Omaha daily bee., 1914-08-02
She t44as = young woman. 1900 yeArs old

Buchtein, the director of the museum.
who has been making the excavations.
Collection IL Large.
1t was in company with DR.. Buchtein
that | went through the museum and
examined the objects he has just dug
from the ground. The collection is large,
covering many tables and filling several
rooms. 1t consists of pottery of all sizes,
from vases of three or four gallons down
to the little cups the size of half an egg
shell. Some of the objects are almost
Etruscan in their decoration. Other
pieces have hieroglyphics that make one
think of Chinese or JAPANESE characters.
Much of the terra Gotta is as fine as por-
celain, and when tapped upon, il gives
forth the same sound The bowls are OF
the color of terra Gotta, and there are
beautifully shaped cups, each of which
would hold one or two quarts. The coll
lectcn altogether numbers thousands OF
| pieces, and IT has all been excavated in
the last two or three months.
DR.. Buchtein believes that the pottery
of his latest excavations dates back to
5000 years ago, or to more than 5000 years
before Christ. If he is correct. he has
found the oldest records of civilization
now in existence He tells me he does
not think that Tiahuanacu was the work
of the red race, and that he believes that
1t dates far back Of that time to a white
race who inhabited this part of the
Andes. In this belief he is not alone
A scientific traveller who recently passed
through here has brought forth the idea
that the Bolivian plateau was once set
| tied by tho ancient Phoenicians. This
man claims that the gold of Ophir came
from the Andes. He says the Bible states
that II took three years for the ships to
make the journey to theimlnes; and this
is borne out by l Kings, tenth chapter,
twenty-second verse In the navigation
OF those ancient times II would certainly
have taken rs much as three years for
! a ship to have passed out of the Medlter-
ranean. through the Strait of Gibraltar
and across the Atlantic ocean to the
west coast of this continent and back.
/ The verse referred to says they brought
back gold and also almug trees, and
ivory, apes. and peacocks." There is no
ivory in South America and the peacock
comes from india. AS TO apes there are
plenty Of monkeys In the lowlands of
this continent but as to the almug trae,
know II not
! Some Ancient Implements.
The excavations OF Or. Buchtein in.
clude many finds of implements of stone
and also some of gold, copper and bronze
The first belong to the stone age, and
the latter are said TO date before the
timesiof the Incas. As to the pottery.
saw much that seemed to indicate ar
Egyptian origin. Many of the cups and
bowls have the shape OF a scat. They
made me think OF Bubastis. the famous
seat of the worship of the cat in the
days OF the Pharaohs The ancient city
was situated in the land Of Goshen, not
far from where zagazig now stands, and
right on the route the Egyptians took
when they came Down into Egypt for
corn. Bubastis had many cat goddesses
and its chief goddess was a cat-headed
woman. II had cat cemetery, situated
on the west side OF the town. This was
erammed with cat mummies, many OF
which had been incssed In cat-shap ped
cases of wood and bronze. photo.
graphed some of the eat-bowis from Tia.
huanacu. and their heads are llfelike.
. DIR. Buchtein found skeletons of lIamas
among these cat-pots. He thinks the an.
} cient citizens OF Tiahuanacu may have
worshiped llsmas in connection with the
Jaguar, which has a head like a cat
Some OF the heads are as big as my two
fists, the vases being covered with spots
like those OF leopard or jaguar Other
: vases show the heads Of the condor. the
J great vulture eagle OF the high Andes.
} spoons of Terra Gotta.
} Among the implements are spoons OF
} terra Gotta and OF bone. There are knives
Of bone, some OF which are sharp; and
also narrow points Of ohsidisn. There are
! also bone rings, and bone needles of va
, rious kinds. There are stone pipes drilled
out Of rock as hard as quartz. How
the people were able 70 drill the holes
without steel or other metal Is unknown
All OF these finds have come from