Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-06-18
CONTENTS OF ANCIENT GRAVES.
Flint instruments, Golded Frogs and
Curious POtterieS.

spread upon the exhibition table at the
Academy of Sciences, last evening,
says the NeD York Times Of the Sd, were
about one hundred pieces of pottery,
rough and glazed, and few frogs work
ed in gold. The articles formed part
of collection Of from fifteen to eigh-
teen hundred pieces exhumed from
prehistoric graves about the slope Of
Chiriuui, q mountain in Central Amer-
ca, by Mr.. Mcneil. They are now in
the possession of Mr.. John S. Lamson,
of this city, with the exception of some
few pieces which have 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 memOran-
da. Mr.. LamsOn's paper was devoted
in the main to a reading of some notes
by Mr.. Mcneil on the remains and the
manner of their occurrence. The
graves cover many acres (even many
square miles, at the base of Chiriqui
near the coast, lying for the most part
beneath many feet of alluvial deposit.
No external sign marks the place cf 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 contact with the flat
stones with which they are covered.
Some of them are oblong in shape,
like modern graves, but by far the
greater part are nearly circular. The
walls are of smooth sea-worn
stones, of kind not at present
existing in the neighborhood, and
the flat slabs that cover them have
been brought obviously from a great
distance, as no such material exists in
the vicinity. 1t has not been discovered
that these tombs are arranged with any
regard to special order, but there are
some sort of evidence that the larger
ones have been reopened for the recep-
ton 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 of stone, together with polish
ing stones, obviously used to smooth
the surface CT the pottery. The latter
shows great many interesting forms,
most common OF which is the jar, very
pointed at the bottom, with an extreme
ly narrow neck, and not very inclining
lips. They vary IN proportions from
jars having a capacity of less than pint
to those capable of holding two quarts
The ruder specimens rest upon tripods,
while the more highly Ornamented have
no legs, and must have been somewhat
announcement vessels to handle. The
coarser pottery is not decorated in
colors. The top is bordered with an
ornamental design cut in or incised so
as to resemble the modern stamp, and
there are some attempts at figure work,
the principal animals being the frog, the
OWLS face, according to some, cougars
according to other critics, and the mon
key; although Prof. Putnam thinks
that these socalled monkeys are rude
representations of the human form.
The collection has also some very
curious representations of birds, which
are ornamented with red stripes upon
black ground. The latter are hollow
within and perforated at the tail, at
the bill and beneath the wings, so as to
be used as whistles to initiate the notes
of 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 tripods are heavy, pod-shaped, and
hollow, containing within several balls
of pottery, and furnished with slit
like old-fashioned sleigh-bells. The
sound, when shaken, is similar so that
of rattle-box; but is scarcely credible
that they were used for that purpose,
although there are several pottery
rattle-boxes in the collection. Prof.
Putnam entered into very elaborate
comparison of these remains with the
Mexican, Peruvian, and those of the
mound-builders, who, it appears, had a
similar trick Of following out the legs
of their tripods, and furnishing them
with movable balls. According to
Prof. Putnam, these remains are found
as far south as Bagola, and while they
have some affinity for the Mexican and
Peruvian potteries, they are both less
graceful in design and less elaborate in
decor alton. He finds the frog form
common to them all, and so the
cougars Or tigers face. But the Mex
lean usually sculptured a face or figure,
head downward, upon the external
aspect of each leg of the tripod, feat
ure seldom or never seen in this ruder
work. They also ornamented their
jaws with hieroglyphic Inscriptions
(which have never been deciphered, by
the way. and the latter have no place
in the collection of Mr.. Lamson with a
single doubtful exception. Prof. Put
nam did not attempt to assign any
special age to these remains.
1t should be noted, in conclusion, that
number Of distinguished critics
present put these down as forms initial
ed by the Indian aborigines of Central
America from the Aztec civilization ad-
joining them, and deny to them an an
tiquity even equal to the more elab-
crate Aztec remains found in Mexico.