Logo

Star-gazing reached incredible heights thousands of years before the Hubble. Learn the amazing advances made by the great ancient culture of Central America.

Take another fascinating trip through time to discover the precursors from centuries or even millennia ago of todays cutting-edge technological breakthroughs. Using the latest scholarship, hands-on demonstrations, and dramatic reenactments, The Ancient Maya: Tools of Astronomy shows just how far ahead of their times they really were.

Without the aid of magnifying technology or even a firm idea of where they stood on the planet, the Mayan grasp of the universe through astrological observation was simply stunning. Host Michael Guillen travels to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula to get a firsthand look at the ancient world’s most skilled astronomers.

Climb the giant pyramid of Kukulkan and see how it functioned as a giant solar observatory. Examine El Caracol at Tikal, which looks amazingly like a modern day observatory. Learn how the Maya used the sun to lay out their various temples and observatories and examine their incredibly complex and accurate calendar.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist)