Page 3 - David Webster News Today

To the hearts and minds of ancient people. Their decipherment is one of the greatest challenges facing archaeologists today. We humans are social animals. Our need to communicate is universal. Some of our messages can be easily understood. But we communicate, too, through abstract symbols that have meaning only within a particular culture. These symbols take many forms. The flag is a symbol. A gesture says, were number one. The uniform is a symbol that identifies the official and the player. The...

Halfway around the world, in california, are clues to understanding the fall of mesopotamia, as farmers here struggle to overcome a threat to this fertile garden land. The ruins of ancient societies may hold keys to our own survival as, out of the past, archaeologists explore one of the greatest of mysteries the decline and fall of grand civilizations. Mission control ignition. And liftoff. Liftoff. Keach for more than five millennia, humankind has seemed to dominate earth, both creating and des...

They build temples and huge stone billboards to prop up royal dynasties that have little actual power. They perform gruesome rituals that require the skins of other people. They go to war and capture players for their ball games games where the losers never play again. Today, inside ancient pyramids, archaeologists face real danger to bring the story of these kings and their politics out of the past. Before the arrival of europeans, two extraordinary civilizations flourished in mesoamerica. Both...

About life among the maya . From ancient sumer, clay tablets reveal astonishing details about daily life 5,000 years ago, and tell the story of the invention of writing. Symbols can be the gateway to the hearts and minds of ancient people. Their decipherment is one of the greatest challenges facing archaeologists today. We humans are social animals. Our need to communicate is universal. Some of our messages can be easily understood. But we communicate, too, through abstract symbols that have mea...

Facing archaeologists today. We humans are social animals. Our need to communicate is universal. Some of our messages can be easily understood. But we communicate, too, through abstract symbols that have meaning only within a particular culture. These symbols take many forms. The flag is a symbol. A gesture says, were number one. The uniform is a symbol that identifies the official and the player. The game itself is symbolic ritualized combat with clearly defined rules. Even sound can be a symbo...

Halfway around the world, in california, are clues to understanding the fall of mesopotamia, as farmers here struggle to overcome a threat to this fertile garden land. The ruins of ancient societies may hold keys to our own survival as, out of the past, archaeologists explore one of the greatest of mysteries the decline and fall of grand civilizations. Mission control ignition. And liftoff. Liftoff. Keach for more than five millennia, humankind has seemed to dominate earth, both creating and des...

Join us now at the dawn of a civilization to uncover the roots of power, prestige and wealth. In the pyramids and monuments of the ancient maya, workers search for clues to the emergence of a vanished civilization. These are the ruins of the ancient city of copan, honduras. Dozens of stone monuments, called stelae, proclaim the power of mighty beings. Until experts could read these carved hieroglyphs, most scholars thought these largerthanlife figures represented maya gods. But we now know they ...

And in the searing deserts. We live in thriving cities of millions and in isolated camps of a few dozen. Some societies seem simple because they are small and their members are selfsufficient and use simple tools. Others seem complex because they have large populations and people depend on each other for food and goods and use sophisticated technology. In between, there is a range that fills the spectrum. All of these differences are cultural, learned behavior, the result of a complex interactio...

Their decipherment is one of the greatest challenges facing archaeologists today. We humans are social animals. Our need to communicate is universal. Some of our messages can be easily understood. But we communicate, too, through abstract symbols that have meaning only within a particular culture. These symbols take many forms. The flag is a symbol. A gesture says, were number one. The uniform is a symbol that identifies the official and the player. The game itself is symbolic ritualized combat ...

Funding for this program was provided by. Human beings are all one species. We are all equally capable of language, creativity, and thought. The differences among us lie in our cultures, our beliefs, how we organize our societies and how we make our living. Humans have populated every environment on earth. We live on the frozen tundra and in the searing deserts. We live in thriving cities of millions and in isolated camps of a few dozen. Some societies seem simple because they are small and thei...