America Unearthed was an American entertainment television series and the first original series to air on the A&E Networks channel H2.[2] The show premiered on December 21, 2012, and was produced by Committee Films of Minneapolis, Minnesota.[3] The program was hosted by Minnesota-based geologist Scott Wolter, who investigates mysteries and artifacts believed to reveal an alternative history of the North American continent before the United States.[4]
| America Unearthed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Entertainment |
| Presented by | Scott Wolter |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 49 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Camera setup | Multiple |
| Running time | 43 minutes |
| Production company | Committee Films |
| Original release | |
| Network | H2 |
| Release | December 21, 2012 – January 31, 2015 |
| Network | Travel Channel |
| Release | May 28 – July 30, 2019 |
The show was cancelled following the sale of H2.[5] The Travel Channel revived the series for ten episodes, again hosted by Wolter.[6] The series broadcast in 2019 and was canceled after just one season.[7][8]
The show has been described as entertaining but also has received criticism for promoting pseudohistory.[9]
Predecessor
editIn September 2009, History Channel aired the two-hour special "Holy Grail in America", produced by Committee Films,[3][9] which follows Scott Wolter as he explores the idea that the Kensington Runestone is evidence that the Knights Templar sailed to America about one hundred years before Columbus's voyage.[9]
Reviewer Paul Mavis characterized "Holy Grail in America" as enjoyable pseudoscientific entertainment in the tradition of the 1970s television series In Search of.... Mavis noted that, "tellingly, the doc never presents any other geologists who have alternative theories about Wolter's findings" but concluded, "who cares if it's true or not? It's fun."[9]
Reception
editAmerica Unearthed began airing on the H2 network in December 2012[10] The first episode, "American Maya Secrets", aired on the supposed end of the Mayan calendar and deals with a possible Mayan village in Georgia.[11] The program was a success for the network, becoming "the #1 series of all time on H2" and was subsequently approved for a second season[12] with production starting in early 2013.[13] The series had an average of 765,000 viewers in early 2013 and surpassed one million viewers in January 2013.[2]
Episodes
editSeason 1 (2012–13)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "American Maya Secrets" | December 21, 2012 | |
|
Wolter explores a government-restricted site in rural Georgia and believes it is connected to the ancient Maya civilization. | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "Medieval Desert Mystery" | December 28, 2012 | |
|
Wolter investigates a burial site in the mountains of Arizona and believes it may belong to a medieval Englishman. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "Great Lakes Copper Heist" | January 4, 2013 | |
|
Wolter investigates the possibility that ancient copper mines in northern Michigan are possibly connected to the Minoan civilization and the Bronze Age. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "Giants in Minnesota" | January 11, 2013 | |
|
Wolter visits a Minnesota farmer to investigate bones the farmer believes may be from a Norse giant. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "A Deadly Sacrifice" | January 18, 2013 | |
|
Wolter investigates a large boulder from the Arkansas River inscribed with a bull symbol, stating that it could be very old or recent and very weathered.[14] | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Stonehenge in America" | January 25, 2013 | |
|
The idea that America's Stonehenge is related to England's Stonehenge and that ancient Phoenicians are common to both, is investigated. | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "Mystery of Roanoke" | February 1, 2013 | |
|
Wolter examines a series of clues that have been largely ignored and considered frauds may be related to the Lost Colony of Roanoke. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Chamber Hunting" | February 8, 2013 | |
|
Wolter heads to rural Pennsylvania to investigate an underground stone chamber he thinks may have been a ritual bath chamber for a secret society. | ||||
| 9 | 9 | "Motive for Murder" | February 15, 2013 | |
|
