Great cities in ruins, lost in the jungles of Central America and Mexico. Who would have built these cities? It would take more than a century and two extraordinary people to uncover the secrets of ancient Maya. The american John Lloyd Stephens, together with his english companion Frederick Catherwood, enbarked upon the first of two epic voyages to central america in 1839. Facing many dangers and illnesses, they returned from the mysterious land with extraordinary stories and breath taking images from a once great civilization of native americans. One hundread years later, Mayan archaeology had made enormous advances, although the inscriptions that adorn the Mayan ruins had not been completely decyphered. It would be the extraordinary studies of the russian Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a woman in a world of men, that would reveal the true lives of the Maya to the world.

Early in the 19th century, the fog that long had shrouded Mesopotamia began to lift, in large part due to French-born Austen Henry Layard. Journeying to the upper Tigris valley, Layard gained the right to excavate along the banks of the river, and discovered the most fantastic artwork and architectural remains found anywhere outside of Egypt.

Most people thought that the city of Troy was fictitious, but in the 19th Century a German industrialist followed the clues in Homer and uncovered the ruins of the great ancient cities of Troy and Mycenae, complete with fabulous treasures.