Lost King of the Maya (PBS documentary)

Sixteen hundred years ago, a mysterious left-handed warrior seized control of the Mayan city of Copan, founding a dynasty that would last for 400 years. Eventually the Maya abandoned Copan and all other Mayan cities, which lay undisturbed for over 1,000 years. Then, in the 19th century, explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood stumbled on the vine-strangled remains of huge complexes of temples and monuments covered with strange portraits and hieroglyphs. In this program, NOVA takes viewers deep into the Central American rain forest to the resurrected ruins of Copan, a once majestic jewel of Mayan civilization which was inexplicably abandoned over a thousand years ago.

Related Links:
Cracking the Maya Code
Engineering an Emire: The Maya

Cracking the Maya Code

The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script, carved on monuments, painted on pottery, and drawn in handmade bark-paper books. For centuries, scholars considered it too complex ever to understand - until recently, when an ingenious series of breakthroughs finally cracked the code and unleashed a torrent of new insights into the Mayas' turbulent past. For the first time, NOVA presents the epic inside story of how the decoding was done - traveling to the remote jungles of southern Mexico and Central America to investigate how the code was broken and what Maya writings now reveal.

Related Links:
Engineering an Emire: The Maya
Lost King of the Maya