Ancient Discoveries Episode 8: Chinese Super Ships

Ancient Discoveries Episode 8: Chinese Super Ships

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.

Ancient Discoveries was made for The History Channel by Wild Dream Films based in Cardiff in the UK. Much of the filming was done on location across the world. The series used contributions from archaeologists and other experts, footage of historical sites and artifacts, computer generated reconstructions and dramatized reconstructions along with experiments and tests on reconstructed artifacts.