*^ELEK] ANTIQUITIES OF GUATEMALA WV* 



heathen pupils to have their hair cut in a Christian and civilized man- 

 ner. In the %iires on the reliefs we are considering- the hair seems to 

 have been removed from the middle of the head, like a tonsure, and 

 from the back of the crown decorations of feathers (quetzal feathers) 

 hang far down the back. For ornament both figures wear square ear 

 plates and necklaces of large round beads. They are clothed with the 

 breechcloth (Mexican maxtlatl, Maj^a ex), the knot of which is lai-oe 

 and plainly seen in <^ while in/ it is covered by a skull which this 

 figure wears on a cord hanging over the back. The action is difficult 

 to explain, since the opposite figure is wanting. An offering or a 

 presentation appears to be expressed. I can say nothing further in 

 explanation. 



The head in g was obtained by Doctor Sapper in Chiatzam. It was 

 made of the same brick-red clay as all of the above-described heads 

 and fragments, and is, the first which we can identif}'^ with a known 

 mythologic character. The hair standing erect in flaming tongues, 

 and especially the eye with the four radiations on the forehead, lead 

 us to recognize in it Kinich Ahau, the sun god. The piece is unfor- 

 tunately incomplete, the lower half of the face being absent. But 

 the Dieseldorff" collection contains two heads which represent the sun 

 god and have a very peculiar characteristic on the lower half of the 

 face. Mr Dieseldorfi' permitted me to make a sketch of these. They 

 are a and 5, figure 20. Both come from the neighborhood of San Juan 

 Chamelco. They can be recognized as representations of the sun god by 

 the large, peculiarly formed eye, whilst h is distinguished also by the 

 hair, and a by the cross over the forehead, which is a variant of the Kin 

 sign. Both show, as the most striking peculiarity, teeth filed to a 

 point in a certain manner. This is precise!}" the peculiarity which 

 occurs with great regularity in the Copan sculptures of the sun god. 

 A glance at c and d will suflfice to confirm this. The form c is taken 

 from Stela H, d from Stela A (Maudsla}' \s notation). Both are clearly 

 designated as representations of the sun god by the Kin sign on the 

 forehead. But we also see this same peculiarity" in the heads of the sun 

 god which stand among the initial numerical hieroglyphs of the stelte 

 in the sixth place, directly before the name of the katun (10 Ahau), 

 which thus denote the units, tjiat is, the single days (see e and/', which 

 are taken from Stelte A and J). The beardlike lines indicated l)clow 

 the head of the sun god are without doubt the u mex kin, "the beai'd 

 of the sun", "the sunbeams'". Wherever in this place, instead of the 

 head of the sun god, the simple Kin sign stands, as on Stela ^I of Copan 

 and on the altar slab of the first cross temple number in Palenque, this 

 sun beard is regularly indicated (see g and h). 



1 should further like to call attention to the fact that the representa- 

 tions of the sun god found in the manuscripts by no means show the 

 teeth filed to a point in the same characteristic way. Therefore the 



