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30.1. GUSTAV STRÖMSVIK Honduras YB 40:292–295, 1941 The work of excavation and repair at the ruins of Copán, Honduras, which has been in progress since 1936, was continued during the past winter. Mr. Strömsvik 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 repair of the two temples at the Ball Court, and resetting of the upper elements of the Jaguar Stairway. Mr.Burghaccomplishedathoroughsurveyoftheminor ruins in the valley.As in former years, the Government of Honduras cooperated most effectively, providing all labor, including five master masons specially sent to Copán, and transporting, without cost to the Institution , supplies from the railhead at Chiquimula in Guatemala. The temples at the Ball Court were large and handsome structures with elaborately ornamented façades flanking the two sides of the court’s playing alley. Their massive vaults had collapsed, filling and covering the lower parts of the several chambers of each temple with stone and rubble. In 1940 this was cleared away 30.0. Honduras 521 and the still standing outer walls were solidified by the method developed by Messrs. Morris and Strömsvik in their work on the Temple of the Warriors at Chichén Itzá and followed in all subsequent repair operations. Solidification is made necessary by the fact that the original adhesive qualities of the ancient lime or mud mortar have more or less been destroyed through action of percolating rain water, with such weakening of the masonry as to render walls incapable of standing for any length of time, once the supporting debris has been withdrawn. In such cases a wall is cleaned and photographed, and the cut stones of the outer veneer are numbered and removed. If the hearting is found in bad condition, it also is taken down and rebuilt with fresh lime mortar; but if sound, it is allowed to stand and the facing is relaid in cement, each stone occupying exactly its original position. Finally , the wall is capped with cement to prevent further entrance of water. During the past season the inner walls of both templeswereaccordedtheabovetreatment.OftheEast T H E C A R N E G I E M A Y A 522 HONDURAS Temple,thesouthend,includingthevaultsofthesouth and southeast rooms, was rebuilt to its former height. This restoration was particularly desirable, as no example of the interesting and highly typical Maya corbelled vault remains standing at Copán. It was possible because the original stones, though fallen, were still available; and it could be done with confidence, as a sufficient number of the lowermost stones of the vault were found in place to allow accurate calculation of their angle and height. The wide doorways of this and other Copán temples had been spanned with heavy beams, whose decay, incidentally was one of the major factors in bringing about the collapse of the upper walls. In the restoration, the lintels were made of reinforced concrete cast to the size and shape of their wooden prototypes . The façades over each doorway had been decorated with sculptured panels representing a gigantic and highly conventionalized parrot with protruding head and claws. Since the depictions had been composed of dozens of relatively small carved stones tenoned , like a mosaic, into the wall, and since these elementshadbeenbrokenandscatteredwhenthefa çades fell, and some had been carried away in recent times, the correct reassembling of the panels was so uncertain that the spaces occupied by them have, for the time being, been left vacant. The stones have been carefully numbered and preserved, however, and it is possible that further study will result in a satisfactory solution of this oversize jigsaw puzzle. The West Temple was cleared and its walls reset as high as the second course above the medial molding . Farther up it was not possible to go because this temple, lying nearer to the road than does its mate, had largely been robbed of cut stone for use in building the modern town of Copán. In connection with the work on the temples, the badly displaced facing of the terraces and steps surrounding the north end of the Ball Court proper was taken down and relaid. This produced a proper setting for Stela 2, which stands upon the north platform, and links the latter with the structures bordering the whole complex.Also, to the south of the East Temple, the lowest terrace of the high Pyramid...

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