The Ancient Life

Produced by 3net, the joint venture of Sony Corporation, Discovery Communications and IMAX Corporation

Host Brit Eaton explores the intrigue and uncovers the mysteries of once dynamic and thriving world civilizations, giving viewers the opportunity to experience what it’s really like to stand before the Pyramid of Cheops or walk through the haunted landscape of Pompeii. Eaton, along with specially trained stereographers, reveal the ancient secrets of these long lost civilizations.

The Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, capital of the mighty Aztec empire, was located in the center of the city, where the most important ritual and ceremonial activities in Aztec life took place. Standing about ninety feet high, the majestic structure consisted of two stepped pyramids rising side by side on a huge platform. It dominated both the Sacred Precinct and the entire city.

The ruins of Machu Picchu are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (9060 feet elevation), erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400’s, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning ’Old Peak’ in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city.

Easter Island’s silent stone figures are a monument to the seafaring skills and unique culture of ancient Polynesian peoples. Rapa Nui’s mysterious moai statues stand in silence but speak volumes about the achievements of their creators. The stone blocks, carved into head-and-torso figures, average 13 feet (4 meters) tall and 14 tons. The effort to construct these monuments and move them around the island must have been considerable—but no one knows exactly why the Rapa Nui people undertook such a task. Most scholars suspect that the moai were created to honor ancestors, chiefs, or other important personages, However, no written and little oral history exists on the island, so it’s impossible to be certain.