20 



ARCHEOLOGY. (MEXICO.) 



mounds indicating that at one time the country 

 was densely populated by an industrious people. 

 The mounds vary in height from 6 to 75 feet, 

 some of them being in the form of a pyramid, 

 while others are rectangular, and a few circular. 

 Many have been plowed over, and thus their origi- 

 nal outlines are destroyed. Statues appear bur- 

 ied in many places, and the plows too have 

 wrought havoc and destruction among many of 

 them. 



A peculiar feature of the tombs were the 

 cemented floors, in some instances these being 

 one above the other, and indications of a struc- 

 ture on top of the whole. In some of them a 

 flight of stone steps led upward to the platform 

 or floor above. The tombs were of stone neatly 

 dressed, covered with stucco, which had been 

 painted red. The lintels over the entrances con- 

 sisted of a stone slab, the outer part also painted 

 red. Above the lintel were stucco decorations, 

 sculptures, and hieroglyphics, and sometimes fu- 

 neral urns of terra-cotta were found. One of 

 which Prof. Saville found in front of a tomb in 

 a large mound in the excavations of the ruins at 

 Cuilapam. and was allowed to bring away. It 

 was in pieces, which have been carefully put 

 together, and it is now in the Museum of Natu- 

 ral History, New York. In one of the explora- 

 tions made by carrying a trench through the 

 entire mound a tomb was found with the charac- 

 teristic cemented floors and adobe construction of 

 the other mounds, with a door sealed with large 

 stone slabs. The fagade of the front wall was in 

 the form of a frame in which w r ere five terra-cotta 

 funeral urns. One in the center had a death's- 

 head on each side of it, made of stucco. The 

 inside of the tomb was covered with food vessels, 

 incense burners, and the remains of skeletons. 

 Niches in each side of the walls also contained 

 human remains. All the bones and skulls were 

 painted red. There were several detached heads 

 on the floor, which had been cut off. The walls 

 of the chamber had been covered with plaster, 

 but in the lapse of the time since they were 

 built, probably on account of earthquakes, too, 

 the greater part had fallen off. The plaster had 

 been decorated with paintings in various colors, 

 which had not altogether lost their brightness, 

 although only traces remained. Over these 

 bright-colored decorations a thin coat of stucco 

 had been laid, upon which in black outlines was 

 painted a series of human figures in the costume 

 of the ancient people. One. of the most impor- 

 tant features in this and many of the other 

 tombs was the hieroglyphic inscriptions found 

 on the stone door lintel and wall chambers in 

 form of writing entirely different from any here- 

 tofore found in Mexico, and the first ever found 

 in Zapotecan territory. 



At Cuilapam, 7 miles southwest of Oaxaca, 7 

 large chambers and a like number of small 

 stone graves were uncovered. The excavations of 

 the mounds were especially striking on account 

 of the jadeite ornaments and other votive offer- 

 ings found. They embraced beautifully carved 

 breast ornaments, necklaces, beads, earrings, 

 miniature idols, and various symbolic figures. 

 Also fragments of mosaic work were found, the 

 most interesting of which are two small circular 

 mirrors made of bits of highly polished hematite 

 cemented to thin disks of pottery. A significant 

 point brought out by these discoveries is the fact 

 that they fully i-nntinn the writings of the old 

 Spanish historians who have described the 

 strange and elaborate burial customs of the Za- 

 potecans, and also that the great underground 

 tombs were used as ossuaries, or places reserved 



only for the deposit of the bones of the dead, and 

 not for burial. After a certain lapse of time 

 when the flesh had decayed, the bones and heads 

 were painted red, arid with elaborate ceremony 

 they were placed in the tombs with food and 

 incense. One problem is definitely settled as to 

 the character of the mounds; the rectangular 

 ones were found to be burial-places and con- 

 tained the most important tombs, but the 

 pyramidal ones were temple structures. 



While Prof. Saville was carrying on his excava- 

 tions and explorations among the ruins of Xoxo- 

 cotlan and Cuilapam, Seuor Batres went to the 

 ruins on Monte Alban. These have been known 

 to exist many years and have been visited by 

 American and foreign scientists, but Seuor Ba- 

 tres through his government position was able 

 to make many new and most important discov- 

 eries. Monte Alban rises to a height of about 

 1,200 feet above the valley of Oaxaca where the 

 other remains are found. Its sides and top have 

 been cultivated by the natives for years. A great 

 central courtyard embracing many acres between 

 quadrangular mounds, which, besides containing 

 temples, may have served for defense, is used as 



FUNERAL URN FROM MONTE ALBAN KUINS, MEXICO. 



a corn-field. The mounds were arranged in a 

 systematic order around this great court, and 

 Sefior Batres spent much time superintending the 

 w r ork of clearing the mounds of the brush and 

 trees that covered them, employing many Indi- 

 ans from the surrounding towns. At the base 

 of a great mound where excavations had been 

 previously made by other explorers, including 

 Prof. Saville, he rescued sculptured images the 

 existence of which was known at three of the 

 corners, and by their location discovered one at 

 the fourth corner at the base. An important di<- 

 covery was made in one of four pyramidal 

 mounds, the remains of which stand in a row 

 down the middle of the great courtyard, which 

 is now turned into an Indian corn-field. The 

 first object encountered was a sculptured, rec- 

 t singular column of porphyry, 4 meters in height, 

 i id centimeters across the face, and 40 centime- 

 ters across the sides. On the face of this monolith 



