gannI 



MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 



121 



each decorated with a rouglily modeled human face, are manufac- 

 tured by the modem Indians and used by them in burning copal 

 gum in the ruins of the temples erected by their ancestors. Figure 70 

 shows a hfe-sized hollow head , in rough pottery, with a thm hollow 

 neck, probably used to carry around m processions on the top of a long 

 pole. There can be no doubt that these bowls and liourglass-shaped 

 vessels, each decorated externally with a human figure or face, usually 

 that of a god, were used as incense burners, since a number of them, as 

 already stated, were found in a 

 mound at Santa Rita with half 

 burnt out incense stiU contained 

 in them. Moreover, their use for 

 this purpose persists to the present 

 day among the Lacandones ^ and 

 even among the Santa Cruz 

 Indians. These incense burners 

 occur most frequently in the cen- 

 tral part of the Maya area and are 

 not common in northern Yucatan 

 or southern Guatemala. Three 

 distinct types are found : The first 

 include the large, well-modeled 

 specimens foimd in and aromid 

 burial mounds, decorated with 

 the complete figure of the god 

 (usually Cuculcan or Itzamna), 

 havmg every detail in clothing 

 and ornament carefully executed 

 in high relief. These are all prob- 

 ably pre-Columbian, and such as ^°' "'" 

 have been fomid seem to have been used only as ceremonial mor- 

 tuary mcense burners, to be broken into fragments (which were 

 scattered through or over the burial momid) immediately after use. 



"\\Tiile searching the upper steps of the pyramid my men found two interesting incense vessels with 

 a head on the rim."— Maler, Researclies in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley, Part 2, 

 p. 136. 



"In nearly all the houses (spealdng of Yaxchilan) I found earthen pots, partly filled with some half- 

 bumed resinous substance. . . . They were in great numbers round the idol in the house I lived in. 

 Some looked much newer than others, and many are in such positions that it was clear that they had been 

 placed there since the partial destruction of the houses."— Maudslay, Explorations in Guatemala, 

 pp. lSr>-204. 



Charnay, Voyage au Yucatan et au pays des I.acandons, pp. 33-48. 



"Se trouvent une nuihitude de vases d'une terre grossidre, et d'une forme nouvcllc; ce spnt des bols 

 de dix k quinze cenlimdtres de diametre sur cinq a six de hauteur, dont Ics bords sont omes de masque 

 humains repn^sentant des figures camardes et d'autres k grands nez busqu(5s, V(5ritablcs caricatures oii 

 I'art fait completcment d(5faut. . . . Ccs vases servaient de brtlle-parfums, et la plupart sont encore k 

 moiti6 plcins de copal."— Charmay, ibid., p. 88. 



' "These incense-burners are used by the Lacandones in their reUgious ceremonies. Each family or 

 group of connected families living together possesses several of the incense-burners or braseros.'' — Tozzer, 

 Comparative Study of the Mayas and Lacandones, p. 84. 



Fig. 69.— Crude ciay figurine found in Mound 



