Naked History – Unearthed

Troy – the legendary city that’s said to be the scene of the Trojan War, immortalised by Homer is his epic poem, the Iliad. A war that’s said to have lasted ten years and ended by perhaps the most famous trick in history – the Trojan Horse. But do ancient ruins on the Western shores of modern-day Turkey show that Troy once really existed? Can archaeological finds at the site provide evidence for a decade’s-long war? And will a scientific experiment show how Greek soldiers hid in the belly of a wooden horse – and then captured the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tower of Babel, Babylon, in modern-day Iraq. It’s one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament – a tower so tall it’s said to reach the heavens and anger God. But did the Tower really exist, or is it merely the stuff of legend? How could builders in the ancient world construct a tower of such a staggering height? Was it circular in shape, as depicted by medieval artists? Enjoying rare access to this war-torn site, investigators are uncovering the long-forgotten secrets of the tower and finally answering the question – is the Bible story true? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the stuff of Hollywood myth; that’s spawned dozens of films and books – the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The thirty-second shootout leaves three outlaws dead on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona – and makes legends of gunslingers Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp. But what really happens that day? Why do the outlaws die and the lawmen survive? How does cattle-rustling and the discovery of silver play a part in the most famous gunfight of the old West? And what finally happens to Tombstone, the town ‘too tough to die’? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a building that’s recognised across the world – the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy. It’s stood in Miracle Square, Pisa, for over eight hundred years. But why does it lean? Did its medieval architects get their calculations spectacularly wrong? How did they attempt to fix the problem? And will it one day finally topple over – or will it continue to defy the laws of gravity? Investigators uncover the reasons for its famous tilt – and discover that it remains standing due to a combination of medieval engineering, a modern-day rescue plan and sheer luck. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s one of the most notorious buildings of the Second World War – the top-secret underground Berlin bunker of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. But where is it really located? What engineering challenges did Hitler face building it? Was it completely impregnable, as its architects hoped? And what happens to the bunker once Nazi Germany is defeated and the war is over? Today, investigators are uncovering the true story – and revealing that Hitler’s Berlin bunker was just one of a several secret bunkers dotted around occupied Europe, each bigger and better-protected than its predecessor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hadrian’s Wall in northern England is one of the most astonishing mega-structures of the ancient world. This mighty barrier was the largest structure in the Roman Empire, running from coast to coast and dividing the island of Britain in two. Why did the Romans build such an impressive fortification? Today archaeologists are investigating the wall’s hidden history and uncovering its buried defences. At Vindolanda fort, hundreds of wooden tablets reveal the harsh reality of life as a soldier on the edge of the Roman Empire. This was an untamed frontier - what dangers lay beyond Rome’s great wall? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 79 AD the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the tiny Roman town of Herculaneum in Italy. Today archaeologists are exploring its incredible secrets. Herculaneum is one of the most perfectly preserved Roman towns in the world. Fine townhouses contain wooden furniture, the remains of food and a library with thousands of papyrus scrolls. How did so much of this town survive the apocalyptic force of a volcano? Archaeologists have also discovered hundreds of bodies all huddled together in boathouses on the seafront. Who were these people and what can their remains tell us about Herculaneum’s final, terrifying hours? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Egypt’s desert sands hide a remarkable secret - Amarna, an entire city buried for more than 3000 years. This metropolis was the vision of a revolutionary pharaoh called Akhenaten; home to two of the most famous Egyptians in history, Queen Nefertiti and her son the boy king Tutankhamun. Why is this city in the middle of a desert? Today archaeologists are uncovering the city’s forgotten ruins and the dark secrets that hide within them. Amarna’s skeletons reveal a life of hardship and forbidden gods. Could these clues help explain why the city disappears? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Empire State Building in New York is an American icon - one of the most famous structures on the planet. This soaring skyscraper was the tallest building in the world when it opened in 1931; a title it held into for more than 40 years. But how much do we really know about this modern mega-structure? There are many surprisingly stories about the Empire State Building. How was it built so fast? What is the secret to its incredible stability? What happened when an airship tried to moor at the top of the world’s tallest building? