"In 1879, a Scotsman named William Niven came to the United States, where in very few years he emerged a prominent mineralogist. His expedition to Mexico under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History in the 1890s led to many important archaeological discoveries, all of which he documented carefully in his letters, diaries, and newspaper articles. The records he kept are now the only source of information on many sites that were later lost or destroyed in the Mexican Revolution.

His discovery of twenty-six hundred inscribed stone tablets in the Valley of Mexico aroused controversy over the origins of native American cultures, and even inspired James Churchward to put forth an occult interpretation in The Lost Continent of Mu (1926). The writer Katherine Anne Porter based her first published short story, "Maria Concepcion," on a dig led by Niven."--BOOK JACKET.

"Niven was planning a book about his experiences, but never completed it owing to ill health. The result of twenty years' research, Buried Cities, Forgotten Gods offers a well-illustrated and vivid first-hand account through Wicks and Harrison's selection of photographs and stories from Niven's own extensive writings and those of people with whom he worked."--BOOK JACKET.