432 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1934 



Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza; and an exquisite gold pectoral, cer- 

 tainly of Nahuatl origin, was found in Guatemala and was acquired 

 not long ago by the Department of Middle American Research from 

 a New Orleans dealer. 



Gold was foreign to the Maya area. Bernal Diaz mentions gold 

 in the sand of the Uspanapa River, and both in this river as well as 

 in the " de la Venta " the writer has washed very small quantities of 

 gold. At Santa Fe, Tabasco, pockets of gold in the limestone were 

 washed for a limited period within the last century, but gold in rea- 

 sonable quantity was so scarce that it was regarded rather as an 

 imported fancy than of actual established monetary value. 



Free or virgin silver is so rare in the area that I have the greatest 

 suspicion toward any silver object alleged to be of ancient manu- 

 facture. 



Copper was more common. It is not found in the Maya area, 

 but being of trade value among the neighboring nations, it is only 

 natural to find it in the form of bells, hatchets, and other manufac- 

 tured objects among the Maya. Copper bells of undeniably Nahuatl 

 origin have been found not only in the Sacred Well at Chichen Itza 

 and likewise in great numbers in caves in Honduras, but also in the 

 ruined cities of the present New Mexico, giving evidence of most 

 widespread trade. 



As copper tools have only a hardness of 3, against hardness of 

 7 for nephrite and jade chisels, it is obvious that copper tools were 

 of little use. 



Carving and cutting tools were made of obsidian, jadites, and 

 flint. These materials were found within limited areas. The loca- 

 tion of jadite is now unknown. Obsidian came chiefly from the 

 mountains north of Coban and near Zacapa. There is an enormous 

 deposit of flint nodules within the area of the Lake Yaxha in Guate- 

 mala, east of the Mopan Eiver, and north approximately to the pres- 

 ent northern boundary of Guatemala Avith Mexico. Riding along 

 the trail in 1928, and without any particular eifort, the fourth Tulane 

 expedition gathered a good collection of hammerstones, mallets, 

 hatchets, and chisels, some of which were fine specimens and others 

 only rejects, enough to show that the arms and tool industry of the 

 Maya must have relied largely on this deposit. 



Obsidian was used not only for knives and cutting edges for 

 wooden swords, but also for ornaments and jewelry. Flint was 

 mostly utilitarian, being employed for tools and weapons. Iron- 

 and-sulphur-pyrite, the popular name of which is " fools' gold ", is 

 common in the limestone country of the Maya. It was used as inlay 

 in incisor teeth as a matter of decoration ; as mosaic mirrors ; and when 

 found in large nodules, it was cut and polished for solid mirrors 

 Vanity cases were apparently not unknown among Maya and Aztec. 



