574 ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN ARGENTINA AND BOLIVIA. 



those grottoes, showing, in the corner, a skeleton which I unearthed. 

 The grottoes average about 1.5 meters in depth and about 2 meters 

 in height at the entrance. Tlie rock forming the foundation of the 

 grotto slopes usually doAvnward from the entrance, but rises again 

 farther in, so that a longitudinal section shows that the floor, the 

 inner wall, and the roof of the grotto together form a curve Avhich 

 nearly approximates to two-thirds of the circumference of a circle. 

 Thus the floor of the grotto is markedly concave in form ; it is cov- 

 ered with a layer of sand, usually of a depth of as much as one meter 

 at the deepest part. In that layer the corpse is found deposited in a 

 sitting posture, or else, where there was not a sufficient depth of sand, 

 in a lying one, but always with the legs bent up and pressed upon the 

 chest, so that the chin and knees almost touch. I have not observed 

 that the corj^se was systematically placed facing any particular point 

 of the compass. In front of the entrance to the grotto there is often 

 to be seen a semicircular arrangement of stones, piled in several 

 courses, one on top of another; that was presumably a precautionary 

 measure against the removal of the sand by the blowing of the wind. 

 As a rule, I found only one skeleton in each grotto, but in some there 

 were up to the number of tliree. In some graves the dead had house- 

 hold utensils, etc., lying beside them, though in only one of the graves 

 which I examined Avas there any trace of clothes. As the layer of 

 sand in the graves has never been exposed to the influence of any 

 damp to speak of, a number of the corpses, instead of rotting away, 

 have merel}^ dried up; they resemble mummies in appearance. It 

 seems to me scarcely ])robable that any species of embalming Avas 

 resorted to; it must, indeed, have been superfluous, inasmuch as the 

 articles of wood and other perishable or destructible substances 

 which I found in the grottoes are in remarl^ably good preservation. 

 I succeeded in collecting a fairly large number of si)ecimens of 

 skeletons, both of adults and children. Professor Ivetzius is at pres- 

 ent studying them, and he informs me that all the heads from here 

 bear evidence of having been artificially deformed to a greater or 

 less extent. The hairs upon them are coal-black, coarse, but not 

 very stifl'. Ivound one of the heads there was a curious bandage 

 of llama wool. The body to which this skull belongs was wrapped 

 round in two woven mantles, one of a very delicate texture, worked 

 in a sli-ange pattern and of an exceedingly pretty color; (he other 

 coarser and very thick. The finer one is probably of vicuna wool, 

 and was woven in a peculiar manner, whereby the threads wei-e 

 made to follow the pattern. Conse(iuently the threads in some 

 places are very closely packed together, in others wider ai)art. Tlu^ 

 coarser mantle is of llama wool. Close to the skin of the dead body 

 I found ivinnants of a garment of some thin material, originally 

 white in color. 



