Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, March 28, 1963, Image 16

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Medford mail tribune., March 28, 1963, Image 16

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1963)

Prev Page of 34 Next Prev Issue Next Text PDF JP2 (2.7 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Prev Page of 34 Next Prev Issue Next

Newspaper Page TextMEPFOHP MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFOHD, OREGON THURSDAY, MARCH 21. 1H3 g y IrHieroglyphics CHIold Secrets otf Aftaycm Civilizotoom) By ROBERT MUSEL United Piesi International London - IUPI) - Elementary my dear Sherlock Holmes. If you had the corpse and the clues and all you had to do was put them together and nab the culprit. Now, if you want to meet a real detective, come with me to the little village of Ashron in Essex, to an Ed wardian manse just up the road from the half-timbered tudor headquarters from which Oliver Cromwell or dered the overthrow of the British monarchy three cen turies ago. This is the home of Dr. J. Eric S. Thompson, recently of the Carnegie Institution in Washington who (with other archeologists elsewhere) is en gaged in a feat of detection infinitely more difficult than ever was dreamed by the master-sleuths of fiction. Dr. Thompson is trying to decipher the hieroglyphic writings left behind by the Maya people who flourished in the forest of Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico from about 200 A.D. to 900 A.D. and then mysteriously vanish ed into obscurity. The Spanish conquerers of the 16th Century found the remnants of the Maya and were the first to marvel at the mighty ruins of the only civilization in history that came into being in a tropical forest. CentUries later came the scientists such as Dr. Thomp son and they took up the chal lenge of the Maya language as it has come down to us in the hieroglyphic carvings of a thousand or so monu ments and in the first "books" written on the American con inent. So far the language remains mostly a mystery although over the years the Maya sys tem of numbering and dating has become clearer. They had, these frugal peo ple who lived in thatched huts in the shadows of their great stone cathedrals, an obsession with time. But the vital clue to what really happened to the Maya nation of 3,000,000 somewhere about 900 A.D. when its temp les began to fall into decay and its civilization into dis array eludes the "detectives." There is always the thought that it may be locked some where in the stone carvings or in the three existing books found among the stone ruins built on a scale rivalling many of the shrines and pyra mids of ancient Egypt. No Alaphabet Apparently they did not have an alphabet. Thus there will never be a Maya "rosetta stone." This was a slab carved in Egyptian hieroglyphics with a translation in Greek which made it comparatively easy for scientists to solve the written language of the Pharoahs. Obviously the priest ruler of a Maya city knew what he wanted when he ordered his scribes or sculptors to re cord certain events. But it is evident the artists had the widest license in interpreting his instructions in stone or paint. Dr. Thompson said he knew of one glyph which had been "written'1 down at least 80 different ways! So in a sense he and other Maya experts are faced with the problem of reading the mind of a priest ruler as a Maya artist dead 1000 years or more. It is an enigma so fasci nating and the scientific ku dos fo. translating the lang uage will be so great that the Russians turned over one of their electronic computers to Prof. Yuro Knorozov in the hope he would beat Dr. Thompson and the rest of the world to a final solution. In due course Prof. Knoro zov triumphantly announced: "The Marxist-Leninist ap proach has succeeded In de ciphering the glyphs." Claim Success Later on he referred to Dr. Thompson, the distinguished author of "Maya archaeolo gist", and his colleagues of Carnegie as "lackers of