Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo04amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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The American Museum Journal Vol. IV. JULY, 1904. No. 3
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FUNERAL URNS FROM OAXACA. MONG the most interesting remains of the ceramic art in Mexico are the funeral urns which have been found in ancient mounds containing tombs in the Valleys of Etla, Oaxaca and Tlacolula, in the cen- tral part of the State of Oaxaca. They are, as a class, perhaps the most important objects of this phase of culture left by the old Mexican peoples. In the exploration of the ancient tombs in the Valley of Oaxaca by the Loubat Expeditions sent out by The American Museum of Natural History, many of these funeral urns were found, varying in size, shape and detail.* They were on the floor in front of the door, on the roof, fastened into the fa§ade, or in niches over the door. They seem never to have been placed in the burial chambers. As a rule they were deposited in series of fives and nothing was placed in them. One group is illustrated on page 53 in place as found. Dupaix, in his description of a funeral urn of the box-and-cover form, which he collected in 1806, states that it was found in Zachila "with jour others of similar size, shape and substance in ploughing a piece of ground." The Museum is indebted to Mrs. Robert W. De Forest for five superb pieces which were found recently in a motind in the Valley of Oaxaca. They form a complete series, the only one known which is thus preserved intact. The specimens, which average about fifteen inches in height, are illustrated on page 50. The first figure on the left represents a seated woman dressed in simple skirt and shirt with a heavy band around the neck. The right hand grasps a cylindrical object, while the left hand is * A brief account of the discoveries made at Xoxo may be found in "Ex- ploration of Zapotecan Tombs in Southern Mexico," by Marshall H. Saville. Amar. Anthropologist, (N. S.) Vol. I., April, 1899. 51

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