GAXN] MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 131 



latest period of Maya culture. Another explanation which suggests 

 itself is that the lamp was buried in the mound at a much later 

 date (possibly during the troublous times of the Indian rebellions, 

 between 1840 and 1850) by someone who wished to hide it tem- 

 porarily, and that it had no connection mth the original purpose 

 of the mound. No other objects were found in this momid, with 

 the exception of a number of potsherds, till the gi'ound level was 

 reached, where, near the center of the mound, the pamted clay figur- 

 ine shown in plate 22 was uncovered. This represents a deer with a 

 human head, whose headdress is the upper jaw of some mythological 

 animal. The back of the figure, which is hollow, contams a small open- 

 ing near the tail, covered with a conical plug of clay. Within were 



Fig. 78.— Soapstone lamp found in Mound No. 33. 



two small beads, one of polished red shell, the other of polished green- 

 stone. The whole figurme had been coated with lime wash, over 

 which were painted black lines, dots, and circles.^ The human face, 

 earrings, gorget, and part of the headdress are painted blue, while 

 the mouth of both the human face and the face in the headdress are 

 painted red. Near the figurine lay a vessel (fig. 79) of rough yellow 

 pottery, unpainted and undecorated, with two small ear-hke projec- 

 tions just below the rim. No bones and no trace of human burial 

 were found in the mound. 



' This white lime wash, applied evenly to the entire surface, over which other colors were afterward 

 painted, seems to have been used on all the more elaborate incensarios and on nearly all the clay figurines 

 It is still employed by the modern Lacandones in the manufacture of their braseros. (See Tozzer, A 

 comparative Study of the Mayas and the Lacandones, p. 109.) 



