318 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



Dr. Guthe resigned from the Institution on August 1 to accept a position 

 with the University of Michigan; his report on the current season's work 

 at Tayasal follows. 



Report of Carl E. Guthe. 



Through the cordial support of General Isidro Valdez, who was governor 

 of the Department of Peten when Doctor Guthe arrived, it was possible to 

 begin work at Tayasal with twelve laborers on February 20. Don Bernardo 

 Burmester, the government interventor, by his interest and cooperation, 

 also did much to facilitate the progress of the excavations. The entire 

 season was devoted to a study of the construction of the long mound, the 

 eastern end of which had been cleared during the previous season. 1 During 

 the course of the work six trenches were run, four on the northern or plaza 

 side of the mound, and two on the southern side. The eastern and western 

 ends of the structure were definitely located. Toward the eastern end a 

 trench was dug entirely through the mound, exposing a complete cross- 

 section and disclosing, under the late construction, the remains of an earlier 

 building of the Old Empire. This earlier building was placed directly upon 

 the rock of the peninsula, which at this point slopes rather abruptly from 

 south to north. 



The excavations this season disclosed that this structure consisted of a plat- 

 form raised about 1.5 meters above the plaza level, with two stairways built 

 into the wall. Upon this platform there probably was an early building which 

 was later razed to within one course of the platform, over which was placed 

 a second platform, with a bench at the southern side. 



The city of which this early structure formed a part was probably aban- 

 doned early in the seventh century A. D., i. e., the period of abandonment 

 of the Old Empire Peten sites. For at least seven and possibly eight cen- 

 turies this city was uninhabited. During this time a thick deposit of earth 

 and stone accumulated south of the bench. Why no traces of a similar 

 deposit north of the bench are found in this part of the mound is a mystery. 



The settlers of the New Empire raised a high terraced substructure on this 

 site, the retaining walls of which were built upon the ruins of the older 

 building. 



The unusually thin layer of debris upon the upper floor of this mound and 

 the almost total absence of large stones lead to the conclusion that the 

 building itself was of wood and palm-leaf thatch. At the western end, 

 however, a fragment of a dressed stone wall was found at the northern edge 

 of this upper floor. 



Just to the south of the mound a skeleton was found. The individual 

 had been buried in a flexed posture, on his back, with the shoulder-girdle 

 considerably above the pelvis. This burial should be associated with the 

 later period, for it rested upon the early floor, less than a meter below the 

 upper or late floor. No furniture was found with it. No trace of a skull, 

 teeth, or of the atlas and axis could be found. It is assumed that the indi- 

 vidual was decapitated before burial, a procedure which Villagutierre states 

 existed at Tayasal. 



See Year Book, No. 20, p. 367. 



