Silver cities of Yucatan

Chapter 2: ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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About This Book

A firsthand account of an expedition into eastern Yucatan that blends travelogue with archaeological reporting and historical interpretation. The text describes coastal and jungle landscapes, ruined Maya temples, and ancient trade routes, and examines architectural and sculptural links between lowland Maya sites and central Mexican influences associated with Quetzalcoatl. It presents field observations about later phases of Maya civilization, contrasts pre-Columbian and colonial vestiges, and discusses indigenous resistance, population decline, and growing commercial penetration of the region. Photographs, drawings, and a map accompany the narrative and analytical commentary.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

My thanks are due first of all to the New York Times, which financed the Mason-Spinden Expedition; then to the Mexican Government, which permitted the Expedition to enter territory where foreigners are not commonly welcomed; third, to Mr. George Palmer Putnam, the United Fruit Company and the Chicle Development Company for advice in organization and—in the case of the last two,—for the use of invaluable facilities in the field. Finally, I am again indebted to the New York Times—and to World’s Work and Motor Boating—for permission to use here in revised form certain material which has already been printed in the pages of those journals.

Gregory Mason.