Cracking the Maya Code - NOVA
by Nova
List Price:
Our Price: $11.48
You Save: $13.43 (54%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.29 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cracking the Maya Code - NOVADirector: Nova
Brand: Wgbh Wholesale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 54 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-07-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Product features:
- This is a definitive look back at how a handful of pioneers deciphered the intricate system of hieroglyphs developed by the Maya. One of the greatest detective stories in all of archaeology, it has never been told in depth on television before. With glorious footage of Mayan temples and art, this documentary culminates in the fascinating account of this once magnificent ancient civilization's
Movie Reviews of Cracking the Maya Code - NOVA
Movie Review: learning a lost language
Summary: 5 Stars
There are many documentaries in which we humans pat ourselves on the backs for erecting edifices. The same is true for eradicating infectious diseases. However, besides the work on the Rosetta Stone, I can't think of any documentary that looks at learning ancient writing. Thus, I appreciate this contribution.
Just like the Rosetta Stone documentary, polyglots and those of us who want to be polyglots will love this work. Just like great individuals figured out Ancient Egyptian, this work lists the great individuals who cracked ancient Maya. The Rosetta Stone worked with the familiar and became more abstract. Modern people knew Greek and that's how they moved on to know demotic and hieroglyphs. Here, it's not like an object had Spanish and then Romanized Mayan and then Ancient Mayan. The code crackers lacked that type of aid. Still, the work never states whether the code crackers had to learn spoken Mayan from living Mayans in order to move forward.
The documentary is diverse in that you see men and women, Americans and Russians, and even the young and the old. The filmed interviews of deceased persons were done so well that they had to write that the persons were deceased. Otherwise, I am sure that viewers would watch this and think that they could e-mail those people. I must say that most anthropological works interview Western and indigenous scholars. This work concludes with saying that living Mayan could now teach some of the writing to their children. However, it would have been nice if some actual Mayan scholars or experts could have had some input here.
The work points to something important: how scholars are not always objective and how they bring their baggage with them. For example, one researcher in the 1800s assumed that some words had drawings of elephants in them, thus reflecting the idea that the Mayans were related to Asian Indians, but that is not the case, just his misinterpretation. The work said one scholar of Maya was a World War I vet so he liked spreading the idea that Mayans were peaceful people who just watched and recorded the stars. The work later shows many drawings that present warfare, murder, and masochism. This reminds me of how some says that Margaret Mead's work on Samoa was tainted by her desire to show at all costs that some cultures have sexually liberated young women.
This might be a great documentary to show at schools with many Mexican-American students. Viewers who liked the cartoon "The Road to El Dorado" may really like seeing this as well.
Summary of Cracking the Maya Code - NOVA
CRACKING THE MAYA CODE - DVD MovieSimilar DVD Movies
Artist Not Provided - In Search of History - The Aztec Empire (History Channel)A and E Home Video; Release date: 2005-12-27; DVD
Best price: $12.47
Price in other shops:
ConquistadorsPBS; Release date: 2006-06-06; DVD
Best price: $12.91
Price in other shops:
Artist Not Provided - In Search of History - Lost City of the Incas (History Channel)A and E Home Video; Release date: 2005-09-27; DVD
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Mystery of the MayaRazor; Release date: 2006-02-28; DVD
Best price: $7.26
Price in other shops:
NOVA: Secrets of Lost Empires - IncaWgbh Wholesale; Release date: 2006-02-28; DVD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Ghosts of Machu PicchuPBS; Release date: 2010-04-27; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
Mexico's Great PyramidsA and E Home Video; Release date: 2009-06-30; DVD
Best price: $8.89
Price in other shops:
The Ancient Maya: Tools of AstronomyA and E Home Video; Release date: 2009-08-25; DVD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Histroy Channel: Palenque- Metropolis of the MayaA and E Home Video; Release date: 2009-06-30; DVD
Best price: $12.32
Price in other shops:
Breaking the Maya CodeFirst RUN Features; Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $12.97
Price in other shops: