About the Author
DOUGLAS PRESTON worked as a writer and editor for the American Museum of Natural History and taught writing at Princeton University. He has written for the New Yorker, Natural History, National Geographic, Harper’s, Smithsonian, and the Atlantic. The author of several acclaimed nonfiction books—including Cities of Gold and The Monster of Florence—Preston is also the coauthor with Lincoln Child of the bestselling series of novels featuring FBI agent Pendergast.
ALSO BY DOUGLAS PRESTON
Nonfiction Books
The Monster of Florence (with Mario Spezi)
Ribbons of Time
The Royal Road
Talking to the Ground
Cities of Gold
Dinosaurs in the Attic
Novels
Impact
Blasphemy
Tyrannosaur Canyon
The Codex
Jennie
Novels (with Lincoln Child)
Agent Pendergast Novels
The Obsidian Chamber
Crimson Shore
Blue Labyrinth
White Fire
Two Graves*
Cold Vengeance*
Fever Dream*
Cemetery Dance
The Wheel of Darkness
The Book of the Dead**
Dance of Death**
Brimstone**
Still Life with Crows
The Cabinet of Curiosities
Reliquary†
Relic†
Gideon Crew Novels
Beyond the Ice Limit
The Lost Island
Gideon’s Corpse
Gideon’s Sword
Other Novels
The Ice Limit
Thunderhead
Riptide
Mount Dragon
* The Helen Trilogy
** The Diogenes Trilogy
† Relic and Reliquary are ideally read in sequence
Sources and Bibliography
The conversations reported in this book were either recorded on tape or written down at the time they occurred. The events were chronicled in real time, in contemporary notes or on video. No details, events, discoveries, or conversations have been reconstructed after the fact or imagined. To avoid confusion and unnecessary complexity, some quotations from interviews conducted on separate occasions have been combined in the same conversation.
Sources are listed in the approximate order they appear in each chapter.
Chapters with no sources listed are based on the author’s personal experience only.
Chapter 2: Somewhere in the Americas
Author interviews and correspondence with Ron Blom and Bob Crippen, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, August and September 1997.
Author interview with David Stuart, Harvard University, 1997.
Author interview with Gordon Willey, Harvard University, 1997.
Author interviews and correspondence with Steve Elkins, 1997.
Chapter 3: The Devil Had Killed Him
The Fifth Letter of Hernan Cortes to the Emperor Charles V, translated from the original Spanish by Don Pascual de Gayangos. Originally published by the Hakluyt Society. New York: Lenox Hill Publishers (Burt Franklin), reprinted 1970. Retrieved from the website of the Library of the University of California.
Christopher Begley and Ellen Cox, “Reading and Writing the White City Legend: Allegories Past and Future.” Southwest Philosophy Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, January 2007.
John L. Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, Vols. 1 and 2. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.
Eduard Conzemius, “Los Indios Payas de Honduras: Estudio Geográfico, Histórico, Etnográfico y Linguístico,” Journal de la Société des Américanistes, Vol. 19, 1927. Retrieved from persee.fr.
William Duncan Strong, “1936 Strong Honduras Expedition,” Vols. 1 and 2. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Unpublished journals.
William Duncan Strong, “Honduras Expedition Journal 1933.” Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. Unpublished journal.
Ralph Solecki and Charles Wagley, “William Duncan Strong, 1899–1962.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 65, No. 5, 1963. Retrieved pdf from Wiley Online Library.
Chapter 4: A Land of Cruel Jungles
Christopher S. Stewart, Jungleland. New York: HarperCollins, 2013 (e-book edition).
Lawrence M. Small, “A Passionate Collector.” Washington, DC: Smithsonian magazine, November 2000.
“George Heye Dies; Museum Founder.” New York Times, January 21, 1957.
Leona Raphael, “Explorer Seeks Fabled Lost City; Spurns Weaker Sex Companionship.” Calgary Daily Herald, June 16, 1934.
“Frederick Mitchell-Hedges Dies; British Explorer and Author, 76.” New York Times, June 13, 1959.
