The Acropolis is one of the most famous ancient sites in the world. Rising over the city of Athens 150 metres above sea level, it consists of several significant archaeological remains of temples dedicated to various deities, and civic buildings. This album offers a chance to tour the Acropolis and examine its many buildings, including its best preserved temple, the Parthenon, along with its friezes, known as the Elgin Marbles. Also, the album follows the route of the procession that took place during the Panathenaea festival which rivalled the Olympic Games in popularity, and contains a track to help the student understand the conventions used to draw up plans of ancient buildings and to visualise 3-dimensional structures. This material forms part of The Open University course A219 Exploring the Classical World.

How are volcanoes created? And how can scientists re-construct eruptions from many thousands of years ago? On a field trip to Iceland, Dr Dave McGarvie visits a range of volcanoes. These include Askja, a particularly spectacular and active volcano in Iceland’s remote interior, and the valley where astronauts once trained to land on the Moon. Dave is joined by scientists from Iceland, the USA and Open University PhD student Anne Forbes as they explore exciting lava formations that have never been reported before.