Abstract
An Unexplored Culture-Area in Yucatan, An account of discoveries of ruined cities discovered on a journey of archaeological exploration in Campeche has recently been published by Mr. Cyrus Longworth Lundell (Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., Philadelphia, 72, No. 3). The area, which was approached up the Champoton River, lies midway between the two great regions of Mayan civilisation, the Southern, which reached its apogee about A.D. 731, and the Northern, which centred at Chichen Itza and attained its highest development in the two centuries after A.D. 1263. Important as a link between the two cultures, this country was archaeologically unexplored. The first site to be discovered was that of Calakmul, which is now being excavated under the direction of Dr. Silvanus P. Morley and has proved to be one of the most important cities discovered in recent years, ranking with Copan, Tikal and Palenque. The second site to be discovered was Nohoxna, a city built on a natural acropolis, twenty miles to the south-west of Calakmul, which appears to have been a great astronomical observatory, as well as one of the most important Mayan ceremonial centres. Nine stelae, a “Mound of the Three Temples”, a “castillo”, exceptionally well preserved, and other remains were found. Eleven more sites of ruins were located, while information concerning several others was obtained. An impressive and unique monument along the southwestern edge of the Calakmul lake, now silted up, is the “Wall of the Kings”, a wall about ninety feet long, now more than twenty feet high, and about a metre thick. It is remarkable for five identical grotesque masks representing the jaguar, which appear at intervals on the lower part of the frieze, with a life-sized human figure on a projection above each of the masks. At each end of the wall is another life-sized human figure, apparently neither a priest nor ruler. Further information and observation indicated the vast field here open to archaeological exploration; but for the moment investigations are to be confined to Calakmul.
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Research Items. Nature 132, 572–573 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132572a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132572a0