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429 N o t e s o f M i d d l e A m e r i c a n A r c h a e o l o g y a n d E t h n o l o g y Carnegie Institution of Washington Division of Historical Research No. 102 February 16, 1951 Some Archaeological Specimens from pomona, British Honduras A. V. Kidder and Gordon F. Ekholm that they should be temporarily deposited in the British Museum because of the danger of fire to the Belize Public Library building, which houses the colony’s present archaeological museum. We were given permission to take the pottery vessels, which were badly crushed, to New York to be restored and studied. The mound in question, now completely removed , was circular, about 27 m in diameter at ground level and with an estimated height of about 9 m. The mound fill contained a large amount of stone. Five plaster flours were encountered. The lowermost flour, pink in color, covered a platform about 60 cm thick and 16 m in diameter and composed of clay and river stone. The bottom of this platform was at approximately the level of the ground surface. The other plaster flours were unequally spaced vertically , the uppermost being fairly close to the highest point of the mound. The most important feature of the mound was what we are calling Tomb I. This was a large rectangular chamber whose floor was the pink-colored plaster floor of the basal platform mentioned above. Only estimates of the tomb’s size are available, but it would seem to have been something in the order of 5 m long, 1.2 m wide, and 2.1 m high. The tomb was in the eastern portion of the mound with the long axis running north and south. The excavators noted that one corner of the top of the tomb was about 30 cm below the slanting surface of the mound. The walls were built up of what the excavators thought were mortar bricks but which on examination of samples During the winter of 1950 the writers and Mr. Gustav Strömsvik had opportunity to conduct an archaeological reconnaissance of the Bay Islands and northwest coast of Honduras and the southern coast and cays of British Honduras. This was made possible by Mr. Charles Sumner Bird, who, through the sponsorship of the Institute of Andean Research, chartered the yacht Irmay for the purpose. We are also under much obligation to His Excellency Ronald H. Garvey, Governor of British Honduras, for the necessary permit to explore and excavate in the Colony; as well as to Mr. W. H. Kieffer of the United Fruit Company, who assisted us in securing supplies and arranged for shipment of the large collection of potsherds obtained in Honduras and British Honduras. ThepresentnoteconcernsafindmadebyMessrs. A. P. Bellhouse and H. D. Anderson of the Citrus Company of British Honduras Ltd, on the company ’s land at Pomona, in a fertile widening of the North Stann Creek Valley, some 18 km from the sea. There, in the course of clearing land for an orchard, it became necessary to remove one of the several mounds that prove the Pomona area to have been the site of a sizable ancient community. Permission to do this was obtained from the Governor by Mr. Frank Sharp, general manager of the company. In the operation two tombs came to light. Messrs. Bellhouse and Anderson removed their contents with great care and when we visited the place they asked us to take the specimens to Belize and deliver them to the proper authorities. This we did and after consultation with Governor Garvey, it was decided A. V. Kidder And Gordon F. eKholm 430 seemed to us to be a soft white limy material cut into squared blocks. Large slabs of granite, flat on one side, had formed the roof, but these had fallen down into the chamber. There was an entranceway toward the southern end of the east wall of the tomb. Tomb II was a small rectangular chamber in the upper portion of the mound on the second floor from the top. It was placed well to the south of the center of the mound with its long dimension running east and west. This chamber would seem to have been something like 1.2–1.5 m long, 90 cm wide, and 90 cm high. Its roof was a single stone slab, and apparently the walls...

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