( Jhapter III 

 THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 



TBE influence of the Mayan civilization when at 

 its height (400 to 000 A.D.) may be traced far 

 beyond the limits of the Mayan area. Ideas in 

 art, religion, and government that were then spread 

 broadcast served to quicken nations of diverse speech 

 and a scries of divergent cultures resulted. Most of 

 these lesser civilizations were at their best long after the 

 great Mayan civilization had declined, but one or two 

 were possibly contemporary. It will be the aim in the 

 present chapter to emphasize the indebtedness of these 

 Lesser civilizations to the Mayas as well as to com- 

 ment upon their individual characters. 



We will first proceed northwest into Mexico and then 

 southeast into the Isthmus of Panama. The environ- 

 ment under which the Mayas developed their arts of 

 life continues in narrowing bands westward along the 

 Gulf of Mexico and southward across the Isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec. The most westerly Mayan city of im- 

 portance seems to have been Comalcalco. But there 

 i- also a large ruin near San Andres Tuxtla and it may 

 be significant that the earliest dated object of the Mayas 

 (the Tuxtla Statuette) came from this region. In other 

 words, the cradle of Mayan culture may have been in 

 this coastal belt where arid and humid conditions exisl 

 side by side and where the figurines of the archaic type 

 are found together with those of the Mayas. Unfortu- 

 nately, the archaeology of this part of Mexico has been 

 little studied and we are compelled to go farther up the 



coast, to the Totonacs Or farther inland to the ZapoteCS 

 before we can find material for comparisons. 



