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XIII. Letter from Captain Nepean, to the Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen, K.T., President, communicating an account of certain Antiquities excavated, under his direction, in the Island of Sacrificios: followed by a Report upon the examination of them, by Samuel Birch, Esq.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

Evan Nepean
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Extract

The public curiosity has been much roused by Stevens's recent work on Central America, as well as by the late visit of Mr. Walker and Captain Caddy of the Artillery, to Palenque, and other ancient cities in that quarter.

I have the honour to acquaint your Lordship, as President of the Society of Antiquaries, that, having been lately on service in the gulph of Mexico, whilst laying off the island of Sacrificios, I caused several excavations to be made there, and succeeded in digging up various articles of pottery, idols, and musical instruments; amongst other specimens, are three or four types, or signets, with hieroglyphics, which may perhaps throw some light on the origin of the Mexicans, or the still more ancient race that preceded them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 30 , 1844 , pp. 138 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1844

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References

page 139 note a The Isla de Sacrificios was so named by Grijalva, who found here a temple on which a human victim had been sacrificed the day before his arrival. Humboldt, Pol. Ess. II. p. 215.

page 142 note b Bells were even recently employed by the Indians, attached to the body, in dancing round an altar. Humboldt's Pol. Essay, vol. 1. p. 168. Bells in the shape of the present hawks-bells—cascabells, were employed by the Indians in their rites, prior to the conquest; they were made of gold. Herrera, History of the West Indies, fol. Madrid, 1601, Decad. II. lib. viii. c. vi. p. 267. They were used in the temples, and sounded like ordinary bells, campanilla.