GAN.N'i MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN AND BRITISH HONDURAS 133 



ruined l)uil{liTi<:;s of Tuluum, on the eastern coast of Yucatan, just 

 belo^v the island of Cozumel, and they are occasionaUy, though rarely, 

 found decorating pottery mcense burners, instead of the commoner 

 representations of the Gods Itzamna and Cuculcan. Neither Landa, 

 Villagutierre, nor Cogolludo mention the custom as practiced ])y 

 Maya mothers or relatives on the deaths of their children. Had it 

 been prevalent at the time of the conquest it seems hardly possible 

 that such a practice could have escaped their notice; on the other 

 hand, if the solitary phalanx had not been buried with the dead as a 

 memorial, its presence under these circumstances is very difficult to 

 explain. 



In nearly all extensive groups of mounds one or more middens, 

 or refuse mounds, are to be found. The four mounds next described, 

 though varying much from one 

 another, are all distinctly of this 

 type. 



Mound No. 35 



Mound No. 35 was situated 

 near the Cayo, on the Mopan 

 River; it forms one of a group 

 of about 30 mounds scattered 

 over a considerable area. It 

 was 12 feet in height and 

 seemingly had been about 30 

 feet in diameter, but situated 

 as it was, immediately on 

 the river bank, nearly half 

 of it had been washed away 

 by the floods of successive 

 rainy seasons, leaving a clean 



. , 111 Fig. 81.— Figure in di\-ing position on small vase. 



section almost through the 



center of the mound, very favorable for observing its construction. 

 The lowest layer, 1 to 2 inches in thickness, resting on the ground 

 level, was composed of ashes mixed with fragments of charcoal; 

 above this was a layer of earth and stones about 1 foot in thick- 

 ness, and above this a further layer of ashes; and so on to the 

 top of the mound — -strata of ashes averaging 2 inches thick alter- 

 nating with strata of earth averaging about 1 foot. No objects 

 with the exception of a few potsherds were found in the earth 

 layers, but the layers of ashes were rich in flint and obsidian 

 chips, fragments of conch and snail shells, clay beads and mala- 

 cates, potsherds in great variety and abundance, with the bones 

 of the deer, gibnut, and peccary. It would seem that this mound 

 had formed a sort of kitchen midden; that when a certain amount 



