Ancient Discoveries

Ancient Discoveries unearths new clues that connect the present with the past in more startling ways than we had ever imagined and posits that famous innovative thinkers like Archimedes, Ctesibius, Galen, and Heron discovered or invented numerous technologies and procedures previously thought to have been first imagined in just the last few centuries. In the ancient texts of Homer and the walls of Egyptian tombs lie tantalizing clues that are causing historians to re-think just how sophisticated centuries-old societies were. Drawings show that the Egyptians may have unlocked the secret to flight with primitive helicopter designs, and that the Chinese had a “wind car” in the 6th century AD that could transport them over land at up to 30 miles per hour. Even more amazing are 600-year-old designs from Italy for a Batmobile-like “rocket car” that appeared to be fueled by gunpowder. Mechanical maids that could fetch water for people on their own were created by the inventor Philos in the Third century, a concept we still struggle to perfect today! And discoveries about ancient machines of warfare give a new vision of what truly defined the Egyptian empire... Ancient Discoveries first appeared on The History Channel in late 2003 as a three-part documentary series based around an intriguing premise: that many technologies assumed to have been discovered or invented in the modern age were actually known to ancient civilizations thousands of years ago and the knowledge effectively lost during the Middle Ages. The show returned in 2005 for three more segments and evolved into a weekly series that began airing in January of 2007 to 2009.