The Archaeology Game

The riveting true story of Sam and Rachel Warren Lothrop, the young, glamorous archaeologists who used their trowels as covers for espionage in World War I.

In 1915, two wealthy twenty-something Bostonians left home as newlywed aspiring archaeologists. They returned years later as tried-and-tested spies.

Born into Gilded Age privilege and excess, Sam and Rachel Warren Lothrop could easily have led comfortable society lives, but their passion for archaeology took them across Latin America to overgrown jungles full of long-forgotten monuments. As Sam and Rachel departed for the ancient Maya world, their highest aspiration was to return to the United States with groundbreaking discoveries.

But just as the Lothrops were getting their bearings in Latin America, the United States entered the First World War. With the sinking of the Lusitania, Washington took Germanys interest in establishing U-boat submarine bases along the coast of Latin America as a very real threat. Recognizing the usefulness of archaeologists as intelligence assets, with their ability to travel across difficult terrain and into volatile, untrusted countries, the Office of Naval Intelligence recruited Sam and Rachel as spies in Nicaragua and Costa Ricathe only married couple to work as archaeologists and spies for the ONI during World War I.

The Archaeology Game tells the story of these two promising young archaeologists whose lives were caught up in the chaos of a world at war and their fateful decision to use their roles to subvert Latin American nations. It is also a story of US interference in and mistrust of its southern neighbors, of fiscal manipulation and corrosive paternalism in Latin America. Following the Lothrops through exotic jungles, long-lost ruins, and embarrassing professional scandals, award-winning author Rachel Morgan exposes the daunting ethical challenges that emerge when archaeologists use their trowels for cover.