Ancient Discoveries

Ancient Discoveries

7.54
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Ratings: 7.54/10 from 39 users.

Ancient DiscoveriesAncient Discoveries is a documentary television series that focuses on ancient technologies. The show's theme is that many inventions which are thought to be modern have ancient roots or in some cases may have been lost and then reinvented.

Episodes of the regular series have expanded to cover other areas such as Egypt, China and East Asia, and the Islamic world. Ancient Discoveries was made for The History Channel by Wild Dream Films based in Cardiff in the UK. Much of the filming was done on location across the world.

The series uses contributions from archaeologists and other experts, footage of historical sites and artifacts, computer generated reconstructions and dramatized reconstructions along with experiments and tests on reconstructed artifacts.

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blahblahblah
blahblahblah
7 years ago

it's a private video...grumble grumble grumble

Jon
Jon
9 years ago

Science and technology are possible because there is an eternal order where laws and principles operate. Men who acquire or are gifted with the power of observation discover creation or the mind of the Creator. Thus, nothing is really new that has not existed before. For man to progress in know how, he got to acknowledge what is already possible and existing.

The Son cannot do anything on his own but only sees what the Eternal Father is doing fits science, which is after all cumulative knowledge of proven facts in search for the Truth.

Josh Ri-perz
Josh Ri-perz
11 years ago

Ancient Discoveries is a great documentary. Re-creating history and getting your hands dirty (opposed to only reading) is what makes digging into the past such a great learning experience. I appreciate the effort they put into their historical research. And the use of computer technology is certainly beneficial.

supermassivedec
supermassivedec
11 years ago

do not know who you were talking when you said read history books i used 2 luv history now i know its all made up there are only a handfull of people in the world who know our true history and thry dont write books

frabhunt
frabhunt
11 years ago

Yes put it on the Front page, can't even watch it... wonderful waste of space

mahonhouse
mahonhouse
12 years ago

wonderful anothe doc i cant watch awesome.

wpsmithjr
wpsmithjr
12 years ago

@Lolawonka, I think you're the one who "has it all wrong". Mainly because you're pissing and moaning about a comment that makes perfect sense... and your language and hatred over such an ordinary, sensible and benign comment makes you look a little nutso. Yes, throughout history there have always been only a few people, you could call them geniuses, who actually invent or do something that dramatically changes the world, and for the most part, the large majority of the people are just along for the ride... just like today.

The only point I can get from YOUR rant is that maybe today we are worse off because our technology means nothing because we have become dependent on it. Sure, back before there was useful electricity, they were tougher and more independent... because they HAD to be. And yes, we could end up paying for our reliance on modern technology for survival... but to use foul language and hateful rhetoric because someone points out that a small percentage of people who are alive... past and present... actually make a difference in the world... well... you really need anger management courses.

LIVEFROMLIMBO
LIVEFROMLIMBO
12 years ago

excellent series! highly recommend!

Manish Kaushal
Manish Kaushal
12 years ago

I really enjoyed it. But only I can say all of these are re-invension, because I have seen 3000 Years old hydrolic design on bank of Ganga at Sringarepur, India. Even I have seen water clock in Patliputra, Bihar, India according to archilogist it is more then 4000Years old. I strongly agree acciant days and there inventions were great. And all these are re-study. And today we are studing the re-studing one... As I know Nalanda, Bihar, India was centre of education and invension before 4000Years. But tragdy all study burned to ground :(...

kara k
kara k
12 years ago

Poor Roman "My leg is broken, can I get an appointment with Dr. Galen?"

Roman Medical Office "Do you have insurance?"

Poor Roman "No, Dr. Galen is not listed in my HMO providers"

Roman Medical Office "Sorry, but we can't treat you."

Things never change.

Joshua Samuel George Sweetman
Joshua Samuel George Sweetman
12 years ago

great doco! besides that goddamn eerie female song, that they seems to play hella lot!

