In the summer of 2003, the clothes and quiver of a Neolithic man were found emerging from a glacier at the Schnidejoch, a pass in the Bernese Alps, but his body remains nowhere to be found. Questions come up from this unique discovery. Who was this neolithic man? Why was he on that glacier? How did he live his life? How did he die? Where is his body? A team of archaeologists is trying to solve this 5,000-year-old cold case and in the process create a new perspective on the history, lifestyle and technology of the Neolithic.
Length: 52 mins.
Country: France
Language: English
Director: Thibaud Marchand
Producer: TOURNEZ S'IL VOUZ PLAIT
Distributor: France 5
In 57 BC, Julius Caius Caesar, the Roman proconsul at the time, led a military campaign against the Gallic people, seizing control of their lands in what is now the country of France. Meanwhile, a young Ambiani aristocrat named Uertragos, domiciled in fertile and bountiful Samara, in northwestern Gaul, discovered his roots and culture through an initiatory journey. That journey took him from being merely the responsibility-free son of a Gallic leader to the man who led an historic uprising against the Romans occupying Gallic lands.
Length: 37 mins.
Country: France
Language: French with English Subtitles
Director: Sébastien Duhem
Producer: Sébastien Duhem
Distributor: Sébastien Duhem
Near Caen, archaeologists study the artifact assemblage of a vast stone quarry. Shoes, jewelry, coins, lamps, and thousands of other objects lie scattered on the ground, untouched for decades. These objects are the remains left behind by hundreds of civilians who hid in underground refuge from Allied bombing during the D-Day landings of June 1944. Yvette Lethimonier was twelve years old when she hid there, in June 1944. For this film, Yvette has returned to the refuge. Assisted by archaeologists, she re-enters the quarry, more than 20 meters below ground. Her memories resurface. She came to make peace with a still painful past. For archaeologists, her testimony is of great value.
Length: 52 mins.
Country: France
Language: French with English Subtitles
Director: David Geoffroy
Producer: Caroline Chassaing
Distributor: COURT-JUS Production
Seventy-five years after the horrors of the World War II in the Pacific, the forgotten perspectives of the local Etoro people emerge as a crew of archaeologists arrives at the Kokoda Track, a narrow trail in the uplands of Papua New Guinea. Their object is to search for the remains of lost soldiers from Japan and Australia, as well as the lost souls of the locals who were caught in the path of destruction during the Kokoda Track Campaign, a fierce battle in 1942. The crew uses scientific research and help from the local Etoro people to uncover these remains, so they can finally put the past—and all the trauma it brought—behind them.
Length: 39 mins.
Country: Papua New Guinea, Australia
Language: English
Director: David Lloyd-Lewis
Producer: David Lloyd-Lewis, Sarah Mak, Aimee Hourigan, Karen Javati
On a Normandy beach, a series of archaeological discoveries leads a team of archaeologists on the trail of a Celtic people whose culture seems to differ from that of their neighbors in the rest of Gaul. Under the fine sand, exceptionally well preserved remains gradually resurface. Time is running out before marine erosion will destroy forever the last traces of the lives of the men and women who lived here between the 2nd and 1st century BC. Little by little, the survey gives us an idea of the way of life of this seaside people and the links they had with the Mediterranean world and with the people of the “island of Brittany,” now called Britain.
Length: 52 mins.
Country: France
Language: French with English Subtitles
Director: David Geoffroy
Producer: Caroline Chassaing
Distributor: COURT-JUS Production
Dehsalm, located in southeastern Iran, is the village closest to the Lut Desert, about 80 kilometers southwest of Nehbandan City. It is one of the hottest places in the world, yet it is lush with natural beauty, such as the palm trees from which the people gather and eat dates. The history, culture, and customs of Dehsalm are recounted by the oldest person in the village, 100 year-old Gholam Marvi, who touches on important subjects, such as wedding rituals, commerce and the aqueducts that are part of the village.
Length: 30 mins.
Country: Iran
Language: Farsi with English Subtitles
Director: Mohammad Abdollahi
Producer: Mohammad Abdollahi
Distributor: Mohammad Abdollahi
Presently, the city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan is rapidly growing and developing. However, a huge conservation and restoration project is underway to regenerate its historical center- the settlement of Yasi-Kultobe. Special scientific research reveals the historical strata laid down over the centuries. This conservation and restoration project is under the highest international standards set by and in close cooperation with UNESCO and ICOMOS. The goal of the project is to create a unique open-air archaeological park, featuring the “Kultobe Settlement” under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Length: 32 mins.
Country: Kazakhstan
Language: English
Director: Alexey Kamenskiy
Producer: Andrey Khazbulatov
Distributor: Kazakh Research Institute of Culture
Recent Panamerican highway construction, linking Chile from north to south, stumbled upon the biggest archaeological site of the Coquimbo region: El Olivar. This site features the remains of a 40-hectare native settlement, housing numerous prehistoric tombs from different cultures, including some from the peak of the Diaguita Culture. The remains of the Diaguitas (AD 800 - 1536), studied by archaeologists from 1920 on, and well known for their sophisticated pottery and geometric designs, reveal more than 700 years of Chilean prehistory, disclosing also this culture’s profound conceptions regarding time and death.
Length: 65 mins.
Country: Chile
Language: Spanish with English Subtitles
Director: Emilia Simonetti Bochetti
Producer: Protovision Audiovisual
Distributor: Protovision Audiovisual