National Library of Scotland *6000391201* THE CONQUEST OF THE MAYA By the Same Author ANCIENT AMERICA HANNO, OR THE FUTURE OF EXPLORATION SPARTACUS ETC BAS-RELIEF FROM THE SO-CALLED TEMPLE OF THE SUN, PALENQUE The figure-carving is among the most exquisite in Old Empire sculpture By permission of the trustees of the British Museum THE CONQUEST OF THE MAYA By J. LESLIE MITCHELL With a Foreword by PROFESSOR G. ELLIOT SMITH M A., M.D., Litt.D., D.Sc., etc., F.R.S. JARROLDS Publishers LONDON Limited, 34 Paternoster Row, 5.C.4 MCMXXXIV Made and Printed in Great Britain at Tht Mayflower Press, Plymouth, William Brendon & Son, Ltd. TO ALEXANDER GRAY, M.A. FOREWORD EVER since its existence was made known to the people of Europe, the exotic civilization of the mysterious Maya people in Central America has always excited the curiosity and aroused the interest of both scholars and the man in the street. But the interest and importance of the Maya civilization are far more significant than the merely intrinsic curiosity they excite, for the problems which the attempt to interpret this civilization sets involve the fundamental issues of anthropology. As I have recently devoted a whole volume {J'he Diffusion of Culture) to the elaboration of this aspect of the prob- lem, it is unnecessary for me to discuss it in detail here. When the Europeans discovered what was aptly called the “ New World ” they were amazed to find the strange people who inhabited it engaged in prac- tices—architectural, artistic, religious, ritual, agri- cultural, and social—that presented obvious likenesses to those of the Old World. The problem arose of deciding what significance this resemblance involved —whether it was due to the spread of ideas and practices from Asia or Europe, or whether it implied independent development that led to the same arbi- trary result. For centuries men have wrestled with this problem, until anthropological theory for the world at large has become involved in the essentially American issue. Although much has been written about the Maya people and their achievements, the vast significance of their civilization has never been adequately ex- pounded in a connected and coherent work. It has remained for Mr. Leslie Mitchell to expound this great theme in this lucid and illuminating book, in which he has put the issues clearly and given enough 10 FOREWORD information and discussion to define the problems and suggest their solution. No discussion of these matters can be regarded as adequate unless it deals with the issues in a comparative way, using the ample anthropological materials collected from the world at large in recent years. Mr. Leslie Mitchell has the wide knowledge and competence to achieve this difficult task and write a book which forms a definite contribution to the great task of anthro- pology, for he has interpreted the issue which repre- sents the foundation of anthropological theory. If he had done nothing more than cut the Gordian knot of the calendar-discussion he would have rendered a great service to anthropologists: but his achieve- ment is far greater. By explaining the function of the calendar and its intimate relations to the agri- cultural and social affairs of the Maya, he has inci- dentally interpreted the essential elements of this people’s culture. He has achieved a great work which will earn the gratitude of all students of Human History. G. ELLIOT SMITH. I934- CONTENTS FOREWORD 9 INTRODUCTION I5 CHAPTERI. REDISCOVERY OF THE MAYA .... 21 i. The Land and the Monuments ii. Scripts, Chronicles, and Commentators II. PRE-MAYAN AMERICA 38 i. Early Man ii. Early Man in America iii. The Archaic Culture in Central America III. RISE OF THE MAYA OLD EMPIRE ... 56 i. Origins ii. The Ancient Stone-built Sites iii. Architecture in the Ancient Sites iv. Sculptural Art in the Ancient Sites v. Painting, Pottery, and the Minor Arts vi. The Sciences in the Ancient Sites vii. Script and Calendar in the Ancient Sites viii. Religion in the Ancient Sites ix. Origins Reconsidered IV. THE HISTORY OF THE MAYA OLD EMPIRE . 123 i. The Dated Inscriptions Cease ii. War or Peace ? iii. Old Empire Historical Fiction iv. The Strayings of the “ Toltec ” Xiu v. The End of the Maya Old Empire r- V. LIFE IN A CITY OF THE ANCIENT MAYA . .148 i. Footnotes to Caution ii. Morning iii. Evening VI. RISE OF THE MAYA NEW EMPIRE . .169 i. Origins ii. The Sites iii. Art and Architecture iv. The Sciences v. The Katun Count and the Ritual Calendar vi. Social Grades and the Economic Life 11 12 CONTENTS rAGB CHAPTSB VII. INTERLUDE IN ANCIENT MEXICO . 193 VIII. THE HISTORY OF THE MAYA NEW EMPIRE . 203 i. The Great Descent ii. The Little Descent iii. The Golden Age of Itza iv. The Coming of Kukulcan v. The Reign of Kukulcan vi. The League of May afan vii. The End of the League viii. The Period of Disunity ix. The Great Hurricane x. Pestilence and War IX. THE CONQUEST OF THE MAYA .... 