{"id":13363,"date":"2021-11-02T12:04:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T10:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=13363"},"modified":"2021-11-02T12:04:56","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T10:04:56","slug":"lost-cities-megacity-of-the-maya-warrior-king-premieres-12-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/11\/02\/lost-cities-megacity-of-the-maya-warrior-king-premieres-12-november\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost Cities: Megacity Of The Maya Warrior King Premieres 12 November"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Documentary reveals a Maya Megacity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New High-Tech Aerial Surveys Reveal What Could Be the Biggest City in the Entire Maya World \u2014 Transforming What We Know About a Mysterious Maya Dynasty Known as the Snake Kings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ancient Maya city of Tikal in modern-day Guatemala was once one of the greatest cities on Earth. Wealthy, powerful and spectacular, with a population of a hundred thousand people or more, it dominated the Maya world for almost a thousand years. But around one and a half thousand years ago, at the very height of its powers, something apocalyptic happened. The city\u2019s records, carved in stone throughout its history, suddenly stopped for more than a century. Now, in a new documentary, LOST CITIES: MEGACITY OF THE MAYA WARRIOR KING<\/strong>, premiering on Friday 12 November at 19:00 (CAT) on National Geographic (DStv 181, Starsat 220) National Geographic Explorer Albert Lin embarks on a quest to find out what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reconstruction of pyramid. (Credit: National Geographic)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Glyphs on a worn stone altar found at another Maya city suggest Tikal was defeated by the Kaanul dynasty, also known as the Snake Kings. But, could they really have been powerful enough to take on the might of Tikal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the forests of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico lie the ruins of Dzibanch\u00e9, just a few stone structures and temples protruding from the jungle canopy. While the vestiges were long dismissed as part of a relatively minor Maya city, cutting-edge surveys reveal a Maya megacity, far bigger than anyone imagined. At its heart, a temple thought to have stood over a hundred feet high. It\u2019s a discovery that is rewriting what we know about the Maya, shedding new light on a mysterious and powerful dynasty called the Snake Kings and one of the most shocking and little-understood events in Maya history \u2014 the collapse of the city of Tikal, until now considered the greatest political and military power in the classic Maya era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archaeologists excavating tombs deep inside Dzibanch\u00e9\u2019s pyramids have discovered hieroglyphic texts that seem to confirm it was the original capital of the Snake Kings. The archaeologist in charge of the excavations, Sandra Balanzario Granados, describes the important discovery of the tomb of a ruler named Sky Witness, who, according to ancient texts, was responsible for that historic victory over Tikal. But, at first glance, Dzibanch\u00e9 doesn\u2019t seem big enough to be the capital of a Tikal-beating dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maya tunnel leading to crypts of Snake Kings and Queens in the Buho pyramid in Dzibanche. (Credit: National Geographic)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A recent study using aerial LiDAR technology (a form of laser-based airborne survey) by archaeologists from Mexico\u2019s Institute of National Anthropology and History and the U.S., is yielding startling results at Dzibanch\u00e9. Archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer Francisco Estrada-Belli examines the results, revealing that hidden beneath the forest is a vast city connected by causeways with plazas and palaces, sprawling suburbs and secondary centers stretching up to 10 miles away. Among them is a ceremonial center with a vast pyramid that would have been topped with carvings of gods, kings and snakes, and that may have been the largest temple in the entire Maya world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost Cities \u2013 Megacity of the Maya Warrior King <\/em><\/strong>premieres on Friday 12 November at 19:00 (CAT), exclusively on National Geographic (DStv 181, Starsat 220).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to tune in:
DSTV: Channel 181
StarSat: 220 on DTH, 220 on DTT (249 on DTT in Uganda)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Documentary reveals a Maya Megacity New High-Tech Aerial Surveys Reveal What Could Be the Biggest City in the Entire Maya World \u2014 Transforming What We Know About a Mysterious Maya Dynasty Known as the Snake Kings. The ancient Maya city of Tikal in modern-day Guatemala was once one of the greatest cities on Earth.… Continue reading Lost Cities: Megacity Of The Maya Warrior King Premieres 12 November<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[211],"class_list":["post-13363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television","tag-national-geographic","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}