Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-09-08

Civilization Most Extraordinary
Stone AK Ever Discovered-Terri-
bic Devastation Wrought by the
On-Coming Of the Spaniards.
chronological building at the worlds
/ fair, collected. by George A. Dorsey of
Ohio, deals with the fascina ting subject
Of prehistoric South America and does
much to recall the civilization of the
lncaS. This collection was gathered
under the direction of Prof f. w.
Putnam, curator of the Peabody muse
um of Harvard university, and it's chief
purpose was for exhibition at the fair
though, like some others of the ethno-
logical treaSurerS, it may find per-
manent home 1T the Chicago university
The exhibit occupies 4 considerable
part Of the north side of the anthropo
logical building. In the center are two
Enclosures representing, in condensed
I
graveyard, from which few feet of
top soil are supposed to have been re
moved. The original appearance of the
! Durlal-grOund at AncOn is that of an
| undulatng, barren, sandy plain. in
which all evidence of it's existence has
been covered by two feet or more of
drifting sands. The manner of it's dis
covery is not known, but it was doubt
less due to accident, as was the dis
covery later of graveyards in the con-
struction Of the Oroya railway from
Callao to the interior. The location Of
the graves is determined by pressing
a steel rod through the superficial sand.
Under the sand is Il stratum of gravel,
formerly the bed of the ocean, made
cement-like by the deposit of saline
matter. The original graves we're
made in this gravel by digging round
holes sufficiently large to contain the
bodies placed III a sitting posture and
the various objects buried with them.
This gravel does not again become
hard, as it does not again undergo the
cation which made it so, and thus these
round holes indicating graves are east
ly detected, if once the battle-ground
j has been found.
Around these miniature graveyards
are four large upright and nine fiat
cases filed with the contents of the
graves, pottery, implements of war,
domestic utensils, woven fabrics, fish
ing tackle, etc. The quantity and
variety of these objects are so great
that a restoration of the Indian civil
Zatlon upon somewhat exact basis
is easily possible, and from them one
learns much of their customs and man
ner of life; upon what food they lived,
and how they cooked it, what they
wore and the process of it's manu-
facture. From their designs upon
pottery and in fabrics their advance
ment in art is shown to be in many
respects very high one. They had
evidently pushed the science Of agri-
culture to a high degree, as upon a
sterile and obdurate soil they had, by
means of irritation and artificial fertili-
zation, succeeded in growing grains of
unusual size and perfection. The pota-
to then, as now, grew wild in Peru;
they were not satisfied with it in the
natural state but cultivated it. Maize
and beans were by cultivation grown
of a size rot elsewhere known. The
coca, a plant very difficult of cultiva-
ton, was brought to a high state of
perfection, as is evidenced by the size
Of its leaf and large quantities in which
it is found in their graves. The wild,
umid, feet-footed llama was domesti-
Gated by them, and SO thoroughly do
mestlcated that at the time of the
Spanish conquest it was a beast of
burden Unable to find it's own sus-
tenaIce from nature, but dependent
upon man for existence. Such a con-
dition points inevitably to the great an
tiquity of the Indian civilization.
Peru is shown to have had two dis
tinct civiliZations-tha of Chimus ON
the coast and that of the Incas in the
interior. Among the coast collections,
that made at Ancon is the most COM
plete and eXemplitieS the coast civil
zaton. AS is we'll known, on the west
coast of South America there stretches
a narrow, sandy desert, many hundred
Of miles in length, bounded on one
side by the Pacific ocean and on the
other by the Andes, whose towering
peaks rob the clouds of moisture and
L axe parched and barren the sandy
plains below. Over this desClate tract
the air is so dry and the soil SO Charg-
ed with various salts that decomposi-
ton is i'll possible; death is followed by
no change except a drying UP of the
body. In this region, near the bound
airy of Chill ard Peru, is the scene of
a battle fought II years ago. Upon it
the soldiers lie, unburied and unchang-
! ed, in the attitudes in which they fell
The condors of the mountains do not
touch them, probably because they
are SO strongly impregnated with saline
matter In the silence of this desert
centuries might roll by disturbing
nothing. leaving no mark of passing
time. 1t was here that the coast peO-
pie had their homes. The mountain
streams were distributed over the
plains by artificial irrigation and made
! it fruitful, and the adjacent sea
swarmed with countless varieties of
fish. The period when this civilization
was at its height has not been even
| approximately determined. The con-
| tents of the graves exposed have under
| gone but little change the objects are