Digging for the Truth
Encyclopedia
Digging for the Truth is a History Channel
documentary
television series. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein
, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein is the president and CEO of BOSS (Boulder Outdoor Survival School)
and has a degree in anthropology
and psychology
from Cornell University
. The show airs every Monday night at 9:00 EST on the History Channel. The series premiered in January, 2005 and has since become the highest-rated series in the history of The History Channel, which is surprising given the previous show "Time Titans" from the production crew never made it past the pilot. The third season premiered on January 22, 2007, with a 2-hour special event on the quest for Atlantis
.
Bernstein announced on February 20, 2007, that he would be leaving The History Channel and Digging for the Truth, and would, as of April, join The Discovery Channel as an executive producer
and host of a new prime-time series and specials. Hunter Ellis
, host of Tactical to Practical
and Man, Moment, Machine
for The History Channel, has replaced Josh Bernstein as host.
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
television series. The first three seasons of the show focused on host Josh Bernstein
Josh Bernstein
Josh Bernstein is an American explorer, author, survival expert, and TV host best known as the host of Digging for the Truth. He now appears as the host of the Discovery Channel's Into the Unknown with Josh Bernstein....
, who journeyed on various explorations of historical icons and mysteries. Bernstein is the president and CEO of BOSS (Boulder Outdoor Survival School)
Boulder Outdoor Survival School
The Boulder Outdoor Survival School is the oldest outdoor survival school in the world. BOSS is based in the small town of Boulder, Utah, where it has operated since 1968. In 1994, BOSS opened a marketing office in Boulder, Colorado...
and has a degree in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. The show airs every Monday night at 9:00 EST on the History Channel. The series premiered in January, 2005 and has since become the highest-rated series in the history of The History Channel, which is surprising given the previous show "Time Titans" from the production crew never made it past the pilot. The third season premiered on January 22, 2007, with a 2-hour special event on the quest for Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
.
Bernstein announced on February 20, 2007, that he would be leaving The History Channel and Digging for the Truth, and would, as of April, join The Discovery Channel as an executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
and host of a new prime-time series and specials. Hunter Ellis
Hunter Ellis
Hunter Ellis is an American television personality. A former naval aviator, he was first noted for his participation in the Survivor Television series before going on to host several television shows for the History Channel, including Tactical to Practical; Man, Moment, Machine; and Digging for...
, host of Tactical to Practical
Tactical to Practical
Tactical to Practical was a short-lived History Channel program that ran from 2003 to 2005. Each episode documented ways in which technologies utilized by the civilian public were originally developed to serve military purposes. The show was hosted by Hunter Ellis....
and Man, Moment, Machine
Man, Moment, Machine
Man, Moment, Machine is a documentary series which aired on The History Channel and was hosted by Hunter Ellis. It documents an important event in history and goes into detail about, as the title suggests, the man and his background, the machine and how it was made, and the outcome.-Season...
for The History Channel, has replaced Josh Bernstein as host.
Synopsis
Each episode typically deals with an event or subject in history that is not completely understood by modern historians. As such, many of the topics covered are controversial in some respect. Josh Bernstein usually mentions the various theories that exist on the subject, although the episode may not actually explore all of them. He then travels to various locations to ask questions of researchers, and he often he puts himself into situations (e.g. working in a quarry, climbing a rockface) that simulate the activities of people in the time period he is exploring. Almost all of the researchers he talks to are professionals in the subject at hand, and many of the places he visits (e.g. the inside of a pyramid) are not open to the general public. At the end of the each episode, Josh pulls together everything discussed in the episode to either formulate a hypothesis of what actually happened historically or to conclude that what really happened remains a mystery.Season One
- Who Built Egypt's PyramidsEgyptian pyramidsThe Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found...
? - PompeiiPompeiiThe city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
Secrets Revealed - Hunt for the Lost ArkArk of the CovenantThe Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
- The Holy GrailHoly GrailThe Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
- The IcemanÖtzi the IcemanÖtzi the Iceman , Similaun Man, and Man from Hauslabjoch are modern names for a well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived about 5,300 years ago. The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from the...
