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Show XLII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY and to the correlative idea that aboriginal mounds and earthworks were confined to that region; and although the researches of a quarter- century have shown that ancient mounds are scattered over the entire habitable portions of North America, the original idea is kept alive to an injurious extent by the early literature. The still- existing need for counteracting this erroneous impression led to the acceptance of Dr Gann's paper and the approval of his title. Actually the mounds of Honduras as described by Dr Gann are more nearly analogous to those of the pueblo region and of Mexico than to those of the Mississippi valley, for most of them are debris heaps entombing ruined structures of stone and other durable material, like the former, rather than sites of perishable houses or simple tumuli, like the latter- though some of the Honduran mounds partake of the character of the more northerly tumuli. The contents of the mounds as described and illustrated in the accompanying pages and plates are noteworthy in that they demonstrate the extension of a culture corresponding fairly with that of Mexico into a little- known region. The relics are especially significant as connecting links between different archaeologic districts; the molded and painted stucco-work resembles that of Yucatan, the fictile figurines resemble those of the pueblo country, while both symbolic and industrial devices are evidently akin to those of numerous native tribes throughout the southwestern third, at least, of North America. MAYAN CALENDAR SYSTEMS No production of aboriginal American culture has attracted more attention among the scholars of the world than, the calendar systems of Mexico, Yucatan, Peru, and certain other districts; and numerous, and often voluminous, publications have been based on these interesting productions. Several contributions to the subject have been issued in the reports and other publications of the Bureau; and, in view of the recent appearance of extended treatises on the subject, a review of some of the more salient points seems timely. Such a |
