Ancient Apocalypse(2001)

Secrets to Civilisation is a groundbreaking History series which explores the recent explosion in data about our planet's past, offering a completely fresh perspective on the ancient world from the Bronze Age to the fall of Rome.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. takes a look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century. A breathtaking and personal journey through two hundred thousand years of history, from the origins, on the African continent, of art, writing and civilization itself, through the millennia in which Africa and Africans shaped not only their own rich civilizations, but also the wider world.

Paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi reveals humanity's incredible story across 300,000 years of human evolution – and how the story is stranger and more surprising than ever imagined.

There are seven billion humans on Earth, spread across the whole planet. Scientific evidence suggests that most of us can trace our origins to one tiny group of people who left Africa around 70,000 years ago. In this five-part series, Dr Alice Roberts follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors to find out how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today, and how Homo Sapiens came to dominate the planet.

In this set of three videotapes, writer Graham Hancock traverses the world and explains his controversial theory that an ancient civilization, highly intelligent people who sailed the planet as early as 10,500 B.C., spread advanced astronomical knowledge and built ancient observatories.

Embark in a journey through some of the most beautiful cities in the world in this documentary series. Each episode features a new city and explores the many things that make it the legendary place it is today.

The history of our modern Indo-Arabic numeral system begins in Mesopotamia, leads through India to the Arab world – and from there around the globe. This three-part series explores how the "Arabic numerals" began their triumphant march and the special role that zero played in this process. From its beginnings to modern computer science – today, numbers are the universal language of the world.

Using the latest in archaeology, anthropology and genetics, this series tells the story of where the modern world began. Incorporating studies of artifacts, renowned sites of archaeological interest and interviews with leading experts, it moves around the geographic zones of the world, exploring how and why civilization first sparked into life.

Journalist and writer Graham Hancock travels the globe hunting for evidence of mysterious, lost civilizations dating back to the last Ice Age. He attempts to prove that a climatic event 12,000 years ago wiped out an entire civilization far more sophisticated than the simple hunter-gatherers some archaeologists believe lived at that time.

Documentary series about famous anthropologists.

Despite decades of research, many mysteries remain about the ancient Maya. Now, archaeologists are unearthing new clues that transform long held ideas about how these people came to dominate vast areas of Mexico and Central America. Through immense lost monuments, ancient inscriptions and new forensic evidence, this series tracks the Maya from their earliest origins all the way to the present day, unlocking the dark secrets of the rise and fall of the Maya.

Climate change, the Antichrist, the secret world order, World War III. Here are some of the themes of the massive The New Apocalypse - Mankind's Last Exodus trilogy. Grann paints a chilling vision of the future: the planet and humanity are facing major changes: ecological, material and spiritual catastrophe could be just around the corner. Can we make the right choices and take our destiny into our own hands, or has someone else predetermined everything?

A monument that may explain why the people of a thriving ancient city vanished from Earth. A tablet that reveals a towering truth about one of the Bible's strangest stories. Evidence that the 10 plagues of Egypt were real natural phenomena. Join us as we follow a team of investigators around the globe, using modern science and technology to uncover ancient mysteries surrounding these and other puzzles from our past. By examining these relics and legends, we hope to gain insights into who we are, where we come from, and where we are going.

Geologist Dr Iain Stewart presents a series showing how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped the human history of the Mediterranean.

A journey into our evolutionary past, piecing together the bodies of our prehistoric family.

Long-running travel programme