NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS — STRONG 165 



In the central valleys of the Highland region mounds of refuse, 

 often containing cist burials, are the most characteristic signs of 

 aboriginal occupation. On the Atlantic coast mounds are so grouped 

 as to enclose courts or series of courts, which is suggestive of the 

 north. Certain of the latter mounds have been made by filling stone 

 enclosures with earth. Low platform mounds and hut rings of stone 

 occur. The Nicaraguan or Chorotegan types of statue and examples 

 of the Chacmool type are on record for the Highlands. Hartman has 

 shown that these were set on the top of the walls forming the sides of 

 mounds. Stone slabs with elaborately carved edges served as grave 

 markers. Rectangular stone cists are the most characteristic places 

 of burial. These may occur in mounds or within hut rings. Secondary 

 burials in small cists and extended burials in the larger type are 

 common. 



Metates are oblong and have four legs with a ridge around the 

 edge, which necessitates a short mano. They are elaborately carved 

 and usually have an animal head and curled tail projecting at respec- 

 tive ends. The type is practically identical with that of the Chiriqui 

 area. Wooden and stone stools also occur. Stone and pottery pot 

 stands are frequently found and a few carved stone bowls are on 

 record. Small standing human figures, human heads, and seated 

 figures with their arms across their knees, carved in stone, are common. 

 In the Highland regions the polished celt is usually diamond-shaped 

 in cross-section, but petaloid forms occur and both single- and double- 

 bitted flaked celts are found. 



Highland Polychrome pottery is apparently an ofifshoot of Nicoya 

 Polychrome, somewhat modified by local traits and by influences from 

 the art of Chiriqui. As such, it shows some similiarities to Bay Island 

 Polychrome I but apparently not so many as does Nicoya Polychrome. 

 The Simple Painted Wares of the Highland region share many traits 

 with the Chiriqui. They seem to have form resemblances to Bay 

 Island monochrome ware, but I can see little relation between them 

 and Bay Island polychrome types. It is in the Monochrome and all 

 types of Applique wares from the Highland region that the closest 

 homologies to Bay Island monochrome pottery, both plain and elabor- 

 ate, appear. In the Highland Applique group, Curridabat, Tripod, 

 Stone Cist, and Handled Wares all show innumerable and close 

 similarities or even identities with Bay Island types. Only the elabor- 

 ate monochrome vases from the Bay Islands that have decorations of 

 the Uloa marble bowl type are exempt from this obvious relationship. 

 As one examines Hartman's work on Highland sites (1901), ceramic 



