In the early 19th century, stories
00:32
emerged of mysterious ruins that lay
00:35
buried and forgotten deep inside the
00:37
America. But a lost civilization in this
00:43
region was thought to be impossible in
00:46
Everyone knew that the continent had
00:50
only ever been people by
00:52
savages, but they couldn't have created
00:55
structures. Someone else must have done
01:00
it. So Egyptians or Asians had come to
01:03
the Central America and built these
01:07
ruins and then left again.
01:08
But then an American lawyer named John
01:12
Lloyd Stevens and a British artist
01:14
Frederick Cather went to see these ruins
01:17
themselves. An artist and a lawyer go
01:21
into a jungle. I mean that what how more
01:23
preposterous can it be?
01:26
They traveled hundreds of miles through
01:30
the jungles of Mexico, Guatemala, and
01:32
Honduras to search for the
01:35
Eventually, they uncovered the remains
01:41
cities. It was extraordinarily exciting
01:49
for them because they knew they'd found
01:52
something the world had never seen
01:54
With their astonishing discoveries, the
02:01
two amateur explorers overturned
02:03
everything we thought we knew about the
02:06
world. This is the amazing story of how
02:11
Stevens and Catherwood discovered one of
02:14
the world's greatest
02:17
civilizations, the Maya.
02:19
John Lloyd Stevens was born to a
02:34
prosperous New Jersey family in
02:36
1805. He was classically educated, a
02:39
trained lawyer, and a rising Democratic
02:43
And so he might have remained but for a
02:50
chance event. During a mayoral campaign
02:52
1834, Stevens's voice became so hoarse
02:56
with public speaking that he developed a
02:59
infection. His doctor advised an
03:04
immediate change of climate.
03:07
Stevens took his doctor at his word. He
03:22
enjoyed the thrill of traveling around
03:25
Europe and the Middle East, writing
03:26
about his adventures amongst the ruins
03:29
By the mid 1830s, he goes to Egypt in
03:34
the Holy Land. He travels to Greece and
03:39
Poland and Russia and he really takes to
03:42
it. He seems to have a real talent for
03:44
writing. On his way back to New York,
03:53
Steven stopped off in London in
03:55
Here he met Frederick Catherwood, a
04:05
artist. Catherwood was trained as an
04:12
architect to begin with. So he
04:14
understands buildings, he understands
04:15
structure, and then he goes to the Royal
04:17
Academy Schools in London and trains as
04:19
artist. Cather studied under some of the
04:22
greatest masters of his
04:25
time. Turner gave him lessons on
04:28
Others taught him how to draw buildings
04:32
and Catherwood became a highly
04:35
accomplished architectural
04:36
painter. Like Stevens, Catherwood had
04:50
traveled to many of the great ruins of
04:53
Europe in the Middle East between 1821
04:55
Stevens a Cath acquired really very
05:03
extensive knowledge both of them of the
05:05
kind of archaeology that was was known
05:07
about at that time in the old
05:09
world. While Stevens had written about
05:13
these ancient worlds, Catherwood had
05:16
painted their ruins in great detail.
05:18
But then Stevens and Catherwood would
05:36
hear rumors of a new world
05:39
civilization which would define the path
05:41
they would follow for the rest of their
05:43
lives. They come together and discuss
05:46
what is just about on on the radar at
05:50
the time. And this is these curious
05:52
remnants of some sort of ancient
05:54
civilization in in Central
05:56
America. Cather showed Stevens an
06:04
intriguing book called Descriptions of
06:07
Published in 1822, it displayed
06:13
illustrations of ruins with palaces and
06:16
pyramids covered with characters and
06:19
symbols in a mysterious place called
06:22
Penke in southern Mexico. Kath would
06:25
show him a series of books. One of them
06:29
provided quite an avid description of
06:31
Penke, but had decided that like so many
06:34
scholars of the time that it couldn't
06:37
have been the native Indians that had
06:39
created these ruins.
06:40
The idea that there had ever been a
06:50
Native American civilization deep in the
06:52
jungles of Central America was
06:55
unthinkable to many in the 1800s.
06:57
Indigenous Indians could not have built
07:02
these ruins, could not have built such
07:04
great palaces. And they were magnificent
07:06
palaces for a culture that never moved
07:08
tools. Indians, according to historians
07:13
of the day, were thought to be savage
07:16
and primitive and not capable of
07:19
building such sophisticated cities.
