Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Vol.II-No.2; Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt: ...to the breast-cape of scales. To a strap reaching down as far as the abdomen are attached, first, the breast-plate with a St. Andrew's cross and pendants, and then below this, a great four-cornered medallion with an elliptical one on either side, and at the very bottom a large square one. There is a cuff on the right wrist and on the left one a large four-cornered medallion, which may be regarded as a little shield for the protection of the artery of the wrist. The head-covering consists of confused scroll-work out of which rises a great plume of feathers falling backwards. These feathers are toothed like a saw, and have rayless stars and feather tassels at their tips. The divinity rests his left hand upon his hip. In his well-modelled right hand he holds a lance, the shaft of which is ornamented with small intertwined serpents. The fantastic head of a monster has been impaled upon the point of the lance. A male figure kneels on either side of the divinity. The fracture fortunately passes below the heads, diagonally across the stone. Above the head of each of the kneeling figures is an animal's head looking upward. On the upper part of the stela there are nine glyphs. Only on the background were traces of dark-red color visible. Stela 6 (Plate LXXI). The lower part, which was let into the earth, and on which were the beginnings of the ornamental base, was broken off. The present height of the stone is 296 cm., which leads to the supposition that the total height of the stone must have been about 4 m. Breadth, 118 cm. Thickness, 29 cm. The side devoted to the memory of a human being fell face upward, and is entirely worn away by the downpouring rains. The side devoted, again in this case, to the beneficent divinity, having lain face downward, is sufficiently...