‘Phe earliest date ywtediscovered vis) 
that inscribed on 4 snvall jade figurine 
‘found same years ago in the state..o! 
Veracruz, Mex. Translated! into 
own symbols it reads 100 years before) 
Christ.. A’ point of particular inter St 
in this inscription is that it ied 
lishes the important fact that 210 
eee ae the native peoples of the 
ated by. the invention of nine a 
‘the particular step which Hea || 
of the stone age. 
‘Researches in this feacimatine Sha 
(are now being carried forward with 
(characteristic enthusiasm by,the ex+ 
| pedition sent out by the Carnegie In 
stitution of Washington, at the hea 
of which is the indefatigable student 
|of the ancient writings, Sylvanus G 
‘Morley: The party is now believed 
to be threading its way through the) 
jungles of the Peten district of north 
ern Guatemala or meandering thé 
‘course of the mysterious Rio Usuma 
cinta which flows northwestward 
from Guatemala through Yucatan 
Chiapas and Tobasco into the Gulf o 
Mexico. City after city and site afte 
site are being sought out and give 
such attention as the heroic ban 
of explorers can in a hasty recon 
iNaissance give them, the search bein 
| devoted in large part to the discover 
|} Of inscriptions ee additional 
dates. 
| ‘The work began early ty the present 
year: in northern Guatemala, and in 
‘February and March was carried intc 
Central Guatemala to Antigua, the 
ancient Spanish capital of Centra’ 
America, to the prehistoric ‘city, the 
‘ruins of which lie in the suburbs Qi 
the present capital of Guatemala, tc 
Quirigua, hidden among the remains 0! 
‘a tropical forest and the encroaching 
banana orchards of the valley of the 
Motagua, and to Copan, the marvelous, 
‘ruined city of western Honduras 
Thence the work was carried to thé 
mysterious Tuluum on the easterr 
scoast of Yucatan. a region rarely vis 
ited by. white men on account of thi 
hostile attitude of the never fully su | 
dued aborigines. ie 
The description of the vast remains 
of these’ sites, architectural and sculp: 
i tural, is a task too great to be’ under: 
taken lightly. Each city as expose¢ 
today comprises a. great group of plat: 
forms and pyramids supporting thx 
ruins of massive temples, the sanctu: 
aries of the gods and the retreat n¢ 
doubt of the powerful priesthood, the 
‘arbiters of the lives and fate of the peo 
-ple. Enclosed within the platforms 
pyramids and terraces are extensiy« 
plazas or courts within which ari 
found standing or overthrown man} 
“reat monolithic monuments . carvec 
to represent herces and deities, cov. 
loaded with intricate symbolic embel: 
lishments. Associated with these 
monuments are altars upon which it 
is surmised offerings were made t¢ 
the deities with whose images they 
are associated. ‘These altars, often o} 
great size, are elaborately. sculptured 
to represent human and beast forms 
and many imaginary conceptions sur: 
passing in\complexity of parts, vigor 
and grace of execution any corre- 
sponding works in the old world; 
ancient or modern. These are the 
works of a strange and gifted people 
struggling with all their strength to 
enlist the favor and protection of the 
| deities that. their imagination had: con- 
jured up. The ruins today are a 
strange medley of the efforts of primi- 
\tive savagery, of the great undertak- 
ings of an ambitious barbarism, and 
many hints of the dawn of civilization. 
The extent of the cities that sup- 
ported these vast establishments can 
only be guessed. That the population 
was large may, however, be safely sur- 
mised. That they were drawn upon 
to the point of exhaustion may “be as- 
'sumed also, and that the overbuilding, 
‘the waste of resources and energy up- 
on vast undertakings that yielded no 
| benefits to the people as a wholemay 
safely be assumed as the cause of de 
cay, abandonment and utter ruin. : 
—~ 
ered with glyphic inscriptions anc j 