07:21
The view was that the ruins at Paleenke
07:26
must have been the work of other
07:28
They must have been an ancient culture
07:33
from across the sea. So Egyptians or
07:36
Asians had come to Central America and
07:38
built these ruins and then left again.
07:41
The reason for this view was that
07:51
historians had very fixed
07:53
ideas. Critically they believed all
07:57
civilizations had to conform to a
08:00
rules. In the 1830s I mean Stevens and
08:04
Catherwood when talking about
08:07
civilization would define it in terms of
08:08
cities and impressive looking
08:11
evidence of rulers and
08:19
rule complex kind of agricultural
08:21
system. And then there is time for
08:30
people to be artists, to sculpt
08:33
monuments, to study the sciences,
08:36
travel, trade, have a wealth of goods,
08:39
have teachers, schools.
08:41
Everyone agreed that the primitive
08:48
nomadic people of Central America
08:50
couldn't have achieved anything like
08:52
Though they weren't professional
09:04
historians, Stevens and Catherwood
09:06
believed that those who held that view
09:08
were wrong. They could see no evidence
09:10
that Egyptians and Phoenicians had ever
09:13
been to Central America, and the images
09:16
they were looking at were very different
09:18
to anything they had seen in the old
09:20
world. They must have been made by an
09:23
unknown Native American culture.
09:26
Stevens and Cathwood were
09:30
extraordinarily different people. I
09:31
mean, that's what's makes them so
09:32
marvelous as a pair. This is a sort of
09:33
Holmes and Watson, you know, of my
09:35
archaeology. They could see that was
09:37
evident in the new world was something
09:39
very very different. He and Catherwood
09:40
together were the first to look at these
09:42
sites um without the filters of thinking
09:45
about old world archaeology. both are
09:48
very much interested in these being
09:51
indigenously authored sites.
09:53
These illustrations and vague accounts
09:56
of a lost city aroused Stevens and
09:58
curiosity. They decided to look further.
10:03
Two years later, in
10:16
1838, Stevens got another
10:18
lead. A New York book seller showed him
10:23
several more works relating to ruins in
10:26
America. One was a large folio based on
10:30
the personal explorations and
10:34
illustrations of French archaeologist
10:36
Jean Frederick Walddeck, which had just
10:39
been published in Paris.
10:41
These pages showed again the
10:45
illustrations of the Paleenke ruins in
10:47
Mexico, first made known to Stevens by
10:49
Catherwood. And there was more. The book
10:54
also revealed illustrations of another
10:57
strange ruin in Oshar in the Yucatan
10:59
Stevens then learned from the book
11:11
seller that yet a further set of ruins
11:13
were said to exist in an area called
11:15
Honduras. Stevens had read an account by
11:22
a man called Juan Galindo who'd actually
11:25
been to Kopan and written a description
11:27
of what of what he'd seen there.
11:29
Monstrous fears are found among the
11:33
ruins. One, a colossal alligator having
11:35
in his jaws a figure with a human face,
11:38
but with the paws of an
11:41
animal. Stevens was stunned. He had now
11:49
heard of three separate ruined
11:53
cities. Paleenke in southern Mexico,
11:56
Ushar in the Yucatan, and Copan in
11:59
Honduras. All in the same region but
12:02
hundreds of miles apart. And who knew if
12:05
more? Stevens began to wonder, could
12:11
these ruins be evidence that there had
12:14
once been a great civilization in that
12:16
region? He is, you know, among the first
12:20
of these explorer writers to begin
12:23
connecting the dots and thinking about
12:26
this as a coherent civilization.
12:28
Stevens could see that there must be
12:31
some connection between these ruins. And
12:33
these weren't just one palace here and
12:35
one palace there, completely different
12:37
groups. There must have been something
12:39
Back at home, Stevens became convinced
12:54
he was on to something and was
12:57
determined to find these three ruins
12:59
he'd learned about. Pelenke, Ushmile,
13:01
Copan. He began to plan an expedition to
13:06
Because Stevens was now earning
13:20
substantial royalties from his
13:22
successful travel books, he invited his
13:24
artist friend Frederick Catherwood to go
13:26
him. Stevens sent him word to get
13:30
ready. The deal meant that Catherwood
13:34
would illustrate any ruins they find in
13:36
Central America, and Stevens would pay
13:39
Catherwood packed his brushes, paints,
13:43
paper. He also packed machetes and
13:50
pistols as there was a real chance of
13:53
trouble where they were
13:56
going. British Honduras and Guatemala
14:00
were in the middle of a violent border
14:04
dispute and the area was considered a
14:06
very dangerous place to visit.
