Theories and Later Career
By the 1880s, while most Mayanists accepted that the Maya civilization postdated Ancient Egypt, Le Plongeon stood by his theories. He cited his years of fieldwork and studies of archival sources, and challenged those he considered "armchair" archaeologists to debate the issues. But as evidence mounted against cultural diffusion, Le Plongeon became marginalized and his theories falling further outside of the growing mainstream of Maya archaeology.
Le Plongeon insisted that the symbols of Freemasonry could be traced to the ancient Maya, and that this ancient knowledge had come to ancient Egypt from the ancient Maya by way of Atlantis. He and Alice constructed an imaginative "history", with the Maya sites in Yucatán being the cradle of civilization, with civilization then traveling east first to Atlantis and later to Ancient Egypt. The Le Plongeons named kings and queens of these dynasties, and said that various artworks were portraits of such ancient royalty (such as the famous Chacmool, which the couple excavated at Chichén Itzá). The Le Plongeons reconstructed a detailed but fanciful story of Queen Moo and Prince Coh (also known as "Chac Mool") in which Prince Coh's death resulted in the erection of monuments in his honor (surprisingly similar to the commemoration of Prince Albert by Queen Victoria).
Le Plongeon wrote that some sites identified as part of the Maya civilization were not Maya at all. For example, he attributed the construction of Palenque to people from Polynesia. He also believed that the ancient Maya understood the use of the electric telegraph.
While most of Le Plongeon's contemporaries dismissed his theories, individuals such as Ignatius Donnelly and Helena Blavatsky drew upon Le Plongeon's research for their own theories.
He was never fully recognized for his work in the Yucatán, but the hundreds of photos he and Alice took still remain an important contribution to American archaeology. Augustus spent the remainder of his life in Brooklyn, New York, writing about the connections between Maya and Egypt and defending himself against detractors. Augustus le Plongeon died in Brooklyn in 1908 at the age of eighty-three; Alice followed in 1910 at the age of fifty-nine.
Le Plongeon's theories, an early form of alternative history, survive today in certain New Age beliefs that are derived from occult knowledge and Theosophy.
Read more about this topic: Augustus Le Plongeon
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