NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS STRONG 29 



holes suggesting eyes and with " noses " in relief, and one represents 

 the head of a snouted animal, possibly the tapir. 



From 28 to 36 inches come five sherds of dull brown ware; a 

 large fragment (7.5 cm high and something over 30 cm in diameter) 

 of an open-mouthed bowl ; and four other rim sherds with low flaring 

 rims. One of the latter is of the urn type. None of these pieces is 

 decorated. 



The nonceramic material from trench 2 includes two very shallow, 

 ovoid " dishes " of pumice, of which the longest is 17 cm in length. 

 The exact depth and the purpose of these pieces is uncertain. There is 

 also one rectangular " burnisher " of pumice, 7 cm in length. One 

 leg of a hard, gray, long metate (upper layer, surface to 18 inches), 

 and sections of two " roller " stones, one of polished granite (upper 

 layer, surface to 18 inches) and one of white coral (depth uncertain), 

 were recovered. One small fragment of an obsidian flake knife (from 

 a depth of 10 to 20 inches) is present. Of shell artifacts, a much 

 worn celt with a sharp edge, manufactured from the ridged portion of 

 a conch, comes from a depth of 36 inches. There are nine smoothly 

 worn fragments of cowrie and conch shells from various depths, which 

 suggest tools, but they also occur in the unmixed, underlying sand, 

 and their form probably results from wave action. 



The test pit also yielded considerable broken pottery. From the 

 upper layer, surface to 12 inches, there are 12 rim sherds from 

 medium to small vessels with constricted necks and low flaring lips. 

 Two of these have incised designs around the neck, and two of the 

 larger rims approach the urn type. Two large fragments are from 

 thick, open bowls ; one fragment from a flat, slightly concave plate ; 

 two vertical loop handles ; and three decorated legs are from this 

 level. One of the last is a long, hollow cone (10.5 cm in length) 

 with a compressed tip and seven perforations of various sizes ; one 

 is similar but shorter with a flattened tip ; and the last is hemi- 

 spherical with four perforations (one at the tip) and is decorated 

 with two small " adornos " in relief. From a depth of 12 to 15 inches 

 come four coarse, dark red rim sherds, two being from small open 

 bowls and two from jars with slightly flaring rims. From a depth 

 of 21 to 27 inches come two rim sherds, both plain, one from a 

 small open bowl with a slight contraction around the neck, the other 

 from a globular vessel with a low, sharply everted rim. One other 

 plain red potsherd comes from this level. The only nonceramic arti- 

 facts from this test pit were a few bored shells and shark vertebrae. 



In addition to the material just described. Bird's collection from 

 site 2 contains a certain amount of pottery from uncertain depths. 