Amer ican imperialism." "But of course he didn't decipher many of the glyphs,' Dr. Thompson smiled. "Ac tually he also used those translations we have managed to get. When the fanfare fad ed so did Prof. Knorozov." Dr. Thompson, a youthful 64 (these scientist veterans of the disease-ridden Central American Jungles must be a sturdy lot one of them was killed in a traffic accident in Paris at the age of 109 when he turned to look at a pretty girl) put the problem this way: "The Maya used Rebus writing. If you want to write 'I see Aunt Peg' in Rebus BIG 7 DAY STOREWIDE DISCOUNT SAL freestone PEACHES M?a H S)C I DRINKS Haley's Orange or Grape 46-oz. can m GOLD HILL REARS tfo.2',can W FASHION CURL 14-OZ. CAN HAIR SPRAY Reg. price .... $1.09 Our price . . . ., . 49c Save 60 AERO SHAVE BOMB Reg. price 89c Our price . . . .'."44c Save 45c s WHITE CROSS 5-YD. SPOOL ADHESIVE TAPE Reg. price . ..... 25c Our price . . . .. . 19c Save 6 rCiiii'jiii' 'i FLOUR 10;. 89c r: 89c 2-lb. Can or Geld Medal or Pillibury WELLMAN'S CHOICE COFFEE -45c FIRESIDE . . FIG BARS , 2. 49c IUMILE BEE CHUNK LIGHT TUNA - 29c TIP TOP IIISTAIIT COFFEE 69c LADIES' CHOICE , GRAPE JELLY 59c O-SO-GOOD WIDE EGG NOODLES 2 ib. 49c RUDDY (OY WHITE OR YELLOW POP CORN 2 27c 4 49c NEW GOLDEN GRAIN SCALLOP-A-ROIH . 39c FOLQER'S ' . IIISTAIIT COFFEE 99c PHEASANT (CASE 'OF 48 $5.89) CANNED r,IILIUc. 8-99c Libby's or Banquet Frozen All Varieties 8-oz. Pie MEAT PIES WESSON OIL MAINE SARDINES BUROERBITS All Purpose 24-ox. Bottle Beach Cliff In Oil or Mustard Hunt Club The Dogs Favorite No. ' can H,' 50-lb. Bag $3" t COFFEE Folgers Mb. can W Mb. can W APRICOT NECTAR Sl 3 DILL PICKLES QuarUar 2 MOTOR OIL FLASHLIGHT BATTERIES GARDEN HOSE Reg. $1 .69 Parabond Eastern 100 Paraffin Base SAE 20-30-40 Wt. GAL. CAN Reg. .40c Ray-O-Vac Standard Size PKG. OF 2 EVERAIN OSCILLATING LAV11 SPRINKLER Reg. $6.95 e Covers up to 35 ft. x 45 ft. area. Reg. $15.95 I KOSt BU5HM I 1 9Y, fiolH .. . .. AS?? 1 39 HkM66 U.S. NO. 1 KLAMATH " 1 POTATOES K(QK3W 20-lb. bag J) SPECIAL ROGUE VALLEY MIXTURE J LAWN GRASS T J QQc P9 J seed jiyyjJ: U.S. NO. 1 YELLOW m ft jf DRY, M jM ONIONS lb. J wfM ASPARAGUS ,b UV ffj - : rnml - A 1 HIRSCH-WEIS 5-lb. Cello-Ray SLEEPING BAG 36-in. x 80-in. $(3)97 SAUCEPAN Revere Ware l'i-Qt. Covered R9 $675 tgg fa )tw Reg. $3.98 - 50 Ft. W Diameter Vinyl 10 Year Guarantee i)iui)iiujiutJUiUiHFiiiMiiuiumimmmuumitiiijiiiiiiii iiiini'i mi iiiiiihiiiimmiii Reg. $22.95 WESTINGHOUSE CLOCK RADIO Wake Up to Music Smart 2 Tana Caia - Men's Sli.it Sleeve SPORT SHIRT e Dan River rubric e Wsin Wecr -0 Sm Med., Lf . Roe. Sl l 99 REG. SI. OS WILDROOr A - , HAIR DRESSING 98c ANTISEPTIC 99c RES 8c OZ BOTPt RIG. le ONI PIICI , SUCARYL 77c CHAMOIS 2-88c RIG. $1.2 LISTIRINI REG. 76c ANNE TRAVIS 1-0Z. SKIN LOTION REG. S1.00 POMPIIAN SHAMPOO REG. SMS WAGNIR CAST IRON with Diiptnter . IO-oi. lottla 66c SQUARE SKILLET ..... S1.G9 , RIG. Sl.Jt DILUXE 30 66c LAWIIRAitc - - 99s REG. Me HANGING rT . . 1,7 'V,.-,,. iii BASKET 79c STEIIO BOOK Z9C rLASIIUULUS . . UCS in ties ItSULATION RI& H.9S SUNRIAM M. 4c 10-INCH BASEBALL GLOVE 2" ELECTRIC RAZOR M2SS WHISK BROOM 29c ... .. ...... nr. til DILUXt U.K. SUNBEAM RCA RADIO ft LIGHTER FLUID ... 39c Hair Clipper Set $10" TV TUBES Less 409 RIG. 3fe GOLDEN WIST REG. 11.20 AMPLIX NO. I LARGE U.S. No. 1 EXTRA FANCY Imported Belgium J A A. FILM'" J00 s- SQ99 VIGORO All-Rita Ball Paint Rag. 3?c PEiis 4 " 00 your draw a picture of an eye, some waves, an ant and a peg. If the Mayas were con sistent about it we might get somewhere but consider this example: . Rebus Writing "The word for 'count' is XOC (pronounced shock). XOC also means a mythical shark who lives in the skies. To present the word 'count' the Mayans at first drew the head of this shark. But draw ing a shark's head every time they wanted the word count must have become a nuisance. So they apparently figured something along these lines: A shark lives in water. Wa ter is green and precious. Jade, our most valuable pos session, is