J. Eric S. Thompson, Maya Archaeologist. London: Robert Hale, 1963.
“Seek Cradle of Race in American Jungle.” New York Times, January 24, 1931.
“Hold-Up of Explorer in England Proves Hoax.” New York Times, January 17, 1927.
Chapter 5: One of the Few Remaining Mysteries
“‘City of Monkey God’ Is Believed Located.” New York Times, July 12, 1940.
“Honduran Jungles Yield Indian Data.” New York Times, August 2, 1940.
“TV Producer a Suicide.” New York Times, June 28, 1954.
Christopher S. Stewart, Jungleland, op. cit.
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. Fifty-two unpublished accession catalog cards and photographs from the Theodore Morde Third Honduran Expedition.
Theodore Morde, “In the Lost City of Ancient America’s Monkey God.” Milwaukee Sentinel, September 22, 1940.
“Seek Long Lost City of Monkey God.” Sunday Morning Star, United Press, April 7, 1940.
“Theodore Ambrose Morde, 1911–1954.” Unpublished, bound volume of original documents, letters, articles, photographs, and typescripts by or relating to Theodore Morde. In the possession of the Morde family.
Theodore Morde and Lawrence Brown, unpublished journals of the Third Honduran Expedition (3 vols.), 1940. In the possession of the Morde family.
E-mail from Christopher Begley, November 4, 2015, confirming Lancetillal as Morde’s presumed city.
Correspondence with Derek Parent, 2015, 2016.
Chapter 6: The Heart of Darkness
Author interviews and correspondence with Steve Elkins, 1997, 2010–2016.
Author interviews with Bruce Heinicke, 2012.
Steve Elkins interview with George Hasemann, 1994.
Author correspondence with the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State, 2015, 2016.
Bhupendra Jasani, “Remote Monitoring from Space: The Resolution Revolution.” In Verification Yearbook, 2000. London: Vertic, 2000. Retrieved from www.vertic.org/media/Archived_Publications/Yearbooks/2000/VY00_Jasani.pdf.
Steve Elkins interview with Sam Glassmire, 1997.
Sam Glassmire, The Bush. Privately published book, 2002.
Sam Glassmire, “He Found a Lost City.” Denver Post Sunday Empire Magazine, November 27 and December 4, 1960.
Sam Glassmire, hand-drawn map, dated February 2, 1960.
“Obituary for Glassmire.” Albuquerque Journal, December 1, 2002.
Thomas H. Maugh II, “Ubar, Fabled Lost City, Found by L.A. Team.” Los Angeles Times, February 5, 1992.
Chapter 7: The Fish That Swallowed the Whale
Philip Sherwell, “Welcome to Honduras, the Most Dangerous Country on the Planet.” Telegraph, November 16, 2013.
Rich Cohen, The Fish That Ate the Whale, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.
Boston Fruit Company, Boston Fruit Company Records, 1891–1901. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. Retrieved from Online Archival Search Information System.
United Fruit Company, “Andrew W. Preston Biography.” Retrieved from unitedfruit.org.
William Finnegan, “An Old-Fashioned Coup.” New Yorker, November 30, 2009.
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p; Chapter 8: Lasers in the Jungle
“The Loot of Lima Treasure Story.” Retrieved from aqvisions.com.
Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, and John F. Weishampel, “Lasers in the Jungle.” Archaeology, Vol. 63, No. 4, July/August 2010.
Arlen F. Chase et al., “Geospatial Revolution and Remote Sensing LiDAR in Mesoamerican Archaeology.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 109, No. 32, June 25, 2012. Retrieved from pnas.org.
Arlen F. Chase et al., “Airborne LiDAR, Archaeology, and the Ancient Maya Landscape at Caracol, Belize.” Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol. 38, No. 2, February 2011.
Juan Carlos Fernández Díaz, “Lifting the Canopy Veil.” Imaging Notes, Vol. 26, No. 2, Spring 2011.
