SPINDEN— CENTRAL AMERICAN PORTRAITURE 



Fig. 6. — Bound captive, Stela 5, Ixkun. (From a field sketch.) 



down upon a huddled group of miserable captives, bound with rope 

 and guarded by two standing soldiers. The captives (plate viii, c) 

 have apparently been degraded, since the customary ear-plugs have 

 been taken from their ears, leaving the perforations clearly visible, 

 while the hair is roughly knotted on top of their heads. Permanent 

 body decoration, either tattoo or scarification, is seen in bead-like 

 details across the chin, at the corner of the mouth, the base of the 

 ear, and the tip of the nose, but all ornamental objects of dress are 

 wanting. There is one person seated above this group of unfortunates 

 who may be an important chief received with the honors of war. He 

 still wears an ornamented ear-plug, a feather head-dress, a necklace, 

 and a decorated apron. 



All the human figures in this tableau, including three victors and 

 nine victims, have short incised inscriptions upon their bodies or near 

 their heads. These inscriptions consist of two or more glyphs, and it 

 seems reasonable to suppose that names of both persons and places 

 are recorded. The head of a bat (Zotz) with 

 a knotted prefix (fig. 7) begins most incised 

 inscriptions on this and other monuments 

 at Piedras Negras, and indeed at most Maya 

 cities in the Peten region. This glyph may 

 have some such general meaning as "here 

 follows a name". 



The faces of the captives wear expres- 

 sions of fear and sullen anger. The profiles fig. 7.— Zotz glyph. 



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