NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS STRONG 69 



An elaborately worked mace head of diorite constitutes an in- 

 teresting find (pi. 19, fig. I, e). The object is 4.4 cm in height and 

 has a smoothly worked perforation 3.1 cm in diameter. Although 

 rather regular, this circular perforation tapers very slightly from each 

 end to the middle. Decoration is attained by four large mammiform 

 projections of excellent and uniform workmanship. The tips of two 

 adjoining projections show old breaks apparently from usage. 



CHirPED STONE 



The largest object of chipped stone is a crudely worked, T-shaped 

 ax of hard indurated shale (pi. 19, fig. 2, e). The rounded cutting edge 

 shows evidence of prolonged usage. Several other artifacts of this 

 type were noted at the Dixon site but were not taken away. 



Four complete and two broken long oval or elongated diamond- 

 shaped knives of chalcedony were found at the Dixon site. The re- 

 touching technique applied to three of these pieces is excellent. Two 

 pieces of translucent gray-bufif chalcedony are especially delicate both 

 in form and in retouching. The first of these (pi. 16, fig. 2, b) is 

 18.7 cm in length and only 8 mm in central thickness. Besides the 

 very regular and small retouching on the extreme edge, there are a 

 number of larger nicks suggesting usage. The artifact is complete 

 except for the extreme tip on one end. The second of these pieces 

 (pi. 16, fig. 2, a) is perfect but tapers more rapidly to one end than 

 do the other knives. It is 17.4 cm in length and 8 mm in central 

 thickness. Since the smaller, sharper point of this artifact is of 

 lighter color, apparently owing to less patination, and is thicker than 

 the other end, I am inclined to believe that this portion was formerly 

 within a perishable handle of some sort. The knife first described has 

 a very similar outline but shows no color or patination diflrerence 

 between the two ends. In each of the two blades, however, it is the 

 longer points which have nicks apparently resulting from use as a 

 cutting implement. There is, therefore, not only a logical presumption, 

 but also some definite evidence, indicating that these artifacts were 

 originally suppHed with handles. A third knife, only two-thirds of 

 which was recovered, is of the same type as the above (pi. 16, fig. 

 2, c). It is slightly heavier than the former, being i cm in central 

 thickness. The three remaining pieces are only partly translucent, 

 are oval rather than diamond-shaped, and are of somewhat cruder 

 manufacture. The largest of these is 18 cm in length and i cm in 

 central thickness (pi. 16, fig. 2, c) ; the other specimen figured (pi. 16, 

 fig. 2, d) is the thickest of all, being 1.4 cm thick in the center. The 



