EXPLORATK >NS IN THE XASCA REGION

36 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6

VI. EXPLORATK >NS IN THE XASCA REGION

From

Llaxwa, a hard day's journey brings one to the

Hacienda

de

Las

Trancas,

on

a river of that

same name

but

which

later

on

joins the

Rio

Xasca. It is

from

this road that one appreciates best the dominating' nature of the fortress.

The

country traversed is dry

and no

other remains of ancient settlements are

met

with until

one

reaches the

narrow

rocky valley of the river.

There

in

numerous

localities are seen stone foundations of ancient dwellings,

made

of large

water-worn

stones; despoiled burial pits lined with stones

;

and on

a

few

large blocks of stone there are petroglyphs resembling remarkably those

common

to

North

America.

The

above remains are, however, rather unimportant; the archeo- logical wealth of the

Nasca

region

commences

at the

Hacienda

de

Las

Trancas.

The main

road of this large estate passes in several spots across

remnants

of ancient habitations

and

burials,

and numer-

ous cemeteries that have yielded quantities of fine pottery are in the vicinity. Skulls, bones, fabrics,

and

other objects are strewn in patches over the desert outside of the arable lands of the shallow valley.

A group

of these cemeteries ata locality

known

as

Poroma,

about three miles southwest of the hacienda,

were examined

later.

From Las Trancas

the writer proceeded to

Majoro, one

of the haciendas of his friend

from Lomas,

Sr.

Enrique

Fracchia,

and

located only a short distance

below

the

town

of Nasca.

From

this place limited excursions

were made

farther

up and down

the valley of Nasca,

and

also to the above-mentioned

Poroma.

Subsequently the river

was

followed to considerably

below where

^it

merges

into the

Rio

Grande.

What was

learned duringthe rapid survey of these regions

was

briefly as follows

:

Ruins

of importance are

found

in the vicinity of Nasca, but re-

mains

of small settlements exist at

many

spots along the edges of the

sandy

plains bordering the arable lowlands. In a

number

of instances posts of the

hard and

enduring

huarango

(mesquite) indi- cate the presence ofhabitations, while other posts of the

same wood,

standing in rows, subserved functions not yet determined.

Along

the various branches, as well as

by

the

main

stream of the

Rio Grande

de Nasca, in the deserts,

beyond

the cultivable ground, there are

numerous

old cemeteries,

some

quite extensive, but the majority of small size.

A

great deal of excavation has been

done

in these cemeteries, particularly during the recent period of drouth,

when,

according to local reports, they proved a "

god-send

^" to the poor people.

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS ^{VOL.61, NO. 18, PL. 17}

Fig. 1. Th3hill from the northeast

Fig. 2. The hill from the southeast. Native hut, for the moment the writer's quarters, I

foreground. TheInhabitants are mix-breeds, speaking Quechua

THE FORTIFIED HILL OF LLAXWA, ABOUT 50MILES(BY THE PATHS) S. E. OF NASCA

SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 61,NO. IS, PL. IS

BURIAL HOUSESASHORT DISTANCE EAST OF THEANCIENT FORTIFIED HILL OF LLAXWA, INTHE WESTERN CORDILLERA, S. E.OF NASCA

NO. l8

ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK

IN

FERU — ^HRDLICKA

41

Throughout

these regions there are

found

with the burials not only excellent potteriesof the

Nasca

type,but also,

though

to a less extent, nicely decorated fabrics, even feather work,

and now and

then articles of gold. It

was

the indiscriminate digging for

and

the sale of such articles, that sustained for

two

years the poorer part of the

Nasca

population. Since the law

was

enacted prohib- iting such exploitation it has been greatly reduced, but irreparable

damage

to scientific investigation has already been done.

The

objects taken

from

the graves

have

been distributed broadcast, in the

main

to private curio collectors.

And

there are at the present time individuals

who

^keep

on

excavating the remaining graves

and

hunting for

whatever may

be salable,

some

of

them

periodically

and

a

few

daily.

Good

pieces of potterybring

on

the spot as

much

as a

pound

($4.90) ; the gold objects are sold usually

by

weight,

and

the fabrics for

whatever

theywill fetch.

A

great deal is

broken

or torn

and

left, so that the total loss is

enormous. Some

of the

more

recently excavated burial places

were

found, as at

Lomas,

almost covered with

remnants

of fabrics, slings, ropes,

and

even scalps withpeculiar braids, of all of

which

it

was

still possibleto se- cureagood-sizedcollection;but it

would

be verycostlyat this

day

to

make

anything like a first-class representative gathering

showing

the

Nasca

culture.

The

burials of the

Nasca

region are of several varieties,

which however

are ⁱⁿ the

main

closely connected

and do

not indicate separate periods or cultures, or different types of people.

The tombs

seen overthe

40 odd

miles of territory

between

thehaciendas

Majoro and Coyungo and

in the valley of the

Las Trancas

River, included

some low mounds,

with

chambers

built of moderate-sized adobes; ordinary, stone, or sand-block lined pits^; subterranean

chambers

constructed of poles of the

hard wood,

or of

wood and

adobes;besides

which

there

were

simple gravesinthe sand orgravel,

and

finally, in several localities, burials in large, stout, undecorated, earthenware urns, especially

made

for that purpose.

The huarango

poles in the graves or burial chambers, as well as in the

remnants

of the habitations,

had

generally been reduced to the proper length

by

burning, but instances also occur in

which

they

had

been cut.

The

bodies

have

as a rule been buried in the contracted position,

and bound

inbundles;

and

those of important personages

were made

up, with the aid of

abundant raw

cotton, into

huge mummy-packs.

Physically the population of the entire

Nasca

region

was

remark- ably

homogeneous, which

^is a fact of considerable interest; and,