Antonio del Río explained

Antonio del Río (c. 1745 – c. 1789) was a captain who led the first excavation of the Maya ruins of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. The expedition was undertaken in 1787 for Charles III of Spain, following reports of the ruins from native inhabitants. It took the team two weeks to dig, and it then spent three weeks studying the site. He was accompanied by Ricardo Almendáriz who created drawings of the ruins still considered scientifically useful.

References

• October 2009 . Archaeological Illustration in the Americas: Highlights from the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection . PDF online publication . Past Presented: A Symposium on the History of Archaeological Illustration . 2009 Dumbarton Oaks Pre-Columbian Symposium, 9–10 October 2009, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC . http://www.doaks.org/research/pre_columbian/doaks_pco_symposium_2009_10_09.html . Bibliographic notes by Joanne Pillsbury, Emily Kline, and Bridget Gazzo . Washington, DC . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. 2009-11-13.
• García Sáiz, María Concepción . 1994 . Antonio del Río y Guillermo Dupaix: el reconocimiento de una deuda histórica. PDF online reproduction, Universidad de La Rioja . . Madrid . Museo de América, Ministerio de Cultura . 2. 99–119 . 1133-8741 . 445101005. es.
• Book: Río, Antonio del . Antonio del Río . 1822 . 1786 . Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City, discovered near Palenque, in the Kingdom of Guatemala, in Spanish America: Translated from the original manuscript report of captain Don Antonio del Río: Followed by Teatro Crítico Americano; or, A critical investigation and research into The History of the Americans . Paul Felix Cabrera . Paul Felix Cabrera . . London . 55254809.
• Book: Stuart, George E. . 2007 . 492. Almendáriz, Ricardo, fl. ca. 1787 . http://www.kislakfoundation.org/pdf/Catalog_09.pdf . PDF online reproduction . The Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress: a catalog of the gift of the Jay I. Kislak Foundation to the Library of Congress . Arthur Dunkelman . With essays by Ralph E. Ehrenberg, Norman Fiering, John Lombardi, Jerald T. Milanich, Robert J. Sharer, and George E. Stuart . Washington, DC . . 154–156 . 978-0-8444-1180-4 . 177817935 . 2009-11-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110604203714/http://www.kislakfoundation.org/publications_loc.html . 2011-06-04 . dead .

Eighteenth-Century Drawings of Palenque at Library of Congress