"In this biography, the first published about Alfred Maudslay (1850-1931), Ian Graham describes this extraordinary Englishman and his pioneering investigations of the ancient Maya ruins." "Maudslay, the grandson of a famous English inventor and engineer, spent his formative adult years in the South Seas as a junior official in Great Britain's Colonial Office. Despite his exotic experiences, he did not find his true vocation until the age of thirty-one, when he arrived in Guatemala.". "Maudslay played a crucial role in exploring and documenting the monuments and architecture of the ancient Maya ruins at Palenque, Copan, Chichen Itza, and other sites previously unknown. His photographs and plaster casts have proven to be invaluable in the deciphering of Maya hieroglyphics. Personal resources allowed him to undertake fieldwork at a time when no institution provided such support. He made plaster casts of large stone monuments, accurate maps of sites, and painstaking recordings of inscriptions. His Biologia Centrali-Americana, a multivolume compendium of photographs, drawings, plans, and text published almost a century ago, remains an essential foundation for Maya studies. Perhaps Maudslay's greatest legacy is his magnificent collection of glass-negative photographs, many of which are reproduced in this book."--BOOK JACKET.
Setting / LocationLondon & UK
Story EraModern Era
Protagonist / CoreAlfred Maudslay and the Maya Lead Character
Commander Dalgliesh investigates a horrible death at the Dupayne, a private museum on the edge of Hampstead Heath, dedicated to the years 1919-1939. One of the museum galleries displays exhibits from the most notorious murder cases of those inter-war years, and now a modern killer is at work, the crimes uncannily echoing the cases on display. All the people at the Dupayne - the trustees, the staff and the volunteers - have the means and the opportunity for murder. One of them has the ruthlessness to kill and kill again.
In January 1987, archaeologist and museum curator Dr. Walter Alva was asked to examine a collection of strange artifacts found in the home of a poor grave robber on Peru's remote north coast. The subsequent police inquiry traced the cache to an ancient pyramid at Sipan, where looters had plundered a royal tomb of a little-known civilization called the Moche. This ransacking of the New World's richest archaeological discovery devastated Alva, who had been conducting a. Ten-year crusade to protect Peru's monuments of the past. What he did not know was that the looted artifacts had already been smuggled out of Peru and into England for re-transport to Los Angeles, where they would be sold to wealthy art collectors and dealers. At Sipan itself, the police, fearing for his safety, were demanding that Alva abandon his search for objects the looters might have missed. His own colleagues were also urging him to leave, believing he was wasting. Precious resources on an excavation doomed to failure. In the midst of this crisis, Christopher Donnan, the world's most respected Moche scholar, arrived with much-needed cash, supplies, and encouragement, along with the news that the precious artifacts were already in the hands of collectors and dealers. Donnan's information proved correct, for in the months to come, looted artifacts reached the hands of Los Angeles Museum of Art trustee Ben Johnson and Nobel. Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Man. In fact, many of the objects would soon go on display at the prestigious Santa Barbara Art Museum. Meanwhile, U.S. Customs agents had begun an investigation into the smuggling operation, and in March 1988, their unprecedented seizure of pre-Columbian antiquities sent shock waves through the art world. When reports of the raid reached Peru, Alva was having a celebration of his own. The pyramid at Sipan was not the burial place of a. Single Moche lord but was, like the Valley of Kings of ancient Egypt, a necropolis containing many lords. At least three tombs, richer in gold and silver than any other site excavated in the Americas, remained intact. To protect their discovery, Alva and his men put down their shovels and picked up guns, confronting the looters and winning their support. Police and Customs agents, however, were much less successful in their efforts to gain the return of the stolen. Artifacts. A controversial U.S. court decision resulted in the forfeiture to Peru of only 250 of the nearly 3,000 precious objects seized by the police. But an important precedent was set, serious questions were raised about private ownership of national treasures, and the first conviction in U.S. history for smuggling pre-Columbian art was obtained.
"Born to a wealthy and prestigious English Quaker family in 1866, Katherine rebelled against their strict Victorian values, becoming one of the first female graduates of Oxford University and the first woman archaeologist to work in Polynesia.". "At the age of forty, Katherine married a charismatic Australian adventurer, William Scoresby Routledge, and they built a ninety-foot, state-of-the-art yacht, christening her Mana, the Polynesian word for "spiritual power." From 1913 to 1915, Katherine and Scoresby led the Mana Expedition to Easter Island, where Katherine conducted the first-ever excavations of the island's world-famous stone statues. Katherine collected vast quantities of new information, which she faithfully transcribed into her journals and field notebooks. Through interviews with dozens of elderly men and women, she was able to save the history of the island, whose population was struggling back from the brink of extinction. Without Katherine's extraordinary efforts, Easter Island's traditional beliefs and customs would have been forever lost.". "Katherine's hard work came at a terrible price. A family history of schizophrenia and a deep sense of spiritualism brought her under the spell of an old mystic named Angata, who led an Easter Island rebellion in which Katherine played a central role. After her return to England, she heard "voices" that precipitated a separation from Scoresby and nearly destroyed her ability to write and to publish her fieldwork. Her family blamed Angata, the Easter Island "witch doctor," for driving Katherine insane. With Scoresby, they kidnapped Katherine from her lavish London home and isolated her in an asylum, where she died seven years later.". "Many of Katherine's papers were thought to be lost until they were discovered by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, the contemporary world's leading authority on the Easter Island statues. In this compelling biography, Dr. Van Tilburg brings her unique expertise to Katherine Routledge's discoveries and to her turbulent life. The result is an exciting personal story, set against the drama of Katherine's remarkable exploration of one of the most intriguing archaeological sites in the world."--BOOK JACKET.
Alix London, the art restorer and FBI consultant renowned as the Art Whisperer, can spot a counterfeit masterpiece before the paint even dries. What she can't see is why an elite European art dealer would offer her big money for a little mirror that's no more than a homemade gift from her beloved uncle Tiny. Not that Alix would part with it at any price. But when the mirror is abruptly stolen from her home, she realizes that someone sees more in the looking glass than mere sentimental value. When her uncle Tiny disappears mysteriously just after the mirror is stolen, the simple art theft becomes a personal and professional challenge Alix can't ignore. With backup from her friends in the FBI, her game-for-anything pal Chris, and an aging-but-dogged Italian police detective, she delves into the puzzling case, only to find that there is much more to this theft than meets the eye. Once the Mafia shows up on the scene, Alix's mission becomes a do-or-die race to find the one possible man with all the answers.
Alfred Maudslay and the Maya by Ian Graham | Literally Just Books
