Mayan Archeology

Actually, the archeologist must be prepared, as necessity demands, to assume the roles of diplomat, interpreter, timekeeper, bookkeeper, overseer, editor, cook, surveyor, draftsman, photographer, mule driver, shovel wielder, paymaster, carpenter, plaster worker, mechanic, or any other job that is required at the moment.

Also, no archeologist is immune to the joy of the experience of finding something unique or beautiful. Not even the most scientifically minded of us-those who insist with most fervor that archeological objects are of value only for the story that they reveal-can submerge the pleasure he feels when his trowel and brush disclose some object of intrinsic interest or beauty.

Therefore, the discovery of some of the finest known pre-Columbian American sculptures, and the moving of these and other larger monuments from the ruins of an old Maya city deep in the forests of Guatemala to permanent safety in museums in Philadelphia and in Guatemala City, afforded the members of the expedition considerable pleasure.  

When, in 1930, the University Museum of Philadelphia decided to begin excavations in the Maya region, which comprises Guatemala, southern Mexico, Yucatan, British Honduras, and northern Honduras, the possibility of bringing out some of the large monuments was one of the reasons why the site of Piedras Negras was chosen as the place for work.

There are many Maya cities, and new ones are being discovered almost every year. But most of them are buried deep in the tropical forests, far from any routes of travel and from navigable streams.

Piedras Negras, however, lies only a few miles above the head of navigation on the Usumacinta, a large river that drains much of Guatemala and forms, in its middle course, the boundary between Mexico and Guatemala. All that was necessary was to build a road about 30 miles long around the impassable falls and rapids that intervene, and out would come the monuments. Theoretically, it was a "cinch."

Hitherto, no large Maya sculptures had been removed far from their original sites. Moreover, the monuments of Piedras Negras had been, since their discovery by Teobert Maler in 1895, recognized as probably the most artistic in the entire Maya area. That means the finest sculptures of pre-Columbian America.

The Maya were remarkably busy builders. Apparently they were continually enlarging…"