Digging up History

Digging up History

Documentaries about archaeology.

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Digging up History
  • Endurance: Rediscovered

    It was one of the last great lost shipwrecks of history - Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance. But now, incredibly, it has been rediscovered - over a century after it sank beneath the ice in freezing Antarctic waters.

    Organised by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, the expedition to locate the...

  • The Cutting Edge: Testing the Stone Age

    History Hit visits Kent State University, Ohio to film a fascinating ‘cutting-edge’ experiment that takes us to the beginnings of the Stone Age, over 2.6 million years ago.

    Kent State is home to one of the world’s leading experimental archaeology laboratories, scientifically exploring the distan...

  • In Search of the Great Viking Army

    In 865 AD, England was invaded by the Great Heathen Army. The Great Viking Army, as it was also known, was made up of a coalition of Scandinavian warriors mainly from Denmark and, legend has it, four of the five sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, including Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Irone...

  • The Welsh Romeo and Juliet: The Maid of Cefn Ydfa

    Chris Lloyd looks into the story of Ann Maddocks and Wil Hopcyn, known as the Welsh Romeo and Juliet. The 18th century story of love and heartache still echoes across the south Welsh Valleys to this day. Chris visits Llangynwyd, the village at the heart of this story, to discover what it still me...

  • Walks Around Britain

    1 season

    Great Britain has a collection of varied landscapes and countryside to rival anywhere else in the world - and the best way to see it is to walk. Join Andrew White and his team as they discover fantastic walks between 2-8 miles with stunning views and great stories and fascinating histories from a...

  • Lost and Found: The Search for USS Lagarto

    A fierce WWII battle at sea, unreported for more than 60 years is revealed at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand in HD underwater video. There lay the US submarine Lagarto and the remains of her 86 crewmen, whose families share how their husbands’ and fathers' disappearance shaped their lives. Wr...

  • The Maps That Made America

    Susan Schulten presents a selection of maps from the fascinating collection of maps that feature in her book 'A History of America in 100 Maps'.

  • Secrets of the Churchill War Rooms

    Winston Churchill, wartime Prime Minister of Great Britain and its empire during the Second World War, is one of the most recognisable figures of world history. The man dominated Whitehall and Westminster, but many of his most vital decisions during the war years were taken away from the public e...

  • The Hag of Beara

    The Hag of Beara, also known as the Hag of Winter, was a mythical figure that predated Christianity in Ireland. She was regarded by people as the mother protector / creator of the landscape. Like many pagan gods and traditions, she did not escape the intolerant wave of Christianity that swept acr...

  • A Tudor Discovery - Thomas Cromwell’s Prayer Book

    History Hit digs deep into a fascinating new discovery that has grabbed the attention of historians across the world.

    Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb explores what is being called the most exciting Tudor find ‘in a generation’ as curators at Hever Castle identify a bejewelled, gilded prayer book, tuc...

  • The National Trust: Reimagining Our Past

    Here at History Hit, we love exploring the historic sites managed by the National Trust. In this special film we participate in a major National Trust event, the first Octavia Hill lecture, delivered by renowned art historian and museum director, Neil McGregor. Neil delves into two magnificent ho...

  • Mysteries of Prehistoric Scotland

    1 season

  • Tutankhamun: Life Not Death

    Renowned Egyptologist Prof. Joann Fletcher explores the most famous pharaoh of them all - Tutankhamun. Jo has curated a very special exhibition in her hometown, Barnsley, not only to celebrate the world of Tutankhamun, but also the people from northern England who played an important role in his...

  • Pompeii: The Discovery

    Dan Snow tells the incredible story of how Pompeii was discovered.

  • Walking with Cavemen

    1 season

    Professor Robert Winston meets Lucy, the first upright ape, and follows her ancestors on the three-million-year journey to civilisation. Broadcast in 2003, Walking with Cavemen combined special effects with the latest scientific theories, to show us what it really means to be human.

  • Ernest Shackleton: With Ranulph Fiennes

    In this fascinating interview, Dan Snow chats to the world's greatest living explorer Ranulph Fiennes about Ernest Shackleton and his heroic expeditions in the Golden Age of Antarctic Exploration.

  • On the Rocks

    1 season

    A being with a cube-shaped skull, like an astronaut’s helmet sprouting long antennas linked together with filaments, and without feet, nor legs. This picture does not come from some visionary artist’s canvas but it is drawn in the Utah desert. Here, as in many other incredible natural spots, awes...

  • Stonehenge

    Dan Snow visits one of the most recognisable historical sites on Earth. Stonehenge. Timed with the recent solving of the sarsen stones origin mystery, this documentary takes an in-depth look at what we know, and what we don't know, about this iconic Neolithic monument.

  • Inside Windsor Castle: The State Rooms

    Windsor Castle has a legendary connection to the British monarchy: the longest-serving royal palace in the whole of Europe. Ever since the days of William the Conqueror, the Castle has dominated this strategic point on the banks of the Thames, overlooking west London. Over the next 1,000 years ki...

  • The Untold Story of the Unknown Warrior

    The First World War was a conflict like nothing the World had ever known. More than 700,000 men mobilised in the UK would die during the conflict. Roughly 250,000 of those would have no known grave. The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior became a place where all those people who were denied a grave to v...

  • Great Excavations! Digging Charles Dickens' Workhouse with Sir Tony Robinson

    Sir Tony Robinson comes to History Hit to present a special film about a remarkable excavation in central London, the workhouse that inspired Charles Dickens to write his famous novel, “Oliver Twist”.

    In the middle of the capital, archaeologists are digging deep to find out more about the lives ...

  • Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt

    2022 isn't just 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. It's also exactly 200 years since one of history's greatest linguistic puzzles was cracked: when Jean-Francois Champollion made the ultimate breakthrough and deciphered the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic code. To mark this very s...

  • The Wall: Rome's Great Northern Frontier

    Hadrian’s Wall is celebrating its 1900th birthday… the perfect time for History Hit to investigate this potent embodiment of Roman dominance.

    Dan Snow explores the physical remains of Hadrian’s vast project of 122AD - over 80 Roman miles of wall, turrets and forts, stretching from coast to coast...

  • Greatest Discoveries: Pompeii

    1 season

    Tristan Hughes visits Pompeii to discover its incredible archaeology and the invaluable information it has revealed about this Roman town. Episode one explores the vibrant cosmopolitan centre that this prosperous port town was before its destruction - delving into the lives of particular Pompeiia...