CANNl MAVA IXDTAKS OF YUCATAN AND BRTTISIT TTONDURAS lOS 



specimens, but are neatly chipped, whereas the Brionio objects are 

 ver}^ oruclely blocked out, mostly from black flint. 



It will be observed that figure 49, c, d, g, from Tennessee, shows 

 specimens almost identical with figure 50, p, from Brionio, and 

 with the turtle, pictured in plate 15, g, from the Douglas chambered 

 mound; again the spiked crescents, figure 50, h, c, n, from Brionio, 

 closely resemble the very much larger spiked crescent illustrated in 

 plate 15, e, from the Douglas chambered mound, and still more closely 

 the spiked crescent figured in ''Fhnt Chips" (from Wilson, Prehistoric 

 Man, op. oit.; p. 214). Though these objects are not found in Cen- 

 tral America outside the IMaya area, the Aztec were sufliciently ex- 

 pert in the art of flint and obsidian cliipping to have produced them 

 had they wished. In figure 49, a, is seen the outhne of a type 

 of labretworn by the Aztecs, chipped 

 out of both fhnt and obsidian, wliich 

 compares favorably in workmansliip 

 with any of the objects from the 

 Maya area. 



In reviewing the evidence it would 

 appear that these eccentrically shaped 

 objects were not employed either as 

 implements or as weapons, most of 

 them being utterly unsuited in both 

 size and shape for such purposes; 

 moreover, none of them show any 

 signs of wear or use. Neither were 

 they used as ornaments, as many of 

 them are too large and heavy, while 

 the more roughly chipped specimens 

 would be quite unadapted for such 

 a purpose. Judging by the fact that 

 5 at least of the 11 separate finds fig. so.-F^t objects from itaiy. 



were associated with human burials, it seems probable that these 

 objects were purely ceremonial in use ; that they were most f rc(iuently, 

 if not invariably, buried with the dead, either on top of the sepul- 

 chral mound, in close association with the corpse, or by the side of a 

 memorial stela; and that they were manufactured and used solely for 

 tliis purpose 



Mound No. 15 



Mound No. 15 was situated on the south bank of the Rio Hondo, 

 about 5 miles from its moutli, near the village of Santa Helena, 

 This wjus a conical mound 25 feet in height and 120 feet in circum- 

 foronce at the base. Excavation was begun at the summit of the 

 mound, which was somewhat flattened. For the first foot the coil 



