HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



The flat, mortar-like clay tablet, hereinafter described, was found 

 with a mass of potsherds; it was broken when found, was not asso- 

 ciated with a burial, and evidently was a rejected ceremonial object. 

 Not far from the second skeleton unearthed in the first yacata a crude 

 stone grinder was found; it was associated with a mass of potsherds 

 that formed an almost solid stratum in this part of the mound and 

 which contained the largest fragments of pottery that were recovered, 

 among them being the entire rim of a very large olla. 



In Mound 2, dissociated from burials, was unearthed a large cook- 

 ing jar, filled with potsherds and refuse as was the case with the 

 vessels found in Mound 1. In the western part of this yacata a small 

 olla and a shallow bowl were uncovered. There was no evidence of a 

 burial here, but as these were the only vessels of this type that were 

 dissociated from burials, it is possible that they may have been buried 

 with an infant whose bones had disappeared through decay. 



Two pottery jar covers were found in the yacatas. The larger one 

 (pi. 1, a), from Mound 2, is in the form of an animal; the lower part 

 is square, the spread being five inches, and it is three and one half 

 inches high. The walls of this cover are very thin, and the sides are 

 arched in such manner as to form four legs, the lower extremities of 

 which are the thickest parts of the object. The upper part of the 

 cover is rounded, and a raised annular section rests on it; the upper 

 edge of this ring is serrated, and from the frontal part an animal's 

 head projects. Below the ring, at the back of the vessel and balanc- 

 ing the head, is a projection in the form of a tail. The cover was 

 evidently designed to represent a turtle, and in confirmation of this 

 belief are flipper-like projections on the upper part of each leg. These 

 projections have longitudinal incised lines, as if to indicate the toe 

 divisions of the flipper. Below the projections the legs of the vessel 

 are undecorated. The entire space between the flippers and the ring 

 referred to is filled with a design composed of curved lines and im- 

 pressed circles, the latter made with the end of a reed or a similar 

 instrument, and placed in groups above each flipper, under the head, 

 above the tail, and beneath the raised rim on the other two sides. 

 The upper surface, or the area within the ring, is devoid of ornament, 

 but the presence of two openings mark the fact that there had been 

 a handle. This cover was found in position over a small olla. 



The smaller cover (pi. I, c), from Mound I, is similar in form, has 

 a square base, but is only three and three-quarters inches in width. 

 The head and the tail of the turtle are not in evidence, but the flippers 

 are shown on the legs of the cover, and a design similar to that on the 

 other, composed of circles and rings, ornaments the upper part. A 



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