Talk:Edward Herbert Thompson

General Edits
I updated this page to match the information from the article on Chichen Itza. I deleted some of the information that is not supported by either of the two sources listed. For example, while most sources list Thompson's birth year as 1856, Coggins correctly lists it as 1857 (per Thompson's birth certificate).CoyoteMan31 20:35, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks Coyoteman, nice work.--cjllw ʘ  TALK 23:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 11:23, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Reversion of Germán E. Macías edits
The Wikipedia editor made their changes in good faith, but the changes are unsupported and represent opinions and errors of fact. They wrote:

"Thompson plundered"; he was a "looter." These are the author's opinions and, frankly, the opinion of many but not everyone.

"One of the main accusers and challengers of Thompson's criminal (author's opinion) conduct was Teoberto Maler, an Austrian archaeologist who lived in Yucatan during that time, a student of the great Mayan culture." While true Maler accused Thompson of crimes, no official action was ever taken based on Maler's accusations.

"In 1923, Alma Reed, an American journalist who came to Yucatan at that time, reported in the New York Times on Thompson's transgressions and caused a stir in the cultural and archaeological circles of the United States, to the point that the efforts of the Carnegie Institution for Science to scientifically explore and restore the site back then were compromised.[4]" The author paraphrases an unsourced section of an online article by Jesse Lerner. The reason it is unsourced is because it is not supported by the facts. Reed published a report of Thompson's dredging in the New York Times, but it resulted in no stir, indignation, or anything. None of that happened until three years later, as the current revision of the article states.

"Alma Reed's first presence in Yucatan occurred within the framework of the request for the Carnegie Expedition, which had been organized by the Institute of the same name, incorporating a large group of archaeologists and anthropologists, including Sylvanus Morley. They had arrived on an evaluation and rescue mission from the Mayan ruins." Not relevant to Thompson.

"The local magazine Diario de Yucatán, for its part, referred in its editions from July 21 to 28, 1926 to the public accusations that arose and were aired, raising great outrage in Yucatecan society." The Diario covered the legal case brought against Thompson, but the outrage came from Mexico City. In the end, the courts found Thompson had a legal right to excavate artifacts from the Cenote Sagrado.

DISCUSSION: One approach the Wikipedia editor might use is to add a section about the impact Thompson's actions have had over the years. Mexican archaeologists have clamored for the return of the Cenote Sagrado artifacts since 1926. Some artifacts were sent back to Mexico in the late 1950s and mid 1970s, they were exchanged for artifacts in Mexico's collections. CoyoteMan31 (talk) 13:05, 16 July 2020 (UTC)