The Carnegie Maya III
Carnegie Institution of Washington Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology, 1940-1957
Publication Year: 2011
Published by: University Press of Colorado
Cover
The Carnegie Maya
Copyright
Contents
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pp. v-xiv
Figures
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pp. xv-
Tables
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pp. xvii-xviii
Preface
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pp. 1-2
This volume includes approximately 360 authored reports pertaining to the ancient and modern Maya and submitted by a variety of researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) between 1913 and 1958. Originally published in the annual Year Books of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, these reports provide basic information about the ancient ...
Introduction
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pp. 3-22
Between 1914 and 1958 the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) sponsored extensive archaeological and other investigations in the Maya region of southern Mexico and northern Central America. During these four decades, the CIW was the leader in the field, with monetary and human resources that no ...
Tables
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pp. 23-26
1.0. Administrative
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pp. 27-186
This question is often asked: What aboriginal people of the New World had achieved the highest culture before the coming of Europeans? And indeed it is a matter of recognized importance to determine which Native American race had traveled farthest on the road from savagery to civilization. ...
2.0. Art and Architecture
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pp. 187-201
Certainly one of the most impressive facts pertaining to the civilization of the ancient Maya is the extraordinary activity of these people as builders. Any one even moderately well acquainted with the territory occupied by this civilization can not but have marveled at the vast number of ruins that lie hidden on ...
3.0. Environment
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pp. 203-226
So little is known, relatively, about the biology of Central America that a considerable amount of exploration will be necessary from the first to determine the species of animals and plants to be found in each biotic province and the relative abundance of the forms involved. At present the composition of the fauna and ...
4.0. Ceramics
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pp. 227-258
The general problem toward the solution of which the Division of Historical Research is directing its efforts was formulated and discussed by the Chairman in his report to the Trustees last year. The interpretation of the results of the “meeting of two races of diverse physical make-up and differing culture” must rest on a thorough ...
5.0. Textiles
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pp. 259-260
It is unlikely, because of climatic conditions, that any representative group of textiles or other perishable materials dating from pre-Colombian periods in Guatemala will ever be recovered. It is, therefore, chiefly inferences based on surviving fundamental techniques ...
6.0. Hieroglyphic Writing
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pp. 261-272
Dr. Morley devoted such time as he could spare from administrative duties to completion of his monograph The Inscriptions of Pet�n, second of the compendious treatises in which he plans to cover the entire field of Maya monumental epigraphy. The first, The Inscriptions of Cop�n, ...
7.0. Linguistics
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pp. 273-286
Our interest in the languages of the Maya peoples, aside from our concern with a number of linguistic problems involved in the study of Maya civilization, is but a manifestation of the desire which man has felt for centuries to understand the nature of language and its relations to many aspects of his experience, with ...
8.0. Ethnography
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pp. 287-318
There is a marked disposition among social anthropologists to make their work a contribution to the understanding and control of life; probably it does no harm to be a little presumptuous. At any rate, few students of the simpler peoples want their work to result in merely a miscellany of curious information, and ...
9.0. Ethnohistory
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pp. 319-368
Historical studies, as a part of the general Yucat�n Project, have not advanced beyond the preliminary stage. A statement of the general problem and a brief outline of some of its special phases must, therefore, take the place of a report of actual research. The history of Yucat�n from the period of the Spanish ...
10.0. Physical Anthropology
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pp. 369-384
At the suggestion of Carnegie Institution of Washington the Yucat�n Medical Expedition was organized by the Department of Tropical Medicine of the School of Public Health of Harvard University. It was financed jointly by the Institution and by the Department. The Expedition, making its headquarters at Chich�n Itz�, ...
11.0. Belize
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pp. 385-388
As a joint project of the Field Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Institution of Washington, Mr. J. Eric Thompson visited northern British Honduras in the winter of 1934. The purpose of the expedition was to continue promising earlier investigations made in this region by Mr. Thompson, one of the specific objectives ...
12.0. Baking Pot
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pp. 389-390
The excavations carried out during the season of 1924 at Baking Pot were under the direction of Mr. Oliver Ricketson Jr., who sailed from New Orleans on February 10, proceeding to Belize, British Honduras, where he accompanied Mr. Blom and Mr. Amsden to the ruins ...
13.0. Pusilh�
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pp. 391-394
... the Pusilh� and Machaka Rivers, which unite here to form the Mojo River. Hills surround the site on all sides, enclosing a valley of very great fertility; even today the rain fall is so excessive, probably being between 140 inches [355.6 cm] and 150 inches [381 cm], that it is possible to raise three crops of corn a year. ...
14.0. San Jos�
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pp. 395-398
... Campeche expedition of 1932, 1933, and 1934 [Chapters 15.1 to 15.3], an expedition left Chich�n Itz� at the end of February 1936, with Mr. Thompson in charge, Mr. J. C. Harrington, surveyor; Mr. Conrad Kratz made rubbings of inscriptions and graffiti. Principal objectives were the collection of epigraphic material and of ...
15.0. Campeche
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pp. 399-406
As result of the exploration and study of Calakmul in 1932 and reports of other sites in the same general region, an expedition spent the months of March, April and May in the exploration of south-central Campeche. Mr. Karl Ruppert, archaeologist, was in charge; Mr. John H. Denison, Jr., served as epigrapher; Mr. John ...
16.0. Calakmul
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pp. 407-408
Calakmul is one of the largest and most important of known lowland Maya sites. It is located in southeastern Campeche, north of El Mirador, and some 35 km from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was first reported by Cyrus Lundell in 1931. The first CIW expedition to the site was in April, 1932, followed by three additional surveys, the last in 1938. ...
17.0. Edzn�
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pp. 409-412
In 1928 the Mexican archaeologist Federico Mariscal published some drawings and plans of Edzn�. Sylvanus G. Morley and Enrique Juan Palacios later deciphered some of the dates on the stelae. The first extensive exploration of the site was undertaken by Alberto Ruz Lhuillier and Ra�l Pav�n Abre� in 1943. They identified the extent of the site core ...
18.0. Chiapas
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pp. 413-418
Except for the brief time occupied by field activities at Mayapán, Shook spent the major portion of the past season in Mérida. There, at the Department’s ceramic laboratory, he studied the pottery of Mayapán, assisted Berlin with his report on Tabasco, and recorded a number of privately owned archaeological collections. ...
19.0. Bonampak
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pp. 419-424
Bonampak is a Classic period site in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, about 30 km south of Yaxchilan. It is a small site, and once a dependency of Yaxchilan. All of the structures seem to have been built in the period from about 580–800 AD. Bonampak contains several medium-sized temples around a plaza, along with a few carved stelae, but is famous for the murals in one of the buildings. The Temple of ...
20.0. Yaxchil�n
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pp. 425-430
Yaxchil�n, known for the large quantity of excellent sculpture, was a large Classic period center, and the dominant power of the Usumacinta area. It dominated such smaller sites as Bonampak, and was long allied with Piedras Negras, and at least for a time, with Tikal. It was a rival of Palenque, with which Yaxchil�n warred. Yat-Balam, founder of a long ...
21.0. El Salvador
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pp. 431-432
During the past field season, Mr. Dimick, assisted by Mr. Stanley H. Boggs, continued the intensive study of the great archaeological site of Campana San Andr�s. The ruins are situated 32 km northwest of San Salvador in the fertile, bowl-shaped, and mountain-fringed valley of the R�o Sucio. Although thorough exploration ...
22.0. Guatemala
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pp. 433-452
The termination in 1931 of the sixth season at Uaxact�n concludes the second most intensive examination so far carried out of any Maya site, and if it is decided to continue work there for another two seasons, data will in all probability be furnished with which to correlate the time-relations between the five ...
23.0. Kaminaljuy�
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pp. 453-466
Kaminaljuy� has been known for a long time and was visited by Alfred P. Maudslay at the end of the nineteenth century. He later published a plan of the site and a photograph of the mounds. Extensive excavations were undertaken at the site by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1936 and the work continued for several years. Reports ...
24.0. Sites near Lake Pet�n (Tayasal,Polol, Chakant�n, Topoxt�)
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pp. 467-472
At the time of the Spanish conquest Tayasal was the most prominent site in the Pet�n lowlands of northern Guatemala. Most scholars locate Tayasal on the shores of Late Pet�n Itz�, most likely obscured archaeological by the modern capital of Flores. Historical evidence suggests that Tayasal was founded on the edge of Lake Pet�n Itz� by transplants ...
25.0. La Muralla
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pp. 473-474
La Muralla is one of several major sites in the Mirador basin in the northeastern Petén region of northern Guatemala seemingly abandoned by the beginning of the Early Classic period (250–550 AD). Although building construction ceased and goods were no longer being imported, Late Classic period codex-style pottery was still being manufactured ...
26.0. Piedras Negras
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pp. 475-476
Piedras Negras seems to have been an independent city-state for most of the Classic Period, although sometimes in alliance with other states of the region and perhaps paying tribute to others at times. It had an alliance with Yaxchil�n, located some 40 km up river. Ceramics show the site was occupied from the mid-seventh century BC to 850 A.D. Its ...
27.0. Quirigu�
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pp. 477-482
Frederick Catherwood visited the ruins at Quiriguá in 1840 and spent one day at the site sketching two of the stelae. John Lloyd Stephens reported Catherwood’s trip to Quiriguá in his famous 1841 book. Alfred P. Maudslay visited Central America for the first time in 1881 and Quiriguá was the first ruin he visited. He stayed at the site for three days on ...
28.0. Uaxact�n
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pp. 483-516
Uaxactún is located in the Petén region of northern Guatemala, some 40 km north of Tikal. With the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphic writing, it was discovered that the ancient name for this site was Siaan Kaan. The name “Uaxactún” was given to the site by Sylvanus G. Morley in May, 1916. He coined the name from Maya words to mean ...
29.0. Zacualpa
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pp. 517-520
Robert Wauchope spent two months of excavation at Zacualpa for the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1935. His investigation established the first archaeological sequence based on stratigraphy and comparative typology for this region of the central highlands of Guatemala. Wauchope returned in 1947 for another brief field season. ...
