THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 



17.") 



At Mercedes remarkable stone slabs were found dur- 

 ing the excavations conducted by Mr. Minor C. Keith. 



These are now on exhibition in the American Museum 

 o\ Natural History. The sculptures in relief on these 

 slabs are by all odds the finest from the Isthmian area. 

 Human beings, crocodiles, monkeys and birds are all 

 used to decorate these carefully and laboriously made 

 pieces whose use is entirely unknown. Statues in the 

 full round have also been unearthed in quantity at Mer- 

 cedes which gives every evidence of having been a large 

 city with a long career. 



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Fig. 63. Highly Conventionalized Jaguar Motive. The principal 

 features of the head afi well as the outline of the leg survive in highly 

 modified form. From the southern end of Lake Nicaragua. 



We may be reasonably sure that the stone slabs date 

 from a fairly late epoch because an undoubted "Chac- 

 mool" exhibiting the same style of carving has been dis- 

 covered here. The "Chacmool," a half reclining figure 

 with the knees drawn up, the body supported in part 

 upon the elbows and a bowl for incense or other offer- 

 ing in the pit of the stomach, gets its fanciful name 

 from Le Plongeon who discovered the original at Chi- 

 chen Itza. But the unmistakable sculptures of this 

 type were apparently developed by the highland tribes 

 and the cult was introduced into northern Yucatan dur- 



