EXCAVATIONS AT QUIRIGUA, GUATEMALA 



Bv Sylvan us Griswold Morley 



Assistant Director Ouirigua Expedition, 191 2 



THE ruins of Ouirigua are located 

 in the Republic of Guatemala, Cen- 

 tral America, 57 miles from the 

 Caribbean Sea. The heart of this ancient 

 city, its civic and religious center (see 

 map on page 349), covered about 75. 

 acres, surrc^unding which on every side 

 for a distance of several miles were the 

 dwellings of the common people. 



Ouirigua was one of the older centers 

 of the great Maya civilization, which 

 flourished in southern Alexico, Guate- 

 mala, and northern Honduras during the 

 first 15 centuries of the Christian Era. 

 Judging from the dated monuments (see 

 page 33/ ) which were erected in its sev- 

 eral courts and plazas, this ancient Amer- 

 ican metropolis was abandoned during 

 the first half of the 6th centurv A. D. 



Toward the close of the 6th century 

 the Alayas moved out from the older 

 centers of their civilization in the south 

 and migrated northward into Yucatan. 

 Here in the stress of colonizing a new 

 and unfamiliar land the remembrance of 

 their former homes graduall}- faded, until 

 Ouirigua, along with many another south- 

 ern city, became only a memory, a tra- 

 dition. Finally, long before the discov- 

 ery of America, even the tradition of its 

 former existence had passed from the 

 minds of men. 



OUIRIGUA lost for CENTURIES 



Hernando Cortez, the conqueror of 

 Mexico, must have passed within a few 

 miles of Ouirigua in 1525. on his memo- 

 rable marcli to the Golfo Dulce, but he 



I'hulo Uuin SjKaiiUs C .Moilty 



THE FIRST STEP IN EXCAXATING TEMPLE A WAS TO RE.MOVE THE SURFACE STONE 



A line of native workmen are here shown passing the fallen huilding blocks down to the dump 

 car. .^n assistant stands at the car to see that no sculptured stones are thrown away 



330 