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thermopylae in Greece is the site of an iconic battle. Legend says that in 480 BC, 300 Spartan warriors - at the head of a small Greek army - died holding off a million invading Persian troops. Their courageous last stand is famous - but how much of this epic tale is true? Today investigators hunt for the real story of the 300 and try to reconstruct the lost battlefield at Thermopylae. Weapons testing reveals the terrifying reality of ancient warfare. Who were the Spartans and did they really face such impossible odds? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sunken town of Baiae in Italy is one of the most extraordinary Roman sites in the world. Many of its grand villas remain frozen in time, lying on the seabed of the Bay of Naples. Geologists think this town was drowned by a super volcano. Today marine archaeologists are diving beneath the waves to uncover its secrets. They’re using laser scanning to map Baiae’s beautiful mosaics, cobbled streets and fabulous statues. Ancient writers say that Baiae was an emperor’s playground and exclusive resort for Rome’s rich and famous. Is there more to this underwater metropolis than meets the eye? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dead Sea Scrolls in Israel are the oldest biblical texts in the world. These fragile Hebrew manuscripts were discovered in 1946, inside desert caves at Qumran in the West Bank. Who wrote the scrolls and why did they disappear? The investigation leads to a spectacular mountain fortress of Masada. Here archaeologists are discovering intriguing clues that suggest the authors of the scrolls fled here during the great Jewish revolt against Rome. Did they come to Masada to escape an ancient apocalypse that destroyed their world? Did they bring with them their precious scrolls? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ancient Greek writers say that this tower was so tall that the beacon at the summit could be seen for hundreds of miles. Today archaeologists and engineers investigate the truth behind this lost wonder – how tall was it, what did it really look like and how did a stone skyscraper survive earthquakes for more than a thousand years? Did this remarkable structure also contain a mysterious ancient weapon – a so-called death-ray that could supposedly set enemy ships on fire? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 64 AD the Emperor Nero built a breathtaking palace in the heart of ancient Rome - the ‘Domus Aurea’ (the ‘Golden House’). Today little remains of this magnificent residence but it supposedly covered a quarter of the city. Archaeologists are discovering that the palace was covered with beautiful frescoes and even had a water-powered rotating dining room. This vast complex was only possible thanks to a terrible catastrophe that destroyed much of the capital – the Great Fire of Rome. Ancient writers blame Nero for starting the inferno. Did he burn down Rome to build a magnificent new metropolis? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Otzi the Iceman is one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. He is a perfectly preserved ice ‘mummy’, frozen high in the Alps for 5000 years. Investigators have discovered that he lived and died before the Pyramids and Stonehenge. Who was the iceman, was he murdered and what can his remains tell us about the world he comes from? Now fresh investigations of his possessions – including an astonishing copper axe – are revealing a world far more sophisticated that we imagined. Otzi lived at a time of great change – did this contribute to his untimely death in the mountains? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alcatraz is one of the most famous prisons in the world. Known as the Rock, for decades it was home to the most wanted criminals in America. Men like Al Capone, ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and Robert Stroud, the so-called ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’, all do time on the island. Why did this prison become an icon and crime and punishment? What really lies behind its unbreakable reputation? Today experts are investigating Alcatraz’s remarkable engineering secrets. They’re uncovering the Rock’s forgotten past, protecting its concrete cells and exploring why so many convicts tried and failed to escape the toughest jail in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Nazca Lines in Peru are mysterious giant symbols; hundreds of alien looking drawings etched into the arid Atacama Desert, more than a thousand years ago. Why did their creators make vast images that only make sense from the air, centuries before the invention of aircraft?   Today investigators use pioneering drone technology to hunt for new lines and to solve the enduring riddle of why they were created. Some of the images such as the Hummingbird and the Condor are stunningly beautiful, many are made with incredible precision. Who were the mysterious Nazca people and why did their civilization disappear?   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abu Simbel is the largest rock-cut temple in the world. Inside are giant halls and passages cut by hand 60 metres into a cliff face. Dominating its façade – four 20-metre-tall sandstone statues of pharaoh Ramses II, known as Ancient Egypt’s greatest ever ruler.  How did Ramses win this title? Decoding the clues he built into Abu Simbel reveal his strategy for eclipsing his predecessors’ achievements. Why did he align the temple with the sunrise on two specific dates? What was the reason he dedicated a second temple to his wife? Does Abu Simbel reveal Ramses’ plans for a project unprecedented in Egyptian history? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Mexico’s Gulf coast, archaeologists uncover strange stone heads beside a concealed 100-foot tall mud pyramid. They mark the site of La Venta – the lost capital city of the mysterious Olmec.  Who were these people?  Why did they vanish 1000 years after founding this mighty metropolis?  In the search for answers, brand new research reveals the Olmec built the very first giant structures in North America; and a recently-unearthed artefact proves they communicated using the continent’s first written language.  Piecing together the evidence reveals an incredible possibility: before they disappeared, the Olmec laid the foundations for the whole of Mesoamerican civilisation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hidden deep inside the Guatemalan jungle lies the lost city of Tikal. 1200 years ago it was the most important settlement in the Maya world, home to more than 100,000 people. Now a team of experts unlock Tikal's mysteries to reveal how it rose from jungle backwater to Maya superpower. They uncover the ingenious engineering inside Temple IV - the tallest structure the Maya ever built; how Tikal's inhabitants thrived in times of drought; and the reason behind its sudden transformation into a ghost town. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Avebury, England is home to the world’s largest stone circle. 5,000 years old and three times larger than nearby Stonehenge, its true purpose and the people who created it have always remained a mystery. Archaeologists find out why it was made and unearth where these Stone Age builders lived. But there are more wonders in the landscape - experts reveal why one of Britain’s oldest tombs and Europe’s largest prehistoric pyramids were all constructed nearby. Now shocking new discoveries using cutting edge DNA analysis of ancient human remains uncover a new mystery - 4,400 years ago this enigmatic civilization suddenly disappeared. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great city of Thebes – the heart of ancient Egypt during its most prosperous and powerful age – the New Kingdom. For the pharaohs this was the holiest and most important place in their empire. In the city’s great temple of Karnak, they constructed towering obelisks from single blocks of stone. But how did they do it? In a ground-breaking experiment, archaeologists reconstruct how workers moved and raised these giant 300-ton needles. For centuries, this was the powerbase of the pharaohs, but then Egypt fell into decline. In building up Thebes, were the pharaohs sowing the seeds of their own downfall? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Inca Empire was the largest ever to emerge in South America – ruled from a spectacular capital, Cusco. This mysterious city in Peru was said to be so dazzling it had a temple decked in pure gold. Why did the mighty Inca civilization that lived here fall to a handful of Spanish Conquistadors? New evidence - from unearthed mummies to microscopic DNA - reveals the role of this city and sheds new light on the biggest mystery of all: why did the Inca empire come crashing down? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China’s Forbidden City is the biggest palace complex the world has ever seen. This immense ‘city within a city’ stands in the heart of Beijing, built by one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history. Why is it so big and how did the emperors use this mega-palace to rule China with an iron fist? Now archaeologists are investigating its secrets and uncovering what lies beneath its massive walls and courtyards. New technology is shedding light on the Forbidden City’s mysteries and the ingenious feats of engineering that have kept this awe-inspiring structure standing for more than half a millennium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sinking of the Titanic was a maritime tragedy that shocked the world but even after more than one hundred years, no one really knows exactly how she sank. Today investigators use ingenious technology to discover how an iceberg ripped open the ship’s colossal hull. Scientists smash ice into solid steel in powerful collision tests and nautical experts deploy advanced marine simulation technology to relive this fateful ships final moments. Why did more than 1500 people lose their lives and can the investigations reveal if there was a way to save almost everyone on board? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bent Pyramid in Egypt is one of the world’s most mysterious ancient mega-structures. Built by a pharaoh called Snefru, its angle changes half way up. Why does this pyramid have such a bizarre and unique shape? Now archaeologists and engineers investigate the true story of its construction. They crawl inside age-old tunnels to discover its engineering secrets. New discoveries beneath the desert sand reveal the ruins of a magnificent lost temple and an opulent palace fit for a king. Was this strange pyramid always intended to look like this? Or did something go catastrophically wrong? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Destroyed by an eruption from Vesuvius in AD 79 and buried beneath rock and ash, the doomed Roman city of Pompeii is one of the greatest treasures of the classical world. One third of the city has remained untouched ever since its discovery. Now archaeologists are finally digging inside this mysterious sector. New discoveries reveal the horror of the cataclysm that wiped out this metropolis. Can archaeologists answer some of Pompeii’s most enduring mysteries: who founded this city and why did they build it in the blast zone of mainland Europe’s most active volcano? