THE AJtCHAIC HORIZON Ot 



quality which they possess of being archaic in an abso- 

 lute sense. The greater difficulty of working stone as 

 compared with clay and the Longer time required in the 



process makes stone art less subject to caprice than 

 ceramic art. Perhaps the most primitive examples of 



stone sculpture are boulders rudely carved in a sem- 

 blance of the human form with features either sunken 

 or in relief. The arms and legs are ordinarily flexed so 

 that the elbows meet over the knees. The eyes and 



Fig. 1 v . Scries showing the Modification of a Celt into a Stone Amulet. 



mouths in the most carefully finished pieces protrude, 

 but the face has little or no modeling. Many celts are 

 modified into figures by grooves, and faces are fre- 

 quently represented on roughly conical or disk-shaped 

 stont s. 



\\ V know very little from actual excavations concern- 

 ing houses of the Archaic Period. It is likely that they 

 were small and impermanent, possibly resembling the 

 modern huts. The pyramidal mound as a foundation 

 for the temple was possibly developed towards the end 

 of the Archaic Period. It would be interesting to 

 determine whether adobe moulded into bricks was 

 known at this time, a- it was at a later time in the same 

 region, or whether walls were built up out of fresh mud 

 p088ibly reinforced by -labs of stone. 



