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Making of Special
The great Egyptian Pyramids of Giza have inspired awe and wonder and, quite likely, fierce speculation from the moment they were built. In fact, even the date of their construction has become a topic of debate. Explorer, survival expert, and host Josh Bernstein takes a hard look at the competing theories as to who really built the pyramids--and when. Archaeologists say it was the ancient Egyptians, others argue for an even older civilization. Filmed in HDTV, this fresh and engaging series digs for the truth and goes to extremes to do it! Josh examines the evidence, explores secret chambers in the heart of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, visits the first pyramid ever built, and tries his hand at ancient stone-quarrying techniques. It's a hard-won perspective, but, with the discovery of a mysterious flooded chamber deep beneath the Sphinx, Josh learns what appears to be the final truth.
Queen Nefertiti was once the most beautiful and powerful woman in Egypt, renowned throughout the ancient world. But she vanished without a trace, lost to the sands of Egypt for more than 3,000 years. Only in the last century did archeologists discover that this legendary queen really lived at all. Since then, though, only fragments of her story have emerged. Host Josh Bernstein, an explorer and survival expert, is determined to put the pieces together and uncover the true story of Queen Nefertiti. Who was this mysterious woman? Why did she disappear? And can her mummy still be found today? To find out, he'll follow a trail of clues into Egypt's most sacred and secret places, exploring dark tombs and coming face-to-face with the truth of at least one ancient mummy's identity.
In 79 AD, the volcano Vesuvius exploded in one of history's deadliest eruptions, burying the city of Pompeii and other Roman towns along the Bay of Naples beneath layers of ash and pumice. Pompeii was rediscovered in the 18th century, but only recently have archaeologists and volcanologists come to understand exactly how the eruption unfolded, and why it took the people of Pompeii almost entirely by surprise. Intrigued, host Josh Bernstein visits the Bay of Naples, and learns the entire area is built on ancient volcanic rock, some of it still steaming. He climbs the world's most active volcano--Stromboli--an island near Sicily, where ""fireworks"" from the mountain are a nightly entertainment. Back at Pompeii, he searches for clues that might have enlightened the Romans to the growing threat in their midst. And he literally plays with fire as he follows the story right into the heart of Vesuvius.
For centuries, adventurers, and archeologists--the devout and determined, and even Indiana Jones--have all searched for the Bible's most sacred lost treasure: the Ark of the Covenant. Yet, despite all its fame, it mysteriously disappeared from the pages of history tens of centuries ago. How could something so powerful and holy simply vanish? That's what host and adventurer Josh Bernstein is determined to find out when he follows a trail that starts where the Ark's story begins--on Mount Sinai. Next, he explores a secret maze beneath Jerusalem's streets, and visits Deir es Sultan, an Ethiopian monastery located on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In Ethiopia, he climbs up a sheer cliff to reach Debre Damo, one of the country's most ancient monasteries, and travels across Lake Tana to the place where some say the Ark is kept today. But how close can he get to this mighty and mysterious treasure?
For all its fame, the Holy Grail remains shrouded in mystery. What exactly was it? Could it have survived to this day? Why has it inspired so many treasure seekers? To Christians, it is the holiest of objects, the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper, also believed to be the chalice that Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood as he died on the cross. Though now thought of as a goblet, the actual word ""grail"" comes to us from the Latin word gradalis--a flat dish or shallow vessel brought to the table during various courses of a meal. The story itself did not originate until medieval times, when it helped inflame the Crusaders' quest. Host and adventurer Josh Bernstein follows the Grail's trail from Holy Land to medieval French castles to a dark chapter in the Nazi saga, when Hitler financed a search for the Grail to unite a secret society of knights. On the way, Josh learns its true meaning and power.
In 1991, a pair of vacationing German hikers stumbled onto one of the most remarkable finds in the history of archaeology: the perfectly preserved body of a 5,000-year old man. What made the discovery so important was more than just his state of physical preservation, but also the period of time from which he came--the very cusp of the age between stone and steel. Host and adventurer Josh Bernstein heads for the high Alps on the Austrian-Italian border to discover the latest secrets revealed by the clothes, weaponry, and body of Ötzi the Iceman. Josh faces down a deadly blizzard, helicopters out of near disaster, and comes face-to-face with a stone-cold, stone-age killer. Along the way, he discovers that the Iceman is rewriting our ideas about the life of our ancestors at the dawn of civilization--and he learns much about the character of Ötzi!
