Fig. 32.—Obsidian arrowhead from Mound No. 10.
Fig. 33.—Flint object from Mound No. 10.
After the sand and lime had been removed from this chamber to a depth of nearly 30 feet it was found that the walls became continuous with the solid foundation of masonry upon which the mound stood. This was very difficult to penetrate, and so far as was ascertained contained nothing further of interest. The roof of the chamber was next attacked from the summit of the mound. To a depth of nearly 2 feet nothing was found but fine, brown alluvial soil, full of the roots of plants and trees. Beneath this the real structure of the mound began, for not so much as a solitary potsherd or chip of flint was found in the earth on the summit of the mound, indicating clearly that this layer had accumulated since its construction. Beneath the earth layer, to the roof of the chamber, the mound was composed of blocks of limestone of varying size, loose friable mortar, and powdered limestone. In the first 8 feet nothing except a few potsherds was found. At this depth two shallow circular saucers, each 71/2 cm. in diameter, were unearthed. These were made of coarse red unpainted pottery, and close to them lay a finely chipped flint object (fig. [33], a, b). This was rounded at both ends, narrower at the handle than at the base, and markedly convex on its under surface (fig. [33], a, b). The front part of the under surface was quite smooth and polished, evidently from attrition, while that part of it marked A A bore distinct traces of blue paint. There can be little doubt that this implement was a paint grinder, as a specimen almost exactly similar was found in a mound near Corozal, bearing traces of green paint on the under surface. Fourteen nicely polished reddish stone beads, spherical in shape, together with four smaller beads of a light-green color, and a leaf-shaped spearhead of flint, were found adjacent to the paint grinder. Immediately beneath these was found an object made of what seems to be reddish-brown agate; this is 10 cm. in length, oval in section, 1 cm. in its greatest breadth, tapering off to a blunt point at each end, and finely polished all over. With it were nearly 300 small triangular obsidian objects of the shape shown in figure [34]. These vary in length from 11/2 to 21/2 cm. They are thick at the upper angle, the side subtending this forming a sharp cutting edge. In some of the implements this edge is notched, as if from use. These implements were probably used as scrapers, or small chisels or gouges, for which purposes they would be suitable, either hafted or unhafted. It is possible that they may have been used as teeth for the sword known to the Aztec as mextatl, which was also in use among the Maya at the time of the conquest. This weapon was constructed by setting a number of sharp obsidian splinters in deep lateral grooves, cut in a long piece of hard wood, which were filled with liquid resin, in order to prevent the splinters from shifting from their positions.
Fig. 34.—Obsidian object from Mound No. 10.