104 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



although the uniform patination indicates that the original break oc- 

 curred long ago. On the head the outline of breakage at the neck is 

 very similar to that on the body. It measures 22.5 centimeters from 

 front to back. The apelike head is disproportionately large for the 

 body and distinctively prognathous. Anthropomorphic characteristics 

 are the elongated and, presumably, decorated ears and a row of incised 

 circles down the back of the head. Next to the other anthropomorphic 

 torso with beads around the neck described by Mrs. Stone (1934, p. 

 126) there was a similar head. We would be inclined to regard this 

 as identical with the one here figured (pi. 16, fig, 3), but Mrs. Stone 

 does not mention the macrocephaly, which is so outstanding in the 

 head here figured, and states that it had circular ear plugs. From her 

 description of it as " thick lipped " and " soft nosed " with eroded 

 features, the two, if not the same object, must have been similar. 

 We saw only one head and Yde and his party none. 



Mrs. Stone (1934, p. 126) calls the anthropomorphic statue a 

 " stela ", and stresses the position of the hands as representing " with- 

 out a question of doubt, the Mayan sign for submission." Yde (1936, 

 figs. 3, 4, and pp. 27-29) also figures this statue and apparently con- 

 curs with the interpretation of Mrs. Stone. In our opinion, neither 

 the body nor the head are Mayan. Rather they appear to us as 

 closely related to that widespread, and probably older, " Chorotegan " 

 style of stone statue which occurs commonly in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, 

 the highlands of Guatemala, and, rarely, on the Ulua (Lothrop, 1921). 

 The archaic simplicity of the torso, plus the crudity and simian 

 characteristics of the head, seem totally non-Mayan in feeling and 

 technique. The position of the hands alone suggests a definite Maya 

 convention, which may be relatively early but was certainly in vogue 

 at a late period at Chichen Itza (see Tozzer, 1930, pp. 155-158). 

 However, the same position of the arms, as well as crossed arms with 

 the hands on the shoulders, occurs on a number of simian stone 

 statues from Costa Rica, now in the United States National Museum. 

 These statues, and others figured by Lothrop (1921) seem much 

 closer to the Lake Yojoa stone figures than do the highly ornamented 

 and definitely stylized Mayan bas reliefs or vase paintings. If the 

 coincidence of hand position is not accidental in regard to the two 

 types, it may well have some historic significance. The relationship 

 of the Lake Yojoa stone carvings to the southern, " Chorotegan ", 

 type is even more forcibly demonstrated by another anthropomorphic, 

 cylindrical, stone carving from Los Naranjos (pi. 16, fig. i, and Yde, 

 1936, fig. 6) . This type is identical with the rather common, anthropo- 



