This is a tale of hidden treasure and the scientific shaping of our past, told through the stories of the adventures and discoveries of great archaeologists.
Deep in the heart of southern Africa, in present-day Zimbabwe, a great civilization rose and flourished in the 9th century A.D. Its magnificent walled city stood as testament to a thriving, sophisticated culture called Great Zimbabwe. But…
Great cities in ruins, lost in the jungles of Central America and Mexico. Who would have built these cities? It would take more than a century and two extraordinary people to uncover the secrets of ancient Maya. The american John Lloyd…
Famed for its wealth, cultural treasures, and spirituality, India has beckoned the outsiders for centuries. Many have vied for control of this fabled and diverse land. Two great empires, one established by invading Moguls, the other by…
In 1858, a young French naturalist, Henri Mouhot, set out to discover new animal species in Southeast Asia. Instead, he stumbled on the lost city of Angkor. Uncovering temple after temple hidden by jungle, Mouhot wrote a stirring account…
Wealthier and more powerful than any other ancient civilization, the Roman Empire enjoyed a long period of prosperity. But perhaps the greatest treasure of this period was not its riches, but its myth. The image of this extraordinary…
Setting out in search of Vilcabamba, a hidden jungle city built in one of the more remote and inaccessible regions of the Inca Empire, Hiram Bingham stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the century—the…
A former circus performer drawn to Egypt’s mystique, Giovanni Belzoni developed a passion for uncovering its secrets and discovered that he possessed an extraordinary talent for archaeological discovery. But another man made what is…
The legend of the Holy Grail, written in 1185, seized the European imagination and maintains its hold to the present day. It was the most sacred of relics, the vessel alleged to have held both the wine of the Last Supper as well as the…
Early in the 19th century, the fog that long had shrouded Mesopotamia began to lift, in large part due to French-born Austen Henry Layard. Journeying to the upper Tigris valley, Layard gained the right to excavate along the banks of the…
When East met West along Asia’s silk route, the collision of culture and tradition changed the course of world history. Winding tens of thousands of miles between China and Europe, the Silk Road enabled the exchange of goods and ideas…
In the 19th century, as it became aware of the colonial designs of European power on central Asia, Tibet expelled westerners and closed its frontiers. As its isolation deepened, so did Tibet's allure and mystique. But in the early 1900s,…
A Chinese monk's description of oasis cities during a 7th Century pilgrimage would prove invaluable to another explorer more than 1000 years later. Sir Aurel Stein found cities buried in sand and a 1000 year-old Buddhist library in…
Most people thought that the city of Troy was fictitious, but in the 19th Century a German industrialist followed the clues in Homer and uncovered the ruins of the great ancient cities of Troy and Mycenae, complete with fabulous treasures.