30.0. Honduras
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pp. 521-526
The work of excavation and repair at the ruins of Cop�n, Honduras, which has been in progress since 1936, was continued during the past winter. Mr. Str�msvik was assisted by Mr. Robert F. Burgh, Mr. Arthur W. Wheelwright, and Mr. Leonard J. Currie. The major activities of the season were completion of ...
31.0. Cop�n
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pp. 527-544
Cop�n is one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in Mesoamerica. The Carnegie Institution of Washington carried out an ambitious excavation and restoration program at the site from 1935 to 1946, except for the years when work was suspended because of World War II. Work at Cop�n was undertaken with two objectives: repair the stelae ...
32.0. Nicaragua
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pp. 545-548
As was stated in the introduction to this report, Mr. Richardson, who went to Nicaragua to study relatively recent stone sculpture, was diverted from that end by the necessity of investigating a series of ancient human footprints found in deeply buried volcanic deposits near Managua. ...
33.0. Quintana Roo
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pp. 549-552
The explorations described below were carried on by Str�msvik and Pollock between February 23 and 28, and by Berlin and Str�msvik between May 24 and 29, 1954. Previously, one of our workmen from the village of Telchaquillo, Yucat�n, had been sent into the area to ...
34.0. Cob�
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pp. 553-558
Coba is located around five small lakes. A series of elevated stone and plaster roads (sacbes) radiate from the central site to various smaller sites. Some of these causeways go east to the Caribbean coast, and the longest runs over 100 km to the west to the site of Yaxun�. The site contains several large temple pyramids, the tallest, known as Nohoch Mul, being ...
35.0. Tabasco and Veracruz
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pp. 559-564
At the invitation of Sr. Arq. Ignacio Marquina, Chief of the Office of Prehistoric Monuments of the Mexican Government, Mr. Ruppert as representative of the Carnegie Institution spent the months of November and December 1937 in cooperative investigations with Sr. Lic. Juan Valenzuela and Sr. Agustin Garc�a ...
36.0. Yucat�n
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pp. 565-572
As was stated in the last Year Book report [Chapters 1.22 and 1.23], the 10 years of intensive excavation at Chich�n Itz� are being followed by an interval for the publication of those units of work which have not yet been treated monographically; and for research upon certain problems raised by the Chich�n Itz� diggings ...
37.0. Chacchob
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pp. 573-576
Chacchob, located north of the Puuc hills and 15 km southeast of the modern town of Teabo, has been known as a walled site since 1845, when an article on the site entitled “Una ciudad murada” was published by Fr. Estanislao Carrillo in Registro Yucateco. The site is relatively small, enclosed by a masonry wall measuring some 1,400 m in circumference. ...
38.0. Chich�n Itz�
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pp. 577-654
Chich�n Itz� is a largest Maya site in northern Yucat�n with numerous buildings in various states of preservation. There is no above-ground water in the Yucat�n peninsula, and the three natural sink holes (cenotes) providing plentiful water year round, made Chich�n Itz� a natural spot for a settlement to develop. Two of these cenotes are still in existence ...
39.0. Ek Balam
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pp. 655-656
The core of the site extends over an area of approximately 6 sq km, and is surrounded by two walls. Structure 1 is 150 m long, and the largest construction at the site. Recent excavations by Tulane University have revealed a well-preserved stucco fa�ade and a flight of steps inscribed with hieroglyphs. Most buildings date from the Late Classic period, although ...
40.0. Mayap�n
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pp. 657-726
Between 1951 and 1955 the CIW conducted extensive excavations at Mayap�n. The site was selected for intensive research and excavation to study the late prehistoric Maya in Yucat�n as described in the native literature. According to the historical narratives, Mayap�n was the political capital of the Maya in the Yucat�n peninsula from about the late 1220s until the 1440s. In 1221 the Maya revolted against ...
41.0. Uxmal
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pp. 727-730
The site of Uxmal, located in the Puuc hills of the Yucat�n peninsula, has attracted many visitors since the time of the Mexican Independence, including Jean Frederic Waldeck in 1838, and John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood in early 1840s. D�sir� Charnay took a series of photographs of the site in the 1860, and three years later Empress Carlota ...
42.0. Yaxun�
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pp. 731-732
Yaxun� is a relatively small site located approximately 20 km south of Chich�n Itz�. The structures of Yaxun� were some of the largest constructions in the northern Maya lowlands erected during the Middle Preclassic and Classic periods, and the longest known causeway (sacb�) extends from Yaxun� to Cob�, 100 km to the east. A boundary settlement ...
Appendix 1. Administrative Archives, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC
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pp. 733-734
Appendix 2. Archaeology Archives, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
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pp. 735-740
Appendix 3. Ethnography and Linguistics Archives, University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL
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pp. 741-746
Appendix 4. Ethnohistory Archives, Latin American Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
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pp. 747-750
Appendix 5. Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Maya Program
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pp. 751-758
Appendix 6. Biographical Notes on Contributors
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pp. 759-766
Appendix 7. Individuals Associated With Carnegie Institution of Washington Maya Program
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pp. 767-770
Glossary
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pp. 771-774
References
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pp. 775-786
Index
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pp. 787-803
The Carnegie Maya II
Copyright
Contents
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pp. v-vi
Figures
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pp. vii-xi
Foreword
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pp. xiii-xvii
Mayap�n was the largest, most significant political capital of the Maya world of its time. Its stature as one of the great cities of the ancient world and as a historical landmark site within Mesoamerica is gaining more recognition, particularly with renewed archaeological research at this center over the past two decades. ...
Introduction
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pp. xix-xxiv
Between 1914 and 1958 the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) sponsored extensive archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic, historical, and other related investigations in the Maya region of southern Mexico and northern Central America. During these four decades, the CIW was the leader in the ...
Preface to the Current Reports, 1952
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pp. 1-2
The purpose of the present series is to make available as promptly as possible the results of work in progress. The advantages of prompt reporting seem almost too obvious to need comment. A fact sometimes forgotten, however, is that, aside from the information provided to others than our own staff, the task of ordering material for publication, no matter ...
1. Map of the Ruins of Mayap�n,Yucat�n, Mexico, 1952
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pp. 3-8
Carnegie Institution of Washington is deeply indebted to the United States Geological Survey for its fine co-operation in the work described below. Not only were the services of Mr. Jones made available for a considerable period of time in two successive seasons, but all necessary surveying ...
2. The Great Wall of Mayap�n, 1952
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pp. 9-24
There are numerous references in the Maya chronicles and early Spanish colonial historical accounts of Yucat�n relating to Mayap�n. Few, however, give specific information concerning the Great Wall surrounding the ancient city. Nevertheless, statements in two sources are pertinent to this study, one in ...
3. Residential Property Walls at Mayap�n, 1952
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pp. 25-30
The initial surveys of Mayap�n disclosed the existence of a great number of field-stone walls running everywhere among the ruins (Pollock 1951:226; Ruppert and Smith 1951:232). While some walls were clearly milpa fences or cattle enclosures of post-conquest construction, others seemed contemporary ...
4. Excavations in House Mounds at Mayap�n, 1952
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pp. 31-42
The dwelling-type structures at Mayapán follow closely Landa’s description of native houses in Yucatán in the sixteenth century. A large number of these structures are shown on the map of Mayapán (Jones 1952). Essentially they consist of a front and a back room but with considerable variation in detail ...
5. Cenote X-Coton at Mayap�n, 1953
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pp. 43-52
The cenotes of Yucat�n have been studied by various people and institutions, notably H. C. Mercer (1896), L. J. Cole (1910), Carnegie Institution of Washington (see Pearse and others, 1936), Brainerd (1942), and Lothrop (1952). These studies have been primarily geological, hydrographic, and zoological, the archaeological aspect not being treated save by Mercer, Brainerd, and Lothrop. In this report I plan to ...
6. Chacchob, Yucat�n, 1953
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pp. 53-64
The ruins of Chacchob are in the District of Tekax, some 13 km by road and 10 or 11 km airline southeast of the town of Teabo. The site was first brought to the attention of the public over 100 years ago in an anonymous article, signed in Curioso, that appeared in a Merida periodical of the time (Anonymous ...
7. Archaeological Reconnaissance in Tabasco, 1953
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pp. 65-84
Tabasco lies in southeast Mexico on the Gulf of Campeche. It consists mainly of an alluvial plain through which the Usumacinta and Grijalva rivers and their tributaries slowly meander. Only at the southern edge of the state does the plain merge into the northern Chiapas mountain chain. As Tabasco ...
8. A Portal Vault and Temple at Mayap�n, 1953
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pp. 85-90
Str. Q-127 lies at the western edge (265 S, 110 W) of a small assemblage of ceremonial structures that appears to be distinct from the Main Group, some 70 m to the west (Jones 1952, map). A fair likeness of the ground plan is recorded on the map of Mayap�n, and from that and what the cleared mound looked like, the structure seemed surely to be a portal vault. ...
9. Some Small Ceremonial Structures of Mayap�n, 1953
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pp. 91-110
Although the Main Group is chiefly distinguished by the imposing and easily identifiable ruins of the more important temples and colonnaded halls, there is a considerable number of less impressive structures which also played a part in the activities at Mayap�n. The excavations here reported, in ...
10. Excavations in House Mounds at Mayap�n II, 1953
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pp. 111-124
During the 1952 season we excavated in house mounds where depressions in benches or any visible constructions below bench level, such as exposed capstones or bared vault or walls, were noted. These constructions had one, two, or three benches (Ruppert and Smith 1952). In the 1953 season our excavations were confined ...
11. X-Coton Temples at Mayap�n, 1953
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pp. 125-134
An examination in 1952 of the Mayap�n map (Jones 1952) disclosed a major concentration of presumably nonresidential buildings within Square Q. We assumed the clustering of these structures to indicate the civic and religious center of the city. The remaining area inside the Great Wall and for ...
12. Cenote Exploration at Mayap�n and Telchaquillo, 1954
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pp. 135-142
In Europe prehistoric archaeology has largely been established on the results of exploration in caves. More recently archaeological data have been obtained from cave investigation in the United States. As might be expected, therefore, the cenotes of Yucat�n have yielded remunerative finds of the same nature. ...
