NO.' I HONDURAS— STRONG, KIDDER, AND PAUL 37 



boulders came. Structurally, the Tres Piedras site appears to have 

 been more pretentious than the majority of sites in the vicinity, and the 

 remaining half is well worthy of complete excavation. 



We made two small stratigraphic cuts, the first west of the central 

 mound group between that and the outlying mounds to the west. The 

 second was in the heart of the plaza. Both sections were on the face 

 of the river bank and each was 5 meters long by i meter broad, 

 extending down to sterile soil. The first excavation yielded some 

 pottery at 10 centimeters and reached barren soil at about 1.70 meters. 

 The second cut passed through three plaster floors and reached barren 

 soil at 2 meters. The first yielded the most potsherds although even 

 here they were not overly abundant. Gray to red cooking ware was 

 most abundant in each of the five 30-centimeter levels. A very few 

 sherds of Mayoid polychrome occurred in all but the. bottom level. 

 Above I meter all fragments of this type were from pots with buff 

 to orange slips covered with florid, conventionalized, red, purplish, 

 and black designs. Below i meter the same Mayoid types occurred, 

 but in association with more realistic designs having human head 

 panels. At this same level occurred fragments of an excellent Mayoid 

 vessel with a panel of square, grotesque heads around the rim and, 

 below this, an intricately carved design. The design had been carved 

 after firing. Associated with these lower Mayoid types were a few 

 sherds suggesting orange over buff negative painting ; and cooking 

 ware with dull, dark red line decoration. The second excavation in 

 the plaza yielded few but similar pot sherds. However, the occurrence 

 of a small, restorable imitation Ulua marble bowl just above the 

 upper floor at a depth of i^ meters was significant. Maya carved 

 ware occurred at this same depth in the first excavation. The three 

 plaster floors in this second excavation have already been mentioned. 



OTHER SITES 



There are numerous mounds and other archeological sites in this 

 region, but time to examine many of them was lacking. Close to 

 Manacal Ranch is the site of Los Cocos, consisting of a few low earth 

 and stone mounds that are being rapidly eaten away by the river 

 (map, fig. 2). There is a deep 30-foot bank at this place. No notable 

 structural details could be observed. The only pottery we obtained 

 were some coarse, blackish brown sherds and one heavy, dull orange, 

 sherd with eroded red and black designs. 



Farther upstream, beyond the mouth of the Naco River, is the site 

 of San Luis (see map, fig. 2). Here in a cut of some 3 meters occur 

 many river boulders and large amounts of broken pottery. The 



