NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS STRONG 83 



shell bead from cave 2 has a coral-pink surface 011 one side and is 

 white on the other {Spondylus sp. ?). Numerous large conch shells 

 were found, the majority of which had been broken open to extract 

 the meat. A few examples, however, were complete and had a small, 

 roughly picked hole opposite the natural opening. These last were 

 probably used as signaling trumpets. 



From the muck in front of cave i came a small fragment of wood 

 6 cm in length, which shows signs of cutting on one end. It is too 

 fragmentary to suggest any type of artifact but has a certain im- 

 portance as a hint that mangrove swamps in this region may be found 

 to contain valuable perishable material of this sort. 



In conclusion, it seems significant that the great majority of the 

 utilitarian artifacts came from cave i, furthering the probability that 

 cave 2 had importance mainly as a shrine. Probably the sporadic 

 occupation of cave i which, owing to its location, could hardly have 

 been a year-round residence site, was primarily due to its proximity 

 to the striking natural formation in cave 2. 



An examination of that part of the Mitchell-Hedges material in 

 the storage collections of the Museum of the American Indian which 

 is allocated to Helena Island reveals many types not represented in 

 our much less extensive collection. Since the sites already mentioned 

 are as far as I know the only ones worked by Mitchell-Hedges, the 

 material probably comes from these. There is a large amount of 

 broken Polychrome I pottery of the thin type with an orange slip and 

 black and red-purple designs, already described. In addition, there 

 are a number of light bulT sherds, apparently of the same ware, that 

 have brown designs, often representing rather crude and convention- 

 alized plumed serpents. All the usual Polychrome I lug types are 

 represented, with the addition of (a) a fairly numerous bird head 

 type, which may or may not have incised eyes and a knob or spur on 

 the crown; and (b) an ovoid lug with a perforation on each side and 

 a small knob or ridge on the top. Both types of lug have the usual 

 black and red-purple rings around the base and, occasionally, painted 

 bands over the upper portion. One unusually interesting vase strongly 

 suggests late Copan or Uloa wares. It is straight-walled with a white 

 slip, on which are very crude warrior figures in red. Around the 

 neck is a band of skeuomorphic glyphs. This vessel is unlike any 

 other that I have seen from the islands. There are also a number of 

 Polychrome II sherds and a number of pieces that appear to be 

 transitional between the two polychrome wares. 



The collection contains a large amount of the elaborately incised 

 monochrome pottery. In addition to most of the types already de- 