13. Boundary Walls and House Lots at Mayap�n, 1954
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pp. 143-156
During the field season of 1952, preliminary studies were made of the rough stone walls found in great numbers through-out the ruins of Mayap�n. The results indicated that the walls surrounded dwelling- type structures and in all probability marked the boundaries of house properties (Bullard 1952). ...
14. Three Temples and Their Associated Structures at Mayap�n, 1954
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pp. 157-178
The following report describes the investigations, during the 1953 field season, of several ancient structures within the central group of religious and civic buildings at Mayap�n. There are approximately 100 of these units tightly clustered around the central and dominant architectural feature of the site, the ...
15. The Northern Terminus of the Principal Sacbe at Mayap�n, 1954
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pp. 179-186
The principal sacbe, or causeway, at Mayap�n is seen on the map of the ruins (Jones 1952) running from the western part of Square R in a southwesterly direction to the northeastern part of Square Z. The roadway connects two groups of structures, each group forming a quadrangle about a court, that ...
16. A Round Temple at Mayap�n, Yucat�n, 1954
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pp. 187-192
Since the exhaustive study of round structures in aboriginal Mesoamerica by Pollock (1936), a number of these specialized units have been discovered and a few of them excavated. The round form in prehistoric architecture occurs sporadically throughout Mesoamerica; its use ranges from pre-Classic times ...
17. Excavations in House Mounds at Mayap�n III, 1954
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pp. 193-206
Excavations in the 1954 season were confined to a relatively thorough examination of Group A-3 and Str. Q-62 and to spot digging in nine other structures. The spot digging was done at likely places for encountering tombs and cists noted during the survey and surface examination of the areas. ...
18. Exploration on the Outskirts of Mayap�n, 1954
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pp. 207-216
The excavation of a small site near a large one, such as Mayap�n, often adds valuable information, confirmatory, supplementary, or explanatory, to the archaeological findings at its sizable neighbor. And further, a study of the ruins in the immediate environs of Mayap�n helps to explain what was going ...
19. A Presumed Residence of the Nobility at Mayap�n, 1954
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pp. 217-226
Str. Q-208, situated some 80 m south of the apparent southern edge of the ceremonial center at Mayap�n (390 S, 335 W), was chosen for excavation because the surface remains, principally the arrangement of the rooms and the fine masonry, suggested that the building probably had been the residence of some family of consequence, for certain of the Relaciones de Yucat�n ...
20. The Temple of Kukulcan at Mayap�n, 1954
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pp. 227-238
Even a casual inspection of the ruins of Mayapán would enable one to state that the temple of Kukulcan (Str. Q-162), popularly known as the Castillo, was the most important architectural unit of the site. Situated on the northwest edge of Cenote Ch’en Mul, it occupies the central position in a tight assemblage of lesser temples, shrines, colonnaded ...
21. Excavations in Three Ceremonial Structuresat Mayap�n, 1955
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pp. 239-248
During the 1953 field season a program of intensive excavation was begun in selected ceremonial structures in the Main Group at Mayap�n. This area clearly had been the ritual heart of the city, and it was considered that careful digging in certain types of structures, followed by analysis of the results and ...
22. Colonnaded Buildings at Mayap�n, 1955
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pp. 249-270
The work of Carnegie Institution in the prehistoric political capital of Mayap�n has among its broad objectives the study of each type of architectural unit occurring within the confines and immediate environs of the ancient walled city. One major phase of the undertaking required the close scrutiny of ...
23. Exploration in Quintana Roo, 1955
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pp. 271-276
The explorations described below were carried on by Str�msvik and Pollock between February 23 and 28, and by Berlin and Str�msvik between May 24 and 29, 1954. Previously, one of our workmen from the village of Telchaquillo, Yucat�n, had been sent into the area to gather information on the location of ...
24. An Archaeological Reconnaissance of Northern Quintana Roo, 1955
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pp. 277-306
One of the most important regions of the peninsula of Yucat�n for the study of post-Classic Maya history is northern Quintana Roo. We know from Spanish accounts that this area, especially the northernmost part of it, was well populated at the time the ...
25. A Noble’s Residence and Its Dependencies at Mayapán, 1955
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pp. 307-320
The group comprises Str. Q-169 to Q-173a, inclusive. Str. Q-169 (260 S, 385 W), as judged from its size, its superior masonry, and its position less than 100 m from the Temple of Kukulcan, was almost certainly the residence of a chief or priest of outstanding importance; the other buildings in the group appeared possibly to have been dependent on Str. ...
26. Early Ceramic Horizons at Mayap�n and Santa Cruz, 1955
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pp. 321-328
In order to give some idea of the early ceramic material at Mayapán, in anticipation of a final report, it is considered advisable to compile this preliminary analysis selecting only the main wares and types. The early pottery found at Mayapán and the small neighboring site of Santa Cruz (R. E. Smith, 1954:53–58) includes pre-Classic, Classic, Puuc, and ...
27. Another Round Temple at Mayap�n, Yucat�n, 1955
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pp. 329-336
The round temple investigated in 1954 at Mayap�n (Shook 1954) proved to be in too ruinous condition to warrant repair. Therefore, in order to have one example of this type of structure available for students, another such temple, Str. Q-126, was selected for excavation and solidification. Early in 1955, the ...
28. An Altar and Platform at Mayap�n, 1955
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pp. 337-342
The ceremonial group at Itzmal Ch’en in the northeast part of Mayapán (365 N, 1520 E), being a fairly small and compact center over 1.5 km from the Main Group, was thought worthy of survey in order to determine, if possible, the minimum number and class of buildings required for such a center. The original intention was to clear architectural details ...
29. A Residential Quadrangle: Structures R-85to R-90, 1955
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pp. 343-386
The quadrangle to be described is situated just short of 300 m on the magnetic east line from the main pyramid of Mayap�n. It is adjacent to a ceremonial group comprising a round temple, Str. Q-126, a gateway, Q- 127, and several other civic and religious buildings on the periphery of the city center. It faces away from this group toward another residential quadrangle, ...
30. A Vaulted Temple at Mayap�n, 1955
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pp. 387-396
During the 1953 field season, test excavations by Pollock had indicated the presence of murals in a buried room in Str. Q-80 (150 S, 260 W). Consequently, it was decided the following year to undertake excavation for the purpose of exposing the murals and gaining information on architectural details of the structure. ...
31. Excavation of a Colonnaded Hall at Mayap�n, 1955
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pp. 397-406
In 1954, while an approach trench was being carried across the colonnaded hall Str. Q-81 (165 S, 260 W) toward the vaulted temple Str. Q-80 on the north side of the north court of the Castillo, the central shrine of the hall was encountered. Excavation of the shrine produced a very interesting group of effigy ...
32. Three Serpent Column Temples and Associated Platforms at Mayap�n, 1955
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pp. 407-422
The temples and platforms discussed in the following report were excavated during the 1954 field season. The primary objective in the excavation of the temples was the gathering of comparative data on serpent column temples at Mayap�n. Two low platforms in front of Strs. Q-143 and Q-218 were cleared as examples of a minor and little-known architectural ...
33. A Dwelling and Shrine at Mayap�n, 1956
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pp. 423-432
Strs. Q-165 to 168 are situated in the Main Group, southwest of the Castillo (280 S, 350 W). The two principal structures are Q-165 and Q-168 (Fig. 33.1). The former, described in a following section of this report, is immediately adjacent to a colonnaded hall on the east. To the west, Strs. Q-166 to 168 stand on ...
34. A Round Temple and Its Shrine at Mayap�n, 1956
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pp. 433-444
During the 1955 season at Mayapán, the small ceremonial group in Square H, next to Cenote Itzmal Ch’en, was partially excavated and mapped. The original purpose was to remove enough of the overburden so that the plans of the buildings would be evident, but preliminary excavation of one of the ...
35. Exploration of the Cave of Dzab-na, Tecoh,Yucat�n, 1956
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pp. 445-450
Late in 1954, while I was exploring the environs of Mayapán and Telchaquillo for pre-Spanish occupation sites, Felix Pat, the comisario municipal of Telchaquillo, told me about cenotes near the town of Tecoh, the municipal seat. Pat’s description of these water sources, and an interesting legend associated ...
36. Excavations in House Mounds at Mayap�n IV, 1956
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pp. 451-480
During the 1955 field season, the last season of work by Carnegie Institution at Mayap�n, excavations were confined to three whole groups and to structures of unusual, not previously investigated plan. The three groups chosen, all of the dwelling type with buildings facing on small courts, were J-71, K- 67, and Q-244. Group J-71 was selected primarily ...
37. The Southern Terminus of the Principal Sacbe at Mayap�n, Group Z-50, 1956
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pp. 481-492
The principal sache at Mayap�n has been referred to in an earlier report in this series (Pollock, 1950). The road runs from a large group of buildings in the western part of Square R to a somewhat smaller group in the northeastern part of Square Z (Jones 1952, map). The limited excavations described in the 1954 report ...
38. Skeletal Remains from Mayap�n, 1956
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pp. 493-506
The field work on which this report is based was carried on from July 4 to July 12, 1955, at the Department’s camp in Telchaquillo, Yucatán. A survey was made of all skeletal remains preserved from the past five seasons of digging, with primary attention to evidences of pathology, anomalies, and deformations. ...
39. House Types in the Environs of Mayap�n and at Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Chichen Itza,and Chacchob, 1957
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pp. 507-520
During the 1955 field season the area around Mayap�n was explored to a radius of about 20 km. The purpose of the survey was to see how the house types compared to those at Mayap�n and to determine the extent of the Mayap�n types. Other places investigated in order to obtain data on their house ...
40. Deities Portrayed on Censers at Mayap�n, 1957
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pp. 521-538
An excellent description of the effigy incense burners of Mayapán has been published by R. M. Adams, Jr. (1953:146–168), and supplementary information by H. D. Winters (1955:385–388). Accordingly, it is sufficient here to give an outline of their material and to refer readers to those sources. Full technical ...
