NORTH SHORE: BREEZE 
MANCHESTER TRUST COMPANY 
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. 
Capital $100,000.00 
Surplus $37,000.00 
Deposits $700,000.00 
PRESIDENT: 
Oliver T. Roberts. 
VICE-PRESIDENTS: 
Roger W. Babson, 
William Hoare. 
SECRETARY AND TREASURER: 
Harry W. Purington. 
DIRECTORS: 
Roger W. Babson 
George W. Blaisdell 
Michael J. Callahan 
Ernest S. Curtis 
Everett L. Edmands 
Maynard B. Gilman 
William Hoare 
George L. Knight 
Edward A. Lane 
F. J. Merrill 
Oliver T. Roberts 
George F. Willett 
Banking hcurs 8:30-2:30; Sats. 8:30-1; Sat. Ev’gs 7-8 (deposits only) 
RAYMOMD C. ALLEN 
Assoc. Mem. Am. Soc. C. E. 
Member Boston Soc. C. E. 
CIVIL ENGINEER 
Investigations and Reports—Design and Superintendence of Con- 
struction—Design of Roads and Avenues—Surveys and Estimates. 
ESTABLISHED 1397 
Lee’s Block, Manchester 
OLDEST AMERICAN DATED 
ANTIQUITY MADE 100 B. C. 
SMALL stone statuette found 
near Vera Cruz, Mexico, which 
has been in the possession of the U. 
S. National Museum since 1903, has 
recently been identified as the oldest 
known dated antiquity in America. 
Its ancient Mayan glyphic inscrip- 
tions show that it was made 100 
years before Christ, which is the old- 
est date atthenticated in the New 
World. 
This unique image was originally 
found in 1902 by a peon while plow- 
ing in the district of San Andres’ 
Tuxtla near the Gulf of Mexico, 
about 100 miles southeast of Vera 
Cruz, Mexico, and came to the Mu- 
seum, through the courtesy of Mr. R. 
EF. Ulbricht, the next year, It 1s com- 
posed of very hard grayish-green 
stone, a variety of nephrite or jade, 
carved into a rounded conical form, 
about 6% inches in height and 3%4 
inches in diameter at the base. Its 
general outlines give the impression 
of an old Mexican idol or priest in a 
cape or cassock. The upper part rep- 
resents a human head with a some- 
what pointed bald crown, with well 
defined though primitively cut fea- 
Tel. 73-R and W 
tures. The lower part of the face is 
covered with a mask, in appearance 
resembling the bill of a duck, carved 
in relief and extending down over the 
chest like a beard. ‘The cheeks and 
ears are outlined by a conventional 
scroll design, which lends a genial ex- 
pression to the face. The idea of a 
cassock or other loose garment is de- 
stroyed when the figure is examined 
closely, for the bird-like form is fur- 
ther emphasized by the wings cover- 
ing the sides of the figure, the lower 
margins of which are carved to repre- 
sent feathers. Beneath the wings the 
outlines of a bird’s feet and legs are 
engraved, 
On the front, back, and sides of 
this little figure are the peculiar char- 
acters, called glyphs, in which the 
early inhabitants of southern Mexico 
and the northern part of Central 
America, known as the Maya, wrote 
and recorded their early history and 
achievements. So far only calendric 
parts of the ancient inscriptions of 
the Maya have been deciphered, the 
chronological skeleton of Maya his- 
tory, as it were, stripped of the events 
themselves. Thirty years ago Maya 
inscriptions were a sealed book, and 
yet today we read of the rise and fall 
of the several cities in relation to one 
‘Jan, 14, Agee, 
another, and ‘elien the course a the 
native development even though we 
cannot fill in the background. The 
nature of the several inscriptions is 
of course. similar to more recent writ- 
ings of this prehistoric race, yet. the 
forms of the particular characters are 
so elemental that only the date signs 
or numbers are translatable. 
In determining the date on this fig- 
ure, however, a most valuable clue or 
index to further research and investi- 
gation is gained by students of Amer- 
ican archeology, the locality of the 
find gives a hint to further excavation 
there in the hope of locating more 
relics and possibly establishing the 
location of another settlement of 
some branch of the Maya race. 
The figurine in its conception and 
execution is well within the range of 
ancient Mexican or Mayan achieve- 
ment, and presents no features sug- 
gestive of foreign origin or influence. 
The general shape was evidently 
laboriously worked out from a_ block 
of irregular conical outline, by peck- 
ing with stone hammers, the uneven- 
tess of the surface, especially on the 
front and back, never having been 
fully removed, although the stone -is 
well polished. The under surface 
shows the characteristic markings 
produced by primitive methods of 
sawing hard stone before the dis- 
covery of metals, Broad _ shallow 
lines trace the composite features of 
the man and bird, and establish the 
fact that the polishing was done after 
they were cut. All the glyphs, how- 
ever, were added after the shaping of 
the various features of the image 
was completed and the surface 
polished. The engraving of the 
hieroglyphics on the hard polished 
surface was not easy, as is shown by 
the narrow and uneven scratches 
— 
: 
ad 
which never received the smoothing . 
and finishing touches. 
What is known as the “introduc- 
ing glyph” of the initial series on the 
image has been shown by Sylvanus 
G. Morley, of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington, to indicate a 
length of time in the Maya calendar 
equal to 8 cycles, 6 katuns, 2 tuns, 4 
uinals and 17 kins, which compared — 
to our calendar goes back to about 
100 B. C., the oldest definite recorded 
date known to students of anthropo- 
logy in. connection writ the. very 
World. 
The people Fesponeeld Pe “cis 
little image, known to anthropolo- 
gists as the Mayas, are now resident — 
principally in Yucatan, Chiapas, Ta- 
basco, and in 
American republics, 
group, the Huasteca, is found in 
northern Vera Cruz, It does not 
adjoining Central — 
but one. small. 
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