Middle Period

176 A. D. to 373 A. D.9.0.0.0.0 to 9.10.0.0.0

During these ten katuns the great cities of the south make rapid strides towards grandeur. Pyramidal mounds are erected and temples built upon them. Public squares are laid out and in these are set up stelæ and altars. The leading early cities are Palenque, Tikal, and Copan, where the dated monuments and temples mark rapid progress in the arts of sculpture and architecture while the subject matter of inscriptions reveals growing ability in astronomy and mathematics. Low angular reliefcharacterizes stone sculptures and the profile presentation of the human figure is now handled more skilfully than front view.

373 A. D. to 471 A. D.9.10.0.0.0 to 9.15.0.0.0

Some of the most beautiful monuments of the Mayas belong to this middle period. While archaism does not entirely disappear there is freshness, purity of style, and straightforwardness of presentation about the sculpture of this age. Flamboyancy is not apparent. At Copan the Great Mound was practically carried to completion during this period, an enormous undertaking which absorbed so much energy that few stelæ were set up. The best series of monuments from the middle period are seen at Naranjo and Piedras Negras.

471 A. D. to 629 A. D.9.15.0.0.0 to 10.3.0.0.0

Many cities flourished in the culminating years of Mayan civilization. In addition to those already mentioned Quirigua, Ixkun, Seibal, Nakum, Cancuen, Yaxchilan, Toniná, and Kobá were important centers while a complete list of the sites with dated monuments would show many more names. The territorial extension reaches from northern Yucatan to the Guatemalan highlands and from southern Vera Cruz to central Honduras. Art passes through interesting changes with tendencies towards flamboyancy. Architecture makes great advances: rooms become wider, walls thinner and forms more refined and pleasing. The calculations deal more and more with complicated astronomicalsubjects and dates belong less and less in the category of contemporary history. The first age of Mayan civilization, called the First Empire, comes to an end with Katun 3 of Cycle 10, a date registered at Uaxactun which, strangely enough, also boasts the earliest stela with a contemporary date. It is indicated that Uaxactun was occupied for 561 years while the range of dates at Tikal is 394 years. Abandonment of all the sites of the First Empire took place within something like fifty years. What caused this collapse? Civil war? Social decadence? Failure of food supply? Or perhaps some overwhelming epidemic? There is good reason for believing that the sudden appearance of yellow fever may have had a part in the catastrophe. References in the Chronicles to the First Empire are very brief and do not help us find the answer to this mystery.

629 A. D. to 964 A. D.10.3.0.0.0 to 11.0.0.0.0

Most of the Mayas surviving the collapse of the First Empire seem to have found a second home in western Yucatan, especially in the region called Chakunputun in the Chronicles. Here the rainfall is much less and the forest environment not nearly so luxuriant. Certain cities, which probably date from this transitional period, such as Hochob, Dzibilnocac, Rio Bec, etc., have very beautiful architecture showing advances over that of the First Empire in some features. Dated documents are so rare as practically to be non-existent. It seems probable that Mayan learning had been reduced to books for there is ample evidence from the succeeding period that astronomical and calendarial knowledgehad been conserved from ancient times. At the end of these lean centuries, the Mayas made their way still farther north. Chichen Itza which had been a provincial city of the First Empire was reoccupied and the Mayan renaissance known as the Second Empire began.

964 A. D. to 1191 A. D.11.0.0.0.0 to 11.11.10.0.0

The first phase of the Mayan renaissance was pretty clearly centered in Chichen Itza although the earliest date which may be contemporary is probably that of the Temple of the Initial Series at Holactun. The inscription shows a survival of the ancient method of counting time and is now believed to treat of the interval between March 9, 1012 A. D. and November 14, 1016 A. D. Other cities rising to splendor during the Second Empire are Kabah, Labna, Sayil, and Izamal. The time of foundation for Uxmal is rather difficult to determine. According to tradition it was the capital of Toltec immigrants into Yucatan, but when or how they arrived cannot be answered definitely. The League of Mayapan was organized as an alliance between Chichen Itza and Uxmal in the second half of the twelfth century, and Mayapan was built as a neutralized capital of church and state under the inspiration of a Toltec noble named Quetzalcoatl. Finally, Izamal and Chichen Itza rebelled and Inetzalcoatl conquered the latter city in 1191 and made it the capital of a Maya-Toltec state.

