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A GUATEMALAN MYSTERY. 
On the preceding page is shown in two views an earthen 
vessel of unique design found in a small, dark chamber in a ruined 
building of the ancient city of Quirigua, Guatemala, during the 
excavation of the site in 1912. It is the property of the St. 
Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, the ex- 
ploration having been conducted by the School of American Archaeol- 
ogy of the Institute under the joint auspices of the St. Louis 
Society and the American Fruit Company, the ancient Quirigua being 
situated on the property of that company. 
This vessel is seven inches in height and has, encircling 
the rim, a constricted band apparently intended for the accommoda- 
tion of a cover. The fluted body swells below into a bulbous base 
which is slightly concave beneath. The paste is moderately soft, 
light gray in color, and the surface is finished with a slip or 
wash of light salmon hue carefully rubbed down with a polishing 
implement. 
The unique feature of the specimen is the human face set 
as a mask against the front of the vessel. The whiskered features 
are boldly modeled and are decidedly un-Indian in Type, reminding 
one forcible of physiognomies appearing frequently among Mediterr- 
anean people and met with also among the peoples and in the art 
of the Orient. 
It is difficult to understand how an aboriginal American 
potter should have conceived and carried out such a work, omitting 
from it every trace and suggestion of the racial characters, known 
to him, and executing in clay, a practically true type of an 
antipodean race. 