14:08
Stevens realized that they were going to
14:12
need all the help they could
14:14
get. He persuaded the US President
14:23
Martin van Buren to appoint him as a
14:26
special ambassador to Central America to
14:29
help ease their way through the unstable
14:32
He's even given a special sort of frock
14:37
coat to wear for the sort of official
14:38
occasions. So he has that diplomatic
14:41
mission which runs alongside the the
14:43
artistic and and historical
14:45
mission. The only problem was the four
14:53
previous US ambassadors to have held
14:57
this position had all died in office in
14:59
Stevens received a letter from one of
15:05
their widows whose husband had died of
15:07
malaria. It concluded with the ominous
15:10
words, "May you be more fortunate than
15:13
any of your predecessors have been."
15:16
Stevens and Catherwood left New York on
15:27
1839, determined to locate the three
15:32
ruins buried deep in the jungles of
15:34
America. After a month at sea, the two
15:43
explorers arrived in Bise on the
15:46
northeastern coast of Central America.
15:48
Their plan was to first head towards one
15:53
of the mysterious lost cities Stevens
15:56
had heard about in New York. It was
15:58
called Copan and it lay in the western
16:01
region of Honduras, close to the
16:04
In honor of Steven's diplomatic
16:19
position, they were guests of the
16:21
British governor in Bise. Colonel
16:23
Macdonald, a veteran of the Napoleonic
16:25
Wars. Macdonald warned them they were
16:30
entering dangerous country and his
16:32
diplomatic pass would hold no sway with
16:34
any rebel forces they may encounter.
16:37
Macdonald put Stevens and Cather on a
16:52
government steamboat and told them that
16:54
if danger did threaten, they were to
16:56
hang out their flag and send word to
16:58
him. Then he sent them on their way with
17:01
Undaunted, they arrived on the coast of
17:18
eastern Guatemala the following
17:20
morning. Now the two explorers had to
17:24
climb over the Miko mountain range to
17:27
reach the Guatemalan border with
17:29
Honduras. Once there, they would enter
17:31
Honduras and go on to Copan.
17:34
Stevens hired a guide who was fluent in
17:45
Spanish and knew the grueling mountain
17:47
ahead. Although only just over 4,000 ft,
17:56
Mo was a treacherous route to cross.
18:00
Stevens later described their experience
18:16
in his book of the expedition, Incidents
18:18
of Travel in Central
18:20
America. For five long hours, we were
18:25
dragged through mud holes, squeezed in
18:28
gullies, knocked against trees, and
18:30
tumbled over roots. Every step required
18:33
care and great physical
18:36
exertion. I felt that our and glorious
18:42
epitap might be tossed over the head of
18:44
a mule, rained by the trunk of a
18:47
mahogany tree, and buried in the mud of
18:49
Mountain. Catherwood looked at Stevens
18:54
If I'd known of this cursed Mo Mountain
18:59
before I agreed to come, you would have
19:01
come to Central America
19:04
alone. Here's a guy in a jungle with
19:07
guns on each hip and a
19:11
sword and in all likelihood wearing
19:13
shades because he suffered from eye
19:15
problems, inflammation of the iris, and
19:18
there's a reference to him wearing
19:20
spectacles. I mean, that picture when
19:21
you think about it, I mean, Keith
19:24
Richards got nothing on that.
19:25
Over the next two weeks, the party
19:39
hacked through jungles and traversed
19:41
ravines. It was jungle. End to end
19:48
jungle with no roads or places to stop
19:52
off for the night. Food was a big issue.
19:55
It seemed like they lived on chocolate
19:58
and cigars most of the
20:00
time. They passed hillsides with grazing
20:05
cattle that reminded Stevens of rural
20:09
England, wereounded by biting insects
20:13
fevers. And there was also the
20:18
everpresent threat of running into
20:21
rebels. People get very nasty in civil
20:24
were already known to have committed
20:32
atrocities and massacres and whatnot.