1191 A. D. to 1437 A. D.11.11.10.0.0 to 12.4.0.0.0

The helpers of Hunac Ceel bore Mexican names and belonged to the Toltec nation. Hunac Ceel isidentified in one place with Kukulcan, the name meaning “plumed serpent” in the Mayan language, and in another place with Quetzalcoatl which has the same significance in the Mexican language. In Chichen Itza sculptural art and architecture have many clear analogies to works in the Valley of Mexico. The building called the Castillo seems to have been built by Quetzalcoatl, being the first structure in which serpent columns and other structural ideas of this ruler were given expression. The Temple of the High Priest’s Grave is a developed example of the new style bearing the date December 31, 1339 A. D. The elaborate Group of the Columns with the famous Temple of the Warriors, may be still later.

In the first half of the fifteenth century civil war and epidemic disease brought about a second depopulation of the stone-built cities including Chichen Itza, Mayapan, Uxmal, and probably also numerous other sites in the region of Uxmal. The last monument at Mayapan may declare the date September 28, 1437.

1437 A. D. to the present day.

After the second general abandonment of urban life the Mayas seem to have been divided into many warring factions. Temples were still regarded as sacred and some constructions in stone and mortar were still made, as we know from the first Spanish descriptions of towns on the east coast of Yucatan. Tulum probably represented this last phase and this site on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean is probably the city compared to Seville by the coasting expedition of Grijalva in 1518. A monument atTulum is believed to record the last setting up of a katun stone by the Mayas on 12.8.0.0.0, 2 Ahau 3 Pop, August 5, 1516, almost exactly 2129 years after the Mayas began to count every day in order.

At the present time certain ancient ideas still persist among the Lacandone Indians of the lowlands and among the Quiché, Cakchiquels, and several other tribes of the highlands. But the old glory of the Mayan civilizations has passed away never to return. A prophetic vision of this end is found in one of the Mayan Books of Chilam Balam which relates to events immediately after the founding of Merida.

“It was then that the teaching of Christianity began, that shall be universal over our land. Then began the construction of the church here in the center of the town of Tihoo: great labor was the destiny of the katun. Then began the execution by hanging, and the fire at the ends of our hands. Then also came ropes and cords into the world. Then the children of the younger brothers (the Indians) passed under the hardship of legal summons and tribute. Tribute was introduced on a large scale and Christianity was introduced on a large scale. Then the seven sacraments of the word of God were established. Let us receive our guests heartily: our elder brothers (the white men) come!”

General View of Monte Alban from the North. The mounds are arranged around courts in an orderly manner.

The influence of the Mayan civilization when at its height (400 to 600 A. D.) may be traced far beyond the limits of the Mayan area. Ideas in art, religion, and government that were then spread broadcast served to quicken nations of diverse speech and a series of divergent cultures resulted. Most of these lesser civilizations were at their best long after the great Mayan civilization had declined, but one or two were possibly contemporary. It will be the aim in the present chapter to emphasize the indebtedness of these lesser civilizations to the Mayas as well as to comment upon their individual characters.

We will first proceed northwest into Mexico and then southeast into the Isthmus of Panama. The environment under which the Mayas developed their arts of life continues in narrowing bands westward along the Gulf of Mexico and southward across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The most westerly Mayan city of importance seems to have been Comalcalco. But there is also a large ruin near San Andres Tuxtla and it may be significant that the earliest dated object of the Mayas (the Tuxtla Statuette) came from this region. In other words, the cradle of Mayan culture may have been in this coastal belt where arid and humid conditions exist side by side and where the figurines of the archaic type are found together with those of the Mayas. Unfortunately, the archæology of this part of Mexico has been little studied.

The Olmeca may be placed in the humid region of southern Vera Cruz and western Tabasco which the Aztecs of later times called Nonoalco. This region is frequently mentioned in the most ancient of the Mexican traditions, doubtless symbolizing in a general way the civilizing contacts with the Mayas. Rubber is calledolliin the Mexican language and while the earliest known specimens of rubber are those found in the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza, the ceremonial and practical uses of the material are mostly mentioned in connection with the Olmeca and Totonac peoples. Rubber was used for incense, for water-proofing purposes, to tip drumsticks, etc. A large rubber ball was also used in a sacred game which may be compared to basket ball since the goals were rings set high up in the parallel walls of a specially constructed court.

