High-relief, male figure, on a slab about 40 cm. in thickness. It represented a figure lying on its back, if the slab has been a covercle, or standing, if it has been a part of a wall, with straight arms, detached from the sides of the body. The face appeared to be covered by a mask (compare the figure F of Punta del Sapote); this seemed to be denoted by the large circular holes for the eyes, and the broad, hanging breast-plate or beard; the ears were protected by two flaps extending from the helmet or head-ornament. With the exception of the stiff mask before the face, the figure was well elaborated, with some hints of the muscles of the shoulders, abdomen, and legs. Above the slab there was a projection, broadening upwards, which seemed to be a repetition of the helmet of the head. The outer edges of the slab formed a border five to six cm. broad and 3 cm. high. The slab was broken in two pieces, the lower portion was found lying far from the upper one. The entire slab measured 182 cm. from the upper edge of the upper projection to the lower edge of the border below the feet; its breadth across the body of the figure was 74 cm. The length of the figure from the top of the head to the lower edge of the feet was 135 cm. The length of the face was 28 cm., its breadth 27 cm. The length of the breast-plate from the chin was 30 cm. The breadth across the shoulders 45 cm. The statue was found on the ground immediately north of the mound I; the lower piece was found west of the mound III.
κ
[Pl. 32].
Not mentioned by Squier.
Male figure in relief. Broken in several fragments and impossible to reconstruct. Only the face could be delineated. The face was well preserved and originally uncommonly well executed. It was quite expressive; the forehead was broad, not low, covered with a round cap or low turban; the eyes were narrow, elliptical, boldly cut; the nose was straight, broadening downwards; the mouth half-open, with thin, but well-formed lips; the cheeks were lean, but carefully sculptured; the chin was broad and powerful. The ears were large, very prominent. The length of the face from the lower edge of the turban to the lower edge of the chin was 35 cm.; its breadth 26 cm. The thickness of the slab of stone was about 30 cm. Most fragments of this relief were lying at the western margin of the mound V.
λ
[Pl. 32].
Not mentioned by Squier.
Relief representing a male figure with the face of a skull. It was of much rougher workmanship than the reliefs before described. The face was formed only by an evenly curved, broadly oval elevation, with two circular cavities to mark the eyes, an irregularly triangular one for the nose, and a linear one for the mouth. The chest was evenly rounded, the arms only indicated by two round bands along the breast, ending abruptly with five narrow, round staves, placed at right angles to the arms, and designed to represent the fingers. The lower part of the slab with the legs was lost. Above the head were two sugar-loaf-shaped elevations, and above these a third one with parallel sides, downwards rounded. The slab had square incisions at the same height with the neck and the hands. The length of the figure from the crown of the head to the beginning of the hip was 82 cm. The length of the face was 32 cm.; its breadth 20 cm. The breadth across the shoulders was 24 cm.
Several fragments of broken statues were found on the plateau, but so shattered, disfigured, and intermixed with one another, that it would have taken much time and patience to reconstruct them. Several of the statues, mentioned by Squier as being in comparatively good condition, for inst. his nos. 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 18 were no more to be found in the place. Some of these have possibly been destroyed by human violence or by the effects of the climate during the thirty years between our visits, others may have been carried off to be deposited in museums or to form the hearth-stone of some Indian rancho.
In general, the statues of this locality chiefly remind of the last described group of statues at Punta del Sapote. Perhaps, from an artistic point of view, they must be considered as inferior even to these. None of the statues at Punta de las Figuras can be compared as a work of art, to the figures of the mound 1 at Punta del Sapote.
The fact that in most of the statues, found in Zapatera, the organs of generation were represented, and often more conspicuous than natural, gives corroboration to the suggestion of Squier that a phallic worship or a worship of the reciprocal principles existed among the Niquirans.