128 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



The earliest temples have narrow vaulted rooms, 

 heavy walls, and a single doorway. The rooms increase 

 in width, the walls decrease in 

 thickness, the doorways multiply 

 till the spaces between them be- 

 come piers and finally columns. 

 The support for the heavy roof 

 comb taxed the structural ingenu- 

 ity of the Mayan architects. The 

 solving of this problem is marked 

 by successive advances and since 

 mechanical sci- 

 ence goes for- 

 ward rather than 

 backward the 

 relative order of 

 structures is 

 fairly certain. 

 Moreover, many 

 buildings are 

 closely associat- 

 ed with dated 

 monuments, tab- 

 lets, lintels, or 

 stelae. Still an- 

 other evidence 

 of architectural sequence is seen in structures that 

 have been enlarged by the addition of wings or by the 

 enclosing of the old parts under new masonry. 



Fig. 47. Grotesque 

 Face on the Back of 

 Stela B, Copan. 



Fig. 48. Jaguar in 

 Dresden Codex with 

 a Water Lily attached 

 to Forehead. 



Dated Monuments. We have seen that many 

 monuments carry hieroglyphic inscriptions containing 

 dates in the Mayan system of counting time. It is im- 

 possible to read the texts that accompany these dates. 

 But it is a remarkable fact that when we arrange the 