According to Ixtlilxochitl’s history the Olmeca came before the Toltecs and were the first to extend their civilizing rule over parts of the Mexican highlands. Some authorities think the Olmeca were a Mayan tribe but it is quite possible that they spoke Mexican. They may have fled south at the breakdown of the Toltec empire for we find in Nicaragua at the time of the Conquest a group of this name with traditions pointing to the far north. The ruins found in 1927 by the writer at Cerro de las Mesas, west of Alvarado Lagoon, may possibly be ascribed to this people. The site contains seventeen monuments, several of which are dedicated to Quetzalcoatl and must be referred to the thirteenth century. Bars and dots are used in connection with day signs to record dates which may belong to the calendarial system appearing on Zapotecan monuments.

Detail of Monte Alban showing Wall Foundations and Small Cell-like Rooms.

In the State of Oaxaca the Zapotecan Indians attained to a high degree of civilization, but a study of their culture shows they were profoundly indebted to the Mayas for many ideas. Monte Alban, the White Mountain, overlooking the modern City of Oaxaca is the principal archæological site in point of size and may have been the ancient capital. It was abandoned before the coming of the Spaniards, however, and Mitla appears to have taken its place.

Fig. 52. Comparison of Mayan and Zapotecan Serpent Heads. The first two examples are from Palenque and the second two from Monte Alban.

Unfortunately no extensive traditions have come down to us to help in the restoration of Zapotecan history, or in that of the neighboring Mixtecs. Although the art, hieroglyphic writing, and calendar system were pretty clearly derived from the Mayas, nevertheless there was time and opportunity for these to develop interesting characters of their own. It is impossible to tell from the record whether the Zapotecs ever embarked on a career of empire: the area in which the full complex of the characteristic products occurs is practically limited to the area at present occupied by the tribe. It is quite possible that the Zapotecs were conquered by the Toltecs inthe twelfth century and that such similarities as exist between the forms of Zapotecan sculptural art and those of the Toltec cities of Xochicalco and Teotihuacan in central Mexico, on the one hand, and those of Pipil and Chorotegan sites in Guatemala and Salvador, on the other hand, are to be explained by intercommunications under the Toltec régime.

Fig. 53. Bar and Dot Numerals combined with Hieroglyphs on Zapotecan Monuments.

Monte Alban and Mitla stand in strong contrast to each other, the first crowning a mountain ridge, the second occupying a valley site. Monte Alban has no buildings intact, but shows a vast assemblage of enormous pyramids and platforms. Mitla has only one small pyramid, but boasts a series of finely preserved temples on low platform bases. In Monte Alban we find monolithic monuments comparable to the stelæ of the Mayas, and carrying hieroglyphic inscriptions: also pottery figurines and jade amulets in a style which follows rather closely the models developed in the early cities of the humid lowlands. At Mitla there are none of these things: instead, the architectural decoration shows a most interesting use of textile designs treated in a mosaic of cut stones. It is apparent then that a long record of high culture is to be found in the Zapotecan field.

Incense Burners.

Funerary Vases of Portrait Type.

Cruciform Tomb with Geometric Decoration.

At Monte Alban there are one or two narrow vaulted chambers in mounds, but on the tops of the mounds the few excavations have disclosed only simple cell-like rooms which probably had flat roofs. Some hints of ancient architectural decoration can be picked up here and there. Figures similar to those modeled in bold relief on the fronts of the cylindrical funeral urns (seefrontispiece) seem to have been used over doorways, somewhat after the fashion of the Mayan mask panels.

The hieroglyphs that are found on the stelæ of Monte Alban and on stone slabs from other sites, resemble the Mayan hieroglyphs in the use of bar and dot numerals, but the day and month signs have never been identified with either the Mayan or Aztecan system, although almost certainly dealing with the same type of calendar. Lintels with lines of hieroglyphs on the outer edge have been found in burial chambers at Cuilapa and Xoxo. The forms at the former site are clearly and beautifully drawn, while at the latter site they are degenerate and probably merely decorative.

