THE ANCIENTS AND THEIR MONUMENTS
“World wrongly called the New! this clime was old
When first the Spaniards came, in search of gold.
Age after age its shadowy wings have spread,
And man was born, and gathered to the dead;
Cities rose, ruled, dwindled to decay,
Empires were formed, then darkly swept away;
Race followed race, like cloud-shades o’er the field,
The stranger still to strangers doomed to yield.”
AT the time of the conquest the Aztecs, who were then at the height of
their power and glory, were the dominant race in what is now Mexico and
Central America. And yet the broad plains of Yucatan and Central America
were the theatre of a much older civilization compared with which that
of the Aztecs was, as one writer says, “as the brightness of the full
meridian moon to the splendour of the sun that has already set.” As to
whether the Aztec culture was a borrowed culture or not has been the
subject of much vain speculation, and little has been accomplished by
actual investigation. It is still a matter of dispute “Whether the Maya
culture was developed on the soil where its remains are found, or
brought with the people from parts unknown; whether the Aztecs borrowed
from the Mayas, or the Mayas from the Aztecs; or whether both these
great nations derived their culture from the Toltecs. And again, it is
claimed that the Toltecs themselves are nothing more than the figures of
a sun-myth.”
* * * * *
From this it will be seen that of these early races and their history
little is known. It is supposed that the Toltecs who appeared in the
Valley of Mexico about the seventh century and built the city of Tula,
and possibly Mitla, wandered southward after their defeat by the Aztecs
and finally stopped in Guatemala where they found rest from pursuit.
This much at least is known that the region comprising the greater part
of Guatemala, and the western portion of Honduras, and Yucatan, was the
seat of an ancient American civilization as highly developed and as
interesting to the archæological or anthropological student as any of
the primitive civilizations of the Old World. Long before the dream of
western empire began to fire the ambitions of European kings and incite
the adventurous spirits of the times, centuries before the empire of the
Montezumas had reached the height of its glory, when it was destined to
become the prey of those avaricious adventurers, the curtain had already
fallen on the last sad scene that closed the career of this Maya, or
Toltec, empire, and the ruined cities alone remained as a reminder of
their former splendour.
There are numerous remains of these cities, or rather they might be
termed ruins of religious and governmental centres, for no ruins have
been found of private dwellings. Religion and government seem to have
been one and inseparable among these early races. Among these ruins are
those of Palenque and Uxmal in Yucatan, Utatlan and Quirigua in
Guatemala, Copan,[2] and some lesser known ruins in Honduras. There are
probably still other cities in the wildernesses around Lake Peten
awaiting the coming of the traveller—cities that had their birth so far
back in the twilight of time that not even a tradition remains to tell
who built them.
Footnote 2:
See appendix for description.
There are some traditions which have come down to us in a book called
the “Popul Vuh,” or sacred book of the Quichés, by an unknown author.
Two translations exist of this book, one in Spanish by Ximenes, the
other in French by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. Mr. Brigham, in his
excellent work, has translated into English a number of the legends
contained in that quaint work concerning the founding of the world, the
creation of the first inhabitants and other curious lore. I will quote
but one concerning the creation of the world:—
“Then the word came to Tepeu Gucumatz in the shades of night; it spoke
to Gucumatz and said to him: It is time to consult, to consider, to meet
and hold counsel together, to join speech and wisdom to light the way
and for mutual guidance. And the name of this is Huracan, the Voice
which sounds: the Voice of Thunder is the first; the second is the Flash
of Light; the Lightning is the third. These three are the Heart of
Heaven, and they descended to Gucumatz at the moment when he was
considering the work of creation. Know that this water will retire and
give place to land, which shall appear everywhere: there shall be light
in the heaven and on earth: but we have yet made no being who shall
respect and honour us. They spoke, and the land appeared because of
them.”
The Spaniards found numerous books among the priesthood and old Indian
families of many pages, in which the history, traditions and customs of
the people are probably recorded. The pages were covered with numerals,
glyphs and drawings quite beautifully executed in colours. The Spanish
priests destroyed all these writings that they could get their hands on,
just as they did the records of the Aztecs in Mexico, and made bonfires
of the accumulated literature of centuries. Thus, to satisfy a religious
bigotry, they have deprived us of a true knowledge of the progressive
races who once dwelt in this favoured land. A few of these books still
exist and they are preserved in European libraries, although copies have
been reproduced for other libraries.
Mr. Gordon, in an article in the Century Magazine, describes these books
as follows:—
“Four only have come down to us—priceless relics that in some unknown
manner found their way into European libraries, where they lay hidden
until unearthed by scholars of recent years. The books of the Mayas
consisted of long strips of paper made from maguey fibre, and folded
after the manner of a screen so as to form pages about nine by five
inches; these were covered with hieroglyphic characters, very neatly
drawn by hand, in brilliant colours. Boards were fastened on the outside
pages, and the completed book looked like a neat volume of large octavo
size. The characters in which they are written are the same as those
found upon the stone tablets and monuments in the ruined cities of
Palenque and Copan. This system of writing, which is entirely distinct
from the picture writing of the Aztecs, was the exclusive possession of
the Mayas. It was a highly developed system, and as investigations have
shown, embraced a number of phonetic elements. In this respect, as in
many others, the Mayas were far in advance of any other American
people.”