Chapter 9: Something That Nobody Had Done
Author interviews and correspondence with Bruce Heinicke, 2012, 2013.
Author interview with Mabel Heinicke, 2013.
Author interview with Ramesh Shrestha, 2013.
Author interview with William Carter, 2013.
Author interviews with Michael Sartori, 2012, 2013.
Author interviews with Steve Elkins, 2012–2016.
Author interview with President Porfirio Lobo and Minister Áfrico Madrid, 2013.
Chapter 10: The Most Dangerous Place on the Planet
Author interviews with Bill Benenson, 2012, 2013, 2016.
Author interviews with Juan Carlos Fernández, 2012, 2013, 2016.
Author interview with Tom Weinberg, 2016.
Author interviews and correspondence with Bruce Heinicke, 2012, 2013.
Chapter 11: Uncharted Territory
Author interviews with Chuck Gross, 2012, 2013.
Author interviews with Juan Carlos Fernández, 2012, 2015.
Author interview with Ramesh Shrestha, 2013.
Author interview with William Carter, 2013.
Author interviews with Michael Sartori, 2012, 2013.
Ramesh L. Shrestha and William E. Carter, “In Search of the ‘Lost City’ by Airborne Laser Swath Mapping in Honduras, Final Report.” Houston: GSE Research Center, University of Houston, July 18, 2012. (Unpublished report.)
Chapter 12: No Coincidences
Author interview with Áfrico Madrid, 2013.
“The Government of Honduras and UTL Scientific, LLC Announce Completion of First-Ever LiDAR Imaging Survey of La Mosquitia Region of Honduras.” Press release, UTL Scientific, May 15, 2012.
“UH Research Team Uses Airborne LiDAR to Unveil Possible Honduran Archaeological Ruins.” Press release, University of Houston, June 5, 2012.
Author interview with Rosemary Joyce, 2012.
“Mythical Ciudad Blanca,” May 20, 2012. Retrieved from hondurasculturepolitics.blogspot.com. One of the unnamed authors of this blog post is Rosemary Joyce.
Rosemary Joyce, “Good Science, Big Hype, Bad Archaeology,” June 7, 2012. Retrieved from the Berkeley Blog, blogs.berkeley.edu.
Author interviews with Chris Fisher, 2013, 2015, 2016.
Author interview with Alicia González, 2013.
Chapter 19: Controversy
Interview with Trond Larsen, 2016.
Letter from Harrison Ford to President Hernández, April 22, 2016.
“Letter from International Scholars: Archaeological Finds in Honduras.” Posted March 6, 2015. Retrieved from realhonduranarchaeology.wordpress.com.
“Who Signed the Letter from International Scholars?” Retrieved from realhonduranarchaeology.wordpress.com.
The list of signatories is: Christopher Begley, PhD, Transylvania University; Eva Martinez, PhD, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras; Rosemary Joyce, PhD, University of California–Berkeley; John Hoopes, PhD, University of Kansas; Warwick Bray, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Latin American Archaeology, University College London; Mark Bonta, PhD, Pennsylvania State University; Julia Hendon, PhD, Gettysburg College; Pastor Gomez, PhD, Honduran archaeologist and historian; Alexander Geurds, PhD, University of Leiden and University of Colorado–Boulder; Carmen Julia Fajardo, Licda, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras; Gloria Lara Pinto, PhD, Universidad Nacional autónoma de honduras; Jorge G. Marcos, PhD, Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos y Antropológicos, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Guayaquil, Ecuador; Geoff McCafferty, PhD, University of Calgary; Adam Benfer, MA, University of Calgary, PhD candidate; Ricardo Agurcia, MA, Asociación Copán; Karen Holmberg, PhD, New York University; Roberto Herrera, MA, Hunter College, City University of New York, PhD candidate, University of New Mexico; Christopher Fung, PhD, University of Massachusetts–Boston; Brent Metz, PhD, University of Kansas; Jeb Card, PhD, Miami University; Ronald Webb, PhD, Temple University; Karen O’Day, PhD, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire; Antoinette Egitto, PhD, Haskell Indian Nations University; Grant Berning, BA, University of Kansas, MA candidate; Roos Vlaskamp, MA, Leiden University, PhD candidate; Silvia Gonzalez, MA, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras.
