordan and Robert Schoch; and others employ the latest scientific scholarship...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: On the plains of Beqaa, on the site of the Phoenician city of Baalbek, stands what is arguably the world's most impressive testament to Imperial Roman architecture: the gigantic temple complex dedicated to Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus. Its six-story columns are the tallest ever erected, and its stones-some weighing nearly a thousand tons-are the largest ever used. In this program, architect...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Its Phoenician founders called it Kart Hadasht, The New Town, but history knows it as Carthage-the heart of the Punic Empire and base of the Mediterranean's renowned merchant mariners. Blending archaeology and virtual reality, this program depicts the city as it was during its heyday as a major economic, political, and cultural center. Its ingenious military port, bustling streets, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Was there a "big bang" in human language and cognitive development, or did speech and abstract thought evolve slowly-perhaps across 200,000 years or so? Surveying prehistoric burial sites and other archaeological finds, including what might be the world's oldest work of art, this program attempts to locate the junction of creativity and communication at which human intelligence was born....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: At the height of its power and influence, the Etruscan civilization extended from the Po Valley to Campania, and its merchant fleet was the master of the Mediterranean. This program documents the salvaging of the first Etruscan ship ever found: a spectacular wreck off the coast of southern France with a perfectly preserved lower hull and laden with hundreds of amphorae. What artifacts are...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Every year, Western Michigan University conducts an archaeological field school at the site of Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Michigan. Students absorb proper field techniques in a multidisciplinary program of community service learning-researching the social, economic, and political atmosphere of the colonial-era fur trade and disseminating that information to the community. This program documents...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: The Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, and Gerasa, known also in antiquity as Antioch on the Golden River and today as Jerash, is the best-preserved of them all. In this program, Jean-Francois Salles and other members of the French Institute of the Near East-Amman exhibit their efforts at Gerasa, including the ongoing stone-by-stone restoration of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beginning about 500 BC, Greek artists and architects began working at an unprecedented level of sophistication, paralleling the rise of Athens as a Mediterranean power. This program illustrates the awakening of that classical Greek vision, from which emerged the most influential sculptures and buildings of Western culture. With detailed visual analysis of the Parthenon, its frieze in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: As the last great Aztec ruler, Montezuma II inherited a sprawling yet fragile empire. This program studies his governance, its abrupt end at the hands of the conquistadors, and its historical meanings. Paralleling a major exhibition at the British Museum, the film features artifacts, architecture, and images that speak to Montezuma's humanity, his self-proclaimed divinity, and the cultural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Approximately 30,000 years after the last Neanderthals vanished from Europe, this documentary brings them back to life. Combining computer imaging, knowledge from excavated skeletal pieces, and a meticulous sculptural process, the program showcases an astonishing physical reconstruction that embodies almost everything cumulatively known about Neanderthals-their musculature, the way they moved,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although their function and architecture have inspired centuries of debate, the Egyptian pyramids harbor yet another enigma, having to do with their location. This program looks at why particular places were selected for pyramid-building and why new sites were chosen as Egypt's culture evolved. Explaining the architectural leap from the mastaba to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the program...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Comparable to Luther's split with Catholicism, Pharaoh Akhenaten's religious revolution caused an upheaval in Egyptian society. This program sheds light on the royal renegade's motives for abruptly switching to monotheistic sun worship and relocating 50,000 of his people to the hastily planned capital at Armana. Studying several archaeological discoveries-including the tombs of Akhenaten's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: When excavation in downtown Manhattan unearthed an 18th-century Negro burial ground, New Yorkers were reminded that slavery was not limited to the South. This program explores an often-overlooked chapter in the history of the city and the colonies in general by examining the oldest slave cemetery ever found in North America. Scholars and leading experts conduct archaeological and forensic...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Using 3-D computer re-creations of Stonehenge during its three phases of construction, archival film and photos of archaeological excavations, and artwork, this program traces the long history of Britain's most famous Neolithic landmark. Archaeologists Geoffrey Wainwright, Dave Batchelor, and Gillian Swanton and authors Rosamund Cleal, Clive Ruggles, Christopher Chippindale, and Mike Pitts...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A major gateway to sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan has seen the rise and fall of many powerful kingdoms and refined cultures-and the key to understanding these ancient civilizations lies in the multitude of archaeological treasures that dot the landscape and that are still buried beneath the sands. This program follows the trail of the young French naturalist and pioneer Frederic Cailliaud, whose...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Transjordan-the Oultrejordain of Crusader times, known to the ancients as Edom and Moab-is steeped in biblical history. In this program, archaeologists Fawzi Zayadine, Mohammed Waheeb, and Carmelo Pappalardo attempt to match up biblical events with the terrain where it is said that they occurred. The refuge of Lot, the trail of the Exodus, the place of Jesus' baptism, Moses' vantage point on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007