Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-13
PSYCHOLOGISTS THRILL
IN MAYA JUNCLES|
Carnegie Institution Forces Are Striving
to Solve Mysteries of Maya
Civilization.
Continued From Third Page.)

LOO years ago. Prior to this the MayaS
lived in Honduras, Guatemala and CHA
pas, where they built stone pyramids
and topped them with beautiful tenn
piles and clustered around in populous
cities and rich farms. The largest of
all the Maya centerS, Tikal, a city of
approximately 10000 inhabitants, was
built in this early period which archie
ologistS call the old empire. Other
cities of the period were Uaxactun, Pa
lenque and Copan. The old empire
period began, there is reason to believe,
centuries before Christ.
Suddenly, about 800 AID, the old
empire was abandoned All this mag
niflcence which had been won from the
jungle and built at such laborious cost
was left as abruptly as Lot fed from
Sodom. and the whole Maya people
trekked northward through the dark
forest into Yucatan. There they cleared
new sites and planted their crops
again, built new cities-such as Etzna.
Uxmal, Mayapan, Chichien Itza-reared
again great pyramids, temples, nun
ner1es and ball courts, and came into a
renaissance. This period in Yucatan,
which lasted until shortly before the
arrival of the Spanish cCn1uerors in
the early sixteenth century, is deSig-
mated as the new empire.
II think it likely that the whole story
OF this exodus, the reasons for it and
the results of it, were recorded in the
hieroglyphic books of the Maya priests, ="
said DR.. Kidder. But, unfortunately,
most OF them have persisted, and for
what remains we possess no Rosetta
stone"
The Spaniards might have passed on
this whole fascinating history and cul-
ture, but instead their effort seems to
have been to destroy every link with
the Magyar past in the imperial pursuit
of evangelizing the heather. I'VE coll
lected all the native books we could find
and burned them, much to the sorrow
OF the people, and caused them pain, "
quest.
10th Century Discovery.
By some unexplained providence,
fires and were discovered during the
nineteenth century in Europe. They
now repoSe in museums in Paris, Dres-
den and Madrid. Several facsimile re-
productions are to be seen in this coun-
try. These three codices are written
in hieroglyphs richly illuminated in
color, but all that we can Enthusiastically
decipher are the dates and other nu-
merical characters.
I'VE know the Maya calendar through
Archbishop Janda," said DR.. Kidder.
"Hewas an early Spanish bishop of Yucca
tan who wrote down his observations
of native life in the sixteenth century.
His manuscript lay unknown for 800
years, and it is now almost our sole
guide to the Maya records. II only he
had included a glossary of the hero
glyphS in his notes Unfortunately, he
confined himself here to list of Magyar
days, months and numerals.
From these, Psychologists have been
able to work out the Maya calendar-a
year of 365 days divided into IS months
of 20 days each, with short month of
days. AS We reckon our years
from the birth of Christ, the Mayans
reckoned theirs from the beginning of
time.
But when was the beginning Of
time? There's the rub. II the arch
bishop had given US q single correla-
ton; If he had only said that the
Magyar year Of 5000 since the begin
ming of time correspondent to the Chris
tan year of such and such, we would
know their calendar in terms of our
calendar and would be able to date the
Magyar civilization"
Difficult Problem Faced.
This problem of correlating the two
calendars has commanded some of the
most persistent work in recent archie
illogical research. Several parallels have
been proposed by Maya scholars. Re
Gently DR.. John E. Teeple-a chemical
engineer of New York who six years
ago took up the study of Maya HERO
glyphs as hobby-has been testing out
these proposed correlationS. Because of
his original contributions to knowledge
in this difficult field, the Carnegie In
stitution has made DR.. Teeple a re-
search associate and Is publishing his
latest work, Magyar Astronomy"
critical summary and review of the
whole subject of the Maya calendar.
have seen the proof pages of this
book, now in press, which will I'M
doubtediy create no end Of interest
among Psychologists. In addition to
TENS of correlation, DR.. Teeple has VEN
tured interpretations Of unidentified
hieroglyphs. Perhaps the most inter-
esting of these is a symbol which sug-
gested itself to him az representing q
solar eclipse.
This glyph is carved on o stella
which was discovered In 1926 by the
distinguished Mexican archeolog1st,
Senior Enrique Juan Paiacios," explain
graphed and made drawings of the in
scription, and two years later Frans
Blom of Tulane University also ex-
amined it and made a drawing.
THE glyph shows the familiar SYM
Dol for the sun against the portals of
a house-and it Is the only one have
ever seen which tempts me to regard it
as an eclipse glyph. Carved close to
this picture of the sun entering its
house is a date: 9.17.i9-13-16, 5 Glib IA
Chen, which means 1859 tuns, Is uinals
and 16 days since the beginning of
time-or about 1908 years.
Result Of Checking Magyar Date.
ct checked this Magyar date against
the various proposed correlations, and
found that In the correlation worked
out by Prof. Goodman Of California
Glib IA Chen fell on July Is, 100 AID.
Reference to eclipse tables worked out
by modern astronomers shows that
shortly after. noon on that day O total
eclipse Of the sun was visible from the
spot where this monument stands.
No other correlation gave an eclipse
date. Indeed" added DR.. Teeple,
"Goodman's correlation is the only one
that has stood up under all the tests
have been able to apply thus far.
This does not mean that it has been
as yet-but it does mean that Good
man has not been disproved."
The Identification of this glyph may
prove to be of crucial Significance
though Dr. Teeple will not grant that 1t
is anything more than suggestive"
But If another such glyph Is found, and
If it is shown to correlate with another
eclipse, surely it will be peg on which
to hang the whole Maya chronology.
But we are persuaded that the
Magyar survey requires more than archie
ologlcal research said DR.. Kidder,
whose own speciality is archaeology. I'VE
believe. for example, that much may be
learned from study Of the modern May
ans--the present descendants of the as
vAriacfe orrhitnrte orfiSrr