Jo McKay
Jo McKay
12 years ago

Enjoyed it all (took a week mind) :) well worth the review and some great new discoveries. Loved the 'green energy free' wind car of China, add a flexible solar blanket and small battery... hmm :) The weapons of war got a little tiresome, but then again that's apre' pro ( spell check?) - till humans stop giving in to our every obsession and superstition the 'use' put to our future discoveries looks bleak. Aww well - peace

fifimsp
fifimsp
12 years ago

I think what people fail to realize is that ancient populations were just like ours. Lots of idiots, plethora of normal people, and a few genius who invented and came up with cool things and theories. We think we're smart, but most of our stuff is from a few genius, we just get to utilize it. That's what happened then. People act as if they were stupider. No. I feel like the thing that held them back was lack of blanket education and the discovery of how to harness electricity. But, in some ways, the human race might already be on the way out had they done that. In modern times, we have the same intelligence and in some ways, are doing worse, not fairing better than our ancient counterparts.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

I especially liked the mention that the anciants used to hire scientists (Considering knowledge, then) to fool the population into many God beliefs. More of a showman magician!
2 Weeks a little day by day viewing. Excellent well researched doc.
Brings a lot of knowledge about humankind.

1,001 method not to earn your living while getting others to do it.
Because, being of any direct descent with some "God".

Pierre.

Yavanna
Yavanna
12 years ago

Phew that took some watching! Highly recommended. Focussed far too much on weaponry in places, especially first half of season 3. It's amazing how close the human race came at times to an Industrial revolution hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Excellant series !
I feel priveledged to have been able to see this and have the opportunity to be able to go back whenever I wish to study it again.

Thank you Vlatko for adding it to the site.

StillRV
StillRV
12 years ago

This was an excellent series. I try not to compare the ancient to the modern. For the modern has the benefit of the ancient as guidance. I think that the ancient is astounding in its complexity and use of observation, trial and error to create such wonders. Yet today we have implementation and utilization of the known. Why compare? Just appreciate

Guillaume de Bies
Guillaume de Bies
12 years ago

Is there anyone outhere to finance/fund /stimulate the manufacturing of space ships which are used throughout space and time by other humanoids .

The technoligical knowledge is there I think
Yes: with spinning mercury gravity can be manipulated, thus lifting off.
Plus there are studies done; on captured crashed space ships, by the US Army.

We need a plarform to get momentum on this matter,
Do y'all kow what it would be to have your own space ship, like owning a car ?

That's what it needs to come down to in the end; one might say,
We earhtlings are as old/young as we are as a species, we need to do things our own way like all other extraterrestials did.

Some one out there with finance and this vision do somethinfg s.v.p.

Guillaume

Siidzha
Siidzha
12 years ago

@ wald0

Do not underestimate the mind of the ancient Greek man. Although he did not have possibilities to discover what we know today, it is well known among ancient culture researchers that the myths of Greek gods were not held as the absolute reality as it is, for example, with Christianity. They were far more sophisticated than that. Community of the Gods for ancient Greeks was merely a symbolic explanation of the cosmos, forces of nature and hierarchical structure of the world that was created by logical deductions of the philosophers. It is indeed that simpler people were more "religious" in the traditional sense, but it was not common among educated Greeks. If Greek perceptions about the Gods would be alike those of the Christianity, they would not haev been able to reach such high level of development.

However, I agree for the other part that you're saying. I am truly amazed by the intelligence of ancient societies and I often wonder how developed would be the world today if these societies would not have been destroyed and their knowledge could have had the possibility to florish... But it didn't.
Wonders of the human mind has always been and still continues to be destroyed by a weapon which is an integral part of who we are. This weapon is the main enemy of the mind - the primal drive of the human body. Isn't it weird? When you think about it, it is in fact the human's rootedness in nature that holds him back from achieving high development... More specifically - the inability to abstract himself from his most basic instincts, like desire to feel pleasure and avoidance to feel pain. And although it seems truly odd, it is only natural that even nowadays so many people hope to hide behind the protective shield of religion. I believe that this shows that overall most of the individuals today are exactly in the same position where evolution seemed to stop for us (of course, it only seems like that from our limited spectrum of sight) - a couple of thousand years ago and they just happened to be born such technologically developed era. And we have to be so grateful for those brilliant individuals that indeed were able to achieve greater level of mind's development than the rest of us, because it is not the civilizations that have brought us here, but those genious minds that were able to suppress their instincts of the body a bit more than the rest of us and devote all of themselves to science. And only this is how we got that unique chance to catch a bit wider glimpse on the world that we live in (and even beyond it). No matter how much people put down the contemporary world that we live in, I feel blessed for the chance to exist now and not earlier...
I mean, isn't it amazing that we have the knowledge to know how we have came to exist in the first place? And now even to mention the things we have found out about universe...
Surely, we know only a small portion of the whole story, but even that part can simply blow one's mind...

