1913, WITH NOTES ON THE PATHOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS

Map (after Raimondi) showing the central parts of the Peruvian coast and the province of Huarochiri. Signs of ancient occupation in the form of terraced fields on the slopes of the mountains appear in many.

NO. IO ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IX PERU — HRDLICKA 7

8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6]

The results of the exploration about San Damian cannot be given in full until the compilation of the collections. Injuries to the different parts of the skeleton were also rare, but on the other hand, wounds to the skull were common.

Fig. 1. San Damian, with the clouds rising from the quebrada" just beyond

IO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6]

EXPLORATIONS ALONG THE COAST NORTH OF LIMA

The few that were not or only slightly deformed showed the common brachycephalic type of the coastal inhabitants. Some skulls showed stone or club injuries, but there were no trephinings.

Fig. I. Waste of pottery, skulls and bones. A party of peons excavating farther on

SOUTH OF LIMA

Most Pachacamac skulls of the round-headed variety, and some of the narrower specimens, present an artificial fronto-occipital compression, which, however, is rarely excessive. Deformed skulls were especially frequent in the large cemetery in front, which is just north, of the old temple of Pachacamac. Symmetrical "mushroom-head" skull and femur osteoporosis were quite frequent, almost as in Ancon.

Chile.— From Pachacamac the main road leads south into the cultivated valley of the Lurin, and then follows the coastal deserts to the large but now half-deserted town of Chilca, owing to the aridity of the region, 70 km. This burial site proved to be of unusual interest on examination, as it was found to represent largely a cuneiform intrusion among a coastal population of elongated mountain people. There was no well-defined case of "mushroom head" of the femur and symmetrical osteoporosis.

The ruins on the hill three miles northwest of Çilca are apparently the remains of a settlement, and possibly a fortification, of people who cultivated the lowlands between the dunes that surround the hill from southwest to southeast. They were mostly buried on and at the foot of hillsides and dunes.

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EXPLORATIONS IN THE LOMAS AND RIO ACARI REGIONS

Physically, most of the people buried in the Lomas cemeteries belonged to the coastal temperate brachycephalic type. The cultivated lowlands on both sides of the river at this point make up the Chavina hacienda. A scattered cemetery to the east of the house showed the exposed skeletal remains of approximately 200 individuals.

Otherwise, the conditions were consistent with the rest of the coastal population in this vicinity. A little over a kilometer northeast of Acari, north of the river, is the hacienda Chocavento, belonging to the Orezzoli brothers. Some burials of coastal type people were found just east of the residences of the peons belonging to the hacienda.

On the south side of the river, traces of irrigation were seen, but no ruins, with the exception of those at Acari. All the main features of the skulls and bones of the people of this region are exactly the same as those of the Pachacamac and Chimu cemeteries in the north.

Fig. 1. Remains of walls, made of waterworn stones, on the plateau

NORTHEAST OF THE ACARI RIVER

In this place, with people too indifferent to even make a ditch to drain water away from their yards, with the child of the family. All this is mentioned only to show some of the difficulties with which, at least at this season, the explorers are laboring in the Peruvian mountains, and some of the reasons why the party never reached the Andamanese. Further north, on still higher ground, are other burial grounds of the same nature and numerous remains of low stone walls of dwellings, and some well-preserved terraced fields or andenes; this place is famous.

Unfortunately, the most easily found graves at all the above sites were thoroughly excavated many years ago, and nothing was found of the remains beyond small piles of decomposed bone fragments. Lucia and Asto saw several damaged skulls indicating a type of people like those of the coast, with moderate fronto-occipital deformation.

Fig. 1. The fortified hill of Huamanmarca

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EXPLORATK >NS IN THE XASCA REGION

It is from this road that one can best appreciate the dominant nature of the fortress. The country traversed is dry, and no other remains of old settlements are met with until the narrow rocky valley of the river is reached. However, the above residues are quite unimportant; the archaeological wealth of the Nasca region begins at the Hacienda de Las Trancas.

A group of these cemeteries at a locality known as Poroma, about three miles southwest of the hacienda, was investigated later. From Las Trancas, the author continued to Majoro, one of the haciendas of his friend from Lomas, Sr. Along the different branches, as well as at the main stream of the Rio Grande de Nasca, in the deserts, in addition to the arable land, there are numerous ancient cemeteries, some quite extensive, but the majority of small size.

It was the indiscriminate digging for and sale of such articles that for two years sustained the poorest part of the Nasca population. The burials in the Nasca region are of several varieties, which, however, are in the main closely related and do not indicate separate periods or cultures or different types of people.