20:34
Um, and they had a very real suspicion
20:37
One evening, Stevens and Cather set up
20:53
camp in an abandoned
20:56
church. As they slept, drunken soldiers
21:04
burst in, brandishing swords and
21:07
musketss. Stevens recalled this incident
21:13
in his account of the
21:15
Here we were in the hands of men who
21:19
would have been turned out of any decent
21:22
state prison lest they should
21:24
contaminate the other
21:26
inmates. Their appearance was ferocious
21:27
and doubtless if we had attempted to
21:30
escape they would have been glad of the
21:32
Luckily, the following morning, the
21:47
soldiers had sobered up. Stevens and
21:49
Catherwood were allowed to continue
21:52
their journey to Copan.
21:54
14 days after arriving in Bise, the two
22:10
men finally reached the area of
22:13
Copan, a remote jungle region little
22:17
known by locals and rarely visited by
22:21
As the two explorers worked their way
22:42
through the dense forest, they suddenly
22:45
came to a bank of a
22:47
river. Across the water, Steven's eyes
22:54
fell on a large stone wall rising out of
22:57
It was 100 ft high and covered in thick
23:08
vines. It had more the character of a
23:14
structure than anything we had ever seen
23:17
ascribed to the aboriges of America.
23:19
Stevens and Cather crossed the river to
23:40
investigate. Stevens would vividly
23:46
describe their experience of Copine and
23:49
how they first set eyes on the ruins in
23:52
his book of the expedition.
23:54
I am entering abruptly a new
23:57
world. It is impossible to describe the
24:00
interest with which I explored these
24:03
ruins. The ground was entirely new.
24:07
There were no guide books or guides. The
24:11
soil. We could not see 10 yards before
24:16
us and never knew what we should stumble
24:19
Stevens realized they had to clear the
24:35
ruins of its tangle of jungle vines
24:38
before they could really understand what
24:41
Just as they were about to begin, they
24:56
problem. The local land owner
25:01
appeared. Stevens explained he wanted to
25:06
clear and explore the ruins and offered
25:08
when his host is uh sort of bulking at
25:13
the idea, the first thing that Stevens
25:16
does is he opens up his trunk, pulls out
25:18
his diplomatic, you know, sort of
25:20
uniform and claims that his host was
25:23
overwhelmed by his shiny, you know,
25:26
buttons. At last, Steven's diplomatic
25:31
status became useful. He was allowed to
25:34
purchase the Copan land for
25:37
$50. Now they could set to
25:41
work. The following morning, the
26:03
systematic clearing of the Copan ruins
26:06
Copan was extraordinarily overgrown at
26:10
this point. So they were seeing little
26:12
bits and pieces of Copan at a
26:14
time. At one time we stopped to cut away
26:22
branches and vines which concealed the
26:25
monument and dig around and bring to
26:29
light a fragment, a sculptured corner of
26:32
which protruded from the earth.
26:34
It'd be like finding one statue in
26:39
Egypt and not knowing yet that the
26:42
pyramids were there.
26:44
We go now and we travel there now and
26:48
they look very clinical almost cuz they
26:50
very nicely cut lawns and all of the
26:52
trees have been taken away, but they
26:55
would have seen them thoroughly immersed
26:57
I leaned over with breathless anxiety.
27:01
An eye, an ear, a foot, or a hand was
27:04
And when the machete rang against the
27:10
chiseled stone, I cleared out the loose
27:13
hands. As Stevens ran the excavations,
27:33
Catherwood set up his station in the
27:37
jungle to record the mysterious
27:39
structures they were
27:41
discovering. He used a piece of
27:46
equipment called a camera lucid to help
27:48
him detail what he was seeing with great
27:51
accuracy. He had with him this
27:55
apparatus, the camera lucid. the light
27:58
came through a kind of prism and gave
28:00
you an image which you could see on a
28:02
piece of paper and you pretty much
28:04
sketch it or trace it and it was a great
28:05
Catherine. Katherine with his incredible
28:15
architecture must have realized right
28:21
away that this was something quite
28:24
unique and that he was in a unique place
28:26
qualified to record it.