A flood of light might be let in upon prehistoric America if these books
and the inscriptions on the many columns which have been found, and
which are very similar, could ever be deciphered. It is known that many
of the hieroglyphics record dates, but the significance of most of them
is unknown. They are evidently of a peaceful character as there is
nothing to indicate that they are memorials of strife or anything of a
warlike nature. These people possessed a well-developed system of
numeration whose chief application seemed to be in their time-reckoning.
Their year was divided into eighteen months of twenty days each, the
year beginning on the day of transit of the sun by the zenith. As the
months only gave a period of three hundred and sixty days, the remaining
five days were arbitrarily added to make the complete cycle.
Among the most remarkable and inexplicable ruins of these people are
those of Quirigua which are not far from Port Izabal. These ruins are
completely hidden in a thick tropical forest a few miles from a village
of the same name. They consist of several square and oblong mounds and
terraces, varying from six to forty feet on each side, which were
ascended by flights of stone steps. The principal interest, however,
centres in several large, carved monoliths of light-coloured,
coarse-grained sandstone, thirteen in number, arranged irregularly
around what were probably the most important plazas. There are numerous
hieroglyphic inscriptions on these monoliths which have Egyptian
characteristics. The natives seem to have no traditions respecting the
ruins, and they simply call them _idoles_, that is, idols. Several of
the stones are from three to four feet square and from fourteen to
twenty-five feet high above the ground.
The entire surface, except top and bottom, is covered with inscriptions.
On the front and back are full length human figures standing in stiff
and conventional attitude. Tiger heads carved above these figures
probably indicate high rank, or chiefs, and a skull denotes death. The
mysterious symbols of the Greek cross which is also found on these
stones has been the cause of much speculation among scholars. If the
human figures are portraits of persons, who were they? Where did they
live? and what did they do that they should be thus immortalized?
[Illustration: ONE OF THE COLUMNS AT QUIRIGUA.]
Various theories have been propounded concerning all these ruins of
Mexico and Central America, and it would be presumptuous for anyone not
a member of a dozen or more learned societies and bearing several
scientific degrees to venture an opinion. A few writers ascribe them to
descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, to the Phœnicians, and to the
Egyptians. Some ascribe to them great antiquity and others assert that
they are of comparatively recent construction. The well-known traveller,
J. L. Stephens, says: “They are the work of the same race who inhabited
the country at the time of the Spanish conquest, or of some not very
distant progenitors.” The great argument against this view is, however,
that there were no traditions among the people found by the Spaniards
that shed any light as to their origin, as would certainly have been the
case if he is correct. The people who built them seem to have had a
distinct, independent and separate existence.
Professor Marshall H. Saville, of the Department of Anthropology, in
Columbia University, and also one of the curators in the American Museum
of Natural History, is one of the best versed authorities on the ruins
of Spanish-America, as he has visited many of them in connection with
scientific expeditions. Through his courtesy I am enabled to give the
following description written by him of the ruins at Quirigua:—
Of all the ancient cities in Central America, the forest covered ruins
of Quirigua are perhaps the least known. They are situated in the valley
of the Motagua, or Montagua River, about half a league from the left
bank, and about sixty miles from the mouth where it empties into the
Caribbean Sea. Entirely overspread with the densest tropical vegetation
found anywhere in Central America, they have remained unexplored and
their extent unknown. Now, however, the transcontinental railway from
Puerto Barrios to the City of Guatemala passes through the valley at a
distance of not more than a mile from this wonderful group of remains,
and they are thus brought within easy reach of the traveller.
As yet no systematic excavation has ever been carried on there, although
no field in Central America offers a richer return to the archæologist.
It is not at all improbable that still more valuable sculptures may be
buried in the paradise of luxuriant growth, in which cacao, quina, india
rubber, mahogany, bamboo and gigantic ferns abound, through the depths
of which the jaguar, puma, tapir and peccary roam at will, while birds
of brilliant coloured plumage are exceedingly numerous.
The ruins consist of a large number of mounds, pyramids, terraces or
platforms, both square and rectangular, measuring from six to forty feet
in height, some standing in groups of four arranged around a central
square or plaza, while others occupy an isolated position. The greater
number of these structures have been faced with squared stones and had
flights of stone steps on one side leading to the top.
There are three principal structures in the main group, near which are
standing thirteen large monuments in the form of stelae, and large,
rounded masses carved to represent grotesque animals. These are in what
is probably the great plaza, or square, the heart of the ancient city.
