260 CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF EASTERN MEXICO [eth. ann. 25 



Investigations in this line were early .suggested by Strebel, but not car- 

 ried out. The rebus or place name, for instance Nautziidan, consists 

 of a 3'oke-formed figure placed above the legs and abdomen of a himian 

 being and is interpreted by Peiiafiel as "a place of fruitfulness." The 

 figure of the yoke, according to this author, " is a kind of receptacle 

 full of black spots, a sj'mbol of maternity, reproduction or fecundity." 

 In the Codex Vaticanus, a profile figure I'esembling a yoke has been 

 thought to symbolize the Earth god or the Death god or goddess. In 

 other words, the .scant pictographic material available supports the 

 theoiy that the Mexican stone yokes are associated with germination 

 rites. Mrs Nuttall" and Doctor Rust* suggest that the curved 

 stones used by the California Indians in certain puberty rites may 

 have some relation to the stone j'okes of the Mexicans. This would 

 fall in line with the hypothesis that the latter were connected with 

 rites of germination or with gods presiding over germination, which 

 interpretation the author I'egards as not far from the truth. 



It is evident that these 3-okes'' should not be intei-preted as imple- 

 ments used to hold down victims for .sacrifice, and the representations 

 of supernatural beings upon them are not necessarily connected with 

 human sacrifices. Very small forms of these yokes, as that shown in 

 plate cxx, a, could not have })een so u.sed: the}- may have been a fetish, 

 and possibly used as a pei'sonal charm. The majority of sculptured 

 figures on these yokes may be reduced to symbolic representations of 

 the Skj' or Sun god. The death's-heads may be interpreted as symbols 

 of the god of the underworld or abode of the spirits of ancestors, while 

 the l)irds refer to the Sky god, worshiped as father of all life. The 

 death's-head and skeleton so constantly repeated do not refer so much 

 to the victim of the .sacrifice as to the ruler of the realm of the dead, 

 the underworld where dwell the ancients and other supernaturals. It 

 is suggested, however, that the figures on the surfaces of these yokes 

 represent in some specimens beings that are not identical. Thus on 

 the arch of one j'oke we have a frog's head, a skeleton on one arm, and 

 a human face on the other. Some yokes have reptiles and others birds 

 cut upon them. Strebel has identified the majority of the second sub- 

 division of the fir.st gi-oup as frog forms; this identification may be 

 good so far as it goes, but it is not unlikely that these frogs symbolize 

 other conceptions, as the Sun or the Moon god. In other words, the 

 so-called frog yoke ma}' be a representation of the sun in his function 

 of rain-bringer. There are several marked resemblances between 

 figures identified as sun gods graven on stone slabs from Santa Lucia 

 Oosamawhupa, and figures on the stone yokes here considered. This 



a Old and New World Civilization, Memoirs o/th» Peabody Museum, ii, 1901. 

 ?' American Anthropologist, n. s., Vlll, January-March, 1906. 



f A cresrenlic figure is repeatedly found in Mexican painting as a symbol of .supernatural beings 

 connected with growth or germination. It sometimes replaces sun symbols on shields. 



