264 



CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF EASTERN MEXICO [eth. ann. 25 



STONE HEADS 



Among many evidences of a high ability in artistic expression 

 attained by the ancient people of eastern Mexico may be mentioned the 

 carved stone heads, specimens of which are represented in plates cxx 



and cxxi. These objects 

 are made of lava rock, and 

 all ha\e notches at the necks 

 corresponding in a general 

 way to those at the bases of 

 the paddle-shaped stones. 

 In some cases, as in that fig- 

 V y ^ nred (plate cxx. tf), a human 



' ' iSSSSa face is sculptured within a 



helmet representing a sec- 

 ond head. Another on the 

 same plate (a) has a median 

 crest, which is a feature in 

 many of these stone heads. 

 One of the most instruct 

 ive of the many specimens 

 presented b^' Governor 

 Dehesa is the flat, oval- 

 shaped stone (plate cxx, j) 

 said to have come from near 

 Cempoalan. This object 

 was evidently once attached 

 to some foreign body, but 

 for what purpose is not 

 clear from either size or 

 shape. The holes for 

 attachment are seen on each 

 side of the forehead. 



The stone ring (plate 

 cxx, f), with a handle on 

 one side and evidences of 

 another on the opposite 

 margin, from the Dehesa 

 collection, is, so far as 

 known, a stone object of 

 unique form, from this 

 region. It must be regarded, however, as belonging to the same culture 

 as the rings, yokes, and paddle-shaped stones. Plate cxxi, a. illus- 

 trating one of the best-made stone heads in the Dehesa collection, repre- 



. 59. Bird-shaped st(ine with irn 

 collection.) 



(Dehesa 



