Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-13

and their adaptability to changing cir
cumstances.
Another cooperative study is the
anthropological survey, manned by Spe-
cialists from the University of Chicago.
These men range over the Country, Wis
1ting the Magyar villages and studying
the customs, languages, art and culture
of the people
still another project is a biological
reconnaissance of the region. BY this
we hope to learn something definite
! about the agriculture of the ancient
peoples, the plants and animals upon
which they drew for food. Biologists
charge OF this work, which is now in
Its first year and which is being planned
on comprehensive scale"
One of the biological questions Is the
origin of corn. When and where was
maize first tanned? Just as Egyptian
civilization was founded on wheat and
the Chinese and other Oriental cultures
on rice, so was the early American civil
lzatlon founded on this third cereal,
corn. There IS a wild, heavy-seeded
grass found in the highlands of Mexico,
known as teocentli, which some authori-
ties believe is the ancestor of corn.
1T was probably crossed with an I'M
known plant in the highlands" said
DR.. Kidder. "The MayanS got hold of
W. IL
Morley believes, and in their rich low
lands 1t grew so luXuriously in an al
most continuous succession of crops that
they were able to settle down as farm
ers, to build towns and cities, and to
have leisure for the development of the
arts and the pursuit Of the sciences.
COrncobs Excavated.
1--WE know that corn was an impor-
tant item in the economy of the Maya
people. We have found the remains of
corncobS in old excavations. Then, too,
maize is significant INTELLECTUALLY, and
appears again and again in carvings
The Spanish conquerorS tell in their
chronicles of the vast importance of the
Magyar maize
If it is a marvel and a mystery that
these native people should have laid out
these splendid cities and built these
glorious edifices, it Is an even greater
marvel that they should have done this
in dense tropical jungle. The evil
dence that We have indicates that the
| climate of Central America has not
changed since the Mayans fiourished
there. Archeologists have found elab-
orately carved lintels of Sapote wood
1mbedded in masonry over the doors of
old temples. This hard wood is from
the tree which supplies chicle, one of
the characteristic forest trees of the
region, and botanistS find that it will
grow only in the tropical environment
The presenSe of these sapote lintels in
masonry many hundreds of years old is
convincing evidence that the jungle
then was much the same as that of
today.
The conferees at Chichien TIA de-
cided that biologists and meteorologistS
might contribute important reinforce
ments to the present mass attack on the
Maya mystery and it is likely that spe-
cialists from these sciences will soon
be added.
Aerial Survey Considered.
The requirements of an aerial survey
were also considered. Col. Lindbergh's
flights of last year demonstrated the
usefulness of the airplane as means of
spying out the country and four hitherto
unknown sites of ruins were discovered
In this way. It has been suggested that
the next step In aerial exploration may
be the use of a small dirigible, which
will enable the explorers to stop over
the site of a new discovery and descend
jungle forbids to any explorer travelling
by plane.
Meanwhile the great work Of exca-
waiting and bringing to light the buried
splendors of already known sites goes
forward. There are at least 500 named
sites, including 20 important Maya |
cities, which have been visited and |
looked over by Psychologists. OF these, |
only four have been excavated on any |
extensive scale; Copan, an old empire
city in Honduras, excavated by the Pea
body Museum of Harvard some thirty
odd years ago; Quirigua, an old empire
city In Guatemala, excavated by the
School of American Research about IS
years ago, and Chichien TIA and YAK
49,. .so1, to- 20 H.
ing uncovered by the Carnegie Insti- |
tuition.
The success of the Carnegie Institu-
ton in this field is largely credited by
his colleagues to DR.. Sylvanus G. Nor
ley, who is in charge of all Central
American archaeological work for the
institution. DR.. Kidder said that DR..
Morley has travelled more miles in the
Central American jungle than any other
white man, probably has visited more
Magyar sites and painstakingly copied
more Magyar hieroglyphs than any
other.
Morley Visits Yucatan.
During his student years at Harvard
where DR.. Kidder also began his
archaeological career-Morley went on a
trip to Yucatan, visited via mule back
some Of the great half-buried metrop-
olises of the past and dreamed of I'M
covering and restoring one of these
cities. Eventually he shared the dream
and was able to communicate some of
his zeal to officials of the Carnegie In
stitution. In 1915 his research founda-
ton decided to back Morley'S knowledge
and enthusiasm with funds and helpers
and to make his dream come true.
Eventually contract was entered into
with the Mexican government by which
the Carnegie Institution was given ex-
n i1oft vic rs fV, I1n
of the Sacred Well, to excavate and re-
pair the buildings and, so far as the
ruins win permit, to restore this vener-
able capital to Its original spleneor.
The work In Chichien TIA began in
1928, and one has only to compare the
magnificent Temple of the Warriors as
1t stands uncovered today with the over
grown pile Of rubble and vegetation that
1t was seven years ago to see what even
tually may come out of Morley's dream.
Repair Of the Caracol, the second build
ing to be uncovered, is now well on the
way to completion.
Chichien TIA Is a New Empire city.
1t therefore probably dates no earlier
than 800 AID. A few years ago the
Carnegie Institution decided to excavate
also some city Of the Old Empire, and
the choice finally fixed on UaXactun, a
site which was discovered and named
by DR.. Morley In 1916. A concession to
dig here was granted by the Guatemala
government. The Carnegie Psychologists
began operations in 1926, and by 1928
they had uncovered a magnificent pyra-
mid of carved limestone.
Viewed as Oldest Religious Temple.
It is probably the Oldest temple to
religion now visible in the Western
Hemisphere, for date glyph on a mon
ument at this site seems to correlate
with the early years Of the Christian
era. Below the plaza where this earliest
monument stands ara ram a it7s af n still