STILL LOST

Re the picture on the front page of the Book Review of Dec. 15 (illustrating Bettyann Kevles’ review of Charles Pellegrino’s “Unearthing Atlantis”), I’m willing to bet you a coupla beers that the relief is not Maya, fascinating though it is. Look at the man’s face, position and, particularly, his headdress.

The figure is square, dumpy, ungraceful, and the headdress plus the scrolls of smoke from the volcano gave me the hints. I say it is Vera Cruz-style. Looks like the source must be El Tajin , not Mayaland.

Let me know if Kevles and/or Pellegrino owes me a beer. I do want to know the relief’s provenience.

DEMOREST DAVENPORT, Professor Emeritus, Zoology and the Humanities, UC Santa Barbara, SANTA BARBARA