The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-04
THE EGYPT OF AMERICA.
Prehistoric Ruins Discovered at
COpan i'm Honduras.

Boston Transcript.
Thousands of years before Columbus
came to America a great and mighty peo-
pie lived in the new world. 1t has gener-
ally been thought that the earliest civiliza-
ton of which there was any monument
or vestige here was the one which the
Spaniards found and spoiled, and that was
lacking in progressive elements. Now it
is known, however, that long before the
Spaniards thought of coming a people of
high degree of civilization had lived and
passed away. Nor could Palt.eio, in 1916,
find even an Indian tradition to account
for the old ruins which he saw in Hondu-
ras. Natives told him that a great lord
had come from Yucatan and built the
splendid edifices, and had then abandoned
them and gone back to his native land, but
this story sounds like a fabrication, and
the ruins at that time were covered with
the mold of centuries.
Similar ancient ruins are found all over
the country, from southern Mexico, south
through Guatemala and Honduras. But
the greatest and the most magnificent are
those of a ruined city in Honduras called
Copan, after a village near by, for even
the original name has been forgotten. The
city extends two miles along the Copan
river, and it's ruins to-day tower 100 feet
" lhS WdiCls ollliOo5h LIC WSatiSt ldS
worn them for countless centuries and the
river has washed against them. Here, I'M
der the debris of ages, lies the evidence of
q mighty people, ruins of great temples
on terraced elevations, dwellings and pyra-
mids, some partly fallen, some only heaps
of fragments of what were once magnifi-
cent buildings.
These ancient people would not have
needed many points from modern archi-
teets. They used the triangular arch and
the vault. In some cases, where they rooted
a space with stone, it is impossible for
| modern investigators to see how the build
ers supported the roof. They built their
walls of finely cut stone. Staircases of pub
lie buildings were deliberately and mag
nifcently carved; step faces were covered
with hieroglyphics. Interiors were finished
in plaster, which was then ornamented
with paintings. Painted stuceo was used.
Sculptures were everywhere.
The buildings of Copan have a curious
complexity, structures being built Upon
each other, sometimes three deep. old and
massive buildings serving as a bed on
which to lay new foundations. Perhaps
rulers glorified themselves by building upon
The dwellings of their predecessors. But
more likely these complex buildings re-
suited from centuries of changing style in
architecture and the abandonment of older
parts. which We're sometimes left empty.
| sometimes filled with clay and rubbble.
Other evidence of successive periods of oc-
| cupation is forthcoming. For on the river
front appears what seems to be three
great strata. divided by floors or pave
ments of mortar cement" Between the
three times of occupancy. when the city
was swarming with life, are long periods of
silence whose length can only be inferred
from the thickness of the strata. These
structures have a style that is peculiar TO
the region. but at the same time the style
| has A similarity to that of southern Asia.
1t expresses the same ideas. and the two
| may be said to come from the same archi-
| tectural root.
The people who lived in this city knew
how to make sculptures. in fact. they
we're remarkably good at if. They lived
long before the time of Michael Angelo,
yet. in one aspect. they were like him.
Michael Angelo never expended his art on
ern scuip1ors do. He felt that his figures
were imprisoned in the solid stone and that
he must cut them cut Of it. Thus did the
ancient people OF the new world countless