HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



tions. One of the mysteries of Central American archeology has been 

 the absence of beginnings, Maya civilization appearing only in a high 

 stage of development, therefore making it seem to be derived from 

 somewhere else. The new evidence would indicate that it was not 

 foreign, but autochthonous. Such a conclusion makes the Maya 

 problem more comprehensible. 



New explorations in the vicinity of Quirigua have yielded one impor- 

 tant discovery, namely, that of a new stela not previously described. 1 



syife^g^AfrS^- 



,o <r- :■<=-. rr&gr- 



JsSags 



Fig. I. — Stratification of the great plaza at Quirigua. (a, Present ground level; b, Silt; c, Ground 

 level of last occupancy; d, Silt; e, Ground level of second occupancy; /, Silt; g, Ground level 

 of earliest occupancy.) 



The monument (pi. Vll) is a true stela (inscribed monument or 

 pillar) seven feet high by four feet wide and three and half feet thick. 

 It has three faces covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions.' Upon the 

 south side is a sculptured figure badly weathered. 



The monument does not belong to the city of Quirigua; it stands 

 a mile west of the northernmost stela of the Quirigua group in the 

 plaza of a small village site of which three mounds forming sides of a 

 quadrangle are to be seen. 



The stela at first sight presents the appearance of exceptional 

 antiquity, but this is due largely to the quality of the stone, the 

 block being decidedly inferior to any used in the monuments at 

 Quirigua. It is well-nigh devoid of ornamentation. 



The style of glyph sculpture is that of the oldest monuments at 

 Quirigua. 



1 El Palacio, Santa Fe, N. Mex., Feb.-Mar. 1914. 



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