In Zapotecan funerary urns a close connection with Mayan art can easily be demonstrated. The urns are cylindrical vessels concealed behind elaborate figures built up from moulded and modeled pieces. Many of these built-up figures clearly represent human beings while others represent grotesque divinities or human beings wearing the masks of divinities. The purely human types have a formal modeling in high relief, the head usually being out of proportion to the rest of the body. The pose is ordinarily a seated one with the hands resting on the knees or folded over the breast. Details of dress are very clearly shown including capes, girdles, aprons, or skirts and headdresses. Necklaces are often worn with a crossbar pendant to which shells are attached. Headdresses aremade of feathers and grotesque faces and are often very elaborate. As for the divine types the jaguar and a long-nosed reptile are the most common. The latter has a human body and may possibly be an adaptation of the Mayan Long-nosed God.

The funerary urns are found in burial mounds calledmogoteswhich contain cell-like burial chambers. The urns are not found within these cells but on the floor in front of them, in a niche over the door, or even on the roof. They are frequently encountered in groups of five and seem never to contain offerings.

Other Zapotecan pottery is mostly made of the same bluish clay used in the urns. This clay is finely adapted to plastic treatment but never carries painted designs. The pottery products include pitchers of beautiful and unusual shapes, dishes with tripod legs modeled into serpent heads, incense burners, bowls, plates, etc. Of the same clay are also made whistles in realistic forms, and moulded figurines. Painted pottery also occurs in forms and designs of rare beauty, but it is much less characteristic of the Zapotecan province than the unpainted ware.

Carved jades of splendid workmanship have been recovered in the Zapotecan region and there is reason to believe that this semi-precious stone was obtained here in the natural state. Many of the pieces are smoothed only on the front, while the back retains its old weathered and stream-worn surface. Beautiful examples of gold work found in this region must be given a late date.

Splendid manuscripts were obtained by the Spaniards in the Zapotecan region, but the pictures of the gods as well as the hieroglyphs show strongAztecan influences. These will be discussed briefly in a later section. Some accounts have been preserved of the special features of Zapotecan religion which mark them off rather sharply from the Aztecs, however.

The high priests of the Zapotecans were called “Seers” and the ordinary priests were “Guardians of the Gods” and “Sacrificers.” There was a sort of priestly college where the sons of chiefs were trained in the service of the gods. The religious practices included incense burning, sacrificing of birds, and animals, and letting of one’s own blood by piercing the tongue and the ear. Human sacrifice was made on stated occasions and was attended by rites of great solemnity. The Zapotecs never went to the blood excesses that stain the annals of the Aztecs.

Fig. 54. Detail of Wall Construction at Mitla, showing the separately Carved Stones.

(a) Stone Sculpture of the Early Zapotecan Period showing Rulers seated upon Thrones before an Altar.

(b) Jade Tablets pierced for Suspension, found in Zapotecan Tomb.

The 260 day cycle of the time count, was subdivided into four periods of 65 days and each period was under control of a single god and was associated with one of the cardinal points. Each period of sixty-five days was further divided into five groups of thirteen days for a ceremonial reason. Some authorities have considered that the general form of the Central American calendar originated in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and spread to the north and to the south. But dependable history in the Mayan area goes back much farther than in the Zapotecan region and renders such a guess extremely hazardous.

The famous temples of Mitla are the best-preserved examples of architecture on the highlands of Mexico and are peculiar in form and decoration. The word Mitla is a corruption of the Aztecan wordMictlan, place of the dead. This site was the burial ground of Zapotecan kings and may have been a place of pilgrimage. It was conquered by the Aztecs in the last decade of the fifteenth century. While the architecture belongs in a class by itself the frescoes have the distinct character of the Aztecan period.

Fig. 55. Wall Paintings of Mitla, resembling in style the Pictographic Art of the Codices from Southern Mexico.

The remains at this site have already been contrasted with those at Monte Alban. There is one fairly large mound at Mitla but it has no survivingsuperstructure. The temples are placed on low platforms which usually contain cruciform tombs. The buildings are carefully oriented and are assembled in groups of four which almost enclose square paved courts. The heavy walls have surfaces of cut stone and a filling of concrete or rubble and are ornamented with longitudinal panels of geometric designs arranged according to a carefully worked out plan. The geometric patterns are based on textile art and the mosaics of separately carved stones which fit neatly together preserve for us the ancient designs on belts and mantles. The chambers are long and narrow and formerly had flat roofs which have completely vanished. The wide doorways usually have two piers which help to support the lintel blocks. These are carefully trimmed stones of great length and weight. All the outer surfaces of the Mitla temples were sized with plaster and painted red and the frescoes, traces of which can still be seen in several buildings, are in red and black upon a white base. Various gods and ceremonies are represented in these frescoes, but only the upper portion of the bands can be made out in detail.

