Great ruined cities, lost in the jungles of Central America and Mexico have tantalized explorers for hundreds of years. Who had built these great cities? It would take more than a century to unlock the secrets of the ancient Maya. Two extraordinary people would lead the way. Already a celebrated adventurer and writer, American John Lloyd Stephens along with his English companion, Frederick Catherwood, embarked on the first journeys to Central American in 1839. Battling danger and disease, they emerged from the mysterious land with extraordinary accounts and breathtaking images of a once great Native American civilisation. Hundreds of years later, Russian-born Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a woman in a man's world, would see deeper and further than her more famous contemporaries. Her extraordinary study turned Maya archeology on its head and revealed to the world for the first time the real lives of the Maya.

• Approximately 52 minutes
• © 2001