MEXICAN ARCH/EOLOGY. Among the many tribes which occupied Alexieo in former times, six ma he said to have attained a con siderable degree of culture. The Nahuas. whose chief seat at the time of the Spanish Conquest was in the Valley of Mexico, had come from the North, and their influence extended. by reason of conquest and migration. southward as far as Costa Rica. It is impossible to state the exact limits of Nahua remains in Mexico, owing to our meagre knowledge of the antiquities of cer tain parts of the country, and the confused tradi tions of the migrations of the people. The I'aatscans were settled in what is now Sliehoaean and probably parts of Jalisco, Topic, and Colima. In Oaxaca are found the remains of the „Ilixtecs and Zapotees, with traces of an earlier settle ment of the Salinas. In Vera Cruz the Iluax tees, linguistically a branch of the great \laya Quic•hi• family, are found; and the Totonaes. whose territory lay between that of the lluaxtees and Nalmas, had a distinct culture. although un doubtedly intlueneed by both of the former peo ples. To the cast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and extending eastward over the States of Chia pas, Tabasco. and Yucatan, and northward through thiatemala to Northern are the remains of the Slaya-Quielo family, whose civilization was, in many resm4-ts, the most advanced in ancient America. This region is geographically as well as culturally a part of ('entrap America.
The remains found in Chihuahua show an ancient culture similar to that which existed in the valleys of the Oila and Salt rivers in Arizona. hut of a slightly higher• grade. The people seem to have reached all intermediate stage. between the Salinas on the south and the Pueblo peoples on the north. hut nearer the lat ter than the former. In this region the ruins of Casa Orande (q.v.) are the only noteworthy group. The pottery from the vicinity of this ruin is of an advanced type and somewhat re sembles the eerandes of Arizona and New Alexieo, but it has distinct peenliarities and bears the marks of contact with the people of the south.
In the dense forests of the State of Tamaulipas, on the coast of the Gulf of \lexic•o, ruins have been reported which are related to the ealtnre of the south, and probably belong to the Ilnaxtve Or Totonae peoples. We find the first important remains Of the higher Mexican civilization in the very centre of that part of Slexieo which lies north of the isthmus of Telmantepee, in the im mense structure of La Quemada in Zacatecas. which have been but little studied; but they are probably the ruins of an ancient Nahua set tlement. In Michoacan the ruins of Tzintzuntzan bear some resemblance to those of La Quemada. This region of the Tarascus has been little ex plored. The great ruins of the Nahuas include Tula, Teotihuacan, Nochiealeo, Teportlan, Cho lula, and Tenochtitlan, now the City of Mexico, the ancient capital of the Aztecs, the predomi nant branch of the Nahuas, at the time of the Conquest; beneath the soil of the City of Mexico lies buried a vast number of objects, and also the bases of temples, although the imposing struc tures and the greater number of the sculptures, idols, books, etc., of Montezuma's seat were de stroyed by the Spaniards. In the fluaxtecan and Totonacan districts are the ruins of Papantla, Misantla, Centla, Tusapan, and Cempoalla ; while in the State of Oaxaca. Monte Alban, the ancient capital of the Zapotees, is one of the most stupendous ruins in Mexico. Mitla, in the same district, has nothing in common with Za. potee remains and must be ascribed to the Nahuas. In the Maya region are the remains of hundreds of cities, the most important of which are Palenque, Piedras Negras, Mends"-, Saud, Tikal, Labna, Kabah, 17xmal, Chichen Itza, Quirigua, and Copan.
In the arts the ancient Mexicans show a sur prising progress. For the architecture of ancient Mexico, see ARCILEOLOGY, AMERICAN ; MITLA; PALENQUE.