134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY f bull. 64 



of refuse had been deposited it was covered with a layer of earth, 

 and that the mound must have been in use for a considerable 

 time to have reached its present height. 



Small mounds containing considerable quantities of ashes and 

 charcoal mixed with earth and stones, together with refuse material, 

 as flint and obsidian chips, broken implements, potsherds, bones, 

 shells, clay beads and malacates, and similar indestructible objects, are 

 not of infrequent occurrence, and probably mark the sites of ancient 

 kitchen middens. Two such mounds werefoundon the mainland, south 

 of the island of Tamalcab, in Chetumal Bay, Yucatan, situated in what 

 seemingly had been a village site, occupying aji area of approximately 

 20 acres. Great numbers of potsherds, fragments of pottery, images, 

 beads, malacates, chips and broken implements of stone and obsidian, 

 broken metates, fragments of conch and cockle shells, stone water- 

 troughs, and other indestructible rubbish were found scattered in 

 * great profusion over the whole of tliis site. 



Mound No. 36 



Momid No. 36 was situated at Sarteneja, in the northern district 

 of British Honduras, quite close to the seashore. This mound was 

 2 feet 6 inches in height, about 12 feet in diameter; it was composed 

 throughout of conch shells mingled with cockle and whelklike shells. 

 Nothmg except the shells was found in this mound, which forms one 

 of a group of similar mounds, evidently dumpmg places used by 

 each house, for the disposal of the shells of shellfish brought in from 

 the reef by the fishermen after the fish had been extracted and eaten. 



Mound No. 37 



Mound No. 37, situated close to the next preceding mound 

 on the seashore, at Sarteneja, is about 2 feet high by 12 to 15 feet in 

 diameter. It is composed almost entirely of fragments of rather 

 rough unpauated pottery and seemingly marks the site of a manu- 

 factory of this class of ware, as great quantities of fragments are also 

 to be found scattered in all directions around the mound. A small 

 quantity of earth was mingled with the potsherds, but nothmg else 

 was found in the mound. 



Mound No. 38 



Mound No. 38, situated about 5 miles from Corozal, in the northern 

 district of British Honduras, was 6 feet m height by 15 feet in diame- 

 ter, with a flattened top. It was covered with a layer of humus and 

 contained nothing but fragments of weathered stone, of sizes varying 



