Home›Sources›Lovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006SourcesLovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Lovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/lovgren-national-geographic-apocalypto-tortures-the-facts-2006.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Lovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/lovgren-national-geographic-apocalypto-tortures-the-facts-2006Copy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-lovgren-national-geographic-apocalypto-t, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Lovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/lovgren-national-geographic-apocalypto-tortures-the-facts-2006}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXA National Geographic news feature published the same week as the film's release, built around an interview with a working Maya archaeologist. Its strength is a specific, named, on the record scholarly critique published at the moment of widest public attention, not a retrospective. Its limit is that it presents one expert's reading without a rebuttal in the same piece, which the Mesoweb source below supplies.FactsCross-Tradition ConnectionsClaims Backed By This Source (13 claims)Comments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)FactsAssessmentReliability TierWell-attested2Reliability tier 2: a named staff writer at National Geographic, a mainstream publisher with an editorial and fact checking process, reporting on scholarly reaction to a film rather than conducting the scholarship itself.NotesWell-attestedPublished December 8, 2006. Read directly. Quotes Zachary Hruby, a Maya expert then at the University of California, Riverside, on multiple specific inaccuracies: the film's isolated jungle village against a documented agricultural, forest managed Classic Maya landscape; no evidence of raids that harvested and sold captives into slavery, against warfare between polities as the documented source of captives; no data supporting sacrifice at the scale shown, which Hruby distinguishes from Aztec practice; and roughly a four hundred year gap conflated between the Classic Maya collapse and the Spanish arrival the film implies is imminent.CitationAuthorWell-attestedStefan LovgrenPublisherWell-attestedNational GeographicPublication YearWell-attested2006URLWell-attestedhttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/apocalypto-tortures-the-facts-expert-saysSource TypeWell-attestedmagazine featureCross-Tradition ConnectionsAssociated WithMaya, Figures Well-attested This source names Maya directly: "around an interview with a working Maya archaeologist."Source Lovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006Stefan Lovgrentier 2Claims Backed By This Source (13 claims)This source backs 13 claims across the atlas. As facts: 9 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 1 holds. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.Disposition By TopicSources, 9 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds.Articles, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.Screen Works, 2 claims: 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.Well-attested9ArticlesA Maya City on Screen, and Two Scholars Who Disagreed About ItSourcesLovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006Scholarly debate1Screen WorksApocalypto (2006 Film)Holds1SourcesLovgren, National Geographic, "Apocalypto Tortures the Facts, Expert Says," 2006General References2ArticlesA Maya City on Screen, and Two Scholars Who Disagreed About ItScreen WorksApocalypto (2006 Film)Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year