File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17972649178).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo17amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image:
THE RUINS OF TULOOM, YUCATAN 197
Text Appearing After Image:
At the height of the glory of Tuloom, the glistening white buildings with their barbaric mural paintings, standing out clearly against the dark green forests" of the seaward slope, the crowds of gaily dressed natives thronging the shore, and the brilliant blue of the Caribbean Sea stretching between, so impressed Padre Diaz, the priestly chronicler of the Grijalva expedition, that he was moved to write that his beloved "Seville would not have appeared more considerable or better." Panoramic sketch by Mr. S. E. Lothrop bly primarily to enclose the temple area, its admirable defensive possibili- ties can hardly have been overlooked, and would appear to have been intensi- tied by the use of narrow offset passage- ways and watchtowers. Within the walls are scattered a score or more of buildings, and there are perhaps half as many, although smaller, hidden in the bush outside. The ground rises gently from the south- west corner of the enclosure to the top of the bluff along the sea. The principal temple, the so-called "Castillo," sur- mounts this crest facing toward the en- closure, that is, away from the sea. This is an elaborate construction on three different levels, the two-room building on top, probably the chief sanctuary of the city, being approached by a broad steep stairway. The flank- ing structures on either side are sym- metrically arranged with reference to the central part, and present a number of interesting features, such as columns, wooden lintels, stucco figures, faces, animals, and mural paintings. The architecture of Tuloom is dis- tinctly of a late and debased period. Stylistically considered, the greater part of the structures now standing proba- bly dates from after 1200 a.d. when the Maya had all but lost their ancient cunning. The building blocks are not even squared or faced,^ as the walls were finished with a hard plaster coat. While the latter is doubtless true of other great Maya cities both of the Old and New Empires, that is, of the south and north respectively, elsewhere the Iniilding blocks are both squared and faced. The Tuloom masons, on the other hand, were slovenly and de- pended upon the plaster finish to cover up the more glaring faults of their 1 Mr. Lothrop noted a possible e.vception in the walls of Temple 30, where the blocks appear to liave Ijeen both squared and dressed.

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