ARCHEOLOGY. 275 



could hardly have been the contemporaneous date of the monument 

 was noted in Year Book No. 15, p. 339, and elsewhere;* but the dis- 

 covery of this fragment, which fits at the bottom of the inscription, 

 gives a more satisfactory reading. Fortunately this important monu- 

 ment was not lost in the destructive hurricane of October 1916, as 

 previously reported. f 



Following Bishop Landa's statement that there were hieroglyphic 

 monuments at Silan near the north coast, J the expedition visited this 

 village and found fragments of two stelse, of which one had the Calendar 

 Round date given above. This is but another of the many instances 

 of the remarkable reliability of Bishop Landa's statements, which have 

 been substantiated at every point by modern investigations in this 

 field. The Mayapan date is from the stela found by Abbe Brasseur 

 de Bourbourg, while digging at the site in the sixties of the last cen- 

 tury. It is another corroboration of Bishop Landa, who had described 

 hieroglyphic monuments here three centuries earUer. It is not im- 

 probable that this monument was the last katun stone to be erected at 

 Mayapan, since the city was destroyed and abandoned before the 

 expiration of the next 20-year period, i. e., Katim 8 Ahau, when the 

 next stone would have been erected. 



One large new site was discovered on the east coast of the Peninsula, 

 between Ascencion Bay and Espiritu Santo Bay. It is about half as 

 large as Tuluum and was named Chac Mool, after an heroic-sized Chac 

 Mool statue in stucco reclining under the arch or covered gateway 

 leading to the principal temple. 



The most important result of the year, however, was the discovery 

 of the system of dating employed in the New Empire cities, the funda- 

 mental significance of which, in the study of Maya chronology, will 

 increase in importance as more and more painted capstones, texts, and 

 inscriptions are brought to light. 



The third and last trip of the season to the ruins of Palenque in 

 northern Chiapas yielded little new material. Palenque has been more 

 extensively visited than any other Maya site and its architecture and 

 hieroglyphic inscriptions have been more adequately published. § 



Two new Initial Series were found, both in stucco; one on the left- 

 hand pier of the facade of the Temple of the Sun, and the other on the 

 back wall of the outer chamber of the Temple of the Beau Relief. 

 Unfortunately both were entirely destroyed save for their introducing 

 glyphs, and decipherment was impossible. 



The large human statue which formerly stood in front of the Temple 

 of the Cross, but which now lies on the southern slope of the substruc- 



*"The nuns of Tuloom, Yucatan," by S. G. Morley. The American Museum Journal for 

 March 1917, vol. xvii. No. 3, pp. 109-204. 



tibid., p. 194, note 1. 



JRelacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, Diego de Landa, Paris, 1864, p. 52. 



§See Biologia Centrali Americana, or contributions to the knowledge of the flora and fauna of 

 Central America and Mexico. Section on Archeology. A. P. Maudslay, vol. rv, text and plaets. 



