144 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



with either the Mayan or Aztecan system. Lintels with 

 lines of hieroglyphs on the outer edge have been found in 

 burial chambers at Cuilapa and Xoxo. The forms at 

 the former site are clearly and beautifully drawn, while 

 at the latter site they are degenerate and probably 

 merely decorative. 



In Zapotecan funerary urns a close connection with 

 Mayan art can easily be demonstrated. The urns are 

 cylindrical vessels concealed behind elaborate figures 

 built up from moulded and modeled pieces. Many of 

 these built-up figures clearly represent human beings 

 while others represent grotesque divinities or human 

 beings wearing the masks of divinities. The purely 

 human types have a formal modeling in high relief, the 

 head usually being out of proportion to the rest of the 

 body. The pose is ordinarily a seated one with the 

 hands resting on the knees or folded over the breast. 

 Details of dress are very clearly shown including capes, 

 girdles, aprons, or skirts and headdresses. Necklaces 

 are often worn with a crossbar pendant to which shells 

 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 



