Hello, and good morning.  I hope things are going well.  Today I am working through Alexander the Great’s Lost World series with David Adams and I am going to do another episode from this series and it probably is out of order again.  It looks like there were five episodes in the series and this is the fourth episode I am working on.  This series really does help with expanding the understanding of Alexander the Great.  It is called the Source of Civilization. The run time for this episode is 49:22.

As Alexander the Great marched east along mountain passes he would have encountered a rugged landscape.  He would have encountered forgotten cities and a variety of tribes on his journey to India.  In this episode, David Adams looks for the source of the River Oxus.  He will encounter the same landscapes as Alexander the Great, in search of the ultimate prize: India.  However, like Alexander the Great, David Adams will have to travel along tangled and oftentimes dangerous ancient pathways.  What sites does Adams encounter along the way?

Over four years and a series of battles, Alexander the Great finally defeated the Persian Empire.  However, he had his eyes on a bigger prize: India.  To cross into India he would have to cross the Hindu-Kush Mountains, however the route he would have taken is lost to history.  David Adams has an advantage when it comes to crossing this mountain range: four-wheel drive.  Adams photographs some camels along the way, and the camels are still used to travel and transport goods. 

Alexander the Great was following in the footsteps of Dionysus, a Greek god.  This god had made his way to India and now Alexander the Great wanted to do the same thing.  He would have made his way on horseback, and now Adams finds the end of the road and has to trek into India on foot.  It is here that he encounters a people who call themselves the Children of Alexander the Great.  These people believe that they are the direct descendants of Alexander the Great.  The people are farmers and they move their cattle up the mountain in the summer.  This was a sweet section because Adams takes a picture of the children and shows the children the picture.  Anyway, Adams notes that the picture have a  very different look in comparison to the Afghani people he encountered earlier.

Alexander the Great would have encountered the ancestors of these people and he called them the children of Dionysus.  This would have shown that the people were already in the mountains before Alexander the Great arrived.  Adams learns further about the tribe and where they originated from and follows them to the source of the Oxus River.  It is a place where there are no roads and no places to stop.  It was the place where East met west as the trading caravans converged in the area.  There would have been hundreds of caravans who met here to trade and transport goods over the trade routes.

The Caravan that Adams takes part in would have been smaller in comparison to the baggage trains of Alexander the Great.  Keeping this massive amount of people together would have been a challenge for Alexander the Great.  There would have been massive hills and mountain passageways to cross over.  Even Adams is out of breath as he walks along the same paths.  So does Adams make it to India?  What else does Adams encounter along the way?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

It is amazing that David Adams’ went to Afghanistan to film this documentary.  I bet he could not do that now.  I still wish Odyssey would have time-stamped this series.  This episode was not as intense as the other ones.  There probably was not that sense of danger along this stretch of the trip and I wonder if Adams felt that too.  Adams continues to be curious and enjoys taking in the sites.  He is a man who must love constantly learning new things.  This was a very enjoyable episode to watch.  I would show this episode to a history class as well as a geography class.

Good morning!  I hope things are going well for you teachers.  Time to do a documentary on Alexander the Great.  I am going to do a documentary featuring David Adams.  I have not done a documentary from him in quite some time so today I am going to do one.  The run time for this documentary is 49:30.  It is part of Alexander’s Lost World Series.  This episode is called Explorations on an Ancient Sea.

In the high plains of Asia, the remains of an ancient world are hidden.  Alexander the Great made his way to these plains to conquer the world.  He was going to fight against the Persian Empire and his campaign would take him east.  The landscape he would have encountered would have been very different from today.  In fact, there was a civilization that thrived on a large inland sea in this area.  David Adams is in search of this lost civilization and this lost sea.

In this episode, David Adams is going to take a trek on the course of the River Oxus.  This river was home to the Oxus Civilization, a civilization that has been lost to history.  Adams begins his journey in Greece.  The Ancient Greeks were drawn to the East, and there were many legends about the voyages East.  What truth lies behind the legends?  Jason and the Argonauts was a famous tale of the voyages and David Adams sails in a replica of the boat that Jason would have used.

Prince Jason and his crew sailed east in search of the golden fleece.  On the surface it was a story about prosperity, however, there may be clues that the story was about real-life voyages east.  David then explains the voyage behind the story of Jason and the Argonauts.  Jason and his crew would have ended up in the Black Sea.  However, there are older versions of the story say that Jason had made his way past the Black Sea.   Does this indicate that the sea levels were higher?  Were the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea connected at some point?  David Adams elaborates his theory on this.

