ARTS
The former inhabitants of this part of the Maya area do not seem to have fallen far behind those of northern Yucatan in the arts of sculpture upon stone, stucco molding, mural painting, ceramics, and the manufacture of stone implements and weapons, as excellent examples in all these fields have been found.
At Seibal, Holmul, Naranjo, and Benque Viejo, cities of the old Empire lying along the British Honduras-Guatemala frontier, examples of sculptured stelæ and altars have been found, equal in fineness of workmanship to those found at any other site within the Maya area. The molded stucco figures at Pueblo Nuevo are beautifully executed, while the painted stucco upon the temple walls at Santa Rita is probably the finest example of this kind of decoration yet brought to light in the whole Maya area. The colors used (green, yellow, red, blue, black, and white) seem to have been derived from colored earths and vegetal dyes ground to a paste in small shallow stone mortars with spatulate flint grinders, which have been found with traces of paint still adhering to them. Ornaments in the form of human and animal faces and heads nicely cut from jadeite and greenstone are not uncommon. Some bear incised hieroglyphic inscriptions. The greenstone shell from Kendal, described later on, in its fineness of finish and accurate imitation of the natural form, is a remarkable example of gem cutting.
Most of the domestic pottery used was of a rather coarse hard red ware. This comprises large amphora-like water jars, shallow dishes, saucers, and bowls, used probably to hold food; cooking pots of various sizes and shapes, chocolate pots with upright spouts, and disks for baking tortillas. In addition to these, thick brittle vessels of very coarse pottery, some of exceptionally large size, are found, which were probably used as receptacles for corn, beans, pepper, and other light dry substances. Of the finer kinds of pottery some are ornamented with incised devices, executed after the vessels had been fired, others are covered with devices in polychrome, and still others with ornaments molded while the clay was plastic. Lastly, these three methods, or any two of them, may be combined in the decoration of any one vessel.
The objects most frequently depicted on the vases are human heads, simple glyphs, animal and mythological figures, and flowers. Most of the vessels are polished, some of them to a high degree, but the art of glazing does not seem to have been understood. The finer kinds of pottery are thin, tough, light, and very hard. The appliqué work, displayed best in incense burners, upon which the figure of the god in high relief is built up bit by bit, is rather coarse, but in some examples very effective. Stone implements and weapons of great variety have been discovered, including ax, spear, javelin, and arrowheads, knives, clubs, throwing stones, hammerstones, scrapers, chisels, borers, paint and corn grinders, fiber cleaners, and many others. Flint, chert, obsidian, greenstone, and limestone were the materials most commonly used in the manufacture of implements and weapons. Very remarkable eccentrically shaped objects, including crosses, crescents, rings, and a variety of other forms, chipped with great care and precision, from flint, chert, and obsidian, are also found, though not in great numbers. They seem to be confined almost exclusively to this part of the Maya area.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
With the exception of clay whistles of from one to four notes, no musical instruments have been found in the mounds, unless the hollow cylinder (101/2 inches high by 4 inches in diameter) from Yalloch may be regarded as a small hand drum similar to those mentioned by Landa as having been in use at the time of the conquest,[15] and somewhat resembling the clay jar with a piece of gibnut hide stretched over the opening for a head, still in use as a drum among the Lacandones.[16] The late Sir Alfred Moloney obtained in the village of Succots a tunkul, or wooden drum, with two rubber-tipped drumsticks, which had been brought by the Indians from Guatemala at the time of their emigration from that country. This had been handed down from Alcalde to Alcalde from time immemorial, and was used to summon the villagers on special occasions, as a fire or the election of new Alcaldes.
FOOD
The staple article of diet among the ancient Maya seems to have been maize, as it is at the present day among their descendants. Numbers of rubbing-stones and rubbers, both broken and whole, are found in the mounds, as are also the clay disks used for baking corn cakes. The bones of various animals, which had probably been used for food, are also found; among these are the peccary, gibnut, armadillo, puma, tapir, and manatee, together with woula (snake), alligator, and (of birds) the curassow and wild turkey. Shells of the conch, cockle, oyster, and freshwater snail are also found in abundance. The Maya probably kept small domestic animals and birds,[17] as great numbers of rough stone troughs are found in the mounds, precisely similar to those manufactured and used by the modern Maya Indians for watering their fowls, while eggs, with turkeys and other birds, have been found, held in the hands of figurines upon the incense burners, as offerings to the gods. They seem to have made periodical expeditions to the cays and islands off the coast to fish and collect shellfish, as quantities of net-sinkers, flint chips, potsherds, and broken javelin heads are found on many of the cays. But few mounds, however, which give evidence of permanent human occupancy have been discovered in this situation.