MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
feet in width, and often much less. A sort of stucco, 
sometimes adorned with paintings of processions and 
other ceremonials, usually coated the walls; or wide spaces 
would be covered with dressed stone sculptured in relief 
MT Le 
mya 
YWQYDWNSIS 
VA MV: 
0 
vA AVA 
Qa 
MV 
vie 
a 
SC | 
at CIEE ~~ ~ oc 
ti MoS ets SS ey A Sa) 
aS SO: Ses Hereste SSeS SSS 
SS Se. - SO SS ZS Sere ee 
ene ee SS Sr SS SPOS SRE OSS 
Fic. 106. Diagrammatic cross-section of a Maya building, to show that the 
stones forming the facing of the vaults are not held in place by their own 
weight, as in the true corbeled arch, but by the concrete in which they are 
embedded. After Spinden 
with similar scenes. Both reliefs and paintings were tinted 
in vivid hues, among which green, orange, and red pre- 
dominated. 
Often the Mayas arranged their pyramids and buildings 
around the sides of a plaza paved with slabs of stone. We 
find also what have been called “‘ball courts,” where a 
game somewhat like our basketball was played as a part 
of the religious ceremonial. Here and there about the 
sanctuaries stood tall stone slabs, known as ste/ae, covered 
with elaborate carvings including brief inscriptions. 
For, as one of their great achievements, the Mayas de- 
veloped a system of writing very distinctive in character. 
This doubtless grew up out of primitive pictographs to 
[ 332] 
