Overgrown ruins of the Ancient Mayan civilization rest deep in the rainforest of Central America. Much has been gleaned from the great structures and art left behind, revealing many aspects about this once-thriving people, who were thought to have resided in the area from roughly 250-900 A.D. However, a large piece of the puzzle that had remained missing was how it all began. In Guatemala, the discovery of a great ancient city called El Mirador has shed new light on the origins of the Mayan people, surprisingly placing the starting point of their civilization back a further 1,000 years than had previously been estimated. Produced in 2004 for National Geographic, Dawn of the Maya takes a look at the ongoing search for answers. In El Mirador, archaeologist Richard Hansen has been painstakingly excavating a massive pyramid that rivals those of Giza in terms of sheer size. Hansen provides insightful and often-humorous anecdotes during his process of researching a possible royal tomb of King "Great Fiery Jaguar Paw" and the quarry site from which their stone building blocks were cut. David Freidel offers background and related info to tie the ancient search together. A high point in the film arrives courtesy of archaeologist Bill Saturno, who discovered an ancient Mayan painted mural at a nearby dig (only the second such mural ever found), and reveals details of how it originally appeared thanks to a masterful reproduction painted by artist Heather Hurst. Brief interludes reference the fall of this early Mayan ancestral civilization, brought about by the exorbitant use of natural resources (burning trees to make lime plaster) in building their city. Clocking in at 53 minutes, the near-hour spent watching was worthwhile and informative, with the cast (particularly Richard Hansen, Heather Hurst, David Stuart and Bill Saturno) providing an intriguing respite.
