Mexican archæology

British Museum
MEXICO
Human Skull, incrusted with Mosaic, representing Tezcatlipoca
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHÆOLOGY OF THE MEXICAN AND MAYAN CIVILIZATIONS OF PRE-SPANISH AMERICA. BY THOMAS A. JOYCE, M.A. WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS LONDON: PHILIP LEE WARNER MDCCCCXIV
By the same Author : SOUTH AMERICAN ARCHÆOLOGY
The object of this small book is to summarize shortly the extent of our knowledge concerning the life and culture of the Mexican and Maya peoples of pre-Spanish America. It has no pretence whatever to finality; indeed, the time is not within sight when a complete elucidation of all the problems connected with this most fascinating area can be put forward. At the same time it is useful to pause occasionally and summarize results, if only because attention is thereby drawn to the more serious gaps in the data available, and it becomes easier to direct the course of future investigations. An ulterior motive lies in the hope that a little stimulus may be given to American studies in this country, which have languished sadly during the past few years. This fact is all the more to be regretted since Englishmen, such as Dr. A. P. Maudslay, have done so much in the past to unveil the mysteries of ancient American civilization, and the collection at the British Museum, though small, is rich in the finest collection in the world of Mexican mosaics. At present, as far as the Old World is concerned, the torch has passed to Germany, the labours of whose investigators, in particular of Dr. Seler, have done so much to place the study of American antiquities upon a thoroughly scientific footing. No part of the world, perhaps, has formed the subject of so many wild theories as ancient Mexico, and few present so many fascinating riddles to the expert. It has therefore been impossible in the present work to keep clear of controversial ground, but I have tried as far as possible to take a sane view of each problem, and to indicate in some measure the evidence for each conclusion. Many of the suggested solutions are purely tentative, and must doubtless be modified in the light of subsequent investigations. This remark applies especially to the scheme of dating which forms an appendix. I am quite prepared to be accused of rashness in presenting it, and I admit that it is purely provisional. But I think it may have its use as a frame-work for history, and it will at least serve the purpose of exciting criticism. Subsequent to its preparation a monograph on “Maya Art,” by Dr. Spinden, has made its appearance under the auspices of the Peabody Museum in America, in which the author provides a somewhat similar scheme. His table differs somewhat from mine, but I think that the reasons for my dating, which I give in the last chapter, render mine the more satisfactory, and I have therefore made no alteration. His full treatment of Maya art has however led me to curtail my remarks on that subject, since much of what I had written appears on his pages; and I have rather given emphasis to those points of difference which exist between us.