i6o 



NA TURE 



[April 8, icoQ 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN 

 GUATEMALA.' 



7^ HE Peabody Museum of American Archaeology 

 and Ethnology of Harvard has already rendered 

 signal service by publishing the results of Mr. Teobert 

 Maler's journeys and researches among the ruins of 

 ancient Indian towns and cities on the banks of the 

 River Usumatsintla and the adjacent region. We are 

 now favoured with the first instalment of the account 

 of Mr. Maler's last expedition, describing the ruins of 

 Vaxha, Naranjo, &c. .'\lthough the expedition com- 

 menced with the explorations of the ruins of Tikdl, 

 the records of the second part of this expedition are 

 given first, and the account of the exploration of 

 TikAl is to be published later. However, there is 

 no lack of interest in this first instalment, and Mr. 

 Maler's photographs of the sculptured monuments 

 are as excellent as those he made of Seibal, Piedras 

 Negras, Yaxchilan (Mench6), which is saying that 

 they are as good as it is possible to make them. 



Before passing on to the account of his discoveries, 

 we must congratulate Mr. Maler (who commenced 

 his connection with tropical America as an officer 

 in the service of the Emperor Maximilian) on his 

 pluck and endurance in undertaking and carrying to 

 a successful issue such an arduous Enterprise in the 

 years 1904-5. He is, indeed, the well-tried veteran 

 of Central American archaeological exploration. Mr. 

 Maler passes lightly over his hardships and dis- 

 comforts, )'et it needs but little personal experience 

 to appreciate how great the discomfort can be in 

 travelling through the low-lying and frequently 

 flooded forests of northern Guatemala ; but Mr. 

 Maler's enthusiasm for his work and knowledge of 

 the natives would carry him over obstacles which 

 would daunt and discourage many a younger man. 

 l-'ood in that country is always scarce, and workmen 

 to accompany the traveller are most difficult to obtain. 



After completing his investigations at Tik^l in 

 November, 1904, Mr. Maler returned to the east end 

 of Lake Pet6i and struck through the forest to the 

 east for a distance of about fourteen leagues, follow- 

 ing, when possible, the paths of the " chicle " 

 gatherers, until he reached the shores of the Lake 

 of Yaxha. Chicle is the gum which exudes when 

 an incision is made in bark of the Chico Sapote 

 tree, and is used as the basis of American chewing- 

 gum. It is curious to note the complete demoralisa- 

 tion that chicle-hunting has entailed on the very 

 scanty population of Pet^n. " No one will plant a 

 milpa (a maize field), and even the poorest raga- 

 muffin proudly refuses to do any work, saying ' I am 

 a Chiclero and have no need to work for anyone.' 

 The result is that a general famine occurs nearly 

 every year in Pet<^n, which would otherwise yield 

 an over-lavish abundance. Hence all the Chicleros 

 are poverty-stricken, and, being heavily in debt, from 

 which they never free themselves, they no longer 

 have huts or milpas and no regular wife or children; 

 for this unsettled life in the forests, interrupted occa- 

 sionally by debauches in this or that village, puts 

 even the most unpretentious form of family life out 

 of the question." 



On an island named Topoxt^, in the lake of 

 Yaxhd, Mr. Maler discovered the remains of one 

 temple of considerable size and several other buildings, 

 and secured photographs of the fragments of some 

 sculptured stelae. Then directing his attention to the 

 north shore of the lake, he explored a long line of 

 ruined temples and other buildings extending for a 



1 Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archa;ology and Ethno- 

 logy, Harvard University. Vol. iv., No. 2. Explorations in the Department 

 of Petiin, Guatemala and Adjacent Region. By T. Maler. Pp. 55-127+ 

 (14-44) plates. (Cambridge, Mass. : Published by the Museum, 1908.) 



NO. 2058, VOL. 80] 



distance of more than three kilometres, and found the 

 broken remains of ten sculptured stelas. 



Mr. Maler makes a note of the fact that the waters 

 of Lake Yaxhd have risen at least one metre during the 

 last twenty-five years, and that the level of the water 

 in the lake of Peti^^n ItzA also shows a considerable 

 rise during that period. 



In January, 1905, Mr. Maler left Yaxhd for Benque 

 Viejo, within the boundary of British Honduras, and 

 in February returned through the forest to the ruin 

 known as Naranjo, previously unexplored. This was 

 indeed a considerable discovery, as the ruins are very 

 extensive, and Mr. 



Maler was fortu- 



nate in discover- 

 ing forty - three 

 stelae, many of 

 them in good 

 preservation and 

 adorned wit h 



sculptured figures 

 and hieroglyphic 

 inscriptions. Un- 

 fortunately, the 

 buildings are far 

 advanced in ruin, 

 and none of the 

 rooms could be 

 made available for 

 habitation, and so 

 Mr. Maler had to 

 seek shelter during 

 the three months 

 of this stay in a 

 small cave, and 

 here, during the 

 night time, he de- 

 veloped the splen- 

 did series of pho- 

 tographs which 

 accompany his re- 

 port. 



Two of these 

 photographs are 

 here reproduced, 

 one to show the 

 excellence of the 

 sculpture (Fig. i), 

 and the other (Fig. 

 2) to show the 

 importance of the 

 inscriptions and to 

 emphasise the dis- 

 appointment which 

 must always be 

 attached to the ex- 

 ami nation of 

 carved inscriptions 



when photography alone is relied on for recording 

 them. The inscription is weather-worn, but it is 

 sure to be as perfect a photograph as could be 

 obtained in the surrounding conditions, yet it would 

 not be possible to analyse the inscription from this 

 record alone. Paper moulds or squeezes are so per- 

 fectly suitable for recording sculpture of this character, 

 and the Peabody Museum has already secured such a 

 fine collection of casts of inscriptions by this method, 

 that it is to be hoped they will do justice to Mr. Maler's 

 discoveries by sending an expedition to make paper 

 moulds of all the sculptures and inscriptions for 

 careful study by the well-qualified staff of the 

 museum. 



In digging round the fallen stete, several of the 

 curiously shaped flint objects were unearthed like 



-Naranjo : Stela 



uth Side 



