I've recently become obsessed with Nova's Secrets of Lost Empires. Essentially, Nova is trying to build and move some of the amazingly large and heavy things that ancient cultures managed to do without cranes, complicated engineering techniques or chainsaws. There's a midieval throwing contraption, and Egyption oblisk, the giant heads on Easter Island, a Roman bath and a Chinese bridge. The interesting part about the shows is the bickering and cheating. Assorted archeologists, timber framers, riggers, historians, and engineers bicker about how the ancients did it, who's theory is right and who's fault it is that the contraptions aren't working. There is also entensive use of cranes, complicated engineering techniques and chainsaws. In each location, they also manage to exploit locals into doing the actual pulling of tons of stone. Interesting, there is little bickering among the laborers. The official nova sites don't highlight the reality tv aspects of the show, go watch it yourself.