80 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



I have, from the pits at the railway station, a number of miscel- 

 laneous articles in clay, bits of images of men and animals, whistles, 

 spindle-whorls, and the like. A portion of a curious head found is 

 duplicated in a pipe preserved in the Museum and represented in 



Fig. 13. — Pipe with grotesque heads on the bowl, in the Mexican National 



Museum. 



Fig. 13. The whistles are generally of a very simple kind, and the 

 spindle- whorls are not different from those of other parts of iVnahuac. 



In conclusion, I may recall in a very few words some of the more 

 striking features of this section, calling attention to the order of 

 events suggested by them. 



It may be affirmed with certainty that the site of the City of 

 Mexico was at one time occupied 'by a people in a very primitive 

 stage of art, the remains of which art, so far as found, include nothing 

 but fragments of an extremely rude pottery. There are no traces ot 

 tools and no indications of houses. This period of occupancy was a 

 very long one, as it permitted the accumulation in nearly horizontal 

 layers of at least eight feet of finely comminuted refuse. 



It is further seen that far along in this period of occupancy new 

 forms of art appeared that do not look like the work of the proper 

 occupants of the site produced by gradual improvement, but rather 

 like intrusive products acquired by exchange or otherwise from 

 more cultured tribes. Again, at the end of this first period there is 

 a horizon, pretty well marked, above which primitive forms of art 

 do not appear. 



Near the base of the deposits of the second period foundations 

 of houses are discovered in which rubble, squared stones, and adobe 

 bricks have been used. In this part of the section we find stone 

 implements and ceramic products of a very high order of merit. 

 With these, and especially near the surface, there is a layer abound- 

 ing in obsidian implements. This marks the last and culminating 

 stage of Aztec art, ending in the historic period proper. 



