Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1915-12-30
OLDEST OF AMERICAN
ANTIQUES FOUND
IN SOUTHERN MEXICO
Small Stone Statuette, Found
Near Vera Cruz, in 1902
Said to Be the Oldest Relic
of Any Date in America.

WASHINGTON, Dec pa small
stone statuette found near Vera Cruz,
Mexico, which has been in the posses
sion Of the U. s. National Museum
since 1903. has recently been identi-
fed as the oldest known dated anti
guilty in America. Its ancient Magyar
glyphic inscriptions show that it was
made 100 years before Christ. which
is the Oldest date authenticated in
the New World
This unique image was originally
found in 1902 by peon while blowing
in the district of San Andres Tuxtla
near the Gulf of Mexico about 100
miles southwest Of Vera Cruz, Mexico.
and came to the museum through the
courtesy of Mr. r. e. Ulbricht the
next year. 1t is composed of very
hard grayish-green stone. a variety of
nephrite OF Jade. carved into a round
ed coincal form, about 6 IL inches in
height and "a inches in diameter
at the base It's general outlines give
the impression of an old Mexican
idol or priest in a cape or cassock,
The upper part represents a human
head with a somewhat pointed bold
crown, with we'll defined though primi-
lively cut features The lower part
of the face is covered with a mask,
in appearance resembling the bill of
a duck, cut in relief and extending
down over the chest like beard. The
cheeks and ears are outlined by a.
conventional scroll design, which
lends a genial expression TO the face.
The idea of cassock or other loose
garment is destroyed when the figure
is examined closely, for the bird-like
form is further emphasized by the
wings covering the sides of the figure,
the lower margins of which are carved
to represent feathers. Beneath the
wings the outlines of a birds feet
and legs are engraved
On the front. back. and sides of this
little figure are the peculiar charac-
ters called glyphs. in which the early
inhabitants of southern Mexico and
the porthern part Of Central America.
known as the Maya. wrote and record
ed their early history and achieve
ments. So far only calendric parts
of the ancient inscriptions of the
Maya have been deciphered, the
. chronological skeleton of Maya histo-
ny. as it were, stripped Of the events
{ themselves. Thirty years ago, Maya
inscriptions were a sealed book, and
yet today we read o fthe rise and fall
Of the several cities in relation 10 one
another and follow tine course Of the
natice development even though We
cannot i'm in the background. The
nature OF the several inscriptions is
of course similar to more recent writ
ires of this prehistoric race, yet the
forms of the particular characters
are so elemental that only the date
signs or numbers are translatable.
I'm determining the date of this fig
ure, however, a most valuable or in
dex to further reseach and investiga.
Ition is gained by students Of American
archaeology, the locality of the find
gives a hint to further excavation there
i'm the hope of locating more relies
and possible establishing the location
of another settlement Of some branch
of the Maya race.
The fgurine i'm its conception and
execution is well within the range OF
, ancient Mexican or Mayan achieve
.ment, and presents no feature sugges
tive of foreign origin or influence.
The general shape was evidently
( laboriously worked out from a bloch
, Of irregular conical outline, by peck
. ing with stone hammers, the uneven
ness of the surface, especially on The
frona and back, never having beer
r fully removed although the stone Ii
we'll polished The under surface
shows the characteristic markings yro
duced by primitive methods of sawinl
70 hard stone before the discovery o
/ metals Broad shallow lines trace th
composite features of the man AM
bird and establish the fact that thu
polishing was done after they wer
cut. An the glyphs, however wer
a added after the shaping OF the var
Gus features of the image was con
ID pIeted and the surface polished. IN
p engraving Of the heiroglphics Of tn
hard polished surface was not easy
as is shown by the narrow and IN
even scratches which never receive
e the smoothing and finishing touches
II What is known as the "introducin
o,I plvph" OF the initial series on III
image has been shown by Sylyanu
D. G. Morley. of the Carnegie lnstitutio
h of Washington, to indicate a lengl
lie of time in the Maya calendar equi
10 10 cycles, atuns, tuns, uina
and II kins. which compared TO OF
calendar goes back to about 100 b. {
ID The people responsible for the il
81 lie image, known TO anthropolosia'
as the Mayas. are now resident prl
cipally in Yucatan, Chiapas Tabasc
and in adjoining Central American T
is publics. but one small group, u
Huasteca, is found in northern Vel
= Cruz. Il does not seem unlikely lhi
r. The entire coast line of the state wa
IS al one time the habitat OF these a
no 4