Author, lecturer, award-winning structural engineer, and archaeo-engineer James O’Kon has explored and researched Maya technology for forty years. He has combined his talents as a forensic engineer with archaeological field survey evidence to uncover the veil over the lost technology of the Maya. In 1995 he surprised the archaeological community with his discovery of a lost landmark of Maya engineering, the long-span Maya suspension bridge at the Maya city of Yaxchilan, considered to be the longest bridge in the ancient world.
His discoveries in Maya technology have been recognized in National Geographic Magazine and the monthly magazine the American Society of Civil Engineers, Civil Engineering, in addition to other scholarly publications. He has been invited to deliver numerous scientific papers dealing with his discoveries in Maya technology at international scientific and archaeological symposia.