Indiana Jones: Myth, Reality And 21st Century Archaeology

Scholars and the general public alike are fascinated by the ancient Maya, a people whose culture and domain extended from southern and eastern Mexico into Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. We are collectively captivated by theories of the predicted demise of civilization and the ostensible secrets of the Mayan calendar. But truth can sometimes be more intriguing than fiction. Much of what we know about the Maya has been culled by our understanding of their unique wetlands landscape and the adaptations they made to that tropical and forested environment. Mayan engineering technologies account for their ability to survive in settings that were challenging, to say the least. Our discussion is led by Drs. Timothy Beach and Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, who discuss their recent work in the Mayan heartland and report on new archaeological technologies that shed light on the survival and eventual disappearance of this ancient civilization.