Sylvaiuis G. Morley 



liXCAVATIXG TKMPLl:: A 

 Exposing the southeast corner after it had been buried for more than 15 centuries 



makes no mention of the fact, and it 

 was not until over 300 years later, or in 

 1840. that the site was again made known 

 to the world by Stephens and Cather- 

 wood.* 



Dtiring the centtiries which had elapsed 

 since its abandonment a dense tropical 

 vegetation (see page 348) had overgrown 

 the city, overthrowing its temples and 

 palaces and reducing them to shapeless 

 mounds of fallen masonry. 



The jungle had won its way into the 

 diflferent courts and plazas ; and these 

 public squares, once teeming with the life 

 of a populous commimity, had become 

 the haunt of the tiger, peccary, monkey, 

 ant-eater, and the infinite host of the 

 tropical forest. The jungle had again 

 reclaimed its own. 



In 1909 the United Fruit Company, 

 incidental to the purchase of a large tract 

 of land in this vicinity for a banana plan- 

 tation, acquired title to the site, and in 

 the following year, through an arrange- 

 ment with the School of American Arclie- 

 ology, the systematic study of the ruins 



* "Incidents of Travel in Central America, 

 Chiapas, and Yucatan." John L. Stephens. 

 Harper & Brothers, 1840. 



was undertaken under the direction of 

 Edgar L. Hewett. 



DIFFICULTIES IX CLFARIXG THE SITE 



The archeological investigation of 

 Ouirigua presented many new and diffi- 

 cult problems. Before digging could be 

 commenced, it was first necessary to fell 

 the all-enveloping jungle. 



Giant trees, often exceeding 150 feet 

 in height, had to be removed occasionally 

 from the midst of a cluster of elaborately 

 sculptured monuments, where a single 

 blow from a falling branch might have 

 shattered the high relief and done ir- 

 reparable damage. 



In such delicate cases the trees first 

 had to be cabled, and then, while they 

 were being cut. gangs of native lal^orcrs 

 ptilled them away from the endangered 

 monimients. 



.\11 this preliminary work consumed 

 much time, and it was not until Febru- 

 ary of last year that the actual excava- 

 tion of the site was commenced. 



The place selected for the first season's 

 digging was the south side of the temple 

 court, at the points marked .\ and 1' on 

 the map, on page 349 ; and at .\ a trestle 



341 



