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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 game itself is symbolic ritualized combat with clearly defined rules. Even sound can be a symbol. [...

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 destroying grand civilizations. Each of these human experiments has changed our planet. This high Vanta...

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 the aztecs and the maya had cultures of startling sophistication, and political systems that were e...

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 meaning only within a particular culture. These symbols take many forms. The flag is a symbol. A gestur...

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 symbol. [ whistle blows ] the whistle signals the end of play. But why a whistle . Why not a gong . Why a...