Revisiting Maler's Usumacinta: Recent Archaeological Investigations in Chiapas, Mexico

From 1895 to 1900 the explorer Teobert Maler traveled the Usumacinta River of Mexico and Guatemala on a series of missions in Maya archaeology. Over the course of his travels, Maler mapped, photographed, and described many of the most significant Precolumbian settlements along the Usumacinta. Among his most important contributions was the photographic documentation of inscribed monuments (some later damaged or destroyed and no longer extant) that provide rich histories for ancient Maya kingdoms. Today, many of the sites that Maler visited have receded into obscurity, and a few have become lost entirely. In February of 2010, the authors set out to re-identify sites first reported by Maler over a century ago, provide updated documentation of those sites, and locate new sites overlooked by Maler during his expedition, which was conducted when dense forest still covered the landscape. This book documents that research.