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  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1929 
  

  

  cutting 
  and 
  carving 
  stone 
  with 
  stone 
  tools 
  and 
  carrying 
  the 
  ma- 
  

   terial 
  on 
  their 
  backs 
  or 
  dragging 
  it 
  over 
  the 
  ground 
  from 
  quarry- 
  

   to 
  structure. 
  It 
  is 
  an 
  astonishing 
  fact 
  that 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  evidence 
  

   of 
  the 
  mechanical 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  wheel 
  in 
  connection 
  with 
  traction 
  

   anywhere 
  in 
  the 
  New 
  World 
  on 
  any 
  cultural 
  level. 
  Human 
  labor 
  

   of 
  the 
  most 
  strenuous 
  sort 
  was 
  called 
  for, 
  and 
  the 
  vast 
  accumula- 
  

   tions 
  have 
  therefore 
  an 
  important 
  bearing 
  on 
  population. 
  An- 
  

   other 
  fact 
  that 
  has 
  often 
  been 
  overlooked 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  Mayas, 
  lack- 
  

   ing 
  the 
  help 
  of 
  draft 
  animals, 
  were 
  also 
  spared 
  the 
  expense. 
  They 
  

  

  MAYAN 
  FIRST 
  EMPIRE 
  SITES 
  

  

  statute 
  Miles 
  

  

  FiQUEE 
  3.— 
  Map 
  showing 
  sites 
  of 
  ruins 
  of 
  the 
  First 
  Mayan 
  Empire. 
  Scale, 
  1 
  : 
  16,000,000 
  

  

  were 
  not 
  forced 
  to 
  divide 
  their 
  supply 
  of 
  vegetable 
  food 
  or 
  the 
  land 
  

   available 
  for 
  cultivation 
  with 
  hungry 
  brutes 
  far 
  less 
  economical 
  than 
  

   human 
  beings. 
  

  

  I 
  have 
  elsewhere 
  presented 
  the 
  theory 
  that 
  American 
  agriculture 
  

   was 
  distributed 
  on 
  two 
  distinct 
  planes 
  corresponding 
  to 
  economic 
  

   development, 
  first, 
  of 
  the 
  arid 
  lands 
  and 
  secondly, 
  of 
  wet 
  lands, 
  both 
  

   in 
  tropical 
  regions, 
  and 
  that 
  temperate 
  moist-land 
  development 
  was 
  

  

  