author
Augustus Le Plongeon
1826–1908
Best known for his early explorations of Maya ruins, this 19th-century photographer and writer helped create some of the first detailed visual records of sites such as Chichén Itzá and Uxmal. His work mixed careful documentation with bold theories that fascinated readers, even when later scholars rejected many of his ideas.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born on Jersey and educated in Paris, Augustus Le Plongeon became a photographer, writer, and independent explorer with a lasting interest in the ancient Americas. He is remembered chiefly for his work in Yucatán, where he and his wife, Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, spent years photographing and investigating Maya sites.
Their expeditions in the 1870s and 1880s produced unusually extensive photographic records of places such as Chichén Itzá and Uxmal. That visual documentation remains an important part of his legacy, especially because it preserved details of monuments and ruins at a relatively early moment in the history of archaeology.
Le Plongeon also wrote books that argued for sweeping links between the Maya, Egypt, and lost ancient civilizations. Those interpretations were not accepted by later scholarship, but his energy, curiosity, and pioneering use of photography ensured that his work continued to attract attention long after his lifetime.