231 i. Preludes and Prophecies ii. Expedition of Hernandez de Cordoba iii. Expedition of Juan de Grijalva iv. Expeditions of Hernando de Cortes v. Montejo lands in Yucatan vi. Eviction of the Spaniards vii. The last Five Years of Mayan Freedom viii. Return of the Spaniards EPILOGUE 268 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 271 INDEX 275 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS BAS-RELIEF FROM THE SO-CALLED TEMPLE OF THE SUN, PALENQUE ....... Frontispiece FACING FAGS TIKAL : SMALL TEMPLE ON PYRAMIDAL FOUNDATION . 66 MONOLITHIC SCULPTURE AT COPAN : THE “ ARCHAIC PHASE” 80 MONOLITHIC SCULPTURE AT COPAN : THE “ FORMAL PHASE ” 82 MONOLITHIC SCULPTURE AT COPAN : THE “ CLASSIC PHASE” 84 BAS-RELIEF FROM MENCHE—YAXCHILAN 116 SKULL DECORATION ON AN ALTAR AT COPAN 118 TRANSPACIFIC DIFFUSION OF A SCULPTURAL MOTIF BASED ON A GREEK MYTH 120 RUINS OF A MAYA “COLLEGE” AT CHICKEN ITZA. 142 FRONT OF THE SO-CALLED HOUSE OF THE GOVERNOR, 156 INNER DOORWAY OF THE GREAT BALL COURT, CHICKEN ITZA . , 162 SCULPTURED MONOLITHS OF THE SO-CALLED TEMPLE OF THE TABLES, CHICKEN ITZA 164 FACADE OF THE SO-CALLED HOUSE OF THE NUNS, UXMAL 174 APPARENT BUILDING IN STOREYS : THE “ PALACE,” LAYIL ^6 8 A TEMPLE AT CHACMULTUN *7 A FINELY-PILLARED TEMPLE AT LABNA . 186 HEADS OF THE RAIN-GOD ON THE HOUSE OF THE NUNS, UXMAL IN THE TEXT PAGB 26 THE EGYPTIAN-LIKE FIGURE AT PALENQUE . ITZAMNA, THE MAYA ZEUS . • 34 78 THE “FALSE ARCH” IN TARENTUM AND PALENQUE 13 14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE WINGED DISC 87 THE UPPER PART OF STELA B AT COPAN 88 THE ELEPHANT-HEADED GOD CHAC .... 113 THE HINDU MONKEY-GOD HANUMAN AS A MAYA DEITY 114 THE ELEPHANT-HEAD DECORATION ON STELA B AT COPAN 121 THE SO-CALLED MAYA “DEATH-GOD” . 144 A GOD 160 THE SO-CALLED “ SUN-GOD ” 184 THE SO-CALLED MAIZE-GOD ...... 227 A VARIANT OF GOD CHAC 229 INTRODUCTION rr^HE explorations, excavations and writings of Gann, Blom, Le Farge, Eric Thompson, Morley, Earl Morris and others within the last two decades have made the word Maya well known to the average educated reader , and only a very little research would open his eyes to the im- mense amount of literary discussion the ancient Mayas have provoked during the last four hundred years. He would find books by the score on them : books by antiquaries, books by archaeologists, books by Americanists, books by Egyptologists, books of science and books of senility ; books of incredible dullness, books with exasperating lacunae, books of a fatuous erudition. He would find that the Maya were descended from the ancient Israelites, from the Prophet Joseph Smith’s colonists, from the ancient Egyptians, from the Polynesians, from the Chinese, from the Thibetans, from the Cro-magnards, from Plato’s Atlanteans. Also, he would discover that they civilized ancient Egypt and Sumeria, and were the originators of all human civilization, including that of Atlantis. He would learn from one school of writers that they were not even semi-civilized, that their buildings were masses of rubble, their writing a primitive picture-script, their religion fetishism, their kingdoms myths, their social life and customs similar to those of cannibal Caribs, who were prob- ably their cultural superiors. Alternatively, it would appear that in certain aspects of art and branches of science they were on a level with present-day Europe and far in advance of the Europe contemporary to themselves—immoderately beyond the furthest achievements of the old Nilotic or Two River civili- zations ; that their glyphs undoubtedly enshrined an alphabet; that their religion was foreigner- 16 INTRODUCTION debased, but originally pure, containing a figure as morally impressive as the Buddha; that their customs and speech differed completely from that found anywhere else on the American or any other continent. Except in the case of the hardiest, the natural re- action before this choice of fine, mixed reading is a recoil of dismay. To charter these swamps and seek out the life and history of an actual people and civil- ization appears such task as might occupy several lifetimes. Fortunately this is no more than a superficial impression. That the Maya are capable of being at least partly rescued both from the ancient litter of the antiquary and the modern piled detail of exca- vation is proved by two recent books—the History of the Maya, by Dr. Thomas Gann and Mr. J. Eric Thompson, and Histoire des peuples mayas-quiches, by MM. J. Genet and P. Chelbatz. Both of these books are plain-told tales, and the author of the present volume, had he con- sidered them completely (and satisfactorily) explan- atory and expository, would have had no excuse for attempting to supplant them.