56
The
Indiana
Jones
of the
Yucatán
Exploring ancient Maya civilizationwith the last of
the great rom ntic adve turers in archaeology
I
ndiana Jones is eatingmy breakfast, the remains of a
leathery flapof grilledbeef,yellowedby egg yolk.He
has insisted on a heartymeal beforewe venture into
thecentralwildsof theYucatán,thebeach-fringedpeninsula
of southernMexico.Heneeds his energy.
Ivan Šprajc (pronounced
E-von Shprites
) is a tranquil
version ofHarrisonFord’s frenzied film character less 50
pounds,with ice-blueeyesandnow sweating throughhead-
to-toe khaki at a streetside table inTulum.The Slovenian
archaeologist’spioneeringworkmappingheretoforeunknown
Mayacities in thedeepestYucatán—battlingsnakes,insects,
rain,and looters—has inspired colleagues tonicknamehim
after thebullwhip-wielding Jones.
“Ivan is one of the last, if not the last, of the great
romantic adventurers in archaeology,” says Joe Ball,
a professor of anthropology and archaeology at San
Diego State University. “Ivan is all about lost cities and
how to find them and hacking through the bush to their
eventual discovery.”
Two of Šprajc’s recent Yucatán discoveries, the city of
Chactún in 2013 and the lakeside Lagunita in 2014, are
helping to fill inwhat is perhaps the greatest blank in the
Maya landscape:the trackless2,800-square-milewilderness
known as theCalakmulBiosphereReserve in the southern
Yucatán.Land once contested by two great city powers—
Calakmul, inmodernMexico,andTikal,60miles south in
present-dayGuatemala—this former home to thousands
emptied in the courseof just 200years, in the9th and10th
centuries.Secondarygrowth reclaimedcitieswithaverdant
vengeance,wrapping temples in vines even as later,Post-
Classic sites, likeChichén Itzá in the north, continued to
thrive. It’s a historical and perhaps environmentalmystery
that draws Šprajc tomachete away the jungle shroud and
reveal the storyof agreat civilization’s collapse.
by elaine glusac
photography by holly wilmeth
