CHAPTER OF ANCIENT AMERICAN IIISTJRV 



29 



hieroglyphs that probably tell the signi- 

 ficance of these dates. A third line of 

 research enables us however, to prove 

 what dates are in all probability contem- 

 poraneous with the monument on which 

 they are found and what dates refer to 

 the past or future. Progressive changes 

 in style of sculpture and progressive adap- 

 tation of superior mechanical devices 

 in architecture enable us to arrange 

 many works of art in their proper time 

 sequence but do not, of course, enable us 

 to express this time sequence in terms 

 of years. Space does not permit a full 

 explanation of this complicated subject 

 which, however, the writer has elsewhere 

 given in detail. Suffice it to say that by 

 carefully coordinating the three lines 

 of study just explained an outline of 

 the course of Maya history is made pos- 

 sible. The following names and limits 

 have been suggested for the various 

 periods : 

 Protohistoric Period 235 B.C. to 



Archaic Period 

 Great Period 

 Transition Period 

 League Period 

 Nahua Period 

 Modern Period 



160 A.D. 



455 A.D. 



600 A.D. 



960 A.D. 



160 A.D. to 

 455 A.D. to 



600 A.D. to 



960 A.D. to 1195 A.D. 



1195 A.D. to 1442 A.D. 



1442 A.D. to ? 

 Now let us see what place Chichen 

 Itza occupies in this historical vista. 

 Several of the chroni- 

 cles relate that Chi- 

 chen Itza was dis- 

 covered during a 

 residence of the Itza 

 at Bacalar on the 

 east coast of Yuca- 

 tan. By the term 

 "discovered" is 

 probably meant that 

 the cenotes which 

 made habitation pos- 

 sible were discov- 

 ered. The settle- 

 ment was made 



about 450 a.d. at a time when the south- 

 ern cities, such as Copan and Tikal, were 

 entering upon their most brilliant epoch. 

 It seems certain, however, that Chichen 

 Itza was only a mediocre provincial 

 town at this time. Only one dated 

 stone has been found and this is poorly- 

 carved. The date upon it corresponds 

 to 603 A.D. Shortly after this date 

 Chichen Itza was abandoned and the 

 Itza went to the land of Chanputun, 

 near Campeche, where they stayed 

 according to the chronicles, for two hun- 

 dred and sixty years. Somewhere near 

 the middle of the tenth century they 

 made their way back to the north and 

 reestablished Chichen Itza. x\t about 

 the same time Uxmal and Mayapan were 

 likewise founded and a league between 

 the three was instituted. This League of 

 Mayapan, as it is commonly called, en- 

 dured for over two hundred years and 

 controlled the destinies of northern 

 Yucatan. Trouble between the allies 

 broke out with the Plot of Hunac Ceel, 

 the chief of Mayapan, and as a result 

 the hereditary ruler of Chichen Itza, 

 whose name was Chac Xib Chac, was 

 driven out in 1176. A disastrous war 

 lasting thirty-four years took place and 

 the ruler of Mayapan seems to have en- 

 listed seven warriors from the highlands of 



Serpent heads, death heads and other sculptured figures He scattered 

 about in the brush, awaiting the careful study of the archaeologist and 

 student of primitive art 