Of all the rulers mentioned in the Bible, King Solomon was purportedly the wisest...and the richest! The reason? His access to vast quantities of gold. According to the Bible, the source of his legendary wealth was the goldmines located in the mysterious land of Ophir. Yet, what the Scriptures can't tell us is where Ophir might be found today. Host Josh Bernstein leads us on an epic 4,000-mile journey in search of the lost gold of King Solomon--sailing across the Red Sea, plunging down a Zimbabwean gold mine, and traveling deep into the Ethiopian Bush.
The Maya of Central America were the greatest pyramid builders of the ancient world. The Egyptians built less than a 100 pyramids--the Maya built thousands. But what was the significance of these towering structures? Determined to solve the meaning of the Mayan pyramids, host and explorer Josh Bernstein sets out on a remarkable journey that takes him from the great Mayan cities of Southern Mexico to the hinterland of Guatemala. Josh explores ancient tombs, dives in flooded caverns, and shoots whitewater rapids. Finally, he reaches a secret place in the high jungle of Guatemala where a mountain, a cave, and a river converge. It's here, according to the Maya, that the world was born, and it's this mystical place upon which all Mayan pyramids are modeled.
The mystery of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel has fascinated people through the ages. Explorers claim to have discovered evidence of the ""lost tribes"" all over the world, from Australia to Siberia, but few if any such claims have been backed up by solid evidence. But now a provocative possibility about the whereabouts of one of the tribes has emerged--and it's 4,000 miles from Israel--in Southern Africa. Host and explorer Josh Bernstein retraces the amazing journey that the Lemba people claim they made centuries ago. It stretches from the heart of modern South Africa to the ancient stone cities of Zimbabwe...and then onto the shores of the Mediterranean and the city of Jerusalem. And the evidence for this journey is more than anecdotal. As Josh discovers, recent DNA studies point to the Lemba's true origin in the Middle East.
Etched into the driest desert in the world, the mysterious lines and figures of Nazca in Southern Peru are invisible from the ground. Thought to have been made by the Nazca people, who flourished between 200 BC and 600 AD, in fact, these huge drawings were not discovered until the 1930s--and only then by commercial airline pilots who happened to over-fly them. Ever since, they have intrigued the world. Who built them, and why? Host, explorer, and survival expert Josh Bernstein takes on the secrets of the Nazca Lines, while flying micro-lites and powered para-gliders, clambering through thousand-year old irrigation tunnels, and even recreating rituals with contemporary Native Americans.
It was a fable that fueled a thousand fevered explorations into the mountains and rainforests of South America. The mere idea of El Dorado--a city of gold buried in the jungle--fired the imagination of Spanish conquistadors for centuries. But when no city appeared, so the legend faded. Now explorer and survival expert Josh Bernstein begins the search anew. The recent find of a remarkable document has given new life to the search for El Dorado. Eager to follow up on these latest developments, Josh throws himself into an exciting journey that takes him from the icy waters of Lake Titicaca in Southern Peru, to the frozen Altiplano of the high Andes, then deep into the Amazon jungle as he struggles to discover the truth, once and for all, behind the legend of El Dorado.
On the remotest island on the face of the planet stand the massive, enigmatic stone statues of Easter Island. Who carved them? And why? Ever since Easter Island was first discovered, this tiny pinprick of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has baffled scientists. How did the ancients who peopled this place even find it? Host Josh Bernstein sets out to unveil the mysteries of the island and of the remarkable stone heads that its first inhabitants left behind. Delving into the world of ancient Pacific Islanders, he relearns the lost art of Polynesian navigation, recreates the techniques of Easter Island masons, and participates in dangerous ancient rituals--all to solve one of the greatest enigmas of our time: the mystery of Easter Island.
In the American Southwest, there is no more puzzling mystery than the magnificent stone cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. Why did the Anasazi Indians suddenly move their villages to these perilous cliffs in the 13th century--and then abandon them just decades later--and seemingly disappear from history? Was it drought? Invading tribes? Or an insidious ""cancer"" from within that may have caused them to turn to fierce warfare and even cannibalism? In search of answers, our host, the intrepid explorer and survival expert Josh Bernstein, travels from Mesa Verde, Colorado to remote canyons in Utah where the Anasazi took refuge. Piecing together the story from both archaeologists and Native Americans, he finally ends up, in his search for the truth, in the eerie and desolate ruins of the Anasazi's greatest cultural center--Chaco Canyon.
Join Josh Bernstein as he ventures into the deep jungle of the Amazon to find out more information on the Chavin and whether or not they really had a "temple of doom."
Join Josh Bernstein as he travels North America in search of its own pyramids. The adventure turns dangerous when Josh suffers a severe allergic reaction to fire ants.
Join Josh Bernstein as he investigates the origins of the mysterious Stonehenge.
