HOLMES] ABORTCtTNAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 129 



The minor artifacts present features Iiardly less noteworthy than 

 do the greater works. The potter's art had an exceptional develop- 

 ment, a group of mortuary vases standing at the head of American 

 fictile products in bold elaboration of life forms. The lajndarian 

 and metal work were also of a high order. It may further be stated 

 to the credit of the south Mexicans that they can justh' lay claim 

 to foremost progress in the development of the calendar and of a 

 system of pictographic and glyphic writing, a number of codexes 

 attributed to them being preserved in the libraries of Europe, a 

 claim well supported by the identical character of designs painted in 

 rich colors on the walls of two of the principal buildings at Mitla. 



Unfortunately little advance has been made in the exi:)loration 

 of the southern territory a[)art from those sections penetrated by 

 the railways. Among the more recent explorers of the region are 

 Maudslay, Seler, Holmes, Batres, Leon, and Saville. See Bancroft's 

 Native Races for the earlier explorers. 



15. The Maya-Quiche Area 



The culmination of aboriginal American advancement was reached 

 in the great Maya-Quiche area of Middle America, which includes 

 Yucatan, Campeche. Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico, all of (Jaute- 

 mala and British Honduras, and large sections of Honduras and 

 Salvador. The Maya-Quiche, or for brevity the jSIaya race, com- 

 prises at present the bulk of the population of the region, estimated 

 at a million souls. The stoclc is believed to have occupied large 

 areas in middle INlexico before the invasion of the Xahua, as alread}^ 

 noted, and the Huasteca of Vera Cruz and San Luis Potosi are re- 

 garded by some as a remnant grouji. The culture of the Huasteca, 

 however, appears to have been allied to that of the other peoples of 

 middle ]\Iexico rather than to that of the great Maya area of the 

 east and south. In the southern ynvt of the latter area, in w^estern 

 Guatemala and Salvador, a large Nahua element found lodgment in 

 early times and has doubtless exercised a decided influence on the 

 culture of the region, the archeological remains displaying certain 

 affinities with that of the Aztecs. 



Numei'ous centers of develo])ment within this area are represented 

 to-day by ruined cities of remarkable character and 

 Centers^ ^^ ^ * ^ ^ ^ large extent, principal among which are Chichen 

 Itza, Isamal, Uxmal, Labna, and Mayapan, in Yuca- 

 tan: Chakanputun in Campeche; Palenque in Chiapas; Tikal, Na- 

 ranjo, Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan, Seibal, and Quirigua in Guate- 

 mala, and Copan in Honduras. All of these were abandoned at 

 the time of the arrival of the Spanish invaders or soon thereafter, 

 and, although the various agencies of destruction have been at work 



