ARCHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS 



279 



suffered a similar decline. On his visit to Alttunira to investigate 

 its antiquities the most instructive archeological objects seen by the 

 author were two large stone idols that stand on the street corners, 

 one of which (figure 68), owned by Seiior Justo Garcia Enriquez, is 

 characteristic. Endeavors to trace this idol to its prehistoric home or 

 aboriginal owners were not successful, nor could it be discovered how 

 long the stone had stood in its present situation, but there is hardly a 

 doubt that it once belonged to some of the aborigines that inhabited 

 the banks of the adjacent lagoon. It is made of light brown stone 

 and stands erect, the top of the head being about three feet above the 

 ground. Although the surface is rough and 

 more or less battered, the characteristic symbolic 

 features of a Huaxtec god have not wholly dis- 

 appeared. The carving is confined to the front 

 side, the back having been left rough and slightly 

 rounded and marked with parallel lines. Head 

 and bodj' are well represented, but the legs are 

 not now visible; possibly they were broken off 

 or are buried below the surface of the ground. 

 The idol wears a cap-shaped projection, which 

 Doctor Seler has shown to be characteristic of 

 Huaxtec idols, out from which hood-iike cover- 

 ing peers the face, reminding one of a helmet, or 

 of a mask representing the head of some animal, 

 possibly a serpent. 



The ear ornaments consist of two parts — a 

 round disk at the lol)e of the ear and a curved 

 pendant recalling a carpenter's square. There is 

 a representation of a rectangular raised object 

 over the breast, above the hands. The depres- 

 sion at the mnbiiicus is concave, surrounded by 



a rim, reminding one of similar concavities in many Mexican images. 

 Comparing this idol with others from Tanquin or Tuxpan, figured by 

 Doctor Seler, resemblances in certain details are found, for like them 

 it has a conical appendage to the head and representations of a plate- 

 like ornament of peculiar shape on the breast. In the Tanquin speci- 

 men figured by Seler the corresponding ornament is large, forming a 

 kind of plastron covering breast and abdomen, while in the Tuxpan 

 representation the plate is circular and perforated. In speaking of 

 other Huaxtec idols, which the Altamira specimen closely resembles, 

 Doctor Seler says: "Einerseits des Ohrschmucks wegen der an den 

 des Mexicanischen Windgottes (Quetzalcoatl) und der Pulquegotter 

 erinnert, dann aber auch des merkwiirdigen Gegenstandes halber den 

 die Figur vor der Brusthangen hat.'' The same author calls attention 



. 68. Stone idol at Alta- 