28:30
As Stevens and Catherwood gradually
28:50
cleared away the jungle vines, they
28:52
began to unearth evidence of a very
28:54
society. They saw fantastic little
29:00
elements of sculpture which intrigued
29:02
them. And then eventually as they
29:04
carried on, they began to see these very
29:07
large great big monoliths.
29:10
seeing these which clearly convinced
29:15
them that this was something. They'd
29:18
never seen anything like that
29:19
before. Working our way through the
29:22
thick woods, we came upon a square stone
29:24
column about 14 ft high and 3 ft on each
29:27
side from the base to the top.
29:31
The front was the figure of the man
29:36
curiously and richly dressed and the
29:39
face evidently a portrait. Our guide
29:42
idol. And before it was a large block of
29:49
stone sculptured with figures which he
29:52
The sight of this unexpected monument
29:59
gave us the assurance that the objects
30:02
we were in search of were interesting
30:04
not only as the remains of an unknown
30:07
people but as works of art. Proving that
30:09
the people who once occupied the
30:13
continent of America were not savages.
30:15
Right away you can see how open he is
30:20
because he doesn't say, "Oh, that's a a
30:22
monster or a a crude representation of
30:25
the devil or something." He observes
30:28
that they're very complex, must have
30:31
been made by very, you know, talented
30:34
As the days passed, Stevens and
30:53
Catherwood uncovered monumental
30:56
structures that could have housed
30:58
hundreds of people and building blocks
31:00
that showed all the hallmarks of a great
31:03
They found large squares, terraces and
31:08
platforms with stepped pyramids,
31:12
temples, ceremonial buildings and
31:15
shrines with altars.
31:18
We reached a terrace so overgrown with
31:28
trees that at first we could not make
31:30
out its form, but which on clearing we
31:32
ascertained to be a square and with
31:36
steps on all the sides as perfect as
31:39
those of the Roman amphitheater.
31:42
I think they really were kind of
31:45
astounded once they got to Copan. Uh the
31:46
extent of the cities,
31:49
the beauty of the sculpture, the
31:53
desolation of the city, and the mystery
31:54
that hung over it, all created an
31:57
interest higher, if possible, than I had
32:00
ever felt among the ruins of the old
32:02
What is amazingly sort of human and
32:07
endearing of him is the way he puts it
32:10
is that he says, you know, after a time
32:12
looking at these things, it was evident
32:14
these weren't the monuments of of
32:16
savages. These are sophisticated people.
32:17
Now there could be no doubt the two
32:22
amateur men had found what professional
32:24
historians had said could not
32:27
exist. Proof that some form of
32:30
civilization had once thrived in this
32:33
And then came something even more
32:53
extraordinary writing.
32:59
standing at the center of the ruins,
33:06
their eyes fixed on a large stone
33:08
monument with 16 seated human figures
33:10
carved around it and 36 blocks of
33:14
top. Catherine knew from seeing all the
33:20
Egyptian hieroglyphs that he' drawn over
33:22
and over again along the Nile that this
33:24
was a writing system and that the
33:26
writing system they talked together
33:29
about this probably had something to do
33:30
with the images on the front.
33:32
As Stevens and Catherwood's eyes
33:35
examined the hieroglyphs, they were
33:37
aware that all the great cultures of the
33:40
past had developed their own writing
33:42
systems. The people of Copan had clearly
33:45
done the same, just like the
33:48
civilizations of the old
33:51
world. There were no associations
33:56
connected with the place. None of those
33:59
stirring recollections which hallow
34:01
Rome, Athens, and the world's great
34:04
mistress on the Egypt
34:06
plane, but architecture, sculpture, and
34:08
painting. All the arts which embellish
34:12
life had flourished in this overgrown
34:15
forest. Orators, warriors, and
34:17
statesmen, beauty, ambition, and glory
34:20
had lived and passed away.
34:22
But it beg the question, who had built
34:38
this place, and what had become of
34:41
them? The city was desolate. It lay
34:45
before us like a shattered bark amidst
34:49
the ocean. Her masks gone, her name a
34:52
faced, her crew perished. and none to
34:55
tell when she came, to whom she
34:57
belonged, how long in her voyage, or
35:00
destruction. In the ruined cities of
35:05
Egypt, even in the longlost Petra, the
35:07
stranger knows the story of the
35:10
vestigages around him.
