GANNl MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS ' 75 



The ru])])le, wliereYor found in the mound, contained large quanti- 

 ties of potsherds, togetlier witli flint chips and a few hammerstones. 

 In the spaces FFF were found numerous fragments of metates and 

 brazos, with one unbroken specimen of each (pi. 12). At the points 

 marked (fig. 22, 1, 2, 3, 4) four human interments were encountered at 

 a depth of 12 to 18 inches beneath the surface. The bodies had been 

 buried lying on the back, fully extended. The bones were in a very 

 poor state of preservation, and A\ath each interment were found a few 

 flint chips, hammerstones, broken spearheads, obsidian knives, and 

 one or two small, very roughly made, round cooking pots. The whole 

 mound was removed to provide material for the Corozal streets. On 

 reacliing the ground level it was found that a series of trenches 

 had been cut through the earth beneath, to the bedrock, and filled in 

 with small rubble. Figure 23 gives a plan of these trenches, which are 

 iri the form of two parallelograms, measuring 9 yards by 6 yards, 

 joined by a third of approximately the same area. The trenches 

 varied from 3 to 4 feet in breadth and from H to 3^ feet in depth, 

 according to the thickness of the layer of earth over the bedrock. 

 The space marked figure 23, A, contained remains of at least 30 

 interments; some of these were in small semicircular excavations 

 made in the surrounding earth from the sides of the trenches ; these are 

 shown at figure 23, D; others were made in holes dug in the earth 

 at various points within the space A. The bodies buried in the ex- 

 cavations at the sides of the trenches seem to have been crowded in, 

 in a variety of positions, in order to accommodate ^themselves to 

 the size and shape of the cavity. Most of those in the space A 

 had been buried head downward, the skulls resting in some cases 

 in earthenware bowls, with the back bent, legs flexed, and knees 

 drawn up against the chin. Nearly all these bones were decayed 

 and friable, and could not be removed without crumbling away. 

 The only exception was the burial marked figure 23, D', from wliich 

 the upper part of the skull w^as recovered almost entire, though 

 the facial bones and lower jaw were lost. This skull (pi. 13, c) 

 rested in the bowl shown in plate 13, h, a handsome piece of pottery, 

 standing upon four nearly globular hoUow legs, with slits in their 

 sides, and within them small spheres of clay wliich rattled when 

 the bowl was moved. It is painted yellow and red throughout, 

 and is nicely polished, A great number of objects were found 

 accompanying the bones in the space A. These included flint 

 ax heads and spearheads, flint scrapers, and hammerstones, two 

 obsidian spearheads, and fragments of obsidian knives, shell and 

 clay beads, and a small cyhndrical pottery seal about 3 inches 

 in length, with a geometrical device in low relief stamped upon 

 it (pi. 13, a). The bones of the peccary, curassow, snake, and of 

 some variety of fish were also found, together with the shells of 



