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Photo by George N. Buckiin, J r. 



NORTH FACADE OF TEMPLE A 



This view shows the tremendous amount of repair work which necessarily accompanied 

 the excavation of Temple A. When the walls were uncovered they were found to be in an 

 extremely ruinous condition. Most of tl^; building blocks had to be relaid in cement, and 

 all of the walls had to be finished off with a waterproof cap to shed the lars;e annual rainfall. 



set in niches in the walls, two hooks on 

 each side of a doorway — one at the floor 

 level and the other 4 feet above. By 

 means of these the door-hangings could 

 be secured in four places and prevented 

 from flapping in the wind. 



The exterior of Structure B was deco- 

 rated with the curious sculptural mosaic 

 shown on page 359. This design occurs 

 at each of the four corners and in the 

 middle of the back and side walls. It is 

 a variation of the grotesque head motive 

 found throughout the Maya area. 



A PREHISTORIC ROOSEVELT PORTRAIT 



In this particular example the incisor 

 teeth are as prominent as Colonel Roose- 

 velt's, and the first tourists who saw the 

 head immediately called it the original 

 Roosevelt grin. Under this name its 

 fame rapidly si)read, until it became the 

 chief point of tourist interest in the an- 

 cient city. 



The yield of specimens from the 



smaller structure exceeded that from 

 Temple A in both quality and quantity. 

 Indeed, the finest specimen recovered 

 during the entire cour.se of the excava- 

 tions — the effig}' vase shown on p. 359 — 

 came from this apparently insignificant 

 building. When discovered, this vase 

 was broken into a score or more of small 

 l^ieces. and it was not until after these 

 had been put together that its true char- 

 acter was revealed. It is 7 inches in 

 height and 3 inches in width at the i;op, 

 flaring slightly at the bottom. 



The body of the vase is a rich cream 

 or buflf in color, decoration being con- 

 fined to the fluting already mentioned. 



The grotesque head which ornaments 

 its front is truly remarkable as an ex- 

 ample of free-hand modeling, the fea- 

 tures being rendered with a verisimilitude 

 rarely encountered in any aboriginal art. 



The eyes, ear-rings, fillet, and mouth 

 are painted a dull bluish-white, the beard 

 and fillet decorations being done in a rich 



357 