In Greece, David Adams made his way to a site that was older than the Jason and the Argonauts took place.  It was where a sea-faring people settled.  It was where people could stay and farm, which would allow the people to travel on the sea.  Adams suggests that this was where Jason and the Argonauts began.  The people who would have settled here came from the Neolithic period and according to rock carvings they would have sailed on large boats.

Adams makes his way to Southern Russia to explore the boggy wetlands between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.  The area is part of a protected area, but there are plans to open up the seaway once again.  This means that sailors could make their way from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea once again.  During Alexander the Great’s time, he would have sent out scouts to see if he would be able to sail on this waterway.  So Adams, following the footsteps of Alexander the Great, makes his way to the Caspian Sea through Turkmenistan.  He is looking for the River Oxus.  It would have been a vast waterway joining the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

David Adams wants to make his way to the ancient river bed.  How does he do it?  What does Adams learn during this journey?  What extreme climates will Adams encounter?  To learn more about Adam’s journey continue to watch the rest of the episode. 

This episode reminds me of the Secrets of the Dead episode featuring the Amazon Warrior Women, and how the myth was based on real-life warrior women.  In all honesty, I was waiting for some unimaginative historian or scientist to pooh-pooh Adam’s theories.  Anyway, David Adams is an enjoyable narrator and looks to tell a story about what he is discovering.  In my opinion, he is very nice to listen to.  This documentary was very well done and Adams lays out the story very well.  This would be a documentary I would show to a history class and because we are talking about Greek myths I would show this to a literature class.

Good morning!  I cannot believe tomorrow will be April and then soon May will come around.  Let’s go back to ancient times and look at the invasion of Britain by the Romans.  The run time for this documentary is 48:22.  It is called Bloody Foreigners: Britain’s African Emperor.

Over two-thousand years ago the British Isles were invaded by the Romans.  However, the tribes in the north would hold out against the Roman invasion and so as a result of it, Hadrian’s Wall was built.  That would not stop a Roman emperor from trying to invade Scotland.  His name was Septimius Severus and he marched into Scotland with 40,000 men.  At the time it would have been one of the largest invading armies that Rome had ever mobilized.  He was determined to succeed and unify all of Britain under Roman rule.  So would he succeed?

Rome was the center of the world for a time and was the capital of the Roman Empire.  In this city is the Triumphal Arch of Septimius Severus, dedicated to his victories.  He was a man who was not in line to rule Rome.  However, when the previous emperor was assassinated he would put in a bid to become Emperor.  He was born in Libya and his family grew wealthy from the Olive Oil Trade.  He would have encountered many influential people during his life.  He would become the first Emperor who came from Africa.  He would avenge the previous emperor and target the Praetorian guard, who had murdered him.

He declared himself emperor and with his battle-hardened troops marched on Rome.  They marched 600 miles from Vienna to Rome.  Severus’ appearance in Rome shocked the citizens and the Praetorian guard so much that there was no choice but to name him emperor.  For the first decade of his rule, Septimus Severus would march around the Empire and would put down rebellions.  It took him fifteen years, but he had secured his empire…

However, the northern frontiers rose up in rebellion.  So he would cross the sea and march to Britannia.  Most of England had adopted the Roman way of life, however the northern part remained untamed.  Roman emperors tried to subjugate the lands north but failed.  That did not stop him from trying.  Although he was older and was oftentimes confined to a chair.  He was determined to lead his troops into Britain and conquer the northern tribes.  He was going to unify the island under Roman rule even if it killed him. 

Septimus Severus was carried north and he entered Scotland with overwhelming force.  Even today the traces of this army are still being discovered.  This was a good section because the documentary took to the air to learn more about camps that the Roman soldiers made on their way north.  One feature of the camps was a deep trench that still appears in the landscape.  On one housing estate, the remains of the warehouses that were built are still shown and these warehouses are massive.

