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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92, NO. 14, PL. 1 From a ]iaiiitiii,i; hy K. G. C BAY Island Polychrome I Vase Which Contained Central Votive Cache, Dixon site. Roatan SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOLUME 92, NUMBER 14 (End of Volume) ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE BAY ISLANDS, SPANISH HONDURAS (With 33 Plates) BY WILLIAM DUNCAN STRONG Anthropologist, Bureau of American Ethnology [Publication 32901 CITY OF WASHINGTON PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FEBRUARY 12, 1935 BALTIMORE, UD., U. 8. A. 1 CONTENTS PAGE Introduction i Environmental background 3 Historical and ethnological background 7 Explorations 20 Utila Island 20 Black Rock Basin 20 Site I, urn and skull burials 20 Site 2 28 Brandon Hill Cave 30 Byron Cave 32 Big Bight Cave 33 " Eighty Acre " and other sites 34 Roatan Island 36 Port Royal 36 Jonesville Bight 42 Site I 43 Ceramics 44 Other artifacts 48 Site 2 50 French Harbor 5° The Dixon site 5 Ceramics 53 Metal 60 Ground stone 62 Chipped stone 69 Shell 71 Vicinity of Coxen Hole 7^ Helena Island 74 Caves I and 2 75 Ceramics 76 Ground stone 82 Chipped stone 82 Shell and wood 82 Barburata Island 84 Indian Hill 86 Site I 86 Ceramics 87 Metal 106 Ground stone 107 Chipped stone no Shell 1 10 Bone Ill Human, animal, and other remains in iii IV CONTENTS VOL. 92 PAGE Site 2 Ill Ceramics 113 Comparison of sites i and 2 115 Other sites 117 Morat Island 118 Bonacca Island 119 Stanley Hill 120 Kelly Hill 121 Pine Ridge 122 The Sacrificial Spring 123 Marble Hill Fort 125 The Plan Grande site 129 Michael Rock 135 The Mitchell-Hedges collection in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation 136 Summary and comparison 140 The Bay Islands 140 Table i, summary of Bay Island sites 142 Table 2, association of Bay Island ceramic types 145 Northern Honduras east of Ceiba 147 The Uloa River region 148 Copan and other Maya Sites 151 The interior of Honduras 159 Western Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica 162 Eastern Nicaragua 166 Conclusion 167 Literature cited 172 . ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES PAGE 1. (Frontispiece) Bay Island Polychrome I vase which contained central votive cache, Dixon site, Roatan i 2. Urn and skull burials. Black Rock Basin, Utila 22 3. Burial urns i, 7 and 8, Black Rock Basin 22 4. Old buccaneer fort and rum bottles, Port Royal harbor, Roatan 50 5. Elaborate monochrome sherds, Jonesville Bight offertory, Roatan 50 6. Central offertory vase (Polychrome I) before and after removal, Dixon site, Roatan 50 7. Plain monochrome pottery and metate, Dixon site 50 8. Plain monochrome pottery, Dixon site 66 9. Copper bells and artifacts, Dixon site 66 10. Small and decorated copper bells, Dixon site 66 1 1 Small carved stone heads 66 12. Carved stone votive celt, spindle whorl and ornaments, Dixon site 66 13. Small stone celt, gorget and pendants, Dixon site 66 14. Stone beads, Dixon site 66 15. Shell ornaments 66 16. I. Ground stone celts and bark beaters. 2. Chipped stone knife blades. 78 17. Various artifacts from Roatan and Bonacca 78 18. I. Painted and incised sherds, Helena. 2. Modeled monochrome sherds, Helena ^ 78 19. I. Ground stone artifacts. 2. Polished and chipped hand axes 78 20. I. Wild fig grove below Indian Hill, Barburata. 2. Broken artifacts left at site I, Indian Hill 86 21. Polychrome I rim sherds, Indian Hill, site i 86 22. Polychrome I sherds, Indian Hill, site i 86 23. Detached lugs, mostly Polychrome I, Indian Hill, site i 86 24. Elaborate monochrome vessels, Indian Hill, site i 102 25. Monochrome vessels 102 26. Elaborate monochrome sherds, Indian Hill, site i 102 2"]. I. Elaborate monochrome sherds, Indian Hill, site i. 2. Pottery whistles and broken figurines 102 28. Complete and broken figurines no 29. Various small artifacts, Indian Hill, site i no 30. Monochrome sherds, Indian Hill, site 2 no 31. Monochrome vessels no 2,2. I. The Sacrificial Spring, Bonacca. 2. Erect monolithic stones. Plan Grande site, Bonacca 132 ZZ- Erect stone slabs at Plan Grande site, Bonacca 132 TEXT FIGURES 1. Map of the Bay Islands 4 2. Map of east end of Utila Island 21 3. Cross-section diagram of trench i. Black Rock Basin, site i, Utila 21 V vi ILLUSTRATIONS VOL. 92 PAGE 4. Diagram of skull and urn burials 1-3, Black Rock Basin, site i 23 5. Cross-section diagram of burial urn 4, Black Rock Basin, site i 23 6. Horizontal diagram of skulls and burial urn 6, Black Rock Basin, site i. 24 7. Cross-section diagram of skulls around burial urn 6, Black Rock Basin, site I 25 8. Map of Port Royal harbor showing buccaneer remains, Roatan 7,1 " " 9. Floor plan of buccaneer cave. Port Royal harbor 41 10. Sketch map of Jonesville Bight, Roatan 42 11. Polychrome II rim sherds, Jonesville Bight offertory 45 