Ancient Discoveries Episode 3: Death Weapons of the East (Documentary)
Investigation into the oldest weapon known - the staff.
Speed and comparison test between a staff and a shotgun with startling results.
Investigation into ermei - see.... The deadly Chinese underwater attack weapon. Investigation into the meteor hammer,the ball on the end of a rope - tests against which is more powerful, this weapon or a punch. Investigation into the death touch - the ability of chi warriors to kill a man with a single touch. Investigation into the ability of eastern warriors to withstand impact and pain including smashing concrete on live human heads and hitting a practitioner in the stomach with a jack-hammer. Investigation into the Gi - part spear, part sword, part pike, part axe - all in one. Investigation into the concealed crossbows of ancient china - used for assassination; some strapped to the assassins back, others small enough to fit up your sleeve. Including firing specially made replicas.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Ancient Discoveries series - selected episodes
Shot on location in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Ancient Discoveries unearths amazing technologies we think of as modern, but which actually have their origins in antiquity. The series travels back in time to uncover remarkably sosphisticated inventions and to celebrate the ancient engineers whose ingenuity laid the foundations for todays technology.
In the ancient texts of Homer and the walls of Egyptian tombs lie tantalizing clues that are causing historians to re-think just how sophisticated centuries-old societies were. Drawings show that the Egyptians may have unlocked the secret to flight with primitive helicopter designs, and that the Chinese had a “wind car” in the 6th century AD that could transport them over land at up to 30 miles per hour. Even more amazing are 600-year-old designs from Italy for a Batmobile-like “rocket car” that appeared to be fueled by gunpowder.
Mechanical maids that could fetch water for people on their own were created by the inventor Philos in the Third century, a concept we still struggle to perfect today! And discoveries about ancient machines of warfare give a new vision of what truly defined the Egyptian empire. Ancient Discoveries unearths new clues that connect the present with the past in more startling ways than we had ever imagined.
