Charles Phillips is an established writer of popular history, a contributor to Cassell's Dictionary of Modern Britain as well as to the Chronicle of Britain and several illustrated histories. He has a keen interest in the mythology and history of the great Maya and Aztec civilizations and was a key writer on Time Life's Myth and Mankind series. Charles is a graduate of Oxford University, he holds an MA from the University of Westminster and is a member of the Society of Authors.

David M. Jones, consultant, studied Anthropology and History at the University of California, Berkeley, and obtained a PhD in the Archaeology of the Americas at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London. He also earned a BSc in Earth Sciences at the Open University in 2000. David is the author of The Inca Empire: An Illustrated History and co-author of The Mythology of the Americas. Dr Jones is also the co-author of the Blue Guide Mexico and has written many articles on Mesoamerican and South American art for The Grove Dictionary of Art.