Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1902-09-05
hIERoeLYPHLc STAIRWAY.
One of Americas Oldest Monuments
Unenrthed by Peabody Museum.

One of Americas Oldest Monuments
Unenrthed by Peabody Museum.
The Hieroglyphic stairway at Copan,
in Honduras, gets its name from the
strange picture writing-"glyphs," the
archmOlogist calls them - with which
the faces Of its steps and the several
pieces Of sculpture which were part Of
its original OrnamentatiOn are inscrib-
| ed. 1t is one of the most curious, as
well as one Of the most interesting and
important, monuments Of aboriginal
America, and research parties from the
Peabody Museum Of American Arch@-
Ology and EthnOlOgy at Harvard have
been ten years in uncOvering and
studying 1t under the direction Of Mr..
George B. Gordon, whose entertaining
report summarizing the decades work
has just been published by the mu-
scum.
What the inscriptions on the Hero
glyphie stairway mean is not fully
known. for many OF the word signs OF
the language Of the ancient Magyar
people, in which they were traced, are
still undeciphered. The structure was
the approach by which the summit OF
the acropolis Of COpan-which is the
most ancient American city yet discOv-
ered-was reached from one side. The
mound is pyramidal In shape and ap-
pears to have been crowned at one
time with great temple or palace, but
the symmetry OF two of It's faces was
swept away at some time by q great
landslide that carried down the build
ing at the top in it's ruin, and on one
Of these faces was the stairway.
In the lnndslip forty or fifty OF the
upper steps were dlslOdged and buried
under Such mass OF debris that Il re-
quired four entire seasons Of hard
work by the Peabody museums expe.
ditions to attain any semblaDce Of or
der. Altogether twenty-seven steps
have been restored to approximate com.
pleteness, though large pieces are still
missing from some Of them. Except
FOR broad step at the bottom all were
inscribed with glyphs, which are be-
heved to have composed a chronoIogic.
al record Of some sort. inasmuch as the
date signs. which are the best under
stood picture words Of the Mavan Ian.
guage. recur again and again. Mr..
Gordon found evidence that the In
seription began at the top OF the stair.
way, which seems to have had some
eighty-hve or ninety steps, and was
read from left to right and from ster
to step downward.
In the middle Of the stairs. which mr.,
twenty-five feet wide, stood five gIRan
tic statues placed at intervals, and OIL
either side was heavy balustrad,
carved with alternate symbols Of tishe,
and birds. On the broad bottom ster
there was an altar that had the shan,
OF serpent's head. and the genera
scheme seems to have been that tn,
stairway should represent the snake,
truiling body. Another altar whieI
stood directly in front Of the structure
took the form Of a four legged, gro
tesque animal without head and wIti
two holes at It's sides that seem orig
inally to have been filed by carving
, Of a double headed dragon. in one O
which the monsters open jaws held
sort of portrait presumably Of som
king, sage or chieftain.
, While clearing the Copan acropoli
! the Peabody museums investigator
brought to light the foundations o
= buildings still older than the stnireas
or the temple to which 1t led. and 4
. some places several distinct layers 0
ruins, evidently the remains OF diffeI
, ent building periods. were found.