(Archaeology) The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose ten-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing evidence of a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village in Western Mongolia, where her quest for a living link to a long-imagined tribe ended with a startling discovery. There, among the black-eyed Mongols, Davis-Kimball found a blond child, a 9-year-old girl named Meiramgul. Through DNA testing, Davis-Kimball finds that the DNA sequences of the warrior women and those from the girl of Mongolia are identical.

Days after D-Day, Allied forces joined together for a different kind of mission. Through rare footage, eyewitness testimonies, and real-life accounts, the story is told of the race to capture the German physicists and other scientists and any secrets they may hold of advanced 'vengeance' weapons. Finding the scientists could mean gaining significant advantage in the looming Cold War. Liev Schreiber narrates the story of the scientists' dramatic capture and the influences they have on wars today.

On October 6, 2004, FBI agents began digging up a Queens swamp in the hopes of finding the remains of the man who killed John Gotti's son. Instead, they unearthed a severed foot and other pieces of human skeleton, along with personal effects. Forensic tests tied the remains to Mob family captains who had been killed by mob boss Joseph "Big Joey" Massino. This program documents the search which opens a window into the grisly world of the mob.

In 1789, over two hundred female convicts were pulled out of London's prisons and shipped off to Australia for a life of servitude. See how they took control of the situation to create a better life for themselves and the future of Australia.

On the last night of an Atlantic voyage, the Andrea Doria luxury liner was broadsided by the 13,000-ton Stockholm in an accident that imperiled more than 1,700 passengers and crew. With the world watching in horror during one of the first televised tragedies, the Andrea Doria sank, sparking a ferocious debate over fault that remains to this day and ended the era of luxury cruise liners.

On September 11, 1978, Bulgarian emigre, writer and broadcast journalist Georgi Markov died. Three days before, while waiting for a bus, Markov felt a sudden sting in the back of his thigh. Markov was soon hospitalized. After his death, an investigation ruled Markov had been poisoned. A pellet containing ricin had been shot into his leg. How had this political murder been executed?

A pivotal moment in World War II, one of the most legendary and best documented dogfights in Air Force history is reconstructed.

The story behind the creation of the King James Bible from mysterious and inaccessible Latin texts to a book for the common english speaking people.

On August 24th, A.D. 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city of Herculaneum. This program documents the archaeological re-discovery of that ancient, well preserved city on the Bay of Naples.

This documentary attempts to explain the mystery behind an unusual ancient burial site unearthed in England, and it's connection with a Roman Emperor.

A plea is smuggled to a New York reporter from within Western Australia's Fremantle Prison. This letter launched an American whaler that stood its ground against an armed British steamer for freedom and independence. The whaler was the Catalpa, its captain was George Anthony and its human cargo consisted of six Irish political prisoners, who had suffered at the Fremantle prison for a decade.

A recent archaeological discovery of more than 550 bodies near Mexico City suggests that the Aztecs were much more resistant to the Spanish Conquistadors than previously thought.

The story of Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, two young Slovak Jews who escaped the Auschwitz death camp. They immediately wrote a detailed account of their experiences resulting in thousands of lives being saved.

In the 1970s, female East German athletes came from nowhere to dominate international sport. But behind their success lay a horrifying secret. Doping for Gold reveals the truth behind the biggest state-sponsored doping program the world has ever known, creating a timely perspective on today’s many sports drug scandals.

Five thousand years ago the Minoans, Europe’s first great civilization, flourished on the island of Crete. Yet in their heyday, they mysteriously disappeared. Sinking Atlantis digs deep into the Minoan soil and history, following archaeologists who are finding evidence of a massive tsunami that devastated the Minoans – and may have spawned the myth of Atlantis.

In 1910, an American doctor named Hawley Crippen was convicted in England of poisoning and dismembering his wife. The vicious murder—and execution that followed—made international headlines. It was a landmark case: The first trial by media, and the first to be dominated by forensic science. But did the prosecutors get it right? Almost one hundred years later, investigators have re-opened the files on a murder that became known as one of the crimes of the century.

Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard, was the most notorious pirate of his day. At the height of his rein, he commanded a fleet of four ships and a crew of 400 men. They were ruthless seafaring raiders who terrorizing vessels in American waters. In 1718, Blackbeard even blockaded the city of Charleston, crippling its economy. Eventually he was caught and beheaded by a posse from the Royal Navy. Now, 300 years later, a marine archaeology team believe they have found his sunken flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, off the North Carolina coast.

More than five centuries ago, Michelangelo Buonarroti was the darling of the Catholic Church. The Papacy commissioned him to create many of its most important pieces, including the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. He spent his life glorifying the Church, etching Catholic ideals into masterpieces that defined religion for the masses. Yet when he died, his body was secretly shepherded off to Florence, and the Church was denied the opportunity to honor him with a grand funeral in Rome. Historians have long wondered about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, but now, art historian Antonio Forcellino believes he has pieced together evidence of a deep rift between the Church and the esteemed artist. The cause: Michelangelo’s belief in Protestant ideals, and his involvement with a clandestine fellowship trying to put an end to the decadence and corruption of the Clergy and reform the Church from within.

A tribe in Borneo protects a shot-down U.S. bomber crew from Japanese occupiers during World War II. The local missionaries, who converted the tribe to Christianity, were executed by the Japanese invaders, who had forced out Dutch and British colonialists, while massacring Borneo natives. A surviving missionary from Indonesia, employed by the Japanese military as an area administrator, outwits Japanese forces by hiding the U.S. airmen deep in a jungle canyon. The local Dayak people risk their lives, and force the occupiers to abandon their hunt for the airmen, using blowpipes and machetes against the Japanese army search parties.

Accounts of the survivors of the indiscriminate terrorist massacres in Mumbai by Islamic Extremests in November 2008 and how the news media aided the terrorist by giving away the hiding places of the soon to be victims.

During World War 2, Japan developed a super-submarine capable of launching bomber aircraft as a strategic weapon to carry the conflict to the United States mainland. But in the rapidly changing Pacific Theater, one intended mission after another becomes obsolete before the submarines can be deployed

Find out why Churchill chose to sink the French fleet.

The Battle of Stalingrad, the deadliest single battle ever seen, has been lauded as a shining example of Stalin's military genius, and altered the course of World War II permanently. The battle established the Soviet Union as a superpower to be reckoned with in the long Cold War that lay ahead. More than a half-century later, with newly uncovered evidence the full impact of this horrific battle is revealed.

Tanis, Egypt, circa 1939. On the brink of World War II, an excavation team led by French archaeologist Pierre Montet unearthed an intact royal burial chamber containing treasures that rival the riches found in Tutankhamun’s tomb almost two decades before. But while the Tut discovery created an international sensation, the opening of the tomb in Tanis made barely a ripple in a world focused on impending war.

Three disparate Capetowners reveal a long-forgotten, dramatic slave ship revolt en route from Madagascar to South Africa. About half of Cape Town's population are descendants of White, Asian, and Black slaves captured by the Dutch East Indies Company from all around the Indian Ocean. After the captives force the surviving crew below deck, a brave Malagasy warrior and a devious Dutch company agent fight a battle of wits with many surprising turns. For some aboard, the journey ends on infamous Robben Island, where Tokyo Sexwale and Nelson Mandela were later imprisoned.