Pots and jars
Bones
that once covered these gifts to the dead have disintegrated in sections of the
cave devoid of fresh calcite deposits. The cave hobbyists who discovered
this archaeological treasure are to be commended for resisting the temptation to
collect their own "souvenirs."
This
clay pot from Talgua Cave lacks complex patterns and multiple colors
characteristic of fine ceramics during the era of the Mayas over 1000 years
later.
A
truly royal gift - a thin-walled jar carved from marble. How long did it
take a skilled craftsman, using only stone tools, to fabricate this object?
A
second marble jar. I understand that these, along with other
archaeological artifacts, will soon be displayed at the National Museum in
Tegucigalpa.
But
most of the archaeologist's time is spent collecting bits of broken pottery,
stone and bone to be pieced together in a search for patterns.