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THE TWO TYPES OF SCHEMES, SECURED IN NORTHERN CEMETERIES ON THE COAST OF PERUS: A HAND AND A FEMALE SCHEME OF NASCA, SHOWING THE PREDOMINANT. A SKULL (TOP) FROM CHAVINA, AND A FEMALE SKULL FROM CHILCA, SHOWING THE MORE ELONGATED TYPE OF PERUVIANCRANIA WHICH OCCURS IN MINORITY ALONG THE COAST.

HRDLICKA -|3

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Some recent excavations at one of the old Nasca cemeteries, revealing the abandoned skulls and bones.

Fig. 1. Some recent excavations in one of the old Nasca cemeteries, showing the abandoned skulls and bones

II. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE LOMAS, ACARI

NASCA AND ICA REGIONS

EXPLORATIONS IN THE DISTRICT OF LA LIBERTAD

An important condition regarding the human bones in this locality was the relative frequency of various pathological conditions of an inflammatory nature and a rather poor development of many of them. In particular, a number of pathological problems remained to be resolved and made further investigation highly desirable. Fortunately for the work, the writer won the friendship of the most influential and enlightened man of the Chicama Valley, Senator Victor Larco, and the assistance of this gentleman, with that of those in charge of his estates, made it possible to accomplish what would otherwise take much more time and might even be impossible.

Larco led many of his employees to collect everything in a series of skeletal remains that had been exposed in one of the large prehistoric cemeteries that had yet to be examined, near the Chiquitoi hacienda, and at several other locations. Therefore, when the writer arrived, he found the floor of a spacious hall in the local hospital full of skulls and bones, which in general was rather poorly preserved, but which made it possible to make some statistical findings, especially in relation to pathological conditions for which there had been no previous opportunities. The work in Rome completed, the writer made an interesting visit to the large huaca and cemetery at the Casa Grande hacienda, and then proceeded to the sea coast, where numerous burial sites were explored.

He unexpectedly came across a unique burial ground near Huanchaco; examined once more the cemeteries around Cerro de la Virgen; found another notable cemetery on the edge of the slightly elevated Chan-Chan plateau about two miles south of Huanchaco; examined two large and one small cemetery at Chan-Chan; passed over the burial ground at the edge of the desert from Moche to the huacas of the Moon and the Sun. Since the author's visit to many of these places three years ago, a very perceptible change for the worse has been observed to have taken place in the state of preservation of the ancient remains.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK IN PERU — HRDLICKA

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

During his late expedition to Peru the writer examined about 4,800 skulls and a very large quantity of other skeletal bones. This material largely belonged to the coastal area. but also to some extent to two of the more westerly districts of the highlands. The results of the work are not ideal, but some valuable points have been identified.

Important parts of the territory could not be reached, and even within the areas obtained, exploration had to be limited to what lay exposed on the ground or in the caves. Anthropologically, the opinions ventured after the end of the first expedition are in the main confirmed. The color and decoration of the materials, and the forms, artistic value and variety, as well as the symbolism of the decoration of the pottery, differed from place to place in accordance with time and other influences.

They dressed mostly in a poncho shirt, a loincloth, and sandals, with little headgear; what it had from the latter is softened decoratively and symbolically. Their implements were spinning wheels, weaving sticks, looms, needles with cactus poles, bone holders, sharpened sticks, copper knives, copper axes, hoes; and in the case of fishermen, nets, sinkers, reed or balsa boats, and special rafts, with oars.

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APPENDIX A. SPECIAL NOTES ON SOME OF THE PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS SHOWN BY THE

SKELETAL MATERIAL OF THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS

SYMMETRIC OSTEOPOROSIS OF THE SKULL

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ADULT PRE-COLOMBIAN MALE SKRAVIA FROM THE VALLEY OF THE CHICAMA, SHOWING RECOVERY FROM AND REMAINDER OF SYMMETRIC OSTEOPOROSIS IN INFANTRY.

EAR EXOSTOSES : OSTEOMA OF THE TYMPANIC RING

The shape changes of the head and neck can reach a fairly advanced stage without a trace of inflammation. Of the more affected specimens there were two main varieties, one characterized by a great shortening of the neck and a pronounced flattening of the head of the femur, with a flatness and roughness of the acetabulum; while the other was characterized by a deepening of the cotyledon cavity, with less roughness, and the assumption by the head of the femur of a shape very similar to the caputpenis (see p.26).

ARTHRITIS

In the tibia, at the same time, changes corresponding to those in the femur developed on and around the upper articular surface; and at about the same time or later, the process also began to manifest itself on other bones, especially on the vertebrae and humerus (the lower part). Not infrequently, the first and occasionally the only manifestation of the disorder manifested itself in the vertebrae, especially in the lumbar, lower back and neck regions.