born Nov. 28, 1805, Shrewsbury, N.J., U.S.
died Oct. 12, 1852, New York, N.Y.
U.S. traveler and archaeologist.
Stephens's travels in the Middle East resulted in two books. With his illustrator friend Frederick Catherwood he embarked for Honduras in 1839 to explore ancient Maya ruins rumoured to exist. At Copán , Uxmal , Palenque , and elsewhere, they identified major new sites. They described their findings in Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (1841) and recounted a second trip in Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (1843). Their books created a storm of popular and scholarly interest in the region.