84. 
85. 
TypeC — Effigy or plain mush- Late Pre-Classic (300 B.C. to 200 A.D.) and 
room stones with Proto-Classic(?) (200 to 300 A.D.) 
square or rounded bases 
without circularly 
grooved caps. 
TypeD Tripod mushroom Late Classic (600 to 900 A.D.) 
stones with plain or 
carved stems and with 
clubby or sharp angled 
feet. 
Type E — Miscellaneous and Chronological position uncertain. Late Pre- 
possibly related stone Classic (300 B.C. to 200 A.D.) & Proto- 
and pottery objects. Classic(?) (200 to 300 A.D.) 
——. “Mushroom Stone Discoveries.” Amatitlin Field Report. Mimeo- 
graphed, 1960. Milwaukee. 
Reports (p 4) the finding of a square based anthropomorphic (Type C) mushroom 
stone from the shores of Lake Ayarza (Dept Santa Rosa) in Eastern Guatemala. The 
Specimen was found by a group of Guatemalan skin-divers who have been engaged 
in a systematic investigation of the inland lakes of Guatemala since 1954, seeking 
possible Pre-Columbian lake offerings. To date six mushroom stones (Types C and 
D) have been found in the waters of Lake Amatitlén in the Central Guatemalan 
Highlands. The specimen from Lake Ayarza is in the private collection of Manfred 
Tépke, while the others are in the private collections of Dr. Guillermo Mata-Amado 
and Jorge Castillo, of Guatemala City. 
Paper includes (p 7) a preliminary report on the (Type B) miniature mushroom 
stones found in a cache at Kaminaljuyu, now in the collection of Karl Heinz Notte- 
bohm of Guatemala City (for final report see next Entry). Also reports the finding of a 
(Type C) mushroom stone fragment (in the shape of an owl) from the recent excava- 
tion of the Post-Classic period (1000-1500 A.D.) at the Kakchiquel Maya capital of 
Iximché, in the Central Guatemalan Highlands. 
———. “Miniature mushroom stones from Guatemala.” Amer Antiq, Vol 
XXVI, No 4, April 1961, Salt Lake City, Utah, pp 498-504. 
Offertory cache of nine miniature mushroom stones and nine miniature metates 
with manos from the Verbena cemetery at Kaminaljuyu in Highland Guatemala, 
dating from the Late Pre-Classic Miraflores phase, 300 B.C. to 200 A.D. All of the 
mushroom stones are of the Type B variety with a circular groove around the base 
of the cap (average height 16cm). 
A similar but larger Type B mushroom stone, in the shape of a jaguar, has been 
found in a Miraflores tomb in Mound E-III-3 at the same site (see Shook and Kidder, 
Entry 103). The cache of nine miniatures demonstrates considerable antiquity for the 
“mushroom-stone cult,” and suggests a possible ceremonial association with the 
nine Lords-of-the-night and gods of the underworld, as well as the possible existence 
among the Highland Maya of a nine-day cycle and nocturnal count in Pre-Classic 
times. The association of the miniature mushroom stones with the miniature metates 
and manos greatly strengthens the possibility that, at least in some areas in Pre-Colum- 
bian Mesoamerica, metates were used to grind the sacred hallucinatory mushrooms to 
[41] 