also green and precious. "So a jade bead became the sign for 'count'!" Where the deciphers havs had most success is in ' the Mayan fascination with time and dates. Bishop Diego de Landa who wrote a his tory of Yucatan in 1560 Dro- vided invaluable background nere for he found some des cendants of the Mayas who helped him translate glyphs relating to their astonishing calendar. Dr. Thompson said this records specific dates back more than 90,000,000 years. It is more accurate in spac ing out a century than even our own Gregorian calendar. In 1,000 years of studying the revolutions of Venus the Mayas made an error of only one day. They studied the heavenly bodies because they believed history always repeated itself and if they could discover when tragedies had taken place they could avert them by propitiating the Gods with sacrifice and penance when they were due to happen again. Tell Llttla . Other than dates and as tronomical Information very little has been drawn from the glyphs and the three sur viving books brought back during the Spanish conquest and deposited in Dresden, Ma drid and Paris. Dr. Thompson said "so far . as we know" the monuments and altar carvings deal ony . with the end of regular pe riods of time five, ten or 20 years and contain astronom- ' leal and calendrtcal calcula tions and information about the Gods. The three books (bark beat en a kind of thick paper) are almanacs of sorts giving ad vice on which days are good for health or sowing crops , or tor hunting. Soma scien-; Usts think the prophecies might reveal historical data because the Mayaa believed the future is only a return of what occurred in the past. Popular scientists like to theorise that the end of the Maya civilization came sud denly and the people dispers ed, Dr. Thompson does not believe this. The Mayas (who probably reached Central America about 2,000 B.C. from Asia) may have revolted against their priests who had taken up the cult of the planet Venus instead of maintain ing the good graces of the old gods of corn and tne sou. Defaead Temples They wrecked or defaced many of the great temples and massacred the prist-rulers. Then they dispersed Into the forests to their small com munities of thatched huts. They were decimated centur ies later, in Dr. Thompson s . view, by disease from the old world. The Mayans excelled in the impractical," Dr. Thamp. son said, "but they failed in the practical. They charted the heavens yet they failed to grasp the principles of the wheel. They counted in mil lions but they never learned to weigh a sack of corn." The Mayans made rubber soled sandals and rubber- proofed rain capes. They were the first to cultivate cocoa, the papapa, the avocado pear. -They had a curious idea of beauty. They deformed their heads by elongating the crown. A large nose, drooping lower lip and slightly reced ing chut were other beauty marks. In warfare they used "nor- net bombs" they threw hor nets nests at the enemy. FRESH CELLO WRAPPED Cauliflower CRISP GREEN CELERY CASHIER WINDOW SERVICES FILM DEVELOPING O YEAR AROUND LAY-AWAY PLAN O 'r Gift Wrapping ft Gmtine Csrdt f til cessions ' O Huntinf mis' 'iihini Lictnui O Chtcki Csihsd Mens? Orders O Psilaf Stimpi O lottl Rttiirn O PMIca TV ft Rtdie Tubci it 40 OiKounf O G-l Floor Poliihor ft Wiser Rental 77c s Day fmmmmmmmmmmmmmii'mnmmmmmmmmmtm 1 Always More For Your Money 3 EsUEI ED Ol CORNER JACKSONVILLE HIWAY AND LOZIER LANE School Btntff From Telephone) Atorofhort Portland -IVFS- A marathon telephone solicitation brought pledges of I13.ZS0 for ore nn'i 10 nrivate colleies and universities from alumni. The two night campaign wound up Tuesday night. Chairman Jerry Whipple, as sistant to the president of Wil lamette University, said 319 volunteer callers rang up 8,- ' (48 alumni and that mora than half af thoa contacted said they would contribute. Schools to share In the fund are Willamette, Cascade, George Fox, Lewis and Clark, Lin field, Marylhurst. Mi. Angal, Pacific, Reed and Portland. lb.