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276 that simple inhumation was characteristic of the lower orders, cremation of the superior; and it is possible that the two methods may represent two separate cultural elements, since there is reason to believe that the ruling class belonged to a later immigration and were the introducers of certain Mexican practices and beliefs into the country. It seems possible that some form of cremation was practised also by the Kakchiquel, since we are told that the "ashes" of great men were mixed with the clay from which household idols were made; but among this people also cremation may have been reserved for the ruling class, since Fuentes states that at death the body lay in state for two days and was then buried in a jar, omitting any reference to cremation. It is possible that the term "ashes" may refer only to certain portions of the body, and need not be taken to imply the practice of burning the corpse; at any rate Gagavitz, the first Kakchiquel ruler, is said to have been simply buried. Leon states that a high-priest was buried in his house, seated upon his chair. The excavatory evidence, though at present very deficient, seems to point to the conclusion that cremation was a late practice among the Maya peoples. At Copan a number of burials have been discovered, in which the position of the bones implies that the body was arranged in a contracted position, recumbent or sitting. Stone-lined cists have been found as depositories for the dead sporadically from Quen Santo, through Alta Vera Paz to Copan and Benque Viejo; but beyond, in the Uloa valley, large burial sites have been discovered in which the bodies have been simply laid in the earth. In Sacchana both extended and contracted burials have been found, and in the Quiché country bones have been discovered in such a position as to imply that the body was arranged in a seated position on a pottery dish. British Honduras shows several styles of burial, and our information is due