ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE BAY 

 ISLANDS, SPANISH HONDURAS 



By WILLIAM DUNCAN STRONG 

 Anthropologist, Bureau of American Ethnology 



(With ;i2i Plates) 

 INTRODUCTION 



The following report is based primarily on an archeological recon- 

 naissance of the Bay Islands carried out by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion during the months of April and May, 1933. In June and July, 

 193 1, the Boekelman Shell Heap Expedition of the American Museum 

 of Natural History had made a similar survey of the islands. Through 

 the courtesy of the latter institution and of Junius Bird, archeologist 

 of the Boekelman Shell Heap Expedition, I have been permitted to 

 include their data with ours — a happy combination, since the results 

 of both expeditions overlap and supplement one another in many ways. 

 Prior to either of the above investigations, in 1930, and again in 193 1, 

 Mr. Mitchell-Hedges, working under the auspices of the Museum of 

 the American Indian, Heye Foundation, silent several months on the 

 Bay Islands and gathered together a very large number of fine speci- 

 mens. Through the courtesy of the Museum of the American Indian, 

 I have briefly studied this collection, which is assigned to the various 

 islands but is without data as to sites or exact provenience. On this 

 account, and because adequate description would require a separate 

 report, I have used the Mitchell-Hedges material mainly for general 

 comparative purposes. 



The itinerary of the Boekelman Shell Heap Expedition was as 

 follows: June 30, 1931, the schooner Clodia arrived at Utila Island; 

 July 10, left Utila for Roatan Island ; July 17, left Roatan for Bonacca 

 Island ; and July 22, left Bonacca for the mainland. The Smithsonian 

 Expedition on the motorboat Amiga arrived at Roatan Island April 25, 

 1933; reached Helena Island May 6; left Helena for Barburata 

 Island May 7 ; visited Morat Island May ii ; arrived at Bonacca Island 

 May 12 and left May 17; arrived at Utila Island May 18 and left 

 May 21 for Roatan. From Roatan we returned to the mainland on 

 May 23. Thus, together, the two expeditions spent only 48 days on 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 92, No. 14 



