Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-05-10
NUrBER A.
HIEROGLYPHlC STAIRWAY.
One of Americas Oldest Monuments
Unearthcd by Peabody Museum.

The IIieroglyphic stairway at COpan,
in Honduras. gets its name from the
strange picture writing" "glyphs." the
SrchToogist calls them 90 with when
the faces Of its steps and the several
pieces Of sculpture which were part Of
its original OrnamentatiOn are inscrib-
ed. Ii Is one Of the most curious. as
well as one Of the most interesting ard
Important monuments Of aboriginal
America. and research parties from the
Peabody Museum Of American Arch.c
Ology and Ethno.Ogy at Harvard have
been ten years in uncoyering and
studying it under the direction of Mr..
George y. Gordon. whose entertaining
report summarizing the decades work
has just been published by the mu-
scum.
What the inscriptions on the liicro-
glyphic stairway mean is not fully
known. FOR many of the word signs Of
the language of the ancient Mayan
people. in which they were traced. are
still undeciphcred. Tie structure was
the approach by which the summit OF
the acropOlis VI COpan--whch is the
most ancient American city yet discOy-
cred-was reached from one side. The
mound is pyramidal IN shape and APP
pears 10 have been crowned ut one
time with great temple or palace. but
the symmetry Of two of its faces was
2 nv a uf
landslide that carried down the build
ing at the top In its ruin. and on one
Of these faces was the stairway.
In the andslip forty or fifty Of the
upper steps were dislodgcd and buried
under such a mass OF debris that 1t re-
quired four entire seasons Of hard
work by the Peabody museums eXpe-
ditOns 10 attain any semblance Of or
der Altogether twenty-seyen 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-
lieyed TO have composed chronOlogic-
al record Of some sort, inasmuch as the
date signs, which are the best under
stood picture words Of the Mayan lam
guage, recur again and again. Mr..
Gordon found evidence that the in
scriptiOn began at the top Of the STAIR
way, which seems 10 have had some
eighty-tiye or ninety steps and was
read from left to right and from step
to step downward.
In the middle Of the stairs which are
twenty-five feet wide, stood five gigan-
tic statues placed at intervals, and Oh
either side was heavy balustrade
carved with alternate symbols OF fishes
and birds On the broad bottom step
there was an altar that had the shape
Of serpent's head. and the general
scheme seems TO have been that the
stairway should represent the snakes
trailing body. Another altar. which
stood directly In front of the structure.
I. took the form of a four legged. gro.
tesque animal without head and with
two holes at its sides that seem orig
inally to have been filled by carvings
of a double headed dragon, in one OF
which the monsters open jaws held a
sort of portrait presumably Of some
king, sage or chieftain.
While clearing the Copan acPopOlis
the Peabody museums investigators
brought to light the foundations Of
buildings still older than the staircase
or the temple to which It led, and in
some places several distinct layers of
ruins. evidently the remains Of differ
ent building periods, were found.