April 14, 1898] 



NATURE 



569 



Examination and excavation have thrown no light on the age 

 of the buildings ; in fact, the further examination has only com- 

 plicated the problem, as clearer proofs are forthcoming that the 

 mass of masonry has grown up in the course of ages, old 

 foundations being enlarged and covered in turn by new build- 



FlG. I. — Foot of the hieroglj-phic stairway. 



ings. One of the most interesting discoveries made during the 

 explorations is connected with the great hieroglyphic stairway 

 which leads to the summit of one of the largest foundation 

 mounds. The steps of this stairway had become disjointed 

 and displaced, so that it is not easy to determine the exact 

 plan of its construction ; and it was prob- 

 ably in order to gain further information 

 on this point that an excavation was com- 

 menced near the foot of the steps, which 

 revealed the fact that the hieroglyphic 

 stairway had been superimposed on an 

 earlier stairway, which also had a clear cut 

 inscription on the face of each step. A 

 description of these stairways has been 

 deferred until further exploration leads to 

 a better understanding of their structure ; 

 and it is to be hoped that the greatest care 

 has been taken in numbering and recording 

 the position of the stones, so that the con- 

 tinuity of the glyphs in the inscriptions 

 may be retained, as the result of a com- 

 parison of the initial dates of the two 

 inscriptions (one of which is in the rarer 

 form of picture writing) will probably prove 

 to be of the greatest value. 



No regular burying-place has been found 

 at Copan, but a number of isolated tombs 

 have been explored, in which human bones 

 were discovered in more or less disinte- 

 grated condition. The human incisor teeth 

 were found, in many instances, to be orna- 

 mented by the inlaying of a little circular 

 bit of jadeite, fitted into a hole drilled into 

 the front of the tooth. These jadeite 

 •ornaments are slightly rounded outward, 

 and highly polished. Many interesting 

 pieces of pottery were secured during the 

 e.xcavations, some decorated with painted 

 designs, others (such as the terra-cotta vase in the form of the 

 head of a carnivorous animal, figured on p. 48 of the Report) 

 remarkable for the artistic skill shown in the modelling. The 

 most interesting object of all, however, was not a piece of 

 pottery, but the actual skull of a peccary covered with beauti- 



NO. 1485, VOL. 57] 



fully incised figures and hieroglyphs. I have had the good 

 fortune to be able to examine this skull in the Peabody 

 Museum, and can only express an earnest hope that photo- 

 graphs of it, and drawings of the incised ornament, may be 

 included in the further publications which are promised us. 



During the second year's work a sad 

 event occurred in the death of Mr. J. G. 

 Owens, the leader of the expedition, who 

 contracted a malignant fever during a 

 journey to the coast, and died soon after 

 his return to the ruins, where he lies 

 buried in the great Plaza surrounded by 

 those strangely carved monoliths in which 

 he had learned to take so keen an in- 

 terest. 



The Exploration Committee of the Pea- 

 body Institute has not confined itself to 

 organising expeditions in Honduras only; 

 it has for some years worked with equal 

 success in furthering the examination of 

 ancient ruins in the peninsula of Yucatan. 

 There, under the direction of Mr. Edward 

 H. Thompson, for some time the United 

 States Consul in Merida, a thorough exam- 

 ination has been made of the ruins of 

 Labna; but, unfortunately, the report on 

 that portion of the work has not yet been 

 made public, and the second article in the 

 Memoirs of the Museum deals only with 

 the exploration of the Cave of Loltun,^ 

 which Mr. Thompson undertook in 1888 

 before setting to work at Labna — from 

 which it is twelve miles distant — and con- 

 tinued in 1890-91. 



One peculiarity of Yucatan is that it is a 

 country without any rivers. The copious 

 rainfall soaks through the porous limestone 

 rock, and it is to the pools in the deep caves or ' ' cenotes " that 

 the Indian of to-day looks for his supply of water, as his fore- 

 fathers did before him. Under such conditions the caves were 

 sure to yield to the explorer many signs of human visitation, 

 but it was of the greatest importance to ascertain whether thQ 



Fig. 2. — Two steps from the hieroglyphic stairway. 



evidences of human handiwork should be attributed only to the 

 race inhabiting the land at the time of the Spanish conquest, or 



1 Memoirs o/tke Peabody Museum, &c., vol. i. No. 2 : " Cave of Loltun, 

 Yucatan." " Report of Explorations by the Museum, 1888-89 and 1890-91," 

 by Edward H. Thompson. 



