A MEXICAN POMPEII.

Evening Star, Issue 14786, 30 January 1912, Page 7

A MEXICAN POMPEII.

A buried city ha.s just been discovered in Mexico by * Professor Niver, member of the New "York Academy of Science. This city was apparently overwhelmed by a volcanic eruption, like Pompeii, in the most flourishing period of the empire of Nineveh, and tho few houses at present excavated are in almost perfect preservation. The discoverer has found a goldsmith's shop, in which all tho instruments and objects of the trade are still displayed. These com price objects of art in gold, silver, and bronze, and over 200 terra- cotta models of statues, vases, or ornaments. The style of these decorations is unlike that of "any style which has previously been associated with tho ancient civilisation of Mexico, and bears resemblance to the sculptures of ancient Egypt and to tho art of Socthern Asia. Tho interior of tho goldsmith's house is decorated with paintings executed on n surfa-ce of polished stucco-like substance and retain their brilliance. Ono sevicj represents tho incidents of a shepherd'slife, and recalls the Arcadian fashions of the European eighteenth eentruy. The dominant colors used, are red. blue, yellow, green, and black. Underneath tho workchop the professor lias made the gruesome discovery of a tomb occupied by the skeleton" of a murdered man. A hatchet of bronze is still fixed in the skull. The excavation will probably prove the. most interesting yet carried out in America.