By Evan J. Albright

Edward H. Thompson, not long after his arrival in Yucatan, doing his best impersonation of the "Indiana Jones." His early naivete was soon replaced with an encyclopedic knowledge and grateful appreciation of the Maya, their history and their culture.

Every year more than a million visitors tear themselves away from the sand and surf of Cancun and other resorts along the shore of the Yucatan Peninsula to visit Chichen Itza, the restored city of the ancient Maya. What most do not know is that the man who made Chichen Itza was from the United States, Edward Herbert Thompson.

Thompson was born in 1857, and grew up in Worcester, Mass., northwest of Boston. In 1885, Stephen Salisbury Jr., a fellow Worcester resident and son of one of the richest men in the United States, approached Thompson with a startling offer: Would the Cape Cod man be willing to move to the Yucatan to seek out ancient Mayan sites and artifacts and conduct archaeological digs on his behalf? The offer came with a job: American Consul to the Yucatan.

A few weeks later, Thompson, his wife Henrietta, and their newborn daughter boarded a ship for the Yucatan, beginning what would become a 40-year adventure, one that would take him to the magical city known as Chichen Itza. Read more»