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Attila the Hun was one of history’s most notorious warlords – but was he responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire? His terrifying army of horseback barbarians tore across Europe in the 5th century – the dying days of the Empire – but for all the tales of rampage and destruction, they left almost no material evidence. Now new investigations in the German city of Trier – once a capital of the Roman Empire – are revealing more about how a superpower of the ancient world came to its knees and Attila’s legendary reign of terror. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gigantic Moai statues of Easter Island are the legacy of one of the world’s most isolated civilizations: the Rapa Nui. For hundreds of years, they were cut off from the rest of the world by the vast Pacific Ocean, carving more than 900 monoliths using only stone tools. Archaeologists are unearthing evidence of how these unique statues evolved and the Rapa Nui’s incredible bid for survival, trapped on their remote island home. Why did the people of Easter Island carve so many of these magnificent monuments only to pull them down? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Knossos in Greece – the ruined city of the Minoans, Europe’s first super-power. Immortalized in Greek mythology as the home of the fabled Labyrinth and the Minotaur, Knossos has inspired many legends. But what really went on here 4000 years ago? We strip back the ancient ruins to reveal that truth is stranger than fiction. Ritual sports and secret codes expose an advanced civilization older than the Greeks and Romans. But at the peak of their powers, the Minoans disappeared – why? Evidence for a series of natural catastrophes and human sacrifice could reveal the chaos that ended their world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous monuments in the world. But what do we really know about this enigmatic lady? Today investigators are on a quest to uncover the Statue’s secret identity; was she inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes in Greece? We’ll explore the amazing engineering hidden beneath her copper robes. Archaeological discoveries in the ground beneath her feet provide a unique insight into the history of North America; and using a facial recognition expert we try to answer the immortal question; whose face is on the statue? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For 5000 years, the incredible Pyramids of Caral lay buried beneath Peru’s desert sands. Today, their discovery has forced archaeologists to rethink the history of civilization in the Americas. They’ve unearthed a lost culture unlike any other - a society based on trade, that apparently grew in peace, not through conquest. A people guided by religious rituals, skilled in engineering and architecture, who battled earthquakes, floods and drought to build their monumental city. How did these people survive in this inhospitable landscape? And could they really be the very first civilization of the Americas? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Vikings are as famous as marauding pirates, but why did they also build monumental fortresses? Archaeologists are investigating the great ring fort at Trelleborg in Denmark, built at the end of the Viking Age. This huge circular structure lay hidden for more than a thousand years beneath the frozen soil of Denmark. Now new discoveries across the Viking world are revealing more about the story of Harold Bluetooth - the great king who united Viking people – and what brought the Vikings’ reign of terror to an end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Petra is an ancient and enigmatic city, carved from the rock of Jordan’s desert. Hidden at the end of a winding chasm, it is famous for its extraordinary beauty. But for decades it has baffled archaeologists. Who were the mysterious people that built it, how did they found a civilisation in the arid desert, and why did they suddenly disappear? Now, the latest laser-scanning techniques are resurrecting the lives of Petra’s forgotten people to reveal what happened to the greatest lost city of the ancient world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Colosseum is the greatest icon of the world’s most powerful Empire. It was an arena of death and glory, and the source of epic legends. Now archaeologists are using new techniques to solve ancient mysteries about this spectacular ruin. Why was it built here? And why did it collapse? With unique access to the only Gladiator bones ever discovered, we reveal astonishing new evidence of how they lived and died. The Colosseum’s most incredible legend of naval battles held inside its walls are uncovered and clues within the walls of the Colosseum answer ancient riddles about the rise and fall of the Roman empire itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Terracotta Army in Xi’an, China is perhaps the greatest archaeological discovery in the last 50 years, but it remains shrouded in mystery. Historians reconstruct the shattered remains of the warriors and reveal the dark secrets of a super-tomb built at the birth of China. The discovery of real weapons and bizarre stone-plated armour amongst the statues reveals the supernatural enemy the army was designed to face. The discovery of dismembered skeletons thrown into the pits hint at the violent struggle for power that followed the death of China’s first emperor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Machu Picchu in Peru – the famous lost city of the Incas. Archaeologists discovered this mountaintop city one hundred years ago, but its purpose remains a hotly debated mystery. Was it a religious observatory or a holiday retreat for the emperor? Could religious carvings and gruesomely deformed skeletons found in the city hold a crucial clue as to why this city was built? A newly uncovered network of roads places Machu Picchu as a strategic outpost for the Inca Emperor Pachacuti, but mysterious rock art suggests the site’s origins may be far older. