154 episodes · 33 transcripts · 33 summaries
Hunt for Alexander the Great
Josh Gates launches a multi-continent hunt for one of archaeology's most tantalizing prizes: the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. The investigation takes him from the royal tombs of Vergina in northern Greece—where Alexander's father Philip II was discovered in 1977—to the submerged ruins of Alexandria's ancient Royal Quarter off Egypt's coast, and deep into tunnels beneath the modern city. Gates works with archaeologists, divers, and historians pursuing three distinct leads: evidence in a sunken Mediterranean city, underground excavations that may pinpoint the burial site, and a controversial theory suggesting Alexander's mummified remains were hidden inside another ruler's sarcophagus. The search turns perilous when a water pump fails during tunnel exploration, threatening to trap the team underground.
Alexander's Lost Tomb
Josh Gates embarks on a sprawling hunt across two continents for one of archaeology's most elusive prizes: the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. In Alexandria, Egypt, Gates joins archaeologist Calliope Limneos-Papakosta in a flooded excavation beneath the modern city, crawling through cramped tunnels to examine the foundation of a massive ancient structure. The team uncovers the building's northern wall and discovers fragments of painted plaster in red, blue, and yellow—colors Gates recognizes from the tomb of Alexander's father, Philip II, in Greece. The investigation turns dangerous when pumps fail and the tunnel rapidly fills with water, forcing an emergency evacuation. Later, Gates pursues a controversial theory that Alexander's remains may have been smuggled to Venice and now rest in St. Mark's Cathedral, hidden in plain sight for centuries.
Traitors' Treasure of 1776
Josh Gates travels to Pennsylvania to investigate the Doan Gang, a family of Revolutionary War-era outlaws whose loyalist crimes against the American cause have become the stuff of legend. The Doan brothers—Moses, Levi, Malan, Aaron, and Joseph—turned against their neighbors after patriots seized their father's farm in Plumstead, Pennsylvania, for refusing to swear allegiance to the newly formed American government. Gates pursues two investigations: helping excavate a cache of plundered coins and exploring caves to locate the gang's hidden hideout. According to tradition, Moses Doan nearly changed history when he spotted George Washington crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 and attempted to warn British forces in Trenton—a message that went unread while officers played cards. The gang's most audacious crime was robbing one of the early U.S. treasuries at gunpoint, then the largest theft of American public funds, leaving behind rumors of millions in buried gold and silver.
Lost Bomber of World War II
Josh Gates joins the Fleet Air Arm Museum's restoration team on an audacious mission to rebuild a complete Fairey Barracuda—the revolutionary all-metal torpedo bomber that helped cripple the Nazi battleship Tirpitz in 1944, clearing the path for D-Day. The problem: of 2,600 Barracudas manufactured for the Royal Navy, not a single intact example survives today. The team's ambitious plan requires excavating tens of thousands of original components from crash sites and burial grounds, then reassembling them rivet by rivet. Gates travels from a former airfield in St Andrews, Scotland—where museum curator David Morris and local historian Archie Liggat investigate wartime accounts of Barracudas deliberately buried after the war—to the frigid waters near Alta, Norway, where he and researcher Frode Lindgjerdet search for wreckage from the historic Tirpitz raids.
Chasing Africa's Atlantis
Josh Gates ventures to the waters off Zanzibar in search of Rhapta, a wealthy Roman trading outpost that vanished from history over a thousand years ago. Once a thriving emporium where gold, ivory, tortoise shell, and ornate ceramics flowed through its ports, Rhapta served as the Roman Empire's southernmost commercial hub along the East African coast. Gates explores two competing theories about the city's location: one archaeologist has identified a graveyard of ancient shipwrecks that may indicate the site, while another team believes they've found submerged harbor walls visible only at low tide. The expedition takes Gates diving in remote waters and navigating the historic labyrinth of Stone Town on Zanzibar, where he meets local researchers working to pinpoint this legendary port.
America's MIA Heroines
Josh Gates travels to Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa to investigate one of World War II's most overlooked tragedies: the May 30, 1945 crash of a Douglas C-47 Skytrain that vanished shortly after takeoff from the US Army Air Base in Accra. Eighteen members of the Women's Army Corps were aboard the plane, along with a three-man crew, when it reportedly plunged into the ocean near a remote peninsula on the Ivory Coast. Despite a thorough search by US forces at the time, no wreckage was found and no bodies were recovered. The WACs aboard were specialists in air traffic control, weather forecasting, and other vital logistics, serving alongside their male counterparts in the closing days of the war in Europe. Gates begins his investigation at the US Army Women's Museum at Fort Gregg-Adams, where historian Tracy Bradford explains how the Women's Army Corps represented a groundbreaking moment for women in military service, building on earlier roles from the American Revolution through World War I's "Hello Girls."