2000

S1.E1 ∙ Stones and Bones

Wed, Apr 05, 2000

The Birth of Archaeology In the last 250 years, archaeologists have changed the basic understanding of time and human existence. This program looks at the birth of modern archaeology, an event that stirred all of Europe's imagination: the unearthing of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 18th century, buried since Roman times under volcanic ash. It follows the early excavations of Pitt Rivers in Egypt and England; the classification of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages; the momentous discovery of cave paintings in Spain and France; and Mary Leakey's finds in Africa which took human history back over 3 million years.

0 /10

S1.E2 ∙ Treasure Seekers

Wed, Apr 12, 2000

Archaeology Turns from Passion to Plunder Archaeology was born of treasure-seeking, but it became the stimulus for rampant pillaging of antiquities in the 18th and 19th centuries.

0 /10

S1.E3 ∙ Looking for the One Beginning

Wed, Apr 19, 2000

The Fallacy of Diffusionism When explorers examined the remains of an advanced Mexican culture, they concluded that a superior race must have come from elsewhere to build the palaces and pyramids: the theory of diffusionism was born.

0 /10

S1.E4 ∙ Digging by the Book

Wed, Apr 26, 2000

Program Archaeology While most read Homer's Iliad as an entertaining epic, one man believed it was more than a story and could actually be used as a literary map to find ancient Troy; his name was Heinrich Schliemann and he found treasure and a buried city in what is now Turkey. But was it Troy? This video looks at "program archaeology," how archaeologists dig in the ground to find evidence for the stories in books. In a similar context, the episode covers the work of Flinders Petrie, who unearthed proof that the Israelites had really once lived in Egypt. Inspired by Schliemann's example and Petrie's findings, a whole wave of excavations ensued with the hopes of verifying the existence of various figures from the Bible.

0 /10

S1.E5 ∙ At the Service of the State

Wed, May 03, 2000

Archaeology as Political Tool 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 how Mussolini, like Hitler, used Greek motifs and Roman regalia to package the image of his party and, by so doing, align the destiny of fascist Italy with ancient traditions.

0 /10

S1.E6 ∙ The Future of the Past

Wed, May 10, 2000

The last episode of this series looks at the shift from excavating grand palaces to discovering and learning more about some of the earliest communities, such as at San Jose Magote in the Oaxaca Valley in Mexico.

0 /10