Halfway around the world, in california, are clues to understanding the fall of mesopotamia, as farmers here struggle to overcome a threat to this fertile garden land. The ruins of ancient societies may hold keys to our own survival as, out of the past, archaeologists explore one of the greatest of mysteries the decline and fall of grand civilizations. Mission control ignition. And liftoff. Liftoff. Keach for more than five millennia, humankind has seemed to dominate earth, both creating and destroying grand civilizations. Each of these human experiments has changed our planet. This high Vantage Point brings us a new and sobering view. For the first time, we behold our world as finite, limited. On the darkened face of earth, the lights of cities record the expansion of our kind. Just 50 years ago, two billion people lived on earth. Today our global population has reached five billion. Within the next generation, it will double once more. Our exponential growth now threatens the very re
Join us now at the dawn of a civilization to uncover the roots of power, prestige and wealth. In the pyramids and monuments of the ancient maya, workers search for clues to the emergence of a vanished civilization. These are the ruins of the ancient city of copan, honduras. Dozens of stone monuments, called stelae, proclaim the power of mighty beings. Until experts could read these carved hieroglyphs, most scholars thought these largerthanlife figures represented maya gods. But we now know they are portraits of copans rulers, with names like butz chan. Smoke shell. And the most powerful of all, 18 rabbit. The maya called them cul ahau, or divine lord. The title was inherited. We call them kings since they passed their power to brothers or sons. A dynasty of 16 kings ruled copan for 400 years. How did they first acquire their power . And how were the maya governed before the kings . To answer such questions, archaeologists discuss their ideas of political change. Which says, heres the r
And in the searing deserts. We live in thriving cities of millions and in isolated camps of a few dozen. Some societies seem simple because they are small and their members are selfsufficient and use simple tools. Others seem complex because they have large populations and people depend on each other for food and goods and use sophisticated technology. In between, there is a range that fills the spectrum. All of these differences are cultural, learned behavior, the result of a complex interaction between our inventiveness and our natural environments. As we search for new horizons, our inventiveness thrusts us across the boundaries of space, into new worlds. This new view of earth dispels an ancient myopia the artificial boundaries of our states and the politics that often divide us. Here is a vision of one planet and one family of humankind. But the view from earth reminds us of a common human dilemma, the rise and fall of our many ways of life. Here, among the ruins of ancient civili
Their decipherment is one of the greatest challenges facing archaeologists today. We humans are social animals. Our need to communicate is universal. Some of our messages can be easily understood. But we communicate, too, through abstract symbols that have meaning only within a particular culture. These symbols take many forms. The flag is a symbol. A gesture says, were number one. The uniform is a symbol that identifies the official and the player. The game itself is symbolic ritualized combat with clearly defined rules. Even sound can be a symbol. [ whistle blows ] the whistle signals the end of play. But why a whistle . Why not a gong . Why a striped shirt and not a plaid one . The choice is arbitrary. But within this culture, the meaning is mutually accepted. The use of symbols is the single most distinguishing feature of any culture. But as distinct as they are, all symbols are used for the same purpose to communica, manipulate, and preserve information. The circle of coral symbol
Funding for this program was provided by. Human beings are all one species. We are all equally capable of language, creativity, and thought. The differences among us lie in our cultures, our beliefs, how we organize our societies and how we make our living. Humans have populated every environment on earth. We live on the frozen tundra and in the searing deserts. We live in thriving cities of millions and in isolated camps of a few dozen. Some societies seem simple because they are small and their members are selfsufficient and use simple tools. Others seem complex because they have large populations and people depend on each other for food and goods and use sophisticated technology. In between, there is a range that fills the spectrum. All of these differences are cultural, learned behavior, the result of a complex interaction between our inventiveness and our natural environments. As we search for new horizons, our inventiveness thrusts us across the boundaries of space, into new worl