2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



officials in Tegucigalpa and elsewhere who not only furthered the 

 cause of science but put us deeply in their debt for many personal 

 courtesies. Similarly, the officials of the United Fruit Company, both 

 in the United States and in Honduras, furnished very material aid 

 in ways too numerous to mention. Without this generous assistance 

 our results would have been tremendously curtailed. Considerations 

 of space prevent listing the many people who aided us in our work, but 

 we cannot forbear mentioning Mr. Walter S. Turnbull, and Mr. Regi- 

 nald Hamer. To them and to many other persons in Honduras we are 

 deeply grateful. Later, in the final report, it will be possible to 

 acknowledge more adequately our appreciation of the many cour- 

 tesies, both official and personal, which we received on every hand. 



Our choice of this particular area for excavation was based on 

 numerous geographic, historic, ethnographic, and archeological con- 

 siderations. For this reason we have devoted considerable space to 

 these important factors. Viewed against this background, it is hoped 

 that a condensed account of our excavations may have value. In due 

 course a final report will be prepared by the senior author for publi- 

 cation by the Peabody Museum. As this may not appear for some 

 time, it seems advisable to make our major results available without 

 undue delay. Most of this important area still awaits adequate exca- 

 vation, and it is our hope that these notes and sketch maps may be of 

 value to future scientific explorers and excavators. 



BRIEF GEOGRAPHIC SETTING 



The general area covered by this report includes the eastern por- 

 tion of the Department of Cortes, the western border of the Depart- 

 ment of Yoro, and certain places on the eastern border of the De- 

 partment of Santa Barbara, all within the Republic of Honduras." 



From the archeological standpoint, however, modern political 

 boundaries are of minor importance compared to factors of terrain 

 and drainage, which conditioned aboriginal human occupation no less 

 than they do that of the present inhabitants. Of primary importance 



'See map, fig. i. The best general maps of Honduras at present are the 

 " Carta General de la Republica de Honduras, America Central, of the Pan- 

 American Institute of Geography and History, 1933 ", and the " Mapa General 

 de la Republica de Honduras, Levantado por el Prof. Jesus Aguilar Paz, 1933." 

 These maps are far superior to any of their predecessors. Many contradictions 

 still exist, however, owing to the present inadequacy of cartographic exploration 

 in much of Honduras. The present map (fig. i) is primarily based on that of 

 Dr. Paz. 



