Summary: Far from disappearing after the Hellenistic age, Greek art flourished with the rise of Christianity and the Orthodox church. This program explores the development of icon painting, the influence of Greek artists on later European movements, and the advent of neoclassical architecture as a manifestation of an age-old cultural legacy. With historical context from the conversion of Constantine...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: What led the great powers of antiquity to install themselves on the minuscule island of Delos? And how did Delos, one of the most important religious centers in Greece, come to be an international trading hub, as well? To answer these questions, this program traces the island's history between the 9th and 1st centuries BC: Delos' renown as the mythological birthplace of Apollo; the subsequent...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: When Dutch sailors landed on Easter Island, they found a warlike people recovering from anarchy and cannibalism. What had gone wrong with a civilization that had lived in peace for nearly a thousand years? In this program, Claudio Cristino, the island's resident archaeologist; William Liller, of the Easter Island Foundation; Patricia Vargas Casanova, of the Easter Island Studies Institute at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Who actually built the pyramids? What innovations enabled the ancient Egyptians to practice mummification? Why did they select certain treasures for their journeys to the afterlife? This classic program travels to a land of mystery and marvel as archaeologists investigate the secrets of long-lost Pharaonic culture and technology. Viewers encounter the sophisticated methods used to construct the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: The discovery in the Alps of a 5300-year-old corpse, perfectly preserved by five millennia of ice, allowed a rare glimpse into the daily life of Stone Age man: his diet, his clothing, and way of life. This program follows scientists and archaeologists as they analyze his hair, clothing, and stomach to uncover clues to how our ancestors lived and died. The program offers a fascinating glimpse...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The construction of a high-speed train line in eastern France quickly turned into the start of a major archaeological dig when a Celtic necropolis was discovered. Who were the Celts, a people that dominated broad stretches of Europe for more than 500 years? In this program, archaeologists, paleoanthropologists, and other team members follow the migratory trail of the Celts across Europe,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program captures the feverish work of the multinational rescue archaeology team that excavated low-lying areas of Zeugma and key portions of Apamea before inundation by the Birecik Dam, in Turkey. Catherine Abadie-Reynal, director of the French contingent, and other experts describe their efforts to map the cities and to discern the tides of Greco-Roman history that once flowed through the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Bubonic plague, starvation, maybe even cannibalism-such were the miseries of life in England's Jamestown settlement, circa 1609. Four centuries later, this program explores the colony's story with the help of dramatic reenactments and information on recent historical discoveries. Sophisticated forensics and archaeological methods reveal the contents of Jamestown graves, producing shocking...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This ABC News program spotlights the work of Doug Owsley, curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, who is a keen interpreter of the silent yet expressive language of bones. Owsley and his biographer, Jeff Benedict, give examples of how he has used bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology to unravel mysteries ranging from identifying an exhumed Civil War...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Thriving in the shadows of the Roman and Parthian Empires, the polyglot oasis town of Palmyra, "the Venice of the Sands," grew rich on the caravan trade between northern Syria and Babylonia. In this program, archaeological footage and 3-D computer-generated images enable viewers to step into that bustling multicultural center, with its busy streets, temples to ancient gods, and silent tombs. In...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The life-size statue of Pharaoh Khafra at Giza evokes an intriguing logistical question: how did ancient Egyptian builders transport a three-ton block of gneiss granite five hundred miles from its source? This program offers a set of viable answers, examining technology and working conditions prevalent in Egypt 4,500 years ago. Considering the possibility that the statue was precut at Khafra's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Reputedly the first great city of the Western hemisphere, Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods, is also one of the most mysterious. Who lived there? What were its inhabitants like? And why did their culture collapse? In this program, archaeologist Ruben Cabrera Castro, co-director of the site, leads the way down the Avenue of the Dead-and inside both the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: It has long been held that ancient Egyptians viewed the east bank of the Nile as life on Earth and the west bank as life in the hereafter, a vision that strictly ruled their urban planning. But recent archaeological digs at Thebes have revealed a somewhat different story. This program examines the houses of priests and other structures that indicate bustling activity on the funereal west...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Recent research at the 12th-century Frankish castles of Shobak and Kerak in what was called Transjordan provides valuable insights into life and death in the Holy Land during the time period of the Crusades. In this program, historian Cedric Devais, of the French Institute of the Near East-Amman, and history guide Mustapha Kiwan talk about prior archaeological missions to the region, structural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Like Howard Carter before them, modern Egyptologists observe something puzzling in the way Tutankhamun was entombed-the riches surrounding him seem intended for someone else. This program sifts through the mystery, studying the link between the young pharaoh and the heretical Akhenaten, who most experts agree was the boy's father. The significance of Aye, the courtier who bore allegiance to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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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
View online at AVOD
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
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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
View online at AVOD
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