The lower classes probably lived exclusively in thatched pimento-walled houses, identical in construction with those used by the Maya of the present day; naturally, these have completely disappeared, but the former sites of villages composed of such huts may easily be recognized by the presence of half-choked wells and the great number of malacates, broken pots, weapons, implements, ornaments, and rubbing stones, which are to be found scattered all over them. The priests, caciques, and upper classes doubtless lived in the stone houses, the remains of which lie buried in considerable numbers in the mounds. The walls of these houses were of stucco-covered stone and lime, the floors of hard cement, and the roofs, no doubt, of beams and thatch, as many of them are too wide to have been covered by the so-called "American arch." Many of these buildings were doubtless used as temples, but probably the majority of them were private houses.[13] In one of them an interment had taken place beneath the floor of the house before the structure was destroyed.[14] ARTS The former inhabitants of this part of the Maya area do not seem to have fallen far behind those of northern Yucatan in the arts of sculpture upon stone, stucco molding, mural painting, ceramics, and the manufacture of stone implements and weapons, as excellent examples in all these fields have been found. At Seibal, Holmul, Naranjo, and Benque Viejo, cities of the old Empire lying along the British Honduras-Guatemala frontier, examples of sculptured stelæ and altars have been found, equal in fineness of workmanship to those found at any other site within the Maya area. The molded stucco figures at Pueblo Nuevo are beautifully executed, while the painted stucco upon the temple walls at Santa Rita is probably the finest example of this kind of decoration yet brought to light in the whole Maya area. The colors used (green, yellow, red, blue, black, and white) seem to have been derived from colored earths and vegetal dyes ground to a paste in small shallow stone mortars with spatulate flint grinders, which have been found with traces of paint still adhering to them. Ornaments in the form of human and animal faces and heads nicely cut from jadeite and greenstone are not uncommon. Some bear incised hieroglyphic inscriptions. The greenstone shell from Kendal, described later on, in its fineness of finish and accurate imitation of the natural form, is a remarkable example of gem cutting.