The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, November 28, 1933, Page 8

Tr ee es ee # vebese WRETETUPOCEERL LUT UER SES PPPEE ERR SS RECS URGE EEG RPE Tz A GEERT PEEPS EEL. ae a TUTTI TETRA TTC TE co OVEUNUN TTC HATA Ne = = = = = = = =. Yn HONINOANOANACUDOAS ADO UAHA OEE EAUC A.V LR IN s particularly at Uxmal, a © greatest cities of the Empire of Mayapan. s which they have brought to light. problems which confront: them. At what period of time did this structure or this article serve human- ity, what were its purpose and use, what customs or needs prompted its Construction or creation? These are some of the questions which chal- lenge scientists the moment their excavations or researches reveal a treasure from. the past. Then begins a diligent matching up of the world’s most complicated jigsaw puzzles, which evolve into history itself. it was some three years ago during a severe tropical storm that torrents of water washed the earth away from a section of a jungle-grown mound in the ancient city of Chichen-Itza, Yucatan. The exposed wall was carved with serried rows of human skulls, and excited fur- ther excavation which revealed a mammoth tomb enclosed by four v with these grinning death’s-heads—fist esti- mated at 500, and ultimately numbering 2200! Those engaged in the work named the place, covered entirely temporarily, the Tomb of the Kings. While laborers restored the walls of the tomb and two adjoining stone terraces of promising impor- tance, Senor Eduardo Martinez, C., chief in charge of field excavation unde: the auspices of the Department of Archaeology of Mexico, directed the work and conducted an extensive research among old documents and records for some historical reference to this gruesome structure. ae walls of one of the terraces were carved in high relief with alternating figures of the tiger, or jaguar, and the eagle, both of which were venerated .in the pagan worship of the ancient Mayas. Each of the eagles held a human heart in one claw, and each jaguar like- wise held a heart in its extended paw. The first conjecture was that they were de- vouring the human. hearts. And around the edge of the other terrace, forming a three-foot balustrade, was a row of carved projectile- shaped stones standing on end. What the eye beheld in this spectacular discovery was ghast- ly enough, but the later revelations concerning it far exceeded the most gruesome conjectures. For it was learned that this group of build- ings had served the Mayas in their practice of the most horrible of all sacrificial ceremonies; and in connection with this, several other mys- teries were solved which had long confounded scientists and students of the Maya civilization. One of these was the use of the so-called Chacmool figures, the name which was given by the early explorer, Le Plongeon, to the re- clining humah figures of varying sizes found in many of the prominent temples of Chichen-Itza. was the explanation of the imprint of the red hand over temple doorways and on door lintels, which had puzzled explorers from the beginning. These are conspicuous in many of the ruined cities besides Chichen-Itza, and another of the three ff Chacmool, the Mavan fire god, more correctly called Yum Kak, a prominent figure in the sacrifices performed at the J zompanili. By Edna Robb Webster HEN archaeologists and scientists probe into the mysteries of the ancient past, there usually is a long lapse of time be- tween actual discovery and the final solution of the puzzle And sometimes, in the long process of investigation, the answer is lost in the maze of baffling UT TETOAALUTNHLCLE VUTLTELLULH ULL al sketch from an ancient Mayan scroll, showing a hair-puiling sea preement in a Mayan family. An cagle holding a human heart. . . FTPHIS discovery of the tomb, then, was lik he finding of a master key, which opened a series of solutions. In the first place, the tomb did not, as had been supposed, contain the burials of kings. Bits of information and comparisons of rec- ords by the oldest historians disclosed that the structure had been built about 1027 A. D., during the reign of Kukulcan, the great Toltec leader from the west who had invaded the Maya territory at a time when their earlier organiza- tion had lost its power, and who instigated the formation of the Empire of Mayapan. - Tt was this leader who introduced to the Mayas and imposed upon them a pantheon of pagan deities and the many gruesome rites of human sacrifices which they afterward prac- ticed until the Spanish Conquest in 1541. His portrait is prominent in the ancient Maya Codices. * The skull-carved tomb was an imitation in stone of similar ones in old Mexico, which had been built by stringing actual ‘human. skulls upon poles’ and. placing them side by side to form a solid wall about a rectangular space. But because the custom was an innovation in Mayan cities, and the human skulls were not available, the carved stone skulls were substi- . One of the-bas-relief figures from the ancient city of Chichen-Itza. garding those in old Mexico, an early Spanish historian, Bernal Diaz, writes: i “IT remember having seen in a square in which there were certain sanctuaries, piles of human skulls which could be easily counted on account of the orderly manner in which they were placed. In my opinion, there were more than one hundred thousand.” if ae proper name for these places was Tzompantli, which in the Toltec language means, “Place. of Skulls.” These were made to hold the