BBC Dinos 24/7

In an unruly world, the ancient powers must lead their people, create ways to govern and keep rebellion at bay. To achieve this, they may invent caste systems, organise gladiatorial games or turn to gods.

Though the ancient powers have endured for centuries, their destruction is close at hand. However, some will leave lasting legacies that will continue to shape the world long after their downfall.

A journey to discover the legendary lost city of Piramesse, a magnificent ancient capital built 3,000 years ago by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Great. When it was finally rediscovered by early archaeologists, it opened up a bizarre puzzle because it was in the wrong place.

In the Lambeyeque valley in northern Peru lies a strange lost world, the forgotten ruins of 250 mysterious pyramids, including some of the biggest on the planet, colossal structures made out of mud bricks.

This is the story of the formidable Hittites and their long-lost capital, Hattusha, which has recently been rediscovered. Buried in this lost city is one of the greatest libraries of the ancient world, and all the secrets of this mysterious civilisation were written in two codes - one a unique form of hieroglyphs with which we can recreate the lost world of the Hittites.

Special effects-filled documentary beginning 49 million years ago. The world is heavily forested and birds rule the planet, preying on small mammals. Whales have not yet evolved and their ancestors walk on the land.

A pregnant basilosaurus, an 18-metre, carnivorous whale which lives in the Tethys Sea, is forced to kill the young of a smaller whale to ensure the survival of her unborn calf.

Going back 25 million years to the time of the indricothere, which was the largest mammal ever to live on dry land, being seven metres high and weighing 15 tons! The only threat to an adult would have been the hyaenadon which was the size of a rhino and had jaws that could crush a rock.

The beginnings of mankind can be traced back 3.2 million years to Ethiopia and the advent of Australopithecus, a type of ape which, like humans, was bipedal. These early members of the human family faced many dangers, including the sabre-toothed cat, malaria, and the 14-tonne delnotherium.

Revealing the exotic, oversized creatures that inhabited South America one million years ago, such as the deadly smilodon, the largest of all sabre tooth cats.

Looking at the depths of the Ice Age, following a group of mammoths who have been forced to travel south with the advent of winter. On a dangerous journey across the Alps, many become trapped in bogs or fall victim to predators. However, their most formidable enemies are waiting for them on their return journey - Neanderthals.

Part 1/3. As life starts evolving in the oceans, our bizarre earliest ancestors battle against 3m long sea scorpions and giant carniverous fish. Their ability to survive will determine the shape of life on Earth and whether humans will exist at all. As our amphibian ancestors struggle onto land the monsters they face are even more deadly.

Part 2/3. Millions of years before the dinosaurs, a world full of giant sabretooth reptiles and huge armoured herbivores was obliterated when global temperatures soared and vast deserts blanketed the land. As the environment recovered, populations of one species of tough reptile exploded until it alone dominated the planet, but its reign was short-lived.

Part 3/3. The struggle for survival moves onto land in the shape of early reptiles such as Petrolacosaurus. In the carboniferous swamps, insects and arthropods have taken over and grown into giants, from the giant spider Mesothelae to millipede-like monsters. As the swamps dry up, the world becomes dominated by the first ever giant reptiles - the huge, sail-backed Edaphosaurus.

The life of the first reptilian carnivores on Earth, told through computer animation.

This programme travels 152 million years into the past to a planet dominated by mighty, long-necked sauropods - the largest animals ever to walk the earth. There were no birds, flowers or grass, and the land was carpeted by fern prairies and coniferous forests.

A look at the world as it was 149 million years ago - in the late Jurassic Period. The old continents have broken up and much of the land is under water. Huge shallow seas have supported a revolution in marine life.

A mind-expanding trip back through time to look at how the skies of 127 million years ago were dominated by huge flying reptiles, some as large as aeroplanes. The programme also follows the extraordinary journey of the pterosaur, which flew for thousands of miles in order to reach its breeding site. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

This programme looks at the Cretaceous period, 106 million years ago. Volcanic activity forces the continents apart, and dinosaurs diversify into a range of species to cope with environmental extremes. The landmass that will become Australia and Antarctica is in sunlight for half of the year, and in frozen darkness for the rest.

