78 RESEARCH AT THE RUINS OF CHICKEN ITZA, YUCATAN. 



5. Field Quarters. 



Chichen Itza is peculiarly fitted for conducting an extended research 

 in another important respect. There is no other ruin at which an expe- 

 dition can be so inexpensively and at the same time so comfortably 

 quartered as at Chichen Itza. Indeed all the other large sites, except 

 Uxmal, Quirigua, and Copan, are in a tropical wilderness where it would 

 be necessary to build more or less expensive mosquito-proof field quar- 

 ters, and even these three groups of ruins have no such facilities as those 

 ofi'ered at Chichen Itza. The question of suitable field quarters may seem 

 relatively unimportant, but in inaugurating a work, to extend over a score 

 of years, the comfort of the field corps becomes an item of considerable 

 moment. 



In summing up the practical reasons for conducting archfeological 

 research at Chichen Itza, in preference to every other Maya site, the question 

 resolves itself into one of maximum efficiency at minimum cost. More work 

 can be accomplished at Chichen Itza for a given amount of money than at any 

 other site. INIeasured by such a standard, only three large Maya sites — 

 Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Quirigua— are sufficiently near railroad points to 

 be worked at low cost. While cost of operation should not weigh too heavily 

 in selecting a site for intensive study, still a reasonable return of results for 

 the amount expended should be expected. Of the three ruins mentioned, 

 Chichen Itza has by far the most in its favor, and the writer firmly befieves 

 that more can be accomplished there than anywhere else in the Maya field, 

 regardless of the amount of the annual appropriation. 



