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Ancient Engineering (Season 2)

10 episodes 96%4KCC

Where ancient stadiums, bridges, homes, and weapons shape the modern world.

See how ancient discoveries inspired the structures and engineering technologies that define modern life. This season explores colossal stadiums, bridges, homes, hidden infrastructure, and weapons, revealing how early engineers achieved precision and scale with the simplest tools. Sign up to uncover the ideas behind wonders that still influence what we build today.

Episode guide

10 episodes
1
1Earliest Arenas: The Colosseum
Since their earliest existence in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, stadiums have been regarded as architectural masterpieces and focal points in their surrounding cities, but none more so than the Colosseum in Rome.
51 min
2
2How Gold Changed The World
Join us as we dig deep in this episode to uncover how gold was mined and transformed into everyday objects like jewelry and currency, and even used to adorn holy temples and statues.
51 min
3
3History's Deadliest Weapons
As the battle distance continued to grow with each new weapon, humans put their best minds to work refining and evolving their designs over the millennia to gain the upper hand.
51 min
4
4Navigating The Globe
This episode dives into the pioneering breakthroughs from across the globe that have shaped our ability to travel.
51 min
5
5Tools & Tech
This episode charts the groundbreaking developments that led us to a technologically sophisticated society. Discover the first ever data recording device from over 5,000 years ago, how weaving created binary code and that electric cars were invented a hundred years earlier than you think they were.
51 min
6
6Anatomy of the House
From living in caves to grand mansions, shelter has always been high on the list of our priorities. But form and function varies wildly throughout civilizations. We explore how houses have developed through the ages – from simple tents made from animal hides, to the first cities.
51 min
7
7Extreme Buildings
Throughout history, our ancestors have always strived to go higher, bigger, deeper, further—and this is reflected in the buildings and structures around our globe. But what secrets can these ancient structures reveal?
51 min
8
8History's Hidden Marvels
This episode explores some of history's most ingenious, yet lesser-known engineering solutions. Beginning with a recently uncovered 6300 year old Croatian wooden well that has been termed 'the world's oldest engineering marvel' through to the the Persian yakhchal.
51 min
9
9Ancient Waterways
The ancient ancestors realized that building structures and machines to harness water to provide transport, power, drainage and irrigation was vital to the success of their civilizations.
51 min
10
10Building Bridges
Migration, travel and trade are all key components of human life. Our ancient ancestors had to come up with ingenious solutions and structures to travel freely—over the hills, valleys and rivers of our world, which can sometimes pose difficult obstacles to cross.
51 min
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