Amid nearly a century of research and exploration into the remote Honduran rainforest, a new documentary examines a site thought to be the fabled “Ciudad Blanca,” or “The White City.”
According to ancient lore, The White City, said to be dedicated to a pre-Columbian monkey-god deity, is buried somewhere in the 1,350 square miles of Honduras’ La Mosquitia region.
The upcoming documentary, “Lost City of the Monkey God,” which airs Oct. 31 on the Science Channel, follows filmmaker and explorer Doug Elkins as he and a team of researchers, survival specialists and several Honduran special forces soldiers, providing security for the crew, explore the presumed site, Live Science reported on Friday.
Scientists first identified an area of what could be the lost city in 2015 — some 75 years after American explorer Theodore Morde unearthed thousands of artifacts during his expedition to La Mosquitia, according to a National Geographic report, tied to the rediscovery of the White City. Morde returned with tales from indigenous people from the area, who claimed that a giant statue of a monkey god had been buried there.
Elkins began his hunt in the 1990s — piqued by the discovery of a rock carving spotted deep in isolateed jungle territory.
“We were up in the mountains, many days by canoe ride from civilization, and we stumbled upon this huge boulder with a petroglyph: a man with a mask or helmet on, holding a stick and a sack with what looked like seeds coming out of it,” he told Live Science.
“The rainforest was so thick, you could barely see more than 20 feet in front of you,” Elkins said. “Who would have gone to the trouble to make such an exquisite carving on a boulder if there was nothing going on in this area?”
La Mosquitia has gone largely untouched by modern civilization — except for illegal logging and wildlife trafficking activity, which threatens the ecologically crucial rainforest and its untapped archaeological treasures. Scientists believe the region may have been home to many more ancient cities still waiting to be uncovered. Topographical research indicates there could be more than 60,000 homes, roads, palaces and ceremonial buildings buried beneath the woodland, Live Science reported in 2018.
“I’m thoroughly convinced that the entire jungle was probably urbanized at one time,” Elkins said.
“Lost City of the Monkey God” airs Oct. 31 at 8 p.m. on the Science Channel.
