Show I i I i LITTLE STONE DOll MAY GIVE CLUE TO I ANTIQUITY I ISmall Small Image Found Near Vera Cruz Older Th Than Thant t r Christian Era GLYPHS HOLD SECRET Characters If T Translated May Reveal Secret of Ancient Race WASHINGTON Tan 11 A A stone statuette found near Vera Cruz Mexico Mexico Mex Mex- ico leo which has been jeen een in the possession of the United States tates National museum since 1913 has recently been identified as the oldest known dated antiquity In America Its ancient Mayan i Inscriptions Inscriptions' show that it was made ye years rs before Christ which Is the oldest date authenticated in the new world This Image was round in 1902 by a peon while ploughing in the dis district of ofSan ofSan ofSan San Andres T Tuxtla near the Gulf GuU of I Mexico about one hundred miles southeast southeast southeast south south- east of V Vera ra Cruz Mexico and came cameto cameto cameto to th the museum through the co courtesy of R. R E. E the next year It ItIs ItIs Itis Is composed of hard green grayish-green stone a variety of nephrite or Jade carved into a rounded conical form about 6 inches in height and 3 inches In diameter at at- atthe the base Its general outlines give the impression of an old Mexican idol or priest in a cape or cossack The uppers upper part represents a human he head d with a somewhat point pointed d bald crown with well defined though primitively primitively primitively primi primi- cut features The lower part of the face is covered with a mask In ap appearance appearance appearance ap- ap resembling the bill of or a duck carved in relief and extending down over the chest like a beard The cheeks and ears are outlined by a conventional conventional conventional conven conven- scroll design which lends a genial expression to the face The idea of a cassock or other loose garment Is destroyed when the figure is examined closely for the birdlike form is further emphasized by the wings covering the sides of the figure the lower margins i of or which are carved to represent feathers feath feath- ers Beneath the wings the outlines or ofa oa a 1 birds bird's feet and legs are engraved Characters Inscribed On the front back and sides of oC this little figure are the peculiar characters called glyphs in which the early in inhabitants inhabitants in in- habitants of southern Mexico and the northern part of Central America known as the tho Maya wrote and recorded their early history and achievements So far only parts of the ancient ancient an an- dent inscriptions of the Maya have bave been deciphered the chronological skeleton of or Maya history as it were stripped of the events themselves Thirty Thirty Thirty Thir Thir- ty years ago Maya inscriptions were a sealed booked and yet today we read of the rise and fall of the several cities in relation to one another and follow the course course of or the native development even thou though h we cannot fill in the background back back- ground The nature of the several Inscriptions Inscriptions' in inscriptions inscriptions In- In Is of or course similar to more recent writings of this prehistoric race yet the forms of the particular charac tens are areso so el elemental mental that only the date signs or numbers Are are In determining the date on this figure fig fig- ure however a most valuable clew or Index to further research and investigation investigation investigation gation is gained by students of American Amer Amer- ican lean archaeology The locality of the find gives to further excavation there in the hope of locating more relics and possibly establishing the location of another settlement of some same branch of the Ma Maya a race The figurine in its conception c and execution is well within the range of ancient Mexican or Mayan achie achieve ement e- e ment and presents no features su sug of foreign origin or influence ence Made With With Hammers I 1 The general geneal shape evidently was la laborIously la- la worked out from a block of irregular conical outline by pecking With stone hammers the tho unevenness of the surface especially on the front and back never having been fully re removed removed removed re- re moved although the stone is well pol The under surface shows the characteristic markings produced by primitive methods of sawing hard stone I before the discovery of metals Broad shallow lines trace the composite features features fea fea- tures of the man and bird and establish establish lish the fact that th the polishing was done after atter they were cut The people responsible for this little Image known to anthropologists as the Mayas are now resident principally In Yucatan Chiapas Tabasco and In adJoining adjoining adjoining ad- ad Joining Central American republics but one small group the Huasteca is found In northern Vera Cruz It does no not seem unlikely that the entire coast line of the state was at one time tho the of these ancient peoples who have left us a key to their history re religion religion re- re ligion language and customs in the stone manikin described above |