Uaxactun, Guatemala -- Excavations of 1931-1937

Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington. Very Good. 1950. First Edition. Otiginal Printed Wrappers. Contents clean and complete in original printed wrappers; mild creasing at lower corner of outer leaves. 143 illustrations more than 20 of these are large fold out plates. Two folding maps in rear pocket. Large heavy book extra shipping may be required. OCLC 544772 A ground-breaking report on the archeological excavations at Uaxactun, an ancient sacred place of the Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands, in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. The site lies some 12 miles (19 km) north of the major center of Tikal. The name Uaxactun was given to the site by its rediscoverer, archaeologist Sylvanus Morley, in May 1916. He coined the name from Maya words Waxac and Tun, to mean "Eight Stones". The name has two meanings; Morley's stated reason for the name was to commemorate it as the first site where an inscription dating from the 8th Baktún of the Maya calendar was discovered (making it then the earliest known Maya date). Morley's initial investigation of the site mostly focused on the hieroglyphic inscriptions; after that Uaxactun was not visited again until 1924, when Frans Blom made a more detailed investigation of the structures and mapped the site. The Carnegie Institution conducted archeological excavations there from 1926 through 1937, led by Oliver Ricketson. The excavations added greatly to knowledge of the early Classic and pre-Classic Maya. The remains of several badly ruined late Classic era temple-pyramids were removed, revealing well-preserved earlier temples underneath them. .