Sylvanus (Vanus or Vay) Griswold Morley was born June 7, 1883 to Benjamin F. Morley and Sarah Eleanor Constance De Lannoy. Sylvanus attended school at Harvard University, where he received bachelors and masters degrees in archaeology. In 1908, he married Alice Gallinger Williams, and they had one child, Alice Virginia Morley. Sylvanus and Alice got divorced around 1914. After finishing school, Sylvanus worked with the Carnegie Institute and investigated the ancient Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula. He also visited sites throughout Mesoamerica, including Copan, Tikal, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal. His interests included heiroglyphics, monumental architecture, and the Classic and Postclassic Maya. In 1927, Sylvanus G. Morley married Frances Louella Rhoads, and she began to accompany him on excavations and they owned houses in Mexico and Sante Fe. In 1946, Morley wrote The Ancient Maya, a large volume detailing Maya archaeology. Sylvanus died on September 2, 1948.