Mound No. 29
Mound No. 29, situated close to the seashore, near Corozal, was of unusual construction, being built throughout of marl dust. It was a low, flat mound, 2 feet in height by 25 feet in diameter. Nothing of human origin was found in it with the exception of a few rough potsherds. On reaching the ground level two circular well-like holes, 2 feet in diameter, were discovered, about 15 feet apart. At the top both openings were covered with large blocks of limestone, on removing which it was found that each hole was filled with marl dust, enclosing in both cases a single male human skeleton. The knees had been forcibly flexed on the thighs, and the thighs on the pelvis, while the back had been bent till the head, which rested on the folded arms, almost touched the symphysis pubis. Evidently the body had been doubled up at the time of burial, so as to fit tightly into the cavity, and had been further compressed by ramming down large stones on top of the marl dust with which it was surrounded.[54] The bones in one of the graves were in an excellent state of preservation, as may be seen from plate [21], b; they are those of a young adult male, probably somewhat more than 5 feet in height, of poor muscular development. The teeth are excellent; the skull is decidedly brachicephalic, the measurements being: Length, 15.4 cm.; breadth, 17.5 cm.; circumference, 52 cm.; cephalic index, 113. Beneath this skeleton were found an unfinished flint arrowhead, four fragments of small obsidian knives, and the broken fragments of a small, round, unpolished chocolate-colored bowl.
The bones in the other cist, though placed apparently under precisely the same conditions as the one first opened, were found to be so friable that they crumbled into fragments when an effort was made to remove them. Beneath them were found only fragments of obsidian knives.