However, despite this, the Britons would ambush the marching Roman soldiers from time to time.  There would have been casualties as a result of these ambushes.  The Britons would easily attack and slip away into the landscape.  Thousands of men were lost, which would have been frustrating for the Emperor.  He would not make his mark on history with these quick ambush attacks.  He would need a large and decisive battle to finally put the rebellious Britons in their place.  So would Septimus Severus finally have his great battle?  How would the campaign go on?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

This documentary has an old-school feel without visually being old-school, which was a very good approach to the information.  The documentary kept moving at a good place and you could easily follow the story of the invasion.  It was a deep dive into the Roman invasion of Scotland, something I do not recall learning about in school.  Of course that may have changed over the years.  Anyway, even though there were images of violence, I would consider showing this to a history class.  I would use this in a high school history class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on when you are reading this and doing your planning.  March is winding down and soon we will be in April.  Anyway, I continue to press on through my documentary review playlist.  Today’s documentary is from the Get Factual YouTube Channel.  It is about the Great Wall of China.  It is called Ancient Super Structures: The Great Wall of China.  It has a run time of 50:01.

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest walls in the world.  It stretches from East to West.  It was designed to keep the enemy out.  However, it is still one of the most enigmatic monuments that was created.  With the latest in technology, historians, experts, and archeologists work to solve the mystery of the Great Wall.  So what can the latest in technology reveal about the Great Wall?  How did the builders build the Great Wall?

Asia is the biggest continent in the World.  It is home to the Great Wall of China and this wall was built in the heart of China.  At the time it was the largest structure built by man.  It was a marvel of the ancient world.  How did the builders do it?  What can the latest in technology show about how the builders built the Great Wall?  It is a feat of engineering that can be seen from outer space.  It crosses over the toughest of terrains.  It crosses deserts and mountains.  It was little more than the length of China.

Today, with the latest in technology investigators could do further research.  There have been new theories that the wall was longer than what was measure.  The results of the scans show that the Great Wall may be longer than what was initially measured.  In fact, the documents hint that the Great Wall was longer than initially thought and there was a specific nickname for the Great Wall in the Chinese language.  They called it the Wall that did not end.  So what is the real length of the Great Wall of China?

In 2007, the Chinese government wanted to learn the real length of the wall.  Experts were contacted and they started to undergo an in-depth study of the wall.  Groups were put together to trek the full length of the wall, looking for potions of the wall that could not be seen.  The Great Wall was also scanned and radared to help with the process.  Again, this goes to show how technology continues to shape our understanding of history and how history changes.

The first results were good, they were so good that the start of the Great Wall was rediscovered.  So a team went off determined to help reassess the length of the Great Wall.  It took time and there were many challenges along the way.  It was complicated work because of the many layers that were involved in building the wall.  Sections were rebuilt over the decades and other sections were expanded.  The experts would have to be careful as they threaded their way along the way.

The efforts of walking along the wall were worth it as new sections were discovered and it was discovered that the Great Wall was made up of several sections.  Instead of being a single line, there are different sections of the wall that were build during different eras.  According to the documentary the Great Wall measures about 21,000 KM.  It would take two years to walk the length of the wall. How did the builders accomplish this feat?  What tools would they have at their disposal?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

It was nice to see Peter Ginn again.  I need him, Alex Langlands, and Ruth Goodman to do something together, maybe even another farm series.  I miss their antics and narration.  It is also great to see Colin Richards too, he’s always good to listen too.  I also liked the section on how modern experts are working out the techniques that the Great Builders used to build the wall.  This section goes to show you that you can apply the scientific method to history.  This would be a good documentary to show to both a history as well a technology education class.

Hello!  I hope that you are doing well today.  Ha ha, I really do not want to do the documentaries ahead of this one.  Of course, it could be because I am having a caffeine-free day and am now nursing a headache.  Anyway, it probably is a good thing to do a caffeine-free day but it can be quite painful to do too.  Anyway, I am going to do a documentary featuring Albert Lin.  It is called Inca Island in the Sky and it has a run time of 44:23.

The Inca were the greatest civilization that South America produced, but what came before them?  What inspired the Incas to build the empire?  They crafted grand cities.  The Inca were famous for their terracing.  One of those cities was Manchu Pichu.   What inspired the Inca to build these cities?  Was there an earlier civilization?  What evidence is there?  Where do Albert Lin’s travels take him through Peru?

Before the Inca rose to prominence, Peru was inhabited by smaller tribes.  Albert Lin goes to learn about these people.  With an expert, he begins his exploration.  The locals warn him about traveling up to a lost city and that people who go to it wind up dead.  With that warning in mind, Albert and his guide slowly and carefully make their way up the mountain.  The guide points out the pre-Inca features.  These features were very nice to see because the Inca Empire looms large in history classes.  Then they discover a grave in a cave.  They press on up the mountain.  However, there are many thorns along the way.  Eventually, a drone is sent up to learn about the landscape up the mountain.

