Fig. 16.—Figurines from Mound No. 1.
The only unpainted object found in the urn was a natural-size model of the human penis, in a state of semierection (fig. [17]). This differed from all the other objects in that it had been fired, instead of merely sun dried, and is on that account much harder. Upon the upper surface of the glans penis are three longitudinal incisions, extending almost from base to apex, evidently made with a sharp-pointed implement while the clay was still soft.
With these figurines a number of perforated beads of jade and some of a dark-red stone, all nicely polished, were found; also the tooth of a large alligator, perforated at the base, evidently for suspension with the beads.
Fig. 17.—Unpainted object from Mound No. 1.
About 6 feet to the north of the center of the mound, at a depth of 3 feet below the surface, was discovered a small stone cist or chamber, 18 inches square, built of roughly cut blocks of limestone. Within this were found most of the bones of a male of medium height and fair muscular development. These bones were exceedingly friable, but showed no effects of fire; with the exception of the tibiæ, they were in no way abnormal. The upper articular surface of the right tibia had disappeared. The shaft was rounded in section, the prominent angles at the front and sides being obliterated. It was slightly bowed, with the convexity anteriorly, and was considerably enlarged, especially in its upper two-thirds, which were composed chiefly of very friable cancellous tissue, rendering the bone much lighter than its appearance indicated. The surface of the upper part of the bone was marked by the presence of a number of small pits or depressions. Of the left tibia only a few fragments were found, but so far as could be judged from these a change somewhat similar to that observed in the right tibia had taken place in it. The bones and other objects found in this mound would suggest at first sight the possibility of the individual buried beneath it having suffered during life from some form of venereal disease, closely allied to, if not identical with, syphilis. On reading Landa's account[27] of two forms of ceremonial self-mutilation carried out by the Yucatecan Maya at the time of the conquest there can be little doubt, however, that the figurines shown in plate [9] and figure [15] are meant to represent individuals inflicting on themselves one or other of these, but, owing to the crudeness of the workmanship, it is difficult to determine which. In one the foreskin was pierced and expanded in much the same way that the ears were treated when sacrificing to the idols. In the other, a number of men, sitting in a row in the temple, each pierced his glans penis from side to side, and passing a long piece of cord through all the apertures, strung themselves together in this way.