March 31, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



503 



of natural strata, was a pit made by iee, prob- 

 ably, or by some other natural agency. The 

 importance of commenting on these three pits 

 together consists in drawing attention to the 

 similarity of geological and climatological con- 

 ditions under which the pits were formed. Light 

 is shed on the question of the contemporaneity of 

 man with the post-glacial conditions which per- 

 mitted the deposition of the yellow drift and the 

 formation of the series of so-called "ice-pits"; 

 the bison is added to the list of animals which 

 lived as contemporaries with man at this epoch. 

 A photograph taken by Mr. Volk was shown 

 giving the negative in yellow loam of a large 

 boulder which had fallen out; the similarity of 

 forces which were suiBcient to transport such 

 boulders during the formation of the yellow drift 

 with those forces undoubtedly of glacial origin 

 that deposited great boulders in the gravels lower 

 down was insisted upon. Reference was made to 

 the continuity, accuracy and fidelity of Mr. Volk's 

 work. 

 The Historical Value of the Books of Chilan 



Balam: Mr. Sylvanus Geiswold Morlet. 



The recovery of aboriginal history in America 

 is exceedingly difficult because of the absence of 

 original sources from which it may be constructed. 

 To this general condition, however, the Mayas of 

 Yucatan offer a striking exception. Centuries 

 before the Spanish conquest this intelligent people 

 had developed an accurate chronology and a sys- 

 tem of hieroglyphic writing by means of which 

 they recorded their annals. 



These aboriginal records were destroyed at the 

 time of the Spanish conquest, but in the century 

 that followed (1550-1650) there grew up a body 

 of native writings called " The Books of Chilan 

 Balam " in which were embodied much of the 

 aboriginal history of this country. The case for 

 and against these chronicles as reliable sources 

 for the reconstruction of Maya history may be 

 summed up as follows: 



A. Unfavorable 



1. Breaks in the sequence of the katuns, the 

 unit of enumeration used in the chronicles for 

 counting time. 



2. Certain disagreements, usually of time, in 

 the statement of facts. 



B. Favorable 



1. Very general agreement throughout. 



2. Early date at which the chronicles were com- 

 piled (1550-1650), when the ancient history had 

 not yet been forgotten. 



3. Authorship by natives, many of whom had 



grown to manhood before the Spanish conquest, 

 and who had had, therefore, opportunities for 

 learning their ancient history at first hand, before 

 European invasion and acculturation. 



4. Many corroboratory passages in the early 

 Spanish writers. 



There are two important conditions, however, 

 which will explain, in part at least, the discrep- 

 ancies in the chronicles, which have been noted 

 above under A. 



1. The original manuscripts have never been 

 studied and compared, and the present translation 

 was made from hand copies only, a condition 

 pregnant with possibilities for error. 



2. The translation itself is not always accurate 

 and indeed in several instances has been shown to 

 be misleading and incorrect. 



Secent Archeological Investigations in northern 



Guatennala: Dk. Alfred M. Tozzer. 



The area occupied by the remains of the Maya 

 civilization may be roughly divided into various 

 provinces distinguished from each other by chron- 

 ological considerations as v.b\\ as by those deal- 

 ing with assemblage, construction, the manner 

 and method of decoration and others. 



The area treated in detail is that which in- 

 cludes the northeastern part of the Department 

 of Peten, Guatemala. Tikal is the first city of 

 importance in this region. To the east is Nakum, 

 first made known to the scientific world by Count 

 de PSrigny in 1908, and Naranjo, explored by 

 Mr. Maler. In addition to these ancient sites 

 the Peabody Museum Expedition of 1909-10 re- 

 ports the new ruins to the north of Naranjo and 

 Nakum of La Honradez, Porvenir, Azucar, Sei- 

 bal 2d, and Holraul in Guatemala and those of 

 Tsotsikitam in British Honduras. 



These ruins are all characterized by the pres- 

 ence of one large court or plaza around which in 

 most cases the greater number of stelee and altars 

 are placed. The plan in each case shows a system 

 of oriented courts all connected with one another 

 with very few detached buildings. 



From a study of the dates now available it will 

 be seen that this region occupies the first position 

 in point of time in all the ruins of the Maya 

 area. It is not possible to show at the present 

 stage of the study of the archeology of this sec- 

 tion that the Tikal territory was the center from 

 which spread the influence responsible for the 

 cultures of Copan and Palenque. From the evi- 

 dently later character of certain of the stela at 

 Tikal, it may be reasoned that not only was this 

 region a center, which began very early in the 



