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NOVA
A to Z: The First Alphabet
Season 47
Episode 13
Writing shaped our world and the rise of human knowledge, from the trading of goods to tales of ancient goddesses and kings. Follow the evolution of the written word, from 4,000-year-old carvings in an Egyptian turquoise mine to modern-day alphabets.
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53:47
See how Earth transformed from a barren hellscape to a planet capable of sustaining life.
53:31
Who created the Nazca lines and why? New clues to one of the greatest ancient enigmas.
53:43
Ancient footprints provide new evidence of humans and extinct giant beasts of the Ice Age.
53:16
Sir David Attenborough explores a site with traces of ancient mammoths and Neanderthals.
53:30
In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate
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53:17
Intrepid paleontologists discover that dinosaurs thrived in the Arctic’s cold and dark.
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53:28
Take a tasty look at insect foods that could benefit our health and our warming planet.