Deep in the heart of southern Africa, in present-day Zimbabwe, a great civilization rose and flourished in the 9th century A.D. Its magnificent walled city stood as testament to a thriving, sophisticated culture called Great Zimbabwe. But in the 14th century, this society abruptly passed into oblivion. Obsessed by rumors of mysterious ruins, German geologist Carl Mauch survived kidnapping and robbery to rediscover Great Zimbabwe in 1871.

Great cities in ruins, lost in the jungles of Central America and Mexico. Who would have built these cities? It would take more than a century and two extraordinary people to uncover the secrets of ancient Maya. The american John Lloyd Stephens, together with his english companion Frederick Catherwood, enbarked upon the first of two epic voyages to central america in 1839. Facing many dangers and illnesses, they returned from the mysterious land with extraordinary stories and breath taking images from a once great civilization of native americans. One hundread years later, Mayan archaeology had made enormous advances, although the inscriptions that adorn the Mayan ruins had not been completely decyphered. It would be the extraordinary studies of the russian Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a woman in a world of men, that would reveal the true lives of the Maya to the world.

五百多年前，由千万颗石头推砌而成的壮丽神殿被遗弃在柬埔寨的丛林里。直到十九世纪时，一位来自法国的博物学家安利·姆欧到东南亚探寻新品种的动植物时，才偶然地发现这座神秘古，并为这伟大的文明艺术深深着迷。他在此地所留下的记录，亦勾起后世的人文学者对这项遗迹的高度重视。然而早在十三世纪时，中国元朝派驻的外交使节便已将当时柬埔寨王朝全盛时期的生活景象记录下来。通过这部文献的记载，终于让这消失的文明真相大白。让我们一同走进历史，重回吴哥王朝最繁盛昌荣的年代。

Wealthier and more powerful than any other ancient civilization, the Roman Empire enjoyed a long period of prosperity. But perhaps the greatest treasure of this period was not its riches, but its myth. The image of this extraordinary empire has inspired dreamers and dictators throughout the ages, luring some to return to Rome to fuel their own dreams of power.

Setting out in search of Vilcabamba, a hidden jungle city built in one of the more remote and inaccessible regions of the Inca Empire, Hiram Bingham stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the century—the magnificent ruins of Macchu Picchu which opened up the glories of the Inca civilization to the entire world.

A former circus performer drawn to Egypt’s mystique, Giovanni Belzoni developed a passion for uncovering its secrets and discovered that he possessed an extraordinary talent for archaeological discovery. But another man made what is perhaps the most well known find in Egypt. Howard Carter worked in vain for seven years to locate the tomb of King Tutankhamun. In 1922, just as his funding was drying up, Carter and his team unearthed the elusive tomb. The rest is ancient history.

The legend of the Holy Grail, written in 1185, seized the European imagination and maintains its hold to the present day. It was the most sacred of relics, the vessel alleged to have held both the wine of the Last Supper as well as the blood of the crucified Christ. The legendary quest for the grail became the ultimate treasure hunt.

Early in the 19th century, the fog that long had shrouded Mesopotamia began to lift, in large part due to French-born Austen Henry Layard. Journeying to the upper Tigris valley, Layard gained the right to excavate along the banks of the river, and discovered the most fantastic artwork and architectural remains found anywhere outside of Egypt.

When East met West along Asia’s silk route, the collision of culture and tradition changed the course of world history. Winding tens of thousands of miles between China and Europe, the Silk Road enabled the exchange of goods and ideas between peoples that knew virtually nothing of each other.

In the 19th century, as it became aware of the colonial designs of European power on central Asia, Tibet expelled westerners and closed its frontiers. As its isolation deepened, so did Tibet's allure and mystique. But in the early 1900s, Francis Younghusband, a British colonialist, managed to penetrate the hidden city of Lhasa and bring to an end the country's years of isolation.

A Chinese monk's description of oasis cities during a 7th Century pilgrimage would prove invaluable to another explorer more than 1000 years later. Sir Aurel Stein found cities buried in sand and a 1000 year-old Buddhist library in near-perfect condition.

Most people thought that the city of Troy was fictitious, but in the 19th Century a German industrialist followed the clues in Homer and uncovered the ruins of the great ancient cities of Troy and Mycenae, complete with fabulous treasures.