. Bulletin. Ethnology. 46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 157. Figure 3.—Original design on plaque shown in plate 38, a, a'. Four perforations equally spaced, two at the top and two at the bot- tom, provide means for suspension or attachment. These perfora- tions are biconical, drilled through from front and back. The front of the object, that is the side bearing the design, is well polished. The undecorated back has only a medium polish. This piece appears to have been a fragment of a larger plaque, the original design of which was ground down when the object was given its present form. F
. Bulletin. Ethnology. 46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 157. Figure 3.—Original design on plaque shown in plate 38, a, a'. Four perforations equally spaced, two at the top and two at the bot- tom, provide means for suspension or attachment. These perfora- tions are biconical, drilled through from front and back. The front of the object, that is the side bearing the design, is well polished. The undecorated back has only a medium polish. This piece appears to have been a fragment of a larger plaque, the original design of which was ground down when the object was given its present form. Faint traces remain of an engraved face which was almost entirely removed in the reworking. This face is too faintly delineated to be photo- graphed, in fact it is very difficult to see at all except in just the right light. Stylistically this previous engraving seems to have a strong Mayoid flavor. Figure 3, from a drawing made by Covarrubias, brings out this character clearly. It may be noted also that several indentations along the edges of the plaque appear to be remnants of perforations originally drilled for suspension or attachment of the object. The piece measures cm. along the top and cm. along the bottom; one side, that on the viewer's right, is cm. long, and the other side is cm. In cross section the object is a narrow ellipse, cm. being the maximum thickness. A second plaque is a narrow flat object of medium dark-green jade (?) with flecks of light green (pi. 40, c, c' and fig. 4). It is decorated on both sides and the outline has been slightly modified into a form suggesting a conventionalized fish of some sort. On one side the decoration has been applied by means of sawed lines, the margins of which are more nearly vertical on one side than on the other, which serves to accentuate the particular area outlines. The figure has an irregular but almost round eye, and beginning below the eye a gaping mouth with up-curved snout. Curving lines behin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectethnolo, bookyear1901