At the northern end is a large rectangular terraced structure about
three hundred feet long from east to west and one hundred and
seventy-five feet from north to south. Near the northwestern corner is
what appears to be an artificial lagoon, or pond, which probably has an
outlet in the Montagua River. At the southern base of the structure are
standing three stelae, or monoliths, ranging in height from fourteen to
eighteen feet and having carved on the front and back representations of
human figures. On one is a man with a chin beard. Both sides are
entirely covered with hieroglyphic writing in the form of squares,
called _katuns_. On another is perhaps the most important hieroglyphic
inscription yet found in America. It consists of two kinds of writing.
The upper half of the inscription is in pictures elaborately and
intricately carved, while in the lower half are the abbreviated and
conventional characters such as are commonly found in the Mayan glyphs.
Undoubtedly an unravelling of the picture writing will aid greatly in
deciphering the hundreds of inscriptions which are found in the
territory once occupied by the Maya race, formerly the most advanced of
all the ancient peoples of America. In only two other monuments is this
form of “picture” writing found, one example being in the ruins of
Copan, Honduras, where the back of a stela is entirely covered with
pictures.
About two hundred feet south of these three monoliths are the two
highest monuments which have been discovered in the new world. The first
stands twenty-five feet above the ground; the other is twenty-two feet
high. The first mentioned is leaning at an angle of forty-five degrees,
and as it stands there must be at least ten feet of its length under
ground. There are full-face human figures carved on the front and back,
and a hieroglyphic inscription on either side. (Fortunately it has been
accurately moulded by Mr. Maudslay in plaster, and a cast is in the
American Museum of Natural History, in New York, and in the Peabody
Museum at Harvard College.)
The second stela, twenty-two feet high, is by far the most artistically
carved of all the standing monoliths. It has large, full-face human
figures on the front and back, and both sides are occupied by
hieroglyphs. The figure best preserved represents a man with a small
chin beard. He is standing on a platform covered with symbolic carving.
His feet, which are placed heel to heel, are shod with elaborate
sandals. On his head is an immense head dress, made up of five
superimposed grotesque faces or masks. From either side extend feathers,
which are carved gracefully around the sides above the inscriptions, the
whole effect being most striking.
The ears of the person are almost covered with huge ear ornaments. The
breast and body to the waist are loaded with ornaments, and an
elaborately worked loin cloth hangs from the waist, down between the
legs to the feet. In the right hand is held a kind of wand or sceptre,
much resembling a “jumping jack.” The upper part is a grotesque little
figure, with a long nose, representing a deity. From the bottom of the
stick hang feathers. The left hand is covered by a shield, on the face
of which is a mask, probably a representation of the sun god.
Near at hand are two fallen stelae about ten feet in length, entirely
covered with moss and vegetable debris. About eight hundred feet south
of these two large stelae is a high truncated pyramid, more than one
hundred and fifty feet in diameter at the base. A short distance east
and northeast are three large monuments, and from three hundred to four
hundred feet south in a plaza enclosed on three sides, is another group
of stelae.
The most important of these is in the form of a conventionally carved
gigantic turtle, the most extraordinary sculpture in Central America.
Roughly described, it is a cube about eight feet in size and probably
weighing twenty tons. It is entirely covered with picture and
hieroglyphic writing, and representations of a symbolic character, among
which are several exaggerated animal and human faces and figures. (A
plaster cast of this is also found in the above named museums.) In
addition, there is an interesting figure carved on another stela,
representing a woman, with fat, round cheeks, which has been called the
enano, or dwarf. Besides the monuments now standing there are several
fallen stelae, some complete, while others are broken.
The rock out of which they are carved is a gray porphyry, the quarries
being several miles from the ruins and more than six hundred feet above
the valley. The stones were probably all transported in the rough and
carved on the spot where they now stand, the debris being used in the
construction of the pyramids and edifices. The labour of transporting
these immense stones must have been stupendous, and indicates a very
high knowledge of mechanics.
In the mounds and pyramids all traces of palaces and temples of stone
have disappeared. One excavation made, however, proves that stone
buildings have existed, for in the principal pyramid several rooms have
been uncovered, revealing the triangular Maya arch, with walls to the
rooms, made of nicely laid stones, covered with stucco or plaster, and
with smooth cement floors.
During the last decade decided advance has been made in deciphering the
Mayan inscriptions, and the Quirigua hieroglyphs have received
considerable attention, especially since the appearance of the work of
Mr. A. P. Maudslay. The careful drawings have given us material for a
comparative study of these inscriptions with those of Copan and
Palenque. Certain parts of the writing have been unravelled and the
mystery surrounding them is being slowly dispelled. Much remains to be
done, however, before the entire body of the inscriptions is deciphered.
So far as they have been worked out they relate to chronological counts
extending over a period of more than three thousand years. This does not
imply that they had a written history of such respectable antiquity, but
according to their ingenious calendar system and mode of reckoning time
they are carried back to a fixed date, very much as we reckon from a
fixed date, namely, the birth of Christ. The later dates of the Quirigua
inscriptions very probably may be assigned to a place somewhere about
the beginning of the Christian era.
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