Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-24
PRIMEvAL MAN IN URUGUAY.
Interesting Objects Obtained From the An.
Gent Mounds.


The Latin American department of the
worlds fair has received the official catalogue
of the UrugUayan exhibit made in 1892 at the
historical exposition in Madrid. The display
was hmited in its character to articles illustrating
the history Of Uruguay and its peoples prior to
and Immediately subsequent to the discovery
and conquest, but was quite extensive in num-
Der. In that republic the articles Of ancient
human industry have been generally found in
the upper layers of the soil and at no great
depth. where they have evidently been acct
dentally buried. They all belong to the present
geological period, and must have been wrought
by the Indians who were found in the country
by the Spaniards, who came at the beginning OF
the sixteenth century, when they first assembled
the Rio de Ia Plata. Those tribes were
always at war among themselves, and
appear to have occupied distinct localities
or village sites. outside of which little Of inter-
est has been discovered. In these places no
objects of metal have been unearthed. they APP
pearing to have made use of the different kinds
OF stone and to have fashioned utensils of clay
which was afterward burned In this way
they made their arms and other useful articles
for their households and the chase. The re-
mains of animals which served them for food
and carved bones very rare and are only
sand and always correspond to the present fauna
of the country. Human remains are also sell
dom found In these places, but in small arti-
fetal mounds have been discovered human
bones and articles of native handiwork. These
are true tumuli, such as are seen at the western
end of Lake Merin and in the islands of the
River Uruguay. Geologically speaking these
tumui belong to modern times, but still
it is possible to distinguish those ante
rior to the time of the conquest The
mo ID 80 IT,, al.
are no vestiges of animals or objects imported
by Europeans. belong to that epoch. For con-
venence, the articles shown at tho historical
exposition in Spain were divided into two
groups, those found in the aluvial deposits and
those taken from places of sepulture The ar
ticles Of stone from the drift deposits are both
those fashioned by CLOVIS and by scraping or
polishing. and belong to what il called the neo-
lithic period in Uruguay. A large number of
stone flakes were shown. very sharp, being the
knives Of that age. and others with saw edges
Scrapers OF various shapes were very common
and used for preparing hides and other pur-
poses. Double-edged cutting tools and borers
for piercing holes, arrow heads and lance tins
and darts are found in considerable quantities
They were generally of slick or jasper and were
wrought with great care and dexterity. More
than 5000 OF those have been collected of yari-
Gus types, varieties and forms. To obtain suit
able materials for making these weapons
and instruments the primitive man selected and
partially worked a vast number of stones,
samples of which in all degrees of completeness
were shown to exhibit the methods of their
craft One of the most common examples is a
kind OF round stone called 'boa," which was
generally attached to cord and used to throw
In such a manner as to encircle the legs of an
animal or to give a blow. In the different
known collections more than ten thousand Of
these have been preserved from the ancient
sites. large number of disks came from the
department of Colonial some of which were
evidently used for sings. and the assortment Of
stone clubs and axes was most excellent one
exemplifying all the forms known. There were
also large variety of polishers, mortars carved
and drilled stones. and others of uncertain use
presenting more than fourteen hundred speci-
mems. In all of the village sites which have
been explored there have been found fragments
Of pottery made of imperfectly burned
clay. yellow or reddish on the ex-
terror and very dark on the inner side.
Grains Of sand are found to have been mixed
with the plastic materials used in order to give
greater consistency. The vases discovered are
of varying types. but principally conical and
globular, and generally provided with holes to
suspend them when filled with liquids. Some
pieces are found decorated and these are most
frequent i'll San Jose and Coionia. but are
rarely more than lines and geometrcal figures
In low relief. In the second section were shown
the articles from burial places. The tumui of
San Luis are found by hundreds near the west
ern end Of Lake Merlin in the prairie and over
flowed lands and are from five to forty meters
in diameter and from two to fifteen meters in
height. The interiors show traces of fire and
contain carved stones and the bones OF men
and animals. The tumul of Vizcaino and
Soriana. made by the Chanas Indians, are very
low, but of considerable extent, and in them
are found remains of hearths, fragments of
fishes and mollukss and human skeletons and
funeral urns. The human bones were painted
with ochre and grease, after the custom of some
OF the Gnarana tribes. The objects of pottery
were well made and ornamented in red and
white. with combinations of straight lines and
curves. The number of the articles sent ex-
ceeded 500 and were of great scientific interest