The specimen shown in fig. 260 (Cat. No. 23726, U. S. N. M.) is a
fragment, the foot of a large stone metate from Zapatero, Granada,
Nicaragua. The metate was chiseled or pecked out of the solid. A sunken
panel is surrounded by moldings, in the center of which appears, from its
outline, also by raised moldings, a figure, the outline of which is a
Greek cross, but whose exterior is a Swastika. Its form as such is
perfect, except that one bent arm is separated from its stem by a shallow
groove.
[Illustration: Fig. 260. FRAGMENT OF THE FOOT OF A STONE METATE WITH
FIGURE OF SWASTIKA. Nicaragua. Cat. No. 23726, U. S. N. M.]
"The Cross, Ancient and Modern," by W. W. Blake, shows, in its fig. 57, a
Swastika pure and simple, and is cited by its author as representing a
cross found by Squier in Central America. The Mexican enthusiast, Orozco y
Perra, claims at first glance that it shows Buddhist origin, but I have
not been able as yet to verify the quotation.