NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS STRONG I3I 



a ladderlike appearance. A mile to the south are said to 1)e outlying 

 portions of the site; 4^ miles due east Mitchell-Hedges reports figu- 

 rines, obsidian spear heads, beads, etc ; and 5 miles due west they 

 found other specimens. As Mitchell-Hedges says, it is a big site, and 

 is as yet barely scratched. 



Bird and his companions spent one day at this site and made some 

 valuable observations. They landed in Savannah I*>ight and walked 

 across to Mangrove Bight, searching for the " tombstones " or 

 " cemetery " as the Plan Grande site is called locally. They were told 

 of a cave on the hill just south of Mangrove Bight, and near the base 

 of this hill they found a few sherds and, under a large rock, a crude 

 pot and a celt. Bird states that the place was not suitable for occu- 

 pation, nor were there any shells or cultural detritus in the vicinity ; 

 hence he regards it as a casual storage place. The vessel is of coarse 

 brown ware with crude decorations, and the celt (8.5 cm long) is of 



Fig. 36. — Sketch of small sandstone " chair for idol," Plan Grande site. 

 (From sketch hy Junius Bird.) 



battered gray granite with a sharp, polished edge. The complete neck 

 of a plain red vessel, originally about i meter in height, was found 

 here. The other finds at this place were a very crude tripod pot with 

 solid legs of coarse brown pottery and a small concave saucer of the 

 same ware. We also visited a " cave " near here, after a very rough 

 climb, which proved to be merely a deep fissure without any signs of 

 human occupation. 



That afternoon they reached the Plan Grande site and started a 

 detailed survey of the enclosure, but owing to lack of time they were 

 unable to finish it. They found a small stone mortar just protruding 

 above the surface near mound i and a roughly cut stone suggesting 

 the " chairs " described by Young. Possibly this is the same specimen 

 as Mitchell-Hedges' "font" (fig. 36). It is made of hard, much-weath- 

 ered gray sandstone and was imbedded in the ground. They left it be- 

 neath one of the leaning stone slabs, but it had either disappeared by 

 the time of our visit or else we overlooked it. The stone " mortar " 



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