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Private Notes
Did a Welsh Prince, Madoc ap Owain Gwynedd, discover America 300 years before Columbus? Queen Elizabeth I used the legend to justify her claim to America over that of Philip II of Spain. And even as late as the 18th century at least 15 Indian tribes were identified as Welsh - descendants of the Madoc expedition. John Evans, a young Welsh minister, in quest of Welsh Indians in 1796, became the first white man to reach the Mandans, whose descendants believe the tribe was brought across the Great Water by Lone Man - who was white! In this programme, filmed in America, Professor Gwyn Williams of University College, Cardiff, examines the Madoc legend.
Tribes of headhunters, primitive negritos, Chinese, Muslims and fanatical Christians are the diverse cultures which, dating from the Stone-Age to the 20th Century, co-exist, and help make the Philippines unique. Chronicle investigates the recent work of the archaeologists in the remote Tabon Cave; finds evidence that ritual head-hunting amongst the Ifugao is not a thing of the distant past and discovers a Christian village where at Easter, men actually submit to a form of crucifixion.
The greatest mystery of the Americas, the Nasca Lines have intrigued both scientists and the public ever since their existence became known to the Western World only 30 years ago. Straight lines running for miles, others outlining huge birds and mysterious figures are drawn inexplicably on the surface of a baked and arid landscape. Now Chronicle mounts its own investigation into the mystery of 'the largest astronomy book in the world' guided by English explorer Tony Morrison. His journey takes him across inhospitable deserts and high into the freezing isolation of the Andes. The result is a startlingly new theory involving historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and, most importantly of all, the people of the Andes themselves.
The Jewish people have suffered torment, persecution and degradation for their forefathers' alleged part in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. In a recently published book, Dr Haim Cohn, expert in Jewish and Roman law, analysed and questioned the Gospels' charges against the Jews and threw new light on the Passion story. What really could have taken place that night during the arrest; in the house of the High Priest; and before Pilate in the morning? Who, in fact, crucified Jesus?
Our language, our monarchy, even the name of England itself, come from the Anglo-Saxons. They ruled here for 600 years, but who were these people? Until recently, very little has been known about our ancestors' day-to-day existence. Now, thanks to current archaeology, we are learning a great deal more and from all parts of the country. An early settlement on the Thames estuary; a complete Anglo-Saxon village site in Hampshire; the Venerable Bede's monastery at Jarrow and the Viking settlement in the centre of York. But perhaps most exciting of all is the discovery on the Yorkshire Pennines of the first known Viking farmstead in this country.
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt by Napoleon's team of French scholars was key to the translation of hieroglyphics. This programme reveals how the stone came to the British Museum and its importance for understanding both the ancient Egyptian language and Egypt's culture. Re-aired 25 November 1979
Threat of the mummy's curse failed to deter the scholars in Manchester who unwrapped Mummy No. 1770 - the first ancient Egyptian mummy to be scientifically investigated in this country since the turn of the century. But what exactly is a mummy? Why did the ancient Egyptians preserve their dead in this way? And why was the Manchester mummy buried with gold nipples and a false phallus? Chronicle records how modern science can tell us much that is new about ancient Egyptian society and shows how the 2,000-year-old mummy was brought back to life. Re-aired 25 May 1979
Buried in The Histories of Herodotus is a single passage describing the Imperial Highway of the Persian Kings. Herodotus calls it the Royal Road. This ancient highway, built in the sixth century BC, has intrigued scholars for over a century, but because of the sparseness of Herodotus's description, the route of the Royal Road has remained a mystery. Chronicle's archaeological story follows American explorer Victor von Hagen on a two-year expedition through Turkey, Iraq and Iran to test the accuracy of Herodotus's account. By piecing together the clues of geography, anthropology and archaeology, VON HAGEN was able to solve the riddle of the Royal Road.
The astonishing story of Renaissance Rome. John R. Hale looks at the lives of the four Popes who possessed, as Machiavelli said all rulers must, ' the strength of the Lion and the cunning of the Fox'. Men who, from 1450 to 1550, commissioned the greatest painters and architects of the Renaissance to transform Rome from a squalid market town into the 'capital of the world'.
In May, 'The Sale of the Century' took place amidst a blaze of controversy. The entire contents of Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire went under the hammer. How was the collection formed? Who amassed the treasures? 'The Acquisitors' takes a sometimes amusing, sometimes sad look at a Rothschild fantasy come true. Forty years in the making and two weeks in the breaking, the Mentmore collection is a subject which still rankles among conservationists, antiquarians and simple patriots.
A dazzling exhibition of gold and silver, 'The Wealth of the Roman World' opened last week at the British Museum. One of the 'stars' of the exhibition is a silver treasure found in this country only two years ago. Known as the Water Newton hoard, it was found near Peter-borough by an amateur archaeologist and pop singer Alan Holmes. Magnus Magnusson investigates this story of the 'Silver in the Furrow', the earliest Christian sacramental plate, now restored to its former glory.
In 1724, a Dutch merchant ship sank off the Madeiras. A year later, an English diver, John Lethbridge, performed amazing feats of salvage. But how? Belgian diver Robert Stenuit reconstructed Lethbridge's 'diving engine' to produce an intriguing historical detective story and a new development in underwater archaeology. Re-aired 28 October 1979
