Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-06-01
NEWEST ANCIENT RUINS
crm Mexico and Northern Guatemala
-1lelIce Of Very Ancient Tribes.


-nelice Of Very Ancient Tribes.
AS result Of five months investiga-
ton among the little known sections of
southern Mexico and northern Guate-
mala, DIR. Alfred Tozzcr, instructor in
archaeology at Harvard University, is
able to present to the world a new set
OF ruins, heretofore absolutely unknown
and presenting many side lights on the
history of the ancient Maya Indians by
whom they undoubtedly were erected.
says the Mexican Herald. lie encounter
cd them in the Tzendales region of
Chiapas. where the present day Lacan-
done Indian lives his life exactly in ac-
cord with traditions handed down for
centuries, and which have never been
added to nor taken from by missionaries
| of the Christian faith-the latter never
having penetrated into the Businesses
where the Indians live.
| DIR. TozZer has visited the little know
regions of Yucatan, Chapas and Guatc-
maa for five successive winters, spend
| ing several months each trip. For addi-
lions to scientific knowledge secured by
him on these trips. he has been given a
fellowship in the Archaeological Institute
of America, the same institution which
has colleges at Rome. Italy and Athens
Greece. He is now in Mexico City, en-
route to the United states, whore he
i goes to lay be fore the Harvard board of
scientists the information that he has
cleaned during the present trip to
Mexico. He was n guest at the 1turbde
hotel, but has left for the North
More to prove that tho present day I.a-
candone Indians inhabitng portions Of
4 ~, 1x.i,,
along the Usumacinta river were direct
lncal descendants of the ancient Mayas.
than for any other purpose was the five
trips of Dr. ToZzcr made. While he OK
presses no absolute opinion regarding any
of his proofs and finds in those regions
Dr. Tozzcr believes that the evidence
which he has accumulated is of such
convincing character that there can he
no longer doubt but that the Lacandoncs
and the Mayas of the present dav are
| but descendants of tho ancient latter
tribe which has become scattered over Il
large area from perfectly natural causes.
His greatest confidence is placed in the
of religious rites and worshippng of
stone idols among the T.acandones, which
have been traced back to the Mayas
during long years ago. Especially was
this noticeable along tho extreme south
ern border of Mexico and the upper parts
of Guatemala, in which regions DIR. Toz-
ger pursued his Investigations. Princi-
pally in the religious observations WIS
mis- theory cOrroboratcd, though the do
nestle life of the LacandOnes was not
dssimilar to that of the present day
Mayas as known in tho eastern part of
TabaScO and Campechc
| A feature worthy of comment DR.. Toz-
ger states. was the finding that tho La
candone Indians show no evidence or in
hucnce derived from contact with the
lSpanards or the early missionaries.
Among the Nayas he says that there is
yet Il survival of certain pagan customs
but these are so inter mixed with Span
ish customs that there can be no doubt
but what at some time the Mayas were
Influenced by Spanish contact. On the
other hand. the Lacandonc Indians have
not single religious or domestic GUS
tom which in any manner portrayS tho
belief that 1t was inherited from tho
Spaniards. They still have their stone
idols and sacrifices are offered in front
Of them which, while not human, arc
vet fashioned in the scmblance of a
human form which is burned to pro-
Ipitiate the gods of wind and rain. The
piercing of the ear with rude stone
knives and the insertion of earrings OF
stone beads or metal Is yet ractiscd
amOng the entire Lacandone tribe as
found in its aboriginal state. Men anf
women dress exactly alike and are more
NEARLY allied with the wild tribes of pre-
historic Indians than probably any Other
inhabitants of the world.
| Regarding the new ruin which ht
found, DIR. Tozzcr states that there car
he no reasonable doubt of its having
been the product of an ancient Maya.
standardization which has contributed
so much to the archaeological lore know
of those peoples and times. Some photo
graphs of these ruins We're taken 70
presentation at the university and dur
ing later time to come he will return t.
study more fully the silent reminders o
a past which, apparently, has left n
record. Some of the best preserved wall
bear Inscriptions in hieroglyrhs which
have been proved, in other cases. to b.
of Maya Workmanship. Few. however
are the written records Of the ancen
races, DIR. Tozzer says, although enough
has been left to place the race tina
made them in their proper niche in tn
human family. 1clallNe 10 the antlQult,
of the inscriptions found in the ney
ruins and elsewhere in Yucatan and por
tons of Guatemala, he believes that the
can be placed at least cOntemporaneousl
with the beginning of the Christian era
This Is a matter which has engrossed tn
attention of many antiquarians, DIR. Toz
ger states, and ii is almost a matter
guesswork to place the edge OF tn
buildings in any given time.
.. a theory to which Dr. Tozzcr, in com
lmon with other archacologists, holds
that the inscriptions found on SO man
Mexican ruins were the work OF tn
ancient pagan priests who had all learn
ing and who We're chary of giving it t
the common classes of people. Thi
theory finds more or less substantiatio
in the fact that while the present-da
Iacondone and Maya Indians preser,
their language and religious customs
which are known to be In conformit
with those practised by their forbear,
lthey know or profess to know absolute
lily nothing concerning the origin OF tn
inscriptions and hieroglyphs which hav
proved such Il source of work to presen
day antiquarians. According to DR.. To,
ger the priests placed the writings &
guides for priests following them. an
rs cabalistic marks indicating eithe
religious truths or eras of history viii,
1t was desirable that they should pa.
along. What destroyed the priests an
left the common class Is unknown, an
IneOple can hut conjecture now that the