In the sands of the Sahara stands one of our greatest legacies, the oldest stone structure of it's kind in the world, a hundred years older than it's famous cousin, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the step pyramid is a cornerstone in the history of civilization. Being the first pyramid ever built, it's safe to say it's also one of mankind's most important structures. Now however after having been ravag
Nothing quite represents the mysteries of ancient Egypt more than the Great Sphinx, it is the largest statue ever built by the ancient Egyptians and still makes us wonder how they managed to construct this crouching lion, human headed creature.For 45 centuries the Sphinx has overlooked Egypt's Giza Plateau, with a height matching that of The White House and it's body sp
Ötzi the Iceman is the modern nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Otztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy.The nickname comes from the valley of discovery. He rivals the Egyptian “Ginger” as the oldest known human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view on the habits of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.
The megaliths found at Stonehenge are some of the most investigated and interesting found in Britain today but despite centuries of examination, excavation and theories there is one big question that still remains, what were it origins and how over thousands of years did this iconic place evolve?In this two part series by the BBC a group of experts for the first time are taking a more hi-tech
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest place on Earth. It stretches from the foothills of the Andes, a hundred miles westward to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. There are few signs of life here, it hasn't rained in parts for thousands of years but the very dryness of the Atacama has made it the perfect keeper of a unique treasure.Buried in its sands are the intimate secrets of an an
In the 21st dynasty of the pharaohs, 3000 years ago there took place one night at a temple the funeral of Henut Taui, The Lady of The Two Lands. Compared to the great rulers of Egypt her burial was a modest affair but just like the pharaohs she too was mummified and her body placed in the depths of the desert tomb in the belief it would give her immortality and in an unexpected way it has.He m
This time the team heads back into a dark corner of the 19th century, to a time when corpses were turned into trophies and children were sold by the inch.Their subject is the bizarre mummified body of a child.Sue and the team pick up the trail that leads to body snatching, serial murder and anatomical science in darkest Victorian Britain. Can they give our boy a home, a face, or a name?
When our early ancestors entered new lands they encountered a variety of strange new creatures, monsters that no longer exist. What were they like and where are they now? What are the real answers to the mystery of the missing megafauna?Some scientists believe there is damning evidence that humanity hunted the megafauna to extinction. The 'overkill' hypothesis holds that the megafauna vanished
Through the mountains and jungles of Colombia, archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper goes in search of the truth behind one of the greatest stories ever told - the legend of El Dorado. His journey takes him from Bogota to the Caribbean coast, through territories once dominated by two cultures, the Muisca and the Tairona, who flourished for centuries before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century. Dr