Risky Rocks
All over the Mediterranean region, earthquakes have created a huge network of cracks in the ground. These faults provide pathways for all kinds of stuff to rise up to the top from deep below – gases, elements, molten lava. Sometimes what comes up is good for us, sometimes bad. Just as it can be a kill or cure for an individual, so it can contribute to the rise and fall of entire civilisations. As a geologist, Iain sidesteps the tour guides of the Med and shows us how cracks in the Earth have changed the course of human history. We look at earthquakes in Turkey; the health spa and entrance to hell at Pamukkale (good water and bad gas); a theory that asphalt is behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; how the use of copper and tin brought about the Bronze Age and how lead poisoned the Romans. We also include volcanic eruptions at Santorini.

Architecture
The architectural styles that the ancients used were, to a large extent, dictated by the rocks which were available to them on their doorstep. We look at how rocks influenced the Egyptians to build pyramids, the Greeks to build squares and the Romans to build arches. It was how the rocks were formed millions of years ago which determined whether they were best suited to be building materials for an Egyptian pyramid, a Greek Parthenon or a Roman Colosseum.

Art
This programme relates rocks and geology to the use of pigments in 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. Bringing this story up to the present day, Iain shows how advances in our understanding of rocks has given each generation of artists new potential.

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