HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



above ground, with an unknown projection beneath the surface. The 

 mystery of its remaining in its leaning position is greater than that 

 of the Leaning Tower of Pisa for the reason that, with the latter, the 

 center of weight is well within the base, whereas with the Leaning 

 Monument of Quirigua the center of weight is far outside. 



A study of the three exposed surfaces shows a considerable amount 

 of climatic erosion. Everywhere the spicules of quartz distributed 

 through the sandstone have been exposed by long weathering, so that 

 they project above the surface from an eighth to a quarter of an inch. 

 Examining the under-surface of the monument we find the cutting 

 as clear and unweathered as if done in recent times. This leads to the 

 conclusion that the under-surface has never been exposed to the 

 weather, consequently that the shaft never stood erect so as to give 

 this side an equal share of weathering with the other three. It indi- 

 cates that the people who raised the great monuments here undertook 

 something beyond the limit of their power. They probably worked by 

 prying and by blocking with stone and logs, to a point beyond which 

 further power could not be applied by this method. They would then 

 be compelled to raise the shaft to its final erect position by means of 

 ropes and pulleys operated by hundreds if not thousands of men. It 

 would seem that they were unable to apply sufficient power to draw 

 this, the heaviest of all their monuments, into its final place. It may 

 have remained supported by blocks during the entire life of the city, 

 during which time it would gradually settle. In course of time the 

 compression of the earth about the base, which is deeply imbedded, 

 would be sufficient to hold the monument as it is now. 



This is the most satisfactory conclusion concerning this monu- 

 ment. It is not conceivable that, once erected, it could have been 

 partially overthrown by an earthquake. Its momentum, in case of a 

 fall initiated by any conceivable cause, would have been too great to 

 permit of its being stopped. 



Those who had a part in the expedition of 1914 were the Director, 

 Carlos Vierra, Neil M. Judd, Earl H. Morris, Wesley Bradfield, Ruth 

 Laughlin, Ralph Linton, and A. Poli. The most important outcome 

 of it was the establishment of the permanent Maya Museum at San 

 Diego, l in which the replicas, the Vierra frescoes of Central American 

 cities, and the Maya frieze by Mrs Jean Beman Cook-Smith are 

 conspicuous features. 



School of American Archaeology 

 Santa Fe, New Mexico 



'Art and Archaeology, Nov. 1915. 



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