88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 64 



from brownish-yellow, chert. The eccentric flints comprised : (a) An 

 animal form, possibly meant to represent a bush rabbit, 30 cm. in 

 length from the forehead to the tip of the tail (pi. 15, a); (b) an 

 animal form, evidently meant to represent a turtle or tortoise, 28 

 cm. in length from the head to the tip of the tail (pi. 15, g); (c) a 

 halberd-shaped implement (pi. 15, h), exquisitely cliipped from light- 

 ocher-colored chert, 44 cm. in its greatest length by 19 cm. in breadth 

 across the widest part of the head. This implement is furnished with 

 two sharp-pointed cutting projections in front, separated by a groove; 

 at the back is a larger triangular sharp projection. The whole imple- 

 ment is well balanced, for use in the hand, by a bulging or thickening 

 of its body between these three projections; (d) an implement chipped 

 from yellowish chert, 44 cm. in length, serrated on each side, pointed 

 at one end and rounded at the other (pi. 15, d); (e) a crescentic imple- 

 ment, chipped from yellowish chert, 26 cm. in its greatest length, 

 17^ cm. across the widest part of the crescent. From the convexity 

 of the crescent project three spines, the central one long and serrated, 

 the lateral ones merely pointed knobs. This object is more crudely 

 chipped and less symmetrical than any of the others (pi. 15, e). 



These eccentrically shaped fhnt and chert objects seem to be 

 limited in their distribution to that part of the Maya area comprised 

 in southern Yucatan, eastern Guatemala, and most of the colony of 

 British Honduras. The earliest known specimens are probably those 

 now preserved in the Salisbury Museum, England, which have been 

 thus described: 



Among the numerous stone weapons and implements which have been discovered, 

 and serve to illustrate the primitive arts of the New World, three remarkable relics 

 from the Bay of Honduras, in South America, are deserving of special attention. 

 They were found about the year 1794, with other examples, in a cave between two 

 and three miles inland. * * * One is a serrated weapon, pointed at both ends, 

 measuring 16>| inches long. [This object is almost exactly similar to plate 15, d, except 

 that the latter is pointed at one end only, the opposite one being rounded.] Another 

 is in the form of a crescent, with projecting points. It measures 17 inches in its 

 greatest length, and it is conjectured may have served as a weapon of parade, like 

 the state partisan or halbert of later times. The third, which is imperfect, has prob- 

 ably resembled the previous one in general form.' 



The second of these implements very closely resembles that shown 

 in plate 15, e, the Salisbury specimen being somewhat larger, more 

 symmetrical, and more carefully chipped. 



About 3 feet beneath these fhnt objects, embedded in the sand 

 wdiich filled this part of the chamber, were discovered 20 cruciform 

 obsidian arrowheads or javelin heads, similar to that shown in figure 

 31, a; 40 small obsidian cores; 2 obsidian arrowheads, of the shape 

 shown in figure 32; 12 well-made obsidian knives, grooved on each 



1 From Wilson, Daniel, Prehistoric Man, vol. i, pp. 214-15, Cambridge and London, 1S62; quoted by 

 Stevens, Edward T., in Flint Chips. 