Looking at the closing chapters of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, when the world is poisoned by massive volcanic activity. Among the fields of burning ash, the dinosaurs struggle for survival, oblivious to the Earth's impending collision with a giant comet.

In a time when monstrous creatures ruled the earth, South America was the land of the giants. Nigel Marven walks among these gigantic creatures, on a quest to witness the largest predator bringing down the largest prey.

Nigel Marven journeys back to the sand dunes of Mesozoic Mongolia to track the owner of the largest claws of all time, the Therizinosaurus. His adventure yields a series of surprising clues, a nest, footprints, dung, and more.

Scientists study the perfectly preserved remains of an adolescent allosaurus they call Big Al.

This scientific detective story traces the evidence for Big Al the allosaur's existence, using clues from climate change studies, forensics, and fossil records to bring him back to life.

Featured species are the coelophysis and the diplodocus.

Featured species are the opthalmosaurus and the ornithocheirus.

Featured species are the leaellynasaura and the tyrannosaurus.

This episode explains how the 120-million-year reign of the dinosaurs ended when mammals became the fastest and fiercest creatures on the planet.

A look at the science that has proved Darwin's idea that intelligent, sophisticated humans have an ancestral connection with the ape.

Animatronics, computer animation and science re-create the dinosaurs' world.

Special effects-filled documentary beginning 49 million years ago. The world is heavily forested and birds rule the planet, preying on small mammals. Whales have not yet evolved and their ancestors walk on the land.

A pregnant basilosaurus, an 18-metre, carnivorous whale which lives in the Tethys Sea, is forced to kill the young of a smaller whale to ensure the survival of her unborn calf.

Going back 25 million years to the time of the indricothere, which was the largest mammal ever to live on dry land, being seven metres high and weighing 15 tons! The only threat to an adult would have been the hyaenadon which was the size of a rhino and had jaws that could crush a rock.

The beginnings of mankind can be traced back 3.2 million years to Ethiopia and the advent of Australopithecus, a type of ape which, like humans, was bipedal. These early members of the human family faced many dangers, including the sabre-toothed cat, malaria, and the 14-tonne delnotherium.

Revealing the exotic, oversized creatures that inhabited South America one million years ago, such as the deadly smilodon, the largest of all sabre tooth cats.

Looking at the depths of the Ice Age, following a group of mammoths who have been forced to travel south with the advent of winter. On a dangerous journey across the Alps, many become trapped in bogs or fall victim to predators. However, their most formidable enemies are waiting for them on their return journey - Neanderthals.

Part 1/3. As life starts evolving in the oceans, our bizarre earliest ancestors battle against 3m long sea scorpions and giant carniverous fish. Their ability to survive will determine the shape of life on Earth and whether humans will exist at all. As our amphibian ancestors struggle onto land the monsters they face are even more deadly.

Part 2/3. Millions of years before the dinosaurs, a world full of giant sabretooth reptiles and huge armoured herbivores was obliterated when global temperatures soared and vast deserts blanketed the land. As the environment recovered, populations of one species of tough reptile exploded until it alone dominated the planet, but its reign was short-lived.

Part 3/3. The struggle for survival moves onto land in the shape of early reptiles such as Petrolacosaurus. In the carboniferous swamps, insects and arthropods have taken over and grown into giants, from the giant spider Mesothelae to millipede-like monsters. As the swamps dry up, the world becomes dominated by the first ever giant reptiles - the huge, sail-backed Edaphosaurus.

The life of the first reptilian carnivores on Earth, told through computer animation.

This programme travels 152 million years into the past to a planet dominated by mighty, long-necked sauropods - the largest animals ever to walk the earth. There were no birds, flowers or grass, and the land was carpeted by fern prairies and coniferous forests.

A look at the world as it was 149 million years ago - in the late Jurassic Period. The old continents have broken up and much of the land is under water. Huge shallow seas have supported a revolution in marine life.

