Great Civilizations: Ancient Americas

Originally built by the Incas, this magnificent structure remains a mystery. Was it an observatory? Pleasure retreat? Fortress?

Travel to the Yucatan and Guatemala to explore how the Maya were able to build the city of Tikal without metal tools or beasts of burden.

For 500 years, explorers have been searching the Amazon for traces of its fabled lost cities. Now host Josh Bernstein treks in the footsteps of explorer Colonel Percy Heath Fawcettto find the "Lost City of Z."

Hundreds of ruins dot the landscape of Belize, revealing clues to bloody rituals, advanced architecture, and a belief in an unforgiving Mayan gods. Host Don Wildman ducks beneath the jungles to uncover the Mayan underworld.

Archaeology and modern science are now shedding new light on the blood rituals practiced by the Aztecs, the largest civilization to ever rule Mesoamerica. Join host Josh Bernstein as he travels to Mexico City to investigate.

By tracking the stars and planets, the Maya assigned great meaning to astronomical phenomena and made extraordinary predictions based on them, many of which have come true. Could their doomsday prophecy be one of them?

Examine the story of the ancient Incas' bizarre death cult. The Incas worshipped their mummified ancestors, held lavish banquets for them, and even dressed them in fine clothes and exquisite jewelry.

Revolutionary discoveries in Guatemala are now challenging our understanding of the Maya civilization's timeline. When did the Maya civilization truly reach its peak?

Join archaeologists as they shed new light on the Aztecs, a dominating force of pre-Columbian Mexico.

In 1911, Hiram Bingham, famed American explorer, stumbled across a remote Inca city atop a high peak in the Andes. Was it, like Bingham believed, a military fortress? Or did this glorious ruin have a secret purpose?

Recent excavations at Teotihuacan, site of Mexico's Great Pyramids, reveal that they were not built by Aztecs as originally thought, but rather by an unknown earlier civilization.

Green Beret Terry Schappert reveals the secrets of the Maya warrior -- a force that relied on human sacrifice, bizarre rituals, and deadly weapons. New clues reveal what may have led to their disappearance.

The Egyptians built less than a 100 pyramids, but the Maya built thousands. But what was the significance of these towering structures? Host and explorer Josh Bernstein sets out on a remarkable journey to find out.