Elizabeth Graham's Maya interview in BBC Radio 4 'Top 10'

The programme presented by Melvyn Bragg, with guest experts including Elizabeth Graham, was originally broadcast in 2016. It has now been named as one of the Top 10 programmes to listen to from the 'In Our Time' archive. 

The Maya Civilization, which flourished in central America from around 250 AD in great cities such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal was discussed. The Maya people were advanced in the fields of mathematics, architecture and astronomy, yet long before the Spanish Conquest in the 16th Century, major cities had been abandoned. Many theories about the reasons for this exist, including overpopulation and changing climate. The hundreds of Maya sites across Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico continue to raise intriguing questions about one of the world's great pre-industrial civilizations.

Elizabeth received the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Award for Excellence in Latin American and Caribbean Archaeology in 2020. This award is presented annually to an individual who has made a lasting and significant contribution to the practice of archaeology and/or to the construction of archaeological knowledge in Latin America or the Caribbean. She was also the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award, Maya-at-the-Lago (2017). 

Listen again

• BBC Radio 4: In Our Time - The Maya Civilization
• BBC Radio 4: In Our Time - History Top 10