The drone results are amazing, there are old buildings on the site.  A plan to Lidar the area is put together.  The area is scanned with Lidar and once the vegetation is stripped away buildings emerge from the ground.  The crew plans to go back up the mountain with machetes to look at what the Lidar results were showing.  Along the way, they encounter houses for the dead that predated the Inca period.  Legend has it that there is a city hidden on this mountain.  The dead have been found, so where are the living?

Albert Lin continues his research and turns to the records that were made.  There was a legend that talked about fire coming from the sky.  Albert Lin turns to explore a volcano.  Was there a village that was buried by a volcano?  Who would have been the people who settled this site?  The team scans the area with Lidar.  What do the lidar scans reveal about the site?

Lin continues to explore the origins of Manchu Pichu.  The altitude is a bit of a challenge as he makes his way up higher and higher peaks to find these lost cities that inspired Manchu Pichu.  It seems that the Inca adopted the local tribes' customs and then put their stamp on those customs.   The buildings for the dead would have been bigger to not only show the Incas building bigger and better but also that they have power.  What else does Albert Lin reveal about the cities that would have inspired Manchu Pichu?  How did the Inca adapt to their environment?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

As always, it is important to note that history will change when there are new and different discoveries.  The Inca Empire does loom large in history classes so it was very good to see what led up to the Inca Empire.  I particularly liked how Albert phrased things about the Inca appropriating other ideas from the local tribes and putting their own stamp on things by making them bigger and better.   I really enjoy Albert and his curiosity.  His curiosity furthers an understanding of history, so I will have to find more documentaries that feature him.  I also liked that National Geographic divided this episode into separate chapters for easy viewing and pulling for lectures.  I would highly recommend showing this documentary to a history class, particularly in a class on South American History.  Due to the emphasis on technology, I would show this documentary to a technology class.

Good morning readers, I hope that you are doing well today.  I am pleasantly surprised that this was a two-part episode about the lost tombs of the Mayans.  Here I was complaining about it being too short but it turns out it was a two-part series!  Then again they probably could have spread it out over three parts anyway.  Now I am going to work on episode two of the series.  The run time for this episode is 47:57.

The story continues to follow the Japanese team as they work on Temple 11 to potentially discover a lost royal tomb.  The story begins in Copan where there are many spectacular temples and hidden tombs.  What does this city tell us about life and death in the city?  Hidden beneath staircases there was a stone carved with the name of the first kings of Copan.  Beneath this stone was the remains of a human as well as a monkey.  Could this be the last resting place of a king?

One archaeologist believes that this resting place could hold the secrets of Mayan burial traditions.  This archeologist was given special access to the bones.  The bones could have been the body of a king.  However there was a problem, the skeleton belonged to a woman.  Who was this woman?  Was this woman a ruler?  Why was this woman given such a prominent burial?

The woman was in her mid-twenties, but she had injuries to her arm that would have indicated that she was a warrior.  So was it possible that some Mayan warriors were women?  Buried with her were three men, jade jewelry, and the animals.  This was no ordinary woman in the grave.  The men’s skulls had indications that they were beheaded.  What would have been the significance of sacrifice to the Maya?

Back at Temple 11, the Japanese team is continuing their work to find a potentially lost royal tomb.  The Japanese team is also working on a nearby temple as well and they have discovered an entrance that was completely bricked up.  The theory is that there may be another burial in this temple.  It will take many months of careful digging to see what lies beneath.  There were intriguing fines in this area that hint at the importance of the site.

The documentary continues with an exploration of daily life for the Maya.  Bloodletting was a common practice among the elite and they would use a variety of tools to let out the blood.  There was a price to be paid for their privilege.  The elite had special access to the gods and to get the gods' attention was to offer up their own blood.  It was a sacrifice that could be repeated.  It would have been painful and quite dangerous in the humid climate.  So who were these bloodthirsty deities?

So then we transition into learning more about the gods the Mayans worshiped.  One of those gods was represented by the Macaw.  Images of the Macaws were carved all over Copan.  Macaws were very important to the Mayan creation story.  Then there was a discussion of the creation story.  Then there was a discussion on cranial modification as a way to show off the status of the individuals.  Then there was a section that made me cringe and it was how they drilled into their teeth to put precious jewels in it.  I mean, dental visits get me extremely nervous in the first place and I cannot imagine anyone willing to drill into their teeth to put precious jewels in them.  To learn more about the lost tombs of the Maya continue to watch the rest of this episode.

These documentaries continue to impress me with how far technology has come in doing recreation.  The cities that were recreated were very well done and were spectacular.  These reactions show how dazzling these Mayan cities were.  It also always impresses me how far our understanding of history has come in comparison to older documentaries.  History is a subject that ironically changes with new discoveries.  Even with the section on teeth, I would still recommend this documentary for a history classroom.  It was very well done and the narrator was very good.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this and doing your planning for the school year.  Anyway, let’s throw it back to the ancient world and look at the Mayan civilization.  I am looking at the Odyssey YouTube Channel for this documentary.  It is called Treasure Tombs of the Ancient Maya.  The run time is 47:56.

The Mayan Civilization is still revealing its secrets.  Its cities have been hidden in the jungle for decades.  The jungle covering has obscured the true size of ancient Mayan Cities.  As part of a two-year exploration and using the latest in technology the jungle is scanned to learn more about the Mayan civilization.  A Mayan pyramid is also examined to look for a hidden tomb.  Who were they?  How did they live and die?

There is a quick little rehash of the Mayas and how they were very advanced in mathematics and astronomy.  Then there is a discussion on the structure of government and how the Mayans had a city-state structure much like the Ancient Greeks.  Then there was a discussion on the architecture and how advanced it was.  So who were the Mayan people?

The story begins with Copan and a 3D recreation of the city.  Copan would have housed over 20,000 people.  There were towering temples that were brightly painted.  There were wide-open plazas and ball courts.  The staircases would have been magnificent.  It would have been the capital of a vast kingdom that had sixteen kings.  However, the rise and fall of Copan is still mysterious.  A Japanese team is preparing an experiment to find those answers.  

The Japanese team is looking at Temple 11 to look for a royal tomb in Copan.  Only eight royal tombs have been discovered.  So does this temple have a hidden burial?  If there was a royal burial at the site, this would help further our understanding of the Maya.  Perhaps it would answer the questions as to why it declined.  Then there was a quick discussion on subatomic particles and how they can be detected, which was very illuminating. 

Then the story shifts to Palenque, another major city in the Mayan Empire.  This city held 7,000 people and boasted magnificent monuments.  One temple has strange circular features carved into the floor.  What was the function of these holes?  One team spent years excavating a staircase that was in the temple.  What was inside of this temple?  It was discovered that there was an ancient tomb hidden in the temple.  There was a 20,000 stone tomb and inside there was the remains of a man who was surrounded by a variety of treasures.  He was known as Pakal the Great, and he was one of the most important rulers in Palenque’s history.  It was a period of peace and wealth.  So what do the treasures discovered in this tomb hint at about the potential tomb in Temple 11?

There was an exploration of the tomb treasures including a jade mask which would have accompanied Pakal the Great to his final journal.  It would have symbolized his face at the time of his youth.  The story moves onto the story of the Mayan language.  For hundreds of years, it was hard to read, and many secrets were to be revealed after it was translated.  Before the Spanish Conquest, there were thousands of Mayan Codex books, and many were burned by Spanish Priests.  Only four books survived which could potentially help translate the Mayan Language.  The documentary then goes further into the complexities of Mayan writing.  The stories were then translated and they are about the Kings who ruled the Mayan world.  They talk about the births and deaths of the rulers and some were considered propaganda pieces. 

Then the story goes back to the Japanese team.  Are they on the brink of discovering something big?  Are they going to discover a previously undiscovered tomb?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

I will reiterate the complaint that I wish this documentary was divided into chapters for easy pull-out and viewing.  I also wish it was longer because the build-up to the discovery was quick.  It was a very well-done documentary though and it is amazing how far these documentaries on the Mayans have come.  I would show this to a history class.

Hello, and good morning.  I hope that this day finds you well.  It is a documentary that highlights how far technology has come in order to examine history.  This documentary is from the Get.Factual YouTube Channel.  Today I am going to feature a documentary on Angkor Wat.  The run time for this documentary is 55:35.  It is called Angkor Wat and it may be part of a series on ancient superstructures.

