Lost Cities author Childress takes us deep into Mexico and Central America in search of the mysterious Olmecs, North America’s early, advanced civilization. The Olmecs, now sometimes called Proto-Mayans, were not acknowledged to have existed as a civilization until an international archeological meeting in Mexico City in 1942. Now, the Olmecs are slowly being recognized as the Mother Culture of Mesoamerica, having invented writing, the ball game and the “Mayan” Calendar. But who were the Olmecs? Where did they come from? What happened to them? How sophisticated was their culture? How far back in time did it go? Why are many Olmec statues and figurines seemingly of foreign peoples such as Africans, Europeans and Chinese? Is there a link with Atlantis? In this heavily illustrated book, join Childress in search of the lost cities of the Olmecs! Chapters include: The Mystery of the Origin of the Olmecs; The Mystery of the Olmec Destruction; The Mystery of Quizuo; The Mystery of Transoceanic Trade; The Mystery of Cranial Deformation; The Mystery of Olmec Writing; more. Heavily illustrated, includes a color photo section.

"This catalogue was published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the occasion of the exhibition Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico"--Colophon.

A survey of the Olmec culture and people which flourished in Mesoamerica's Formative, or Preclassical, period--from 2,000 B.C. to A.D. 100.

David Hatcher Childress, popular Lost Cities author and star of the History Channel’s long-running show Ancient Aliens, takes us to the mysterious ruins in the mountains of Peru and Bolivia in search of ancient technology and the secrets of megalith building. In his new book, packed with photos and diagrams, Childress examines the amazing stonecutting at Puma Punku, a site neighboring the ancient ruins of Tiwanaku near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. He looks at whether the so-called “Inca walls”-found in Cuzco and at other sites such as Sacsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu-were really made by the Incas. The evidence seems to support the idea that they were actually constructed by a far older culture. Childress examines the megalithic construction and underground chambers of Chavin in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, possibly the oldest megalithic site in South America. He also speculates on the existence of a sunken city in Lake Titicaca and reveals new evidence that the Sumerians may have arrived in South America over 4,000 years ago. Childress demonstrates that the use of “keystone cuts” with metal clamps poured into them to secure megalithic construction was an advanced technology used all over the world, from the Andes to Egypt, Greece and Southeast Asia. He maintains that only power tools could have made the intricate articulation and drill holes found in extremely hard granite and basalt blocks in Bolivia and Peru, and that the megalith builders had to have had advanced methods for moving and stacking gigantic blocks of stone, some weighing over 100 tons. The incredible high-tech world of South America is illuminated in the informative and breezy style for which Childress has always been known. Chapters in the book include: The Lost World of South America; The Enigma of Ancient Technology; Ancient Technology at Tiwanaku and Puma Punku; The Sumerian Mining Complex at Tiwanaku; Mysteries of Lake Titicaca and the Towers; Ancient Technology in Cuzco; The Megaliths of Ollantaytambo; Did the Incas Build Machu Picchu?; and more!

Provides a complete overview of Olmec culture, its accomplishments and impact on later Mexcian civilizations.