35:12
Stevens was convinced the answer to who
35:26
had built this civilization had to lie
35:29
hieroglyphs. One day, when someone could
35:32
read them, they would be able to
35:35
understand the history of those who had
35:37
here. In regards to the age of this
35:42
desolate city, I shall not at present
35:44
offer any conjecture. One thing I
35:47
believe that its history is graven on
35:50
Stevens really believed that these were
35:55
historical documents, that they weren't
35:57
simply um say astronomical observations,
35:59
that they're the stories of real
36:02
lives. Spurred on by their amazing
36:12
discovery at Copan, Stevens and
36:15
Catherwood continued their trek across
36:17
Central America in search of other
36:19
They know that somewhere out there
36:28
there's this palenke and they've seen
36:29
illustrations of that. So they were
36:32
maybe already considering well maybe
36:34
there's a very large area here. We don't
36:37
know how it's construct whether it's an
36:39
empire whether these are kind of city
36:41
states with something definably similar
36:43
um across across a wide area. Over the
36:46
next 2 years, they explored a vast
36:50
region and traveled through Honduras,
36:53
Guatemala, and the Yucatan in
36:56
Mexico. Stevens and Cather uncovered,
37:05
surveyed, and recorded another 43 ruined
37:08
cities that had lain buried and
37:12
forgotten for hundreds of years.
37:14
Tulum. And they found evidence of
37:33
everything that people believed was
37:36
needed for a civilization.
37:38
Vast cities with central areas
37:41
containing grand plazas, royal courts,
37:44
and governor's palaces. Proof of a
37:47
sophisticated social
37:51
hierarchy. Ornate temples, stepped
37:53
pyramids, and monuments bearing
37:56
hieroglyphic descriptions, proof of an
37:58
organized religion.
38:01
Gymnasiums and ball courts, astronomical
38:04
observatories, intensive farming land,
38:08
markets and trading centers, outlying
38:10
villages, lookout towers and defensive
38:14
walls with linking roads and
38:16
causeways. All with a common
38:20
architectural style that confirmed that
38:22
there was once a single vast
38:25
Stevens and Catherwood returned to New
38:45
York in the spring of
38:47
1842. They faced a new challenge. They
38:49
had to convince the world that what they
38:53
had discovered in Central America was
38:55
groundbreaking. There really was a vast
38:59
civilization that had once existed and
39:02
thrived in a place where nobody believed
39:05
one. Stevens decided the best way to
39:22
achieve this would be to publish a
39:24
written illustrated record of their
39:26
His first book, Incidents of Travel in
39:32
Central America, came out in
39:35
1841 and was quickly followed by
39:40
Incidents of Travel in Yucatan in
39:43
1843. Steven's books contained over 200
39:47
Cathwood engravings and were an instant
39:50
success, selling more than 20,000 copies
39:54
within the first 3 months.
39:57
His volumes were really within the reach
40:00
of the middleclass American reading
40:03
public. And so the ruins reached a far
40:06
wider audience than they ever had
40:10
before. Edgar Alan Poe called Steven's
40:13
work perhaps the most thrilling book on
40:16
travel ever published.
40:19
Cather then released his own volume,
40:33
Views of Ancient Monuments in Central
40:35
America, the following year.
40:38
It documented their spectacular
40:45
discoveries with 25 stunning handcoled
40:47
lithographs which vividly brought the
40:51
beautiful carved monuments, temples and
40:53
pyramids back to life.
40:56
What Catherine Wood did with his drawing
41:16
was not so much just make pictures. He
41:18
he used the word draw in its larger
41:21
sense of pulling. He pulled basically
41:25
drew an entire civilization out of the
41:29
past into the present.
41:32
I think that there is a real parallel
41:35
between um Catherwood's painstaking
41:37
illustration of every inch of a monument
41:40
uh and Stevens doing the same thing in
41:43
pros. Together, the writings of Stevens
41:48
and the illustrations of Catherwood
41:51
would captivate the imagination of their
41:53
Steven had a fantastic rhetoric. His
41:58
clear, descriptive, immersive, and he
42:02
really portrayed a lot of his passion
42:07
for what he was doing through his
42:09
writing. It was a perfect example of how
42:20
the words and the images complemented
42:23
one another, but neither one could have
42:25
pulled this off on their own.
