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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



and culture. Quirigua, not far from 

 Copan, flourished after the passing of 

 the archaic period, that is, after the 

 fifteenth katun. 



"Naranjo started well, but remained 

 stagnant during the period from the 

 fifteenth to the eighteenth katun, which 

 was the most brilliant period in Copan 

 and Quirigua.". .. While the dates at 

 Yaxchilan are early, none seem to reach 

 as far back as the archaic period. The 

 little known but important city of Pied- 

 ras Negras is believed by the Author to 

 have flourished after the fifteenth katun. 

 .... The buildings are in such an ad- 

 vanced stage of ruin as to make an archi- 

 tectural study unavailing. Palenque, 

 long famous for its temples and sculp- 

 tured tablets, is still to be fully explored. 

 The lack of easily worked stone led to the 

 use of stucco as an art medium. The 

 finest modeling known to Maya art is 

 seen in the stucco work of Palenque. 

 Here the handling of the pure profile is 

 seen at its best and the anatomy of the 

 human body is rendered with a fidelity 

 unknown to other Maya cities. Palen- 

 que belonged to a late period; and con- 

 tributed much toward the de\elopment 

 of the roof structure, the sanctuary and 

 the portico. Here also are to be seen 

 "the widest rooms, the thinnest walls, 

 the most refined shapes and the most 

 ideal interior arrangements to be found 

 anywhere in the southern and western 

 part of the Maya area." Palenque is 

 classed among the latest cities of the 

 first great epoch of Maya culture. 



Comalcalco and Ocosingo both re- 

 semble Palenque in respect to art and 

 architecture. For the most part the 

 highland ruins of Guatemala and the 

 state of Chiapas are subsequent to the 

 great period of Maya art. 



The stage of the second great age of 

 Maya civilization shifts to northern 

 Yucatan. As Copan furnished the key 



to the chronology of the south, so 

 Chichen Itza does to that of the north. 

 It was probably the first great northern 

 city to be founded and the last to fall. 

 The only initial series date thus far found 

 in the north is from Chichen Itza. For 

 the north the Author takes up seriatim 

 periods instead of cities and distinguishes 

 the following: (1) Period of transition; 

 (2) League of Mayapan; (3) Influence 

 from the Valley of Mexico; and (4) Fall 

 of Mayapan to the present time. The 

 second and third periods constitute the 

 second great age of Maya civilization. 



Notable achievements in architecture 

 mark the period of the League of Maya- 

 pan. Most of the structures at Uxmal, 

 Labna, Kabah, Sayil, Hochob, and 

 Chacmultun belong to this period; as 

 do also the Akat'cib, Casa Colorado, 

 Group of the Monjas, and the Carocol at 

 Chichen Itza. Nahua influence was 

 strongly felt during the next period, 

 leaving its imprint especially at Chichen 

 Itza, where Nahua features are promi- 

 nent as in the Temple of the Initial 

 Series, Castillo, Ball Court Group, and 

 Group of the Columns. The architec- 

 tural features mentioned by the Author 

 as probably of Nahua origin include 

 serpent columns and balustrades, plat- 

 form mounds with colonnades, flat roofs, 

 ball courts, and atlantean supports; the 

 artistic and religious features comprise 

 Chacmool sculptures, sun disks and the 

 celestial eye type of star symbols, speech 

 signs, feathered monsters in front view, 

 and processional grouping of warriors 

 accompanied by identifying glyphs. 



There have been numerous attempts 

 to correlate Christian and Maya chro- 

 nology. These have been for the most 

 part based on the Books of Chilan Balam. 

 The Author's concordance, which is pre- 

 sented in the form of a table, may be 

 briefly summed up as follows: Proto- 

 historic period, 235 b. c. to 160 a. d. ; 



