THE LESSER CIVILIZATIONS 145 
are attached. Headdresses are made of feathers and 
grotesque faces and are often very elaborate. As for 
the divine types the jaguar and a long-nosed reptile are 
the most common. ‘The latter has a human body and 
may possibly be an adaptation of the Mayan Long- 
nosed God. 
The funerary urns are found in burial mounds called 
mogotes which contain cell-like burial chambers. The 
urns are not found within these cells but on the floor in 
front of them, in a niche over the door or even on the 
roof. They are frequently encountered in groups of 
five and seem never to contain offerings. 
Other Zapotecan pottery is mostly made of the same 
bluish clay used in the urns. This clay is finely 
adapted to plastic treatment but never carries painted 
designs. The pottery products include pitchers of 
beautiful and unusual shapes, dishes with tripod legs 
modeled into serpent heads, incense burners, bowls, 
plates, ete. Of the same clay are also made whistles in 
realistic forms, and moulded figurines. Painted pot- 
tery also occurs in forms and designs of rare beauty, 
but it is much less characteristic of the Zapotecan 
province than the unpainted ware. 
Carved jades of splendid workmanship have been 
recovered in the Zapotecan region and there is reason 
to believe that this semi-precious stone was obtained 
here in the natural state. Many of the pieces are 
smoothed only on the front, while the back retains its 
old weathered and stream-worn surface. Beautiful 
examples of gold work have also been found in this 
region. 
The ruins of Mitla are described in a later section 
since they came within the sphere of influence of the 
Aztecs. Codices ascribed to southern Mexico will also 
