Strata: Portraits of Humanity is a monthly half-hour newsmagazine-style show. Each episode of the human story is a portrait building on the many layers of the human experience. This is a record we are just beginning to uncover. From that perspective, Strata delivers in-depth coverage of a wide variety of archaeological and cultural heritage topics all around the world.
Islands of Darkness; Louisiana plantation site
Vanuatu has unusually high cultural diversity compared to other Pacific islands outside of New Guinea; Beneath almost a century of south Louisiana’s riotous vegetation, the Louisiana State University Rural Life Museum carried out the most extensive archaeological project to date...
American Revolutionary War fort
Dan Elliott of the LAMAR Institute set out to document Carr’s Fort, a fortified farmstead used during the American Revolutionary War. The fort originally was commanded by Captain Robert Carr and housed his 100 patriot troops. In February of 1779, the woods of north Georgia were bristling with small skirmishes between the patriots and the British...
Youth diving on shipwrecks; saving Cyprus frescoes
Biscayne National Park and the NPS Submerged Resources Center partnered with Youth Diving With a Purpose for a youth engagement project on shipwreck archaeology. For 500 years, an exquisite Renaissance fresco, the “Forty Martyrs of Sebaste,” has remained hidden, forgotten and neglected in a 14th Century church in Famagusta, Cyprus...
Syracuse 3D Reborn
Syracuse, Italy, founded by the Corinthians in 733 BC, was the birthplace of poets and thinkers and visited by many prominent figures of Greek culture. Syracuse became one of the most influential Greek cities of the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, Syracuse never has received the attention it deserves either in scientific literature or in the mainstream...
Ruins of Nan Madol
On the island of Pohnpei lies the huge megalithic complex of Nan Madol, the most impressive construction in all the Pacific islands. Here an elite class separated themselves from the rest and carried out important rituals. This episode documents the knowledge of the late Pohnpeian historian, Masao Hadley...
James Madison slave quarters; Iron Age mirror; HMS Fowey
(1)Reconstruction of the South Yard, the slave quarters at the James Madison mansion, marks the beginning of a new chapter at Montpelier. (2)A beautiful Iron Age Mirror found by a metal detectorist in Oxfordshire, UK, is a piece of craftmanship used more than 2,000 years ago. (3)HMS Fowey, a British frigate, struck a coral reef and sank in 1748...