41. Notes on Vertebrate Animal Remains from Mayap�n, 1957
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pp. 539-550
The collections of animal bones discussed in this paper come from four seasons (1952–1955) or archaeological excavations at the ancient Maya city of Mayapán in Yucatán, Mexico. Short accounts of this work have appeared in Carnegie Institution Year Books nos. 51–54 (1952–1955), under the sections dealing ...
Editor’s Note, 1957
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pp. 551-552
The revised edition of the Topographic Map of the Ruins of Mayap�n, Yucat�n, Mexico, terminates this series of publications. A few words are needed about the map. The preliminary edition of this map was first issued in 1951 and reissued, without change, to accompany Current Report 1 in 1952. The text of that report describes the mapping procedures and indicates the ...
Appendix: Inventory and Lot Descriptions from Carnegie Institution Current Reports on Mayap�n
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pp. 553-610
Glossary
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pp. 611-612
References
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pp. 613-618
Index
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pp. 619-625
THE CARNEGIE MAYA III
Copyright
Contents
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pp. v-ix
Figures
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pp. xi-xv
Tables
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pp. xvi-
Introduction
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pp. xvii-xix
This is the third in a series of volumes intended to make available the corpus of primary data and interpretative studies produced by archaeologists and anthropologists throughout the Maya region under the umbrella of the Division of Historical Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW). ...
Preface
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pp. 1-
The present series is designed to give circulation to those random bits of information that all anthropologists accumulate in the field, the museum, and the library but that, if not relevant to a current investigation, are generally stored in the cluttered attics of memory or, at best, are consigned to personal ...
1. Clay Heads from Chiapas (1940)
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pp. 2-
By courtesy of Dr. Norman Hartweg of the University of Michigan it has been possible to examine four specimens (illustrated herewith) collected by him near Escuintla, in the southeastern part of the State of Chiapas, Mexico. They are human heads of unslipped, reddish brown clay, crudely finger-modeled. The noses are pinched up from the general surface of ...
2. Pottery from Champerico, Guatemala (1940)
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pp. 3-6
During the winter of 1940 Dr. Erwin P. Dieseldorff visited the Salinas de Istan, some 5 km southwest of Champerico on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, in the Department of Retalhuleu. At about ground level in the center of a low mound then being leveled by its owner, Dr. Dieseldorff found a nest of 12 bowls which, although no bones were observed, had ...
3. The Ruins of Culuba, Northeastern Yucatan (1941)
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pp. 7-9
In the winter of 1939–1940 I visited Tizimin, Yucatan, with the purpose of examining some ruins reported to be a short distance from this city but which actually are on properties owned by Eduardo Conde of Tizimin, some 28 km. farther east on a trail which ended at the settlement of Hoopel, about 8 km. ...
4. The Missing Illustrations of the Pomar Relaci�n (1941)
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pp. 10-14
The Relaci�n de Texcoco, written in 1582 as one of the replies to the famous questionnaire of Philip II, contains a great deal of important ethnological information. It was published in 1891 by Joaquin Garc�a Icazbalceta as part of the third volume of his Nueva colecci�n de documentos para la historia de M�xico. Juan ...
5. An Ethnological Note from Cilvituk, Southern Campeche (1941)
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pp. 15-16
In the course of a reconnaissance in southwestern Campeche for Carnegie Institution of Washington in the winter of 1939–1940, the village of Cilvituk, on the east shore of the large lake of that name, was visited. A native guided me to a locality some 7 km south on the opposite shore where there was a single platform mound in the rain forest. It was 3 m ...
6. The Prototype of the Mexican Codices Telleriano-Remensis and Vaticanus A (1941)
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pp. 17-18
The identity of many of the illustrations and much of the text of Codex Telleriano-Remensis and Codex Vaticanus A (known also as Codex Rios or Codex Vaticanus 3738) has been explained by assuming that the latter was copied from the former. Dr. B. Reina (1925) has submitted cogent reasons for believing ...
7. Observations on Glyph G of the Lunar Series (1942)
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pp. 19-20
In recent years associations of Glyph G of the Lunar Series with Calendar Round dates have been utilized to place the latter in their true Long Count positions at Copan (Thompson, Roys, and Long 1935), Palenque (Beyer 1935a), Yaxchilan (Beyer 1935b), Tonina (1939), and Balakbal (Thompson 1940). ...
8. A New Pottery Style from the Department of Piura, Peru (1942)
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pp. 21-23
Several examples of a very curious ware have lately found their way into private collections in Peru. The known examples are vessels with double spout and bridge, with surface decoration in Mochica (Early Chimu) style of drawing but in polychrome. They come, moreover, from the Department of Piura, ...
9. Archaeological Specimens from Yucatan and Guatemala (1942)
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pp. 24-27
With the exception of the first three, the provenience of the specimens here presented is not a matter of absolute certainty. This distinction is stressed because specimens that are in private collections or that find their way into museums from private hands are sometimes unequivocally assigned, by the authors ...
10. The Payment of Tribute in the Codex Mendoza (1942)
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pp. 28-29
In the part of Codex Mendoza containing the tribute roll each pair of pages (the verso and recto of sequent folios) lists the towns and a tally of tribute paid. Apparently each pair relates to a single taxation district, comprising all the towns in it, and the tribute enumerated was paid by the district as a whole. ...
11. A Note on Aztec Chronology (1942)
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pp. 30-31
In the American Anthropologist (1938) Dr. Vaillant has a paper “A Correlation of archaeological and historical sequences in the Valley of Mexico.” I think his chronological scheme should be amended slightly with regard to the Aztec. He says that the records for the Tenochca run back to 1163, the year One Flint ...
12. Representations of Tezcatlipoca at Chichen Itza (1942)
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pp. 32-33
Jean Charlot in The Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza, Yucatan notes under the heading “Mutilation” (Morris, Charlot, and Morris 1931:275) that there are five carvings of’ individuals who have one leg amputated above the knee. These are sculptured on columns, two of which (nos. 1 and 15) are in the ...
13. A Theory of Maya tš-Sounds (1942)
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pp. 34-39
The account of the interrelationships and historical development of the Maya languages presented here differs in many respects from previous accounts. Though the conclusions are not unconditionally guaranteed, the author feels that he has achieved at least some methodological advances. For this reason ...
14. A Reconnaissance on Isla de Sacrificios, Veracruz, Mexico (1943)
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pp. 40-49
The oval-shaped island known as Isla de Sacrificios lies 5.5 km southeast of the port of Veracruz and has a north-south length of 368 m and a breadth of 192 m. Its greatest elevation is 4 m. The scant vegetation is confined to a few palms, some tallish trees called ...
15. Pottery from the Pacific Slope of Guatemala (1943)
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pp. 50-55
It seems worth while to make record of two small collections from the above area, even though precise data as to the provenience of individual specimens are lacking, for although very little is known of the antiquities of the Guatemala highlands, we are in even worse case as regards the south coast. Yet that ...
16. Spindle Whorls from Chichen Itza, Yucatan (1943)
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pp. 56-60
Spindle whorls are found, often abundantly, in many parts of Middle America. Certain types, marked by peculiarities of shape and decoration and by variations in size, appear to be characteristic of certain areas and periods. Thus, spindle whorls should be very useful to the archaeologist as indicators of cultural ...
17. Some Sculptures from Southeastern Quezaltenango, Guatemala (1943)
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pp. 61-67
There is an important group of mounds and pyramids on the adjacent coffee farms of Santa Margarita and San Isidro Piedra Parada. These are situated on the road from Retalhuleu to Colomba, a few miles northwest of Asintal, ire the southeast of the Department of Quezaltenango. This is the site which. Karl ...
18. The Initial Series of Stela 14, Piedras Negras,Guatemala, and a Date on Stela 19, Naranjo, Guatemala (1943)
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pp. 68-69
The decipherment of the Initial Series of Stela 14, Piedras Negras, has been generally but reluctantly accepted as 9.18.0.3.1 7 Imix 19 Pax principally because the data given in the lunar series appeared to be in agreement with that decipherment. A reconstruction of the difficult Initial Series has to meet the ...
19. Representations of Tlalchitonatiuh at ChichenItza, Yucatan, and at El Baul, Escuintla (1943)
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pp. 70-71
The three friezes which gird the pyramid of the Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, repeat with unrelieved monotony the same ritual. Jaguars, eagles, and an unidentified animal offer slightly conical objects to persons in recumbent positions. The animals are in pairs, set back to back, so that each faces a ...
20. Maya Epigraphy: Directional Glyphs in Counting (1943)
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pp. 72-74
The manner in which the Maya may have indicated whether a Secondary Series was to be reckoned backward or forward has puzzled Maya epigraphists for nearly half a century; and our inability to find the answer to this problem has hampered research, since in the many cases of suppressed starting or ...
21. Notes on Sculpture and Architecture at Tonala, Chiapas (1943)
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pp. 75-78
The railroad town of Tonala, about 150 km east of Tehuantepec and about the same distance west of Izapa, lies at the base of a high escarpment, which flanks the narrow coastal plain. C. Seler-Sachs (1900) and E. J. Palacios (1928) have described two ruins in the neighborhood: one, known as El Paredon, on the ...
22. Maya Epigraphy: A Cycle of 819 Days (1943)
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pp. 79-85
In five Maya inscriptions the month position of an Initial Series is separated from the context by an intervening Secondary Series and date, together with six (in one incomplete text four) explanatory hieroglyphs. In four cases the Secondary Series is subtracted from the Initial Series to reach a day with ...
23. The Periods of Tribute Collection in Moctezuma’s Empire (1943)
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pp. 86-87
R.C.E. Long (The Payment of tribute in the Codex Mendoza. No. 10 of this series) has recently pointed out that the tributary provinces of Moctezuma’s empire made their payments yearly, half yearly, and “quarterly,” that is, what is termed every eighty days on the four festivals of Tlacaxipeualiztli, Etzalqualiztli ...
24. Notes on Glyph C of the Lunar Series at Palenque (1943)
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pp. 88-89
Since J. E. Teeple (1931) established, according to four cases where he studied Glyph C, that the Maya of Palenque used exactly 6 moons to a group, nobody, so far as I can see, ever tried to prove or refute this theory; on the contrary it was generally accepted. Nevertheless, during the excavations made in ...
