Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/370

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306
MEXICAN ARCHÆOLOGY

ments or ceremonial objects made from a kind of chert and exhibiting great variety of type. A few of these are shown in Fig. 64, but it should be mentioned that human and animal forms are also found. Objects of exactly similar type have been found at Naranjo in Guatemala. Maya stone-carving is considerably more elaborate than Mexican, and their art stands on a higher plane. It is


Fig. 65.—Stone mask from Benque Viejo, British Honduras.

true that much of it is in fairly soft material, but the remains of certain sites, notably Quirigua, prove that the Maya mason could handle large masses of hard stone with almost equal facility. Still many of the large Mexican carvings are in much harder material than any in the Maya area. Smaller works of stone art consist for the most part of jadeite beads and pendants, carved in relief (Pl. XI, I and 2; p. 140), and stone masks, furnished with holes for suspension and probably worn