Secrets of the Stone Age (3 Parts)

Synopsis: Conventional history says that civilisation started 5000 years ago with the Egyptians. This series of three programmes, presented by anthropologist Richard Rudgley, surveys the 2 million years of prehistory and challenges that opinion.

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Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2005
Year of production: 2000
Notes: Originally broadcast on Channel 4 in 3 weekly parts, beginning 10 Jan 2000.
Subjects: Anthropology; Archaeology
Keywords: cultural evolution; prehistoric cultures; Stone Age

Title: Wisdom of the Stones, The
Synopsis: In this first episode of the documentary series, Rudgley travels from New York to Egypt in search of evidence of writing, medicine and architecture from the Neolithic Age - 8000 to 3000 BC. He visits 5000 year old Oetzi the Ice Man, New York’s Central Park, temples to a Mother Goddess in Malta and probably the oldest city in the world - a settlement in Turkey.
Duration: 60 mins
Title: Frozen in Time
Synopsis: This edition asks whether our primitive ancestors possessed unsuspected talents in art, medicine and mathematics. Rudgley shows that mammoths and primitive cave paintings are not the only relics of the Ice Age. He visits a 35,000 year old bead factory, finds a collection of sculpted figurines and explores the beautifully painted cave cathedrals buried deep in the earth. The programme dismisses the traditional view of cave men and replaces it with a portrait of an intelligent society where women and children were very important.
Duration: 60 mins
Title: Human Story, The
Synopsis: Rudgley shows that as many as 800,000 years ago people were able to cross water, probably had rafts and were capable of communication. He speculates on what can be learnt from our Stone Age ancestors.
Duration: 60 mins

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British Universities Film & Video Council