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MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 
a. (Pl. IX, Figs. 1-4.) Metate of rare shape, of fine grained basaltic lava. 
Legs triangular, flattened, with slit perforations. Specimen highly adorned with 
sculptured designs in low relief on both the upper and lower sides of the plate, on 
the edges, and the legs. On the upper side only the borders at each end are adorned. 
The broader decoration at the front end shows a rectangular field 10 cm. broad, 
with two highly conventionalized human figures opposite each other. The bodies 
have entirely disappeared and the two large rectangular heads are connected by 
only aslender link. The arms are extended, each figure having one at alternate 
corners, transformed into a meander. The two protruding knobs at the front 
form part of a design belonging to the under side. ‘The sculptured band, about 
2 cm. broad, at the back of the upper side, shows a simple, purely linear design. 
The edges are adorned with a continued scroll design. The three legs are sculp- 
tured all over. Every attempt to decipher these conventionalized designs, embodied 
in the legs, proved futile as long as I examined the object in its natural stand- 
ing position. But when I turned it on its back the conception of the sculptor 
was soon revealed. Before I had thus discovered the mean- 
ing of the design, the purpose of the small circular holes of 
these legs was most puzzling. ‘he large, oblong slits had 
undoubtedly served for securing the metate to the wall or 
some object in order to keep it steady during the grinding 
process. Besides there were at the front two special loops 
which might have served a similar purpose. ‘The smaller, 
circular holes appeared consequently totally superfluous. 
While trying to designate some possible utilitarian reason 
for these holes, the anthropomorphic design revealed itself, 
and I now realized that the holes had been bored merely to 
indicate the openings between the arms and the body and 
below the knees of the human or simian figures which the 
legs represent.? (See Pl. [X, Fig. 4.) 
Both loops, too, at the front of the specimen here de- 
Fic. 18. Oblong celt. 
(Cat. No. 2323.) i. 
scribed, as seen from the lower side, apparently represent a 
human or simian figure with the united arms bent toward the chin or mouth. In 
®°Compare also Pl. XV, Figs. 1-4, Pl. XVI, Figs. 1-4, and Pl. XVII, Figs. 1, 2, showing metates of the same 
peculiar type and from the same locality, all belonging to the Velasco collections. Pl. IX, Fig. 4, shows most plainly 
the whole simian figure in a sitting position, with both arms bent upward toward the mouth, the tail kept parallel with 
the back and joined to the neck. In Pl. XVII, Figs. 1, 2, the human traits are lost, and only through comparison 
and observation of forms like those above described can any understanding of the original conception of the sculptor be 
attained. 