fonbindelhofas
fonbindelhofas
12 years ago

only few things i disagree and could argue: we are NOT living in the time of "cuting edge technology" (Planned Obsolescence...and tons of ideological & political barriers), and the idea that technology in this doc series has led to final "comsumer age", as its a fact, as its the best thing, as it was technology and not ideology... we should learn to separate those 2, one leads to well being & another to genocide! (
otherwise nice doc's, nice times...

wald0
wald0
12 years ago

@ Sertsis

I agree that the ancients seemed to have the same capacity for problem solving that we do, based on the knowledge they had available of course. But, I think people of today are wiser in some respects because we have their experiences and ours to benefit from. For instance when we see something in nature that we can't explain we have gained the wisdom not to event gods or demons to explain it. But that is wisdom, not intelligence, so it doesn't contradict what you are saying I suppose. I just wanted to throw in my two cents. I would agree that intelligence is the measure of how well or efficiently you can solve problems with the facts or knowledge you have available to you, and in that respect at times they were even smarter than us.

For Leonardo to have imagined some of the things he sketched out, considering the limited knowledge pool he had access to, its amazing. He was solving problems that others in his time had never even conceived as a problem or possibility. I think a huge part of his genius lies in the fact that he was such a great artist as well as a mathematician and inventor. To have that kind of imagination, skilled hands, and ability to logically work out and/or analyze systems the way he could- he is definitely one of my heroes.

forbetwo
forbetwo
12 years ago

got this doc about a year on dvd very good

goldie
goldie
12 years ago

Very interesting. Enjoyed it very much though I have seen alot of documentaries about the subject matter..

patriotbill
patriotbill
12 years ago

is there any way to down load these doc's ?

adilrye
adilrye
12 years ago

Word to the wise: don't dismiss the people of the past as being stupid and ignorant and having nothing to tell us. Don't be so arrogant in thinking that we know everything and that the modern way is ALWAYS the best way. And most importantly, recognize that all of what we have now has its roots in discoveries made hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

Everything comes from somewhere.

Sertsis
Sertsis
12 years ago

17 hours?... Really? I'll watch it, and probably like it, but I think I'll have to do it over the course of a few days. 17 Hours,...wow.

Fareth Didwell
Fareth Didwell
12 years ago

Good docu, keep up the good work! I've been using this site for near on 2 years now, and recommend it to friends and people I meet. Although I rarely comment, just reading the comment threads is an interesting observation in itself. Fuck you T.V, I got stuff to engage with! Much Gratitude
G

kabir86
kabir86
12 years ago

lol...I get a lil overly passionate about learning and gaining knowledge.

kabir86
kabir86
12 years ago

this is amazing. I am on this sit soo much now. It is nice to see a community of people who actually love learning and soaking in wisdom and knowledge. Not sure how to connect to people on here, but it would be nice to just communicate and talk about stuff we watch. more then just the comments. student of life indeed

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Before I even watch any of these, I'm reminded of what Sagan said about the ancient library at Alexandria, about "how many centuries farther along we'd be" if it hadn't been burned to the ground...

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

that's a lot of inventions!
What was i complaining about a couple days ago?
Yesterday 5hrs, today 17hrs....lol
Vlatko is keeping us busy bees.
az

Travis Maaka
Travis Maaka
12 years ago

cha ching! 17 hours of bliss!

Achems_Razor
Achems_Razor
12 years ago

17 hours long? Nothing is 17 hours long! Oh-well, will take me 17 days to watch.

Tristen Jay Abraham
Tristen Jay Abraham
12 years ago

MY PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED! I refreshed the page to see if MAYHAPS there'd be a new documentary loaded onto the site - MAGICALLY there was - 17hours of PURE WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT! Thanks topdocumentaryfilms! I am now going to cozy up under my blanket and indulge my mind!