Join Josh Bernstein as he sails a Viking ship from Denmark to America and tries to determine for himself if the Vikings really beat Christopher Columbus to America.
Join Josh Bernstein as he investigates the roots of England's first permanent colony, who three years after landing, vanished.
Join Josh Bernstein as he joins Zahi Hawass in the hunt for mummies from the time of Cleopatra's reign as they try to uncover more information on one of the very last Pharaohs.
Josh Bernstein explores Teotihuacán, the City of the Gods to learn of the people who lived there. During his time in the region, Josh rides in a hot-air balloon and even engages in an ancient local sport, which literally leaves him bruised.
Josh travels to Ethiopia to find out whether or not there really was a Queen of Sheba, or if she was merely a legend.
Josh travels to Greece and Turkey in search of the legendary city of Troy. He ends up finding out that Homer's Iliad was more than merely a work of fiction.
Josh Bernstein searches for evidence behind the controversial theory laid out in Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code.
Josh Bernstein accompanies paleontologists, naturalists, and crypto-zoologists on a search to determine whether the ground sloth could be the source of the giants of Patagonia.
Josh Bernstein follows the clues left in the Bible in hopes of finding the infamous cities of sin, Sodom and Gomorrah.
Josh Bernstein treks through thick overgrown regions of the Amazon rainforest on the trail of the legendary "Lost City of Z".
This week Josh searches the Mediterranean in search of Atlantis
This week Josh travels to Mongolia in search of the empire of the Khans.
This week Josh travels again to Egypt, this time in search of what really happened to King Tut.
This week Josh travels to Guatemala in search of the Maya.
Was Ramesses II Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh? He built soaring statues, grand temples, and monuments to himself throughout Egypt. He even declared himself a living god. What forces drove him to be the greatest pharaoh?
In 1911, Hiram Bingham, famed American explorer, stumbled across a remote Inca city atop a high peak in the Andes. The site was called Machu Picchu--perhaps the most famous ruin in the world. Was it, like Bingham believed, a military fortress or did this glorious ruin have a secret purpose?
For over 3,000 years, ancient Egyptians preserved their dead in the desert sands. Today the secrets of the Egyptian afterlife are being revealed! Join host Josh Bernstein as he enters a realm of temples, tombs, and mummies. How did the Egyptians prepare the dead for the afterlife and why did these sacred practices disappear?
The "red-rose" city of Petra stands as one of the most glorious and mysterious archaeological sites on earth. Created over 2,500 years ago, the ornate Petra cityscape was literally carved into the rose-colored walls of Jordan's Shara Mountains. The builders of Petra, the Nabataeans, were thought to be some of the wealthiest people ever to inhabit the Middle East, but they, along with their riches, simply vanished. What was Petra and could the Arabian site be still hiding precious treasure?
In the Bolivian Andes, a sprawling ancient city rests 13,000 feet above sea level. With its giant, freestanding monoliths and grand design, Tiwanaku has long been compared to Stonehenge. The two sites were built on opposite sides of the globe, but they both share a design that pays tribute to the sun.
A quest for the historical King David. A basalt slab inscribed with David's name is examined;the famous battle between David and Goliath is recreated;also Jerusalem is visited.
In the depths of an Israeli cave, archaeologists found rolls of dusty manuscripts dating to the 1st century AD, and they are inscribed on a copper scroll! Scholars believe the copper scrolls represent a detailed treasure map--a list of hiding places where the priests of Jerusalem's Second Temple stored their most precious silver and gold artifacts during times of trouble.
The Aztecs were the largest civilization to ever rule Mesoamerica. Archaeology and modern science are now shedding new light on the blood rituals they practiced.
500 years before the Inca, a band of warriors called the Chachapoya built the greatest stone monument in the Americas. It's three times the size of Egypt's largest pyramid, yet they disappeared without a trace.
The Confederate Army, in an attempt to turn the tide of the Civil War, launched a new and daring weapon--a forty-foot submarine. The H.L. Hunley, armed with a primitive torpedo, destroyed a mighty Union warship, yet its crew never made it home.
The giant stone heads of the Olmec have amazed and mystified archaeologists for more than 150 years.
In a new expedition, Kara Cooney and Charles Ingram look for evidence of the Barbary Pirates at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
Join the search for golden artifacts from Jerusalem's Temple, stolen by the Romans 2,000 years ago.
The search for the treasure of the Temple continues.
For centuries, Europeans heard legends of a mythical city in the heart of the Sahara, the source of endless caravans of gold, but it took 500 years to find.
Travel deep into the heart of the Cambodian jungle to discover a magnificent stone temple that was built on a scale unparalleled in human history.
