It covers lost civilization locations such as the 11,000 year old Gobekli Tepe site in Turkey (which I mentioned in my post Prehistoric Sophistication) and Knossos, which I feel may have once been a part of -- and possibly the capital of -- Atlantis.
More than that, it also goes into what could possibly cause the demise of once great civilizations that have been lost to time and become the things of legends. It cites examples of modern disasters such as the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami that caused massive devastation and showed how mother nature can inflict destruction swiftly. Asteroids and climate change are considered as well.
It also questions whether entire civilizations can essentially be erased and forgotten by such disasters and if it's possible our own modern civilization could be erased in a similar fashion.
Definitely a good watch if your interested in the topic of lost civilizations or ancient and prehistoric history in general. You can watch the documentary below or get it from the History channel's website here. It's about an hour and half, so if you want to watch it and don't have time now, you can just click the little "watch later" clock button in the video on the bottom right and go back to it another time (this is especially useful if you have a way to watch it on your television, such as with the YouTube app on an Xbox 360).
Thanks for a very interesting show delving into my first love, ancient history. Earth has yet to reveal all her secrets in due time as the Creator sees fit.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it!
DeleteI'd love to get a copy of the documentary on DVD. I had it on my DVR but my little one deleted it by mistake. I found a link for it doing a search with Bing and it came up in History's online store but when I would click on it the store would come up as under construction for a new look. Well now the store is back up and the show is no longer on there for purchase. I have been scouring the internet looking but so far no luck other than on YouTube. I'm hoping History will add it to the new store.
DeleteI don't know where to find it either. At least Youtube has it!
DeleteThe program was concerned about nuclear waste. Some time was spent discussing a geologic repository, and warning markers that would be understood in the distant future. A better solution is to destroy it. Read "Smarter Use of Nuclear Waste" in December 2005 Scientific American, also online at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smarter-use-of-nuclear-waste.
ReplyDeleteA colleague suggested one reason to disbelieve the existence of prior technological civilizations: We have found no teflon.
I'm not exactly sure why not finding teflon would suggest that the existence of prior technological civilizations is unlikely, but whatever the reason, I don't see why it would have to be necessary. In my mind, an advanced civilization from the distant past wouldn't necessarily have to be advanced in all the same ways we are today. Perhaps they could have developed alternative ways of doing things that we today may not have even considered. A possible example could be a fuel system...today we primarily use fossil fuels, but what if a different method was developed into a standard instead of fossil fuels? Would we even bother to use fossil fuels at all today? Would anyone have even considered it? So what if an ancient civilization developed a different fuel system that didn't use fossil fuels? Their technologies may seem almost foreign to us.
DeleteBut on the other hand, I don't necessarily see a prehistoric advanced civilization that is developed to the level we are today or beyond today. I would still think of a prehistoric civilization that is on a level equivalent to say, an 18th to early 20th century level of advancement as an advanced civilization...at least in comparison to what is normally thought of prehistoric civilizations...cavemen hunter-gatherers. There could still be differences though...they may have thought of some methods of doing things that have been forgotten ever since (maybe something like pyramid building), while we may have developed things they never even dreamed of. They don't necessarily need to have technologies (in the sense of electronics, computers, rockets, etc.) to be advanced in my mind. Developing transportation systems, fashions, architecture...these are signs of advancement to me.
But it is still kind of cool to think there could have been a highly technological civilization in the prehistoric past. Teflon or not!