Strata: Portraits of Humanity

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Wed, 08/12/2015 - 2:04pm

Strata: Portraits of Humanity is a monthly half-hour newsmagazine-style show.  Each episode of the human story is a portrait building on the many layers of the human experience.  This is a record we are just beginning to uncover.  From that perspective, Strata delivers in-depth coverage of a wide variety of archaeological and cultural heritage topics all around the world.

Details
Website: 
http://www.archaeologychannel.org/

Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Apr'17

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Fri, 04/14/2017 - 12:56pm
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) Despite the influence of Balinese kings, Dutch traders and the modern world, many indigenous Sasak villages on the Indonesian island of Lombok still rely on their traditions producing pottery and weaving. (2) Dane Ngahuka introduces Kapa Haka, a traditional Maori performing art that integrates singing, dancing, facial expressions, and other elements to tell stories. (3) The troubled history of the Virgin Episkepsis, a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary, symbolizing a Greek city in Asia Minor and brought to by Greek refugees to Greece in 1924.

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Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Mar'17

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Wed, 03/29/2017 - 1:48pm
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) The Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho flows through the heart of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. This is the ancestral home of the Tukudeka Sheep Eaters a hunter-gatherer people who lived along the river until the Sheepeater Indian War of 1879. (2) In 52 BC, Vercingetorix, recently crowned King of the Gauls, has retreated and taken refuge at the oppidum (hill fort) of Alesia. His loss to Julius Caesar at the epic Battle of Alesia marked the conclusion of the Roman conquest of Gaul, a major turning point in the history of Europe.

Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Feb'17

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Fri, 02/10/2017 - 5:30pm
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) The death of a chief on the Pacific island of Pohnpei near the megalithic temple of Nan Madol prompts a big funeral.  After a lifetime of humility, the whole village honors the deceased and his contribution with a feast of the best pigs, yams and sakau.  (2) In 2004, a boat covered by thick sediment emerged from the bottom of the Rhone River.  Rapidly ranked a French national treasure, this still-laden big barge, one of the best ever preserved from Roman times, is the subject of a highly important archaeological project.

Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Jan'17

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Wed, 01/18/2017 - 2:09pm
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) The death of a chief on the Pacific island of Pohnpei near the megalithic temple of Nan Madol prompts a big funeral.  After a lifetime of humility, the whole village honors the deceased and his contribution with a feast of the best pigs, yams and sakau.  (2) In 2004, a boat covered by thick sediment emerged from the bottom of the Rhone River.  Rapidly ranked a French national treasure, this still-laden big barge, one of the best ever preserved from Roman times, is the subject of a highly important archaeological project.

Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Dec'16

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Thu, 12/15/2016 - 3:37pm
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) Only 100 people still live on tiny Mwoakilloa atoll in the Pacific, but the Mwokilese community on nearby Pohnpei still performs the traditional dances of their home island.  The young Mwokilese men prepare for the cultural day festivities, keeping their ancient traditional war dance alive.  (2) Archaeobotanist Tania Valamoti and her team excavating at Dikili Tash in northern Greece are finding and analyzing seed remains from the Neolithic period.  These seeds could help define how the ancient Neolithic people grew their food.

Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Nov'16

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Wed, 11/16/2016 - 10:05am
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) Archaeologists dive on Marigondon Cave, best known as one of the most famous diving spots in Cebu City, Philippines. It would have been above sea level during the last glacial periods of 22,000 and 38,000 BP so it could have been inhabited then. (2) Archaeologists carried out excavations over the summer of 2014 on the route to bypass Cannington, a town in West Somerset, England. They found the remains of three Roman buildings, including a high-status villa complete with under-floor heating and evidence of painted wall plaster and a slate roof.

Strata: Portraits of Humanity - Jul'16

Submitted by Alexander Silva... on Fri, 07/15/2016 - 3:21pm
This episode is currently not viewable online.

(1) The Birch Creek Charcoal Kilns are a group of beehive-shaped clay charcoal kilns near Leadore, Idaho, built in 1886 to produce charcoal to smelt lead and silver ore from the nearby Viola Mine.  (2) Brora, Scotland, is where a volunteer-based excavation recorded the town’s historic salt houses before a big storm washed them away.  (3) Blacksmiths make a replica of a Saxon Sword.  This sword was buried with its owner and lay underground for 1500 years until it was found by archaeologists in the 1980s ahead of planned highway construction.