Alfred Maudslay was a British explorer who is credited with turning the study of Maya ruins from a romanticized antiquarian pursuit into a scientific study, and paving the way for the eventual decipherment of the Maya script.
Plaster Cast of Stele A at Copan, by Alfred Maudslay, displayed at the British Museum. Photo by Michel Wal
Maudslay's careful recording in drawings, photographs, and plaster casts of the monuments at several important Mayan sites such as Palenque, Yaxchilan and Chichen Itza are incredibly valuable today, because they represent the monuments as they were before being exposed to modern pollution and the damaging effects of acid rain. Without his detailed record, epigraphers would have had a much harder time deciphering the Maya script.
More about Maudslay
- Biography of Alfred P. Maudslay from Nicoletta Maestri
- Alfred Maudslay's Insight (David Stuart on Maya Decipherment)
- Maudslay's Collection of Photographs at the Brooklyn Museum
- Alfred Maudslay (British Museum)
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