bones of sacrificed captives and slaves, who were offered by the prominent war- riors and nobles of the city to appease the wrath of their omnipotent gods, And ‘ere is where the mysterious imprints of the red hand come into the story, which had nothing to do with the ancient practice of black- mail. Quoting a translation from the ancient records: “The sacrifices began with abstinence and dances, and those who had done penance, men as well as women, discontinued these dances at midnight. They went to their homes, and at daybreak commenced the feast, for it was the holy worship day of the month. “The slaves who’ were about to die went to How the puzzling ancient symbols unearthed in Yucatan were identified with the most horrible of all sacrificial rites _ carried in succession STNVHINUUAVLILDI LELAND ATE TTT Uh a disk of smooth stone, on which there was a wet color of almagra red, or of the color of blue. * “They came into the presence of their masters, singing so loudly that it seemed as if they would rip their chests open; and when they arrived into the presence of their masters, they would place both hands on the colored or painted disk. Then they woyld stamp them over the door, on the posts of their masters’ house or on the walls, leaving there the impressions of the colors. “They did the same at the houses of their relatives, where some of them had the heart to eat; while others could not eat, with the thought of the death they would have to suffer. 66EJAVING gone through the cere- mony of making their hand prints on the walls, they awaited their masters’ many sheets and mantles that would be distributed during further cere- monies. Their masters placed this clothing upon the shoulders of those who should carry them, and on those who would have to die. “Then they formed a procession, and in the yards of the masters’ homes they marched around, circling them sev- eral times; then they started for the place of sacrifice. Arriving at the Tzompantli, they would discard their fine robes and’ sit up- on reed mats, where others would bring them delicious foods and drink, and they ate and drank. They had to sit all evening until the midnight.” Meanwhile, a roar- ing fire was kindled in the center of the stone terrace. When the fire was sufficiently hot, and the appointed how: of sacrifice had ar- rived, each victim.was J on the shoulders of a temple attendant, up the ten steps of the terrace, and thrown sacrificial rites to the tuted for the real ones, even to the imitation of the houses of their masters; to bid their fare- _ translation: - the potes which held the skulls together. Re- wells. They were.taken-to.a place in. front of “When thrown in, , ; (Copyright, 1933, by EveryWeek: Maifasine—Printed in U. &. A.) 4 0 = -<omeHNHHN pleasure, who now arranged in a pile. Kukulcan, fle wbodnced te ‘grucsome Mayans, an old Mayan ise building Me sacred eee. the (TJayan My-tery » ttt: Red |fand | jleart 4 A drawing based on an old print, showing the sacrificial ceremony in which the heart was removed from a human victim. there sprang up a cloud of ashes and a hole in the fire opened, where each fell, as it was all fire and cinders there. While in agony, the victims were dragged by means of hooks out of the fire by the priests, and put over a kind of chopping block. Then their breasts were opened and they took out their hearts while still beating and threw them at the feet of the huge stone statue of the god of fire.” Yum Kak is the correct Maya name for this fire god, which had always previously been named Chacmool, with no explanation of its use or purpose. This particular idol which was found in the buried debris of the Tzompantli is a huge monolithic carving of a reclining hu- man figure, having its head upraised and turned at right angles to the body. In a depression on the stomach, offerings were burned during the ceremony. And for centuries, those inscrutable eyes have gazed out over the crumbling city of a great past, while the idol guarded its secrets, ue eagles and jaguars which adorn the walls and appear to be devouring human hearts, are acting only as the intermediaries be- tween the ‘supplicating worshippers and: their vengeful gods. They are offering the hearts and imploring them to take to the gods a mes- sage in behalf of the sacrifice. And now, let us turn across the great plaza of that ancient city, upon which the torrid sun has blazed for untold centuries, to another new revelation of its secrets. In the towering pyra- nid of Kukulcan, of which no one had sus- pected such concealments, another surprise has been discovered. Under the capable direction of Senor Mar- tinez, the pyramid had been restored to its pris- tine splendor, with its four broad stairways of 92 steps each, nine symmetrical terraces and an imposing temple atop. Then the idea was conceived that this pyra- mid might contain a building of some earlier period of construction within its interior. Ex- cavation began in the center of the south stairway at ground level, and at last it was discovered that a smaller pyramid, iden- tical in structure, was contained within the larger one. It. was topped by a small temple, which had been built by the pre- historie predecessors of the Mayans, But while this ex- cavation work is not yet completed, at the foot of the inner north stairway, the work- shown in.an . aa ~tUUOAOAUAAAAAL AAD AAAO UAL AULA A MOANA AEA fQV00 01100 Rg LLL so*@MTUNINGNTUALONENOTOTO HA SHAH sca = 7 r 1 d | mn ee eT UMMM TUC I cn