EGG-SHAPED VASE FROM MOUND NO. 5
The other, seen in plate [11], is an egg-shaped vase standing on three short legs. It is decorated outside with a human face and was originally painted white throughout and ornamented with black lines. It has a small opening at the top covered by a triangular stopper. Within this vase were found two small polished beads, one of greenstone, the other of red shell. Throughout the mound were found numerous fragments of incense burners, with the small head of a tiger, 2 birds, 5 small beads, 2 malachates, 4 net sinkers, and the ceremonial bar shown in figure [21], c; all in rough pottery. About 5 feet from the northern edge of the mound were found human bones, representing a single interment, seemingly of a male of middle age. The skull and long bones, which were very brittle, though they hardened on being exposed to the air for a day, were gotten out only in fragments. The molar and premolar teeth are heavily coated with tartar but are not greatly worn down at the crown; the incisors, on the other hand, are very much worn and in life must have been nearly level with the gum. Marked attrition of the incisors seems to be present in nearly all the teeth of individuals past middle life found in sepulchral mounds throughout this area, which is rather remarkable, as the staple diet of the ancient inhabitants must have been nearly identical with that of the Indians of the present day; that is, maize ground to a fine paste on a stone metate, which of necessity contains a good deal of grit from the metate, so much so that the modern Maya say that an old man eats two rubbing stones and six rubbers during his life. This gritty nistamal wears down the back teeth of the modern Maya almost to the gum, but does not materially affect the front teeth; yet it is the latter, not the former, which we find affected in maxillæ from the mounds. One of the molar teeth from this burial has had a triangular piece removed from its crown (fig. [21], f). Along one edge of the gap left the tooth is carious.
Fig. 21.—Objects found in Mound No. 5.