154 SMITHSONIAN" MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



occupants of Copan derived the basis of their cuhure from some 

 section of that shadowy, widespread civilization which embraced the 

 various components at present designated as the Q complex. From 

 the same evidence Lothrop is more specific in postulating that the 

 antecedent culture at Copan was Chorotegan. It is of interest that 

 tomb 10, containing vessels of Copan II type, also contained vessels 

 and effigy jars of Nicoya Polychrome and Plumbate ware. An incense 

 burner with a cylindrical handle was found in tomb 6. Copan III 

 pottery includes Chorotegan pear-shaped forms (which also occur on 

 the Bay Islands) and vertical braid panels around the neck (common 

 in Uloa polychrome wares), and is without glyph bands. Maudslay 

 (vol. I, pp. 22) figures two elaborate pot stands of coarse red pottery 

 from Copan. The last periods at Copan, according to Vaillant, suggest 

 that Chorotegan peoples may have lived in the buildings and occupied 

 the tombs. According to Spinden (1915) and Lothrop (1927 a), 

 Maya art of the " Old Empire " type survived a long time in eastern 

 Salvador, finally fusing with the later Pipil cultures. It is this stylistic 

 survival and fusion, subsequent to the " fall of Copan ", which seems 

 to have passed from Salvador into the contemporary Uloa valley 

 polychrome types. 



To attempt a comparison between Bay Island ceramics and those 

 from all other Maya sites is a task far beyond my capacity. The study 

 of Maya ceramic growth, although still in its infancy, already indi- 

 cates that there were several basic ceramic divisions within this one 

 field. Moreover, the pottery available from most of the major sites 

 is mortuary in type and hardly gives a representative sample of the 

 average range. A few scattered notes, however, may be of value. In 

 the Pre-Holmul I, and, to a less extent, in Holmul I pottery obtained 

 by Eric Thompson in the southern Cayo district of British Honduras 

 are certain resemblances in form, surface treatment, rim shape, in- 

 cised and raised decoration, and handles, to the plain monochrome 

 ware of the Bay Islands. The same can be said of the cruder vessels 

 from caves in this region collected by Mason. These include large, 

 crudely incised ollas, bowls with annular feet, and knobs employed 

 for decoration. From northern British Honduras Gann obtained 

 figurines seated on stools, crude figures attached to incense burners 

 shaped like egg cups, pottery stamps, and a modeled pottery head with 

 a socket, which in purpose vaguely suggests a handled head (fig. 13) 

 from Roatan. The effigy human foot and leg vessels that he obtained 

 in the same region have southern affiliations, though the type has not 

 yet been reported from the Bay Islands. 