Charles C. Poling, “A Lost City Found?” American Archaeology, Vol. 19, No. 2, Summer 2015. (Some of the quoted passages came from correspondence with Poling and the editors of American Archaeology that were not published in the final article.)
Becca Clemens, “Transy Professor Gets Grant to Search for ‘Lost City’ in Honduras.” Lexington Herald Leader, July 5, 2011. Retrieved from www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article44114496.html.
Chris Kenning, “Kentucky Professor a Real-Life Indiana Jones.” Louisville Courier-Journal, June 10, 2016.
Sarah Larimer, “The Very Real Search for an Ancient City that Probably Doesn’t Exist.” Washington Post, January 11, 2016.
Chris Begley, “The Pech and Archaeology in the Mosquitia.” Posted March 15, 2015. Retrieved from realhonduranarchaeology.wordpress.com.
Alan Yuhas, “Archaeologists Condemn National Geographic over Claims of Honduran ‘Lost Cities.’” Guardian, March 11, 2015.
“Media FAQ: Under the LiDAR Expedition.” February 2015. Retrieved from resilientworld.com.
Author interviews with Virgilio Paredes, 2015, 2016.
Chapter 20: The Cave of the Glowing Skulls
Timothy Berg, “Digging 3,000 Years into the Past.” Retrieved from old.planeta.com.
Author interview with James Brady, 2015.
James E. Brady, George Hasemann, and John H. Fogarty, “Buried Secrets, Luminous Find.” Americas, Vol. 47, No. 4, July–August 1955.
John Noble Wilford, “Age of Burials In Honduras Stuns Scholars.” New York Times, January 26, 1995.
Joel Skidmore, “Copan’s Founder.” Retrieved from mesoweb.com.
William L. Fash, Scribes, Warriors and Kings: The City of Copán and the Ancient Maya. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1991.
Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, and Robert J. Sharer, eds., Understanding Early Classic Copan. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2004.
B. L. Turner and Jeremy A. Sabloff, “Classic Period Collapse of the Central Maya Lowlands: Insights about Human–Environment Relationships for Sustainability.” PNAS, Vol. 109, No. 35, August 2012. Retrieved from pnas.org/content/109/35/13908.
Marilyn A. Masson, “Maya Collapse Cycles,” PNAS, Vol. 109, No. 45, November 2012. Retrieved from pnas.org/content/109/45/18237.
Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens, second edition. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008.
Zach Zorich, “The Man under the Jaguar Mountain.” Archaeology, Vol. 62, No. 5, September/October 2009.
David Stuart, “The Arrival of Strangers.” Extract of a paper presented at Princeton University, October 1996, revised February 1998. Retrieved from mesoweb.com.
Fray Diego Durán, Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar, translated and edited by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1975.
M.R., “Palace Coop.” Economist, March 14, 2014.
Jared Diamond, Collapse. New York: Penguin, 2011 (e-book edition).
Evon Z.
Vogt, Fieldwork among the Maya. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994.
Author interview with John Hoopes, 2016.
Author interviews with Christopher Begley, 2012, 2015, 2016.
Christopher Taylor Begley, “Elite Power Strategies and External Connections in Ancient Eastern Honduras.” Unpublished dissertation, University of Chicago, 1999.
Oscar Neil Cruz, Informe Exploración en la Mosquitia. Tegucigalpa: IHAH Archives, February 2015. Unpublished report.
Christopher T. Fisher et al., “Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of Honduras.” PLOS/one, Vol 11, No. 8, August 2016. Retrieved from journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0159890.
Dealbook, “Blankfein Says He’s Just Doing ‘God’s Work.’” New York Times, November 9, 2009.
David Grann, The Lost City of Z. New York: Doubleday, 2009.
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