ARCHEOLOGY. 



Morley, Sylvanus G., Sante Fe, New Mexico. Associate in American Archeol- 

 ogy. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 13-17.) 



During the month of March 1919, Mr. Morley visited Costa Rica 

 and Nicaragua. The archeological collections in the National Museums 

 at San Jose and Managua respectively, as well as the larger private 

 collections, were examined, but beyond the ceramic remains no traces 

 of direct Maya influence were found. 



The decorative motives in pottery occasionally have elements which 

 resemble the Maya ceramic designs, but as a whole the material cul- 

 tures of the two countries, judging from the collections examined, 

 show few such resemblances, and we may probably assume that, if felt 

 at all, the INIaya influence was but slight. 



The Lenca, on the eastern Maya frontier (see Year Book No. 16, 

 pp. 288, 289), and the Pipil, a Nahuatlan people along the southeastern 

 frontier, formed a fairly effective linguistic barrier against a general 

 southeastward extension of the Maya ci\dlization, and although the 

 material cultures of the Lenca and Pipil themselves show a strong 

 Maya influence, particularly in their ceramic art, the original Maya 

 strains had become greatly attenuated by the time such borrowings 

 had been passed on to the tribes of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. 



The principal work of the 1919 field season was the excavation in 

 Maj'- of Temples 3 and 4 of the Temple Plaza at Quirigua, Guatemala. 

 The excavation of this important group of buildings, no less than the 

 civic and religious center of the site, was commenced 30 years ago by 

 Mr. A. P. Maudslay, at which time Temple 6, on the north side of the 

 plaza, was partially cleared^ (see fig. 1). 



In 1912 Mr. Morley excavated Temples 1 and 2 on the opposite 

 (south) side of the plaza for the School of American Archaeology,^ and 

 in 1914 Mr. Earl Morris cleared the small temple. No. 5, on the west 

 side, and finished Temple 6 on behalf of the same institution. 



Through an arrangement with Dr. E. L. Hewett, Director of the 

 School of American Research, Mr. Morley completed the excavation 

 of this group during the present season. A plan of the Temple Plaza, 

 which is 160 feet long by 142 feet wide, and the associated structures 

 is shown in figure 1, and a perspective drawing of Temples 1, 2, 3, 

 and 4 (restored) , looking southwest , is given in figure 2. 



The excavation of Temples 3 and 4 brought to light no new hiero- 

 glyphic texts like those in the doorways and on the cornice of Temple 1, 



^ Biologia Central Americana, Section on Archffiologj-, by A. P. Maudslay, vol. ii (text), pp. 5, 6. 



^ "The third season's work in Guatemala," by E. L. Hewett, Bull. Archseol. Inst. Amer., vol. 

 II, pp. 117-134. "Quirigua, an American town 1,400 years old," by S. G. Morley, Scien. Amer., 

 vol. cvii. Aug. 3, pp. 96, 97, 10.5. "Excavations at Quirigua, Guatemala," by S. G. Morley, 

 Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. xxiv, No. 3, pp. 339-361. 



317 



