We have been exploring yeasts for over 500 years. Mexico is a real mine, and projects like the controversial Mayan Train have proven that. By examining the routes of the roads, archaeologists have found many ruins from the past (even a hidden 25-meter pyramid), and archaeological remains from the pre-Hispanic period continue to emerge in other parts of the country.

An example of this is the canals of Mexico City, the entrance to the underworld of Oaxaca, or the recently discovered archaeological site in a region that had not attracted attention until now: Tecacahuaco. New technologies will also allow us to learn more about previously studied sites, but today we will go back to when it all began: the discovery of the Mayan cities of Yucatan.

Juan Díaz and Tulum. As is always the case in these cases, someone may have discovered it before, but if it is not documented it is of little value. In the discovery of Mayan cities, much is made of the 1840 expedition, but in fact there was someone writing about these Mayan cities three centuries ago.

Juan Díaz was the pastor and historian of Juan de Grijalva’s Second Expedition to the Mexican coast. He doesn’t go into much detail, and at the time, documenting the past wasn’t an obsession (on the contrary, finding gold and silver was), but Díaz wrote in writing that he saw a city, “at least as big as Seville”. It is thought that this city was Tulum, a very interesting place today, but a few years after this sighting it was described as a simple city in ruins.

Stephens and Catherwood. Jumping back in time, we find ourselves in the mid-19th century. John Lloyd Stephens was a New Jersey lawyer who traveled to Europe in his youth. He traveled to many countries, eventually visiting both Jordan and Egypt, visiting the country’s main sites and documenting his journey.

When it was time to return home, during a stopover in London, he met the English architect and painter Frederick Catherwood, who had previously participated in some archaeological expeditions. Stephens would devote himself to politics before leaving for Europe, and through his connections he managed to get appointed as the US Chargé d’Affaires in Central America.

Drawing of Tulum by Catherwood

Buying a city for 50 dollars. Stephens and Catherwood were interested in seeing the area and made the trip in 1839. That decade in 1840 was not very conducive to travel, as there were areas of civil strife such as Copán, but their patience was rewarded after the pair set out on foot through the jungle, cutting their way with a clean machete and almost falling into despair when they found nothing.

They came across a carved stone slab that caught their attention, and gradually they found more (other obelisks, staircases, and ornate walls). Stephen thought the area had great archaeological value and bought it from the owner for $50. That’s when they started working on cleanup and documentation. Catherwood was interested in this because of his skills as a painter and architect.

Second time. Catherwood and Stephen published the report of this first expedition (Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán), and the work brought attention to the magnificent lands of the Mayans that had been forgotten by Spanish explorers. It was a complicated journey, but they achieved tremendous success, and on the second expedition in 1941 the couple devoted themselves to examining the cities of Tulum, Mayapan, Aké, and Chichén Itzá.

The two colleagues kept in touch. Stephens was appointed Vice President and Director of the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, but in 1850 he was offered the opportunity to oversee the construction of the Panama Railroad. I offered Catherwood the position while he was busy with the trains. But he died two years later and a plaque with Mayan hieroglyphs was placed on his tombstone.

Catherwood soon followed him; when he died in 1854, but in a more tragic way: the Arctic passenger ship was wrecked on its way from Liverpool to New York. All 385 passengers died, and the press at the time did not note that she was one of them.

Chichen Itza Castle by Maler

Teoberto MalerThe couple’s work was crucial in drawing attention to Yucatán from other researchers and archaeologists, and one of these was Teobert Maler. Born in 1842, he was an Austrian-German, but he wanted to see the world. This led him to enlist as a soldier in the army of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Republican forces ended his empire, and Maler stayed in Mexico rather than go into exile.

He named himself Teoberto because it was easier to pronounce, and because of his love of antiquities and photography, he set out on a journey to document Mayan ruins. Like Catherwood and Stephens before him, he moved through the jungle with a machete and the help of natives, but he also had a camera as well as paper and pen.

This is how he was able to document the condition of El Castillo de Chichén Itzá in 1892, or some of the tablets he found along his route. He also realized that previous explorers had missed many ruins and that only a fraction of the richness of the place had been documented.

No shipping to Europe and USA. And there was one thing Maler didn’t like at all. When something valuable was seen, the tendency was to take it away to Europe or the United States. His idea was that everything should be left where it was, preserved intact for study. These were ideas ahead of their time (tell the British Museum), and he wrote several letters to the Mexican government explaining his thoughts.

After such an important work, we might think that Maler would live comfortably, but… no. First, his work was not successful and his scientific publications were difficult to compare, because he sent them and left to continue his research for a few more months, making it impossible to contact him. Second, his money was gone and he made a living by selling copies of his photographs to tourists and other archaeologists.

He died in Mérida in 1817, at the age of 75, and his works were published posthumously. Interestingly, he died without knowing that he was one of the pioneers of modern archaeology, but at least he made us remember the impressive photo of El Castillo with weeds covering the entire staircase.

Pictures | Beyond My Ken, Frederick Catherwood, Teoberto Maler, Daniel Schwen

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