Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
13 Episodes 2012 - 2012
Episode 1
Tue, May 1, 2012
Leonardo da Vinci - he designed machines for war, was fascinated by the mechanics of aviation and diving, and the anatomy of the human body. But it is perhaps his artistic masterpieces such as The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper that have created the most lasting interest. Experts investigate the possibility that Leonardo may have incorporated hidden codes and messages into these works. Also, there is on the island of Malta a mysterious ancient complex of underground burial chambers, known as The Hypogeum, which was found to contain the remains of over 6,000 people. Archaeologists believe it to predate even the Pyramids and Stonehenge, making it a unique site of interest. Nobody knows how the remains ended up in this mysterious place, or under what circumstances.
Episode 2
Tue, May 8, 2012
Father Patrick Hough visits Notre Dame Cathedral to examine a relic that's said to be the crown of thorns worn by Christ at his crucifixion.
Episode 3
Tue, May 15, 201245 mins
For years, historians thought that Incan khipus - a series of knotted cords on a line - were simple counting devices, like a woollen abacus. But one investigator believes khipus are actually a three-dimensional system for record keeping. By examining an ancient khipu with a multi-spectral scanner, she hopes to crack the code of the Incas and reveal their secrets. Then, journey to the other side of the world where Vikings spread their terror across the high seas. Considered fearsome warriors with superior navigational skills, they reached North America hundreds of years before Columbus. Historians still don't know how they did it without a magnetic compass. Their sagas mention the existence of magic crystals - stones which, according to legend, guided them across the seas. Now, one woman, a Viking descendant and an expert on bird migration, investigates the legend of these mysterious sunstones.

Episode 4
Tue, May 22, 201245 mins
For centuries, archeologists have searched for these original "cities of sin" supposedly destroyed by the wrath of God. But have the experts been looking in the wrong place all these years? Archaeological excavations have uncovered the scorched remains of ancient pottery shards super-heated in a catastrophic event with the intensity of a nuclear blast. Could this be evidence of a supernatural intervention? Then, head to Italy to explore the darkest secrets of Rome, Venice and Milan as author Nick Pelling attempts to decode what has been called "the most mysterious text in the world" - the Voynich Text. Filled with cryptic lettering and bizarre imagery, the document has stumped historians and code breakers for over a century, but Pelling believes he can succeed where others have failed and finally decode this strange text.

Episode 5
Tue, May 29, 2012
Investigate what recent advances in science might reveal about this mysterious religious relic since the last time it was tested in 1988.
Episode 6
Tue, Jun 5, 2012
A mysterious burial 4,000 years ago and the recent discovery of a body with a missing heart leads to a search for the world's oldest vampire
Episode 7
Tue, Jun 12, 2012
Join underwater archaeologist Guillermo de Anda as he travels across Mexico and Guatemala in search of the legendary Mayan underworld, Xibalba.
Episode 8
Tue, Jun 19, 2012
After centuries of debate, archaeological evidence unearthed in Bulgaria may reveal not only where the Great Flood happened, but what caused it.
Episode 9
Tue, Jun 26, 2012
Millions of Christians retrace Christ's footsteps every year, but now an archaeologist claims that they may be worshipping at the wrong sites.
Episode 10
Tue, Jul 3, 2012
Would be Mary Magdalene Jesus's partner and becomes pregnancy from him and also a closest disciple as well???, according old apocryphal agnostic wrote a century after the new testaments, she really was, after Jesu's crucifixion she sheltered on southern France where his child was born, there has a church where his skull is preserved on gold's mask, so an old lady try find out the truth over this too controversial matter, she was invited to attend a religious cult devoted to her, after Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code many conspiracy theories surface and were discussed all around, interesting until page three I guess!!.
Episode 11
Tue, Jul 10, 2012
Could Joan have survived her execution? New evidence suggests that France's national heroine may not have been burnt at the stake after all.
Episode 12
Tue, Jul 17, 2012
An expert in Arthurian legend makes an unlikely journey to a remote Italian church, and a tiny pendant challenges the origins of Christianity.
Episode 13
Tue, Jul 24, 201245 mins
Trek to a remote corner of eastern Turkey, where archaeologists have uncovered what is thought to be the oldest man-made structure on the planet: Gobekli Tepe. Built more than 12,000 years ago, the structure predates any known civilisation with the architectural or engineering know-how. Could Gobekli Tepe be evidence of a lost civilization and the world's first religion? Then, head to Ireland where almost perfectly preserved prehistoric bodies have been unearthed from the peat bogs for centuries. Mutilated and decapitated, the bog bodies have been thought to be victims of Iron Age justice who were executed for their crimes. One archaeologist believes the bodies could actually be ancient kings ritually sacrificed to satisfy the hunger of the gods.
