Dr. Ean Stromberg, Professor of Archeology, has spent his lifetime studying the Mayan civilization to understand why this Central American empire mysteriously vanished. Theories abounded but none rang true. The mystery obsessed him -- why, one thousand years ago, were their wondrous cities abandoned, seemingly obliterated overnight This civilization flourished for centuries untold, producing temples and monuments to rival ancient Egypt. Now only a plethora of jungle-covered ruins remain to remember the tens of millions of proud Mayans and their sophisticated culture swallowed by the shadowy past. The mystery taunted Stromberg's scientific mind, it was almost eerie. On the verge of retirement, he finds a faded photograph of a wall painting in an ancient Mayan tomb. In its disturbing images of agony and death, he sees the semblance of a map. Dropping everything, he sets off on a shoestring expedition. The map leads him to El Mirador, a two thousand year old Mayan city buried in the Guate