25. A Figurine Whistle Representing a Ball Game Player (1943)
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pp. 90-91
The pottery figurine whistle here illustrated was found somewhere in the vicinity of Icaiche, Quintana Roo, Mexico, by a former inhabitant of that now abandoned village. The finder, a shaman, subsequently moved to Kaxil Uinic and thence to San Jose, British Honduras, taking the figurine whistle with him. In ...
26. Notes on a West Coast Survival of the Ancient Mexican Ball Game (1943)
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pp. 92-96
These notes were obtained in the spring of 1939, during an archaeological survey of the west coast of Mexico. Originally I planned to publish them jointly with Mr. Carlos Linga, who, through his commercial agents in southern Sinaloa, has acquired several accounts of the same ball game from the Mazatlan ...
27. Animal-Head Feet and a Bark-Beaterin the Middle Usumacinta Region (1943)
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pp. 97-98
The accompanying photograph is recorded because J.E.S. Thompson (1943) has recently noted that “The Mexican period . . . is poorly developed in the Central Area,” and has used “tripod dishes with feet shaped as heads of animals or persons” as a criterion of the Mexican period. If animal-head feet are ...
28. New Photographs and the Date of Stela 14, Piedras Negras (1943)
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pp. 99-101
Drawings of eroded inscriptions must, I think, be accepted as representing the possibly fallible judgment of the person who made them. While one may have confidence that the drawings of a given epigrapher are generally correct representations of what the Maya originally carved, if he proposes to make ...
29. Grooved Stone Axes from Central America (1943)
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pp. 102-104
It has commonly been supposed, although I can find no statement to that effect in print, that grooved stone axes do not occur in Central America. It therefore seems desirable to record six specimens from that region which have recently come to notice; four from Guatemala, one from Nicaragua, and one from ...
30. A Vase from Sanimtaca, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala (1943)
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pp. 105-106
Figure 30.1 illustrates the design of a fragmentary vase, the pieces of which were amongst broken pottery of a cache, unearthed in 1927, at the mouth of a cave called Calajau, in a hill of that name. It was situated on, a property, Sanimtaca, in the Chama region of Alta Verapaz. At that time Sanimtaca was owned by Sr. Gustav Helmrich, who for about ...
31. A Human-Effigy Pottery Figure from Chalchuapa, El Salvador (1944)
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pp. 107-110
In February 1943 Ing. don Agusto Baratta, Director of the National Museum of El Salvador, and I were informed by Sr. Domingo Mendoza of several antiquities which the latter offered far sale. All specimens had been discovered in the Chalchuapa Archaeological Zone and were subsequently purchased by the Museum. ...
32. A Preconquest Tomb on the Cerro del Zapote, El Salvador (1944)
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pp. 111-115
In November 1943, while engaged in cleaning the grounds immediately north of the National Museum of San Salvador, workmen accidentally discovered a small stone cyst containing a badly decomposed human skeleton and two pottery vessels. Further investigation uncovered a third vessel lying a short ...
33. A Tentative Identification of the Head Variant for Eleven (1944)
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pp. 116-118
In 1942 during the regular season of field work undertaken at Palenque by the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia de Mexico, I had an opportunity to start cleaning House XVIII, where F. Blom (1926–1927, Fig. 135) previously had found on the back wall of the inner room a stucco inscription. During the excavation there appeared about 90 ...
34. A Possible Lunar Series on the Leyden Plate (1944)
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pp. 119-
Little attention has been paid to ‘the glyphs on the Leyden Plate following the record of Glyph G5 and Yaxkin in A7a. It is, however, quite probable that the remaining glyphs form a Lunar Series. Because of the positions of Glyph G5 and Yaxkin, I assume that the four sections comprising each of the two remaining glyph blocks are to be read in the sequence A7a ...
35. Stucco Decoration of Early Guatemala Pottery (1944)
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pp. 120-123
Stucco was used for the embellishment of prehistoric Mexican and Central American pottery in various ways: as a coating, tinted in plain colors, for whole vessels or parts of vessels; as a surface upon which more or less elaborate designs were painted; and as a background of which parts were cut away ...
36. Certain Pottery Vessels from Copan (1944)
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pp. 124-125
Encroachment of the Copan River upon its right bank a short distance below the Acropolis of Copan resulted in the washing out of human bones and pottery. Following this clue, Mr. Gustav Str�msvik, in 1942, trenched into its bank and discovered a number of graves of different periods, and refuse ...
37. Archaeological Specimens from Guatemala (1944)
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pp. 126-132
The pottery and other artifacts herein illustrated are contained in various private collections. Precise data as to the circumstances under which most of them were discovered are lacking, but the proveniences assigned them by their owners are probably correct. They should therefore be useful for distributional ...
38. Jottings on Inscriptions at Copan (1944)
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pp. 133-140
The purposes of this paper are to propose alternative readings of some dates at Copan, and to suggest that for a short while at Copan lunar data were recorded in some system which increased the recorded moon ages of dates by two or three days from what might have been expected. ...
39. The Dating of Seven Monuments at Piedras Negras (1944)
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pp. 141-148
Morley (1938) has reaped a rich harvest of skillful decipherments from the large body of hieroglyphic texts at Piedras Negras However, fields are seldom reaped so clean that nothing is left for the gleaner, and that is the case with the Piedras Negras texts. New datings are given below for seven monuments. ...
40. Archaeological Finds near Douglas, British Honduras (1944)
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pp. 149-154
In building the road from San Pablo westward to Douglas in northern British Honduras, workmen used soil dug from two Indian mounds, in the larger of which they penetrated two chambers containing skeletal material and pottery. These mounds form part of the site of Noh Mul, partially excavated by T. Gann. ...
41. The Vienna Dictionary (1944)
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pp. 155-160
In the National Library at Vienna a Spanish-Maya dictionary of considerable importance has come to light in recent years. Miss Eulalia Guzman is reported to have discovered this manuscript, for a photostatic copy of which we are indebted to S. G. Morley. ...
42. Ixtla Weaving at Chiquilistlan, Jalisco (1944)
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pp. 161-164
At the time of the Spanish conquest, clothing of maguey fiber was common over a large area of western Jalisco and southern Nayarit. There are specific statements written in 1525 of its use in Tenamaxtlan, Ayutla, Autlan, Tequesquitlan (then in the Purificacion), Etzatlan, Ocotitlan, Aguacatlan, Ixtlan ...
43. Worked Gourds from Jalisco (1944)
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pp. 165-172
Ayotitlan. The chief center of manufacture is the village of Ayotitlan, in the modern municipality of Autlan, not far from the Colima border. It lies in the rugged country (Fig. 43.1a) which drains to the Rio Sihuatlan (Marabasco) from the north and which, ...
44. The Graphic Style of the Tlalhuica (1944)
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pp. 173-175
One of the means by which the boundaries of prehispanic Mexican cultures may be traced is by mapping the codical and petroglyphic styles of different zones. Connections between these areas and linguistic or ethnic groups will then often become clear. It is true that we now know with certainty ...
45. Variant Methods of Date Recordings in the Jatate Drainage, Chiapas (1944)
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pp. 176-179
In most Maya inscriptions which include several Secondary Series, reckonings are made by additions to or subtractions from the last recorded date. Thus, if A is the Initial Series and B, C, and D are Calendar Round dates, an inscription will usually run: A � lst D.N. = B; B � 2nd D.N. = C; C � 3rd D.N. = D. Here ...
46. The Venus Calendar of the Aztec (1944)
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pp. 180-181
Sahagun says that the Aztec festival of Atamalqualiztli occurred every eight years, sometimes in the month of Tepeilhuitl and sometimes in the month of Quecholli, and that after seven days of fasting the principal ceremony took place on the eighth day. Nothing is said as to when these festivals fell, ...
47. An Inscription on a Jade Probably Carved at Piedras Negras (1944)
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pp. 182-184
Finely carved jades were doubtless regarded by the Maya as objects of great value. They could be passed on from generation to generation and could be traded in distant parts. In most cases one cannot rely on the circumstances of their discovery to evince their origin, and often the only clue is the style of the carving itself, at best an uncertain criterion, especially since ...
48. Costumes and Wedding Customs at Mixco, Guatemala (1945)
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pp. 185-187
Santo Domingo Mixco is a Pokoman-Maya village in the Department of Guatemala, 15 km west of Guatemala City. Despite the proximity of the capital and many Cakchiquel villages in the immediate vicinity, the Pokoman of Mixco still retain many of their old customs, particularly those relating to the ...
49. Combinations of Glyphs G and Fin the Supplementary Series (1945)
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pp. 188-190
The two glyphs known as G and F were once believed to have formed part of the Lunar or Supplementary Series. In the past ten years Thompson (1935:84–85; 1940; 1944) and Beyer (1935a–b; 1939) have called attention to occurrences with Calendar Round dates of either Glyph G alone or, less frequently, of Glyphs ...
50. Moon Age Tables (1945)
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pp. 191-197
Following Goodman’s idea of giving Maya dates in tabular form, I present here two charts which link the age of the moon to a series of Maya dates. The first, and simpler of the two, needs little explanation beyond the legend. The dates shown in the chart are of conjunctions five lunar years apart. ...
51. A Second Tlaloc Gold Plaque from Guatemala (1945)
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pp. 197-
It has been supposed until recently that one of the Zacualpa gold disks (Fig. 51.1a) originated in Peru and was of Chavin workmanship. Lately, however, the disk was said to represent the Mexican rain god Tlaloc, a claim which seems to be confirmed by a second and similar disk hitherto unreported (Fig. ...
52. Rock Paintings at Texcalpintado, Morelos, Mexico (1945)
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pp. 198-200
At the end of September 1943 some people from Hueyapan, Morelos, reported to the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology the discovery of a great number of figures painted on a rock at a place called Texcalpintado in the state of Morelos. With the ...
