Page:The American Indian.djvu/145

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ARCHITECTURE
101

did not develop far enough to constitute an architectural feature. Some remarkable feats of masonry are found, and the skill of these ancients in handling cement and transporting huge masses of stone excites our admiration.


Fig. 50. A Cross-Section of the Temple of the Cross, Palenque, Chiapas.
Holmes, 1895−1897. I


In the essential characteristics we have noted, there is little to distinguish between the buildings of Peru and Yucatan, though, as we shall see presently, they did have important differences. The present state of our knowledge suggests that all the ruins of southern Mexico and of the adjoining Central American states are historically related; but the type seems to disappear toward the Isthmus and reappears in Ecuador.