Across the ancient world, cultures independently constructed monumental, pyramidal, and vertically oriented structures—ziggurats, stepped temples, mounds, and artificial mountains that continue to dominate their landscapes thousands of years later. Why did humans everywhere feel compelled to build up? Join Art Historian Brenda Edgar as she uncovers these these structures not only as tombs, temples, or symbols of power, but as monumental expressions of a pan-human capacity for altered states of consciousness.