Fig. 104.—Petroglyphs in Nicaragua.
GUATEMALA.
The following extract is taken from the work of Dr. S. Habel (a):
Santa Lucia is a village in the Republic of Guatemala, in the Department of Esquintla, near the base of the Volcano del Fuego, at the commencement of the inclined plane which extends from the mountain range to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. * * *
The sculptured slabs are in the vicinity of the village. The greater number of them form an extended heap, rendering it probable that there are others hidden from view that more extended researches would reveal. * * * All the sculptures, with the exception of three statues, are in low relief, nearly all being in cavo-relievo, that is, surrounded by a raised border, the height of which indicates the elevation of the relief. The same kind of relief was practiced by the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians.
In seven instances the sculpture represents a person adoring a deity of a different theological conception in each case. One of these seems to represent the sun, another the moon, while in the remaining five it is impossible to define their character. All these deities are represented by a human figure, of which only the head, arms, and breast are correctly portrayed, proving that the religious conceptions had risen to anthropomorphism, while the idols of the nations of Central America and Mexico, which have previously come to our knowledge, are represented by disfigured human forms or grotesque images.
Four of the other sculptures represent allegorical subjects; two of them the myth of the griffin, the bird of the sun.
The slabs on which the low reliefs are sculptured are of various sizes; the greater number of these, like those representing the deities, are 12 feet in length, 3 feet in width, and 2 feet in thickness. Nine feet of the upper part of these stones are occupied by the sculptures, while the lower 3 feet appear to have served as a base.
Several illustrations of these rock sculptures are presented, infra, as Figs. [1235] and [1236]. It is evident that these very large slabs received their markings when they were in the locality in which they are now found so can be classed geographically.