130 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
Summary of Mayan History. A brief summary 
of Mayan history is given below:— 
PROTOHISTORIC PERIOD 
Before 160 A.D.—9-0-0-0-0. 
During this period the calendar and_ hieroglyphic 
systems were being developed. The earliest date 
is the somewhat doubtful one on the Tuxtla Stat- 
uette (113 B. C.). The next earliest date is the 
assured one on the Leiden Plate (47 A. D.). A very 
early monument at a site in northern Guatemala called 
Uaxactun has recently been discovered by Mr. S. G. 
Morley. The date, 8-14-10-13-15 falls within the 
limits set for this period. 
EARLY PERIOD 
160 A.D. to 358 A.D.—9-0-0-0-0 to 9-10-0-0-0. 
During this period the great cities of the south 
had their start. Enormous mounds were erected and 
temples were built upon them. Public squares were 
laid out and in these were set up stele and altars. T 
earliest dated monument (except for the one refered 
above) is Stela 3 at Tikal, 214.A.D. Several monument 
at this city are carved in a still earlier style. Copan fol- 
lows with Stela 15 which has a date thirty-seven years 
later. The carving throughout this period is crude and 
angular. ‘The profile presentation of the human figure 
is better handled by the early artists than is front view 
presentation. The principal conventions of Mayan art 
seem to have been fixed during the protohistoric period 
and the serpent was much used as a motive of decoration 
during the archaic period. Itseems likely that thearchaic 
