Odyssey (1980)

The Ancient Mariners follows nautical archaeologists as they excavate three shipwrecks in the depths of the Eastern Mediterranean and as they analyze their finds in the laboratory. The three ships, dating from before 300 B.C. to 1025 A.D., tell the story of a significant change in the methods of ship construction - a change reflecting broader alterations in social, economic, and political conditions.

The heyday of the American cowboy was in the last half of the nineteenth century. As the economics of ranching changed in the twentieth century, the cowboy's role became more peripheral and his image increasingly romanticized.

Lucy is the name given to the oldest and most complete skeleton yet found of any human ancestor who walked erect. The program traces Donald Johanson's discovery of Lucy and at least 13 of her contemporaries in Ethiopia--a discovery that has revolutionized theories of human evolution.

The Kirghiz, who are skilled at herd management, have adapted well to a cold and difficult environment on the 'roof of the world.' In working, celebrating, interacting with each other, and adapting to new ways in a new environment, the Kirghiz demonstrate the dignity and purpose of their lives.

Describes the excavation of the hot springs at Bath, England, and shows how the water was drained and the floor removed to reveal Roman artifacts embedded in 2,000 years of undisturbed mud.

How does justice really work in the United States? Who has knowledge of the law, access to the legal system, and the will and power to use it? Anthropologist Laura Nader's first field trip to a Zapotec Indian village in Oaxaca, Mexico, in the late 1950s, led her to study problem-solving in the local courts. There, "little injustices" were the meat of everyday courtroom life. In this small-scale Mexican society, where most interactions were face-to-face, and anger and conflicts needed constantly to be resolved, Nader found that emphasis was on balanced solutions rather than on blaming a guilty party. We see, for instance, a courtroom scene in which the judge orders a truck driver, accused of running over a basket of chilies, to weigh the damaged chilies and reimburse the owner, while the merchant is warned to be more careful not to place his baskets in the road. Villagers, found Nader, consistently had knowledge of and access to the law, and often brought their problems to this court.

Throughout most of the nineteenth century, it was believed that the tens of thousands of earthen mounds that dotted the central United States were engineering feats created by a mysterious, lost race - a race that had been destroyed by the less civilized Indians. By the late 1880s, it was becoming clear that the mounds were actually built by ancestors of the numerous native American groups that still inhabited the central states, such as the Natchez. This film reconstructs the history of ideas associated with the mounds and their builders, from the mid-nineteenth century explorations of curious citizens, to contemporary archaeological research in the Illinois River Valley.

On the Indonesian island of Bali, the arts permeate almost every aspect of daily life. Gamelan music, wayang (shadow puppet) theater, dance, and elaborately constructed offerings of foods and flowers all represent attempts to please the gods and placate demons. In Balinese cosmology, demons are thought to dwell in the watery underworld, gods in the upper world, and human beings in the middle realm between the two. Much of human effort is directed toward maintaining the proper balance between these worlds, and between the forces of growth and decay.

Argues that metal-working was flourishing at such sites as Vinča in Eastern Europe since ca. 4500 B.C., 2000 years earlier than the conventionally assigned date. Discusses the evidence for the earlier date, and the origins and early techniques of copper metallurgy.

Dadi is the grandmother, or, as she explains, the "manager" of an extended family living in the Haryana region of Northern India. Women here leave their natal villages and come as strangers to the households of their husband's parents. This film explores the extended family and its problems, particularly through the women of Dadi's family. Going by the age-old Indian belief that the larger the family the more the hands to help, Dadi runs her household with an iron fist, trying valiantly to make sure that her children stay together in harmony.

Ben Thresher's mill is one of the few water-powered, wood-working mills left in this country. Operating in rural Vermont since 1848, the mill is a unique link between the age of craft and the age of modern industry. Ben still uses his machines and finely crafted tools to turn out a watering tub (a task that he accomplishes in one day), and a horsedrawn sled for his neighbors in the farming community. The film evokes the quality of rural New England life, and at the same time provides a close, step-by-step view of Ben's woodworking processes.

When Margaret Mead died in 1978 she was probably one of American anthropology's most popular and public figures. This filmed portrait interweaves her personal history and intellectual contributions, based on interviews held shortly before her death, on old family and field photographs, and on conversations with a variety of her friends, family, and former students.

Provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of a group of Moroccan women who share their feelings about friendship, family and religion.

The great Maya civilization of Central America has long intrigued archaeologists, who have investigated its economic, social, and political bases, and its mysterious collapse around 900 A.D. Until recently, archaeologists theorized that the ancient Maya peoples practiced slash-and-burn agriculture that required great tracts of forest land, and that as population grew the dwindling forest resources could no longer support the civilization. It was thought that a small, centralized, priestly elite was supported by an undifferentiated mass of people in the countryside which surrounded temple complexes.

Describes the way of life of Brazil's Mehinaku Indians and the current threat to their way of life. Thomas Gregor briefly appears to describe the plight of the indigenous people in Xingu National Park.