grave, which was situated at the foot of a mound, were of clay hardened by fire, and of the bones themselves it is said "there is good reason to suspect that at least partial cremation of the body took place at the time this burial was made." This is a most important point, and ought to be definitely settled by careful inspection of the bones. The site is on the debatable land between Nahua, Tarascan and Zapotec, and there are reasons, which will be given later, why I think it most probable, failing definite evidence to the contrary, that the body had not been burnt.
The fine stone coffer from the Huaxtec country shown on Pl. X, 2; p. 108, is almost certainly a coffin; and in the Totonac country both cist-burial in mounds and, occasionally, well-burial are found. Traces of cremation appear to be exceptional, and confined to hill-sites inland, where they are perhaps indicative of Nahua influence.
To speak broadly, it would appear that cremation was typical of the invading hunter-tribes, inhumation of the early sedentary peoples of the valley of Mexico. If this is so, the interment of individuals whose souls were supposed to be destined for the paradise of Tlaloc is easily explained, since that god appears to have been the deity principally worshipped by the agriculturists of the valley, and it is only natural that the form of burial characteristic of his early worshippers should be retained in such cases.
