As the United States entered World War I in 1917, the Office of Naval Intelligence was obsessed with the notion that the Germans had (or would) establish U-boat bases in Mexico and Central America and use them to attack ships bound to and from the Panama Canal. To find out, they turned to a young Maya archaeologist, Sylvanus G. Morley of the Carnegie Institution. Using his scholarly credentials as cover, Morley quickly recruited a network of archaeologists and other Americans to spy on the Germans and collect intelligence on the region.
In an era of multi-billion dollar spy budgets with vast bureaucracies, it is hard to imagine the United States, even after three years of world war, with almost no professional intelligence capacity. Morley was given a naval commission and 16 days of training before leaving for Guatemala on a banana boat. Nonetheless, he proved to be resourceful and a superb spy. The network he developed kept watch for German naval activity, tracked down every rumor, and kept an eye on the Germans in the region. Archaeology was the perfect cover as Morley traveled from Copán in Honduras to Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán vainly looking for enemy activity. His reports provided Washington with accurate information on the political situation in Central America, but little German activity. His effectiveness stemmed from his gift for dealing with people of all kinds, from peons to presidents.
Historians Harris and Sadler draw on rich source materials including Morley’s reports to Naval Intelligence to portray a vivid picture of Morley and his friends as they mixed archaeology and espionage. This volume combines superior scholarship with a gripping story. Morley went on to become the leading Maya archaeologist of his time, and his classic tome, The Ancient Maya, is still in print. The Archaeologist was a Spy is a real-life thriller set in a fascinating locale and time.