12. Detail of lug, central offertory vessel (Polychrome I), Dixon site, Roatan 54 13. Modeled pottery head, Dixon site 60 14. Broken metates, mailers, and hammerstones 67 15. Chipped stone artifacts /O 16. Sketch of caves on Helena Island 74 17. Diagram of cave i, Helena 75 18. Fragmentary elaborate monochrome vessel, Helena 79 19. Sketch map of Barburata Island 85 20. Polychrome I rim sherds (inner surface), Indian Hill, site i 89 21. Polychrome I sherds, Indian Hill, site i 9° 22. Polychrome I rim, lug, and foot types, Indian Hill, site i 9i 23. Polychrome and elaborate monochrome lugs and handles, Indian Hill, site I 96 24. Elaborate monochrome lugs, Indian Hill, site i 97 25. Elaborate monochrome handle, lugs, and foot, Indian Hill, site i 9^ 26. Vertical, elaborate monochrome lugs, Indian Hill, site i 100 27. Elaborate monochrome lugs and feet, Indian Hill, site i loi 28. Basal portions and feet from elaborate monochrome vessels, Indian Hill, site I 103 29. Model vessels from Indian Hill, site i 106 30. Outline sketches of vessels left at Indian Hill, site i 109 31. Outline sketches of characteristic plain monochrome pottery, Indian Hill, site 2 1^4 32. Monochrome lugs 118 a. Map of Bonacca Island 120 34. Monochrome vessels and marble bowl 127 35. Map of Plan Grande site, Bonacca 130 " 36. Sketch of small sandstone chair for idol," Plan Grande site 131 ZT- Outline sketch of Polychrome I vessels and carved steatite image, in the Mitchell-Hedges collection. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation 136 38. Outline sketch of elaborate monochrome vessels, in the Mitchell-Hedges collection. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation 138 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE BAY ISLANDS, SPANISH HONDURAS By WILLIAM DUNCAN STRONG Anthropologist, Bureau of American Ethnology (With ;i2i Plates) INTRODUCTION The following report is based primarily on an archeological recon- naissance of the Bay Islands carried out by the Smithsonian Institu- tion during the months of April and May, 1933. In June and July, 193 1, the Boekelman Shell Heap Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History had made a similar survey of the islands. Through the courtesy of the latter institution and of Junius Bird, archeologist of the Boekelman Shell Heap Expedition, I have been permitted to include their data with ours—a happy combination, since the results of both expeditions overlap and supplement one another in many ways. Prior to either of the above investigations, in 1930, and again in 193 1, Mr. Mitchell-Hedges, working under the auspices of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, silent several months on the Bay Islands and gathered together a very large number of fine speci- mens. Through the courtesy of the Museum of the American Indian, I have briefly studied this collection, which is assigned to the various islands but is without data as to sites or exact provenience. On this account, and because adequate description would require a separate report, I have used the Mitchell-Hedges material mainly for general comparative purposes. The itinerary of the Boekelman Shell Heap Expedition was as follows: June 30, 1931, the schooner Clodia arrived at Utila Island; left Roatan for Bonacca July 10, left Utila for Roatan Island ; July 17, Island ; and July 22, left Bonacca for the mainland. The Smithsonian Expedition on the motorboat Amiga arrived at Roatan Island April 25, 1933; reached Helena Island May 6; left Helena for Barburata Island ii ; arrived at Bonacca Island Island May 7 ; visited Morat May May 12 and left May 17; arrived at Utila Island May 18 and left May 21 for Roatan. From Roatan we returned to the mainland on May 23. Thus, together, the two expeditions spent only 48 days on Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 92, No. 14 2 SMITHSONIAX MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 the islands. Both lack of time and the circumstances of each expedi- tion made exhaustive researches impossible. However, the results attained and the problems defined seem worthy of publication. From the archeological standpoint not only the Bay Islands but also the major portion of the Spanish Honduras mainland form an important and little-known field. The Bay Island survey of the Smithsonian Institution was an ex- tension of a plan conceived and organized by A. W. Payne, research associate of Johns Hopkins University, to conduct an archeological investigation of the Patuca River region of northeastern Honduras. The work of the expedition was financed throughout by Norman A. Haskell, a student in geology at Harvard University. Mr. Payne, Mr. Haskell, and the writer comprised the expedition, which was in the field from February to July, 1933. I am especially indebted to Mr, Haskell for sketch maps of Bay Island sites used in this paper.