53. A Pyrite Mirror from Queretaro, Mexico
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pp. 201-202
The pyrite mirror described herein holds considerable interest because of the technique of manufacture and the nature of the carved design on its reverse side (Fig. 53.1). It was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History (Cat. no. 30.1-618) in 1931 along with a small collection of other objects. Information as to its exact place of origin is lacking, but we can ...
54. Informe sobre la existencia de jugadores de pelotamayas en la cer�mica escult�rica de Jaina (1945)
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pp. 203-204
Durante la �ltima visita que J. Eric S. Thompson realizara a M�xico, tuve oportunidad de informarle de la existencia de dos figurillas de barro, procedentes de la Isla de Jaina, Campeche, representado jugadores de pelota, informe que ven�a a completer su noticia sobre un jugador de pelota maya modelado en un silbato encontrado en Quintana Roo. Como ...
55. Un sello cilindrico con barras y puntos (1945)
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pp. 205-206
Encontr�ndome de paso en la ciudad de Jalapa, Veracruz, aprovech� mi corta estancia pare efectuar una visita a mi buen amigo al Sr. Ingeniero C�stulo Villase�or, gran amigo de los arque�logos y entusiasta coleccionador de nuestras antig�edades, que son la misma atenci�n de siempre me mostr� ufano ...
56. The Inscription on the Altar of Zoomorph O, Quirigua (1945)
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pp. 207-212
The inscription on the altar of Zoomorph O, Quirigua, is very hard to decipher because of erosion, but also because of other difficulties. Carelessness on the part of the composers of the original text as well as unwonted urge for brevity, manifested in the suppression of month signs, make the translation far ...
57. Archaeological Discovery at Finca Arizona, Guatemala (1945)
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pp. 213-223
Many important discoveries in the field of archaeology as well as in other sciences are made by nonprofessionals. So significant are some of these that one often hears wailing and gnashing of teeth by professionals who were not present for the unveiling and therefore were unable to record the exact circumstances surrounding the find. The excavations here ...
58. The Initial and Supplementary Series of Stela 5 at Altar de Sacrificios, Guatemala (1945)
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pp. 224-227
I first saw Stela 5 at Altar de Sacrificios in the spring of 1914, when the drawing of its corresponding Initial Series shown in Figure 58.1 was made. Beyer had not then discovered the meaning of the variable central element of the Initial Series introducing glyph, and there was no reason for doubting the reading that I ...
59. Mausolea in Central Veracruz (1945)
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pp. 228-232
For some time I have been interested in some curious small structures, first reported by Isidro A. Gondra (1836). Sr. Gondra’s account was based on some clippings from newspapers of Veracruz which described the discovery of some pre-Colombian ruins in the Mizantla region, and on a verbal account by Sr. Mariano Jaimes who visited the nearby Ranchos de ...
60. Archaeological Material from the Club Internacional, El Salvador (1945)
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pp. 233-239
In 1939, during construction of the present building of the Club Internacional in the center of the city of San Salvador, workmen excavating the basement discovered a deposit of prehistoric objects associated with a stratum of volcanic ash. This material, according to Sr. Don Jose Maria Duran, architect and building contractor in charge of the work, was found ...
61. Some Uses of Tobacco among the Maya (1946)
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pp. 20-242
These scant jottings on “the weed” have lain among my notes for many years. I have not attempted to improve the mixture by seeking more gleanings to blend with it, but offer it more or less as garnered without any pretense that it adequately covers the subject. Information on the use of tobacco among the Maya of the sixteenth century is extraordinarily ...
62. Observations on Altar Sites in the Quiche Region, Guatemala (1946)
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pp. 243-249
In February 1928, while a guest in the Protestant mission house in Santo Tomas Chichicastenango, I was told of a brujeria where Indians worshipped. A group of town picnickers had discovered it on the wooded summit of a hill, about 1 km west of the town. Starting before midmorning of March 1, ...
63. Tattooing and Scarification among the Maya (1946)
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pp. 250-253
There is a considerable body of material, both in the literature and in archaeological collections, on the practices of tattooing and scarification among the Maya. In view of the world-wide interest in the subject, it has seemed advisable to bring together in print such items as have come to my attention. I would emphasize that these notes, jotted down at ...
64. The Tamiahua Codices (1946)
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pp. 254-255
Three lithographed maps, tinted in bright watercolor, were given me for publication in 1944 by Sr. Guillermo Echaniz, who retained duplicates. Another collection was shown me later by Sr. Pompa y Pompa, in the library of the Alzate Society. Obviously intended for publication in the nineteenth century, they bear no identification other than the ...
65. The Malinche of Acacingo, Estado de Mexico (1946)
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pp. 256-
Below Tenancingo (Estado de Mexico) lie the small settlement of Acacingo and, to the west of this, the Cerro de la Malinche. On the latter exist various carvings, or remains of carvings, for in one place an outcropping of petroglyphs has recently been blasted with dynamite by someone eager to detach salable portions. ...
66. Three Zapotec Stones (1946)
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pp. 257-258
When I was at San Miguel Sola, Oaxaca, at the beginning of this year, my attention was called to three archaeological stories in the neighboring village of San Juan Sola. Father Jose Aurelio Garcia, the Catholic priest of San Miguel, gave me the information about their discovery. Some time ago when visiting San Juan he happened ...
67. Blowguns in Guatemala (1946)
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pp. 259-261
The blowgun is in use today among the Mam Indians of western Guatemala and their neighbors on the east, north, and west. These are the Quiche, Cakchiquel, Tzutuhil, Ixil, Kekchi, Chuj, Jacalteca, and several Indian groups to the west of the Mam in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. In an effort to protect small game and particularly the quetzal bird, the Guatemalan national symbol ...
68. A Reconnaissance of El Rincon del Jicaque, Honduras (1946)
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pp. 262-267
The backbone of organized resistance offered by the Indians of western Honduras to Spanish rule was finally broken in April 1530, when Hernando Chaves besieged and conquered the stronghold of the Maya chieftain, Copan Calel. The story of this siege, told by Francisco Antonio Fuentes y Guzman in 1689 (Morley 1920, App. V), is well known to ...
69. “Rim-Head” Vessels from Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala (1946)
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pp. 268-270
From time to time there have turned up at the great archaeological site of Kaminaljuyu, in the northwestern outskirts of Guatemala City, fragments of an interesting type of presumably ceremonial vessel, whose rim bore large human heads. Some of these were brought in for sale by people living in the vicinity, others were found by us among sherds of the Miraflores phase ...
70. Some Mexican Figurines of the Colonial Period (1946)
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pp. 271-272
The manufacture of “idolitos” did not, of course, stop with the conquest, though there must have been some shift in their function. Sr. Miguel Covarrubias, who owns ten of the eleven figurines depicted in the accompanying illustration, observes that all sorts of little clay figures are sold in the markets today, for ...
71. The Dating of Structure 44, Yaxchilan, and Its Bearing on the Sequence of Texts at That Site (1946)
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pp. 273-278
The hieroglyphic texts at Yaxchilan are the most tantalizing of all Maya inscriptions. Most of them, despite their generally fine state of preservation, cannot be used with assurance, for the Calendar Round dates, fully rigged with explanatory dates, are in general adrift, bereft of the anchors of Initial Series or the fair havens of Period Endings. Until the bearings of such ...
72. The Codex of the Derrumbe del Templo Mayor (1946)
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pp. 279-280
In the accompanying plate we have a portrayal of the blowing up of the Temple of Huitzilopochtli, in a codex which I have provisionally baptized with a name derived from the event. The Nahuatl text refers to the Year 1 Acatl 1519, and beginning at the side of the uppermost building reads “ytecpanchan moteuczoma uei tecpa mexico tenochtitlan” (“Moctezuma’s government house. ...
73. Some Examples of Yeztla-Naranjo Geometric Ware (1946)
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pp. 281-282
A new type of painted pottery, corresponding closely to that from the old Tepuzteco area, was found by Mr. R. J. Weitlaner and myself in the southern drainage of the upper Balsas River (Rio de las Truchas). We published two complete pieces in Tlalocan (1944:1, Pl. 4) and Hendrichs published a third, from Ichcatepec, north of Balsas, in Tierras Ignotas ...
74. The Treble Scroll Symbol in the Teotihuacan and Zapotec Cultures (1946)
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pp. 283-286
There exists in the art of Teotihuacan an ornament consisting of three simple scrolls, which form a whorl. This design has also been used by other peoples, especially the Zapotec, and by all of them in such a particular way that it must be taken not as a mere decoration but as a symbol. The simple scroll usually is repeated in a horizontal ...
75. The Book of Chilam Balam of Ixil (1946)
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pp. 287-292
Most of the so-called Books of Chilam Balam are essentially almanacs. They are written in the Maya language of Yucatan and in the European script adapted by the missionaries to express the sounds not found in Spanish. Brinton (1890:257) tells us that “in whatever village it was written, or by whatever ...
76. The “Tortuga” of Coatlan del Rio, Morelos (1946)
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pp. 293-
The accompanying figure represents a monolith which stands in the plaza of Coatlan del Rio, Morelos. I am obliged to Dr. Robert West of the Smithsonian Institution for the photographs and the opportunity to visit the monument. In Coatlan, which lies on the edge of the Chontal de Guerrero zone, the monument is assumed to be a ...
77. Drawings of Tajumulco Sculptures (1947)
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pp. 294-300
Illustrated supplement to Excavations at Tajumulco, Guatemala, by Bertha P. Dutton and Hulda R. Hobb (1943). During the winter of 1938–39, the School of American Research and the Museum of New Mexico carried on archaeological excavations at the small ruin site of Tajumulco, Department of San Marcos, Guatemala. A report on that work, Excavations at Tajumulco, Guatemala, ...
78. Otomi Looms and Quechquemitls from San Pablito, State of Puebla, and from Santa Ana Hueytlalpan, State of Hidalgo, Mexico (1947)
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pp. 301-311
The looms to be described below are used for weaving a capelike garment worn by Indian women in several parts of Mexico and called a quechquemitl, from the Nahuatl quechtli, “neck,” and tlaquemitl, “garment.” The Otomi word for the same garment is monhuí. The quechquemitl is a pre-Cortesian garment ...
