A Survey of Ancient Peruvian Art. 345 



the chief portion of the design or merely a comparatively insig- 

 nificant adjunct to Uie design. These features are: (i) The use 

 of a very distinctive mouth-mask; (2) The predominance of 

 hands with less than the true number of digits, usually with four 

 digits; (3) The frequency with which the tongue is shown 

 sticking out of the mouth ; (4) The almost invariable presence of 

 a broad flat headdress in the form of a rather highly conven- 

 tionalized human face; (5) The frequent appearance of cere- 

 monial staffs held in the hands. We will say a few words about 

 each of these features in turn. 



(i) The Mouth Mask. Plate II, Figure 3, and Plate III, Fig- 

 ures I and 3, show very typical forms of this element. In Plate 

 III, Figure i, it is seen to consist of a central portion with mouth- 

 and nostril-holes and of two wing-like portions, one on each 

 side of the mouth. These wings are marked by lines of a con- 

 ventional nature that may be a survival of the curling-feather- 

 like rays that distinguish the mouth-mask of Figure 3. These 

 rays are perhaps related to certain elements of decoration that 

 occur in later arts, as well as in other sub-types of Proto-Nasca 

 art. 



(2) Four-digit Hands. Plate II, Figure 3; Plates III, Fig- 

 ures 2 and 3, and IV, Figure 2, all show typical examples of the 

 four-digit hands that so often accompany, as in all these 

 instances, one or more of the several criteria that mark this 

 ^'Centipede God" motif. The development from natural five- 

 digit hands to these very artificial conventionalized four-digit 

 hands is a matter of great importance, as will be shown in con- 

 nection with Tiahuanaco II art. 



(3) The Protruding Tongue. The Plates already mentioned 

 show this feature. In the pottery with the "Centipede God" 

 motif the protruding tongue is not nearly so widely developed 

 as it is in some other cases, especially in that of the textiles. 

 But even in the "Centipede God" figure on Plate III, Figure 2, 

 the tongue shows the beginnings of decoration on its upper sur- 

 face. The element of tongue-decoration becomes very prominent 

 in other types of Proto-Nasca pottery. 



(4) The Broad Flat Headdress. Plate III, Figure i, shows 

 a standard form of the "Centipede God's" headdress. The brim 

 almost always consists of at least two layers separated by a line. 

 In the center, over the eyes of the 'god,' is a conventionalized 