Cruciform tombs are found under several of the temples at Mitla as well as at a number of neighboring sites such as Xaaga and Guiaroo. In these tombs the designs in panels appear on the inside and are carved directly on large blocks of stone. Pottery remains are rare in the cruciform tombs of the Mitla type but a few examples of gold work have been discovered in them.

Within a short distance of Mitla is a fortified hill with several heavy walls that still stand to the height of perhaps twenty feet. In the flat valleybetween this hill and the ruins a considerable number of potsherds are plowed up in the field.

In the central part of the state of Vera Cruz are found the remains commonly referred to the Totonacan Indians. These Indians are southern neighbors of the Huastecas who are an outlying Mayan tribe. The Totonacan language is according to some authorities thrown into the Mayan stock. If not truly Mayan it contains many loan words. This apparent connection in language is all the more interesting in view of the character of Totonacan art which also shows a strong strain of Mayan feeling and technique in certain products but an unmistakable likeness to the archaic art of the Mexican highlands in certain other products. The pottery faces in the archaic style are advanced beyond the average of such work and probably represent a late phase.

Fig. 56. The Eyes of Totonacan Figurines.

A series of eyes showing Totonacan modifications of the styles prevalent on the archaic pottery heads of the Highlands is given inFig. 56. In some cases we find the simple single or double groove eyes and in other cases these eyes are made more conspicuous by the use of black bituminous paint. The eyeball is developed at the end of the series.

Laughing Head of the Totonacs, remarkable example of Freehand Modeling in Clay. Heads of this type probably served as decorative details on temple fronts.

The smiling or laughing faces have a much higher technique and are perhaps the finest examples of clay modeling from the New World. These heads have tubular extensions at the back and were possibly set into temple walls. The faces and foreheads are broadened in accordance with the esthetic type of a forehead flattening people. While the faces vary so much in minor details as to create the impression that they are portraits of actual persons they are alike in method of modeling. Nearly all are laughing or smiling in a very contagious fashion. Sometimes the tip of the tongue is caught between the teeth, sometimes the corners of the mouth arepulled down as if the smile were reluctant, and there are other individual variations in the expressions of lively and unrestrained mirth.

Perhaps the most famous objects found in Totonacan territory are the so-called “stone collars” or “sacrificial yokes.” In size and shape these resemble horse collars, but in contrast to somewhat similar objects from Porto Rico they are usually open while the latter are closed. Nothing is really known concerning their use but there has been no lack of fanciful surmises. The most popular explanation is that the yokes were placed over the necks of victims about to be sacrificed. It is evident that the yokes were intended to be placed in a horizontal position because there is a plain lower surface and the ends are frequently carved with faces that are right side up only when the plain side is down. These yokes represent the richest and most elaborate works of art in the entire region since they are carved in the most finished manner from single blocks of exceedingly hard stone.

Other peculiarly shaped stones are found in the Totonacan area and are carved according to the same splendid technique. The “paddle-shaped” stones have been found in considerable numbers and their use, like that of the stone yokes, is absolutely unknown. It is evident from the carving that they were intended to be stood on end.

(a) An Elaborately Carved Stone Collar, an Example of the Best Sculpture of the Totonacan Indians.

(b) A Palmate Stone from the State of Vera Cruz. Two grotesque figures are holding snakes in their mouths.

The designs on the sacrificial yokes and paddle stones are largely reptilian, but there are examples where the turkey, the coyote, as well as the human motive are treated somewhat after the manner of the Mayas. Plumed serpents, monkeys, centipedes, and crocodiles are interestingly drawn on pottery. An important site is Papantla where a remarkably ornate pyramid rising in six terraces may be seen, as well as massive sculptures in the same style as the works of art described above. The front wall of each terrace on all four sides of the pyramid, except for the space occupied by the stairway, is divided into a series of niches neatly made of cut stone. Formerly each of these niches may have served to shelter the statue of some god. Many fine remains of Totonacan art have been recovered from the Island of Sacrifices in the harbor of Vera Cruz. This island retained its ancient sacrificial character in the time of the Spanish conquerors. It is apparent, however, that the culture had already changed greatly if we may judge by the ruins of Cempoalan, the Totonacan capital in the sixteenth century. The art of this city is largely Aztecan.

