Over 1,200 years ago, the highly sophisticated Maya people built elaborately carved temples and a magnificent civilization that has long since vanished into the jungles of Central America and southern Mexico. Using the discoveries of 19th-century adventurers as background, this book describes the efforts of 20th-century archeologists to excavate and restore a number of important Mayan sites to their former splendor. Unabridged republication of the 1946 edition, with the author's own detailed illustrations.