Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
KEY TO LOST MAYAN LANGUAGE
SOUGHT IN SPAIN BY DAWES. AID
Remnants Of Once Great Civ
iIization Believed in Papers
There.
Ambassadors Interest Only
to Advance knowledge,
Says Dr.. Abbot.

Buried in ancient state archives. or
In boxes of forgotten letters in the IL
braries Of medieval castles or mon
aSteries in Spain, may be the key to the
lost language of the Mayas and the rec
ord OF nearly 1000 years of one of the
worlds greatest civilizations.
In the hope that something of this
sort may be found, Prof Charles up
son Clark of Yale University now Is in
spain on project financed by former
Vice President Charles G.. Dawes
through the Smithsonian Institution.
1t is believed possible that shortly
after the Spanish conquest of Mexico
and Central America, some. Spanish
priest or military Office, in contact with
the dying remnants of the historic
New World civilization which the con-
quesors destroyed, may have copied some
OF the Maya hieroglyphics and sent
them back to Spain with an accom-
panying Spanish translation. This would
reveal the phonetic value of the let
tiers and put scholars in a position to
recover the lost language of MAYA
monuments, tablets and manuscripts.
Mr.. Dawes interest in this possibility
was first aroused by a member of the
Spanish royal family visiting WASH
lngton, who told him of the vast ac-
cumulationS of manuscripts which had
remained for many years ,unexamined.
There was great deal of correspond
ence, 1t is believed, between the
Spaniards in the New World and their
old home.
Much to Be Learned.
Despite great deal Of research work,
1t was explained at the Smithsonian.
much OF the Maya and Toltec civiliza-
tlons, with their advanced systems of
agriculture and architecture comparing
faVorably with that of ancient Egypt
remain puzzle to scientists. Repre-
Senting one OF the great original civil
lzatlons OF the human race from which
sprang largely the present-day Ameri-
can agriculture, the puzzle must be
worked out bit by bit unless some such
manuscript as Mr. Clark is seeking
should turn up.
Inc magnitude of the Maya civiliza-
tlon, 1t was pointed out, still is hardly
appreciated by the general public, and
When Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, flying
over the Jungles few months ago, saw
runs OF massive ancient buildings below
nun II was treated as a new discovery
because of the superficial similarity of
some OF the architecture and heiro-
glyphlcS there has been a general inn
preston that the Maya civilization may
nave been transplanted from ancient
Egypt by way of the fabulous lost
| Atlantis"
But the present day Mayas, direct
descendants of the original builders,
show no trace of Egyptian ancestry, but
are distinctly of American Indian
stock, whose ancestors almost certainly
came from Northeastern Asia and the
lost Atlantis" legend has been pretty
well exploded by ocean depth sound
ings. although there may have been a
land mass about as big as the Spanish
peninsula jutting out of the Atlantic on
the present site of the Azores Islands
at one time.
Extensive Searches Made.
| Prof. Clark already has made extern
sive searches in the library of the Vat
lean and is now engaged in the Span
ish archives at Seville. He already has
found one Magyar manuscript with a
Spanish translation, but unfortunately
not in Maya heiroglyphics, but a pho
netical rendering of Maya. speech into
Spanish characters. Altlfsagh not the
key" it affords colorful glimpse of
the life near the old Maya culture CEN