RUINS OF MAYA.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 134, 8 June 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

RUINS OF MAYA.

LOST CIVILISATION. BEC OBSTRUCTING THE PAST. IMMENSE FIELD OF RESEARCH. ■ No. I. (By F. W. CHRISTIAN.) "The accurate calendar system, the complicated hieroglyphs and the marvellous astronomical knowledge of this gifted red race, greet us as fully developed about the first century of our era. Where and when this civilisation originated are probably among the many mysteries concerning these wonderful peoples which will never be fully solved." —D. T. GANN ("In An Unknown Land.") A glance at the map of Central America, north of the Isthmus of Panama, will, transport the observer straight away into a region.of beauty, wonder and fascinating "'mystery, the area occupied by the States of Honduras and Guatemala and' the peninsula of Yucatan, the most easterly province of Mexico —the 'theatre the _ great vanished civilisation of the Maya, the origin of which, for generations past, has been a standing puzzle toitihe antiquarian. Under the shadow of dense forests, the haunt of the vampire,l bat, the ape and the jaguar, explorers have discovered the remains of great cities, temples and palaces, magnific&nt even in their decay, tottering into ruin from the disruptive power of the roots of huge forest trees springing from tiny seeds wind-scattered, lodging in the cracks of the masonry, which, in some cases, has reduced these goodly buildings into mere ruinous heaps. In and about these ruins the labours of the excavator have brought to light a bewildering abundance of archaeological treasures, great and small. A notable band of explorers have wrought right mightily in this region and won. great honour. The names of Stephens and Catherwood, of Maudelay and Dβ Charnay, of Gann, Joyce and Lothrop and of those two great scientists, Morley and Spinden, form a goodly galaxy of fame. These indefatigable searchers after truth have, one after another, with admiration akin to awe, noted and placed on record, illustrated by beautiful drawings, paintings and photographs, the great sculptured monoliths of Tikal, Copan, Piedras, Negras and Quirigna in Guatemala, and the sanctuary of the holy city of Palenque in Western Honduras. Many Ruins. They have described the huge "cenotee" or water reservoirs at Bolonchen and Chichen-Itza, and traced the the 50-mile stretch of solidly-constructed causeway connecting the latter Kabah. They have drawn plans of the great Pyramid of Kabah and of the curious facade of its principal temple elaborately ornamented with faces or "the long-nosed god/' in feature resembling elephant trunks, a characteristic in Maya art. And in Northern Yucatan tliev 'iiave cleared and photographed with adinirahli' ?kill tin- ruined cities of Tuluiii, Xi'iliu aim •;;■••■'!' »u.<Uhe vast etructiues or Lilian;.... ■ ''•■' -° V' 1 ' south with its pyramid* u.,d .:•■■ ■-< y acropolis. In all these descriptor .<■■ see pictured, as in a fantastic vieiou. wide courts, great arched stone stairways, high stone terraces, porticos, colonnades, ball-playing courts, weird serpent-columns, elaborately carved and decorated cornices, lintels and pillars, tall etches of green andesite and temple walls and panels adorned with carved or painted figures of nobles, priests, soldiers and slaves, portraying past happenings in their history. And we view with amazement quaintly-fashioned figurines in terra cotta and jade of men, women and animals, and note statues in stone and statues in stucco, and meet witn monstrous sculptured heade ; frowning down over giant gateways or jutting out over the walls and shrines and royal buildings like grim guardian genu watching from the battlements. One can here but feebly hint at all this prodigal magnificence of architectural beauty and wonder and bizarrerie," still only imperfectly revealed even to-day to the explorer. There is nothing quite like it in world save the ruined splendours of Angkor-Thorn in the far I° d^ Ch "J hinterland across the ocean. We shaH examine in detail the evidences of such r culture-contact so strenuously maintained by some and so dogmataally denied by other students of the history of pre-Columbian America. ■ • A Place of Sacrifice.

Two noteworthy things in this marvellous labyrinth of mystery, th s Uzure and truly amazing picture, gallerv of the creations of early Central Sriin art, stand out in poignant relief, voicing an intensely human apHonduras. Yucatan is practically one grS table of elevated tawtonfc tnown as«Ceno&o. -Isonote," some of them many fathoms in depta. SlctaJtz., theWt o£ these anc«,,t colours and The Temple of Tlaloc, tne E!itnto|p»i feet below in the half-light a horn We old Indian tradition tells us m times their crops, the priests and notar victims over the bunk xo IUC ~ death in the grim, pool below. This old tale of horror was long d.ecredited but W'aSef r^Sil S S SSa/Sd « they dropped their stout net into the depths, and out of many feet of slime the accumulation of ' d J? e a hauled out into the light of day a number of small skulls and semi-adult skeletons.