Journeys from the Centre of the Earth - Season 1

Geologist Dr Iain Stewart presents a series showing how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped the human history of the Mediterranean. His whistle-stop tour takes in familiar tourist destinations in Greece,Turkey and Jordan, but provides a unique geologist's insight which can't be found in the guidebooks.

He reveals how earthquakes have created a huge network of cracks in the ground. These faults are pathways for materials to rise to the surface which can bring life or death. They are behind everything from catastrophic volcanoes to natural health spas and valuable mineral deposits.

Geologist Dr Iain Stewart presents a series showing how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped the human history of the Mediterranean. His whistle-stop tour takes in familiar tourist destinations in Egypt, Italy and Greece, but provides a unique geologist's insight which can't be found in the guidebooks.

He reveals how rocks influenced the Egyptians to build pyramids, the Greeks to build squares and the Romans to build perfect circles. It was how the rocks were formed millions of years ago that determined whether they were best suited as building materials for a pyramid, Parthenon or coliseum.

Geologist Dr Iain Stewart presents a series showing how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped the human history of the Mediterranean. His whistle-stop tour takes in many popular and seemingly familiar tourist destinations in Egypt, France and Spain, but provides a unique geologist's insight which can't be found in the guidebooks.

He explains how geology was a huge influence in shaping the history of art. Early cave painters began by scraping their colours from rocks on the Earth's surface, but civilisations like the Egyptians and Arabs developed ingenious techniques to transform rocks and dramatically broaden the range of their palettes. He brings the story up to the present day, showing how advances in the understanding of rocks have given each generation of artists new potential.

Geologist Dr Iain Stewart presents a series showing how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped the human history of the Mediterranean. His whistle-stop tour takes in familiar tourist destinations in Greece,Italy and Portugal, but provides a unique geologist's insight which can't be found in the guidebooks.

Rocks played a crucial role in determining the beliefs of ancient civilisations, but they are also a major influence on how we understand our planet today. From the spread of Christianity to recent discoveries about the extinction of dinosaurs, geology has played a vital role.

Dr Iain Stewart takes us on a tour of the Mediterranean to tell the story of man's 10,000-year battle with water.

Because water is so crucial to us, the really successful ancient civilisations were the ones which learned how best to exploit it. But whether they controlled the water or the water controlled them was all down to the rocks beneath their feet.

From the catastrophic flooding of our Stone Age ancestors' hunting grounds at the Black Sea to the fall of the Roman Empire, water played a crucial role. Stewart reveals how, even today, we ignore the power of water at our peril. His whistle-stop tour takes in many popular and seemingly familiar tourist destinations in Greece, Spain and Turkey, but he provides a unique geologist's insight which cannot be found in the guide books.

Geologist Dr Iain Stewart presents a series showing how the rocks beneath our feet have shaped human history.

He takes us on a tour of the Mediterranean to show how salt is central to its history, playing a crucial role in everything from the existence of ice ages to the preservation of food and dead bodies in ancient Egypt.

His whistle-stop tour takes in many tourist destinations in Egypt, Venice and Sicily, but he provides a unique geologist's insight which can't be found in the guide books.