Cometh - Quest for King Solomon's Gold
- Passage to the MayaMaya civilizationThe Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
Underworld - The Lost Tribe of IsraelTen Lost TribesThe Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers to those tribes of ancient Israel that formed the Kingdom of Israel and which disappeared from Biblical and all other historical accounts after the kingdom was destroyed in about 720 BC by ancient Assyria...
- Secrets of the Nazca LinesNazca LinesThe Nazca Lines are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The high, arid plateau stretches more than between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana about 400 km south of Lima...
- The Search for El DoradoEl DoradoEl Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
- Giants of Easter IslandEaster IslandEaster Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
- Mystery of the AnasaziAncient Pueblo PeoplesAncient Pueblo People or Ancestral Pueblo peoples were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southern Colorado...
- NefertitiNefertitiNefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only...
: The Mummy Returns
Season Two
- The Real Temple of DoomIndiana Jones and the Temple of DoomIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
- America's Pyramids
- StonehengeStonehengeStonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
Secrets Revealed - The Vikings: Voyage to AmericaNorse colonization of the AmericasThe Norse colonization of the Americas began as early as the 10th century, when Norse sailors explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic, including the northeastern fringes of North America....
- RoanokeRoanoke ColonyThe Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
: The Lost Colony - Cleopatra: The Last PharaohPharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
- City of the Gods - TeotihuacanTeotihuacánTeotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
- The Real Queen of Sheba
- TroyTroyTroy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
: Of Gods and Warriors - The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
: Bloodlines - The GiantsPatagonThe Patagones or Patagonian giants are a mythical race of people, who first began to appear in early European accounts of the then little-known region and coastline of Patagonia. They were supposed to have exceeded at least double normal human height, some accounts giving heights of or more...
of PatagoniaPatagoniaPatagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean... - The Real Sin City: Sodom and GomorrahSodom and GomorrahSodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
- The Lost Cities of the AmazonAmazon RiverThe Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
Season Three
- AtlantisAtlantisAtlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
: New Revelations 2-hour Special - Lost EmpireMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
Of Genghis KhanGenghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.... - King Tut Secrets Revealed
- New MayaMaya civilizationThe Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
Revelations - Ramesses IIRamesses IIRamesses II , referred to as Ramesses the Great, was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire...
: Visions of Greatness - Machu PicchuMachu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...
- Secrets of MummiesMummyA mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
- Lost Treasures of PetraPetraPetra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
- StonehengeStonehengeStonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
of the Americas - Lost Treasures of the Copper ScrollCopper ScrollThe Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus, this scroll is written on metal: copper mixed with about 1 percent tin...
- The AztecAztecThe Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s - Searching for King David
Season Four
- MummiesChachapoyas cultureThe Chachapoyas, also called the Warriors of the Clouds, were an Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas region of present-day Peru. The Incas conquered their civilization shortly before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru. When the Spanish arrived in Peru in the 16th century, the...
of the Clouds - The HunleyH. L. Hunley (submarine)H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War, but a large role in the history of naval warfare. The Hunley demonstrated both the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare...
: New Revelations - KingsOlmecThe Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
of the Stone AgeStone AgeThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the... - Pirates: Terror in the Mediterranean
- God's GoldSiege of Jerusalem (70)The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was the decisive event of the First Jewish-Roman War. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been occupied by its Jewish defenders in...
, Part 1 - God's GoldSiege of Jerusalem (70)The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was the decisive event of the First Jewish-Roman War. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been occupied by its Jewish defenders in...
, Part 2 - TimbuktuTimbuktuTimbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...
- Angkor WatAngkor WatAngkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu,...
: Eighth Wonder of the WorldWonders of the WorldVarious lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled from antiquity to the present day, to catalogue the world's most spectacular natural wonders and manmade structures....
Book
In late 2006, Josh Bernstein's book, Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries, was published. In the book, Bernstein talks a bit about his past and BOSS, but it is mostly a behind-the-scene look at various episodes.External links
- Josh Bernstein: Explorer and Anthropologist - Yes; Indiana Jones - No, QuestMagazine.com