A James P. Fox at Arroyo Sonso, 25 km. southeast of Puerto Mexico and

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1 PROBOSCIS STATUE FROM THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC By GLADYS AYER NOMLAND N ELEPHANT-LIKE stone statue was discovered in 1930 by Mr. A James P. Fox at Arroyo Sonso, 25 km. southeast of Puerto Mexico and about 15 km. from the Tonola river, which bounds the State of Vera Cruz on the east. When first discovered, the statue was lying in the mud at the bottom of a small arroyo. Later it was extracted and placed on an adjoining alluvial flat or conuco between two streams at the head of Arroyo Sonso, which is a short distance northwest of the locality known as Reyes. There are no indications of the original position or purpose of the image. Pottery sherds are frequent in the alluvial deposits along the near-by streams, but there are no other evidences of aboriginal habitation. The generally flat country immediately surrounding the site is bounded by a series of low sandstone hills where no pottery or stone images were encountered. The statue is made of dark-gray, semi-vesicular basalt. Owing to its texture and mineral constituents, this rock is very hard, so that carving a figure of these proportions from such material would require more effort and skill than in making it from limestone or sandstone, the usual materials of construction in southern Mexico. Deep pitting on the surface of the statue indicates a considerable age. At the time of manufacture it was undoubtedly smooth and clean-cut, but long weathering has pitted the surface and blurred the outlines. At present it is the only stone image known in the immediate vicinity. Other stone statues of human beings, made of basaltic rock evidently derived from the same source, are known at La Venta, about 9 km. east of the Ton016 river in the northwestern part of Tabasco. The La Venta statues are scattered around the foot of La Venta hill, the steep top portion of which has evidently been constructed by aboriginal inhabitants. The nearest locality from which basaltic rock could be obtained is probably the vicinity of the volcano San Martin near the seacoast northwest of the city of Puerto Mexico, and about 60 km. from the Reyes locality. Conveying a block of basalt or a finished statue of comparable weight from such a distance would offer very difficult transportation problems even at the present time. The question of true elephant portrayals in Middle America is of such interest to anthropologists that the writer requested Mr. J. P. Fox, Dr. W. H. Corey, and Dr. J. 0. Nomland to revisit the Arroyo Sonso locality and measure and photograph the image. This was effected in April, 1932, with the following results: 59 1

2 592 AMERICil N ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 34, 1932 The maximum height of the statue is 95 cm. From the base to the top of the shoulder is 60 cm., while the depth from front to back is 60 cm. and the width 72 cm. The head is 35 cm. from neck to top, with a maximum depth of 53 cm. and a width from tips of ears of 50 cm. The fore part of the top of the head is flat, while the back slopes up and terminates in a long projection bisected by a groove 7.5 cm. wide and 5 cm. deep. There are three irregular U-shaped grooves 3 cm. deep on the top surface of the head. The eye-sockets are large, irregular pits varying from 9 to 10 cm. in diameter and 3 cm. deep. From center to center of eye-pits is 24.5 cm. Between the eyes, from the connection of the proboscis to the head, a vertical U-shaped groove 3.5 cm. wide and 16 cm. long extends two-thirds of the distance to the top of the forehead. The rounded proboscis from forehead to belly is 38 cm. long, and slightly larger at the top than at the bottom. At the forehead it is 15 cm., at the chest 14 cm., and at the belly 10 cm. in diameter. The maximum depth is 14.5 cm. The belly is round and pendulous with a possible navel pit. The horizontal ears are bar-shaped, 10 cm. wide, and vary in length, the right being 19 cm. long and the left 18 cm. They are on a level with the eyes and extend 5 cm. from the head. On the lower part of the left arm there is an irregular U-shaped groove 2.3 cm. deep. From elbow to elbow across the front is 68 cm., and from middle to middle of the knees is 50 cm., with a depth of 20 cm. from knee to crotch. The bottom is flat. (Plates 21 and 22.) The possibility of the association of man and elephant in Pleistocene or early Recent times seems to be strengthened by the recent trend of science. In reply to a letter to Professor Chester Stock of the California Institute of Technology regarding such association he wrote under date of June 2, 1932 as follows: If we can definitely establish that man existed in North America in either late Pleistocene or very early Recent time, and if we can determine likewise that he was associated with mammalian forms characteristic of the Ice Age, it seems to me quite possible that such an association would include also representatives of the elephant tribe. However, I would want first also to accumulate more instances of direct association than are available at the present moment before stating that such was actually the case. The probability that the proboscideans survived in later times than has generally been supposed is reenforced by the discovery by Dr. J. 0. Nomland of a late mastodon in Ecuador.' He reports as follows: In the vicinity of the town of Santa Elena, Province of Guayas, several instances of the discovery of elephant and other mammalian remains have been reported. Usually 1 Nomland, J. 0. Unpublished notes.

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5 NOMLAND] TERUANTEPEC PROBOSCIS STATUE 593 these were found on the surface and without being referable to any definite geological horizon. However, at a location about 28 km. northeast of the town of Santa Elena fossil bones of a mastodon have been found whose age seems to be more clearly indicated. At that locality there is a spring where even at the present time wild animals come to drink. Evidently the mastodon died after coming to the water hole. The stream bed in which the skeleton occurs has been eroded out of the Pleistocene terraces which are shown very plainly in this part of the country. It is therefore evident that the erosion of the material and deposition of the mastodon bones must have taken place some time after the Pleistocene terrace deposits had been laid down. A still more convincing discovery was made in 1928 by Fr. Spillmann,2 who found a mastodon skeleton at Alangasi, near Quito, Ecuador, which was associated with spear points, fire-places where men evidently cooked the mastodon, and potsherds. Fr. Spillmann states as follows: Die Untersuchung der Tonscherben hatte nun das ganz uberraschende Ergebnis, dass sie einer primitiven Kultur zugezahlt werden mussen, jedoch mit stark majoiden Kultureinflussen. Die Archaologen sind so weit gegangen, dass sie das Alter der Scherben, die mit jenem Mastodonten vergeseflschaftet waren, auf 1600 bis 1800 Jahre geschatzt haben.... Es waren nicht elementare Ereignisse, die diese fossile Fauna vernichtet haben, sondern der Mensch hat bereits einer Kulturstufe angehort, die ihm die Mittel gab, jene Riesenformen zu uberwaltigen. Weiter bedeutet dieser Fund ein wichtiges Element fur die archaologische Forschung Amerikas BELL AVENUE PIEDMONT, CALIFORNIA * Spillmann, Fr. Das sudamerikanischemaslodor, als Zeitgenosse desmenschen majoiden Kulturkreises, Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 11:172,177,1929. a Op. cit., 172: So fand ich z. B. in der Gegend des Beckens,wo das Rektum zu lagen kam, eine grossere Menge von sehr gut erhaltenen Rotballen von ungef&hr 18 cm Durchmesser, kugelrunde Ballen von der Konsistenz des Pferdekotes.