The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind a riddle —
an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script carved on stone
monuments and painted on pottery and bark books. Because the invading
Spanish suppressed nearly all knowledge of how the script worked,
until very recently unlocking its meaning posed one of modern archeology’s fiercest challenges.

That changes with this fascinating hour-long, new-to-DVD title. For the first time, NOVA presents the epic inside story of how the decoding was done, told by the experts at the center of one of archeology’s greatest detective stories. Cracking the Maya Code highlights the ingenious breakthroughs that opened the door to deciphering the elaborate and exotic script and finally cracked the code, unleashing a flood of dramatic new insights about the ancient civilization. Once thought to record the esoteric calculations of mystical astronomer-priests presiding over peaceful jungle cities, an utterly different, war-torn world is revealed, unveiling details of conquests, raids and dynastic rivalries spanning centuries. With lush footage of Maya temples and art, the program exposes the hidden face of the Maya and highlights the brilliant leaps of insight that opened the door to deciphering their elaborate and exotic script. For armchair linguists and cultural historians, this is a fascinating and revelatory documentary, and the painstaking investigatory details examined and explained give the movie a nice thrill-of-the-chase subtext only glancingly related to its primary focus.

Housed in a regular Amray case and presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby stereo on a single DVD-5 disc, Cracking the Maya Code is, as with other NOVA titles released through WGBH, rather slim on special features. In addition to closed captions and described video for the visually impaired, the only other supplemental material is a link to the NOVA web site, and a small clutch of printable activities for educators. B+ (Movie) C- (Disc)