Alfred P. Maudslay (1850–1931) was a British explorer credited with the first systematic excavations of Maya ruins. Between 1881 and 1894 he carried out eight expeditions in the Maya area, working at sites such as Tikal, Quirigua, Copan, and Yaxchilan. The results of his work were published between 1889 and 1902 in the Biologia Centrali-Americana. During the course of Maudslay’s work, he took photographs and made molds of many Maya monuments, casts from which are now in the British Museum. He worked extensively with British artist Annie Hunter (1860–1927), who drew inscriptions and artifacts, and prepared the plates for his book. Penn Museum obtained the Hunter material from her sisters in 1928; it consists of a number of drawings and mock-ups of plates from Maudslay’s books, including the photograph presented here.
Penn Museum Image #228287.