Alice Dixon Le Plongeon

Who was Alice Dixon Le Plongeon?

Alice Dixon Le Plongeon was an English photographer, amateur archaeologist traveller, and author. Together with her husband Augustus Le Plongeon she spent eleven years living and working in southern Mexico and Central America photographing and studying the ruined cities of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. The origins and history of the ruins were at that time obscure.

Together with her husband, she helped make some of the first photographs of ruins at Chichén Itzá and Uxmal. They developed several speculative theories concerning the origins of the Maya, which are today completely discounted by modern Mayanist scholarship but contributed to the emergence of Mayanism. The Le Plongeons believed the ancient Maya had been in direct communication with the lost continent of Atlantis and with ancient Egypt and that Jesus had been influenced by the Mayas and spoke the Yucatec language.

Alice had a strong interest in Spiritualism, Freemasonry, and the Rosicrucians, and was active in the Theosophical Society and a friend of Annie Besant. Her writings included Queen Moo's Talisman, a fanciful description of the ancient Maya royalty featuring the characters Queen Moo and Prince Coh.