HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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Before taking up our review of the first seven periods we must remind
ourselves that the prehistoric cultures of Middle America have a
certain unity, showing beyond doubt that they were all of a common
origin. It is impossible to tell at what epoch the Maya became separate
and distinct from the other highly cultured peoples scattered over
Mexico and Central America. Fortunately, however, owing to the
investigations in the Valley of Mexico, we have abundant material for
the reconstruction of the sequence of cultures. Three successive strata
of occupation have been found in the Valley of Mexico. The earliest of
these, the Archaic, is also found in many other places throughout
Mexico and Central America. There is some reason to suppose that this
culture was at one time fairly uniform throughout the greater part of
Middle America. The local developments seen in the Maya, the Zapotec,
and the early Mexican cultures may have been the result of
modifications of the Archaic culture. Above this Archaic stratum in the
Valley of Mexico is found the Toltec or Teotihuacan culture. This is
synchronous with late Maya of the sixth period on our table.