Indians of Central America -- Nicaragua -- Antiquities; Nicaragua -- Antiquities
At the mound 1 (Pl. 41), the largest of all, and the one situated
farthest to the north and west, several statues were found remaining
in the same position, that they originally must have occupied, because
the mound was still surrounded by six figures, standing in its
circumference; and larger or smaller fragments of the pedestals of
three others were found in the ground, although the statues themselves
were thrown down beside them, and more or less broken. Judging by the
regular distances between these statues, it is probable, that there
have been twelve figures standing in the periphery of this building or
temple. The fact that those remaining in the ground fronted outwards,
and that their backs, which were turned towards the building, were not
smooth, but only plane-cut, strengthens my hypothesis that the figures
have formed part of a stone- or logwall enclosing the building. All
those statues of the mound 1, of which the upper parts remained, with
the exception of D, and another not delineated one, carried on their
heads a more or less long and broad projection in the form of a tenon,
and on this account I venture to propose the hypothesis, that they have
served to support the wall-plate of a more or less circular building.
All the statues were monoliths, cut from blocks of blackish basalt of a
pretty considerable hardness. The roof itself has probably been covered
with palm leaves, a supposition confirmed by certain indications in
CEREZEDA and OVIEDO. That the temples should have been open, as SQUIER
seems to think, I venture to doubt, on account of the above described
form of the statues; this appears to show that they must have been
united with one another by a wall, probably of cut stones.
A
Pl. 1.
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