The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-06
THE WONDERFUL MYSTERIOUS RUINS OF ANCIENT BOLIVIA

thin plates of gold and silver used as or
naments. Most marvellous of all are sew
eral small rectangular tablets of black
slate, bearing in relief delicate patterns
that seem to be copied from ancient tapes
try. One has a rim with projecting rays
IN the center with eyes formed OF inset
copper beads.
Inc pottery of Tiahuanaco is of distinct
ana peculiar type, far more elegant than
mat OF Ancon and the coast, and painted
Win conventional designs once represent
Ing men and animals A common form is
tall, beaker-like vessel, almost identical
with the familiar druggists mortar. Jugs
and bottles with handles and small plates
with curious patterns formed by little
llamas or birds painted in black upon q
red ground abound. The handles of these
plates are artistically wrought to repre-
sent the heads of various animals.
Heads of the llama and its coneeuers.
the alpaca and vicuna, birds like the duck.
water hen, condor and curacao, and the
domestic dog, of which two varieties were
known to the old Peruvians, are FREQUENT.
The puma (Felis concoIor) constantly ap-
pears, both modelled and painted on the
vases. AS elsewhere in America, he must
myths of these ancient people, for his
head, with projecting teeth, is omnipres-
ent. 1t is interesting to trace the process
by which the pictured animals on the vases
have become conventionaIized. disappear
ing at last in geometrical lines OF red,
white and black, which when arranged in
sequence can be connected with the orig
inal picture.
But these relics are trifing when COM
pared with the ruins which must always
remain Until earthquakes and the ages
work their final destruction. Casts,
measurements and photographs are all
we can hope for, and these have been OBJ
tanned in abundance by the universities
explorer. Most famous of all are the
great mon olithic stone gateways at Tia
huanaco, carved with the emblems of the
old religion, the object of fruitless spec
ulation and research since the tine of the
Spanish conquest. Their age yet remains
matter of conjecture, but they have
been assigned to lost and prehistoric
EN- pire, preceding by centuries that of the
Incas, whose last great sovereign, Huayna
Capac, died in 1927. the year Pizarro first
appeared on the coast. The picture shows
the eastern front of the greatest of the
gateways, cracked by an earthquake, yet
still grand and mpressive beyond descr1p-
ton. What unlimited command of labor
this monument represents! Its sculp-
tured designs have been carefully repro
duced, so that in the new museum which
is soon to be built upon the land given by
the city copy of this extraordinary relic,
restored, it may be, to it's original perfec-
ton. may enable US to form some better
conception of the original structure.
Another branch of archaeological in
vestigation too often neglected by the ex-
plorer is that of human remains, not only
with reference to the mode of burial, but
the collection of the bones themselves.
And this forms for many the most inter-
esting part of the recent work of the de-
partment of archaeology. The interments
near the lake were in circular stone struc-
lures, called chulpas, from which were
obtained number of skeletons wrapped
in coarse bags, wholly unlike the carefully
prepared mummies from the coast. DR..
Charles Lester Leonard, of the Pepper
Clinical Laboratory, has made photographs
of some of these specimens, disclosing
without the removal of the wrappings the
bones and ornaments contained within
them.
One of his pictures is that of a desic-
Gated foot of a mummy from the ancient
stone chulpa at Campalachi The leather
sandal, which still remains attached, is
family shade wed behind the bones, which
are covered on the original by their dried
integument. The present collection is
arranged somewhat differently from most
archaeological collections, being displayed
with the photographs to show the results
of each special exploration. Pictures of
the Indians. illustrating their dances and
festivals, give life and interest to the ex-
hibit, which is one OF more than ordinary
importance.