306 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
The highlands were also occupied by Maya-speakers, sturdy, inde- 
pendent folk, to judge from their present-day descendants. Culturally 
they never reached the heights attained by their lowland linguistic 
relatives. Very little is yet known of highland archeology. Sites are 
abundant, but because few of them contain well-preserved buildings, 
they have generally failed to attract the efforts of students. The lack 
of striking architectural remains was believed by Manuel Gamio to 
have been due to prevalence of earthquakes which would have ren- 
dered unsafe any masonry structure the ancients were capable of 
erecting. Stone buildings did, however, exist, particularly in the 
northwestern highlands, but none in that area carried the corbelled 
vault and, seemingly because of the difficulty of working the hard 
volcanic rocks of the highlands, none are of cut stone. The majority 
of sites therefore now consist of earth mounds that formerly supported 
temples of perishable materials, as at Kaminaljuyu; or of stone 
substructures and fragments of walls that time and weather have 
largely stripped of their original stucco facings as at Utatlan and 
Zaculeu. For this reason there has, until recently, been no ruin 
illustrating the architectural achievements of the ancient people which 
is easily accessible to the people of Guatemala and to tourists. Now, 
however, through the interest of the United Fruit Company, Zaculeu, 
former capital of the Mam nation, easily reached from Huehuetenango, 
has been excavated and many of its principal buildings restored. 
Although Guatemala highland ruins are, in their present state, un- 
spectacular, they contain materials of the greatest archeological im- 
portance because, far more than Peten, the highlands were open to 
influences from east and west as well as to actual incursions of out- 
siders. Valuable evidence can thus be gathered there, as was the 
case at Kaminaljuyu, regarding the chronological and commercial 
relations between many Mesoamerican groups. 
In the highlands, no less than in Peten and other parts of Meso- 
america, a remarkable burst of cultural energy ushered in the Classic 
Period. Kaminaljuyu was in its prime. At Nebaj, at Chalchitan 
near Aguacatan, at Zaculeu, at Zacualpa, and elsewhere are extensive 
assemblages of mounds dating from this era. It seems to have been 
a relatively peaceful time, for all the known large Classic sites except 
Zaculeu were located without reference to defensibility. Trade was 
brisk and far-reaching. Objects from central Mexico, the Gulf 
coast, the Peten, and El Salvador have been found at Kaminaljuyu; 
and, at Nebaj, pottery from Peten and jades probably carved on the 
Usumacinta. 
