The Search for Civilisation

S1, E2: The 18th and 19th centuries saw empire-building on an astonishing scale. Nations were on the move: trading, expanding and jostling for domination. But it wasn’t just the glorious present that occupied them, it was the past, too. Archaeologist Richard Miles reveals how the discoveries of this time overturned ideas of when and where civilization began as empires competed to literally ‘own’ the past.