Honduras: New Discoveries at the Mysterious City of the Jaguar

PART.2

Sculptures from the City of the Jaguar

Some of the ritual vessels at the site, including this one, sported vulture heads along the rims. The significance of the vulture is not known. The legs show a woven-knot motif whose meaning is obscure. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A vessel with bird ornaments, possibly vultures, recovered from the cache of artifacts. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A small ceramic figurine recovered from the cache, badly weathered by the highly acidic rainforest soil. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A small ceremonial metate left as an offering. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A simple ritual vessel found in the cache. Residue analysis may eventually show what it might have contained.PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

This stone figure of a vulture was found in the center of the cache, in a position of great importance, surrounded by ritual vessels and stone seats.PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Some of the vessels, including this one, had carvings that appear to be a “death figure,” possibly representing the cadaver of an important person in the form of a “mummy bundle” tied up and ready for burial. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A simple ritual metate found in the cache, too small to have been used for grinding corn. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE YODER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

The excavation of the City of the Jaguar is being conducted under a grant from the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council, with the support of the Honduran government and the Honduran Institute for History and Anthropology, and its director, Virgilio Paredes Trapero. The team of archaeologists are: Chris Fisher, Colorado State University; Anna Cohen and Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius, University of Washington; Jerry Smith, museum collections specialist; Jason Bush, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency; and Ranferi Juárez Silva, Norman Martínez, and Santiago Escobar, Honduran Institute for History and Anthropology.