Angkor Wat was hidden in the jungles of Cambodia.  It was the largest religious structure ever built.  Using the latest in technology, archeologists are examining monuments carefully and learning more about the secrets of Angkor Wat.  Using satellites, aerial devices, and molecular scales they seek to learn more about Angkor Wat.  Why was it built?  Who built it?  What was its purpose?  Why did it go into decline?

It is a site known worldwide.  The remains of the structure are amongst the most unique in the world.  It was built by the Khmer Empire.  It is hidden among 400 square miles of jungle.  It is the largest religious complex in the world.  It was built from 1113 to 1150 and it was an extraordinary feat.  It was primarily built with stone, which would have been a challenge to use and transport.  The nearest quarries would have been more than 30 kilometers away.  Millions and millions of sandstone blocks would have been needed to be transported.  How was this feat accomplished?

The site is massive, and there are different sections in the city.  There was a religious center and a royal center.  There was a massive water reservoir in the area in the area.  Satellites reveal that there was an expansive hydraulic network that kept the complex water.  There have been many theories over the years about the purpose of the reservoirs and canals.  One new theory that emerged was that the canals were used to help transport the stone that was used to build the complex. 

Microscopic examination of the stone shows that it would have been tough to carve and shape.  The rock was almost 50% quarts.  How was the stone carved so quickly?  There have been restoration efforts done on a nearby temple.  This is a unique opportunity to learn the techniques that were used to build Angkor Wat.  Restorers getting to know these ruins intimately.  The restorers concluded that a massive workforce was employed to build Angkor Wat.  However, it still would have taken a massive amount of time to build the complex.  There had to have been another method to speed up the construction.  During this section, I was starting to compare the construction of Angkor Wat to the Guendolen Castle construction.

The documentary then shifts to an unfinished temple site that is a testing place for new theories as to how the monument was built.  Perhaps, like the pyramids, the workers used ramps to haul stones up to greater and greater heights.  The workers and the architects would have carefully planned ahead to make sure the work went smoothly and efficiently.  This section continues to remind me of the Secrets of the Castle series as well as any documentary on how the pyramids were built.

Angkor Wat would have been the center of the Khmer Empire and would have had a population of about 800,000 people.  The people would have transformed the landscape to suit their needs.  How big was this complex?  A LIDAR campaign was launched.  A large area was swept and the results revealed a vast complex of unknown temples and buildings.  So what were these ruins that LIDAR revealed?  What about the people who lived in Angkor Wat?  Why did the city decline?  What else is yet to be discovered about Angkor Wat?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

It still really amazes and surprises me how technology is used to come alongside and help students and teachers learn more about history.  From time to time I found myself comparing Angkor to other complex historic building projects.  This was an excellent documentary, and it could have run even longer because there is just so much there.  I highly recommend this for a science, technology, and history class.

Good morning!  I am glad to move on from the History of Warfare series, but I am still trying to keep documentaries on the Ancient World.  This time I am doing a documentary on the Stone Age from the Get.Factual YouTube Channel.  I have had some good luck with this channel, so I am going to try this channel again for some more ancient world documentaries.  This documentary is called The Magic Moments of the Stone Age and has a run time of 51:58.

This documentary tells the journey of mankind starting with the Stone Age.  It begins with the discovery of fire and how to use it.  The Stone Age enabled humans to survive their environment and shape it according to their needs.  The story of the Stone Age begins in a crater in Africa and spreads from there.  This documentary talks about the tools that were made and the movement of these ancient men.

The story begins in a great rift valley where many archeological expeditions have taken place.   It is a place where it is said that civilization has begun.  There have been a variety of discoveries that were made in this valley.  There were hand tools that would have been used by ancient man.  There is a display and discussion of the tools that were discovered.  The hand axe discoveries would have made a monumental impact on the advancement of civilization.  I half expected our dear Uncle Phil Harding to make an appearance during this section.

The invention of the hand axe would have enabled early man to hunt and carve animals.  Which would mean that men were adding meat to their diets.  Meat consumption would have helped with brain development and muscle building.  The second moment that would have pushed Stone Age Man forward would have been a fire.  The fire was created by nature either by lightning striking or volcanic eruptions.  Fire would have brought light and warmth.  Fire would have scared animals away.  With the advent of fire, the meat would have been cooked over a fire.  Cooking would have allowed the food to be easier to digest.  The fire also allowed communities to come together.  It was a social point for the people.  That said it took time for a way to develop to make fire.

