Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/435

* MEXICAN ARCHAEOLOGY. 399 MEXICAN ARCH^ffiOLOGY. menso structure of La Quemaila in Zacatpcas. •nliich have been but little studied; but they are probably the ruins of an ancient Nahua set- tlement. In ilichoacau the ruins of Tzintzuntzan bear some resemblance to those of La Quemada. This region of the Taraseos has been little ex- plored. The great ruins of the Nahuas include Tula, Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Tepoztlan, Cho- hila, and Tenoehtitlan, now the City of Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztecs, the predomi- nant branch of the Nahuas, at the time of the Conquest ; beneath the soil of the City of Mexico lies buried a vast number of objects, and also the bases of temples, although the imposing struc- tures and the greater number of the sculptures, idols, books, etc., of Montezuma's seat were de- stroyed by the Spaniards. In the Huaxtecan and Totonacan districts are the ruins of Papantla, Jlisantla, Ceutla, Tusapan, and Cempoalla ; while in the State of Oaxaca, Monte Alban. the ancient capital of the Zapotecs, is one of the most stupendous ruins in Mexico. Mitla, in the same district, has nQthing in common with Za- potec remains and must be ascribed to the Xahuas. In the Maya region are the remains of hundreds of cities, the most important of which are Palenque, Piedras Ncgras, Menche, Seibal, Tikal, Labna, Kabah, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Quirigua, and Copan. In the arts the ancient Jlexicans show a sur- prising progress. For the architecture of ancient Mexico, see Akch.eology, American; Mitla; Palencjue. Sculptures in stone are found, ranging in size from the small amulets, representing deities, and designed as personal ornaments, to monu- ments of colossal size, such as the so-called Mexi- can calendar stone, and the great stelae of the ruins of Quirigua. In wood-carving the Mexi- cans displayed even greater skill than in the working of stone. The great altar tablets of Tikal, the wooden drums, and the atlatls or throwing-sticks splendidly carved, and in some instances covered with gold leaf, attest their proficiency in this branch of art. Carving, whether in stone, wood, bone, or shell, was done with stone or copper tools. Jadeite. emerald, rock ciTstal, turquoise, and serpentine were carved into numberless varieties of personal or- naments, chiefly in the territory of the Mixtecs and Zapotecs of Oaxaca, and by the Mayas in the mountainous parts of Chiapas. The Nahuas and Zapotecs fashioned mosaics on wood, shell, and clay, using bits of shell, jadeite, turquoise, obsidian, mother-of-pearl, and hematite to form the designs. In the ceramic art the' products of the several civilized nations are quite distinct, and we may determine their provenance with a certain amount of exactness. The terracotta figures of the Ja- lisco district, the ware from the vicinity of Chohila. the funeral urns from the Oaxaca Val- ley, and the pottery from the Maya region are characteristics of each ceutre. In metallurgv- we find the ancient Taraseos. the Aztecs. Totonacs, Mixtecs, and Zapotecs were very skillful in the manipulation of copper into axes, tweezers, rings, rattles, and bells. Beautiful objects of gold have been found in the Matlantzinea region near To- luca and in the Jlixtecan and Zapotecan areas, which are the very highest achievement of the ancient American goldsmiths. Ear. nose, and lip ornaments; beautiful bells, some representing symbolic faces and animals' heads: beads; circu- lar breastplates; the copilli or crown of rulers, and even remains of armor made of the precious metal, have been found in ancient graves during recent years. Unfortunately the greater part of these "finds' go to the melting pot. The ancient ilexicans believed in a future life which was graded according to the manner of death, and among the Zapotecs they had elaborate funeral ceremonies and sacrificed slaves to assist the shades of important persons on their journey to paradise. They had greater and lesser deities. The principal god of the Aztecs was Teotl, who was worshiped as a supreme being. Next to Teotl, Tezcatlipoca was venerated as the soul of the world, who rewarded the righteous and pun- ished the unrighteous. The great beneficent god was Quetzalcoatl among the Nahuas, called Kukulcan by the Mayas, the great feathered serpent deity, undoubtedly a deified culture hero. He invented" the arts and" taught the people wis- dom by his laws. According to his various at- tributes he appears under different names, as do many other gotls of the ^lexican pantheon. Tlaboc "was the god of rain, and among the Aztecs. Huitzilopochtli, the terrible war god, was patron and protector. There were godrt of the hunt and chase, of play, flowers, wine, merchants, trickery, lust, and so forth, while each trade and occupation had its own patroa deity. The religious rites were elaborate and prescribed with minuteness. The multiplicity of gods required a great number of priests and priestesses, who were almost as highly venerated as the deities they served. There were degrees of priesthood and religious orders ; fixed and movable festivals. The great teocallis or god- houses were commanding edifices of stone, built on high truncated pyramids with annexed build- ings. Their idols were many and hideous, smeared with the blood of human and animal sacrifices. Among certain of these civilized tribes we find artificial fiattening of the head : also trepana- tion, and decoration of the teeth by filing and interlaying with certain stones, such as jadeite, turquoise, obsidian, and hematite, rock crystal and obsidian. Labrets, or lip ornaments, made of obsidian and gold, were inserted in holes in the lower lip ; V-shaped ornaments of obsidian and shell were hung from the nose, and large ornaments were inserted in incisions in the ears. JIany of the musical instruments are still ex- tant, and we find in various museums examples of the teponoztli. the horizontal drvun, made from a log of wood hollowed out on the under surface and having two tongues cut on the up- per one, which were beaten with rubber-tipped sticks. Among the instruments were the upright drum, of a hollowed log of wood, with skin-cov- ered top, beaten with the hands; flageolets, whis- tles, and rattles of clay; trumpets: and rattles of shell and notched human bones from the arm or leg. rasped with a bone or shell. Painting was another art in which the ancient Mexicans had made remarkable progress. This is shown by the mural paintings of Teotihuacan, Mitla, and Chichen Itza. and those recently discovered in British Honduras. One of the most important sources of information for the study of ancient Mexico is found in the existing pictorial and hieroglyphic codices, or books. As is well known, several of the tribes of Jlexico had attained a