IMAX Mystery of the Maya (Mystery of the Maya)

For thousands of years.

Southeast Mexico and Central America

sheltered the Maya culture

one of humanities richest and most original

Here without metal tools or the wheel

the Maya built majestic cities

In nearby caves descendants of the ancient Maya

pray to the gods they have worshipped

for more than 100 generations

Many of the cities were abandoned

in the late ninth and early tenth centuries

Since that time the forest has been the silent guardian

of the mystery of the Maya

Today, these ruins are the inheritance

of the Maya people

The drawing if the glyph you asked me for is finished

Well, let's go see

what the experts in writing can tell us

You know what my ancestors wrote with this glyph?

Interesting question

That's been a mystery for hundreds of years

You're very much interested in our work

Yes!

Principally we archaeologists

are dedicated to digging up the past

to save the mystery of the Maya

It's like a puzzle that is solved piece by piece

Only here in Chichen?

No, no. We've been working

In different sites here, there

We've been studying for more than a hundred years

During the early 19th century

reports of ancient monuments hidden in the jungle

circulated round the world

Explorers who occasionally came across these ruins

tried to explain their mysterious presence

with fantastic theories

Tales of these lost cities

attracted North American John Lloyd Stephens

an explorer who had published books about his travels

In 1839, Stephens organized an expedition

to Central America

accompanied by the talented English artist

Frederick Catherwood

He wrote of the respect

he came to reel toward the people who guided him

and of the surprise at what he found

He recorded all the details of his explorations

with great elegance

For the first time we came to a building

constructed long before the Europeans

knew of the existence of this continent

I was filled with amazement and admiration

for the beauty and solidity of the architecture

Here was a true palace with royal apartments

surrounded by magnificent courtyards.

The walls and pillars were richly ornamented

with reliefs and figures so beautifully created

that it was easy to see the artistic ability

of the Maya people.

With the aid of a camera lucida

Catherwood made many drawings.

Historians say America was peopled by savages

"but savages never rained these structures

"Savages never carved these stones.

"Their accomplishments were worthy

to stand beside those of Egypt, Greece and Rome."

In 1841, Stephens published his book

illustrated by Catherwood

and contributed important information

toward the knowledge of the Maya cities.

Stephens recognized the native origins of the ruins

and admired the beauty of the cities.

Alfred Maudslay was one of the first

to study the ancient Maya cities with a scientific approach

Maudslay drew derailed plans

and made sketches of the monuments

In this manner he established a base

for later archaeological studies

He carefully analyzed the sculptured motifs

which decorated the walls of the buildings

His attention was caught

by the frequent representation of the serpent

The molds of reliefs and glyphs which he made

enabled the study of the inscriptions

The best of my tools was the camera

The dry gelatin negative had just been invented

and this enabled photographers to work

in previously inaccessible places

The major contribution of Maudslay was his photographs

which have since been used in the restoration and preservation

of many objects believed to have been lost

to erosion, vandalism and theft

Some of the monuments photographed by Maudslay

reveal the richness of design carved in stone

For many years, it was thought

That these carving represented gods and priests

and that the glyphs

were concerned only with the calendar

Much later, we came to know their real significance

Some of these designs were also found

in the Maya books we call codices

Only four of these have survived

They contain glyphs

We must send yours away for deciphering

Most of the knowledge we have of ancient Maya life

comes from the writings of a Franciscan-Diego de Landa-

a monk who came to Yucatan in 1549

He used to observe the Maya and noted their use of glyphs

and later, tried to translate them into Spanish

In his writings

Landa established the base for deciphering the glyphs

which were a mixture of syllables and words

They wrote in their books about their sciences

The sciences they taught

were the counting of days, months and years

festivals and ceremonies

cures for illness

and the art of reading and writing

We found a great number of such books

Since they contained nothing but the words of the devil

we burned them all which caused them much grief

In his attempt to convert the Maya to Christianity

Landa destroyed their religious possessions

burning many of the codices

What happened to the writing if the books were destroyed?

Fortunately, the Maya wrote not only in books

we find writing on their stone monuments

and on pottery

as on this plate found in the Yucatan area

It's a passage

from the "Popol Yuh," a Maya legend

The glyphic writing was forgotten

After the burning of the codices

50 years after Maudslay's photos were published

they were also used by scholars to study the glyphs

and inspired many expeditions to the region

As the first glyphs were decoded

it was believed that all the texts were religious in nature

concerned with the passage of time

and the observation of the stars

It was thought the Maya were peaceful people

living in harmony with nature

scattered in the jungle

In 1946, a discovery was made

which cast more light on the mystery of the Maya

The theories were about to dramatically change

Photographer Giles Healy was making an expedition

to jungle in habited by the Lacandon

I spent more than two years

In the region with the Lacandon Indians

filming their daily life

I noted that from time to time

the men would disappear for a couple of day

They were making a pilgrimage to a temple