Finding out more

WEBSITES

The licensing of archaeological material for export from the United Kingdom
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/
cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/371/0041308.htm

The antiquities trade in the United Kingdom – recent developments
www.soton.ac.uk/~jmg296/croatia/brodie.htm
Two documents by Dr Neil Brodie – the first, the text of a memorandum to the parliamentary Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, and the second, a paper given at the World Archaeological Congress in 1998. Both give a comprehensive account of the present state of play for trafficking in archaeological treasures.

Archaeology
www.archaeology.org/online/news
Latest news on Maya and other finds from the Archaeological Institute of America. Good pictures and links to other websites.

Maya Archaeology
www.maya-archaeology.org/
Shows how digital technology can help build up a photographic archive of Maya art and treasures. Lots of links to other websites.

Lessons in Maya Calendrics and Writing
www.well.com/user/pac/maya/mayacal
Traveller Paul Clanon's lighthearted introduction to the mysteries and complexities of the Maya calendar and Maya script. Easy to read and good for beginners.

The Classic Maya Calendar and Day Numbering System
www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills
Professor David L Mills' website gives a full account of this difficult subject.

BOOKS

Ancient Civilizations of the New World by Richard E W Adams (Westview, 1997) £8.99.
Concise yet sweeping look at the origins and development of ancient New World cultures, including that of the Maya. It tackles not only all aspects of their social organisation but also the question of why they collapsed so quickly when the Europeans arrived.

Ancient Civilizations of the Aztecs and the Maya, edited by Arthur M Schlesinger (Chelsea House, 1999) £15.95.
Superbly illustrated reprints of articles from National Geographic magazine, providing a tour through the forgotten cities and mysterious temples of Central America.

The Ancient Maya by Robert J Sharer (Stanford University Press, 1994) £19.95.
Originally published about 40 years ago, this is the fifth edition of a weighty tome that covers all aspects of Maya life and beliefs in a scholarly way. Many maps, plans and illustrations.

Maya Monuments by Nigel Hughes (Antique Collectors Club, 2000) £25.
Beautiful paintings by Nigel Hughes take you on a trip through the monuments of a lost civilisation. Mainly pictures, with brief textual descriptions.

Maya Script by Maria Longhena (Abbeville, 1999) £25.
A handbook of the symbolic figures – or glyphs – that were the Maya's writing system and which give readers a vivid portrait of this complex society.

The Ancient American Civilisations by Friedrich Katz (Phoenix, 1972) £12.99.
Still in print, this scholarly overview of the Maya, Incas and Aztecs tells the story of these peoples from prehistoric times to the Spanish conquest of 1517.

FILMS

Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972): directed by Werner Herzog, starring Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Cecilia Rivera.
In 1560, a party of Pizarro's conquistadors descend into the Peruvian jungle in search of El Dorado. In the process, one of them, Aquirre (Kinski), succumbs to megalomania and madness. Based on a true story.

El Dorado (1988): directed by Carlos Saura, starring Omero Antonutti, Eusebio Poncela, Lambert Wilson.
French/Spanish epic in which conquistadors endure the dangers of the Peruvian jungle in search of the city of gold.

Lost Horizon (1937): directed by Frank Capra, starring Ronald Colman, H B Warner, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Sam Jaffe.
Four people, fleeing a Chinese revolution, crashland in a hidden valley in Tibet. Here they find Shangri-La, an idyllic civilisation where the weather is always good and people are gentle and kind and live to a great age. Based on James Hilton's novel. The 1973 musical version is best avoided.

The Lost World (1925): directed by Harry O Hoyt, starring Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Bessie Love.
Professor Challenger leads an expedition to prove his claim that prehistoric life exists on a remote plateau in South America. Based on the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This silent version is infinitely preferable to the 1960 remake.

She (1965): directed by Robert Day, starring Peter Cushing, Ursula Andress, Christopher Lee, John Richardson.
Ancient papers lead a Cambridge professor and his friends to a lost city in Africa ruled over by a queen (Andress, 'She who must be obeyed') who cannot die – unless she falls in love. Based on the novel by H Rider Haggard.

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