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Show BASIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [ iSoo tant features. The great ruins of the Nahua group include Tula, Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Tepoztlan, Cholula, and Tenochtitlan, now the city of Mexico. Though this city was destroyed at the time of the conquest, a vast number of objects were buried beneath the soil on which the new city arose, and many of these have recently been brought to light. In the Huastecan and Totonacan regions are the ruins of Papantla, Misantla, Cuetla, Tusapan, and Cempoalla. The ruins on Monte Alban in Oaxaca are the most stupendous in all Mexico, and are supposed to represent the seat of the ancient capital of the Zapotec. Mitla, in the same district, is a noted example of ancient architecture, and in some ways the most remarkable in America. Here stones of many tons have been brought from quarries on the neighboring mountains, and all have been fitted together with the utmost nicety and precision. Here, as in many other places, complicated carved designs are found, covering whole faces of buildings, and all accomplished with nothing better than tools of stone or possibly of hardened copper. In the Maya region are remains of hundreds of towns remarkable for their size and elaborate sculptures. Among the most important may be mentioned Palenque, Mench6, Tikal, Labna, Kabah, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Quirigua, and Copan. One feature common to most of these ruins is the presence of pyramids, frequently of immense size, and usually surmounted by buildings. In Yucatan the |
