Alfred Percival Maudslay (Chichen Itza, 1889)

Alfred Percival Maudslay FRAI (18 March 1850 – 22 January 1931) was a British diplomat, explorer, and archaeologist. He was one of the first Europeans to study

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

ruins. He also fully translated and annotated the best version of

Bernal Díaz del Castillo Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( 1492 – 3 February 1584) was a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a soldier in the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experience ...

Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España ''Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España'' (''The True History of the Conquest of New Spain'') is a first-person narrative written in 1568 by military adventurer, ''conquistador'', and colonist settler Bernal Díaz del Castillo ...

from the only original manuscript in 1908 for the

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of Primary source, primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to it ...

, which was abridged in 1928.

Early life

Maudslay was born at Lower Norwood Lodge, near London, England, into a wealthy engineering family descended from

Henry Maudslay Henry Maudslay ( pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were ...

. He was educated at

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

and Harrow School, and studied natural sciences at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

, in 1868–72, where he was acquainted with

John Willis Clark John Willis Clark (1833 – 1910), sometimes J. W. Clark, was an English academic and antiquarian. Academic career Clark was born into a Cambridge University academic family, and was a nephew of Prof. Robert Willis. Educated at Eton and Trinity ...

, then Secretary of the

Cambridge Antiquarian Society The Cambridge Antiquarian Society is a society dedicated to study and preservation of the archaeology, history, and architecture of Cambridgeshire, England. The society was founded in 1840. Its collections are housed in the Haddon Library on Downi ...

. After graduation, Maudslay enrolled in medical school but left because of acute

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

Career

After leaving Medical School, he moved to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, becoming private secretary to Governor

William Cairns Sir William Wellington Cairns, (1828 – 1888) was a British colonial administrator. He was the Governor of Queensland and the Governor of Trinidad. Early life Cairns was born in Belfast, Ireland on 3 March 1828 (as indicated on his grave s ...

, and transferred with Cairns to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. He subsequently moved to Fiji to work with Sir Arthur Gordon, its governor, and helped campaign against rebellious local tribes. Later he served as British consul in

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. In February 1880, Maudslay resigned from the colonial service to pursue his own interests, having spent six years in the British Pacific colonies. He then joined his siblings in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

. In Guatemala, Maudslay began the major archaeological work for which he is now best remembered. He started at the Maya ruins of Quirigua and Copan where, with the help of Frank Sarg, he hired labourers to help clear and survey the remaining structures and artefacts. Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-C ...

and to reliable guide Gorgonio López. Maudslay was the first to describe the site of

Yaxchilán Yaxchilan () is an ancient Maya city located on the bank of the Usumacinta River in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. In the Late Classic Period Yaxchilan was one of the most powerful Maya states along the course of the Usumacinta River, with Piedr ...

. With

Teobert Maler Teobert Maler, later Teoberto (12 January 1842 – 22 November 1917) was an explorer who devoted his energies to documenting the ruins of the Maya civilization. Biography Teobert Maler was born in Rome to German parents. His father was a dipl ...

, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs. Maudslay published the first long-form description of Chichen Itza in his book, " Biologia Centrali-Americana". In the course of his surveys, Maudslay pioneered many of the later archaeological techniques. He hired Italian expert Lorenzo Giuntini and technicians to make

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

casts of the carvings, while Gorgonio López made casts of

papier-mâché upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...

. Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States. Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs –

dry plate Dry plate, also known as gelatin process, is an improved type of photographic plate. It was invented by Dr. Richard L. Maddox in 1871 and had become so widely adopted by 1879 that the first dry plate factory had been established. With much of ...

photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions. All told, Maudslay made a total of six expeditions to Maya ruins. After 13 years of preparation, he published his findings in 1902 as a 5-volume compendium entitled ''Biologia Centrali-Americana'', which contained numerous excellent drawings and photographs of Maya ruins, Maudslay's commentary, and an appendix on archaic calendars by Joseph Thompson Goodman. Maudslay also applied for permission to make a survey of

Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

but when he finally received permission in 1902, he could no longer finance the work with his own money. The firm of ''Maudslay, Sons and Field'' had gone bankrupt and reduced Maudslay's income. He unsuccessfully applied for funding from the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. T ...

. The Maudslays moved to

San Ángel San Ángel is a colonia or neighborhood of Mexico City, located in the southwest in Álvaro Obregón borough. Historically, it was a rural community, called Tenanitla in the pre-Hispanic period. Its current name is derived from the El Carmen mon ...

near

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

for two years. In 1905, Maudslay began to translate the memoirs of

, who had been a soldier in the troops of the conquistadors; he completed it in 1912. In 1907 the Maudslays moved permanently back to Britain. Maudslay become a President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1911–12. He also chaired the 18th

International Congress of Americanists The International Congress of Americanists (ICA) is an international academic conference for research in multidisciplinary studies of the Americas. Established August 25, 1875 in Nancy, France, the scholars' forum has met regularly since its incept ...

in London in 1912.

Personal life

In 1892, Maudslay married US-born Anne Cary Morris, a granddaughter of

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to th ...

. For their honeymoon, the couple sailed to Guatemala via New York and San Francisco. There the Maudslays worked for two weeks on behalf of the Peabody Museum of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Their account was published in 1899 as ''A Glimpse at Guatemala''. Annie Maudslay died in 1926. In 1928, Maudslay married widow Alice Purdon. In the following years he finished his memoirs, ''Life in the Pacific Fifty Years Ago''. Alfred Maudslay died January 1931 in Hereford, England. He was buried in the crypt of Hereford Cathedral next to his first wife. Materials he collected are currently stored at Harvard and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Selected works

* ''

The True History of the Conquest of New Spain
'' by Captain

. London 1908

(4 Volumes, 214 chapters with Appendices) from the only original copy published by Genaro García in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1904 with notes and appendices – considered the most complete and authentic translatio
Volume 1Volumes 2,and 3Volume 4
an
Volume 5
abridged in 1928 a
The Discovery and the Conquest of Mexico 1517-21
* ''Archaeology''. 1850–1931. (followed by the Atlas edited by F. Ducane Godman and Osbert Salvin; or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico of Central America
(Reprint 1974)
* ''Biologia Centrali-Americana: Contributions to the Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Central America'' (reprint), University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. . * Anne Cary Morris Maudslay and Alfred Percival Maudslay, ''A Glimpse at Guatemala, and Some Notes on the Ancient Monuments of Central America'', London, John Murray, 1899. (Reissued by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

, 2010. ) * ''Life in the Pacific Fifty Years Ago'', London: George Routledge & Sons, 1930.

References

* Ian Graham,''Alfred Maudslay and the Maya: A Biography'', University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. . * Alfred M. Tozzer, "Alfred Percival Maudslay" (obituary), ''American Anthropologist'', New Series, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jul. – Sep. 1931), pp. 403–412. * T. A. Joyce, "Alfred Percival Maudslay" (obituary), ''Man'', Vol. 32, May 1932 (May 1932), pp. 123–125.
A glimpse at Guatemala, and some notes on the ancient monuments of Central America, 1899

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maudslay, Alfred English archaeologists English explorers Photographers from London Mayanists Mesoamerican archaeologists British Mesoamericanists 19th-century Mesoamericanists 20th-century Mesoamericanists 1850 births 1931 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge British expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago British expatriates in Australia British expatriates in Fiji British expatriates in Tonga British expatriates in Samoa British expatriates in Guatemala 19th-century English photographers Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland