Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1939-06-08


ent picture and a different story to
tell. Symbolism, mythology, poetry
| and beauty is revealed in their art.
These strange, ancient, Mayan
people had their characteristics.
They had intellect, power and ener-
gy. Here was purpose, effort and
aim such as no other people has
| shown in the western hemisphere,
| Effort was highly organized and con-
centrated. It is certain there was
| devotion to centralized govern
ment, and not everyone working for
himself, or from choice To some
degree there must have been en-
forced labor. Working under the
conditions which they were forced
| to meet, it would take thousand
slaves more than hundred years to
complete a Mayan city. They had
no metal tools, but are believed to
| have used pecking stones of flint or
obsidian, and some of the intricate
designs must have taken years to
perfect them.
The architecture is of no mean
sort. Stones were laid in perfect
courses and with highly decora-
tive effect The offset, the table, the
cornice, arch and column were clev-
erly employed. Atlantes, supports
in the shape of the human figure,
were employed, and other ornamen-
tation. such as the meander resem-
bled the Greek character Of archi-
lecture They erected gorgeous pal
aces, noble temples, huge pyramids
Nunneries, courts, schools, plazas,
baths, markets, cemeteries and
places for games were common.
Stone and wood remain in place
after thousand, maybe a longer
period of years. All buildings were
erected on mounds or series of ter
races, costing immense labor, with
no steam-shovels. We thought of
the WPA. Sometimes these mounds
were of great height. Great agility
was required, for steps lead up to
hundreds of feet, the steps very
high, the tread very narrow. Other
tribes shared with the Mayans their
architecture, legends, customs and
religion. The feathered serpent
seems to have been common to-
many as well as the pyramid and
temple mound. The Mayan lam
guage is still spoken by a half mil
lion people, but the Spanish burnt
pile of manuscripts six feet high
and destroyed nearly all their 3,0OO|
books in a huge holocaust.
Just how old is the Mayan civil
ization? When did its earliest del
velopments show themselves? Thesel
are questions whose answers have
not been accurately determined It'll
takes time to develop civilization,
as witness Egypt, Greece and Rome. |
Greece and Rome had much to start
With, but the 6iayans started with
nothing of a background, such ast
Greece and Rome had.
They needed time to achieve what
they did, because they toiled under !
great handicaps. They had no myth
&c Vulcan to give them tempered |
metals and the forge. The wonder
ful detail of their carvings was all |
done slowly, with the bare hand
grasping a piece of flint or obsidian. |
1t is believed that they squared
blocks of stone with a saw of sisall |
fiber. A sisal cord becomes a sharp |
cutting instrument, when sand and
water. are added Then too, remem-
Der the native limestone was soft
when qnarried, although very hard
when exposed.
Some of the stones were SO tonsl
in weight. The shifting of such
masses to their proper places, at|
great height, is a problem no mod
ern engineer can explain 1t took a |
long time to develop the methods of
building. A long time was required
to quarry, transport, prepare and
erect the material of such magnifi- |
cent structures. Cologne Cathedral,
ST. Peters and other cathedrals,
took centuries. Then too, they had
the advantage of medieval Masonic
guilds. No doubt many centuries
were required to build a single
Mayan City.
To work out a calendar, better
than our own, must have taken
milleniums of serious research and
patient thought. Chronology, mathe-
matics, astronomy, engineering and
architecture do not get under way
in less than milleniums.
Yucatan had 125 vegetables and
As different kinds of fruits, to meet
the necessities of life in such a des-
perate land. To develop these from
weeds and wild bushes, in the slow
processes of human evolution, sug-
gests very great length of time,
for so very great an achievement
For instance, to get corn from teo-
cinte grass registers great intelli-
gence and patience.
Sylvanus c.. Morley, VINO has been
necessarily at work in the ruins,
since 1924, and who is there now,
finds the first recorded date at |
Chichen Itza is 68 A. D. But this
date is on structure built over an
old city that must have existed cen
turies before Christ. Prof. F. Spin-l
den of Harvard puts the first record
ed chronology at about 900 B. C.l
Some scientists have worked out al
time program carrying the chron-t
ology back to 311S B. c. There were
many cities in Guatemala and Hon
duras, long before the Mayans mi
grated to Yucatan. 1t is believed
the marvellous civilization of the
Mayans began there.
Then the people migrated to Yuca-t
tan. The soil of Guatemala became
arid. There was over cultivation
and bad tillage. They burned the
jungle every year, so that all hu-l
mus, seeds and roots were Destroy
ed, and no jungle returned to rel
fertilize the soil. There sprung upl
a stubborn glebe, and having mol
plows, further cultivation was i'm |
possible, and Yucatan seemed bet-t |
ter.
In Yucatan, centuries after, the