VIII. PROBLEMS OF CHEONOLOGY 



IN a previous section devoted to the place of archeological re- 

 search in human history the distinction was made between 

 intentional or purposeful records and fortuitous or nonpurpose- 

 ful records, it being premised that all records of whatsoever kind 



serve the purposes of or contribute to the needs of 

 Purposeful Records the chronologist. Purposeful records are a product 



of somewhat advanced culture and take different 

 forms as advance is made toward the requirements of the highly 

 civilized state. In the beginning memory was the only means of pre- 

 serving the lore of a people, but it is assumed that material things 

 were in time associated purposely with the memories in such a way 

 as to assist in their preservation ; then pictures took, in part, the place 

 of things, and the pictures became conventionalized by long use into 

 half formal and then into fully formal signs. The formal signs 

 became symbols of things, persons, facts, events, and ideas, and 

 finally of sounds, and then written records took up the burden of 

 chronology, initiating a new era in human progress and exerting vast 



power in the world. These devices are, however, of 

 Nonpurposefui Ree- comparatively recent origin and application, and the 



chronologist who would determine the place of long 

 past events in the scale of time must resort to the study of the non- 

 purposeful records which are scattered along the pathway of culture 

 progress. 



The achievements of the American aborigines in building up a sys- 

 tem of glyphic record are of much interest to the student of the 

 evolution of civilization, but our knowledge of the subject is as yet 

 extremely limited, notwithstanding the learned and patient re- 

 searches of a number of able students, among whom are Thomas, 

 Bowditch, Forstemann, Goodman, Seler, Brinton, Morley, and Toz- 

 zer. In the Maya system of Central America, which is the most 

 highly perfected, the symbols for days, months, years, and cycles are 

 known, and dates inscribed in manuscripts and carved on monu- 

 ments are in numerous cases made out with considerable facility. 

 The earliest date yet deciphered is that engraved in glyphic char- 

 acters on a small jade statuette obtained from southern Vera Gruz 

 (fig. 20).^ The date, as read by Morley, translated into our system, 



1 Holmes, On a Nephrite Statuette from San Andres Tuxtla, Vera Cruz, Mexico. 



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