REMARKS ON THE "CARA GIGANTESCA" OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN, 



By Dr. ARxnun Sciiott. 



Of the many remarkable relics of ancient Maya civilization, the little 

 town of Yzamal, situated about tliirty miles east of Merida, has a con- 

 siderable share. One of the most vakiable, because mythographically 

 most eloquent, is the so-called "C'rtra Gigantcsca,''^ (gigantic face,) acolos 

 sal work in stucco on the east side of a solidly built stone dam, running' 

 north and south between various sacred mounds, or " kues," as the 

 Mayas call them, and of which the historians of the Spanish contiuests 

 mention ten or eleven as in existence almost intact, shortly after the 

 subjugation of the peninsula. 



Stephens, in his ^^ Incidents of Travel in Yucatan,'" also speaks of 

 the curious face on the wall, which he had visited in the courtyard of 

 SeQora IMendez. This author, however, devoted only a few cursory re- 

 marks, together with an equally unsatisfactory illustration, to a subject 

 which well deserves the close attention of the antiquarian. 



There is nothing in the features of the image which should be desig- 

 nated as stern and Jiarsh, as Mr. Stephens has done, for the only strange 

 feeling this face may produce is caused by the colossal scale in which 

 the whole work is i)rqiected. Otherwise the face, with its oblong, oval 

 outline, exhibits what the Spanish define as a " cara angosta," (narrow 

 face,) in opposition to the broad, square type of the common Indian of 

 the land. The features are rather feminine, which is only a generally 

 recognized peculiarity of the American aborigines. The whole face ex- 

 hibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the univer- 

 sally accepted principles of beauty, which have been handed down to 

 the art of the present day by tlie masters of ancient Greece. A verti- 

 cal line drawn over the forehead, nose, and chin, divides itself naturally 

 into three equal parts, each of which corresponds exactly to the frontal, 

 nasal, and maxillary regions. The opened mouth, bringing the upper 

 teeth almost into full view, together with the rounded nostrils and the 

 slightly elevated tip of the nose, impart to the whole a singular expres- 

 sion, which is certainly not accidental, but agrees strictly with the sup- 

 posed purpose for which this face was made, and which will be more 

 manifest by the following remarks. 



The outline of the face or head varies from the Greek oval by ap- 

 proaching nearer to a rounded oblong, for the cheek and jawbones 

 are rather more dexeloped than the rules of classic beauty would admit. 

 The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the fore- 

 head by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel. 

 A singular deviation from nature is exhibited by the ears, which are 

 made to project forward. Under the chin three flat stone plates pro- 

 ject, while the space on both sides of the head is tilled uj) with numer- 

 ous arabescpie curves of various kinds. The whole of this remarkable 

 l)iece of stucco work occupies a space of about ten feet square. 



There is little doubt but that this work in its time must have served 

 as a sort of altar, upon which the offerings of burnt incense were de- 



