St. Landry democrat., 1879-08-16
ANCIENT GRAVES.
Fhnt Instruments, Golden Frogs and
P0fterfeN Found.

EoadefheA FDWMOs
New vork Times.
Resting Upon thick layer of cotton
spread upon the exhibition table at the
academy of sciences, last evening, were
about one hundred pieces OF pottery,
rough and glazed. and few frogs worked
in gold. The articles formed part of q
collection of from 1900 to 1900 pieces
exhumed from prehistoric graves about
the slope of Chiriqui, mountain in
Central America, by Mr.. McNeill. They
are now in the possession of Mr.. John S.
Lamson, of this city, with the exception
of some few pieces which hsve passed
into the hands of Prof Marsh, at Yale
college, and are now incorporated With
the Yale museum, of which Prof. Marsh
has more than any other one man con@
tributed to the creation. Among the
distinguished antiquarians present was
Prof. Putnam, OF Harvard university,
who has given the collection careful
examination, and he gave the academy
last night the benefit of his memoranda.
Mr.. Lamson's paper was devoted in the
main to reading of some notes by Mr..
McNeill On the remains and the manner
Of thtir occurrence. The graves cover
many acres (even many square miles) at
the base of Chiriqui near the coast, lying
Tor the most part beneath many feet of
alluvial deposit. No external sign marks
the place of one of these tombs but the
natives find them readily by sounding
the soft earth with long iron rods,
which vibrate when they come in con-
tact with the fat stones with which
they are covered. Some OF them are OBJ
long in shape, like modern graves, but by
1ar the greater part are nearly circular.
The walls are Of smooth sea~worn stones,
of kind not at present existing in the
neighhorhc cd, and TIE first slabs tbat
cover them have been brought obviously
rom great distance, as no such mate
rial exists in the vicinity 1t has not
| been discovered that these tombs are
arranged with any regard to special
| order, but there is ONE sort of evidence
that the larger ones have been reopened
for the reception of bodies from time to
time, down to date of comparative
regency.
The implements exhumed consist, in
the first instance, of knives and rude
weapons stone, together with polish
-stones, obviousl y used to smooth the
surface Of the pottery. The latter shows
great many interesting forms, most
common of which is the jar, very pointed
at the bottom, with an extremely narrow
neck, and not very inclining lips. They
vary in proportions from jars having a
capacity of less than q lint to those
capable of holding two quarts.
The ruder specimens rest upon
tripods, while TIE more highly
ornamented have no legs, and must have
been somewhat inconvenient fossils
to handle The coarser pottery is not
decorated in colors. The top is bordered
with an ornamental design cut in or in
cised SO ss to resemble the modern
stamp, and there are attempts at figure
work, the principal animals being the
frog, the OWLS face, according to some,
cougars according to other critics, and
the monkey; although Prot. Putnam
thinks that these soscalled monkeys are
rude representations of the human form.
The collection las also some very
curious representations sof birds, (which
are ornamented with red strips upon a
black ground. The latter are hollow
within and perforated at the tail, at the
bill, and beneath the wings, so az to be
used as whistles to initiate the notes f
birds, and to produce different musical
notes by closing one or another Of the
apertures with the fingers. Their use
unless to attract birds by initiating their
notes, is doubtful. The legs of the tri-
pods are heavy, pod shaped, and hollow,
containing within several balls o pottery,
and furnished with a slit like old-
fashionei sleigh bells. Their sound,
when shaken, is similar to that of
rattle-box, but it is scarcely credible that
they were used for that purpo 6, although
there are several pottery rsttle.boxes in
the collection. Prof. Putnam entered
upoh very elaborate COM
parison of these remains with the
Mexican, Peruvian, and those of the
mound builders, who, it appears, had a
similar trick of following out their
tripods, and furnishing them with mov>
able balls. According to Prof. Putnam,
these remains are found as far south as
Bogota, and while they have some
affinity for the Mexican and Peruvian
potteries, they are both less graceful in
design, and less elaborate in decoration.
He finds the frog g. form common to
them all, and SO the cougars or tigers
face. But the Mexicans usually sculp-
tured a face or figure, head downward,
upon the external aspect of each leg of
the tripod, feature seldom or never
seen in this ruder work. They also Or
their jars with hieroglyphic
inscriptions (which have never been de-
ciphered, by the way), and the latter
have no place in the collection of Mr..
Lamson, with a single doubtful excep
tion. Prof. Putnam did not attempt to
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