Despite its proximity, Central America is as distant to some North
Americans as Asia, and its people and traditions just as exotic. Basing
his study on archaeological evidence including buildings, art, and
artifacts, Augustus le Plongeon, in 1866, provided a comprehensive
account of ancient Mayan civilization, the foundation for modern Central
American culture. Delivered with poetry and logic, le Plongeon's
comparison of the mythology and spiritual belief systems of this
11,000-year-old society and those of others (from the ancient Egyptians
to Christians) illustrates just how human many sacred mysteries are, and
just how closely bonded people and communities are-no matter how far
apart. British archaeologist and photographer AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON
(1825-1908) attended school in Paris, was shipwrecked off the coast of
Chile, and ran his own photography studio in San Francisco before
settling in the Yucatan. He wrote many scholarly manuscripts, notes, and
letters and kept numerous photographs documenting his decades living in
Central America.