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 7-1/2 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 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 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.
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