The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-12-19
PREHISTORIC ART
CLOSELY GUARDED
Remarkable Collection Found
In the Chinana Valley,
Peru.
SHOW OLD CIVILIZATION
HITHERTO UNKNOWN PEOPLE
LIVED IN SOUTH AMERICA
MORE THAN 5000 YEARS AGO.
700 EXAMPLES.
(By Philip Everett.)


London, Dec. 1S.--Temporarily plac-
ed in one of the rooms of a safe de-
post company of this city is one of
the most remarkable and interesting
collections of prehistoric art ever seen
in London.
This collection was not discovered
where the origin Of mankind has
heretofore been looked for, and the
Mediterranean countries. but in the
Chimana Valley of Peru.
The discoveries seem to indicate
that more highly developed civiliza-
ton than any yet suspected in that
region can be traced on the West
ern slopes of the Andes and that it
flourished no less than 5000 years
| ago.
The pottery dug out OF some three
miles of mounds by Mr.. T. Hewitt
Myring has been inspected by Sir
Clements Markham. F. r. s.. who
knew Peru more than fifty years ago
and by Mr.. c. H. Read, president of
the society of Antiquaries and Keeper
of Ethnolosy in the British Museum.
Is Of Great Value.
They are satisfied as to it's value
Execution.
In all the 700 examples of this I'M
precedentedly rich find, not a single
trace of an alphabet or a letter exists.
Their makers were equally ignorant
of horses. and rode a curious. thick.
headed creature with a deer-like head
resembling the tapir, from which the
prehistoric" horse is said to have
descended. Their only weapons were
javeh club and shield. Neither the
bow and arrow nor the sling seem tt
have been invented.
These Chimu people were fond O
elaborate dens and even in this one
: collection of their pottery there arr
more different kinds of hats and head
dresses than any Partisan milline
could display. They were fond of mu
, sic too, for many recognizable instru
ments are found. apart from thu
countless forms of whistles, which
were apparently favorite means o
frightening ghosts. They were a
fond of children as any of the Greek
! of Tanagra. and number of toy
were dug up among the more elabor
sloping roofs instead Of the flat SUI
face of the Incas and the modern In
dams.
A pronounced love of animals ma
! also be traced in the numberess ex
cellent representations of toads. owls
barndoor fowls. deer and antelopt.
s More wonderful than all in the YER
!. high level of the sculptor's art,
level unworthy of any age or an
Z civilization, reached in their best poi
trait busts
One marvelously executed head j
so amazingly full of life and charac,
ler that it is almost impossible to re
j. alize its great antiquity. Beneath
Y broad brow the large, fine eyes loo
!, out with singular intelligence an
Il strength. The bridged acquiline nos
O adds keenness to the whole expires
II sion; the mouth is firm. yet senss
tive and delicately modelled; upon tn
n face are caste-marks. and on tn
il breast is chieftain's badge. TIL
q headress shows two heads of a.es.
=. On the whole, the collection form
h most complete and fascinating re<
4 ord of the mysterious coast peopl
= on the western shores of South An
erica and if it is secured for thi
country it will undoubtedly constitut
the most valuable evidence yet disco,
cred of the Oldest races Of civilize
man.