scattered over
Mexico and Central America. Fortunately, however, owing to the
investigations in the Valley of Mexico, we have abundant material for
the reconstruction of the sequence of cultures. Three successive strata
of occupation have been found in the Valley of Mexico. The earliest of
these, the Archaic, is also found in many other places throughout
Mexico and Central America. There is some reason to suppose that this
culture was at one time fairly uniform throughout the greater part of
Middle America. The local developments seen in the Maya, the Zapotec,
and the early Mexican cultures may have been the result of
modifications of the Archaic culture. Above this Archaic stratum in the
Valley of Mexico is found the Toltec or Teotihuacan culture. This is
synchronous with late Maya of the sixth period on our table.
Manifestations of its art are found in the latest buildings at Chichen
Itza.

I. Migratory Period (?-200 A.D.). The two earliest dated Maya
inscriptions that we have are those on the Tuxtla statuette and on the
Leyden plate. (Morley, 1915, p. 194 ff.; Holmes, 1916.) The former is
dated, in the Maya system of chronology, 8.6.2.4.17. (about 100 B.C.);
the date on the latter 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. (600).
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 Old Empire. It is significant,
therefore, that Mr. Morley has found at the modern town of Flores (in
Lake Peten) t