Diario las Américas., 1958-04-23
Know thv
Nei9hborI
BY ANTONIO RUIZ

GUATEMALA - Guatemala ii.
ty, capital of the country, is lust
ly proud of its excellent Museum
OF Archaeology and Ethnology.
located in Aurora Park, which is
under the supervision of the Insti-
tute OF Archaeology and History.
Its valuable archaeological collec-
tlonS consist of hundreds of items
pertaining to small jadeS to great
stone s%telae, upright rectangular
carved monuments weighing ma
ny tons. There are also MANY pie
ces representing other cultures.
The Carnegie Institution in Wash
lngton and the Rockefeller Found
alton assisted a few years ago the
Guatemalan archaeologiSts and
artists who re-installed the collec-
tons in the Museum according to
the most modern museum prac-
tees.
1t has been said that the degree
Of Maya progress and civilization
was not excelled by any other
aboriginal people, and it is believ-
ed it originated in Northeastern
Guatemala. The earliest known
date recorded by the Mayas is 800
A. D., but presumably they re-
quired many centuries before that
to evolve their accurate chronology
ic and hierogliphic writing, as well
as many other accomplishments.
Their civilization spread north
ward into Yucatan, Mexico, and
southwark as well and they built
many elaborate and solid cities.
In the year 100 their sculptural
art was at its peak in temples and
stelae they used to commemorate
the end of a time period. About a
century or so later, however, they
started to abandon some Of their
great cities, one by one, and to
migrate into other parts of Yucca
tan, nobody knows why. Perhaps
the land did not produce enough
food to support SO many people;
possibly there was an epedimic;
may be there was a civil war. In
any case the Mayas left some cities
to the forest, which covered py-
ramids and temples until the arch
biologists came.
The Mays built more cities, but
after the Spanish conquest, these
too were abandoned, and may still
lie unexplored. In the middle of
the 18th. century some of the Ma
vas found their way back to the
forest region around Peten Lake,
in Guatemala and there they stay
ed until in 1897 they also were
CONQUERED by the SpaniardS.
The sence of design and of char
acterization displayed by the Ma
va artists a thousand years ago is
remarkable and remarkable too is
the fact that stone and jade were
carved without the use of hard
metals which, like the wheel, we're
unknown to the Mayas. Chisels and
hammers of the hardest stones,
tough fiber drawn back and forth
in grooves, and small bones twirled
with sand and water, were used
with infinite patience.
Among the Guatemalan Museum
exhibits are a number of stelae,
dated between sos and $40, from
Piedras Negras, a site in Northern
Guatemala on the Usumacinto
River, part Of the present bound
AIRY with Mexico. From this place
also comes a wall panel of ivory
colored limestone dated 761 and
called by the late DR.. Sylvanus G.
Morley "the finest flower of May
an art" tbs carved in a mastery
combination of high and low re-
lief. Although the panel is badly
broken, it is clear that a ruler is
seated on a throne, with three fig
ure standing on each side, and
seven seated figures facing the al
tar. In the Museum, models of Ma
va buildings and paintings de.
picting leading Maya cities as they
were j n'their heyday, help to make
past centuries more vivid.
Continued tomorrow
Spanish Version Page 5