HARTMAN : ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF COSTA RICA 65 
This was observed long ago by Professor F. W. Putnam in the case of celt-shaped 
amulets from Nicaragua, and is referred to by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall”, who says: “In 
the Peabody Museum there are several specimens of jade celts collected by Dr. Karl 
Flint in Nicaragua which have been cut into two or more pieces. Professor Putnam 
had the satisfaction of discovering that these pieces from different graves fitted 
together. His inference is that the stones must have been rare and highly prized, 
probably from some motive connected with native ritual.” 
Although celt-shaped stone amulets have been found in various localities on the 
American continent, it seems that the aborigines nowhere else used this symbolic 
object so extensively as in Nicoya. 
A. Celts Worn in a Vertical Position. 
a. Anthropomorphic Celt-shaped Amulets. 
These are by far the most numerous of the sculptured celts. Roughly estimated 
about three times as many have been found of this class as of the zoomorphie. 
The human figure of the celts, except in a comparatively few specimens, is repre- 
sented with the head ‘en face’ and with the arms and upper half of the body de- 
lineated. The head is disproportionately large, and, being usually adorned with a 
head-dress, occupies a considerable portion of the upper half of the celt. Often the 
lower part of the face, including the nose, is represented enclosed by a square in- 
cision, having its upper corner at the root of the nose, its opposite at the apex of 
the chin. ‘The eyes are always placed outside of the ‘face square’ on a line with 
its upper corner. The chin is in numerous specimens triangular, beak-shaped, pro- 
longed downwardly on the breast. ‘The nose is conspicuously broad, as is also the 
mouth, which is formed by from one to two or three parallel, horizontal grooves. 
Each of the corners of the mouth is frequently indicated by a small circular pit. 
Only very rarely are the teeth delineated by the artist as in Pl. XX XIII, Fig. 2, 
where in both jaws they are plainly figured, or in Pl. XXXIII, Fig. 9, where they 
are crudely indicated by a row of short, parallel, vertically placed incisions. ‘The 
tongue of some of the figures, as those represented on Pl. XX XIII, Fig. 1, and Pl. 
XXXYV, Fig. 6, is shown protruding, and in Pl. XX XIV, Fig. 13, it is also prolonged. 
For sculpturing the eye various methods have been chosen by the artist. The 
commonest mode, as illustrated by Pl. XX XIII, Fig. 1, and Pl. XXXIV, Figs. 1, 
3, 4, is simply by making use of two circular drilled pits. A peculiar feature is that 
19Nuttall, Zelia: “‘ The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations.’’ Peabody Museum, 
Cambridge, Mass., 1901, pp. 195-196. 