A mind-expanding trip back through time to look at how the skies of 127 million years ago were dominated by huge flying reptiles, some as large as aeroplanes. The programme also follows the extraordinary journey of the pterosaur, which flew for thousands of miles in order to reach its breeding site. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

This programme looks at the Cretaceous period, 106 million years ago. Volcanic activity forces the continents apart, and dinosaurs diversify into a range of species to cope with environmental extremes. The landmass that will become Australia and Antarctica is in sunlight for half of the year, and in frozen darkness for the rest.

Looking at the closing chapters of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, when the world is poisoned by massive volcanic activity. Among the fields of burning ash, the dinosaurs struggle for survival, oblivious to the Earth's impending collision with a giant comet.

In a time when monstrous creatures ruled the earth, South America was the land of the giants. Nigel Marven walks among these gigantic creatures, on a quest to witness the largest predator bringing down the largest prey.

Nigel Marven journeys back to the sand dunes of Mesozoic Mongolia to track the owner of the largest claws of all time, the Therizinosaurus. His adventure yields a series of surprising clues, a nest, footprints, dung, and more.

Scientists study the perfectly preserved remains of an adolescent allosaurus they call Big Al.

This scientific detective story traces the evidence for Big Al the allosaur's existence, using clues from climate change studies, forensics, and fossil records to bring him back to life.

Featured species are the coelophysis and the diplodocus.

Featured species are the opthalmosaurus and the ornithocheirus.

Featured species are the leaellynasaura and the tyrannosaurus.

This episode explains how the 120-million-year reign of the dinosaurs ended when mammals became the fastest and fiercest creatures on the planet.

A look at the science that has proved Darwin's idea that intelligent, sophisticated humans have an ancestral connection with the ape.

Animatronics, computer animation and science re-create the dinosaurs' world.

Dr Iain Stewart looks at how earthquakes and faults have shaped human history by bringing both life and death.

Dr Iain Stewart looks at how rocks have influenced the architecture of the Mediterranean, from the pyramids of Egypt to the squares of ancient Greece.

Tracing the history of cave paintings.

Dr Iain Stewart examines how the rocks beneath our feet played a crucial role in determining the beliefs of ancient civilisations.

Dr Iain Stewart looks at how ancient civilisations learned to exploit the water around them, from the flooding of our Stone Age ancestors' hunting grounds to the fall of the Roman Empire.

Dr Iain Stewart looks at how salt has played a crucial role in the history of the Mediterranean, from the ice ages to the preservation of food and dead bodies in ancient Egypt.

Dr Alice Roberts visits the Arabian Desert to find clues as to how a tiny group left the African continent around 70,000 years ago.

Dr Alice Roberts' journey continues into Asia in a quest to find out how early hunter-gatherers survived in the inhospitable Arctic region of Northern Siberia. Alice meets the nomadic Evenki people.

Göbeklitepe ruins discovered in Turkey's history goes back 12,000 years. How and in what way did the descendants of the Neanderthals, the Aztecs of Europe, disappear with the arrival of Homo sapiens?

Dr Alice Roberts looks at our ancestors' seemingly impossible journey to Australia. Miraculously preserved footprints and very old human fossils buried in the outback suggest a mystery: that humans reached Australia almost before anywhere else.

How did Stone Age people reach North and South America? Dr Alice Roberts discovers evidence for an ancient corridor through the Canadian ice sheet that may have allowed those first people through.

A dig hopes to excavate the 2000-year-old tomb of Qin Shihuang, China's First Emperor.

Veteran archaeologist Ned Kelly and a team of scientists investigate the find of a mummified body in the boglands of Cashel, Ireland.

Professor Challenger leads a party of explorers from the smog of Edwardian London to South America in search of a mythical plateau rumoured to be inhabited by dinosaurs.

The explorers find themselves trapped on the plateau high above the Amazon jungle, surrounded by prehistoric horrors.

Dr Iain Stewart looks at how earthquakes and faults have shaped human history by bringing both life and death.

Dr Iain Stewart looks at how rocks have influenced the architecture of the Mediterranean, from the pyramids of Egypt to the squares of ancient Greece.

Tracing the history of cave paintings.

Dr Iain Stewart examines how the rocks beneath our feet played a crucial role in determining the beliefs of ancient civilisations.