Cracking the Maya Code

Cracking the Maya Code

2008, Mystery  -   12 Comments
8.05
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Ratings: 8.05/10 from 37 users.

Cracking the Maya CodeThis one-hour program is divided into five chapters. The Forgotten Maya Temples. In 1774, Spanish explorer Jose Calderon rediscovers the temples of Palenque and the ancient hieroglyphs of the Maya, a people whose culture was decimated by the Spanish conquistadors.

A Hidden History. Toiling away in the basement of Harvard's Peabody Museum, archeologist Tatiana Proskouriakoff discovers that Maya monuments contain a decipherable history rather than mere pictures and symbols.

Political Roadblock. Working behind the Iron Curtain, Russian linguist Yuri Knorosov posits that Maya glyphs may represent sounds, but his ideas are discredited in the West.

Child's Play. David Stuart submits his first scholarly paper on glyphs at age 12 and later becomes a major player in Maya studies with his advances in script decipherment.

Cultural Revelations. An image of the ancient Maya comes to life, and their descendants in modern-day Mexico and Central America begin to relearn their lost language and history.

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Barry Urry
Barry Urry
6 years ago

Lazibones, white man is not the only cause of world problems. Genghis Kahn raised holy hell in the orient. The Barbary pirates (code=Muslims) were the most notorious slavers and pirates in their time. Kim Jong In is not a"white man" and look at the trouble he's causing! No, western man is not the only problem on this earth! Many have contributed!

Paul John
Paul John
11 years ago

a lovely documentary and hats off to those scientists who deciphered the text for the Mayans. I hope they do this for the 5000 year old Harappans and Mohenjo Daro glyphs which are still undecipherable. Many tribes that live around the old Harappan sites in Gujarat state of India have these symbols as tatoo marks on their bodies, not knowing what they mean. the Harappan's were excellent town planners and its amazing how they lived. The trade relations they had with many countries

Paul John
Paul John
11 years ago

a beautiuful documentarty

David Holz
David Holz
13 years ago

good stuff , can't imagine how difficult it must be to attempt to break a code like the Mayans'. much cred to the code breaking geniuses. looks like they made some serous breakthroughs , turns out there is a detail description of a location containing hundreds of pounds of golden tablets. These tablets apparently contain Ancient Mayan laws over 2,000 or so not sure which one is more important gold or ancient law hmm the irony. A real life treasure hunt.
crafty joe is right on, doesn't matter mans' color for all man is capable of wickedness. and toddy is right on smoke some kiano and share the fruits of this mysterious terrestrial body. Save the planet grow Hemp!

toddy
toddy
13 years ago

Ones again Nova On PBS has done a great job on quality programing.
@dread &lazibonz if we should meet lets smoke some Kali and break some bread together.

craftyjoe
craftyjoe
13 years ago

lazibonz ... hello my friend! nonono! you have it all wrong, its man of all creeds who are responsible for the worlds woes!! man is greedy and selfish and it matters not his colour. peace my friend!

bogg
bogg
13 years ago

hey tim he was quetzlcoatl the "bearded winged serpent"

lazibonz
lazibonz
13 years ago

yeah the white man single cause of all problems on earth

DakkaDakkaDakka
DakkaDakkaDakka
14 years ago

Great doc, well worth a watch.

White man?
Al jolson?

Vlatko
Vlatko
14 years ago

Not a problem Tim. Thanks.

Tim
Tim
14 years ago

Interesting doc. Thanks again Vlatko.

Btw, who is this "white man"? Does he have a name?

dread
dread
14 years ago

How kind the white man is, after all how wise the white man is to gain credit for showing compassion!!! Thanks again for the white mans generosity for taking and giving...... Funny be proud.