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'Edward Herbert Thompson' (28 September, 1857 - 11 May, 1935) was a United States born archaeologist and diplomat.
Edward H. Thompson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Initially inspired by the books of John Lloyd Stephens, Thompson devoted much of his career to study of the Maya civilization. In 1879, Popular Science Monthly published an article by Thompson in which he argued that the ancient Mayan monuments, which he had never seen except in books, were proof of the lost continent of Atlantis--an opinion which his later researches would change. The article attracted the attention of Stephen Salisbury III, scion of an American railroad baron and a benefactor of the American Antiquarian Society, who persuaded Thompson to move to Yucatán to explore the ruins on his behalf. Senator George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts agreed to help subsidize Thompson's efforts by recommending him for the post of United States consul to Yucatan.
Thompson arrived in Mérida, Yucatán, in 1885 and thereafter spent most of his life in Yucatán. Although he spoke only English upon his arrival, he quickly learned Spanish and also became fluent in the Yucatec Maya language.
Thompson did early extensive examinations at Labná, picking that site because little work had previously been done there and the fact that because of its distance from any modern settlement had left it relatively undisturbed in modern times. He also discovered a number of smaller sites in the Puuc region.
He made a series of plaster casts of Maya sculpures and architecture, particularly from Uxmal and Labná, which were exhibited at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893.
With the help of Alison Armour, Thompson in 1894 purchased the plantation that included the site of Chichen Itza. He rebuilt the hacienda, which had been destroyed in the Caste War of Yucatán. For 30 years he explored the site, on behalf of the Field Columbian Museum, the American Antiquarian Society, the Peabody Museum at Harvard University and others. His discoveries included the earliest dated carving upon a lintel in the Temple of the Initial Series and the excavation of several graves in the Ossario (High Priest’s Temple).
Thompson is most famous for dredging the Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote) from 1904 to 1910, where he recovered artifacts of gold, copper and carved jade, as well as the first-ever examples of what were believed to be pre-Columbian Maya cloth and wooden weapons. Thompson shipped the bulk of the artifacts to the Peabody Museum. In 1926, the Mexican government seized Thompson's plantation, charging he had removed the artifacts illegally. The Mexican Supreme Court in 1944 ruled in Thompson's favor. Thompson, however, had died in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1935, so the property reverted to his heirs.
Sources: Edward H. Thompson, People of the Serpent, 1931; Clemency Coggins (ed.), Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from the Sacred Well of Chichen Itza, 1984.