Ancient World

Why did the Maya, a remarkably sophisticated civilisation, suddenly collapse sometime during the 8th or 9th centuries?

A look at several advanced ancient technologies that should not have existed until thousands of years later. Where did they come from? Who invented them? Why are they isolated in history?

The Stanton Drew Stone Circle or, to be more precise, three stone circles, dates from around 3000 BC and enjoys a relatively isolated location well off the beaten track. The stones themselves stand sullen and silent - brooding guardians of ancient mysteries around which all manner of legends and ghostly tales have been woven.

Just as "Y2K" and its batch of predictions about the end of the world in the year 2000 have become a distant memory, here comes "Twenty-twelve" and a freshly baked batch.

Teotihuacán is a large ancient city located in what is now the San Juan municipality. It was the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas during the first century AD, and peaked between 150AD and 450AD where it dominated Mesoamerica with had a population of between 150,000 and 250,000 people.

Not so much a mystery, but more of a gruesome custom of the Shuar Indians of the Amazon regions of present-day Ecuador and Peru. A shrunken head is a real human head, ritually prepared for spiritual protection and intimidation.

Easter Island is a small island in the South Pacific Ocean, which belongs to Chile. The island is most famous for its Moai (stone statues) carved from volcanic basalt along the island's coastline.

The lost civilisation of Atlantis is a story told throughout the ages. The first documented accounts are from around 355 BC by Greek philosopher Plato in the first part of his planned trilogy.

Stonehenge is one of the most famous megalithic monuments located on the Salisbury Plain in Southern England. Its construction and purpose have been a constant source of mystery.

In 1901 divers working near Antikythera, an island Northwest of Crete found the remains of a clockwork device that is estimated to be around 2,000 years old. Encased in coral and corrosion, its significance and complexity were not understood until decades later.