Wolter investigates the death of Meriwether Lewis and questions Lewis's suicide. | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "The Desert Cross" | February 22, 2013 | |
|
Wolter and his son Grant investigate the Tucson artifacts, thirty-one lead objects including crosses, swords and other relics pulled from the desert in the 1920s. | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "Tracking The Templars" | March 1, 2013 | |
|
Wolter investigates the possibility that a symbol known as the "Hooked X" is unique to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. Wolter went on to investigate the Narragansett Runestone which was stolen at the time. | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "America's Oldest Secret" | March 8, 2013 | |
|
The alleged Newport Tower connection to Knights Templar who came to America centuries ago, is researched. | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "Hunt for the Holy Grail" | March 15, 2013 | |
|
A treasure hunter invites Wolter along on his quest to find the Holy Grail in a well on the property of a rumored Templar prince. | ||||
Season 2 (2013–14)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "Ark of the Covenant" | November 30, 2013 | |
|
Wolter investigates whether the Ark of the Covenant could be in America. | ||||
| 15 | 2 | "New World Order" | December 7, 2013 | |
|
Claims that the New World Order was behind the Denver International Airport and the Georgia Guidestones are investigated. | ||||
| 16 | 3 | "Great Wall of Texas" | December 14, 2013 | |
| 17 | 4 | "Vikings in America" | December 21, 2013 | |
|
Vikings are widely accepted to have come to Newfoundland in 1000 A.D. The show investigates claims that they may have ventured farther south to the land now known as the US. | ||||
| 18 | 5 | "Grand Canyon Treasure" | December 28, 2013 | |
|
The show investigates claims that in 1909, Egyptian treasure may have been discovered in a Grand Canyon cave. | ||||
| 19 | 6 | "Lost Tribe of Menehune" | January 4, 2014 | |
| 20 | 7 | "Secret Blueprint of America" | January 11, 2014 | |
|
The show investigates claims the Megalithic Yard was used in designing the layout of Washington, D.C. | ||||
| 21 | 8 | "The Underwater Pyramids" | January 18, 2014 | |
|
The show investigates pyramids believed to have been built in Lake Mills, Wisconsin and other parts of the midwestern US, and their claimed connections to the Aztecs. | ||||
| 22 | 9 | "Mystery of the Serpents" | January 25, 2014 | |
|
The Serpent Mound, the Mound Builders, Native America, Scotland and astronomy are discussed. | ||||
| 23 | 10 | "Lost Relics of the Bible" | February 1, 2014 | |
|
Ancient Hebrew writings and artifacts are investigated, including some that are claimed to pre-date Christopher Columbus arriving at America. | ||||
| 24 | 11 | "Swamp Mammoth" | February 8, 2014 | |
|
Ancient human remains and mammoth bones with carvings on them found in a bog in Florida are investigated as potential evidence for the Solutrean hypothesis. | ||||
| 25 | 12 | "Lincoln's Secret Assassins" | February 15, 2014 | |
|
The show investigates the idea that a secretive group known as the Knights of the Golden Circle funded and had other connections with Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth and Booth's co-conspirators. It goes on to suggest that the Knights included among their membership some of the most prominent figures of the Civil War-era South and the possibility that the Knights evolved into the New World Order. | ||||
| 26 | 13 | "The Spearhead Conspiracy" | February 22, 2014 | |
|
After a spearhead bearing a resemblance to Mesoamerican artifacts is found in Maui, Scott Wolter investigates the possibility that this represents a connection between Polynesians and Pre-Columbian North America. | ||||
Season 3 (2014–15)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | "Secrets From the Alamo" | November 8, 2014 | |
|
Scott Wolter investigates the possibility that Davy Crockett may have survived the Battle of the Alamo, and reviews evidence in favor of this claim. | ||||
| 28 | 2 | "Guardians of Superstition Mountain" | November 15, 2014 | |
|
Scott Wolter searches for the possible location of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. | ||||
| 29 | 3 | "The Appalachian Giant" | November 22, 2014 | |
| 30 | 4 | "Montezuma's Gold" | November 29, 2014 | |
| 31 | 5 | "Custer's Blood Treasure" | December 6, 2014 | |
| 32 | 6 | "Captain Kidd's Pirate Code" | December 13, 2014 | |
| 33 | 7 | "Marco Polo Discovers America" | December 20, 2014 | |
| 34 | 8 | "The Plot to Steal America" | December 27, 2014 | |
| 35 | 9 | "The Blood Stone" | January 3, 2015 | |
| 36 | 10 | "Egyptian Secrets of New York City" | January 10, 2015 | |
| 37 | 11 | "Tracking Bigfoot" | January 17, 2015 | |
| 38 | 12 | "The Templars' Deadliest Secret: The Chase" | January 24, 2015 | |
| 39 | 13 | "The Templars' Deadliest Secret: Evidence Exposed" | January 31, 2015 | |
Season 4 (2019)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 1 | "Vikings in the Desert" | May 28, 2019 | |
|
Scott Wolter examines evidence that the Vikings made it to the West Coast of America using the Northwest Passage. | ||||
| 41 | 2 | "Alien Artifacts" | June 4, 2019 | |
|
Scott Wolter travels to Mexico to investigate alleged alien artefacts and cave inscriptions said to depict contact between indigenous peoples and extraterrestrials. | ||||
| 42 | 3 | "Cave of Secrets" | June 11, 2019 | |
|
The show looks at whether a cave in Pennsylvania may have been used for different things in the past, including the Underground Railroad and secret society rituals. | ||||
| 43 | 4 | "The Ripper Unmasked" | June 18, 2019 | |
|
Following a tip concerning the Victorian serial killer's possible identity, Scott Wolter travels to London in an attempt to discover who Jack the Ripper might have been. | ||||
| 44 | 5 | "Phoenicians in America" | June 25, 2019 | |
|
Artifacts, petroglyphs and medieval maps are examined to see if the Phoenicians traveled to America in ancient times. | ||||
| 45 | 6 | "The Spy who Saved America" | July 2, 2019 | |
|
Scott Wolter examines various theories on the identity of '355', the female spy who helped George Washington defeat the British forces in the Revolutionary War. | ||||
| 46 | 7 | "Bigfoot of the Bayou" | July 9, 2019 | |
|
After listening to eyewitness accounts and examining some recent video evidence, Scott Wolter spends a night in the Louisiana Honey Island Swamp hoping to encounter the local Cryptid of legend. | ||||
| 47 | 8 | "Drake's Lost Treasure" | July 16, 2019 | |
|
The show examines various theories that Sir Francis Drake staked out a land claim in California for the English Crown in the late 16th century and that he may have deposited a large treasure somewhere on the West Coast of America. | ||||
| 48 | 9 | "Chicago's Mystery Bomber" | July 23, 2019 | |
|
Scott Wolter looks at historical evidence and conducts an experiment with live explosives, in an attempt to ascertain who the mystery bomber might have been that carried out the Chicago Haymarket attack of 1886. | ||||
| 49 | 10 | "Exodus of the Templars" | July 30, 2019 | |
|
The flight of the Knights Templar from France in 1307 is re-examined after evidence of a possible Templar landing in Newfoundland is uncovered. | ||||
References
edit- ^ "Splice Handles Post for America Unearthed". Splice Post Production. Archived from the original on 2013-12-10. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ a b "H2 Network a Hit With Men". Ad Age Media News. 18 February 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ a b "Unearthing America's Secret History". Chaska Herald. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "Twin Cities Geologist Digs into Mysteries". Pioneer Press. 19 December 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "America Unearthed: H2 Series Cancelled; No Season Four". TV Series Finale. 4 May 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- ^ White, Peter (February 12, 2019). "'America Unearthed' Moves To Discovery's Travel Channel After H2 Closure – TCA". Deadline.
- ^ "Scott Wolter: Travel Channel Cancels "America Unearthed"".
- ^ "Scott Wolter Excavates America's Lost History in "America Unearthed" on Travel Channel". The Futon Critic. April 30, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Mavis, Paul (March 18, 2010). "Holy Grail in America". DVD Talk. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
- ^ "Air Date Obtained from Online Episode List". History Channel. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
- ^ "History Channel program probes Mayan presence in north Georgia". Athens Banner Herald. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
- ^ "H2 Renews America Unearthed". TVbytheNumbers. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
- ^ "Renewal Round Up". Real Screen Online. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
- ^ "Review of America Unearthed S01E05: "A Deadly Sacrifice"". Jason Colavito. Retrieved 26 November 2019.