Word: copans
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...recorded accurately. On Dec. 10,580 B. C., the perfected calendar was formally inaugurated and functioned without loss of a single day until the Mayan records were destroyed by the Spanish Inquisition in Yucatan, in 1561 A. D. These dates, positively fixed by inscriptions in the Mayan city of Copan, in western Honduras, were probably set by one man, an unknown mathematical and astronomical genius who was unquestionably one of the greatest scientists of all time. The Mayas set the beginning of the world in 3373 B. C., counting back from their fixed date seven cycles of 144,000 days...
...hills on either side of the town of Copan in Honduras the ancient Mayans erected two monuments. These points determined a base line, running due cast and west. By standing on the eastern monument the ancient astronomers were able to take accurate measurements of the point at which the sunset. From these observations, which were recorded daily in hieroglyphics, they computed eclipses, and other astronomical data...
...Peabody Museum has issued a report of the expedition sent out last year, under Mr. Gordon, to investigate and decipher the inscriptions on the Hieroglyphic Stairway at Copan, Central America. The expedition was absent nine months and succeeded in uncovering all the stairway that still remains in position. There were originally eighty-five steps in the flight, but now only fifteen remain. The work of the expedition consisted principally of replacing the fallen steps in their proper order so that the inscriptions carved on the front of the steps could be deciphered. Mr. Gordon was finally enabled to translate...
Beside this collection, an interesting set of articles of dress and about five hundred photographs have been brought from the highlands of Guatemala by Mr. Gordon of the Museum. In past years he has been engaged in excavations in the ruined cities of Guatemala, Quirigua and San Augustin, and Copan in Honduras, and during the past winter he has been living in the highlands, among the remnants of the Maya race, the founders of these cities, in order to discover traditions in regard to the history of the cities and the reason they were deserted. These attempts have been without...
Active work has been done in all departments of the Museum during the year. Exploration in Central America has been successfully continued, and photographs, moulds, casts, and sculptures have been added to the collections. The series of moulds taken from the great Hieroglyphic Stairway of Copan has been completed and a model of the ancient city is now in the Central American Hall of the Museum. T. e. Sacred Buffalo Hide and other articles belonging to the Omaha Indians, which were stolen from their keeper just as he was about to present them to the Museum have been found...