Abstract
PRE-COLUMBIAN HUASTEC MOUNDS IN THE TAMPICO REGION, MEXICO.—Municipal and other work carried out at various times in the Tampico district of Mexico, which has necessitated the demolition of a number of the many mounds in the area belonging to the Huastec civilisation, has at the same time made it possible to form an accurate idea of their composition and structure. A number of observations of a series of mounds on one of the haciendas and on a series on the Colonia Flores on the northwestern environs of Tampico are recorded in a paper contributed to the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 56, pt. 2, by Mr. John M. Muir, who has been assisted in the mapping of the mounds by Mr. Cecil Drake. The mounds were used as the foundations for buildings, and were clearly raised or reconstructed from time to time, a cement floor being laid on each occasion. Sometimes as many as five floors were found in one mound. Steps were built for easy ascent to the floor of occupation, which in all likelihood was covered by a wooden structure. Any material conveniently available was usedshells, stone slabs, and even asphalt. Where no other material was available, soil was used. Oyster shells from Pleistocene deposits were abundant on the Colonia Flores site, and were also used to form the cement floors. In one of the mounds a painted design was found which had been executed in a reddish colour and then apparently coated over in black. The drawing is 270 cm. long and 135 cm. wide and is approximately rectangular, resembling a ground plan in appearance. On the cement floor underlying this was found another painted design similar in character but more elaborate and complete. No purpose can at present be suggested for these designs.
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Research Items. Nature 119, 726–727 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119726a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119726a0