MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
conquer them mainly for this reason. They had only to 
destroy the civilized ruling class, comparatively few in 
number, and the old culture was gone forever. 
It seems probable that the Mayas first developed in 
wood the remarkable art and architecture which they later 
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A PERSPEREPERED PRN yA 
mae 
Fic. 105. Maya wall painting of a human sacrifice 
(partially restored). Note that the scene is dominated 
by the Feathered Serpent. The original is strikingly 
colored. Courtesy of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington 
carried out in stone. Their art was extremely elaborate, 
symbolic, and, to us, grotesque, and its meaning is often 
difficult to interpret, though it undoubtedly had a magical 
or religious significance, as among other primitive peoples. 
A very frequent design was that of the Feathered Serpent 
(Fig. 104), depicted in all sorts of forms. The Jaguar, the 
turtle, and the sacred bird known as the quetzal, or re- 
[ 33°] 
