KEWKEsl OBJECTS FROM CEMPOALAN AND XICO 255 



•sinii lar geometrical traceries occur likewise on the prohlematiial paddle- 

 shaped stones, indicating an intimate cultural resemblance. 



A scientific classitication may be built on the number of heads of 

 human beings or animals cut on the external surfaces of the yokes and 

 on the general identification of these figures. Thus we recognize a first 

 group that contains those in which the yoke repi'esents one human 

 being or animal, the head being cut on the arch and the liml)s and body 

 on the arms, while the second group contains those yokes with heads of 

 two or more human beings or animals represented on the sides and arch 

 of the yoke. The first group is subdivided into two classes, in the first 

 of which human faces are represented;, in the second some animal, as a 

 frog or reptile, is cut in relief on the stone. The head or face of the 

 first subdivision has many human features, and the likeness extends 

 to representations of appendages, which take the forms of arms and 

 legs, hands, and human feet rather than claws or hoofs. In the second 

 division of the first type the evident intention was to represent head 

 and legs of some bizarre animal rather than those of man; the figure 

 represented is commonly called a frog. The head is not that of 

 a human being, although unlike an animal's, and the limbs are not 

 arms and legs with human hands and feet, but animal appendages with 

 claws, hoofs, or similar digits. At times these appendages l)ecome so 

 conventionalized that their resemblances to legs is almost wholly lost 

 and can be detected onl}' by comparative studies. 



The superficial sculpturing of the first type indicates that one being 

 was represented on each yoke, or that all the ornamentation together 

 forms the head and various organs of one animal. This is not true of 

 the second type, where two or more heads, legs, and bodies of as many 

 individuals are cut on the same yoke. In this type the several heads 

 represented are sometimes identical, but more often diverse, so that 

 while the face of a grotesque animal may appear on the ai'ch. repre- 

 sentations of skulls and human faces occur on the arms. 



The accompanying plate, (plate cxii, «, /;, c), chosen to represent a 

 decorated v'oke of the first type, is one of the best specimens in the 

 Dehesa collection. As indicated by the human face, it belongs to the 

 first subdivision of the first group, in which a human head is cut in 

 relief on the curved end, the legs and arms l)eing clearly seen on the 

 proximal and distal arms of the j'oke. A side view (plate cxii. h), 

 reveals an elaborate sj'stem of geometrical designs, indicating the !)ody 

 with legs and arms in relief, the same ornamentation being fonnd 

 over the whole surface of the yoke. The superficial ornamentation is 

 intended to represent a figure with a human head, the body lying 

 pronB on its breast like an animal. 



In the specimen figured on plate cxii, is an example of the first type 

 of stone yoke, but one in which the superficial sculptured designs 

 cover the bod}', tongue, and legs to such an extent that the joints 



