The Best of the Series (and that's saying something!)
This is by far the most powerful of the well-done series. The Maya are explained so well in this short video that I've used this as the yardstick to measure all other Maya movies that I run across.

Great Introductory Teaching Tool
I use the Lost Civilizations: Maya video with my high school students. The video uses reenactments, computer generated animation and contemporary site footage of several Maya city-states (Tikal, Palenque, Chichen Itza)to provide a solid general overview of Maya history and culture. A more detailed video chronicling the Maya would be very desirable, but, Time/Life does a more than adequate job in the scant 48 minutes of this video. As an introduction to the Maya the video is well suited. There is coverage of the ball game, blood-letting rituals, the Maya writing system and calendar as well as the central role of kingship to Maya society. The video does not make the mistake of stating that the Maya collapsed. It is accurately illustrated that althuogh there was perhaps a regional collapse (for various reasons: drought, famine, war,disease and loss of faith in the king)the Maya continued to thrive in other parts of their realm and in fact still exist today. Not for the advanced Mayanist, but a strong tool for students.

What is known about the unknown
This 48 minute video is part of the Time-Life Lost Civlizations TV series, with Sam Waterson narrating. It uses video of acutal locations, some with reenactors depticting the scenes from Maya life, as well as some computer generations; all put together is a very professional, entertaining way. There may be a few inaccuracies, as many things about Mayan life and langauge are unknown and still debated, but is a great video for someone who wants and overview of what we know/think about who the Mayans were and what their lives were like, a people who developed a calander so accurate that today it is only 33 seconds off; a people who built massive, beautiful pyramids and buildings in the rainforest jungle without metal tools or the use of the wheel, whose langauage and history was wiped out almost totally by the Spanish conquistadors and their preists.