132 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bdll. 64 



Mound No. 34 



Mound No. 34, situated near Progreso, in the northern district of 

 British Honduras, was 5 feet in height, roughly circular, and about 20 

 feet in diameter at the base. The mound was built throughout of 

 rough blocks of limestone, rubble, and earth. At the ground level, 

 about the center of the mound, were found large flat miworked flags, 

 which seemed to have formed the roof of a small cist that had caved 



in. Beneath these were fomid a few fragments 



of bone, which crumbled away as they were bemg 

 removed, with a small spherical vasei of rough 

 unpamted pottery, Ih mches in diameter (pi. 

 2 1 , a) . This was decorated on the outside with 

 a human head wearing a peaked headdress, some- 

 what resembling the cap of liberty,and large circu- 

 lar ear plugs in the ears. Below the head pro- 

 jected a pair of arms with the hands clasped in 

 front, supporting between them a small pottery 

 ball. Within this little vase, which was filled 

 with earth and limestone dust, were found: (a) 

 A small earthenware bead (fig. 80, a). Q^) A 

 small, very delicate obsidian knife, the tip of which is broken 

 off, but which otherwise shows hardly any signs of use (fig. 80, 6). (c) 

 The terminal phalanx of a small and delicate finger, in a very fair 

 state of preservation (fig. 80, c). The burial of a terminal phalanx of 

 one of the fingers of the mother, with a favorite child, is not an un- 



FiG. 79.— Rough 

 vessel found i 

 No. 33. 



and it is possible that 

 The bones of the child 



known custom among, semicivilized peoples, 

 this little mound contains such an interment, 

 being fragile and deficient in calcareous 

 matter, may well have almost disap- 

 peared, while the fiiiger bone of the 

 mother, bemg of more compact bony tis- 

 sue, and protected to some extent by the 

 vase in which it lay, has been preserved. 

 The crudeness of the modelmgof the little 

 vase and of the face and arms thereon 

 would suggest that, it niay have been a ^ ^" ^^. ^ , ^ . ^^ , J ^, 



j,^ ^^ J FiG.SO.— Objects found m Mound No. 34. 



playthmg of the child during life, and 



even perhaps may have been modeled by its own hands. The 

 obsidian knife may have been used by the mother to separate the bone 

 at the last finger joint. The little figure which decorates the outside 

 of this vase closely resembles those curious figures in a diving position, 

 with arms pointed downward and feet upward, which are not uncom- 

 mon m this area. Figure 81 shows one represented on the outside 

 of a small vase; several are to be found, molded in stucco, on the 