Mexican history is greatly concerned with the Toltecs, the name meaning People of Tula, or Tollan, “place of the reeds.” Evidence is accumulating that this Tula was not the comparatively insignificant ruin on the northern edge of the Valley of Mexico, but instead was the great city of San Juan Teotihuacan. The lesser Tula may have been founded about 1200 A. D., just before the collapse of Toltec power.

Archæology tells a more detailed and convincing story of the Toltecs than does recorded history. In the stratified remains at Atzcapotzalco, the objects accredited to the Toltecs overlie those of the first potters of the Archaic Period and are in striking contrast to them. The principal motives of Toltec decorative art are obviously related to the earlier more brilliant work of the Mayas. The pyramids of the Toltecs exceed in size those of the Mayas butare of inferior construction, adobe bricks with concrete facing taking the place of rubble and cut stone. The temples that crowned these pyramids were also of less solid construction and no single example is now intact. Vaulted ceilings were replaced by flat timbered ceilings or high pitched roofs of thatch. Sometimes in wide rooms columns were used as additional support for roof beams. The groundplans of buildings other than temples show small rooms arranged in an irregular fashion round courts.

The ceremonial game oftlachtliresembling basket ball was an important feature of Toltec religion. It may have been obtained from the Olmeca, but at any rate spread far and wide under the Toltec régime. Another feature of Toltec religion was the worship of the sun’s disk which is reflected in various sculptures. Also this people are supposed to have inventedpulque, made from the fermented sap of the agave. The reclining type of sculpture known as Chacmool, after the famous example found at Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan, may be a relic of a peculiar Toltec cult in which drunkenness figured. Human sacrifice was another feature of the religion of the Mexican highlands in contrast to that of the lowland Mayas. On the economic side Toltec culture rested on the earlier Archaic civilization, but on the artistic and ceremonial side it was largely inspired by the Mayas through the mediation of the Zapotecs, Olmecs, and Totonacs, but with new emphasis on certain aspects and several important innovations. The language of the Toltecs seems to have been essentially the same as that of the Aztecs who succeeded them.

The Toltecs made a radical departure in social policy in that they took to war and expropriation asa means of building up national wealth, thereby paralleling, somewhat ineffectively to be sure, the political methods of Europe and Western Asia. There had been war before their time in Central America, but not apparently for aggrandizement. The Mayas, and most other Mexican and Central American nations, developed excess food supply which released many persons for the pursuit of art and science. Perhaps it was pressure of population upon food supply in an arid land that directed the Toltecs towards tribute taking. At least the fact is reasonably clear that this people did embark upon a short-lived career of conquest and that they levied tribute of precious stones and precious metals and secured by the same means an augmented food supply.

There is confusion and reduplication in the lists of Toltec rulers and only three great names in succession can be regarded as certain. These are Huetzin, Ihuitimal, and Quetzalcoatl, although it seems probable that there was a still earlier chieftain named Mixcoatl or Mixcoamazatl and that two successors of Quetzalcoatl were Matlaxochitl and Nauyotl, the last-named also figuring as the first lord of Colhuacan. Then follow various dynastic lists for several Mexican tribes which flourished between the downfall of the Toltecs and the coming of the Spaniards.

The chronology of the Toltecs and their successors is greatly dilated in several historical compilations made after the Spanish conquest by intelligent natives who interpreted fragments of ancient pictographic year counts then surviving in Mexico. Thanks to a modernsurvey of materials much more extensive than those which Chimalpahin, Ixtlilxochitl, etc., had at their disposal, we are now able to avoid the errors of these writers.

