is 8.14.3.1.12. (about 50 A.D.).[1] Although, as Mr. Morley points out, these are the earliest dates we know of from the Maya area, it is to be noted that they do not differ essentially from the more recent inscriptions. They ought, therefore, to be regarded as introductory to the historic period, and it may be assumed that they were themselves preceded by many decades of development during which the first attempts at writing were gradually elaborated until the extremely complex Maya hieroglyphics were evolved in the form in which we know them.
II. The Golden Age or Old Empire of the Maya (200-600 A.D.). This period extended, roughly, from 9.2.10.0.0. (210) to 10.2.0.0.0. In this time many cities rose, flourished, and fell. Of these Palenque, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Tikal, Seibal, Quirigua, Copan, and Nakum are some of the more important. Like Seibal on the east and Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan on the west, Tikal and Nakum were not far from the Peten region to which our attention will be chiefly directed.[2] Indeed, Lake Peten lies in what is almost the geographical center of the area formerly occupied by the
- ↑ Mr. Bowditch (1901, p. 137) says that the earliest date at Quirigua is that on Stela C: 9.1.0.0.0. and that the latest is that on Stela K: 9.18.15.0.0. According to his reckoning there dates correspond approximately to 75 B.C. and 275 A.D. respectively. Mr. Bowditch informs us that other cities in the south show similar dates, and at the same time he points out that it is possible that these cities were occupied beyond the latest dates shown on the stelae. We see, then, that the difference berween Mr. Bowditch's computation and that of Mr. Morley rests solely in this: according to Mr. Bowditch the Golden Age or Old Empire had its beginnings as far back as 75 B.C.; Mr. Morley, on the other hand, believes that up to 200 A.D. there was a wholly indefinite Migratory period which led up to the Golden Age and to the Colonization period (that is, to 700 A.D.). From 7oo onward the two systems are the same. Whatever divergence exists between Mr. Bowditch and Mr. Morley on the subject of chronology concerns only the Golden Age or Old Empire cities.
- ↑ Nakum was first studied scientifically by Count Maurice de Perigny (1908). Its importance is exceeded, however, by that of Tikal, which, in addition to being very near Lake Peten, is now well known. Descriptions of this elaborate group of ruins are to be found in Charnay (1887), Maudslay (1883), and in other earlier writers. The most satisfactory work on Tikal is that of Maler and Tozzeer (1911). In both Nakum and Tikal the buildings are excellent examples of Old Empire construction, having massive substructures, towering superstructures, and a mass of intricate ornamentation. The dates at Tikal range from 9.2.13,0.0. to 9.15.13.0.0. (about 210-480 A.D.).