42:27
But for all their extraordinary
42:44
revelations, there was still one
42:46
question they could not
42:48
answer. As Stevens wrote, "I now bid
42:51
farewell to the ruins. I leave them with
42:55
all mystery around them and in the
42:58
feeble hope that these imperfect pages
43:01
may in some way throw a glimmer of light
43:04
upon the great and long vainly mooted
43:06
question. Who were the peoplers of
43:09
Stevens and Catherwood would never know
43:28
the answer. They both died early in
43:30
lives. Stevens from malaria at the age
43:35
47 and Catherwood drowned when his ship
43:38
sank crossing the Atlantic in
43:42
But eventually Steven's prediction would
44:01
come true. When someone could read their
44:04
hieroglyphic descriptions, they would
44:06
understand who these people
44:09
were. Over the next 170 years, the
44:12
secrets of this culture's history were
44:16
indeed proved to be in their
44:19
writing. Stevens is really the first
44:22
western explorer in Central America and
44:25
Mexico, both to believe in indigenous
44:27
authorship of the ruins and to glean the
44:30
importance of the glyphs.
44:33
Archaeologists inspired by Stevens and
44:43
Catherwood's explorations managed to
44:45
read the writings and the
44:48
images and a picture emerged of the rise
44:51
and fall of one of the world's greatest
44:54
civilizations, the Maya.
44:58
The earliest traces of their existence
45:13
go back to 1500 BC and possibly as far
45:16
BC. Their kingdoms stretched across a
45:23
vast area of Central America from
45:26
southern Mexico to the Atlantic and the
45:29
Caribbean coast of Bise.
45:32
Stevens and Catherwood's first
45:37
discovery, Copan was established in 450
45:39
AD and lasted for 400
45:43
years with 20,000 people in an area of
45:50
100 square miles. It was the Athens of
45:53
Central America from the 5th to the 9th
45:57
centuries AD at a time when Europe was
46:00
lost in the dark ages.
46:03
Copan by any standards was a highly
46:07
developed and advanced
46:10
civilization. The Maya were a hugely
46:15
sophisticated society and culture. They
46:17
had a very complicated mathematic
46:20
system. They were one of the few ancient
46:22
groups to use the concept of zero which
46:26
is hugely important for
46:29
mathematics. They had very detailed
46:32
astronomy. They knew the movements of
46:34
the planets and stars. They mapped the
46:37
movement of Venus, for example, with a
46:41
detail. Their calendar was very, very
46:45
accurate, more accurate in many ways
46:48
than western calendars of a similar
46:51
period. They managed to build these
46:54
temples without the use of metal tools.
46:56
They had very little metal work um other
46:59
than gold and silver for decorative
47:02
purposes. They never had the wheel. They
47:04
didn't have pack animals. There was no
47:06
horses or carts or anything like that.
47:08
But they were able to create temples as
47:10
large if not larger than those in Egypt.
47:13
Stevens and Cather's revelation that a
47:42
mighty Maya civilization lay buried in
47:45
the Central American jungle was one of
47:47
the greatest discoveries of their
47:50
age. An artist and a lawyer go into a
47:53
jungle. I mean that what how more
47:56
proposers can it be? But the thing
47:58
was the very different personalities
48:01
with that overlap produced this amazing
48:04
scope which would never have happened if
48:08
they hadn't been that different.
48:10
Stevens and Catherwood proved that you
48:14
didn't need to be a professional
48:17
academic to be a great historian. What
48:18
you needed was passion and attention to
48:22
detail. and an open
48:25
mind. I think you know essentially in
48:28
finally judging their achievement you
48:30
have these two people that complement
48:33
each other wonderfully well with this
48:35
extraordinarily vivid text and the
48:37
marvelous uh illustrations and what you
48:39
do have here you have two people that
48:42
have established the study of the
48:43
Maya it was remarkable not just an
48:46
intellectual achievement it was a feat
48:49
of endurance these were heroes they
48:51
produced a remarkable event under
48:53
life-threatening circumstances I think
48:55
exploratory triumphs absolutely in
49:00
With their astonishing discoveries, the
49:06
two amateur explorers overturned every
49:08
prejudice we had about the development
49:11
of cultures in the new
49:13
world. Stevens and Cather had proved
49:16
beyond doubt. Native Americans had
49:19
constructed a sophisticated civilization
49:22
that compared to any of the finest
49:24
civilizations of the old world.
49:28