In the original pre-Spanish chronicles important events are recorded in connection with fifty-two year signs falling in regular order and then repeating. In the well-intentioned attempts to restore Mexican history entire cycles are interpolated in several places and the rulers are given lives of impossible length. In the case of Ixtlilxochitl we possess, fortunately, the principal documents which this descendant of the Texcocan kings attempted to interpret. Also in the case of the Annals of Quauhtitlan, an early compilation made by a nameless student of ancient history, we are in position to adjudicate wide errors in chronology. There is an annotation on this manuscript reading “6 times 4 centuries, plus 1 century, plus 13 years, today the 22nd of May 1558.” The “centuries” are the native cycles of fifty-two years and the total on this basis would amount to 1313 years. Subtracted from 1558 the beginning would be found in 245 A. D., while the years set down by the compiler in an unbroken series reach back to 635 A. D. But there is no pre-Spanish support for written history, outside the Mayan area, of anything like this antiquity.

The Toltec Era was established by Quetzalcoatl, after a simplified model of the Mayan calendar, on August 6, 1168 A. D., this date corresponding to a day 1 Tecpatl (1 Flint) in the first position of a month Toxcatl. This day gave its name to the entire year and its hieroglyph was one of a series of fifty-two used to designate years in the pictographicrecords. Most of the Mexican year counts begin with the particular sign 1 Tecpatl which corresponds to 1168-69 A. D. In others there is reference to a day 7 Acatl 1 Panquetzaliztli in a year 2 Acatl (February 16, 1195 A. D.) upon which a new fire ceremony, established by Quetzalcoatl in accordance with Mayan usage, was celebrated at intervals of fifty-two years.

The conclusions are supported by evidence in Guatemalan chronicles and also in records of the Mayas for we have already seen that Quetzalcoatl conquered Chichen Itza in 1191 A. D. The three great Toltec emperors, Huetzin, Ihuitimal, and Quetzalcoatl, swept over an area extending from Durango to Nicaragua, the three seats of their government being Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, Chichen Itza in Yucatan, and Iximché in Guatemala.

Quetzalcoatl probably spent his youth in Yucatan, returning to his highland home with strange religious and social ideas. His opposition to the Toltec idea of human sacrifice was followed by a war of cults. Quetzalcoatl began the construction at Tula with serpent columns like those of his lofty temple in Chichen Itza. Also he appears to have founded Cholula as a special center for his humane religion. His death occurred in connection with a prognostication in the Venus calendar of the Mayas, for the year 1 Acatl, 1207-08 A. D.

Quetzalcoatl, perhaps the most remarkable figure in ancient American history, was emperor, artist, scientist, and humanist philosopher. He established orders of knighthood as well as the coronation ceremony used by the later Mexican kings. He developed the various industrial arts and built up a wide trade in cotton, cacao, and other products. As a patron of the peripatetic merchant he appears under the name Nacxitl, which means Four-way Foot. Apotheosis being an idea strongly fixed among the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl was deified as Ehecatl, God of Winds, on account of his support of the Mayan god of rainstorms, and for his astronomical work he was further deified as God of the Planet Venus.

The Temple at Xochicalco before Restoration. The lower part of the picture shows the sculptured base of the temple pyramid. The walls of the temple itself are seen above.

This name Teotihuacan means Where the Gods (i.e., the deified dead) Dwell. This enormous ruin is located on the eastern margin of the Valley of Mexico. The principal features of Teotihuacan are two great pyramids and a straight roadway lined with small pyramids. There are also several groups of buildings of which the lower walls and the bases of the piers are still to be seen as well as some interesting fragments of fresco painting. The smaller of the two great pyramids is called the Pyramid of the Moon. It is located at the end of the roadway which is commonly called the Pathway of the Dead. The Pyramid of the Sun is situated on the east side of the roadway. This pyramid is about 180 feet in height and rises in four sloping terraces. The temple which formerly crowned its summit has entirely disappeared. Explorations conducted by the Mexican government showed that this pyramid was enlarged from time to time and old stairways buried under new masonry. On the south side of the small stream that flows through the ruins is a group of buildings called the Citadel.

(a) General view of the original mass of the pyramid at the back with the reconstructed addition in front.

(b) View of stairway and various walls covered up and preserved by the addition.

