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Maya Hieroglyphs Decoded

September 24, 2026 · 49 min

Show notes

Forget everything you thought you knew about the ancient Maya. Cracking their mysterious hieroglyphs didn't just reveal boring calendars, it exposed a cutthroat, Game of Thrones-style world of rival superpowers, Tikal and Calakmul.


Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor David Stuart to uncover tales of powerful female warlords, dark pilgrimages to the underworld, and the secret jungle "whiteboard" of an ancient mathematician.


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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Edited and produced by Joseph Knight.

The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.

History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All episodes of The Ancients

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