Mound No. 29
Mound No. 29, situated close to the seashore, near Corozal, was of unusual construction, being built throughout of marl dust. It was a low, flat mound, 2 feet in height by 25 feet in diameter. Nothing of human origin was found in it with the exception of a few rough potsherds. On reaching the ground level two circular well-like holes, 2 feet in diameter, were discovered, about 15 feet apart. At the top both openings were covered with large blocks of limestone, on removing which it was found that each hole was filled with marl dust, enclosing in both cases a single male human skeleton. The knees had been forcibly flexed on the thighs, and the thighs on the pelvis, while the back had been bent till the head, which rested on the folded arms, almost touched the symphysis pubis. Evidently the body had been doubled up at the time of burial, so as to fit tightly into the cavity, and had been further compressed by ramming down large stones on top of the marl dust with which it was surrounded.[54] The bones in one of the graves were in an excellent state of preservation, as may be seen from plate [21], b; they are those of a young adult male, probably somewhat more than 5 feet in height, of poor muscular development. The teeth are excellent; the skull is decidedly brachicephalic, the measurements being: Length, 15.4 cm.; breadth, 17.5 cm.; circumference, 52 cm.; cephalic index, 113. Beneath this skeleton were found an unfinished flint arrowhead, four fragments of small obsidian knives, and the broken fragments of a small, round, unpolished chocolate-colored bowl.
The bones in the other cist, though placed apparently under precisely the same conditions as the one first opened, were found to be so friable that they crumbled into fragments when an effort was made to remove them. Beneath them were found only fragments of obsidian knives.
Mound No. 30
Mound No. 30, situated close to Corozal, was completely dug down, and was found to contain multiple burials. The mound was 8 feet in height, roughly circular, and 40 feet in diameter. It was capped by a layer of reddish-brown earth, 6 inches to 1 foot in thickness, beneath which were alternate layers of soft cement, each about 1 foot thick, and of small limestone rubble about 2 feet thick. Scattered over the surface of the mound, just beneath the earth capping, were found a number of fragments of clay figurines. The best preserved of these were three human faces, an arm with the hand holding a small bird, a bird's head, an alligator's head, and a plaited cotton breastplate. At depths varying from 2 to 3 feet, six interments were found; of these only a few fragments of the skull and long bones remained, not enough to determine even the position in which the corpse had been placed at burial. With the bones, in some cases close to them, in others at some little distance, the following objects were discovered: One rubbing stone (for grinding corn), 2 pear-shaped flints, 9 flint hammerstones, 1 ax head, 1 flint scraper, 1 broken hone of slate, 1 flint spearhead, 2 fossil shells, 2 pieces of brick-like pottery, 1 pottery disk, 3 small beads, and 1 shell.
On reaching the ground level of hard compact earth, it was found that an oblong trench had been cut through the latter down to the limestone rock beneath, 3 feet in breadth, and varying from 2 to 4 feet in depth; this trench had been filled in with small rubble. In its inner wall, at the north side of the quadrangle, three interments had been made by scooping out small cists in the earth, depositing the remains therein, and filling in with limestone dust and rubble. With one of these burials was found a small three-legged pot, of rough, unpolished pottery; with another, a vessel in the form of a quadruped, 7 inches in length, the identity of which is difficult to determine; and with the third a small saucer-shaped vessel of red ware, and a nearly spherical vessel of dark polished red ware. Within the latter were discovered a few small animal bones, some freshwater snail shells (as are found at the present day in the neighboring swamps and eaten by the Indians), and a few bivalve shells. It seems probable that this vessel contained food, either as an offering to the gods or for the use of the deceased in his passage to the next world. It is not uncommon to find considerable accumulations of the shells of conchs, cockles, snails, and other edible shellfish, with the bones and teeth of deer, tiger, gibnut, snake, and (along the seashore) manatee, in British Honduras mounds; but the remains of food offerings contained within a vessel are of rare occurrence.[55]
A number of these large flat mounds containing multiple burials have been from time to time completely dug down near Corozal, in order to obtain stone for repairing the streets. Beneath nearly all of them were found trenches cut through the earth down to the subjacent limestone. These trenches varied from 2 to 5 feet in breadth; in the case of the smaller mounds they formed a parallelogram, a triangle, or even a single straight line; in the larger mounds two parallelograms were joined by parallel trenches (see fig. [23]). They were invariably filled with small rubble, and a few of them contained interments in their walls. The purpose of these trenches is difficult to surmise, as they could hardly have served as foundations; drainage was unnecessary; and, while the trenches themselves were never employed for sepulchral purposes, it is only occasionally that a few burials are found within cists excavated in the earth along their margins.