ARCHAEOLOGY 



323 



of occupation of about 180 years, being founded in the Middle Period 

 of the Old Empire and occupied do\\Ti to the close of the Great Period, 

 possibly even being the last Old Empire city to be abandoned. 



Fig. 1. — Plan of the Great Plaza of Xultun (Group A), showing location of principal 

 temples (Roman numerals) and sculptured monuments (Arabic numerals). 



More than half of the Xultun stelse (11 out of the 18) have fallen 

 with their sculptured faces down, so that they are probably in an 

 excellent state of preservation. The 1920 expedition, with the means 

 at its disposal, was able to turn only two of these, but the almost 

 perfect condition of their reUef and the beauty of the subjects por- 

 trayed (an elaborately costumed deity, ruler, or priest, with accompa- 

 nying inscription) justify the belief that when the expedition returns 

 next year to turn over the others, an unusually fine group of sculp- 

 tured panels will be recovered. 



