Code of Maya Kings They would tantalize explorers for hundreds of years, ruined cities lost in the jungles of Central America and Mexico. Inscrutable faces etched in stone. Mysterious writing. Who had left these messages from the past? It would take more than a century to unlock the secrets of the ancient Maya. Two extraordinary people would lead the way. Separated by 100 years, they would unveil one of the greatest mysteries of archeology. Code of Maya Kings Chichen Itza, Mexico 1842. An American lawyer named John Lloyd Stephens wanders the empty ruins looking for clues. He knows what he wants to find. It has kept him going through two harrowing journeys, exploring the desolate jungles of Central America. Kept him pushing on through mud and malaria, poisonous snakes, and insect-plagued nights under the stars. Stephens, the lawyer, was looking for proof, undeniable evidence that these ruins were not built by the Egyptians or the Phoenicians or the Lost Tribes of Israel. And here at Chichen Itza he thinks that he's found it at least. Writing unlike that of any other civilization he knows. The same writing he'd seen at other ruined cities hundreds of miles away. Proof of an ancient empire of Native Americans more sophisticated than anyone believed possible.