Sylvanus Griswold Morley, was the son of Benjamin Franklin Morley and Sarah Elinor Constance de Lannoy. Sylvanus was born on June 7, 1883 in the Chester, Pennsylvania. He first studied civil engineering at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, while also attending Harvard University. It was here he realized his liking of Archeology. Towards the beginning of his studies, "Morley did fieldwork (1909-1914) in Central America and Mexico for the School of American Archeology" (Columbia Encyclopedia). He then became a research associate in 1915 and in 1918 for the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Morley was also in Guatemala for almost 40 years studying many of the subjects associated with archeology, especially Maya Hieroglyphs. This gave him great interest which lead him to later become a pioneer in the discovery and translation of Mayan Hieroglyphs. He was in charge of many Central American expeditions in Chichen Itza. All of his great discoveries and findings from archeology lead him to write a few books about the Hieroglyphs called An Introduction to the Study of Maya Hieroglyphs. Other books include The Inscriptions at Copan (1920), The Inscriptions of Peten (5 vol., 1938) and The Ancient Maya (1946; 3d ed. 1956). Morley was a very talented man and was considered the leading expert in his field, He died on September 2, 1948, while serving as Director of both the School of American Research and the Museum of New Mexico.
References
Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition
Sylvanus Griswold Morley. Former Link http://www.snder.com (2008).
Written by Ashley K. Wolden, 2003
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007, Melissa Lorentz, 2008.