Ancient Discoveries (2003)

Documentary · History

Ancient Discoveries was a television series that premiered on December 21, 2003, on The History Channel. The program focused on ancient technologies. The show's theme was that many inventions which are thought to be modern have ancient roots or in some cases may have been lost and then reinvented. The program was a follow-up to a special originally broadcast in 2005 which focused on technologies from the Ancient Roman era such as the Antikythera mechanism and inventors such as Heron of Alexandria. Episodes of the regular series expanded to cover other areas such as Egypt, China and East Asia, and the Islamic world. Ancient Discoveries was made for The History Channel by Wild Dream Films based in Cardiff in the UK. Much of the filming was done on location across the world. The series used contributions from archaeologists and other experts, footage of historical sites and artifacts, computer generated reconstructions and dramatized reconstructions along with experiments and tests on reconstructed artifacts.

IMDb rating: 7.6 (283 votes)
Seasons: 5
Streaming (US): Amazon Prime Video · HISTORY Vault Apple TV Channel · HISTORY Vault Amazon Channel · Hoopla
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Browse all Declining seasons in the explorer → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Jul 3, 2026 · 5 seasons indexed

Cast

Sean Barrett

Seasons

Season 1 (2003)

7.97 avg 3 episodes 8.2 → 7.7

Declining

Season 1 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Ancient Computer?	8.2	16
2	Galen, Doctor to the Gladiators	8.0	6
3	Heron of Alexandria	7.7	7

Season 3 (2007)

6.86 avg 9 episodes 7.6 → 6.7 44 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 3 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Siege of Troy	7.6	10
2	Ancient Cars and Planes	6.9	14
3	Machines of the Gods	6.0	10
4	Super Ships	7.0	9
5	Mega Machines	6.7	8
6	Egyptian Warfare	6.7	13
7	Chinese Warfare	7.0	11
9	Robots	7.1	7
10	Machines of the East	6.7	11

Season 4 (2008)

7.00 avg 6 episodes 8.5 → 6.8 45 min avg

Season 4 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Mega Structures of the Deep	8.5	8
2	Ancient Super Navies	5.7	8
3	Ancient Super Ballistics	7.2	6
4	Ancient Death Machines	6.9	16
5	Ancient Chinese Super Ships	6.9	9
6	Ancient New York	6.8	6

Season 5 (2008)

6.90 avg 7 episodes 5.9 → 7.1 45 min avg

Season 5 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Death Weapons of the East	5.9	13
2	Impossible Naval Engineering	6.9	8
3	Ancient Tank Tech	6.2	10
4	Ancient Torture Tech	6.8	14
5	Ancient Mining Machines	8.0	7
6	Impossible Army Machines	7.4	8
7	Lost Science of the Bible	7.1	10

Season 6 (2008)

6.49 avg 10 episodes 6.2 → 5.8 44 min avg

Season 6 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Airborne Assault	6.2	11
2	Guns 'N Ammo	6.4	8
3	Ancient Mega-Fort	7.7	18
4	Ancient Secret Agents	7.2	9
7	Ancient Commandos	5.7	7
8	Ancient Special Forces	5.4	7
10	Ancient Record Breakers	7.0	5
11	Mega Ocean Conquest	7.7	8
12	Rituals of Death	5.8	9
13	Secret Science of the Occult	5.8	14

Ancient Discoveries (2003)

Cast

Seasons

Shows like this