79. Maya Calendar Round Dates Such as 9 Ahau 17 Mol (1947)
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pp. 312-315
It has been known for very many years that the positions in the months held by each day were one less in Yucatan at the time of the Spanish conquest than they had been in the cities of the Central area during the Classic or Initial Series Period. That is to say, combinations such as 12 Kan 1 Pop, 6 Imix 3 Yax, or 13 Ahau 17 Mol were used at that time in Yucatan, ...
80. Stone Objects from Cocula and Chilacachapa, Guerrero (1947)
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pp. 316-318
At the Fourth Mesa Redonda, Sr. Covarrubias presented a typology of the stone figures which abound in the region of Mezcala and other parts of Guerrero. When available in a formally published version, this typology will help to anchor the lithic work of Guerrero, which appears frequently in private and public collections but lacks exact information. As distribution ...
81. Easter Ceremonies at San Antonio Palopo, Guatemala (1947)
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pp. 319-324
The small village of San Antonio Palopo is situated on the northeast shore of Lake Atitlan, a mile or two east of Santa Catarina Palopo. The villagers, Cakchiquel Maya, have no canoes; except for fish weirs, of stone or sod, their interests are in the land. Their principal industry is agriculture; their main crops are maize and anise. They cultivate every possible patch ...
82. Cuchumatan Textiles: The Course of an Error (1947)
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pp. 325-326
A relatively unimportant error is capable of spreading and perpetuating itself in a remarkable way. One such, originally little more than a bit of carelessness, has developed to the point at which published correction is required, having infected not only one of my own publications (La Farge and Byers 1931), but also Dr. Lila M. O’Neale’s magnificent Textiles of Highland Guatemala (1945). ...
83. Representations of Temple Buildings as Decorative Patterns on Teotihuacan Pottery and Figurines (1947)
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pp. 327-330
Miniature clay temples occur frequently in the Aztec cultural horizon, as well as in western Mexico, but they do not appear in the Teotihuacan period. Nevertheless, the pattern of temple fa�ades has been widely applied by the Teotihuacanos as decorative motifs on pottery and moldmade figurines. Its use ...
84. The Codex of Tonayan (1947)
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pp. 331-334
The Codex of Tonayan, or Plano de San Juan Chapultepec, was painted a short distance north of Xalapa, Veracruz, in the year 1665. What has become of the original is unknown, but it still existed in 1849, when a watercolor copy was made. In 1852 it was copied again, this time in oils, and this second copy survived in Xalapa ...
85. Elements of Maya Arithmetic with Particular Attention to the Calendar (1947)
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pp. 335-340
Maya arithmetic was characterised by virtually complete absence of fractions. No doubt the Maya understood simple fractions such as one-half, one-quarter, and one-third. But quantities, including those we think of as continuous and indefinitely divisible were, for them, strictly counted values of ...
86. Certain Types of Stamped Decoration on Pottery from the Valley of Mexico (1947)
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pp. 341-346
In discussing a collection of pottery from Texcuaco on the Rio Coyolate, Department of Escuintla, Guatemala, Dr. A. V. Kidder (Note 15) refers to a vase which bears two rectangular panels, impressed by the same stamp (Fig. 86.1.1). Each panel is outlined, after stamping, with an incised line. Near the base ...
87. Observation of the Sun among the Ixil of Guatemala (1948)
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pp. 347-349
Through the courtesy of the Division of Historical Research I have been able to see the microfilm of the notes on the Ixil by the late J. Steward Lincoln (1946). Appended to it is a diagram entitled “So-called sun observatory. Nebaj. Stone markers extending from behind Campo Santo up to top of high hill west ...
88. Some Remarks on Maya Arithmetic (1948)
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pp. 350-351
J. Eric S. Thompson (1942) has set out very fully how the Maya might have used an abacus for calculating and he has given a diagram of such an abacus. Although I am in general agreement with his paper, I think that no abacus was used and that it is useful to consider the methods of reckoning used in Europe ...
89. Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala: Addenda and Corrienda (1948)
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pp. 352-356
In the recent report by Kidder, Jennings, and Shook (Kaminaljuyu, hereafter referred to as KJS) on the great archaeological site of Kaminaljuyu in the outskirts of Guatemala City, it was stated that four cultural phases were there represented: Miraflores, an Archaic or Middle Culture development; Esperanza, ...
90. Did the Maya Have a Zero? The Meanings of Our Zero and the Maya “Zero” Symbols (1948)
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pp. 357-359
Did the Maya have a zero? They had several symbols which have been translated by means of our zero, and the real question, naturally, is whether the translations are correct. Perhaps the answer might be either yes or no. Our symbol 0 represents several different concepts, according to the way it is used. ...
91. Jades from Guatemala (1949)
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pp. 360-365
In 1946 and 1947, A. L. Smith excavated two mounds at a large archaeological site in the outskirts of the town of Nebaj in the Department of El Quiche. The jades recovered are of much importance for the study of Mesoamerican ornaments of this material because of the fact that the age relative to each other of the ...
92. Certain Archaeological Specimens from Guatemala I (1949)
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pp. 366-376
Most of the objects treated in this Note were incidental finds or purchases made in the course of Carnegie Institution’s field work. As such, they will not find a place in papers devoted to major excavations and surveys. The rest are in private collections which are unlikely ever to be published and always ...
93. Some New Discoveries at Coba (1949)
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pp. 377-381
In December 1948, we made a trip to Coba for the purpose of photographing the ruins. Starting from Valladolid, we went to Chemax, thence on mule back to Tsinup, approximately 12 km beyond. About halfway between Chemax and Tsinup we observed, across a milpa to the right of the trail, some rather ...
94. Tlaloc Incensarios in the Baratta Collection, El Salvador (1949)
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pp. 382-387
The collection of prehistoric pottery vessels owned by Prof. Augusto and Do�a Maria Baratta of San Salvador, El Salvador, includes many fine specimens, most of which, unfortunately, are of unknown provenience. The five incensarios with which this paper deals were purchased by Do�a Maria in 1944 from a workman who stated that they had been discovered ...
95. Certain Archaeological Specimens from Guatemala II (1950)
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pp. 388-392
Like specimens from Guatemala recorded in an earlier paper in this series (Note 92), the objects here described are incidental finds, purchases, or gifts and therefore will not be included in reports dealing with Carnegie Institution’s major archaeological undertakings. All are now in the Guatemala National Museum. ...
96. Tlaloc Effigy Jar from the Guatemala National Museum (1950)
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pp. 393-395
The large Dieseldorff Collection, donated to the Guatemala National Museum in 1942, includes many fine specimens, most of which, unfortunately, are of unknown provenience. The anthropomorphic jar representing a bearded individual, with which this paper is concerned, is believed to have come from ...
97. Rim-Head Vessels and Cone-Shaped Effigy Prongs of the Preclassic Period at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala (1950)
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pp. 396-404
In July 1949 I received a grant from the Viking Fund of New York to organize the study material of the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia y Etnologia of Guatemala. While engaged in the organization of the large figurine collections, composed of material from the Dieseldorff Collection, the “desconocido” or unreliably recorded material of the Museum, and ...
98. A Polychrome Maya Plate from Quintana Roo (1950)
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pp. 405-406
In a private collection in Oaxaca City is a Maya plate which probably is one of the most magnificent pieces of Maya ceramics and certainly one of the most intriguing (Fig. 98.1a). It was found in Quintana Roo, Mexico, not far from Chetumal Bay. I am much indebted to the owners for permission to reproduce ...
99. “Olmec” Pictographs in the Las Victorias Group,Chalchuapa Archaeological Zone, El Salvador (1950)
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pp. 407-410
During a rather hurried reconnaissance of the Chalchuapa Archaeological Zone in 1942, a large, irregularly shaped boulder, decorated on four surfaces with incised human figures, was found in the Las Victorias coffee plantation about 2 km east of the city of Chalchuapa. At that time, I prepared a brief note of this discovery which was published in 1944 by Longyear ...
100. A Group of Jointed Figurines in the Guatemala National Museum (1950)
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pp. 411-415
A small group of “Archaic” figurines, thought to be of interest to students of Middle American archaeology, came to light during organization of the large study collection of the Guatemala National Museum. This project is being made possible by a fellowship granted by the Bollingen Foundation of New York to the writer, who wishes to express his indebtedness to this ...
101. A Study of Three-Pronged Incense Burners From Guatemala and Adjacent Areas (1951)
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pp. 416-428
Since the recent discussion (Note 97) of a group of cone-shaped effigy heads and three-pronged incense burners from the Preclassic period at Kaminaljuyu, the large archaeological site just outside Guatemala City, some interesting new specimens have come to light. Their study has brought about new concepts ...
102. Some Archaeological Specimens from Pomona, British Honduras (1951)
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pp. 429-437
During the winter of 1950 the writers and Mr. Gustav Str�msvik had opportunity to conduct an archaeological reconnaissance of the Bay Islands and northwest coast of Honduras and the southern coast and cays of British Honduras. This was made possible by Mr. Charles Sumner Bird, who, through the sponsorship of the Institute of Andean Research, chartered ...
103. “Loop-Nose” Incense Burners in the Guatemala National Museum (1951)
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pp. 438-446
In July 1950 the Guatemala National Museum received a donation from Don Guillermo Batres containing many interesting archaeological specimens which originally belonged to the private collection of his brother, the late Lic. Carlos Batres. It is thought that most of this material came from his property ...
104. Ethnological Material from British Honduras (1951)
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pp. 447-448
While excavating not far from the village of Socotz, in the Cayo District of British Honduras, during the summer of 1949, our Maya workmen supplied us with some interesting ethnological material. The story was told to us by Ascension Alfaro, an Indian born in the vicinity of Lake Peten Itza in Guatemala, ...
105. Further Notes on Three-Pronged Incense Burners and Rim-Head Vessels in Guatemala (1951)
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pp. 449-457
During March 1951, I spent a weekend at Finca El Progreso near Chiquimulilla, Department Santa Rosa, at the invitation of the owner, Faustino Padilla. The purpose of my visit was to investigate the spot where a three-pronged incense burner now located in the Guatemala National Museum (Fig. 97.7) was found in 1936. It was discovered, together ...
