A LOST CIVILISATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 July 1931, Page 12

A LOST CIVILISATION

MORE MAYA SCULPTURES FOUND.

Further light on the mystery of the lost Maya civilisation will be supplied by Captain T. A. Joyce, deputy keeper of the department of ethnography of the British Museum, who has returned to London after an expedition in British Honduras. He led exploration parties into the jungle of British Honduras with the co-operation of the authorities of the colony. •‘Before we started these expeditions we had not a single dated Maya sculpture in the British Museum. Now we have the largest collection in the world,” Captain Joyce, who was sitting surrounded by relics of his various expeditions at his home in North London, told a reporter of the London ‘Observer.’ “This time we worked on some entirely new ruins up the South Stanu Creek River,” he went on. “This site had been reported to the British Museum by a big mahogany contractor, and a pretty big proposition it turned out to be. “To reach it we had to cut our way through thirty-five miles of dense bush. Fifty feet above us we could hear the wind roaring through the top of the bush, but on the ground one hardly got a breath of air. The myriads of insects added to our difficulties, but with a caterpillar tractor to force a track through the undergrowth we made the journey in two and a-half days. That was pretty good work. The party was composed of Captain Griming, Mr Mark Oliver, myself, and some natives. Bush turkey and other fresh meat made a welcome addition to our “tinned” rations while we were in the bush. “Arrived at our destination we were engaged for about a fortnight in clearing the site. We found that it consisted of a series of mounds and pyramids, forming two large courts. The pyramids were probably crowned with altars and temples, but being of perishable materials all remains of these had long since disappeared. One at least of these huge pyramids was faced with a stairway in a remarkable state of preservation. “The pyramids on this side were made of granite, which was apparently too hard for the ancient Maya to sculpture with their stone tools. The elaborately-worked sculpture which we found on our former expeditions was in limestone. Then, again, what inscriptions were ever on these granite pyramids must have been done in paint, for no traces of hieroglyphics remained. ~, , “‘Qur excavations, however, yielded some valuable finds. On another entirely new group of ruins further down the river wo found a stone spear head 18in long. It was in a coffin fashioned out of solid slate. We also discovered two perfect stone axes and a stone knife which is still very sharp. “We also found pieces of the beautiful pottery which the ancient Maya fashioned, an ear ornament made of ja'dite, and incense burners and other relies of that remarkable civilisation which flourished round about 300 or 400 A.D. Altogether we were away in the uninhabited bush for ten weeks. “On this trip. too. I sent for a huge stone slab which we found last, year on our trip up the Moho. Owing to premature flooding we had been forced to leave it behind on the river bank. This slab, which is 10ft long, has a very important and lengthy dated inscription}, although, of course, I have not had time to work on the inscription yet. The stone is coming over by freighter, and should arrive at the museum about August.”