Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish AmericaJoyce, Thomas Athol
History
Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America
Joyce, Thomas Athol
Mayas -- Antiquities; Mexico -- Antiquities
Another legend makes the founder
of their state a Chichimec, one Mixcoamazatzin, whose name bears a
strong resemblance to that of the Chichimec hunting-god, Mixcoatl,
compounded with the native word for the miraculous deer, mazatl, with
which he was associated. Further, excavation has proved that before
the “Toltec” culture, another of lower grade existed in the valley.
This culture, at present the earliest of which traces can be found,
strongly resembles that of the Tarascan, and it rather merges into that
of the Toltec, while the latter is separated from that of the later
Nahua by a definite line of demarcation. As far as the evidence goes
at present, it is fair to draw the conclusion that the first settled
agriculturists in the Mexican valley were of the same stock as the
agricultural people around lake Pazcuaro; that upon them descended a
Nahua tribe from the north, coming in sufficient strength to impose
their language, who built up a culture which surprised the subsequent
immigrants of similar race when, at a considerably later period, they
followed in their footsteps. The tendency of rude hunting tribes to
rapid development when they adopt settled life has not yet been fully
recognized. There is no finer training for the human faculties than the
pursuit of hunting; it hardens the body, sharpens the observation, and
engenders a perpetual readiness to meet sudden emergencies. Agriculture
on the other hand, while promoting the development of the useful
arts to a certain pitch, is apt to result in stagnation. Students of
African ethnography are well aware that nearly all the great kingdoms
which have bloomed from time to time in Central Africa have had their
origin in the descent of a nomadic tribe upon an agricultural, the
former becoming sedentary and developing the arts which they received
from the latter far beyond their previous limits. This point however
is rather by way of illustration, for it does not wholly suffice to
account for the Toltec civilization, though it helps to explain the
rapidity with which the Aztec assimilated and developed the remains of
it. The Toltec culture bears a definite relation to remains which occur
at many sites in Oaxaca and Yucatan, these again are closely connected
with the magnificent remains of the early Maya of Chiapas, Guatemala
and Honduras. The exact relationship existing between the Maya and the
Toltec can only be discussed after the archæology of the former has
been considered, but it may be stated in anticipation that, as far as
we can say at present, the finest Maya remains appear to antedate those
of the Toltec, and therefore that the development of Toltec culture is
in part due to Mayan inspiration filtered, I believe, through the early
inhabitants of the Zapotec country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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