Eventually, humans would leave Africa and spread throughout the world.  Then there is a discussion on humans' arrival to Central Europe.  Early humans may have arrived in Europe for good hunting.  There was a discovery made in Lower Saxony and it was a cache of hunting tools.  There were spears discovered and changed how historians and scientists view early humans.  At the sight, there were also the remains of the animals that were hunted.  These bones would show what the Stone Age man would have preferred to hunt.  Thousands of wild horse bones were discovered at this site.  At the time Lower Saxony would have had a large population of wild horses.

Eventually, the documentary transitions into a discussion on art and why the Stone Age man would have put art in the caves.  There was an underlying suggestion that it may have been part of the hunting ritual.  To learn more about the Magical Moments of the Stone Age continue to watch the rest of this documentary. 

I was not sure about this documentary the title was very off-putting “Magic Moments of the Stone Age.”  There could have been a better title for the documentary.  The title choice started to make sense as the documentary progressed but I still would have chosen a different title for the documentary.  That said, I found the documentary very interesting.  The recreations were very well done and the historians were very well-spoken.  I always find documentaries on the Stone Age annoying sometimes because there was always an arrogance or presumption that the Stone Age ancestors were stupid.  I am a big believer that the Stone Age people were a whole lot smarter than we are. I did not get that impression from this documentary.  It was very interesting and very well done.  This would be a documentary to put on the potential list, a potential list for a science class instead of a history class.

Good morning!  Another day, another blog review!  Today I am going to look at an episode of the Lost Treasures of the Ancient World Series from the Odyssey YouTube Channel.  This episode is looking at the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  I had some good luck with previous episodes from this series so hopefully this will be a good episode too.  The run time for this documentary is 55:37.

What were the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?  Not everyone agrees with what was considered a wonder.  Locals seemed to put local things on their consideration for Wonders of the World.  In the latter half of the century, the seven best-known were put together on a list.  There was a wide variety of options when it came to deciding the Seven Wonders.  This episode looks at several of those Seven Wonders.

The first wonder discussed was one that everyone agreed on the Pyramids in Egypt.  The Great Pyramid was one of the tallest structures built in the Ancient World.  The pyramids were for the most part used as tombs for the Pharaoh.  Then it talks about the statue of Zeus in Olympus, the home of the Olympic Games.  This giant statue of Zeus was eventually destroyed.  The narrator talks about another statue that was destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes.  It had collapsed in an earthquake and eventually, the bronze was sold off by Arab raiders.  Then there was a Mausoleum at Halicarnassus that was eventually taken apart to use the stones to build houses. 

Then the documentary transitions into a discussion on the lighthouse at Alexandria.  The lighthouse would collapse and those stones would be used to build a fort.  Then there was the temple of Artemis where there was a large statue of the goddess.  It concluded with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and how initially people thought it was fiction but then the remains of the gardens were found.

The documentary then went into detail on the seven wonders of the world.  The documentary led off with the Pyramids of Giza.  It went into more detail about Ancient Egypt and the pyramids at Giza.  This documentary does show its age when it talks about how 100,000 people were used to build it.  The explanation behind the pyramids was very simplistic as well.  Eventually, the discussion switches over to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  The narrator talks about the history and why the Hanging Gardens were built.  Then the documentary transitions to the statue of Zeus as Olympia.  It would have been a huge statue made from ivory and gold. 

Eventually, the discussion transitions to the Temple of Artemas, the fourth wonder of the Ancient World.  It talks about how a king had it built and the statue inside.  In fact, it was the site of several temples before a more secure and permanent structure was built.  People would have flocked to this new temple and would have brought home souvenirs.  What were the other wonders of the ancient world?  What are their histories?  What happened to these wonders?  Were their other ancient sites that could be considered as a wonder of the Ancient World?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

The narrator was quick to get through the initial Seven Wonders, which left me confused as to why there was no more information on those seven wonders.  I then thought there would have been more potential seven wonders mentioned.  However, it became clear after the initial overview the narrator was going to press forward with the initial seven wonders.  It would have been very nice to see this episode divided into chapters because it would enable teachers to take out pieces of this episode for use in teaching.  I definitely had a feeling that the target audience was students and I have the feeling that this was two parts that were put together into one episode.  Anyway, that said, it was a good overview of the wonders of the ancient world, the Seven Wonders, and other wonders as well.  I would consider putting this on my list of potential documentaries to show to a history class because it was a good summary of those wonders.