Studying monuments such as this zoomorph found at Quiriguá in Guatemala became much easier after Alfred Maudslay's visits to the ruined cities of Mesoamerica. Maudslay took many photographs but also arranged for plaster casts to be made, enabling scholars to study these artefacts of Maya culture in relative comfort away from their jungle home. Maudslay's careful documentation proved invaluable in the deciphering of Maya hieroglyphics. Ian Graham's book Alfred Maudslay and the Maya (University of Oklahoma Press, $39.95) is the first biography of this pioneering archaeologist, and contains many of Maudslay's own photographs.