National Geographic archaeologist George E. Stuart reported in 1975 on the scientists who sought to decode the ancient language—and the looters who stood in their way.

New research on the ancient Maya city of Ucanal in northern Guatemala reveals that its engineers maintained biologically clean drinking water for nearly 1,500 years, an extraordinary achievement in a ...

For many years the prevailing debate about the Maya centred upon why their civilisation collapsed. Now, many scholars are asking: how did the Maya survive?

In the heart of Belize, archaeologists have uncovered a royal tomb that changes what’s known about Maya history. This burial, hidden beneath the ruins of Caracol, belongs to Te K’ab Chaak—the city’s ...

More than a thousand years ago, astronomers from the Maya civilization developed one of the most sophisticated time-keeping systems in the ancient world—a system that could predict solar eclipses for ...

As the son of archaeologists, National Geographic Explorer David Stuart spent his childhood wandering ancient Maya ruins—and helped shape what we know about the civilization today. The ruins of the ...

Tikal’s great plaza, at the heart of what was one of the most powerful city-states in the Americas, is surrounded by monumental structures: the stepped terraces of the North Acropolis, festooned with ...

For nearly half a century, Dr. Anabel Ford — archaeologist, research scientist, and director of UC Santa Barbara’s MesoAmerican Research Center — has dedicated her working life to questioning ...