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portal,andhe starts screaming inSpanish,I’m screaming in
English,and someoneelse is screaming inCholMaya,and
finally the rest of our party comes around.”Šprajcwalked
backward through theportal,says Jones,turned to face the
stonemonster’smaw,and calmly smiled.
“I had a few rum andCokes later,”Šprajc admits.
Watermayhavemade thedifferencebetween thesurvival
ofsites likeCobaand thedeclineofCalakmul.Cobaand the
cities in thenorthernYucatán,includingChichénItzá,were
still thrivingwhen those in the south—Chactún,Lagunita,
Calakmul—were abandoned.Many archaeologists now
believea longdrought throughout theYucatánmayhave led
to famine,warfare,and thebreakdownof the feudal system,
sparking a200-year collapsebeginning in the9th century.
But thenorth isnecklaced incenotes,natural sinkholes
in the Yucatán’s porous limestone created by the same
Mesozoic meteorite that doomed the dinosaurs. The
impact exposed underground rivers through a series of
perforations, but it did not reach the southernYucatán,
which largely lacks cenotes.Near Tulum, rental cars in
front of us turn left intoGranCenote,disgorging swim-
mers eager to cool off after crawling up NohochMul.
Cold and clear, the aquamarine freshwater recedes into
a dark cave, one of the vital reservoirs that was perhaps
responsible for the survival ofMaya civilization in the
northuntil theSpanish conquest of the late17th century.
North, south, or neighboring,Maya sites remained
separate,more like the city states of ancientGreece than
the empireofRome.“Theywerenot united ever,”explains
Šprajc,ashedrivesme to the coastal areaof Tulum.“They
probably didn’t even feel like they belonged to the same
nation.They had a lot of trade networks.But that doesn’t
meanwe are all friends.We have war, but trade goes on,
just likenow.”
Tulum servedCoba as its port on a vital trade network
that extended as far as Honduras. In early drawings by
Catherwood,Tulum featured vegetation growing from
atop themain
castillo
and trees sprouting from pavilions,
much like the jungle-shrouded ruins of the southern
Yucatán today. Now reconstructed, Tulum’s tropical-
paradise-meets-archaeological-site attracts visitors who
stream inwithbeach towels,oblivious to the lean scientist
“Becauseof theblack
market, Šprajc often
destroys his paths.”
among themwhooncemapped theastronomical alignment
of these buildings.
Šprajcpointsoutastructuredevoted to theplanetVenus
and another withmonster figures carved into the corners.
Artistic but practical, theMaya often buried their dead
under theirhouses,withofferingsofpottery,jade,andother
treasures.When they expanded, they did so directly atop
existing buildings.Houses turned intomansions turned
intopalaces in this recyclingpractice,which sealedoff one
age after another,entombing treasures nested likeRussian
dolls and vulnerable, today, to raiders who often display a
sophisticatedunderstandingofMayapracticesby tunneling
withinbuildings.“They sawedoff thecarved surfaces,”says
Šprajc.“It’s limestone, so they could cut it. If they couldn’t
take thewholemonument, theywould carve it off.”
Though looting and the sale of antiquities is illegal, a
blackmarketpersists,which iswhyŠprajcoftendestroys the
paths tonewlydiscovered sites.He’sbeenknown toprovide
falseGPScoordinates to journalists.Accurate information
published in scientific journals is usedby other archaeolo-
gists,who return to excavate,with luck finding the jade
masks and polychrome pottery before thieves do. “First, I
rescue the information,”explainsŠprajc in themost impas-
sionedpitchhiseven tenorallows.“Then,oncewepublish,if
they steal it later theycannotat leastpublicly sell it,because
wewill knowwhere it came from.”
There’sno jungletoshroudpotentialplunderersatTulum,
where iguanas sun themselves atopoff-limits temples.The
dutiful stop to readplaques about thedecoratedTempleof
the Frescoes, butmostmake for the clifftop stairway that
takes them40 feetdown to thebeach.“Museumsnowhave
to competewithDisneyland,”Šprajc says. “As long as it’s
authentic,exposure is good.”
His personal tolerance for beaches is limited.Emerging
from the jungleafteranexpedition,Šprajc seeks“agoodbar
andagoodrestaurant,andyouswima littlebitbut then,OK,
let’s goback.”But nowhehas abus to catch andmoney to
raise. “I’m 60 years old in a few days. I will probably have
only thenext few years if Iwant todo some tough jobs.”
Amonth later, I hear from Šprajc. Backing secured,
he’s planning another reconmission in the biosphere in
March.Asmuch as he trustsme with his story, he won’t
saypreciselywhere.
ElaineGlusac
writesregularly for
TheNewYorkTimes
.Like
Indiana Jones, she hates snakes.
Swimmers at
Gran Cenote
WILLIAM SCHILDGE/GETTY IMAGES