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Taj Mahal is famous as the world’s most beautiful building – but could this Indian ode to love hide dark secrets? The grieving Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan famously built the Taj Mahal as a tribute to his dead wife – but new investigations are writing a surprising story of power and betrayal. Is the layout of the mausoleum and its gardens a carefully concealed proclamation of religious beliefs? A team of top architects attempt to solve the riddle of the Taj’s towering dome and could a newly discovered flaw at the heart of Taj finally explain its impossible beauty? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stonehenge is the ancient world’s most famous and mysterious monument. Its origins and purpose have puzzled historians for centuries. Why was this extraordinary monument built on a seemingly ordinary plain? Who visited the stones? And what did they do there? Now, using laser scanning, carbon dating and forensic technologies, archaeologists are finally piecing together the full story of the stones. The result is a tale of ancient magic and arcane ritual, acts of remembrance and brutal murder, that reveals Stonehenge was more famous and more ancient than anyone ever imagined. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stirling Castle in Scotland - one of Europe’s most celebrated forts and the legendary home of King Arthur’s round table. Scotland’s great kings claimed to be descended from Arthur – but why? Historians follow the trail to France where they uncover how Arthur was used as a political weapon in Scotland’s bloody wars of independence. The gruesome discovery of a shattered skeleton inside the castle challenges the popular accounts of Stirling’s most famous battle, immortalized in the movie Braveheart. And could strange melted stones uncovered close to Stirling provide evidence that this famous site was the scene of a brutal thousand-year-old war crime? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the world’s largest temple, but why did the Khmer civilization build this enormous Hindu shrine in the middle of the jungle? Laser technology reveals the astonishing truth: Angkor Wat was the centre of a long-lost megacity and the beating heart of a mighty empire. Archaeologists hack through the jungle to reveal this sprawling metropolis and unearth how it thrived on the trade of rare iron. Blowing the temple apart exposes how water was the key to its success and how it’s secret true purpose may have been as a resurrection machine for a godlike King. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Egyptian site of Karnak was the largest religious complex in the ancient world. Constructed over three thousand five hundred years ago, this giant labyrinth of temples and halls was a political and religious powerbase for the pharaohs. But what weird rituals went on behind its high walls? Unearthing grisly human remains and using the latest technologies, archaeologists are finally revealing the truth: how a jealous pharaoh destroyed the legacy of his own father, how Karnak’s largest hall was designed to house the gods themselves and how the unstoppable rise of a new religion brought this monumental site to its knees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New investigations are slowly uncovering the secret history of the world’s most iconic monument. The Sphinx has mystified historians for generations, but an extraordinary new investigation is about to reveal which pharaoh the Sphinx was built for. Forensic work at the nearby Sphinx temples has uncovered an astonishing religious connection to the Sun. Was the Sphinx part of an elaborate machine to resurrect the Pharaoh in the afterlife? Digging deep below the desert sand scientists find that the Sphinx once gazed over a vast artificial lake. Half carved shelves uncovered at the perimeter of the Sphinx enclosure suggest this famous sculpture was never finished – but why? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The tomb of Tutankhamun is unique in the Valley of the Kings and historians are desperate to understand why. For decades King Tut’s tomb was a complete mystery: why was it built so small, why was it so sparsely decorated compared to its neighbours and how did it escape the clutches of ancient grave robbers? Using the latest technology, teams of archaeologists are finally finding the answers. With rare access, Unearthed proves why a sudden death, a calamitous burial and an astonishing force of nature led to a minor king rising to become the most famous of them all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncover the secrets buried beneath history’s most astonishing monuments in Naked History – Unearthed.  This electrifying podcast series delves into the mysteries behind legendary megastructures, from the hidden chambers of the Pyramids to the eerie mass graves sealed within Mexico’s ancient pyramids.  Scientists, archaeologists, and historians reveal groundbreaking discoveries – how sticky rice reinforced the Great Wall of China, why Tutankhamun’s tomb defied tradition, and how a vast moat keeps Angkor Wat standing strong.  With cutting-edge research and gripping storytelling, each episode unravels the untold truths behind architectural marvels, offering fresh insight into their forgotten builders, lost civilisations, and the secrets they left behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices