76 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
uppermost stories being one above the other. In a 
tower at Palenque we have an example of four stories 
but this is unusual. 
On top of the building proper, especially if it is a 
temple, we frequently find a superstructure. This is a 
sort of crest, or roof wall, usually pierced by windows. 
When this wall rises from the center line of the roof it is 
called a roof comb or roof crest, and when it rises from 
the front wall it is called a flying facade. The highest 
temples in the Mayan area are those of Tikal that 
attain a total height of about 175 feet, counting pyra- 
mid and superstructure. 
Massive Sculptural Art. The decoration of © 
Mayan buildings may be considered under three heads: 
first, interior decoration; second, facade decoration; 
third, supplementary monuments. In many temples at 
Yaxchilan, Tikal, etc., are found splendidly sculptured 
lintels of stone or wood. At Copan we see wall sculp- 
tures that adorn the entrance to the sanctuary and at 
Palenque finely sculptured tablets let into the rear wall 
of the sanctuary. Elsewhere are occasional examples 
of mural paintings, sculptured door jambs, decorated 
interior steps, ete. 
The facade decorations of the earlier Mayan struc- 
tures are freer and more realistic than those of the later 
buildings. In many cases they consist of figures of men, 
serpents, ete., modeled in stucco or built up out of 
several nicely fitted blocks of stone. Grotesque faces 
also occur. In the later styles, decoration consists 
largely of ““mask panels,’ which are grotesque front 
view faces arranged to fill rectangular panels, but there 
is an increasing amount of purely geometric ornament. 
The masked panels represent in most instances a highly 
elaborated serpent’s face which sometimes carries the 
