AN ANCIENT PEOPLE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 21, 23 December 1938, Page 6

AN ANCIENT PEOPLE.

Endless exploration in Mexico and Central America has'brought to the light of day amazing relics of civilisations that have taken their place with the dust of ages —strange and colourful traces of a society that flourished through peace and war until it vanished. During the past year the Society of Mexican Archaeology has succeeded in delving more deeply into these mysterious ruins with intriguing results, particularly at Monte Alban, a few miles from Oaxaca City. This mountain is believed to have been a great religious centre, but who were the gods the people worshipped has not been determined, though a relationship with Toltec and Mayan deities has been traced. A puzzle has been set to discover the identity of the Mayas, who built cities, pyramids, cobbled streets, and citadels which till, this day lie beneath the jungles of Yucatan, British Honduras, Guatemala, and Honduras-all giving rise to strange stories of wonderful ruins upon which few contemporary eyes have gazed. Their civilisation was fast waning when Columbus trod North American shores. The Spanish Conquistadores called them savages, yet showed little trace of civilisation themselves and butchered them wholesale. These ancients originated buildings which to-day,com-prise Americans Valley of Kings and could not be duplicated for millions of pounds. Without telescopes, chronometers, or nautical almanacs they could predicfteclipses, classify stars in the heavenly vault, and develop a mathematical system so complex as to puzzle modern mathematicians. Their count of days dated back to a zero of October 14, 3373 B.C. Many keys have been tried to solve the meaniug of this date, but so far none has fitted. Who the Mayas really were, where they came from, whether they were descended from Asiatics who reached America by Way of Alaska or the Pacific isles are still questions to be answered. Elaborate and immense structures continue to be unearthed, but till the key is found they can in large part only add to the profound mystery that encompasses their meaning. Perhaps Monte. Alban will yield up the secret, and relate the life story of a people who flourished, had their day, and quietly slipped away —or were violently annihilated—as a chapter in the march of time.