299 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 
mented with longitudinal panels of geometric designs 
arranged according to a carefully worked out plan. The 
geometric patterns are entirely formal and are mosaics 
of separately carved stones which fit neatly together. 
The chambers are long and narrow and formerly had 
flat roofs which have completely vanished. The door- 
ways are wide and low, usually with two piers. ‘The 
lintels are blocks of carefully trimmed stone of great 
length and weight. All the outer surfaces of the Mitla 
temples seem to have been sized with plaster and 
painted red. The frescoes, traces of which can still be 
seen in several buildings, are in red and black upon a 
white base. Various gods and ceremonies are repre- 
Fig. 81. Wall Paintings of Mitla, resembling in Style the Picto- 
graphic Art of the Codices. 
sented, but only the upper portion of the bands, which 
show the heavens can be made out completely. 
Cruciform tombs are found under several of the 
temples at Mitla as well as at a number of neighboring 
sites such as Xaaga and Guiaroo. In these tombs the 
designs in panels appear on the inside and are carved 
directly on large blocks of stone. Pottery remains are 
rare in the cruciform tombs of the Mitla type but a few 
examples of gold work have been discovered in them. 
Within a short distance of Mitla is a fortified hill with 
several heavy walls that still stand to the height of per- 
haps twenty feet. In the flat valley between this hill 