106. Notice to Replace Note 106 [formerly Map of the Ruins of Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico] (1952)
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pp. 458-
Since the issue of “Map of the Ruins of Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico,” by Morris R. Jones, as Note 106 (December 4, 1951), a new series of papers, Current Reports, has been initiated by this Department. These reports will deal at the outset largely with the results of field work at Mayapan. Constant reference will be ...
107. The Ruins of Cotio, Department of Guatemala, Guatemala (1952)
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pp. 459-463
Throughout the Guatemala valley there are known at present over 50 scattered archaeological sites. The largest, Kaminaljuyu, on the southwest outskirts of Guatemala City, is more or less centrally located; spreading out in all directions from this great ceremonial center are others ranging in size from a single isolated mound to clusters of 20 or more. Surface ...
108. A Possible Early Classic Site in Northern Yucatan (1952)
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pp. 464-465
While recently in Valladolid, I heard of the discovery of ruins near Colonia Yucatan, the center of the Yucatecan plywood industry. As they are in an area little known archaeologically, a visit promised to be of some value. The site is approximately 1.5 km south of Triplay, which in turn is said to be 31 km south of El Cuyo, a coastal port, and 48 km north of ...
109. Waxen Idols and a Sacrificial Rite on the Lacandon (1952)
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pp. 466-467
In documents referring to a little-known entrada, under the leadership of Juan de Morales Villa Vicencio, into Lacandon territory in 1586, published in Boletin del Archivo General del Gobierno (Reducci�n 1937), there are interesting references to the use of waxen idols by the Lacandon. These are the only ...
110. The Introduction of Puuc Style of Dating at Yaxchilan (1952)
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pp. 468-471
In a study of dating which yields a month coefficient of a Calendar Round date one less than in the normal system (e.g., 1 Kan 1 Pop in place of the normal 1 Kan 2 Pop) it was noted that this style is followed on two monuments at Yaxchilan (Note 79). To describe that system of dating the term Puuc way ...
111. Zutugil Dugout Canoes (1952)
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pp. 472-475
Some time ago we published a brief account of the unique type of dugout canoes employed by the Quiche, Cakchiquel, and Zutugil Indians who dwell on the shores of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (Lothrop 1929). Several years later, while dwelling in the town of Santiago Atitlan and excavating in the vicinity for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, we chartered ...
112. The Survival of the Maya Tun Count in Colonial Times (1952)
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pp. 476-480
On pages 124 and 125 of the Codex Perez, now in the possession of the Escalante family of Merida, Yucatan, there is a table which consists of a list of 17 Christian years beginning with 1758, correlated with data of the Maya calendar. This table, as it is reproduced on pages 246 and 247 of the translation of the ...
113. A Decorated Vessel Support from Acapulco, Mexico (1953)
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pp. 481-482
In recent years explorations in Mexico have yielded a type of vessel support previously unknown in prehispanic pottery. These supports are up to 20 cm high, plano-convex, and hollow. The flat exterior bears a stamped decoration. Although, as far as I know, no complete vase or dish has been recovered, it is generally assumed that they were tripods. Their ...
114. The Language of the Archaeologic Huastecs (1953)
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pp. 483-485
The Huastecs of the region of northern Vera Cruz have spoken a Maya language from earliest historic times. How long has this tongue been in the area? When and where in the ancient past did the forerunners of the modern Huastecs form part of a linguistic community with the other Maya? The problems ...
115. A Stela at San Lorenzo, Southeastern Campeche (1953)
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pp. 486-488
The small site of San Lorenzo lies 4 km north and slightly west of the chicle camp and water hole of the same name. These, in turn, are about 30 km in a direct line west by south of Aurora (Rio Bec) and about 8 km south by east of Hormiguero (Ruppert and Denison 1943, Fig. 1). It was visited by J. C. Harrington, Conrad Kratz (now Father Lawrence ...
116. Ceremonial or Formal Archway, Uxmal (1954)
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pp. 489-490
During the latter part of April 1953, we spent several days, by invitation of Dr. Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, at the Mexican Government’s archaeological headquarters at Uxmal for the purpose of investigating house mounds at the site and its environs. While exploring south of the main group, we ...
117. Miscellaneous Archaeological Specimens from Mesoamerica (1954)
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pp. 491-505
In the present Note are included various objects that do not form part of collections made in the course of Carnegie Institution’s excavations, and therefore fail to find publication in reports on the Institution’s field work. Although the exact provenience of few is known, all are of interest in one way or another. ...
118. Pottery Specimens from Guatemala I (1954)
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pp. 506-512
All save three (Fig. 118.4a–c, at present in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Guatemala) of the 50 specimens herein illustrated came from the collection of General Frederico Ponce, who was at different times Jefe Politico of the Departments of Peten and Progreso. In 1944 Sr. Frederico Gonzalez acquired the collection, and that ...
119. Drawings of Glyphs of Structure XVIII, Palenque (1954)
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pp. 513-516
During his ten years’ work at Palenque from 1935 to 1945, the late Miguel Angel Fernandez, artist rather than notebook-filling archaeologist, used his pencil primarily for drawing new finds. Through the courtesy of his heirs it is possible to present his drawings of the glyphs of Structure XVIII at Palenque; ...
120. Memoranda on Some Dates at Palenque (1954)
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pp. 517-520
In a discussion of lunar systems at Palenque, Heinrich Berlin (1943) argued that Palenque had adopted the uniform system of reckoning moons. The evidence was not entirely satisfactory because of the two dates which he used to support his idea: one (Templo Olvidado) fell outside the period of uniformity with an IS 9.10.14.5.10 3 Oc 3 Pop (Berlin 1944), ...
121. Snares and Traps in Codex Madrid (1954)
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pp. 521-524
Codex Madrid contains several divinatory almanacs (pp. 42c, 44–49, 90a–92a2, 92a3–93a2), with illustrations of animals in traps. Of the 76 animals pictured, 20 are deer, two are peccaries, two are turkeys, and two are armadillos. I follow the usual identification of the animals, a topic extensively discussed and, I ...
122. Two New Gallery-Patio Type Structures at Chichen Itza (1955)
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pp. 525-526
While at Chichen Itza, April 5 to 14, 1954, for the purpose of locating and examining house mounds, we found two new gallery-patio type structures. Thirteen structures of this type are now known at Chichen Itza, but so far none has been reported from any other site. In looking for house mounds it was necessary ...
123. Easter Ceremonies at Santiago Atitlan in 1930 (1955)
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pp. 527-532
The ceremonies of Easter week at the Zutuhil village of Santiago Atitlan are a strange blending of Christian and pagan rites which have briefly been described by S. K. Lothrop (1929a, 1929b) and E. B. Lothrop (1948). The relatively large village lies at the foot of Volcano Atitlan, on an inlet of the lake of the same ...
124. Pottery Specimens from Guatemala II (1955)
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pp. 533-535
The thirteen specimens described here belong to the Montano collection, and all, save one (Fig. 124.1a), are in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Guatemala. The donor, the late Dr. Hector Montano Novela of Guatemala, was an enthusiastic amateur archaeologist and collector. ...
125. Pottery Vessels from Campeche (1955)
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pp. 536-538
In 1949 I paid a brief visit to the small but well-organized Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Campeche, Mexico. Among the many handsome Maya objects on exhibit, the nine pottery vessels here illustrated were of special interest to me. The director of the museum, Raul Pavon Abreu, was most co-operative. He not only supplied the information ...
126. Selected Pottery from Tabasco (1955)
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pp. 539-541
The pottery and other artifacts here illustrated were found during two field seasons of survey of Tabasco in 1953 and 1954. For the “setting” of the specimens and the location of the sites, the reader is referred to Berlin (1953). Most of the material excavated during the two seasons consisted either of untempered Fine Paste wares or of pottery closely associated ...
127. Chronological Decipherments from Uaxactun, Naranjo, and Ixlu, Peten (1956)
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pp. 542-544
Stela 14, Uaxactun, is broken in many pieces, and Morley (1938:1:215) despaired of wresting its dedicatory date from it. It is difficult to make much of the published fragments (Morley 1938:1, Pl. 64; note that d is inverted). On stylistic grounds, Morley favored a late placement, and very tentatively suggested ...
128. Notes on the Use of Cacao in Middle America (1956)
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pp. 545-552
Cacao attracted the keen interest of the first Spaniards to reach Middle America partly because of its importance as a beverage, partly because of the unusual method of cultivation dependent on the shade-giving “mother” tree, but principally because it was to Europeans, forgetful of the ‘origin of the Latin petunia, that novelty, a perishable currency. Thus, in one ...
129. Tohil Plumbate and Classic Maya Polychrome Vessels in the Marquez Collection (1957)
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pp. 553-563
This collection, located in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, belonged to the late Alberto M�rquez, a collector for twenty-five years. It consists for the most part of Maya archaeological material. At present there is a preponderance of ancient Maya and Mexican pottery, including several thousand Jaina figurines both modeled and moldmade, some 200 X Fine Orange ...
130. A New Inscription from the Temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque (1957)
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pp. 564-565
In Note 120 of this series J.E.S. Thompson stated that a fragmentary text from the Temple of the Sun at Palenque, published by the writer in Note 24 of this same series, fitted another fragment seen by Thompson in the Palenque storeroom. This statement is incorrect. Although the fragment published by Thompson fits the hieroglyphic text published in ...
131. The Marquez Collection of X Fine Orange Polychrome Vessels (1957)
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pp. 566-593
Approximately 200 X Fine Orange and fine orange polychrome vessels, the latter in small number, are included in the collection of the late Alberto G. Marquez of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. The specimens, mostly whole and in excellent state of preservation, are said to have been found for the most part on Isla de Jaina and at Huaymil. The latter site, sometimes ...
References
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pp. 594-606
Index
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pp. 607-614
E-ISBN-13: 9781607320616
E-ISBN-10: 1607320614
Print-ISBN-13: 9781607320593
Print-ISBN-10: 1607320592
Page Count: 720
Illustrations: 280 illustrations
Publication Year: 2011



