The Lost City of the Monkey God
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story is a
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A
2017 nonfiction book by Douglas Preston. It is about a
True Story
project headed by documentary filmmakers Steve
Elkins and Bill Benenson that used LiDAR to search
for archaeological sites in the Río Plátano Biosphere
Reserve of the Gracias a Dios Department in the
Mosquitia region of eastern Honduras.[1] The
expedition was a joint Honduran-American
multidisciplinary effort involving Honduran and
American archaeologists, anthropologists, engineers,
geologists, biologists and ethnobotanists.[2][3]
Elkins' search was inspired by rumors of La Ciudad
Blanca, also known as the White City. Preston cites
mentions by Spanish conquistadors and others. The
title of the book derives from four expeditions
launched in the 1930s by the Museum of the American
Indian (Heye Foundation) in which Honduran
informants described to explorers, including Theodore
Morde, sensationalized stories of a lost city with a Hardcover edition
pyramid topped by a giant stone statue of a monkey Author Douglas Preston
god somewhere in the Mosquitia region. Preston's Language English
book debunks Morde's claim of having found a city. Genre History, nonfiction
After a privately funded lidar survey revealed complex Published 2017
archaeological sites under the rainforest cover, Preston Publisher Grand Central
accompanied a joint Honduran-American expedition to Publication place USA
do ground truthing of the lidar results. They were able
Pages 326
to confirm the presence of large abandoned prehispanic
settlements and to document plazas, terracing, canals, ISBN 9781455569410
roads, earthen structures including a pyramid, and
concentrations of artifacts, among them decorated cylindrical stone vessels and metates, confirming the
existence of an ancient city. The official name of the principal archaeological site that was mapped has
been changed to the City of the Jaguar.[4]
Preston also documents the travails of several members of the expedition who contracted severe cases of
leishmaniasis, a disease caused by parasites that are transmitted by the bite of sandflies.
The book describes decades of exploration and archaeological surveys in the region as early as the 1920s,
as well as the searches of early adventurers for the mythical lost city. Prior to the publication of the book,
Preston reported the findings in the New Yorker magazine[5] and National Geographic magazine.[6] The
discovery of the city generated criticism from some archaeologists who were not involved in the
project.[7]
The book was a number 1 bestseller on the New York Times bestseller list.[8] It was named a notable
book of the year by the New York Times and a best book of the year by National Geographic, the Boston
Globe, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[9][10]
References
1. Preston, Douglas (2017). The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story. New York: Grand
Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4555-4000-6.
2. "Learn About a Lost City Discovered in the Honduran Rain Forest" (https://web.archive.org/
web/20190828222528/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-honduras
-lost-city-monkey-god-maya-ancient-archaeology/). 2 March 2015. Archived from the original
(https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-honduras-lost-city-monkey-god
-maya-ancient-archaeology/) on August 28, 2019.
3. Preston, Douglas (21 May 2018). "Deep in the Honduran Rain Forest, an Ecological SWAT
Team Explores a Lost World" (https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/deep-in-the-ho
nduran-rain-forest-an-ecological-swat-team-explores-a-lost-world). The New Yorker.
4. Fisher, Christopher; Juan Carlos Fernández-Díaz; Anna S. Cohen; Oscar Neil Cruz; Alicia
M. González; Stephen J. Leisz; Forencia Pezzutti; Ramesh Shrestha; William Carter (2016).
"Identifying Ancient Settlement Patterns through LiDAR in the Mosquitia Region of
Honduras" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999160). PLOS ONE. 11 (8):
e0159890. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1159890F (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016PLoS
O..1159890F). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159890 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.
0159890). PMC 4999160 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999160).
PMID 27560962 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27560962).
5. Preston, Douglas (12 October 1997). "The Lost City" (https://www.newyorker.com/magazin
e/1997/10/20/the-lost-city). The New Yorker.
6. "Lure of the Lost City" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190723111704/https://www.nationalge
ographic.com/magazine/2015/10/lost-city-mosquitia-honduras-monkey-god/). Magazine.
October 1, 2015. Archived from the original (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/
2015/10/lost-city-mosquitia-honduras-monkey-god/) on July 23, 2019.
7. Yuhas, Alan (March 11, 2015). "Archaeologists condemn National Geographic over claims
of Honduran 'lost cities' " (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/11/honduras-lost-citi
es-open-letter-national-geographic-report). The Guardian. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
8. "The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos" (https://www.nyt
imes.com/). www.nytimes.com.
9. Preston, Douglas (3 January 2017). The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story.
ISBN 978-1455540006.
10. "Here are our favorite science books of 2017" (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/top-favor
ite-science-books-2017-yir). December 17, 2017.
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