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"In ancient Egypt, the practice of mummifying animals became widespread in the first millenium B.C. Until the advent of Christianity, visitors to temples could buy animal mummy bundles as offerings to the gods. Wealthier pilgrims could also splurge on elaborate coffins shaped as creatures to hold these mummies, which ancient Egyptians probably believed represented the souls of the gods. Along with the sale of animal mummies, the production of lavish bronze and wooden coffins must have been an important source of revenue for temples."

"Computer animator Steve K. Simons and Greek warfare expert Dr. Sonya Nevin work together to develop moving parts from the static images on Greek pottery, much of it in the extensive collection of the University of Reading's Ure Museum. They collaborate with ancient music experts to create soundtracks that wouldn't sound out of place in one of the symposia depicted on the vases. It's a full-spectrum historical immersion achieved through modern technology."

animation showing the development of modern Latin alphabet, from Phoenician 900 BC

"The new findings are the result of a 14-year, high altitude study conducted in the Southern Alps. The work revealed a series of stone animal enclosures and human dwellings considered to be among the most complex high altitude Bronze Age structures in the Alps."

"Before we'd even become Homo sapiens sapiens, humans lived everywhere from South Africa up to Britain and over to China. There were mountain people, coastal people, people who hunted woolly mammoths, and people who'd never seen a woolly mammoth in their lives. Just like we see with distinct groups of other animals, these differences of experience, adaptation, and expectation would have made for real cultural and even physical differences between populations. A few hundred thousand years later, as groups began to settle down and build cities they often enclosed them within massive walls. The ways different cultures interact across those walls could be seen as the central story of civilization. Top archaeologists from around the world have been exploring that story for the past week in public presentations and conversations at the 2015 Dialogue of Civilizations in Beijing."