Episode
NOVA: Secrets of Lost Empires: Obelisk (3)
Overview
Pharaohs who built magnificent temples to preserve their names for eternity often graced temple gates with pairs of obelisks, four-sided shafts of granite that taper gently upward until the sides meet at the top to form a pyramid shape. NOVA's team of experts attempts to build, transport, and raise a scale model obelisk using those materials available to ancient Egyptian engineers: rope, dirt, sticks, and stones.
Details
- Series
- NOVA
- Season
- Season 24
- Episode
- Episode 16
- Air date
- 1997-02-12
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
Secrets of Lost Empires: Obelisk (3) is Episode 16 in Season 24 of NOVA. It aired on 1997-02-12. The runtime is 55 min.
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Episode 15: Secrets of Lost Empires: Inca (2)
Even without such technological advances as wheels, arches, draft animals, iron tools, or a system of writing, the Inca—utilizing a tradition of shared labor—achieved a number of engineering feats. The NOVA team explores both stonework and bridge building, experimenting with dragging and fitting huge stones, and working with the people of an Andean village to create a suspension bridge made only of grass ropes.
Episode 17: Secrets of Lost Empires: Colosseum (4)
Citizens of Rome came to the Colosseum to behold free entertainment that usually came in the form of violent war games and bloody battles between humans and animals. This structure's most impressive feature was a massive canopy that provided shade from the hot sun. In order to investigate the possible forms the roof may have taken, NOVA's team constructs models at a smaller arena in Spain.
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Episode 14: Secrets of Lost Empires: Stonehenge (1)
A distinctive feature of this stone site are the trilithons, which consist of two upright stones topped by a horizontal lintel stone. In this program, the NOVA team considers how to transport and raise the massive stones, as well as how to place the lintel stone on top. By comparing different strategies and adapting ramps, levers, and other tools that might have been available to the ancient builders, the team works to meet the challenge.
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