before the final burst of higher culture in these two centers. Granting that in this burst they may have been independent, they nevertheless had the same heritage from which to fashion their art.
One argument for their independence is to be found in the secondary decorative features. In this respect the northern buildings are far in the lead. The embellishment of the façades is often intricate and full round sculptures are let into the walls by tenons; stucco reliefs are built out upon rough skeletons of stone work; and elaborate mosaics of separately carved stones are arranged so as to make grotesque faces, as
Fig. 53. Restored Section of the Hall of the Six Columns, Mitla, Mexico. Holmes, 1895−1897. I
well as geometric patterns. A special feature is the use of monolithic monuments commonly called stelæ, placed around and among buildings, the surfaces of which are richly carved with pictographs and hieroglyphs. The exterior and inside ornamentation was often painted in a very skilful way.
When we turn to Peru, such monuments are conspicuously absent and the exteriors of the buildings are, in the main, plain.[1] Still, we have an approach to it in the celebrated stucco walls of Chanchan, bearing an elaborate textile design, and in the inland we find traces of painting upon smooth stucco, suggesting that there was a great deal of such ornamentation that has disappeared. Then we have a few noted monoliths, as the Chavin stone and the very remarkable gateway at Tiahuanaco. To these may be added the curious sculptures at San Augustine, Colombia. Both the stucco and the monolithic carvings have a certain general resemblance to those of the Maya, but on the other hand, they have great differences. It is also noticeable that they have their counter-
- ↑ Joyce, 1912. I.
