Alice Dixon Le Plongeon

Portrait of Alice Dixon Le Plongeon, taken by her husband Augustus, ca. 1875 Alice Dixon Le Plongeon (1851–1910) was an English photographer, amateur archeologist, traveller, and author. She was one of the first people to excavate and study the ancient Maya sites of Chichen Itza and Uxmal.

Early life Alice Dixon was born in London on 12 December 1851. She was the second of nine children born to Henry Dixon and Sophia Cook. Henry Dixon was a copper-plate printer who later became a successful photographer. Henry Dixon was recognized in the late nineteenth century for his contribution to the development of panchromatic photography and for his photos of London architecture taken for the Society for Photographing Relics of Old London. Alice learned the principles of photography from her father and worked as an assistant at his studio.

Another member of the family who had a strong influence on Alice was her uncle, Dr. Jacob Dixon. Dr. Dixon practiced Spiritualism and Alice became involved in the Spiritualist movement in England at a young age. 1871, Alice participated in a séance at her Uncle's home. In her memoirs Alice reports that at this séance a spirit predicted that she would be married before she was twenty and that she would move very far from England.

Later the same year Alice met Augustus Le Plongeon while he was in London studying Mexican and Maya artifacts at the British Museum. After she first met Augustus, Alice told her mother, "Mother, while I was out today I met him who I know that I shall have to marry by and by." Twenty-five years her senior, Augustus Le Plongeon was a French-American photographer and amateur archeologist who had already traveled and worked in Chile, California, and Peru. He was in London to prepare for a trip into the jungles of Yucatán. Alice grew interested in ancient Maya civilization, studied John L. Stephen's Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, and agreed to join Augustus on his expedition. Alice and Augustus, not yet married, traveled from London to New York to complete the last of their preparations.

Career The couple married in New York before traveling to Mexico in 1873. After arriving in Mérida, Alice Dixon Le Plongeon became seriously ill with yellow fever. Augustus nursed her back to health, and they stayed in Mérida while she regained her strength. The pair became acquainted with local scholars and learned to speak Yucatec Maya. Their first trip out of Mérida was a short visit to Uxmal, where they explored the site and took some photographs.

The Le Plongeons were in Yucatán during the years of the Caste War, a conflict between the Maya, called the Chan Santa Cruz, and the army of Yucatán. In 1875, they left Mérida and traveled to Chichen Itza with a military escort, who was assigned to stay with the archeologists while they worked.

In November 1875 the Le Plongeons unearthed a large statue from near the Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars at Chichen Itza. The statue was of a reclining man and the Le Plongeons believed it was a representation of Prince Chaacmol. So, the statue was named Chacmool and was lauded by the American Geographical Society as a great archeological find. Other artifacts were found near the statue including flint, ceramic pieces, and a piece of jadeite that Augustus had set in a gold brooch. Alice would keep and wear this talisman for the rest of her life.