1972: Chronicle - The Lost World of the Maya

Eric Thompson, who has spent his life studying the ancient Maya and living with their descendants, guides Magnus Magnusson around Mayan sites and meanings. The golden age of the Maya was from 300 to 900AD and this programme takes a look at their stone artefacts, buildings, system of writing and religious rites, including human sacrifice. It also addresses contemporary problems, such as the looting of archaeological sites.

Dr Eric Thompson, Magnus Magnusson's guide in this programme, was the greatest living expert on the Maya. He had written numerous books about them and had led expeditions on behalf of the British Museum. Thompson also fought in World War I, enlisting under a false name at the age of 17 in 1915, and after the war he worked as a gaucho (or cowboy) in Argentina before going to Cambridge University in 1924.

BBC Archive: Originally broadcast 6 October 1972.