In 1921 the Mexican Government undertook a restoration of the Citadel, following the discovery of remarkable sculptures on the principal pyramid. It appears that in ancient times this pyramid was enlarged by an addition to one side and the richly ornamented terraces and stairway buried (Plate XXXIII). The sculptured stones from the other three sides of the temple were allowed to fall into neglect by the Toltecs or were carried away and put to other uses, but the portion buried was kept in its original state. The colors are still bright in many places and the great heads of plumed serpents and obsidian butterflies sometimes retain their inset eyes of obsidian. The decoration is a repeated motive. The head of the feathered serpent projects outward from the terrace walls and from the balustrade of the stairway, while the body is in low relief. The tail of the serpent has a rattle, and the body is covered with feathers. Shells are seen below the serpent where the body arches and just in front of the tail is a massive head with two rings on the frontal. This doubtless represents the Obsidian Butterfly, a divinity of great importance among the Toltecs, which is represented unmistakably in frescoes at Teotihuacan as well as on pottery. The Citadel well deserves its name, since it is a great enclosure, much like a fort, with buildings upon its bulwarks, and with steep outer walls, which could easily be defended.

A few large sculptures have been found at Teotihuacan. But the site is chiefly remarkable for pottery figurines and heads that are picked up by thousands. The heads present such a marked variety of facial contour and expression that it would seem as if every race under the sun had served as models. It is very likely that these heads formed part of votive offerings, being attached to bodies made of some perishable material. The heads were seldom used to adorn pottery vessels, although many modernand fraudulent vases are so adorned. Dolls with head and torso in one piece and with movable arms and legs made of separate pieces were known. The face of Tlaloc, the Rain God, is fairly common in Teotihuacan pottery but other deities have not surely been identified. It is not improbable that the God of Fire is personified as an old man with wrinkled face, but somewhat less likely that Xipe is represented in the faces that look out through the three holes of a mask. The jaguar, the monkey, the owl, and other animals are also modeled with excellent fidelity. The Mayan convention of the human face in the open jaws of the serpent is not unknown.

Fig. 57. Jointed Doll of Clay from San Juan Teotihuacan.

A number of beautiful vases painted in soft greens, pinks, and yellows have been recovered at Teotihuacan. These colors would not stand the kiln and they were applied after the vessel had been burned. According to one method, the outside of the vessel was covered with a fine coating of plaster upon which the design was painted exactly as in fresco. According to a second method the effect ofcloisonnéwas cleverly achieved. This technique is most characteristic of the region northwest of the Valley of Mexico and will be described later. Incised or engraved designs are commonly met with on pottery vessels at Teotihuacan. No inscriptions have beenfound at this ruin, in spite of the many years of exploration.

Let us now pass over in brief review several ruins which belong to the Toltecan period. Xochicalco, the House of the Flowers, is a large ruin near Cuernavaca. The position seems to have been chosen primarily for defense. The rounded ridge that drops off into deep valleys on either side is laid out in courts, terraces, and pyramids. Only one building offers evidence of the sculptural skill of the ancient habitants. It is a temple, standing upon a rather low platform mound. The sides of the platform mound are decorated with great plumed serpents, seated human figures, hieroglyphs, etc. Parts of the sculptures also remain on the low walls of the temple itself which is now roofless. The stone carving at Xochicalco resembles that of Monte Alban especially as regards the hieroglyphs and is probably of somewhat later date than Teotihuacan. All in all the conclusion seems safe that writing was unknown outside the Mayan area before Quetzalcoatl devised ways and means.

Building stone of good quality was available at this site and in consequence sculptures are plentiful. Particularly famous are the great sculptured columns which represent feathered serpents and gigantic human figures. The drums are mostly mortised and the columns are crowned by true capitals. These architectural features at Tula find their closest counterpart at the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan. Thetlachtlior ball court occurs at Tula and the groundplans of complicated “palaces” can also be made out.

The sacred city of Cholula, in the environs at Puebla, is chiefly famous for its great pyramid. This structure is more or less irregular in shape but the base averages more than a thousand feet on the side and the total height, now somewhat reduced, was probably close to two hundred feet above the plain. Compared with the Pyramid of Cheops, it covers nearly twice as much ground and has a much greater volume, but lacks of course, in height. As already noted, the pyramids of the New World are simply foundations for temples and thus always have flat tops. The great mound of Cholula is a solid mass of adobe bricks of uniform size laid in adobe mortar. The pyramid was evidently faced with a thick layer of cement of which a few patches still remain. Two other large mounds exist at Cholula. One of these has been partially destroyed and now stands as a vertical mass of adobe bricks while the other is overgrown with brush and cactus.

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